Investigate, May 2008 by Investigate Magazine

fresh

new look

STEYN: IT’S 3AM... Who do you trust to run the Whitehouse?

THE FATHER CRISIS An absence of men is impacting on kids

BIOFUELS BUNGLE

Chris Carter on the green fuel myth

INVESTIGATE May 2008: Treelords • Dilmah • Eating Disorders • Green Home • The Father Crisis

WAITANGI BOMBSHELL

Cullen’s Treelords deal could expose taxpayers to massive new bill

Dilmah’s NZ Connection

The Kiwi secret behind a global tea brand’s success

Issue 88

50 Tips To Save You Cash

A 12 month experiment on how to go Green on the cheap at home – we have the results

$7.99 May 2008

Contents 44

26 34

50 56 FEATURES

26 Treaty Bombshell

Central North Island Maori have presented a Waitangi Treaty claim for the forests that the media have dubbed “Treelords”. But hidden in the fine print is a clause that says if Labour approves it, many of the biggest “full and final” treaty settlements already negotiated will be re-opened. MIKE BUTLER has the full story of this treaty settlement bombshell

34 QualiTea – the Dilmah story

It’s a global brand worth US$500 million, but few people know the secret to Dilmah’s success – an idea hatched in New Zealand. IAN WISHART talks to Dilmah’s Merrill Fernando

44 Eating Disorders

Everywhere you turn these days there’s a new syndrome or disorder, but now scientists think they could be closing in on an affliction affecting many young women. NIKKI MASCALI has the story

50 50 Tips For A Green Home 56

Forget the rights or wrongs of global warming - we could all do a little more to save the environment and our pockets, right? KAREN KLAGES runs through easy ideas to make a difference with

56 The Father Crisis

There’s increasing evidence that fatherless families are a recipe for social disaster and crime. MELODY TOWNS reports on the role of men

Editorial and opinion 06 Focal Point

Volume 8, issue 88, ISSN 1175-1290

Editorial

08 Vox-Populi

The roar of the crowd

16 Simply Devine

Miranda Devine on marriage

18 Straight Talk

Mark Steyn on a phone call at 3am

20 Eyes Right

Richard Prosser on free speech

22 Line 1

Chris Carter tears down false gods

24 Soapbox

Len Restall on teaching

Lifestyle 64 Money

Peter Hensley on gold

66 Education Amy Brooke on standards

68 Science

History in the stars

70 Technology

Cellphones, the weakest link

72 Sport

Chris Forster on China

74 Health Claire Morrow on depression

76 Alt.Health

Kids cough medicines

78 Travel Hanoi

82 Food

Kids’ cooking

84 Drive

Subaru’s WRX STI

86 Toybox

The latest and greatest

88 Pages

Michael Morrissey’s autumn picks

92 Music

Chief Executive Officer Heidi Wishart Group Managing Editor Ian Wishart Customer Services Debbie Marcroft NZ EDITION Advertising sales@investigatemagazine.com Contributing Writers: Melody Towns, Selwyn Parker, Amy Brooke, Chris Forster, Peter Hensley, Chris Carter, Mark Steyn, Chris Philpott, Michael Morrissey, Miranda Devine, Richard Prosser, Claire Morrow, James Morrow, Len Restall, Laura Wilson, and the worldwide resources of MCTribune Group, UPI and Newscom Art Direction Design & Layout

Tel: +64 9 373 3676 Fax: +64 9 373 3667 Investigate Magazine PO Box 302188, North Harbour North Shore 0751, NEW ZEALAND AUSTRALIAN EDITION Editor Ian Wishart Customer Services Debbie Marcroft Advertising sales@investigatemagazine.com Tel/Fax: 1-800 123 983 SUBSCRIPTIONS Online: www.investigatemagazine.com By Phone: Australia 1-800 123 983 NZ 09 373 3676 By Post: To the PO Box NZ Edition: $72 Au Edition: A$96 EMAIL editorial@investigatemagazine.com ian@investigatemagazine.com australia@investigatemagazine.com sales@investigatemagazine.com debbie@investigatemagazine.com All content in this magazine is copyright, and may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publisher. The opinions of advertisers or contributors are not necessarily those of the magazine, and no liability is accepted. We take no responsibility for unsolicited material sent to us. Please enclose a stamped, SAE envelope. Inquiries in the first instance should be made via email or fax. Investigate magazine Australasia is published by HATM Magazines Ltd

Chris Philpott’s CD reviews

94 Movies

Horton Hears A Who

96 DVDs

Enchanted, Evening

Heidi Wishart Bozidar Jokanovic

Cover: NZPA/NZ Herald

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> focal point

Editorial

Here we go again...

f a week is a long time in politics, a month is a life sentence. any more. How else, argues the magazine, to explain the ongoing When I last penned this, left wing columnist Chris Trotter had resurgence of leaders like Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi? been calling for Helen Clark’s head on a plate, warning she On the home front, Paintergate showed the Prime Minister was was a lame duck leader who was dragging Labour to oblivion capable of criminal dishonesty, but Absolute Power shows someat this year’s election. thing much more dangerous in the Paintergate incident: a willNow, four weeks later, Clark is making a comeback of sorts in ingness by a leader to lie to a police investigation. the polls (or is it a dead cat bounce?), and Winston Peters is tryThis is much more serious than the initial forged painting issue, ing to drag the good ship NZ First away from the whirlpool that because it shows the administration has utter contempt not just is currently Labour. for the law, but for the rule of law. I’ll make the distinction this The immigration issue raises its head again, but 12 years after it way – none of us are perfect, and greed and lust for power are just was first used to devastating effect by Peters the scarecrow has lost as prevalent in politics as in other areas of life. Breaking the law, its straw. Asian immigration is a yawn these days. In most parts whilst extremely serious, is nonetheless catered for within our sysof Auckland Asian faces are prevalent, and in some parts almost tem. If the system is working well, lawbreakers are detected and dominant in terms of cultural mix. They have become vital mem- dealt with regardless of who they are, without fear or favour. bers of our community, and most of us recognise that. New Zealand’s systems are not working well, however. The revelaNew Zealand First, however, knows that it needs a defining issue tions in Absolute Power about Police Commissioner Howard Broad if it is to have any chance of an electorate seat, or indeed any seats and his deputy Rob Pope are some of the most serious allegations ever in the next parliament. levelled at top police in this This, as I explained last country. Likewise, the cyni The behaviour we are issue, is the Achilles Heel of cal way the Prime Minister MMP. Politics these days is like and her now-Education currently tolerating from this mating a black widow spider, Minister Chris Carter appear whilst trying to avoid becomto have lied to a lacklustre administration would be greeted ing the next meal. police investigation shows For Helen Clark, meanthat powerful lawbreakers are with impeachment in many other while, my new book will apparently beyond reach. undoubtedly cause feathers to As I said, this is much countries ruffle and fur to fly – it has more dangerous than the been in the weeks leading up initial breach. to publication as the Left tries to paint a book they haven’t seen Throw in the new information about the document used to as just another “conspiracy theory”. get cabinet minister David Parker off the hook two years ago, It isn’t, of course. It has been carefully researched, and the inev- and there is room for serious concern about the integrity of New itable picture it paints is one of incredible dishonesty, a kind of Zealand’s judicial system. “trickle down theory” of corruption. A corrupt police force, which fails to apply the law evenly against And corruption is the right word. Some sensitive souls might a government – any government – is a police force in name only. like to kid themselves that it isn’t, but the international compariAnd a government, any government, prepared to lie even in an sons between New Zealand politics and other countries show us official investigation is not a government to be trusted with the in a very poor light. The behaviour we are currently tolerating most important matters of state. from this administration would be greeted with impeachment in many other countries. Why is it that kiwis are so complacent? That’s the hard question that sociologists are having a field day trying to answer. There is a theory, expounded by The Economist, that battle-weary voters can give up, and simply accept corruption from their leaders, because they don’t have the energy to fight it INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

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> vox populi

Communiques The roar of the crowd A HEATED DEBATE In his lengthy letter to “Investigate”, Dr Gregory Lee, Associate Professor of History of Education, University of Waikato; attacks “private enterprise” based on what he sees on “Fair Go”. Amy Brooke in her lengthy response, says of this, that “one can only despair”. Firstly, there may be surprisingly few people who see this as clearly as Amy Brooke, because of the very dumbing down of New Zealanders that Amy Brooke and the Professor are arguing about. Dr Lee is probably used to getting away with arguments as fatuous as this one in the case of the mind-numbed teenagers with which the State education system furnishes his classes. But secondly, it has been said before that there are certain errors of judgment that only university professors are capable of. So all right, this is statin’ the bleedin’ obvious, and you’ve probably had several letters saying the same thing. “Fair Go” is an outstanding example with which to illustrate WHY private enterprise is ALWAYS so much more efficient than state-run monopolies. When we are dissatisfied with the service of a state-run monopoly, who do we go to? If we go to “Fair Go”, what difference will it make? Where is the penalty for bad business practice, where are the alternative good operators that customers allegiances are going to switch to, where is the accountability backed up by the threat of lost business and the potential failure of the whole enterprise? The other possibility in the case of many people is that they are intelligent dissimulators. That is, they know that what they are supporting is damaging to society, and they mean it to be that way. They use the language of good intentions, and deceive many well-meaning people, to advance a concealed agenda that has anything but good intentions by normal standards of judgment. The basic test is: anyone who subscribes to the ideal of the fully collectivised economy/society a la Cuba, North Korea, Mao’s China, and the former USSR, cannot be trusted on any matters of policy at all, whether education, health, moral issues, welfare, defence, “peace”, the environment, the workplace, law and order, crime, energy, human rights, social justice, culture, minorities, “gender”, or whatever. This is certainly the case with the universities’ intellectual mainstreams of critical theory, deconstructionism, and political correctness and the like, and the people who formulated them, outright Marxists like Adorno, Fromm, Marcuse and Foucault. In the Utopias of these people’s imaginations, both past and future, what you will find is that in their obsession with eliminating inequality, they ultimately have no interest whatsoever in the rights of workers, minority cultures, women, gays, invalids, crimi INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

nals, or in nature and the environment. These people really have no inherent difficulty with workers not being allowed to strike, with medieval working and living conditions, with minority cultures being extinguished, with rigid moral puritanisms, with all people being forced to work, with terrifying deterrents to crime, with the use and abuse of animals and nature, and with the destruction of the environment, just so long as these things are done by “The State” on behalf of, or for the good of, “the People”. The achievement of equality through force, is given priority over the freedom of speech, freedom from fear, freedom from want, freedom of worship, Truth, Justice, the right to a fair trial, the right to the pursuit of happiness, even the most basic right of men not to be slaves. In their perversion of the issue of what is and isn’t “slavery”, these people are at their most satisfied if they succeed in returning everybody to the real thing. Regarding your article “Red Squares”, I am afraid that it is much too late to be raising the question “to what extent those people on the Labour Party’s national executive, who played a leading role in taking NZ out of ANZUS, understood that they were serving the strategic interests of a foreign power”. OF COURSE they knew this, and they were, and still are, proud of it. Meanwhile, in the intervening couple of decades, New Zealanders have been fed on such a relentless diet of Anti-Americanism and Anti-Capitalism by the mainstream media and probably by many of their teachers and university professors as well, that for anyone to now flaunt their historical communist-power-supporting allegiances as a badge of honor, is unlikely to cost them anything in the way of broad political support, even if it might have at one time. Lastly, and these points are all connected; Richard Prosser’s article contains the token repudiation of McCarthyism that has long been required of all political commentators, even such staunch anti-Communists as Mr Prosser himself. It is an indication of just how distorted and contrived our sources of information and learning have become in this country, that the works of historical scholarship that followed the opening of the archives of the former USSR in the 1990’s have completely passed by even people like Mr Prosser. Authors like John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr, Joyce Milton, Ronald Radosh, and Robert Service have authored numerous scholarly works on the extent to which communist collaborators HAD penetrated the institutions of the USA, and just how much the era of McCarthyism actually erred on the side of grace. Numerous persons who were exonerated at the time, are shown from USSR records to have been in cahoots with “handlers” of the Soviet espionage agencies. Some of these collaborators who

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were exonerated at the time have even published autobiographies posthumously or near the end of their lives, bragging about what they did and how they got away with it with the aid of dupes in the media, Hollywood, bureaucracy, and even elected office. The definitive book on McCarthy himself is “Blacklisted by History”, by M. Stanton Evans. So I am afraid that the graciousness with which the antiCommunists among us have habitually dealt with the McCarthy era, is sadly misplaced. There is a saying that history is written by the victors. But in the case of our own culture, the dissemination and teaching of it appears to have been abdicated to the stooges of the vanquished empire of evil, while good men slumber. Philip G. Hayward, Lower Hutt

IN DEFENCE OF BROOKE I am writing in regard to the letters and articles by Amy Brooke, Ken Horlor, and Professor Lee regarding education in New Zealand. My own experience is as a secondary science teacher and, during the 1960’s and 70’s as a secondary schools’ inspector in the Department of Education. Amy Brooke’s original article in the January issue of Investigate was a very clear and accurate exposition of the problems in our educational establishment. It showed that she had done some extensive and intensive research. I agree absolutely with her conclusions. Similarly, I would agree with most of Mr. Horlor’s statements. However, in one matter he is a little astray. The present descent into dangerously poor-quality education, began, not in the 1980’s with “Tomorrow’s Schools” but in the mid-1960’s when the top positions in the Education Department were taken over by super-liberal, left-wing, theorists with atheist leanings. These people did, and their successors still do, control the direction of education in our country, irrespective of what political party is in power; although Labour governments seem to be more tolerant of the direction being followed. The situation is rather like that in the TV series “Yes Minister”. Professor Lee shows very clearly the penchant academic educators have for using jargon and obscurity. What do “postmodernism” and “globalization agenda” connote? Perhaps I am to be considered an illiterate peasant for not knowing these words? His reliance on his supposed status as a professionally superior historian is the mark of a man who cannot muster clear, logical factual argument to support his case. Amy Brooke has dealt more than adequately with his attempt to destroy her thesis. Tragically for this country, our descent socially, culturally, spiritually, and very probably soon economically, is still going on and it will take a complete renewal of our top educational administrators to get us back on track. I am not hopeful. John Mills, one-time Senior Inspector of Secondary Schools., Matamata 10 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

THE VANISHING OF AMBER-LEE Thanks for highlighting the problems with the police and drug dealers in the Amber-Lee story. In the last couple of weeks, outside police officers and the Armed Offenders Squad have been sorting out the drug dealers and thieves in this district, and the drug dealer who was never touched for 5 years has been sorted out. We don’t know if any police officers have been sorted because local media coverage is totally censored, with nothing controversial against anyone in a position of authority in this district being covered. This is the first time in quite a few years that anything like this has ever happened. A lot of people put it down to your magazine story, and maybe a bit of political frightening that has been going on in certain places. We’re just glad that there is still someone available in NZ who cares about the country and the way things are going. Name withheld, Southland

FERAL INBREDS The cannibalisation of the Labour Party by previous supporters of its own political ideology, as demonstrated by protestors at the recent Labour Party Conference, is just priceless. For the second time in 6 months, a staunch Labour Party event has turned feral, only this time Ministers of the Crown were being punched, abused, and spat on, as opposed to simply shouted at through a megaphone. If this is how members of Labours own “supporters club” are now treating the Party, I can only imagine what damage is going to be done by the 66% of the General Electorate who do not support the Labour Party come Election day. One can only imagine the probable Labour Party candidate “death march” towards the inevitable defeat – Voting papers? Check. Rosette? Check. Bandages and a mop to bind the wounded egos and wipe the blood off the floor come Election night? Might be an idea. Steve Taylor , Auckland

SOFTWARE ISSUES I have just been reading your article entitled “Software to move you” in the February edition of Investigate. As on open source enthusiast I am not tempted by the few features in Office 2007 that may not be currently available in Open Office. I am very happy not to have any software from Microsoft on my personal computer when the company behaves in the way detailed in http://blog.mandriva. com/2007/10/31/an-open-letter-to-steve-ballmer/. As an open source user: 1. I am relatively free from the quantum leap increases in

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machine specifications required every time a new release of MS Windows comes out. 2. I can use an office program (Open Office) that has an open file format that is approved by the International Standards Organization (MS formats are not currently approved). Long term storage of documents are not tied up in proprietary formats. 3. As a user of the Linux operating system I am free from the plague of viruses out there. Apart from being free of the nuisance effect of this, I can run my OS on older hardware since the CPU is not bogged down by real time virus scanning. There is a disadvantage though! If I decide to buy new hardware (especially a laptop), I may be forced to pay the “Microsoft tax” since many deals have the hardware and Microsoft OS tied together at the retailer. This can be likened to buying a home theatre sound system that has some Barry Manalow CDs included in the price. When you ask the salesperson to remove the CDs and re-adjust the price they say they are not allowed to do so. So you sigh, pay the extra and put the CDs in the cupboard! As a new reader of Investigate I do not know if any of these issues have come up before? If not maybe there are some topics for investigation? BTW – this is a great magazine!! John Davey, Timaru Editor responds:

I don’t have too many problems with Microsoft, except for one hugely annoying one: the constant round of “critical” or “priority” updates. I have repeatedly found that the updates kill my XP-Pro (running on an ASUS), to the point where I have had to re-format the harddrive twice and re-load everything. If I refuse to turn updates on the computer runs happily and swiftly forever. The moment a new piece of software demands some kind of update, the whole house of cards comes down. I’m convinced Microsoft’s “patches” have become top heavy and cannot be guaranteed to work properly with all hardware systems. Whoever is behind this rolling, ongoing edit of XP-Pro needs to be lined up against a wall and beaten with the Office 97 user manual, print edition.

