Cadbury's can go fuck itself

I'm revolted by Cadbury's decision to add palm oil to its products (1).

This means all ready threatened eco-systems in third world countries, home to myriad endangered species, will be destroyed, so that pampered western consumers can continue to pamper themselves at a lower cost.

It is this simple - when I want eat chocolate, I want to eat chocolate. I don't want to kill orangutans. When I want to kill orangutans, I want to kill orangutans. I don't want to eat chocolate.

I don't want to mix these pleasures.

1 - "Zoo bars Cadbury products," by Catherine Woulfe and Kerrie Waterworth in the Sunday Star Times, 12th of July, 2009. (http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2009/07/07/1245bb75e887)

Violence in the PRC

I am sickened by the violence in the PRC (1).

The root cause of the savage violence that has left more than 150 people - mostly ethnic Han Chinese - dead, are the racist policies of the Bastards of Beijing our valued trading partner. For decades, the communist crackpots have been funnelling Han into the area in huge numbers, to fustrate any democratic effort by the majority Uighurs to independence or genuine autonomy.

It is interesting to speculate that this may be caused by the economic slowdown - it has been suggested that growth of less than 8% could lead to civil unrest in the PRC, simply because anything less will mean there are not enough jobs to go round (2). If so, places like Xinjiang, where there is a large non-Han population that is economically disadvantaged and has a history of independence, will be the first to 'brew up.'

I await the sort of condemnation directed at Iran to be aimed at Beijing. Lefthandpalm expects, cynically, it will not be forthcoming, as the PRC is for too economically important to annoy. Profits over principles, as usual.

1 - "China's ethnic tinderbox ," by Dru Gladney, published by the BBC online, 9th of July, 2009. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8141867.stm)
2 - "World Bank Cuts China's 2009 Growth Forecast," by Joe MacDonald, published by the AP, 18th of March, 2009. Reproduced by ABC News. (http://abcnews.go.com/Business/WireStory?id=7108532&page=2)

Labour revealed as cynical, racist NZ First clones

I was disgusted to learn that the last government decided not to pass the UN Declaration on Human Rights.

Now that we know that in fact, there was "no overriding legal impediment," that stance looks like it was nothing more than a clumsy effort to appeal to the anti-PC, anti-Brown vote (1).

I've said before that Labour probably need a term out of office to sort themselves out and decide what they stand for. This new piece of chicanery means they should stay out until the old guard who were behind this spineless, cynical gesture, have quit parliament.

1 - "NZ to ratify UN indigenous declaration - Sharples," unattributed story published on the Radio New Zealand News website, 7th of July, 2009. (http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2009/07/07/1245bb75e887)

Blogging ...

... has been vey sparse over the last month or so, for mundane reasons of no importance. I appreciate your patience. I know you are all waiting impatiently on my next insightful, pithy post, and for some the wait has been trying.

It isn't over yet, I still have Things Going On, and will only be able to turn my faculties to setting the world to rights on an intermittent basis.

Here follows a slew of posts on some things that have annoyed me, over the last few weeks. This is by no means an exhaustive list, as much that has annoyed me has been supplanted by subsequent annoyances.

You might notice I am expressing 'disgust' and 'repulsion' and so on. I seem to be reacting more strongly to things than of youre. Either I'm getting old, or I've got that Whine Flu I keep hearing about.

Ye Gods!

Someone has gone out and asked a bunch of dim doxies, generously described as the babes of the BNP, what they think about stuff (1).

As far as I can tell, this is not a piss take.

WARNING!! The interviews made me want to shoot myself. Reading this might be akin to incautiously perusing a page of the Necronomicon of the mad Arab, Abdul Alhazred.

You have been warned.

1 - "Babes of the BNP," posted by Gavin Haynes on Viceland Blog, 6th of July, 2009. (http://www.viceland.com/wp/2009/07/babes-of-the-bnp/)

Key promises 'new ideas' on jobs

You have to admire John Key's insouciance. Having failed to in anyway stop the growth of the dole queue with his first round of great ideas, he's happy to offer us more of the same:

The continuing layoffs are heaping more pressure on the Government, and Key said yesterday he had a plan to mitigate rising unemployment.

"We've got an economic strategy ... and I intend over the next few weeks to spell out my thinking in that area," he said. "But we can't escape the fact that we are in a global recession." (1)

Lefthandpalm eagerly awaits. After a cut price cycleway that looks like it will never get built, and a nine day fortnight, what will Key offer us? A foot path and an eight day fortnight?

In the meantime, Key and his government have continued to lay waste to the public service, making about 200 people redundant at Ministry of Social Development (2). The figures here are interesting. 550 positions will be nixed, and 335 new ones created. One can't help but wonder how the new jobs will compare to the old, in terms of hours and pay. So the damage to the department's ability to do its job may be even greater. And surely Social Development would be one of the last places you'd slash jobs from, in the middle of a recession?