4WD Baby Buggies I too have become aware of the ever increasing wheel base size of baby buggies. As I use a wheelchair and catch a bus to work/ study, I occupy the wheelchair bay on the bus. My chair is made for an adult and can make it through the narrow aisles (with a regular scrape to the paint work). When there is a cold wind and/or it’s raining, there is usually one of these ‘good’ mothers taking up the space reserved for wheelchairs and I am forced to wait for the next bus – which may not be wheelchair accessible. Whole convoys of these 4WD prams can make me very late, but this only happens when I have to be somewhere on time (apart from work). Can anyone really justify these 4WD baby buggies when the baby is rarely wider than an adult and can therefore comfortably fit into a narrower pram? For the price of one of these 4WD buggies, a small car may be purchased and wheelchair users may be free to happily use the bus. If people want to wrap their kids in a plastic bubble – buy a Zorb and don’t bring it on the bus! Those wheelchair users lucky enough to get ACC funding get their own private car, the rest of us face a financial struggle due to lack of Ministry of Health funding. Dale Butterworth, Auckland

HIGHLY PAID CONSULTANTS Right to Life deplores the government’s opposition to Gordon Copeland’s abortion [Informed Consent] Bill being introduced into Parliament for debate. Gordon Copeland, Independent MP is commended for seeking leave of the House in his general debate speech on the 9th April to have his important Bill introduced. Its introduction required leave of the House; it is disappointing that several Labour MPs objected. The government’s opposition to this Bill is consistent with its position since assuming office. Since 1999 this Labour government has presided over the destruction of over 140,000 unborn New Zealanders. Last year the government paid certifying consultants over $5 million in fees for authorising nearly 18,000 abortions. The highest paid consultant received $223,800 in fees for authorising 1685 abortions, he declined only 7. It is disappointing that the government which commendably and publicly proclaims to be deeply concerned about child abuse and domestic violence against women is not opposed to the violence of abortion against mothers and their defenceless unborn children. Gordon Copeland’s Bill is timely and essential; it proposes to ensure that women considering an abortion are fully informed and that they receive mandatory counselling. This counselling would provide information on the development of the unborn child, help that is available in the community to assist her during her pregnancy and the birth of her child and alternatives to abortion such as adoption and single parenthood. Information would also be provided on the potential physical and psychiatric complications that might result from having an abortion. The Royal College of Psychiatrists in London recently stated that;” Consent cannot be informed without the provision of adequate and appropriate information regarding the possible risks and benefits to physical and mental health.” The government must be aware that women considering an abortion are not being fully informed about alternatives to abortion, the development of the child and the serious potential physical and psychiatric complications that may result from having an abortion. It may be concluded that the government anxious to gain re-election, aware that a debate on abortion could polarise the community is shamefully prepared to sacrifice the lives of unborn children and the health and welfare of their mothers to political expedience, shame on them. Ken Orr, Spokesperson, Right to Life New Zealand Inc

CRUISE CONTROL I very much enjoyed the article Miranda Devine wrote on the media crucifixion of Tom Cruise. You prompt the unasked question – ‘why the attacks on Tom Cruise?’, and state that “It is a good idea to be suspicious any time...media pack...gang up on someone.” Well I’d like to offer the answer to the question. The mental health industry and particularly that part of it which includes the sale of psychotropic (mind altering) drugs is a very lucrative business. Over twenty billion last year internationally. So anything that threatens that profit is the target of some very deep pockets. So as clinical test after clinical test, court case after court case and even the leaking of some devastating documents from the companies that manufacture these drugs show that these drugs have, in more and more cases devastating “side” effects. These effects just recently have been ordered to be placed on “black label warnINVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008 13

ings” (the highest level available) on the packaging of the products themselves. Perhaps a little late for the people of Columbine – Eric Harris was on the antidepressant Luvox – or Andrea Yates who drowned her five children while on several anti-depressants, or the thousands of suicides each year attributed to the side-effects of these drugs. So when a (formerly) well respected and loved “A list” actor speaks out about this, warning people not to take these drugs, as Tom Cruise did in 2005 – and in doing so drops sales and profits hugely – but more importantly, starts to contaminate the jury pool for the looming wave of litigation cases lining up, then something must be done. As arguing scientifically about the product is not only impossible but a P.R no-no. Then the tried but true method of shooting the messenger or in this case character assassination is the obvious next best choice. After all who’s going to believe an “obviously crazy guy” like....”What? He’s not crazy? Well, damn well make him look like it as fast as you can!” After all as Scientologists have been warning the public for over 40 years to these types of abuses. (Scientologists here in NZ were first to speak out in the ‘70s about the children being abused in Lake Alice and the first to warn of the many deaths in the “deep sleep” programs in Chelmsford in Australia) but then the same people with money to lose have been calling Scientologists “Kooky” for the same reasons for that many years – It’s worked so far so applying the same methods on an individual should – and has worked. Weather it’ll slow the legislative nightmare that companies like Eli Lilly (makers of Prozac) face. -They settled $1.2 billion last year for cases on one product alone and currently are in the middle of a court battle with the state of Alaska, see....http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/mar/08/drug-maker-under-fire/ ...the result of which could very well open the floodgates and potentially destroy them. So why the attacks? Very simply, because when you pay for that much advertising and there’s that much money at stake you can and had better, control the media to your advantage or lose even more billions. Yure Radojkovich, Via email

THE SIGN OF THE CROSS In these days of so much moral breakdown, it is refreshing to pick up a magazine like yours which emphasizes the value of the Christian faith. Recently, on two occasions we have had brought home to us the offence of the Gospel to people of the world. In the first incident, one of our nineteen year old grand-daughter’s friends came to pick her up to take her to a course they are both attending. While she was sitting waiting, John offered her a small tract to read which his brother had written, reciting the events which had most influenced his life, including his conversion. In this tract he concluded his remarks by urging others to also accept Jesus as their Saviour. Jennifer, our grand-daughter told us her friend was really upset at this, and would not be coming back to the house in future. She also stated that her friends did not want to have anything to do with religion, and to mention it in their presence was offensive to them, and made them feel uncomfortable. She asked that we would not mention it, or speak to her friends about Christ again. In the second incident, we were doing our usual weekly day 14 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

at the Local Church Shop. John and I were sitting having our morning tea, and another volunteer, a young girl, joined us. John began to tell her something of the history of Christianity in New Zealand. He recited the story of Tarore’s book, how it was read to Te Rauparaha by a slave who had learned to read. John told her of the transformation in the life of that great chief, how he ceased his raiding and cannibalism, and became a mighty man of God. He spoke of how Te Rauparaha sent men to all the tribes he had decimated, in order to apologize to them for the way in which he had treated them. He also built in Otaki a beautiful church for his people. The manager of the shop was passing by, and heard this. She called out to John “No Preaching!’ One would have thought a church shop would be one place where it should be acceptable to talk to people about Christian things. It seems it is okay to talk about anti-smacking laws, rape, murder, and any other subject, but speak about Jesus, and a person’s need of Salvation, that’s offensive. It seems to me that people in New Zealand are very happy to enjoy the benefits of Christianity, its moral laws, and attitudes to women for instance, but they do not want, in the main to acknowledge God’s claims on their lives, instead they would rather have the pleasures of the world, with its drunkenness, and debauchery. Truly the Cross is as Paul says – a stumbling block to the Jews, and foolishness to the Gentiles. Our young people have never been in such moral danger as they are at present, and rejecting the Gospel message is a very grave error. How much tragedy could be avoided if parents accepted and practiced Christianity themselves, and encourage their children to do the same. Ann Sime, via email

TALKBACK PLEA Were any of your readers regular listeners to Radio Pacific over the years? Did they ring up on TalkBack and chat with any of the hosts? Do they have a story to tell about that interaction? I’m working on a history of the station, to be called Talkback Toast: a Reminiscence of Radio Pacific. This includes the Crumpy years, and well-known presenters such as his son Martin, Merv Smith, Alice Worsley and Ewing Stevens, among others. When I was married to Barry, I produced his show Bush Telegraph, but his is only one story among many. We want to include stories from listeners, too. Please send yours immediately to RB Publications, Box 456, Opotiki. Some previous mail was ‘returned to sender’ from an earlier PO box number, so please resend if that was you. I look forward to hearing your stories. Robin Lee-Robinson, Opotiki

DROP US A LINE Letters to the editor can be emailed to us, faxed or posted. They should not exceed 300 words, and we reserve the right to edit for space or clarity. All correspondence will be presumed for publication unless it is clearly marked to the contrary. Address: INVESTIGATE, PO Box 302188, North Harbour, North Shore 0751, or email to: editorial@investigatemagazine.com

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008 15

> simply devine

Miranda Devine

New class divisions in altared states

espite the concerted efforts of social revolutionaries As rates of traditional marriage have declined, fatherhood has over four decades, marriage is making a comeback, at least been devalued and rendered obsolete in the most needy parts of for Australia’s most educated women. Australia. Whenever we hear of a Jaidyn Leskie (or for my New Career-minded women used to be haunted by the pros- Zealand readers – Delcelia Whittaker) – or any number of child pect of never marrying, because, according to conventional wis- victims of abuse or neglect, the elephant in the room is always the dom, men liked to marry down the social scale. family situation – or lack of it. Invariably the mother is in some “Oh my God I forgot to have children,” was the cry of a generation sort of chaotic de facto relationship, sometimes with numerous of female university graduates who came of age in the 1980s. children to different fathers. But in a decade, everything changed for this subset of women, While dispensing with formal marriage may once have been according to an analysis of the 2006 census published this month considered a logical consequence of financial independence for in Monash University’s People And Place journal. better-educated women, for the children of the underclass it has In 1996 a university-educated woman aged 30 to 34 was less been a disaster. likely to have a husband than her less-educated counterpart. But As the US social researcher Kay Hymowitz has pointed out in her by 2006 she was more likely to be married. 2006 book, Marriage And Caste In America: Separate And Unequal Smart women it seems, have worked out the value of tradi- Families In A Post-Marital Age, the breakdown of marriage has cretional marriage as the optimal way of ensuring health, happiness ated two unequal classes – one successful, upwardly mobile and and success for their children. marriage-minded, the other In effect, they are reinventstruggling. Among women aged 30 to 34 ing the wheel, because the In Australia, Heard found reason nuclear families came the overall proportion of in 2006, 61 per cent of those with into existence in the first place women aged 30 to 34 who was to protect the interests of were married fell to 56 per degrees were married compared women and children by harcent in 2006, from 65 per nessing men’s energies. Sex cent in 1996. For those aged with 53 per cent of those with just a 35 to 39 the rate went from without strings is of benefit primarily to men. 70 per cent to 63 per cent. high school education And smart men may have An increasing percentage of realised that marriage to the 25 to 29-year-old men and pretty airhead, who will uncomplainingly set out the pipe and women are living in de facto relationships – 21 per cent, up from slippers at the end of a hard day and make sure the children are 14 per cent in 1996. clean and fed, is not all it was cracked up to be. “It seems men and women are increasingly reluctant to enter Increasingly, in times of job uncertainty a marriage of equals, marriage in the first place,” wrote Heard. and two incomes, is an economic necessity. Yet while marriage rates continue to decline steeply overall, far The division of labour in a marriage may have changed – from from acceding to the United Nations declaration that “formal a male breadwinner and stay-at-home mother – to a more equal marriage is receding everywhere”, she suggests that “we are witpartnering based on shared roles and a common purpose – but nessing the redistribution of marriage.” its value as an economic unit best placed to advance the wellbeHeard writes the conventional wisdom held that increased female ing of children remains. economic independence lowered “the incentive to union formaBut the march towards the altar by educated women outlined in tion”, and that as women become more educated they “acquire the paper, Partnerships At The 2006 Census, by Genevieve Heard, a a less traditional orientation, place less emphasis on the family research fellow at the Monash’s Centre for Population and Urban and as a result are less likely to form partnerships [particularly] Research, is only a glimmer of light in what has been a bleak pic- marriage”. ture for the future of marriage. What is yet to be seen is whether But, she found: “This assumption has changed from true to the phenomenon will filter down the social strata, to those most false within the space of a decade.” in need of protection. Among women aged 30 to 34 in 2006, 61 per cent of those with 16 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

Smart women it seems, have worked out the value of traditional marriage as the optimal way of ensuring health, happiness and success for their children

degrees were married compared with 53 per cent of those with just a high school education. Heard joins Hymowitz in decrying the “disturbing phenomenon” in which marriage becomes available only to the most educated and prosperous. It is a self-perpetuating cycle, with children in intact marriages receiving more care and attention from both parents, as well as the benefits of two incomes. A 1996 Cornell University study highlighted the advantage. The analysis of a longitudinal study of almost 30,000 American high school students showed that children who lived with two biological parents (that is, almost always married) were twice as likely to attend an elite university. “Why do educated women marry before they have children?” asks Hymowitz. “Because, like high-status women since status began, they are preparing their offspring to carry on their way of life. Marriage radically increases their chances of doing that.” With the decline of marriage, women at the bottom of the social scale lost not only a husband but a reliable “life-script … a way of organising their early lives that would … culminate in childbearing only after job training and marriage. Worst of all … low-income women lost a culture that told them the truth about what was best for their children.” Heard, 30, and soon to be married herself, was surprised to find that, given the choice, women wanted the very thing that 1970s

feminists had labelled as the greatest oppressor of women. “It’s always been assumed that more educated women are at the vanguard of change, that they are rebels, if you like, with regard to traditional steps like getting married,” she told ABC Radio. “In fact, these data show that … those with the most choice in these situations are choosing the most conservative route.” If more women realise that, far from being the “comfortable prison” of feminist lore, marriage has been the greatest social liberator for women and children, life at the bottom may begin to look up. devinemiranda@hotmail.com

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008 17

> straight talk

Mark Steyn

Do you know where your campaign is?

hree o’clock in the morning Jeepers, will all business during the Clinton administration be And it looks like it’s gonna be another sleepless night . . . transacted at 3 AM? Is it some union-negotiated flex-time deal? That’s Crystal Gayle from the opening of her hit song, “Home foreclosures mounting”? We’d better wake the president. “Talking In Your Sleep,” Number One on the Billboard There are now so many foreclosures the banks can no longer foreCountry charts in 1978. close on everyone they need to foreclose on during normal banking No, hang on a minute, it’s Hillary Clinton’s new campaign theme. hours. “The First National Bank of Dead Skunk, Maine has begun In Crystal’s case, her sleepless night was caused by her husband issuing midnight foreclosure notices, Madam President.” lying next to her talking in his sleep, moaning in ecstasy and whis“Okay, nuke ‘em.” pering sweet nothings to some other gal. But Hillary learned to “Er, well, maybe this can wait till the regular afternoon meeting.” snore through that a long time ago. In the Clinton scenario, the It’s 3 A.M., and your children are safe and asleep. But there’s a 3 A.M. sleeplessness is caused by the presidential hotline on the phone ringing in the White House. And ringing and ringing and nightstand alerting her to some sudden global crisis. In her first ringing. Kim Jong-Il’s No Dong missiles are heading for every three-o’clock-in-the-morning ad, the phone was ringing because major West Coast city, but the President’s not picking up because at of a national-security emergency: al-Qaeda had hijacked nucle- 2.57 A.M. the Secretary for Soccer Moms called to alert her to the arized passenger jets or some such heading our way. Who do you growing crisis caused by the lack of federally mandated children’s want answering the 3 A.M. call? A tough, experienced, battle- bicycle helmets. When the powder keg goes up, who do you want hardened president like President Rodham Clinton, who landed in the White House? Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose customized by plane during a nuclear MCI Friends & Family & strike on the Balkans in the European Foreign Ministers Jeepers, will all business during & Overseas Dictators plan mid-Nineties yet still managed to have a smile and perallows her to receive unlimthe Clinton administration be sonalized greeting for each of ited incoming calls between the Fourth Graders there to 2 A.M. and 4 A.M.? Or transacted at 3 AM? Is it some greet her with radioactive floJohn McCain, who’d bawl ral bouquets? Or some callow, out the White House operunion-negotiated flex-time deal? untested youth like Barack ator for waking him up to Obama, whose experience of take a call from the director taking international phone calls is very limited due to the fact of the Federal Bike Path Agency? that in his Jakarta boyhood President Sukarno was the only guy As Scott Fitzgerald famously said, in the real dark night of the in Indonesia with an outside line? soul, it’s always three o’clock in the morning, day after day. And Well, the answer turned out to be: Neither of the above. The so it goes in the real dark night of the Clinton campaign, day after McCain campaign gleefully told reporters they’d be happy for day. When Hillary got into her wee spot of bother over her conHillary to carry on running the ad for another six months: If coction of the corkscrew landing under enemy fire in Tuzla, she incoming-at-three-in-the-morning is the issue, Senator McCain’s wiggled out of it by putting it down to sleep deprivation. Is she your man, and he was very grateful to the Clinton campaign for spending too many nights up at three in the morning? In the latfunding his most effective TV ad to date. est ad, when she picks up the phone at 3 A.M. to take the emerSo Senator Clinton has now released another electrifyingly vivid gency foreclosure breaking-news update, she’s got perfect hair and three-in-the-morning scenario: make-up, and she’s immaculately dressed. Is having to get up at It’s 3 AM, and your children are safe and asleep. But there’s a 2 AM to put her face on for the 3 A.M. campaign ad causing her phone ringing in the White House and this time the crisis is eco- to retreat into Bosnian war fantasies? nomic. Home foreclosures mounting, markets teetering. My radio pal Hugh Hewitt drew my attention the other day to “John McCain just said the government shouldn’t take any a BBC report on Hillary. Asked about the candidates’ experience, real action on the housing crisis, he’d let the phone keep ringing. Senator Clinton replied: “I have a lifetime of experience that I will Hillary Clinton has a plan to protect our homes, create jobs. bring to the White House. I know Senator McCain has a lifetime “It’s 3 AM, time for a president who’s ready. of experience that he will bring to the White House. And Senator 18 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

Superdelegate Jon Corzine, Governor of New Jersey and an early supporter of Hillary, now says that if she doesn’t win the popular vote he’ll switch to Obama

Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.” Whoa! That’s quite a line. But it’s a measure of Hillary Clinton’s increasing isolation that she has to use it herself. If she were running against Bush in 2000, the media would have used it for her. If she were in better shape for ’08, aides and supporters would be deploying the line against Obama. Geraldine Ferraro acknowledged a simple truth about Barack – that a white guy with this thin a resume would be hooted off the stage – and she’s the one who got hooted off the stage. This week, Randi Rhodes, the excitable anchorette of the flailing liberal radio network Air America, dismissed Mrs. Ferraro as “David Duke in drag,” and for good measure called Hillary “a big f***ing whore.” Senator Clinton was the establishment candidate running in a party addicted to novelty (in candidates, that is; its policies remain mired in the Sixties). Hill calculated that, given the Dems’ deference to identity politics, her gender would give her enough novelty to sail through. But Obama trumped that, and now it’s eternally three in the morning and the phone doesn’t stop not ringing. She’s like Frank Sinatra in Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s all-time great saloon song:

It’s quarter to three There’s no one in the place except you and me . . . Superdelegate Jon Corzine, Governor of New Jersey and an early supporter of Hillary, now says that if she doesn’t win the popular vote he’ll switch to Obama. Senator Pat Leahy of Vermont says she needs to throw in the towel for the good of the party. Well, that’s how it goes And Joe, I know you’re getting anxious to close . . . They’re locking up the joint, and no matter how many nickels she drops in the jukebox it won’t play “Hail To The Chief.” Any minute now she’ll be caught off-mike reprising the “I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy” line. But this is the way the Clinton era ends, not with a bang but a self-pitying whimper: We’re drinking, my friend To the end of a [long] episode Make it one for my baby And one more for the road. It’s 3 A.M. Do you know where your campaign is? © Mark Steyn, 2007

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008 19

> eyes right

Richard Prosser You go, Geert

utch politician Geert Wilders is my kind of bloke. His view of the 6,000 already there is that they are symbols of He’s virtually a Kiwi. In fact, if it wasn’t for the somewhat radicalisation, not places of worship and he points to the funding questionable matter of dieing his hair, he could almost be being poured into European Islamic organisations by extremist a Southern Man. groups in the Middle East. What is it, you may ask, about this Cloggie lawmaker which has Wilders doesn’t have a problem with individual Muslims. It’s earned him the respect of New Zealand’s best known and most their religion he wants got rid of, and its increasing militancy and loved right-wing opinionist? (That’s me, by the way). strident calls for domination. Thus no more immigration from Well, I’ve always liked the Dutch. They’re upfront, honest, Muslim countries, Muslim criminals stripped of Dutch citizenship straightforward people, hardworking and practical. They like to and deported, even law-abiding migrants paid to go home. call a spade a spade, a fool a fool, and, in the case of Geert Wilders, I say good on him. There is much which New Zealand can learn a Muslim immigrant an ungrateful bludging parasite who should from this man, and from the experiences of European countries sit down and shut up, or preferably, butt out and go home. which have strayed further, and for longer, down the treacherous, Wilders has turned from politician to film-maker. His fifteen- slippery, and ultimately doomed road to multiculturalism. minute film is entitled Fitna (which is apparently the Arabic word From Theodore Roosevelt in America in 1919, to Enoch Powell for “strife”). in Britain in 1968, to Australia’s Pauline Hanson in 1996, to our It spells out Wilders’ view of the Koran, Muslim immigration, own dear Winston every time it happens to suit him, many leaders Islam generally, and of the effects of overindulgence in the same, on and would-be leaders have warned of the dangers of the swampthe Netherlands and on Dutch ing of established culture by society. None of these views immigration. Wilders doesn’t have a problem are particularly complimenTwo common themes tary in this European nation run through all these indiwith individual Muslims. It’s their struggling to cope with almost viduals’s careers. Firstly, they a million ever-more fundahave all been vilified as racreligion he wants got rid of mentalist Muslims, from a ists by the liberals and the total population of around left-wing press. sixteen million people crammed into about the same land area Secondly, with the passage of time, they have all been proven as Canterbury. to be right. Wilders, who in 2007 was named Holland’s most effective MP, has Geert Wilders appears likely to join them. enjoyed a meteoric rise through the halls of Dutch power in recent None of them are or ever were racists, of course. No-one with years. He entered Parliament in 1998, leaving the Liberal Party for their eyes open could call Winston Peters a racist. The immigraFreedom and Democracy in 2004 to form his own Freedom Party. tion question is about culture, not about race. Eighteen months ago he was its only MP; today there are nine, The United States was built on migration. Men of every creed and the party is running at nearly 15% in the polls. and race, in the words of our own national anthem, flocked to Much of Wilders’ and his party’s support comes from a wave America in search of a dream, of freedom, of a better life. But of anti-Islamic sentiment sweeping through Europe. In the wake regardless of where they were from, they all became Americans, of the murders of fellow Dutchmen, filmmaker Theo van Gogh, just as Roosevelt expounded that they should: and right-wing politician Pim Fortuyn, and the so-called Danish “In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes Cartoons controversy, right-wing and anti-immigration parties here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to across much of the Continent have soared in popularity. Wilders us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is is riding the wave, and he isn’t mincing his words. an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or He wants the Koran banned in Holland, calling it fascist and birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man’s becoming in an incitement to violence. Islam is not a religion, he says, it’s an every facet an American and nothing but an American … There can ideology; “the ideology of a retarded culture.” Not stopping there, be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, Wilders wants a moratorium imposed on the building of any fur- but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for ther Mosques in Europe. but one flag, the American flag … We have room for but one language 20 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

here and that is the English language … and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.” Neither was Powell a racist, or if he was, then it was one of a very strange variety, for in wanting to keep Britain free from mass immigration he sought to preserve its culture and language, as it was, for those who had built it, and who lived there, even though, in his own words: “I regard many of the peoples in India as being superior in many respects – intellectually, for example, and in other respects – to Europeans.” And it is the same with Wilders, as it should be in New Zealand. The man is promoting his own culture and his own people, and their right to live in their own country with the familiarity of traditions long held and a language long established. Migrants may come, but only if they assimilate. Wilders’ gripe is that, in the case of Muslims in the Netherlands, they do not. Too many retain a first loyalty to their religion and their country of origin, rather than to their adopted homeland and its ways and language. Indeed, it is this which some interpretations of Islam demand, and according to Wilders, the two are incompatible and mutually exclusive. This writer agrees with him wholeheartedly. Formenting hate and separatism in their ghettos and enclaves, such people are anathema to the established culture of Europe’s enlightened nations. Worse is that – as predicted by Powell, amongst others – they are now breeding a second, and even a third, generation of offspring who are, despite being born in one country, still foreigners to it in terms of culture and loyalty. The Muslim extremists who bombed the London Underground were British-born. The man who stabbed Theo van Gogh was a second-generation Dutch-born Moroccan with dual citizenship. Even Pim Fortuyn’s murderer, a white Dutchman, claimed in Court that the killing was “to stop him exploiting Muslims as scapegoats.” Wilders’ position, understandably, is that Islam is something the Netherlands can no longer afford. Conform or leave is his message, and quite frankly, I couldn’t agree with him more. Tolerance and understanding have gone too far in this writer’s opinion. Migrants who refuse to assimilate become a cancer within their host society. Diversity and multiculturalism are twin evils which are eating away at the foundations of this society and others – and there are the beginnings of a backlash. Denmark, once a bastion of liberalism, has adopted some of the harshest anti-refugee and immigration laws in the European Union. Switzerland is to ban the building of minarets on Mosques, and the British National Party, once considered so extreme in its far-right policies that it was regarded as fringe now has some four dozen representatives in office at local council level. We have always had immigration in New Zealand. There wouldn’t be a New Zealand if we hadn’t. But we are still, and should be, an overwhelmingly monocultural nation. Even the idea of biculturalism is a lie, because it is Maori culture and Pakeha culture which have combined to create Kiwi culture, unique in its nature even if it was mostly British in its foundation. Multiculturalism is something we must resist at all costs. New Zealanders must never be forced to yield our language, our traditions, our values and our identity, simply because the insidious collectivists of the liberal left will label us as racists if we don’t. Frankly I’ve had enough of their snivelling apologism. Who gave them the right to the moral high ground anyway? Our immigration issue is largely an Asian one, rather than a Muslim one – for now – but the parallels are the same. The Chinese who came here in generations past happily adopted the unashamedly British culture they found; they learned English, mined for gold, opened market gardens, started successful businesses, gave

their children Anglicised names, and brought their cookbooks with them while leaving their holy books behind. They became New Zealanders. The same cannot be said of many Asian migrants today; they are still foreigners, with little intention of changing, and worse, no legal compulsion to do so. Today’s Chinese language signs, advertisements, and radio stations are lauded by our liberal media and Parliamentarians as symbols of a progressive society. In this writer’s view they are a symptom of a sick and fractionating nation. This country’s nonsensical Free Trade Agreement with China, due to be signed as I write, and bringing with it an inevitable influx of poorly-educated, low skilled Chinese workers, can only, and will certainly, make things worse. I have no problem with the Chinese having their own language – in China. But this is not China. It is New Zealand, and we speak English here. Get some respect, and learn the language – and more importantly, use it – or go home. Migrants who come to a new country, by definition, do so in search of something better than that which they left behind. Those who fail to assimilate, or live the pledge of their new allegiance, indicate only that they have come to take, not to contribute. They are like parasites in the body of the nation, and just as unwelcome. The Muslim fanatics of Europe and their liberal apologists everywhere may decry Geert Wilders as a racist and a xenophobe. To my mind he is a nationalist, a patriot, and a hero. We need more people like him in New Zealand, in Government and in the media, people unashamed to declare pride in their culture, unafraid to demand an equal measure of respect for it, from those who come here seeking its benefits. I say good on that man. You go, Geert.