Here's a radical idea, John. Instead of hypocritically making grand (though empty) gestures about helping the private sector why not stop throwing people out of jobs in the public service, where they are actively contributing to the welfare of the nation and mitigating the effects of the aforementioned global recession? No matter how many companies you save with your cunning plans and clever tricks (total to date ... er?), the economy will still fall apart because no-one will buy stuff if they are worried they won't have a job next week. Just a thought.

1 - "PM promises 'new ideas' on jobs," by Colin Espiner, published in The Press, 1st of July, 2009. Reproduced on stuff.co.nz. (http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/2554042/PM-promises-new-ideas-on-jobs)
2 - ibid.

Respect is due: a motley crew of heroes

A mixed bag, this week:

Henry Hodge, who died last week at the young age of 65, was an inspirational lawyer and one of the outstanding lawyers of his generation (1). His great success as a lawyer, however, should not blind us to the thread that ran through Henry's career, namely his commitment to use the law and his considerable talents in the service of those less fortunate, with the aim of making the law fair and accessible to all.

This commitment was much in evidence when I first met Hodge in 1974. At that time he was a newly qualified solicitor, working for the Child Poverty Action Group, where he developed the successful test-case strategy. This challenged government decisions on benefits through the courts. He was frequently successful and on more than one occasion the government was forced to change the law and rules as a result of victories he achieved.

We're quick to write off lawyers as cynical chisellers who take advantage of other people's misfortunes. And most of the time they are. Some of them are human beings, however, who do some good.

On a more elevated note:

John Tolos, "The Golden Greek", who has died aged 78, was one of professional wrestling's finest "heels" – a villain in wrestling parlance - for most of his 40-year career (1). He was a legend in southern California, where his rivalry with "Classy" Freddie Blassie, the self-proclaimed "King of Men" (Independent obituary, 11 June 2003), produced one of wrestling's greatest and most copied angles.

On 8 May 1971, at Los Angeles' Grand Olympic Auditorium, Blassie received a Wrestler of the Year award supposedly voted for by the fans. Tolos, visibly seething at ringside, had captured the Americas heavyweight title from Blassie the night before, when the ring collapsed and knocked Blassie out. That was the culmination of a year-long feud that saw Tolos use a python in one match, and Blassie bite Tolos' head, drawing blood, on Steve Allen's television show. Now, as Blassie addressed his fans, Tolos reached into the ring doctor's bag, left conveniently open, and threw powder into his face. Blassie fell to the mat screaming, covering his eyes, while Tolos destroyed his trophy and the television announcer Dick Lane yelled that Blassie had been blinded.

The ring doctor explained that Tolos had thrown Monsel's powder, used to staunch cuts in boxing before its toxicity to the eyes saw it banned, and that Blassie might lose sight in one eye. In reality, it was talcum, and Blassie, face bandaged, went into hospital for a scheduled knee operation. For the next three months, Blassie rehabbed his knee and wrestled in Japan, while Tolos fought a series of Blassie's champions, intent on avenging his perfidy. After Blassie miraculously regained his sight, they met on 27 August in the Los Angeles Coliseum, and 25,847 fans, still the California record, saw Blassie bloody Tolos with more biting, then win by smashing a chair over his head.

Because old school wrestling rocks.

And, finally, another proper hero:

Although Wing Commander Kenneth William Mackenzie shot down a number of German planes during and after the Battle of Britain, he will always be remembered for one particular incident over the English Channel.

He was flying a Hawker Hurricane, its ammunition spent. His quarry was a Messerschmitt 109 fighter which tried to evade him by diving almost to sea level, intent on heading for France and safety. Mackenzie knocked it into the sea by the extraordinarily dangerous move – very definitely not recommended in any training manual – of using his plane’s wing to shear its tail off, sending it spiralling out of control. When the German plane went into the waves, Mackenzie nursed his damaged craft back to England, crash-landing in a field near Folkestone in Kent.

His highly unorthodox manoeuvre earned him a Distinguished Flying Cross “for skill and gallantry”, the awed admiration of colleagues, and the nickname of “Super Mac”. The incident instantly established him as one of the aces of 501 Squadron, which he had joined less than two weeks earlier.

I'm glad they specified he was flying a Hurricane at the time, as we always imagine Brits in their Spits, not the plane that formed the backbone of the RAF during the Battle of Britain. Nothing more to say on that one.

1 - ""Sir Henry Hodge: Lawyer who championed the causes of children and immigrants and later became a High Court judge," by Maggie Rae, published in The Independent, 30th of June, 2009. (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sir-henry-hodge-lawyer-who-championed-the-causes-of-children-and-immigrants-and-later-became-a-high-court-judge-1724490.html)
2 - "John Tolos: Wrestler celebrated as one of the finest ring villains," by Michael Carlson, published in The Independent, 30th of June, 2009. (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/john-tolos-wrestler-celebrated-as-one-of-the-finest-ring-villains-1724492.html)
3 - "Wing Commander Ken Mackenzie: Decorated pilot who rammed a Messerschmitt in mid-air during the Battle of Britain," by David McKittrick, published in The Independent, 29th of June, 2009. (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/wing-commander-ken-mackenzie-decorated-pilot-who-rammed-a-messerschmitt-in-midair-during-the-battle-of-britain-1723088.html)