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> line one

Chris Carter

Tearing down false gods

l Gore, if he is to be remembered for anything at all, use by the National Socialists, such as to tell really big lies, that it’s more than likely that along with being a winner of a Goebbels for instance found worked really well some 70-75 years major prize funded by explosive maker Alfred Nobel, he ago in Germany. Similarly sourced and equally well proven totaliwill be best remembered as the founder, and self elected tarian techniques beloved by the far left, such as demonising nonHigh Priest of a world wide religion, based pretty much, on pure, believers as being global warming “deniers”, “flat earthers”, or even unadulterated nonsense. As anyone at all who is even vaguely inter- worthy of being hung as actual heretics for the non acceptance of ested in the pursuit of fact over media generated fiction, is by now Gore’s new “Truth”, also have worked extremely well. well aware, we have reached a point, where irrefutable scientific Indeed it is only in the last few months, along with huge amounts evidence quite clearly shows the Rev. Gore to not only be a False of well documented scientific research and right up to the moment Prophet, but even one that has shamelessly lined his pockets with satellite temperature readings, that many people, despite the abuse, uncounted millions of dollars, conned from those dim enough have never the less gathered together the courage to realise and to to believe his man made global warming sermons and his happy- actually say that the Gore Emperor is now showing his big, fat, clappy followers that gathered together to worship at his feet. and very naked ass to the World. Peculiar thing about the United States in that for decades the The particularly worrying factor here in New Zealand however place has bred some of the most extraordinary “Message” bearers in is this. Quite understandably it was the world’s socialist states that History. Doomsday Cults abound in a land where it appears very first so enthusiastically accepted the Gore dogma that naturally large sections of the American appealed so much to their Population will believe just pathological need to crip The amount of ethanol that about anything. There is, howple capitalism and to have ever a fairly common thread even further control that would be used to simply fill a Land they might inflict on their amongst the folk who kick off a successful cult or new belief respective populations. But Rover once, if it had remained corn, already throughout Europe system. Invariably the instigator, or guru, according to for instance, we now see would have fed an African family of already a major back down a mental health tome I was reading recently, these folk are from a lot of the nuttier four for a year Psychopathological, usually “Save Mother Earth” ideas creating their new cult during that they were once so hysa period of extreme stress in their lives, gathering together peo- terically promoting, Bio-fuels being but one example. Months ple who are pre-conditioned towards a “True Believer Syndrome” back now, and this was very well reported, the ECC figured out meaning a congregation who will continue to believe a new doc- that the production and use as a fuel of Ethanol produces as much, trine even when it may be proven to be demonstrably false. if not more CO2 than the burning of oil based fuels. Also, by its Which brings us back to the Very Rev. Al Gore, who in fact production they would be a party to causing famine in the third recently stated that he put his film An Inconvenient Truth together world, massive rises in the price of bread etc in their own superduring a period of intense depression brought about by losing the markets, and that all in all it was really one dumb idea. Presidential Election eventually won by George W Bush. Gore, Here in New Zealand however, as if our Cabinet Ministers had a very experienced politician in arguably the toughest political never read a newspaper or checked out the Internet, our own menenvironment on Earth and therefore a brilliant exponent in the tal giants are still prattling on about ethanol based fuels as if it’s still art of coercive persuasion techniques that aim to suppress the abil- a viable plan of action! Equal ignorance as to what else has recently ity of people to reason or to think critically, simply changed tack been revealed in the area of climate change also brings into serious from his desire to lead the Nation, to creating a vehicle whereby question their suitability to even be allowed to clean out the parliahe might lead the World! As in power politics, truth of course is mentary dunnies let alone to be actually allowed to sit in the House. never to be much of a consideration...It’s all a matter of estab- Are they not yet aware that the very slight growth in the Earth’s overlishing a platform and then using all and any means to convince all temperatures over the last decade has been completely negated people of its validity, which of course includes techniques long in by a major temperature drop last year. That the Earth’s sea levels, far 22 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

The ECC figured out that the production and use as a fuel of Ethanol produces as much, if not more CO2 than the burning of oil based fuels

from rising, as Gore was proclaiming to be the case, have actually been dropping. That indeed, far from running the danger of getting severely sun burnt in the near future, we appear far more likely to become more than a little bit chilly! Yet our Clark-led government still sits around, with its Luddite mates the Greens, King Canute like, trying to hold back the tide, or change in climate, over which they, or anyone else will never effect or control. But back to the nuts and bolts of the hidden consequences, that as mentioned, make just one of Labour’s aforementioned carbon reduction plans a sheer nonsense, the production of Ethanol. Worldwide demand now for animal feed and ethanol production has forced corn prices up 30% so far this year. Add to this, drought in Australia and a very cold winter in that other great producer of corn, the United States and it appears that next year the price for corn will go right though the roof. Consuming approximately 30% of the available U.S. corn production, America’s 147 ethanol plants have already hit an economic wall with the major shortage of supply plus the current $6 a bushel cost of corn now making the production of ethanol uneconomic at $2.50 a gallon to produce. Worse is the effect that using a food source for energy production, in that beef, pork and chicken prices are moving upwards in an unprecedented manner, to say nothing about the other food based agricultural products that are used in the production of everything from corn flakes, corn syrup, cooking oils, even to lollies and soft-drinks to name but a few.

Yet still, with this knowledge freely available to those with the wit to simply go look for it, the left wing loonies continue on down a track now absolutely guaranteed to condemn the third world to starvation and their own populations to completely unnecessary economic hardships. By the way, as an aside, some figures gleaned from the net are more than a little interesting and perhaps put into some perspective the sheer idiocy and indeed moral outrage that should be applied to those who would turn the World’s food stocks into energy. The amount of ethanol that would be used to simply fill a Land Rover once, if it had remained corn, would have fed an African family of four for a year. Something I’m sure that had never occurred to our beloved Prime Minister as dressed in the gear deemed appropriate for yet another photo opportunity, she served an Ethanol blended Gull fuel to the equally ill informed recipient. We wont even mention here the carbon credits trading scheme, the enormous financial losses we are about to suffer as a result of the ill advised rush in signing up to the Kyoto Agreement. Suffice it to say that as it is daily becoming all too clearly obvious, Al Gore and his congregation over the next twelve months are going to be increasingly unmasked, as the Bible would have it, as promoters of a false religion. One seriously wonders what hysterical nonsense will be next adopted by people who by now should really know a whole lot better. Chris Carter appears in association with www.snitch.co.nz, a must-see site.

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> soapbox

Leonard Restall

… Those who can, teach! – The attributes of a good teacher

his title is in contrast to the rather cynical statement of a person who had gained a degree and then was advised to go attributed to George Bernard Shaw, ‘If you can do some- into teaching because at least the level of knowledge by this person thing well do it but if you can’t then teach it’. Unfortunately was greater than that of the students. When asked whether or not this seems to be a truism in which teaching, whatever it this person liked teaching the answer was an emphatic no! This was is, has come in for much criticism. Many people are inclined to a clear example of a person taking on a job that was not going to be believe that teaching is something one does, not something one suitable, although the individual knowledge level was high and the studies, yet there is a need for a general conception of teaching person had a degree. There are more than likely many such cases in to be held in order for the knowledge of it to be used to guide schools where graduates have gone into teaching to use their degree our teaching practice. but are not suited to the art of teaching. A theory of teaching should cover at least three questions: How What basic skills should a person have, and what kind of dispodo teachers behave; why do they behave as they do and what are sition or personality is found within successful teachers? This may the effects? At present, the results of teaching, which should show lead us to the position of believing that a person is born a teacher out in the achievement levels reached by students occupy most of or made into one. Both of these positions could be true, although the comments made on teaching. For most people the act of teach- it is more than likely that the individual characteristics possessed ing is to impart knowledge and skills in order that some measur- by a person could be the important factor for determining the able required level of learning (changed behaviour) takes place, suitability of a person becoming a teacher. The additional skills so academic results become a gained through training focus of determining the effecwould enhance the quali There needs to be some clear tiveness of teachers. It seems ties already present. from current criticism and by An improvement in definition of the standards that the pressure from some profesteaching skills and stratesional bodies that there is some gies may improve the results make a good teacher, and this way to go to improve the state from teaching, but could of teaching. this infer that we are getting could start with identifying the The recent report by the a better quality of teachers? Ministry of Education, I suppose an improvement individuality characteristics ‘Becoming a Teacher in 21st in outcome could be conCentury’, was calling for a set strued as an improvement required for a good teacher of clear teaching standards to in the quality of the teachimprove teacher quality, to ers and would satisfy most raise teaching standards and to improve the quality of teachers. people. But this may not be so, for this is what has been the mode At present this is not clear but remains a crucial problem for edu- of training for a long time. There needs to be some clear definication. Continuing criticism of mediocre and poor achievement by tion of the standards that make a good teacher, and this could a disappointingly high percentage of students throws blame upon start with identifying the individuality characteristics required for the educators within the system. The ERO (Educational Review a good teacher. There are a number of analytical questionnaire Office) have expressed concern that there are too many ineffective tools used by this writer, which are in general use that identify teachers in teaching positions and too many getting through the crucial characteristics important for a teacher and some of these system of qualification, therefore being a part of the problem. will be given in this article. What is a good teacher, and what are some of the essential requireMost people would accept and recognise a good teacher by ments that need to be identified within a person before embarking the results they obtain from their teaching. They should be more on a teaching career? These questions need to be clearly answered concerned with the learning outcomes, become disappointed by those responsible for the selection and training of teachers. There with any underachievement, and in some cases put the blame for needs to be some recognition of the specific requirements of the char- underachievement upon themselves rather than upon the pupils. acteristics for a good teacher such as, what level of knowledge should This would make teachers more accountable for their actions be needed? One particular case in mind of a misplaced person is that rather than just pass it off as a pupil problem because of their 24 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

background, or ethnicity, or social reason. It is not to say that these later reasons are not a strong cause of underachievement but a good teacher can effectively overcome them. What are some of the important attributes found in good effective teachers? Well, here are some: • They have a passion for learning. This means that there is an intense internal drive that causes them some emotional response. • They provide learning experiences agreeable to different student preferred learning styles. • They are prepared to recognise individuality differences and learning style differences. This may be achieved by using analytical programmes. • They are motivated to continually improve their knowledge base within their field of specialisation. • They have a sound knowledge of motivation and the ability to motivate students to achieve of their best. • They become serious about causes of underachievement that may result from factors within the school and classroom. Most people would accept and recognise a good teacher • They are continually trying to get their students to by the results they obtain from their teaching. They achieve higher standards. • They exhibit confidence should be more concerned with the learning outcomes, and enthusiasm towards learning. become disappointed with any underachievement, and • They seek to draw learning out of their students in some cases put the blame for underachievement upon as result of their teaching strategies rather than trying themselves rather than upon the pupils to drive learning into their students. Teachers may not have all these attributes, but their measure of effectiveness would be so cally that a high knowledge level is a major criterion for the serimuch better if they have at least these attributes. Some of these ous art of teaching; neither may it be assumed that a low level of attributes can be learnt but others are associated with the indi- knowledge is sufficient. viduality characteristics associated with different individual types. The quest by the Ministry of Education to improve teaching Therefore, this should be an important reason for including indi- standards and teacher quality is very is a very commendable task vidual type analysis within the battery of tests used for selecting and should enhance considerably the teaching profession and keep people for teacher training. It should not be assumed automati- NZ achievement standards in the top levels in the world. INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008 25

FOREST CHUMP IS CULLEN’S ‘TREELORD’ DEAL GOING to RE-OPEN TREATY ‘GRAVY TRAIN’? The Government’s plan to confirm the ‘Treelords’ Waitangi deal looks set to re-open previous “full and final” treaty settlements, reports Mike Butler

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If the Government agrees to this proposal...South Island tribe Ngai Tahu would trigger a top-up clause in its $170-million treaty settlement. Another tribe, Tainui, has a similar relativity clause in its $170-million settlement signed in 1997

collective $500-million so-called “Treelords” forestry proposal, of seven central North Island tribes for the 189,000-hectare Kaingaroa forest plantation, is the biggest treaty settlement proposal to date. If the Government agrees to this proposal, presented by Tuwharetoa’s paramount chief, Tumu te Heuheu, to Treaty Negotiations Minister Michael Cullen, on Friday, April 4, South Island tribe Ngai Tahu would trigger a topup clause in its $170-million treaty settlement. Another tribe, Tainui, has a similar relativity clause in its $170-million settlement signed in 1997. The $500-million Treelords proposal raises a number of questions: 1. Can full-and-final treaty settlements ever be possible when top-up relativity clauses are written into settlements? 2. Are settlement proceeds, cash and assets, being captured by elites that emerged during the claim process? 3. Is there a mandate for the cash-for-grievances process, or have successive governments proceeded down the treaty settlement path assuming there is widespread support when in fact opposition exists? 4. Are settlements involving forests and fisheries in error, since there is a dispute over whether reference to those assets should be included in the official version of the treaty? The discovery of the “Littlewood treaty” in 1989 sparked this debate.

Dr Cullen said he expected little change from $500-million if the deal for the nine forests involving the seven iwi proceeded. That amount is 1.18 percent of the $59.4-billion Government core revenue in 2006-07. The key elements to the proposed deal with Ngai Tuhoe, Ngati Manawa, Ngati Rangitihi, Ngati Tuwharetoa, Ngati Whare, Ngati Whakaue and Raukawa involve: 28 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

1. Transfer of the forest from crown ownership to a trust holding company; 2. A sum of $248-million (on current values) being paid from rental trust funds; 3. Land area totalling 170,000 hectares, valued at $170-million to $190-million, being signed over to the claimants; 4. The Crown negotiating separate treaty settlements with the seven iwi involved; 5. The Crown offering an apology.

NZPA/Rob Tucker

After settlement, the claimants would be entitled to annual rental income, currently running at $15-million. Under the proposed deal, the Crown would retain 10 per cent of the forest land to look after the concerns of other possible claimants. The forests involved are Kaingaroa, Waimihia, Taurewa, Horohoro, Whakarewarewa, Waitui, Pureora, Marotiri and Crater. These make up the largest plantation in the southern hemisphere. Grievances over land sales and purchases between Maori and non-Maori have existed since the earliest transactions

in the nineteenth century. In the 1920s, land commissions investigated claims that land had been confiscated or otherwise fraudulently obtained in the previous century, and many were found to be valid. By the 1940s, settlements in the form of modest annual payments had been arranged with several tribes, some of whom came to consider the payments inadequate, especially as inflation eroded their value. During the late 1960s and 1970s, the Treaty of Waitangi became the focus of a strong Maori protest movement that INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COMâ&#x20AC;&#x192; May 2008â&#x20AC;&#x192; 29

called for the government to “honour the treaty” and to “redress treaty grievances”. The Waitangi Tribunal was established in 1975 as a permanent commission of inquiry charged with making recommendations on claims brought by Maori relating to actions or omissions of the Crown, which breach the promises made in the Treaty of Waitangi. Non-Maori were excluded. In 1985 the Fourth Labour Government extended the tribunal’s powers to allow it to consider Crown actions dating back to 1840, including the period covered by the New Zealand Wars. The number of claims quickly rose, and during the early 1990s, the government began to negotiate settlements of historical (pre-1992) claims. A grievance evolved as regulation of commercial fisheries eroded Maori control guaranteed in the English wording of the treaty. In 1989, an interim agreement was reached, and the Crown transferred 10 percent of New Zealand’s fishing quota (60,000 tonnes) together with shareholdings in fishing companies and $50-million in cash to the Waitangi Fisheries Commission until an agreement was reached as to how the assets were to be shared among tribes. In 1992, a second part of the deal, referred to as the Sealord deal, marked full and final settlement of Maori commercial fishing claims. This included 50 percent of Sealord Fisheries and 20 percent of all new species brought under the quota system, more shares in fishing companies, and $18-million in cash. In total it was worth around $170-million. Tainui’s confiscation claims were settled, in 1995, for a package worth $170-million, in a mixture of cash and Crown-owned land. The settlement was accompanied by a formal apology, delivered by Queen Elizabeth II in person during her 1995 visit to New Zealand. Ngai Tahu’s claims covered a large proportion of the South Island, and related to land sales that took place from the 1840s. Ngai Tahu’s 1997 settlement sought recognition of their relationship with the land, as well as cash and property totalling $170-million. Claimant group

year settled

value of settlement (NZ$)

Fisheries

1992

170,000,000

Ngati Rangiteaorere

1993

760,000

Hauai

1993

715,682

Ngati Whakaue

1994

5,210,000

Waikato - Tainui Raupatu

1995

170,000,000

Waimakuku

1995

375,000

Rotoma

1996

43,931

Te Maunga

1996

129,032

Ngai Tahu

1997

170,000,000

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Ngati Turangitukua

1998

5,000,000

Pouakani

1999

2,000,000

Te Uri o Hau

2000

15,600,000

Ngati Ruanui

2001

41,000,000

Ngati Tama

2001

14,500,000

Ngati Awa

2003

43,390,000

Ngati Tuwharetoa (BOP)

2003

10,500,000

Nga Rauru Kitahi

2003

31,000,000

Te Arawa (Lakes)

2004

2,700,000

Ngati Mutunga

2005

14,900,000

Te Roroa

2005

9,500,000

By February 11, 2008, 1430 claims had been registered with the tribunal. Historical claims are those relating to an act or omission by the crown before September 21, 1992. Current claims are those where claimants say a current Government policy, action, or inaction is in breach of treaty principles. The number of claims lodged bears no relationship to the number of settlements that will be required. To November 2007, there have been 21 settlements totalling just over $743-million. The prospect of Ngai Tahu returning to the negotiating table could be triggered under the terms of a relativity clause in Ngai Tahu’s 1997 settlement, which says the tribe has a right to return to the negotiating table if the value of all treaty settlements between 1994 and 2044 ends up being more than $1-billion. Ngai Tahu leader Mark Solomon confirmed in a report in the Dominion Post on Thursday, April 3, that if the Government accepted the claimants’ terms it would open the door for Ngai Tahu to return to the treaty negotiations table. He said a minimum $400-million Treelords settlement would take the total amount ploughed into treaty settlements above the previous National Government’s $1-billion cap, known as the “fiscal envelope”. Claimants want legislation passed before this year’s parliamentary election to enable settlement of their proposal. Before this biggest-yet settlement is rushed through, however, a number of issues should be dealt with. For a start, do top-up clauses exist in each of the 21 settlements listed above? “Full and final” settlements had been made with Tainui, Ngai Tahu and others decades before 1975, when the Waitangi Tribunal was established, and a new generation of tribal representatives have come back to the government asking for more. Top-up clauses would appear to guarantee a continual flow of free money from the government, making full-and-final settlements impossible. Who controls settlement cash and assets? Auckland academic

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to those resources and to one another.” (4) Dr Rata told the New Zealand Herald that: “once Maori tribes were given back assets, they behaved just like white New Zealanders. The aggressive and adventurous grabbed the spoils, the rest remained as poor as ever.” (5) A key case study in Dr Rata’s first book, A Political Economy of Neotribal Capitalism (2000) published by Lexington Books, US, concerned Ngati Kuri, of the Far North, and described setting up a whanau-based oyster farming operation, according to the New Zealand Herald. (5) The same NZ Herald story reported that the deputy chairman of Ngati Kuri’s Board and her brother faced corruption charges when they planned to reward themselves with $200,000 and a BMW each. This split between the wealthy tribal elite and the rest of the tribe appeared in a widely publicised case involving alleged theft of South Westland greenstone by helicopter pilots. The Government in 1997 vested South Island tribe Ngai Tahu with the right of ownership of the greenstone, also known as “pounamu”. Yet a former member of the Ngai Tahu Pounamu Management Group, greenstone carver Bevan Climo, claims Ngai Tahu were the thieves since pounamu was never the Government’s to give to them. Three helicopter pilots jailed after private Ngai Tahu investigations led to police prosecutions claimed a customary right to the stone, which they found in remote creeks. Anyone may collect a piece of greenstone found on the West Coast if it can be personally carried. The amounts taken greatly exceeded that. One pilot removed up to 40 tonnes of the stone from South Westland between 1997 and 2004. The claim for the Kaingaroa Forest appears legitimate if based on a translation of the Treaty of Waitangi that includes reference to forests and fisheries. But there is a dispute over whether the version used in drafting the 1975 Treaty of Waitangi Act was the correct version.

n 1989, brother and sister John Littlewood and Beryl Needham discovered an envelope marked “Treaty of Waitangi” stashed inside an old linen drawer. The hand-written text on pale blue notepaper was an apparent draft of the treaty. It has no reference to forests, fisheries and treasures, it is crystal clear on the transfer of sovereignty, and perfectly translates to the Maori language document signed by the chiefs. It is believed that this is British Resident James Busby’s lost final draft from which the Maori version was translated. The Littlewood Treaty, as it came to be known, says:

NZPA

Dr Elizabeth Rata identified the emergence of new elites resulting from the settlement process. Dr Rata wrote that the treaty settlement “processes established the ‘neotribe’, a politico-economic organisation that is fundamentally different from the traditional tribe. That difference is the result of the treaty settlement process of privatisation and capitalisation of resources and the accompanying establishment of political structures of control (or modes of regulation) over the relations of people 32 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

Her Majesty has accordingly been pleased to appoint Mr William Hobson, a Captain of the Royal Navy, to be Governor of such parts of New Zealand as may now or hereafter be ceded to Her Majesty and proposes to the chiefs of the Confederation of United Tribes of New Zealand and other such chiefs to agree on the following articles. Article first The chiefs of the Confederation of United Tribes and the other chiefs who have not joined the confederation, cede to the Queen of England for ever the entire sovreignty (sic) of their country. Article second The Queen of England confirms and guarantees to the chiefs

and the tribes and to all the people of New Zealand, the possession of their lands, dwellings, and all their property. But the chiefs of the Confederation of United Tribes and the other chiefs grant to the Queen, the exclusive rights of purchasing such lands as the proprietors thereof may be disposed to sell at such prices as may be agreed upon between them and the person appointed by the Queen to purchase from them. Article third In return for the cession of their sovreignty (sic) to the Queen, the people of New Zealand shall be protected by the Queen of England and the rights and privileges of British subjects shall be granted to them. Signed, William Hobson Consul and Lieutenant Governor Now we the chiefs of the Confederation of United Tribes assembled at Waitangi, and we, the other tribes of New Zealand, having understood the meaning of these articles, accept them and agree to them all. In witness whereof our names or marks are affixed. Done at Waitangi on the 4th of February, 1840. (7) Investigate magazine, which featured the Littlewood Treaty in its January 2004 edition, noted that: 1. Maori signatories “are ceding their ‘entire Sovereignty’ over the country to Queen Victoria. 2. The Queen guarantees “not just to the ‘chiefs and the tribes’ but also ‘all the people of New Zealand’ the possession of ‘their lands, dwellings and all their property’.” The translation used as a basis for treaty claims, however, omits the phrase “all the people of New Zealand”. 3. The civil servants who drafted the 1975 Treaty of Waitangi Act used a rough draft written by Busby, and dated 3rd February 1840. Differences in wording of the English and Maori versions have dogged dealings with the treaty over the years. Investigate contends that “the loss from historical scrutiny of this all important draft has allowed conniving individuals to assign heretofore unheard of “interpretations” to the Maori text of the treaty.” Dr. Phil Parkinson of the National Library, arguably New Zealand’s leading handwriting expert for early New Zealand historical documents, confirmed to historian Martin Doutre the handwriting on the Littlewood document as that of James Busby, British Resident. (8) The Littlewood Treaty is held at National Archives, and was on display in the vault room in early 2006. While researching another matter there, I found various letters and other documents written by Busby on the same blue paper with the same handwriting. The implications of the Littlewood Treaty being the missing final draft of the Treaty of Waitangi are as huge as the official silence on the matter. With sovereignty ceded, with a treaty between the Crown and “all the people of New Zealand”, and without reference to forests and fisheries in the treaty, there would be: 1. No basis for a $170-million fisheries settlement; 2. No basis for a $500-million Treelords deal; 3. No basis for claims for flora, fauna, or anything else claimed as a treasure;

4. No demand for partnership between the crown and chiefs and tribes; and 5. No devolution of taxpayer funds to tribes to manage separate and parallel health and welfare systems. The issue of mandate is clearly defined among claimants. In treaty talk, a mandate is the process by which the claimant group gives authority to a representative group to enter into discussions on their behalf. On the other side, one would imagine that the people of New Zealand should have, at some stage, been allowed to give authority to their representatives in parliament to conduct the treaty settlement process. But there has never been a clear process by which the citizens of New Zealand have given the Government the authority to resolve grievances by transferring cash and assets to tribal elites. The Waitangi Tribunal assumes that “New Zealanders accept that these issues (grievances resulting from colonial wars, confiscation and large-scale land loss) must be addressed.” (2) Without ever directly seeking a mandate, successive governments have responded to tribunal recommendations on an arguably ad hoc basis. An indication of public attitude was shown in the huge support for former National Party leader Don Brash’s 2004 Orewa speech, in which he warned of a “dangerous drift towards racial separatism in New Zealand, and the development of the now entrenched treaty grievance industry.” Opposition to “the grievance industry” is evident in the fact that a number of political parties have wanted to cap and put a time limit on treaty claims. Such opposition should at least prompt some sort evaluation of the results of 33 years of the Waitangi Tribunal – before any government rashly enters into a $500-million deal that transfers the Kaingaroa Forest to seven tribes, and a potential raft of top-ups. Footnotes: (1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Waitangi_claims_ and_settlements (2) http://www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz/about/thewaitangitribunalandthesettlementofhistoricaltreatyclaims.asp (3) http://www.stuff.co.nz/4461879a8153.html Ngai Tahu ready to demand top-up (4) “The Treaty and Neotribal Capitalism,” Dr Elizabeth Rata, August 2003 (5) “Tough talker on tribal issues”, NZ Herald, November 4, 2006. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story. cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10409060 (6) “Tribe guards greenstone but fears huge losses to thieves”, NZ Herald, June 3, 2006. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/location/story.cfm?l_id=154&objectid=10384786 (7) “The end of the golden gravy train,” Investigate magazine, January 2004. http://www.investigatemagazine.com/ jan4treaty.htm (8) The Littlewood Treaty is the final draft of the Treaty of Waitangi, Martin Doutre. http://www.onenzfoundation. co.nz/The%20final%20treaty%20draft.htm Mike Butler is a freelance writer and former Chief Sub-Editor for the Hawkes Bay Herald-Tribune. This is his first contribution to Investigate n. INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008 33

QualiTea, IntegriTea How NZ Tea Drinkers Helped Create A Global Brand

The Dilmah story is routine fodder these days for business magazines like Fortune, but few people know the crucial part New Zealand played in making the tea brand an international success. IAN WISHART caught up with founder Merrill Fernando in Auckland

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errill J Fernando sits oppoThe Dilmah story, in a way, began here in New Zealand, because site, his emerald Sri Lankan it was an idea from advertising gurus Curtiss and Spence that national costume catchchanged the way Dilmah did business globally: personifying the ing an early morning sunbrand. beam through the window of “The degree of warmth in Australia is great,” agrees Fernando, Auckland’s Laingholm Hotel “but here even more so. People feel so attached to Dilmah, because upstairs coffee bar, giving they can relate the tea to a man, Dilmah tea has a face, but all the him an almost ethereal glow other brands are like faceless multinationals.” against the dark timber tables. And as the face of his company, Merrill Fernando has become But naturally it’s not coffee the almost as iconic as his tea. It’s a rare entrepreneur who can pull Eastern magnate is drinking; instead a pot of steaming Dilmah it off: Remington’s Victor Kiam was the guy who liked the shavgraces the table, adorned with the hotel china. The steam from ers so much “I bought the company”, and who can forget local the spout of wisps through the same sunbeam, and for a moment hero Michael Hill? But even Hill had a near miss in the late 1980s, there is almost an Aladdin’s Lamp feel to the whole scene. The with a brief ill-fated venture into women’s footwear that led cynonly thing missing is a genie. ics to mutter, “Michael Hill – cobbler”. For a 77 year old, Fernando doesn’t look a day over 60, and For Fernando, the decision to peg his entire brand on himself for a man heading a US$500 million global empire with 36,000 was a risky one, and not an idea that he liked. But it happened staff and hangers-on, he doesn’t look stressed at all. first here in New Zealand, and the way kiwi tea-drinkers reacted There is, however, a poignancy about this New Zealand visit set the scene for the growth of Dilmah globally. For the first two – it is Fernando’s last in his current role. After more than a decade years in the Australasian market, the company had used TV comof personal brand-building in New Zealand and Australia, the mercials fronted by a Sri Lankan model. But a constant plea from distinctive Sri Lankan with the mellifluous voice is taking a bow, his New Zealand ad agency to try the direct approach, coupled handing more of the day to day management of Dilmah Tea with advice from friends at a dinner in Auckland, finally peracross to his sons he named it after, Malik and Dilhan – the latsuaded the Dilmah boss to give it a try. ter glancing up from a brooding dark pool of English Breakfast “I had developed the concept of going direct to the supermarthat he’s just finished stirring. This visit, then, is a chance to fly ket – couldn’t go to the consumer, so the supermarkets after two the Merrill flag, to introduce the younger blood, and to enjoy a years of battling took Dilmah on. Thereafter I took a different brief holiday at the end of Auckland’s Indian summer. view to advertising and promotion. I was persuaded to go on 36 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008 37

screen without any celebrities and tell viewers what we do. At the time we had 3.9% of this market, but I was persuaded by the advertising agency to do this. For two years I had refused, but one day in a weak moment at Sails Restaurant at dinner I was speaking to a lady there, and said, ‘Look, if I go on TV and talk about tea, what will you think, will you buy it?’. She said, ‘Yes, because if you tell us this is your tea, we will trust you and buy it. If the product is good, we will stay with you. If it is bad, you will lose your integrity.’ “We went over to a friend’s house with a settee and a palm, and recorded the first ad that very night, explaining that I had dedicated my life to tea and so on. Because I was leaving the next day, so we had to do it then. That was in July. In September, when the next sales figures came out, they had gone up to 9% from 3.9%. “The research showed comments like ‘we trust this man, he has integrity’, ‘we’ve tried this, it tastes good’. I boldly said that my tea was the finest tea on earth, and people then found this for themselves. And we are now number one, for the past four years in this market, ahead of Bell Tea and Choysa. “We are small, and we are a family company, and I think New Zealanders respect that. The family businesses are disappearing and the giants are growing, so the exception – little firms like us that survive and do an honest job in marketing their product get a lot of sympathy.” Not so small anymore, however. From seventh placing in 2003, Dilmah has punched its way to become the third largest standalone global tea brand in the world, according to Fortune magazine last year, behind world-leader’s Lipton and Twinings respectively.

ut getting Dilmah to market was a tough ask in the first place. Fernando’s own background in the Ceylonese tea industry from the 1950s onwards meant he had a deep working knowledge of the business, but when he broke away from the conglomerates to form his own company in 1988, he didn’t realize the fight he was buying. “It was very, very difficult, but the worst thing we find is that we are growing on the quality, freshness, packing at source and the philosophy that brings hope to plantation workers and the community. We are in fact sharing our profits with our people because it is a completely different exercise of mind. “Unknowingly, I made a commitment because at the time I came into the market with Dilmah the market had been destroyed, because previously – up to about 30 years ago – tea and coffee trades, including in this country, were in the hands of individuals like you – parents, father and son or father and daughter working in family units, selling on quality. “Then the multinationals slowly came and they’d never built the brands they acquired. They came into this market, New Zealand, England and Australia and started acquiring companies one by one. And with that they got it, the power of marketing was being concentrated in the hands of three or four people, rather than 20 or 30 small operators. The smaller family companies grew on the quality of their tea, they never started discounting. So the multinationals and big traders’ weapon was price, not quality. They sold it on price. If the usual price was $1.99 they sold it for 99cents. “Tea became commoditised, and the tea was imported into rich countries, blended and packed, marketed, often as Ceylon tea. Now the value addition and marketing took place in other countries and the poor farmers were not looked after.

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“But when the small companies were in the business, there were as many suppliers in the producing countries, and everyone up the supply chain was happy because they got a good, decent price and everyone was happy. But when tea was commoditised they moved away from quality. “When I started, as I said, I wasn’t aware of it at the time. I said I would give the consumer the finest tea on earth. Previously tea was identified by origin, Ceylon tea, or Indian tea. Then it became branded tea, so you began to pay money for the brand name. Branded tea was not as good quality. “So there was an opportunity for me to come back with Ceylon tea. All I did was to bring back a quality that your parents had been enjoying but which the [multinationals] had been denying them. Also, the commoditization of tea created poverty in pro-

ducing countries. Previously in these times tea had sold for say three rupees a pound, but in time with commoditization, tea went down to, say, one rupee a pound. The cost of production might actually have been 1 rupee and 50 cents. But the trade, the marketing power, rested in the hands of three or four internationals and buying power rested in the hands of the same people. And suppliers, producing countries, had no choice. If they didn’t buy, they couldn’t sell. “My mission and commitment was to bring relief to plantation workers, and the fact that value addition and marketing was done by me. The profits would be spent in the community to reinvest in making tea sustainable. “I didn’t realize that I struck at the very core of colonial monopoly trading, because I started value-adding at source, and I started

“We went over to a friend’s house with a settee and a palm, and recorded the first ad that very night, explaining that I had dedicated my life to tea and so on. When the next sales figures came out, they had gone up to 9% from 3.9%”

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008 39

So we focused on quality, freshness, which remains unmatched today. “So the background to your question is that I didn’t realise the big boys would come down on us like that. Even today in some markets, when we get on the shelf, the Twinings and other people come and say to the retailer, ‘we will give you promotional money…’ Once in the UK they succeeded, but we are slowly getting back. The power of the big people weighs heavily on Dilmah, because we are going on quality.”

marketing my own product. So I was attacking the very foundations of these things, and I didn’t realize. People when I started up – the Coles buyer in Australia told me I was nuts, that I didn’t have a chance, because the big people, the multinationals, know what the consumer wants. I said ‘I beg to differ, they don’t know what the consumer wants, they know what profit margin they want. The consumer is captive to what they decide should be on the shelf ’. “He said, ‘OK, I’ll take two lines. So we gave him two types of tea, same quality as we make today, and the market leader was Unilever Lipton at the time, and their price was $1.99 for 100 bags, and we said we would sell at $2.19 at the time. Coles said, ‘you won’t have a hope, you have to respect the market-leader, and I said Dilmah’s quality was ten times better, but you had to respect the market and the buyer’s views, so I said I would sell at $1.89. “I thought, I’m a small fry, Lipton won’t be bothered about me, but they came at me like a ton of bricks. On promotion, Unilever Lipton dropped their price to $1.49 for 100 bags! “Talking to people, they said ‘what you are doing as a producer is to attack the multinational and the colonial style of business’. 40 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

or Merrill Fernando, the key pitch has been telling consumers that not all teas are created equal. Just link wine blends are not top-of-the-range, so too ordinary blended teas lose the subtleties of a pure strain from one plantation or region. Dilmah, because it is ploughing money back into the plantations, cannot compete on price. So the marketing difference is built around “qualitea”. “I introduced a single-origin tea, garden fresh unblended tea, which none of the traders can match. I have a total commitment to tea, and fortunately my two boys share that. We are the only vertically-integrated tea company in the world because we own from the tea gardens right up to the supermarket brand. This came by chance, I didn’t plan it that way,” says Fernando. His son Dilhan, who is taking over the role of global marketing for Dilmah, underscores the point. “The importance of what my father is saying on vertical integration is underlined by the fact that in plantations there is no money to be had, they are losing money, it is not a profitable exercise.” “Lipton, Tata (makers of Tetleys), Unilever,” interjects Merrill, “they all had lots of plantations, they were losing money so they sold all the plantations.” “Yet the interesting thing,” continues Dilhan, “after Tata divested, when they went into a workers’ cooperative, all those estates that had been losing money started to make money again. The reason is, with tea, it’s a natural beverage. Commercial reasoning cannot manage the tea business. It has to be emotion, absolute passion and absolute commitment. So if you look at it purely in terms of profit – you can’t look at it in numbers. It must be driven by passion. The numbers will come, eventually, but you can’t be too greedy in the numbers. Unfortunately that also makes us a little bit unique, which is sad because the type of tea that my father talks about in terms of quality is what made the tea industry great, what made tea the second most popular beverage in the world after water, because there were hundreds of Dilmahs, - in the sense of family businesses.” Being a family business, competing on quality rather than price, Dilmah’s marketing has needed to combat the resilience of the larger players, and Fernando’s preferred form of protection has been to control as many aspects of the manufacturing process as possible. “We have several thousand acres of tea plantations, and the factories, all affiliated with tea, and the tea industry, so we go straight from the tea garden to the branded product, then we have got a tea broking firm which acts between the producer and the exporter. When Dilmah comes out, it is a home made product. I have made a point of investing in every segment of the tea industry.” So much so, that Dilmah is now the largest supplier of tea-bag tags in the world – it even makes the tags for rival tea companies! It happened because Fernando was forced to diversify into printing. “Now we have got the largest printing and packaging company

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in Sri Lanka, so all of our printing and packaging is done within our company. And we do printing for Tetley, Twinings, Lipton, so many companies. We are the largest supplier of tea-bag tags in the world. “When I started the business I had to import my tea bag tags from Japan, which took four or five months. If there was a defect in the product it would take four months to get replacements. This

wouldn’t do. I told a friend of mine, a small time printer, to try and do it locally, but he needed further capital investment. He went to someone else, and someone else, but they all said no. He came back to me, almost in tears, and explained that no one was willing to invest in the press they needed to do the work. “I said, ‘how much is this printing press you need?’. He told me it was $118,000. I said ‘Can you run the business?’ He said, ‘Yes’, so I said ‘Then I will buy the machine for you’, and that machine prints envelopes and tags. I gave him free shares in the company, and today it is by far the largest printer and packager in Sri Lanka, and supplier of tea bag envelopes and tags to the world.” Surely, we wonder, he must get tempted to slip a little Dilmah logo on the Lipton tags? The question is met with side-splitting laughter, and one gets the feeling that this indeed may have crossed their minds, even if only fleetingly.

hat does surprise is the discovery that Sri Lanka’s largest tea company did not sell its product in Sri Lanka until 2002. “Traditionally” admits Dilhan, “we were always an export business because in Sri Lanka the market is dominated by unbranded tea, everybody has a friend who has a tea estate, and a tea chest, and you come to the shop and you buy a little packet of tea from out of the tea chest, which is a good way of doing it, but now there are supermarkets and the modern trade, so there is more of a branded sector which is about 30% of the market now. Ultimately it was costing us so much in samples, because when we started sponsoring the Sri Lankan cricket team we didn’t have Dilmah tea on the Sri Lankan market, and then people kept telling us, ‘Look, we want to try this tea, you are sponsoring the Sri Lankan team but we can’t buy it’, so we were having to send all these samples out, and in the end we decided to put it on the market. Now we sit at the premium end of the market.” So with the changing of the guard, are consumers likely to notice any difference? “Well,” says Dilhan, “first of all my father, although 77 years old, still puts in a full day’s work, and we wouldn’t want that to change because that’s probably what keeps him going, and secondly as the business gets larger it is very important that my brother and I step in and take on much larger responsibilities than we traditionally have. But in terms of differing, our business is unique in that it’s a tea business with heart, and commitment and passion, and those are fundamentals that drive my brother and I in the same way as my father. We might differ a little bit in our approach, particularly in regard to the younger market, but our approach is simply to take the same elements which I believe are as relevant today as they were in the 1950s when my father first started. Things like expertise, talking about passion, the authenticity, the commitment, younger people want it but they just like it to be communicated in a different way.” Those differences in reaching the younger market include a new range of ready-to-drink iced teas, due out next summer.

42 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

“That’s something we will be coming out with,” says Dilhan. “In Europe we have a patented process but we were not content to adopt the conventional – what we did was we worked over six years to develop a ready-to-drink tea. The currently technology is that you simply make the tea from black tea, cool it, then unfortunately add chemicals to take the sedimentation out, and then it is bottled. So essentially the current so-called state of the art is that, which is nothing – you could actually use a tea bag and do it at home much cheaper, with a better quality. “So what we decided is we had to be very different, so we went to a process using fresh green leaf which we pick and within a matter of hours convert into ready-to-drink tea. So we produce the concentrate, which is at that point stable, on one of my estates about two hours drive from Colombo, and we do it on the estate – so the tea is harvested and within a matter of hours it is converted from the green leaf, without any processing, which means it is the closest to nature. Of course we patented that process. It took us a long time and it’s a much more expensive process than the current technology for RTD tea,” says Dilhan. His father says the new tea will be delicately flavoured. “The man behind it was the man who designed ‘instant tea’ for Unilever. So we commissioned him to design a completely new process for RTD tea – I do not want to follow others. We have now produced some small trial runs of ready-to-drink tea which tastes completely different. We bring out the taste of real tea, and peach flavor and lemon flavor just to compliment that. It’s going on the market in Europe first, and then to Australia and New Zealand. We want to talk to Frucor here. We want to ship the concentrate to countries we want to market in, and get a local bottler to market it under our brand.” One aspect of the new tea likely to be welcomed is a big reduction in sugar content. “There are two defects in the current ready-to-drink market,” explains Dilhan. “One is that it doesn’t taste like tea, and it has only 0.4% tea on average, and secondly because it has certain deficiencies in taste and character of tea it is dosed heavily with both flavor and sugar. “In our case, we’re using much lower – less than 50% of the sugar that most products have, and as my father said, a ‘touch’ of flavor. “Today, if you pick up an RTD, you will find it is not much different from picking up a cordial or fruit based beverage, whereas in ours tea is the dominant element in the flavor profile. That is why it took so long. “People look to tea for health. If you take tea and dose it with sugar, there’s no health benefit in that, so we have to stay true to the fundamentals of tea, which is natural goodness. That’s what took us so long. Hopefully in the next season we will be in the market.” It’s a long way from ten years ago when Dilmah had just 3.9% of the NZ market. Today, that figure hovers between 26% and 29%. The Fernandos put that success down to a recognition in the market about the quality of single origin teas, and a resonance between consumers and a company prepared to “say it like it is” in their TV commercials. “My father and I appear already together,” says Dilhan Fernando. “Like my father was saying, if we got someone like Russell Crowe to front our brand we would probably get some good sales in the short term, but it would fundamentally go against our values, our values are that we are a family, we are bringing tea with commitment and passion, and I think there’s nothing wrong with coming and saying it like it is.” n

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Eating disorders:

Cause & Effect Eating disorders are on the rise, but so is the research into their causes, reports Nikki Mascali 44 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008 45

“ Y

ou don’t need food.” “You will be able to see your beautiful, beautiful bones.” “When you start to get dizzy and weak, you are almost there.” As incredibly unbelievable as it may seem, these comments can actually be found on the Internet when searching for information on eating disorders. Some, shockingly, actually advocate the behavior commonly associated with anorexia and bulimia, problems that are clearly not limited to Hollywood. Much media focus of late has been given to Nicole Richie who, pre-baby, was the queen of the string bean bodies because of her skeletal build. Other contenders, to name just a few, have been Lara Flynn Boyle, Calista Flockhart, Mary Kate Olsen and, now, Kate Bosworth. Many may cringe at their gaunt faces, exposed collarbones and legs that look like they are about to snap beneath them. They chant “Eat, eat,” to their tabloid pictures, perhaps thinking they are weak, or sick, for doing such a thing to themselves. But aren’t we, as a society, partly to blame? Some people might even sneer at overweight people. Just ponder the media frenzy that followed Kirstie Alley through her “bad days” before her recent post-Jenny Craig “good days.” But in a society where thin wins, how skinny is too skinny? When does a diet become an eating disorder? Most people know the terms anorexia and bulimia, but do they really know what they mean? Anorexics reduce their weight by severe dieting while bulimics maintain emaciation by purging. And while both are extremely serious, bulimics further stress their malnourished bodies, making it the more damaging disorder. In a recent Internet search, a reporter came across two very disturbing Web sites that actually seem to encourage these eating disorders, even going so far as to give tips on how to hide it from family and friends and diet with minimal caloric intake. It also offered tips for making it through long fasts. These ill-conceived Web sites – and the fact that eating disorders seem to be grabbing more headlines that ever – led to questions about the root of such conditions. “They’re very tempting on how to be the best at the disorder,” says Dr. Joy Armillay, when talking about such Web sites. Armillay, a US nutrition therapist, has worked closely with anorexics, bulimics and binge eaters for over 20 years. She has patients who have admitted to looking at the Web sites and found tempting tricks of the trade. “That’s why it’s so important to be in treatment, to recognize and verbalize that they’re issues. When I hear people mentioning them, they’re aware that it isn’t a good thing. Isn’t it frightening that you could have a how-to site for something so bad?” “These sites terrify me,” says Jane,* a 28 year old recovered bulimic. “I wouldn’t wish an eating disorder on my worst enemy. To help young women become sick is ludicrous – it’s as if they are giving a disease to someone and helping her die a slow death.” Jane, a self-described control freak who always found eating a chore, started dieting in third grade after developing earlier than her older sisters. Though she admits she fasted on nothing but water and matzo crackers for two weeks in sixth grade, the disorder became serious when she reached 17, when her lifestyle became active with sports, being a class officer, and working in her community. She soon discovered bingeing and purging. “I realized how simple it was,” says Jane, adding that she thought she would stop once she got to her desired size. “I could eat whatever I wanted and never worry about the effects of food on 46 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

my figure. My routine was: eat nothing all day, come home, eat unhealthy food, throw all of it up, and then go to whatever practice for whichever sport afterwards, or work out to aerobic tapes in my basement.” One preconceived notion of eating disorders is that it affects women who may have been abused as children, a notion surgeon, Dr. William P. Smedley admits he, too, once believed. “Psych literature said anorexics and bulimics were abused by their fathers when they were young,” says Smedley, rolling his eyes. “So, the father gets blamed, or the mother is accused of not loving the child enough, or they were divorced. I didn’t know anything about eating disorders aside from (I thought) they were silly girls who wanted to be thin.” It wasn’t until a family member was diagnosed as an anorexicbulimic that Smedley took an interest in the field. He says he knew something more had to be happening, and after examining her, he found a diseased gallbladder – the organ that aids in digestion – and removed it. As a result, her eating disorder went away. While such an approach may seem extreme, especially to other doctors, Smedley feels that many of his cases – he’s handled over a 100 in the last 15 years – have been because of a gallbladder problem. Thus he sees eating disorders as not psychological. He explained that there are three kinds of food: fats, proteins and carbohydrates. If someone has trouble digesting fats and proteins, there is usually a problem with their gallbladder. Problems with carbs means there is either too much insulin being made, making them hypoglycemic, or not enough produced, making them diabetic. “What if you have trouble with both? There is nothing for you to eat,” says Smedley. “The psych community says that there are people who have gall problems, but they’re the result of an eating disorder. No, their eating disorder is the result of their gallbladder disease.” Jane strongly disagrees. “I do not believe that a diseased gallbladder has anything to do with the formation of an eating disorder,” she says. “Sure, if there is an initial problem with the gallbladder which causes someone to lose their appetite, that person in turn will lose weight. But that’s due to the fact that he or she cannot eat. It’s not the same as becoming anorexic or bulimic. To me, it’s like saying if you broke both your arms and couldn’t lift food to your mouth, causing you ultimately to become emaciated, you are anorexic. If you mend both the arms, the anorexia is cured. “That’s bulls**t.” Armillay also disagrees. While she does agree that someone with a gastric problem who may be on a restrictive diet may lose weight as a result, she says not everyone with gastric issues will develop an eating disorder. “That’s where the nutritionist in me comes out – to get them foods that are OK, because the GI (gastrointestinal) issues do kick in when you are bingeing or purging,” she says. “But if they have a GI disorder and other issues are present, then there’s an emotional piece there with a true eating disorder.” Part of Smedley’s testing is to do an upper GI X-ray to evaluate digestive functions. “I also do a CCK study, which is cholecystokinin – a hormone your duodenum produces whenever you eat fatty foods,” he says, adding that it causes the gallbladder to squeeze out excess bile to dissolve food. The results would determine whether the patient’s gallbladder is dysfunctional.

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008 47

“Before I went to elementary school, we had to get a physical,” she says. “My doctor asked if there was anything I didn’t like about myself and I told him that I was too fat” That may sound like medical mumbo jumbo to most, but pictures do speak a thousands words, as when Smedley showed photos of his past patients. Some were so gaunt and skeletal, they made Nicole Richie look healthy. One recent patient in particular has touched his heart, an emaciated twig of a girl who now, 14 months after having her gallbladder removed, was recently a candidate in a major beauty pageant. The before and after pictures were astounding, and the doctor told us that she’s now writing a book about her experience. “You cannot counsel a physical disorder,” he says. “I stick by that 100 percent because I’ve had 100 percent results.” Regardless of how an eating disorder happens or what the cause of it is, they can happen to anyone. To someone like Jane, who came from a loving family, or to Stacy,* a 28-year-old recovered anorexic who became diet crazy at the shocking age of 5. Like Jane, the disorder became serious in her late teens. “Before I went to elementary school, we had to get a physical,” she says. “My doctor asked if there was anything I didn’t like about myself and I told him that I was too fat.” She added that because she was obsessed so early, her doctor told her mother to watch her closely for anorexic traits. “When I was 15, I dated a guy who always compared me to skinnier girls,” she continued, adding that she would starve herself for 48 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

long periods of time. “It just started from there. In college, it was more an obsessive-compulsive control aspect. You get to a point where you just get so hungry, then you get over that hump.” Stacy, a cheerleader, gymnast and track team member, added that eating ice helped her get through hunger until she became anemic from lack of iron. “Then I got smart and started taking vitamins, and took glucose tables that are 10 grams of carbs, to get through the hunger,” she says. The disorder came into light after Stacy passed out in a shower from the lack of food and a preexisting sugar problem, and her mother found out. She went to counseling and sought help from staff members at her college. Jane’s parents found out about her disorder after a teacher, concerned with Jane’s lack of energy and pale skin, contacted them. “It was one of the worse days of my life,” Jane says of being interrogated by her father about binging and purging. “I wasn’t ready to receive help and kick it out of my life, and I cannot explain what hurt is until you see that look of disappointment and fear in your father’s eyes.” Jane says that although she knew she was destroying herself, when she was forced by her parents to seek nutritional and psychiatric counsel, she hated it. “I remember one of the specialists telling me that my bone

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Cre8ive 4220A

structure would not allow me to be as thin as I desired,” she recalled, adding that the comment only fueled her fire to lose more weight. Now, years later, she realizes that her parents did the right thing by putting her in counseling, but it just wasn’t the kind she needed. “I would have rather gone to group therapy session with other girls who were experiencing it,” she says, adding that she was sick for years afterward until her pride kicked in. “After serious scares in college when I thought I honestly might die, I decided this was something I no longer was in control of – quite the contrary.” While recovery for Jane was on the horizon, both she and Stacy still have hang ups to this day about the disorder that once ravaged their bodies. “The sick thing is when you get sick, like with a cold, (you get) that nauseous feeling that makes you not feel like eating, (and) you get excited because you’ll lose two or four kilos,” Stacy says. “That’s sick.” Jane says that, when visiting the doctor, she doesn’t look at the scale while being weighed, and she asks that they not tell her the number. Still, she says that’s a minor phobia she could live with now that she’s healthy. She knows bulimia doesn’t just exit the body and go away. “It’s there everyday and I’m reminded of it every time I put something fattening into my mouth,” she says. “It doesn’t mean I’m going to throw it up now, but it’s a frustrating battle I have with myself.” Jane also worries about future health problems that may have been caused by her bulimia. “I fear I’ve done some damage and will pay for it at an early age,” she says. “In essence, I feel confident I may die from something being weakened due to years of vomiting, such as esophageal cancer.” Armillay says eating disorders takes years to counsel and that the average length of treatment is anywhere from five to 10 years. She adds that anorexia and bulimia are not just adolescent girl’s disorders. She says national statistics indicate that between 80-85 percent are women, and that more men suffer from the condition than most would think. While her practice is predominately females in their twenties and thirties, there are a few males that range from teens to men in their thirties. Mostly are binge eating sufferers. “Now I get more and more calls from women in their forties and fifties who had never resolved the disorder,” she says, confirming that, like Jane and Stacy, the disorder doesn’t just pack its bag and leave. “Some could stay in recovery and have an emotional life event that could trigger the eating disorder to return,” said Armillay. “They come back to therapy because they recognize the signs and have the skills to counter it.” Armillay works with a patient’s psychologist, psychiatrist, medical doctor and gynecologist as a “treatment team” while she focuses solely on nutrition components, body image issues and the eating disorder itself. “Eating disorders are not 100 percent society’s fault, but it does play a role,” Armillay says. “We are bombarded by subliminal messages from TV, movies and magazines and, at some point, these messages click and say `Maybe that’s when I’ll be happy with myself.’ It does play a substantial role, but so do many other factors.” *Names changed to protect identity) n

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Solar panels on the roof. Geothermal heating under-ground. Spiffy dual-flush toilets all about. This wasn’t the nature of our eco-mania, writes KAREN KLAGES who, after a year of living an experimental, waste-reducing existence, has advice on how to make a difference in the average home INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008 51

ver the last 12 months, our research team embarked on a project we called “Living the Green Life,” meant for real people (with kids, budgets and mortgages) who want to do better by the environment. For the most part, we focused on lifestyle changes – minor adjustments in daily behavior that may seem inconsequential when one ponders the big picture of global warming. But taken in aggregate, as a nation (when all of us do even one thing), these little lifestyle changes have a huge impact. We considered ways for reducing household waste. We looked at less toxic housecleaning products, and green gardening techniques and pet products. We answered readers’ questions and printed tips from the hundreds who wrote to us throughout the year. In the end, we amassed a huge bank of information on what we can do to make a difference. We’re marking the one-year anniversary of the series’ launch with a compilation of 50 of the best ideas we’ve printed – tips from engineers, chemists, environmentalists, recycling experts, government agencies, medical professionals, appliance-makers, Master Gardeners and others.

air conditioning (in summer) shortly before folks get home or shortly before they wake up.

THE DISHWASHER f Use it. Contrary to popular eco-belief, it’s greener than hand-washing – if you run it with full loads and scrape rather than rinse. The average dishwasher today uses only 15 litres of water a load. Washing by hand for 10 minutes with water running can use 76 litres. If you fill the sink, you still use about 19 litres for washing, 19 for rinsing.

LIGHT BULBS f Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs. If you replace five of your most-used incandescent bulbs with CFLs, you can save $25 to $65 a year in energy costs. CFLs use two-thirds less energy than incandescent bulbs, generate 70 percent less heat and last up to 10 times longer. They do contain a small amount of mercury – but the benefits of using CFLs outweigh the mercury issue.

DRYING LAUNDRY f Do not over-dry laundry. An electric dryer operating an extra 15 minutes a load can cost you up to $50 a year in wasted energy. If your dryer has a moisture sensor that turns the machine off automatically when clothes are dry, use it. LAUNDRY f Wash only full loads of laundry and save (the average home) as much as 12,000 litres of water a year. WATER-SAVING PLANTING f Plan for wise watering. Group thirsty plants in one bed close to the house. Fill farther beds with drought-tolerant perennials that need little or no watering. For lawns, choose fescues, which tolerate dry spells better than bluegrass. Mulch around trees and plants to keep water from evaporating.

DOGGIE WASTE f Switch to eco doggie bags that biodegrade in the landfill – which means Fido’s poop won’t be forever preserved in the landfill, in the plastic bag you grabbed without considering its end-of-life issues. LEAKY TOILET f Fix it now. A leaky toilet can waste 760 litres of water a day. Check for leaks by adding food coloring to the tank. If you have a leak, color will appear in the bowl within 15 minutes. Flush as soon as you’re done with this test to avoid staining the bowl. A footnote: It is estimated that 2 out of every 10 toilets (US study) leak. Those two leakers can waste as much as half a million litres of water a year. That’s enough water for a family of four to wash clothes in their washing machine for eight years. NEWSPAPERS f A year’s worth of papers from a big-city daily weighs up to 300 kgs. Every ton of paper that gets recycled saves the equivalent of 17 trees, saves enough energy to power an average home for six months, saves 26,000 litres of water and keeps 27kg of pollutants out of the air.

CFL DISPOSAL f Get rid of CFLs – recycle them – responsibly. The mercury contained in compact fluorescent light bulbs should not be accumulating in a landfill or, even worse, incinerated. Check with your council to see if it has scheduled a household hazardous waste collection HAND SOAP f Rediscover good ol’ bar soap. And eliminate the plastic bottle waste that comes with using liquid soaps. THE MICROWAVE f Yes, use it instead of the oven/stove to reheat food or cook small portions. You will reduce cooking energy by as much as 80 percent.

THE WASTE DISPOSAL f Use it. It’s greener to feed the disposal than it is to encapsulate food waste in a plastic garbage bag and send it to the landfill.

COOKING ON THE STOVE f Match pots to the appropriate-size burner. A 6-inch pot on an 8-inch burner wastes more than 40 percent of the burner’s heat. Using the right-size pot can save you as much as $50 a year with an electric range, as much as $25 with a gas range.

HOME ELECTRONICS f Power them off. A home office with a computer, printer, fax machine, computer speakers, scanner and cordless phone could consume as much power as two 75-watt light bulbs left on 24/7. And that could cost you $150 a year in electricity. Plug equipment into a surge protector-power strip. Power off all equipment and then turn off the power strip at the end of the day.

WATER FOR LAUNDRY f Forgo the hot water when doing laundry. Heating water to “hot” accounts for 90 percent of the machine’s washing energy; only 10 percent goes to power the motor. Switching to “cold” can save the average household more than $600 annually with an electric water heater and $400 annually with a gas heater.

THERMOSTATS f Get a programmable thermostat and save as much as $200 a year. Set it way up (in the summer) or way down (in winter) when everyone’s at work or at school and when they’re asleep. And program it to turn up the heat (in winter) or

MORE ON WATER FOR LAUNDRY f And get over the idea that you need hot water to kill nasties. Cold-water laundering is perfectly healthful in most situations at home, with a couple of caveats. One: If you suffer from allergies, you might need a shot

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“Switch to eco doggie bags that biodegrade in the landfill – which means Fido’s poop won’t be forever preserved in the landfill, in the plastic bag you grabbed without considering its end-of-life issues.” of heat, which you can get from tossing the laundry into a hot dryer for 10 minutes. Here’s how it goes: If your problem is pollen or mold spores, cold water (and detergent) can rinse those out of your laundry as well as hot water. You need no heat on the situation. If your problem is animal dander or dust mites, you need some heat. Putting your laundry in a hot dryer (120 to 130 degrees) will kill those allergens. You don’t need to precede that with a hot water wash. It’s overkill. The other big caveat: infectious diseases. If your family is dealing with something like E. Coli or norovirus (the cruise ship virus) or food poisoning or excessive diarrhea, all of which result in high levels of bacteria or virus in the environment, you need bleach. The hot water setting on most home washing machines is not hot enough to kill these. Add bleach with a cool or warm water setting and then follow with a hot dryer.

GET ORGANIZED f Do your own (linen, storage) closet systems with a bunch of inexpensive clear plastic boxes/bins. Stash all sorts of household essentials in their own box – for instance, tape, ribbon, razors, soap, shampoo, etc. That way you can see what you already have at home and won’t be tempted to overbuy.

MORE ON DRYING LAUNDRY f Clean the lint trap before every load. It’s the safe thing to do and the efficient thing to do. A clean trap can save as much as $45 a year in energy costs.

BRUSHING TEETH f Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth and save as much as 38 litres a day, per person. For a family of four, that’s 55,000 litres of water a year.

MULTIPLE-USE PRODUCTS f Pay attention to all the singleuse items in your daily life – the throwaway plastic water bottles, paper napkins, paper towels, disposable wipes. And try to figure out alternatives: reusable water bottles; cloth napkins; microfiber dusting cloths that can be washed and reused; etc. CLEANING TILES f Keep shower tiles sparkling clean without using chemicals. After a shower, use a microfiber cloth or chamois to wipe down tiles and fixtures or for glass, use a squeegee.

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“Every ton of paper that gets recycled saves the equivalent of 17 trees, saves enough energy to power an average home for six months, saves 26,000 litres of water and keeps 27kg of pollutants out of the air” RECYCLING ETIQUETTE f 1. Rinse out cans and bottles before throwing them into a recycling bin to discourage vermin and keep food waste off paper; 2. Remove caps from bottles, since they are made of different materials. But don’t bother trying to remove the plastic or metal rings that are often left from caps on glass bottles; 3. It’s best to keep paper recyclables dry until collection day. But a night in the rain isn’t fatal: 4. Don’t risk cutting yourself by trying to remove the metal tops from cardboard tubes (in products such as scouring powder and ready-to-bake cinnamon rolls). Separation is ideal, but most recycling programs will process the item anyway, either as metal or mixed paper. SOFT DRINK CANS f They’re small, but not insignificant. 54 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television or operate a computer for three hours. PLASTIC NEWSPAPER SLEEVES f Reuse the sleeves that your newspaper comes wrapped in. Wrap paintbrushes in them if you’re midway through a project but have to stop for the day. The plastic sleeve will keep the brush soft for up to a day and saves water normally used for rinsing brushes. You can also use them to slide shoes into when packing. PRINTER CARTRIDGES – RECYCLE f Some stores take back ink and toner cartridges. PRINTER CARTRIDGES – REFILL f With some older printers out of warranty, you may find it cheaper and more environmentally friendly to refill the existing ink cartridges.

DISCRETE RECYCLE STATIONS f Don’t be quick to say “I don’t have room to recycle all that.” Or: “I hate the look of recycling bins in my kitchen.” Try scattering (pretty) wicker or rattan baskets in bare corners of your apartment or condo or in any home where space is at a premium. They will add warmth to your place and be your catchall for recyclables such as batteries, printer cartridges, magazines you plan to pass along to friends and family. E-WASTE f E-liminate it. Recycle your electronic waste – computer monitors, desktops, laptops, fax machines, printers, scanners, peripherals, keyboards, telephones, digital cameras, VCR players, DVD players, televisions, etc. – which could be chock full of lead, mercury, plastics, etc. Local councils may have information on collections or recycling centres that specialize in these products. PLASTIC BAGS f Bring your own (string, canvas, any kind of reusable) bags to grocery stores and say “no” to the store’s plastic bags. Americans toss some 100 billion of those low-quality polyethylene plastic bags annually and the recycling rate for them is just 0.6 percent. Each high-quality reusable bag has the potential of eliminating hundreds or even thousands of plastic bags over its lifetime. PESTICIDES f Avoid using them in your garden and yard. Build up healthy soil instead to help prevent disease. Use barriers such as netting or cutworm collars. Wash aphids away with spray from the hose. Encourage beneficial insects that eat harmful ones. And learn to tolerate a few weeds, spots or insects if it’s only an aesthetic problem. FERTILIZERS f Don’t over-fertilize. Plants only can absorb so much; the rest washes away to pollute waterways. Follow directions or err on the side of less. Look for organic fertilizers that release nutrients slowly. NATIVE PLANTS f Use them in your garden. They know how to fend for themselves; they’re adapted to the local climate, soils and pests. That means less watering and fewer chemicals. WATERING THE GARDEN f Don’t sprinkle more than necessary or in the heat of the day when much water evaporates. Put drip irrigation and soaker hoses on timers to water at night or in the early morning. Water lawns long and deep once a week, not lightly and frequently. SAVE THE RAIN f Put a rain barrel under a downspout to collect free water for the garden. And/or make yourself a rain garden by making a bed designed to collect rainwater so it can be absorbed by deep-rooted natives and perennials. COMPOST f It is the basic ingredient of good soil. Start with a simple heap of plant material or buy a bin to keep out animals. GARDEN PLASTICS f Keep them at bay. Take cardboard boxes to the nursery and leave plastic nursery flats behind. Look for plants grown in biodegradable containers. And start seeds in yogurt cups or other recyclable containers (poke a hole for drainage and wash in a 10 percent bleach solution). THE ORGANIC SEAL OF APPROVAL f The term “organic”

should mean produced without chemical fertilizers, fungicides or herbicides – but it’s best to ask. THE ORGANIC PRICE TAG f Expect to dole out some green, for the green. Organically grown plants generally cost more. So do organic fertilizers. But they’re worth it. GARDEN POWER f Consider electric yard equipment – and your own muscles. Electric mowers, string trimmers, leaf blowers and hedge trimmers create less pollution and are more energy-efficient than gas ones. Even better: manual equipment. TREES f Plant them. They’re like giant air filters. One mature tree takes care of the pollution caused by 13 cars. SCREEN-SAVERS f Get rid of them. It takes more energy to run those floating toasters or even a static image than it does to have your computer and monitor go into a low-power mode. Unlike 10 years ago, the screen-saver does not extend the life of your monitor. Killing it could save $50 to $100 a year on your electric bill over a year’s time. OLD CLOTHING f Reinvent clothes. Turn children’s jeans with worn-out knees into shorts. Reinvent clothes that you still like and still fit, but have minor “style” problems – for example, hemlines that need to be shortened significantly. Some dry cleaners employ seamstresses for those who can’t (or can’t find the time) to do it themselves. OLD CLOTHING – PART 2 f Be conscious of how you dispose of well-worn clothes. They’re not likely to end up on the shelves of your local thrift store. DRIVING f Three simple ways to improve your mileage: 1. Don’t drive aggressively. Speeding, rapid acceleration and hard braking can lower your highway gas mileage by as much as 33 percent and city mileage by as much as 5 percent. 2. Don’t go super-fast. Breaking the open-road speed limit by 20km/h can cut fuel economy by as much as 15 percent. 3. Keep up with your car’s maintenance. Clean air filters can improve fuel mileage by as much as 10 percent. Properly inflated and aligned tires improve mileage by about 3 percent. THERMOSTATS – PART 2 f Use your programmable thermostat – even if you have a leaky old home and are worried that your heater is working too hard to bring the house back up to your comfort zone two times a day. Without getting into the issue of proper insulation, it saves more energy to let the house cool down when you’re not home during the day and while you sleep at night than to keep it at the comfort zone continuously. But, if you’re setting it back to, say, 15 degrees, that may be too far for a very cold winter, especially if your home isn’t well-insulated. At 15 degrees, countertops and dishes will seem cold. Try setting the thermostat back to 17 to 18 degrees in the winter. That way the recovery is not so steep, but you still get some benefit from the set back. KITTY LITTER f Consider alternative litter. There are more earthyfriendly, organic options than the standard clay litters, which pile up in landfills. n INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008 55

The

Father Crisis

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“My dad’s better than your dad!” It may be a catch cry of schoolboys in a playground, but what role does a father really play in their children’s lives and the life of a functioning society? Melody Towns reports

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athers. We love them, we hate them. In a world where biology is no longer linked to a need for relationship, the question can be asked, just how important are fathers really? Unlike a mother, fathers are not linked to that maternal instinct. It seems to be that from conception onward, the need for a father physically becomes less important. A father’s maternal role is questionable; I mean, they’re not the ones pushing out the child, or feeding and sustaining life once they are born. Although some fathers will happily play their part in this process with a bottle or even offer to be the “stay at home” dad so that mum can go back to work, I guess the question, in a nutshell, apart from being the sperm to the egg, is what need is there for fathers at all? With Mothers’ Day being a celebration of motherhood that rolls out countless images of sacrificial love, Fathers’ Day seems to skim by with less “shazazz” when it comes to the hallmark section of the gift shop. With fewer cards and fewer advertisers jumping on the band wagon, the only real buzz seems to be coming from researchers who are asking why do we even celebrate Fathers’ Day at all? The current research showing that a highly involved dad is a great plus for their children seems to be a ‘no-brainer’ for most of us. Of course having a dad around and involved will be beneficial to a child, but just how important it is to the child and society leaves room to be examined. As dire statistics continue to emphasise the need for fathers in an increasingly fatherless society, it is easy to see that it is indeed a society that is affected. With the U.S. Bureau of the Census stating that 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes, the Centre for Disease Control has also claimed that 85% of all children that exhibit behavioural disorders come from fatherless homes. The U.S Dept of Justice claims that 70% of juveniles in state-operated institutions come from fatherless homes and the Principals Association Report on the ‘State of High Schools’, draws a correlation between the fact that 71% of their high school drop outs come from fatherless homes. The statistics continue with 90% of all homeless and runway children claimed to be from fatherless homes by Family First and a journal on Criminal Justice and Behaviour seems to hammer the nail in the coffin by claiming that 80% of rapists motivated by displaced anger again come from fatherless homes. With children whose fathers are involved doing better at school, suffering fewer mental health problems and being less likely to be involved in crime, a father’s role and need for involvement may indeed be starting to resound as a little bit more important than initially thought. In fact, father hunger can affect children as young as age one or two. According to Alfred A. Messer author of, Boys’ Father Hunger: The Missing Father Syndrome, “Sleep disturbances, such as trouble falling asleep, nightmares, and night terrors frequently begin within one to three months after the father leaves home.” Now, in a perfect world and a perfect place this wouldn’t be an issue. But unfortunately it is an ever-increasing one. Whilst trying not to play the blame game, or discredit the wonderful job that single mothers actually do, this is an issue that society as a whole may need to look at because it is affecting a generation. Fatherlessness comes in many shapes and sizes. In relation to one study a child can be deemed fatherless even when they have a father living at home. A 36-year longitudinal study, (Childhood 58 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

Antecedents of Conventional Social Accomplishments in Midlife Adults: A Thirty-Six Year Prospective Study) found that people in their 40s who were happily married, mentally healthy, and reported good relationships with their friends were more likely to have had affectionate fathers when they were children. The key point here being an ‘affectionate’ father. The importance that the father seems to play is indeed in fact in how the father ‘fathers’ their child. It is suggested that a father needs to be closely involved with their children by listening to them, reading to them, helping with their homework, taking the children on outings and sharing the duties of child rearing with their mother to have maximum impact as a father. A newspaper report stated in 2004 that “Children up to 12 would rather play with their friends, mother or siblings. Only 1 in 16 chose their dads as their ideal companions. Dads were noted as playing to win, lacking imagination or were simply at a loss at just how to play games. (Telegraph, 4 August 2004). In a survery of nearly 1200 New Zealand fathers, 80% generally wished they could spend more time with their children, 82% of respondents said their paid work negatively affects the amount of time they spend with their children and 52% said their paid work affects the quality of the time they spend with their children (EEO Trust on-line survey on fathering and paid work – reported 8 October 2003). A �� 2003 study in the Journal of Adolescent Research finds that adolescents who identified their father as their role model had better outcomes in school, including higher grade point averages and less truancy. In the study “Family Structure, Father Involvement, and Adolescent Outcomes,” Journal of Marriage and Family 68 (2006), only 10-18% of fathers were highly involved with their adolescent children if they were not living in the same house. On the other hand, even adolescents with uninvolved fathers were better off if their parents had remained married – apparently because married mothers are more highly involved than unmarried. Against a backdrop of statistics, it seems to be that a father who is actively involved in the life of their child can dramatically change the way the child’s life pans out. Of course divorce changes the relationship between a father and their child. It is interrupted, manipulated or completely severed. And with increasingly high divorce rates, the ‘Missing Father Syndrome’ that Alfred A. Messer writes of, seems to be closer to home than ever. “Among fathers who maintain contact with their children after a divorce, the pattern of the relationship between father and child changes. They begin to behave more like relatives than like parents. Instead of helping with homework, nonresident dads are more likely to take the kids shopping, to the movies, or out to dinner. Instead of providing steady advice and guidance, divorced fathers become “treat dads” (F. Furstenberg, A. Cherlin, Divided Families. Harvard Univ. Press. 1991). There are a huge pile of statistics outlining the cause of the ‘Missing Father Syndrome’, from long distance dads (26% of absent fathers live in a different state than their children, US Bureau of the Census, Statistical Brief. 1991) to children who haven’t seen their father in over a year (About 40 percent of the kids living in fatherless homes haven’t seen their dads in a year or more and more than half the kids who don’t live with their father have never actually been inside their father’s home. F. Furstenberg, A. Cherlin, Divided Families. Harvard Univ. Press. 1991.) Of kids living in single-mom households, 35% never see their fathers, and another 24% see their fathers less than once a month (J.A. Selzer, “Children’s Contact with Absent Parents,” Journal of Marriage and the Family, 50 (1988).

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With fatherlessness not discriminating between families, it is even affecting those whose fathers are at home with their children. According to a 1992 Gallup poll, more than 50 percent of all adults agreed that fathers today spend less time with their kids than their fathers did with them. In fact it has been noted that the amount of one on one quality time that a father spends with his child averages to less than 10 minutes per day (J. P. Robinson, et al., “The Rhythm of Everyday Life.” Westview Press. 1988). But it is not only fathers in some situations that spend less than a half hour shows commercial break with their children. Of children age 5 to 14, 1.6 million return home to houses where there is no adult present (U.S. Bureau of the Census, “Who’s Minding the Kids?” Statistical Brief. April 1994), Almost 20 percent of sixth-throughtwelfth-graders have not had a good conversation lasting for at least 10 minutes with at least one of their parents in more than a month (Peter Benson, “The Troubled Journey.” Search Institute. 1993) and 57% of all fathers and 55% of all mothers feel guilty about not spending enough time with their children (Lynn Smith and Bob Sipchen, “Two Career Family Dilemma,” Los Angeles Times, Aug. 12, 1990) Overall, more than 75% of American children are at risk because of paternal deprivation. Even in two-parent homes, fewer than 25% of young boys and girls experience an average of at least one hour a day of relatively individualized contact with their fathers (Henry Biller, “The Father Factor...” a paper based on presentations during meetings with William Galston, Deputy Director, Domestic Policy, Clinton White House, December 1993 and April 1994). The National Center for Children in Poverty (US Dept. Health and Human Services) claims that boys without fathers are twice as likely to drop out of school, twice as likely to go to jail and four times more likely to need treatment for emotional and behavioural problems. Girls seem to be no better off either with numerous studies emerging that suggest a link between depression, sexual activity and other behavioural problems. The Journal of Child Development, examined data that had been collected from girls beginning at age five and extending to age 18. They found that daughters who experienced father absence were more likely to become sexually active as teens and experience a teen pregnancy. The rates of teen pregnancy for girls who lived in a home without their father were seven to eight times higher than those who lived with their father. Even when controlling for differences in family background, father absence was associated with the likelihood that adolescent girls will be sexually active and become pregnant as teenagers. Furthermore in a study of 700 adolescents, researchers found that “compared to families with two natural parents living in the home, adolescents from single-parent families have been found to engage in greater and earlier sexual active (Carol W. Metzler, et al. “The Social Context for Risky Sexual Behavior Among Adolescents,” Journal of Behavioral Medicine 17 (1994). “It was the presence or absence of a father that had the biggest impact on the girls’ early sexual behaviour,” New Scientist magazine reports. The researchers suggested that girls with absent fathers might learn dating behaviour earlier by mimicking their mothers. “Other studies showed that girls raised in the absence of their fathers tend to sit closer to, and interact more readily with, men,” the magazine added. Similarly, a 2003 article in the Journal of Marriage and Family finds that girls who identify their biological father as their primary father figure report significantly fewer depressive symptoms than girls with an alternative father figure. The list of behavioural problems seems overwhelming when it 60 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

“Children reared by a divorced or never-married mother are less cooperative and score lower on tests of intelligence than children reared in intact families. Statistical analysis of the behavior and intelligence of these children revealed “significant detrimental effects” of living in a femaleheaded household” comes to children that go without a father figure in their lives. From addiction and abuse ranging from alcohol, drugs (“The absence of the father in the home affects significantly the behaviour of adolescents and results in the greater use of alcohol and marijuana”, Deane Scott Berman, “Risk Factors Leading to Adolescent Substance Abuse,” Adolescence 30, 1995), to sexual abuse to mental health problems, this is an issue that needs to be addressed. Family First NZ, outlines just some of the research that has been done into this distressing issue: Sexual abuse. A study of 156 victims of child sexual abuse found that the majority of the children came from disrupted or single parent homes; only 31 percent of the children lived with both biological parents. Although stepfamilies make up only about 10 percent of all families, 27 percent of the abused children lived with either a stepfather or the mother’s boyfriend. – Source: Beverly Gomes-Schwartz, Jonathan Horowitz, and Albert P. Cardarelli, “Child Sexual Abuse Victims and Their Treatment,” U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Child Abuse. Researchers in Michigan determined that “49 percent of all child abuse cases are committed by single mothers.” – Source: Joan Ditson and Sharon Shay, “A Study of Child Abuse in Lansing, Michigan,” Child Abuse and Neglect, 8 (1984). Psychiatric Problems. In 1988, a study of preschool children admitted to New Orleans hospitals as psychiatric patients over a 34-month period found that nearly 80 percent came from fatherless homes. – Source: Jack Block, et al. “Parental Functioning and the Home Environment in Families of Divorce,” Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 27 (1988) Emotional distress. Children living with a never-married mother are more likely to have been treated for emotional problems. – Source: L. Remez, “Children Who Don’t Live with Both Parents Face Behavioral Problems,” Family Planning Perspectives (January/February 1992). Uncooperative kids. Children reared by a divorced or nevermarried mother are less cooperative and score lower on tests of intelligence than children reared in intact families. Statistical analysis of the behavior and intelligence of these children revealed “significant detrimental effects” of living in a female-headed household. Growing up in a female-headed household remained a statistical predictor of behavior problems even after adjusting for differences in family income. – Source: Greg L. Duncan, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn and Pamela Kato Klebanov, “Economic Deprivation and Early Childhood Development,” Child Development 65 (1994).

Beyond class lines. Even controlling for variations across groups in parent education, race and other child and family factors, 18- to 22year-olds from disrupted families were twice as likely to have poor relationships with their mothers and fathers, to show high levels of emotional distress or problem behavior, [and] to have received psychological help. – Source: Nicholas Zill, Donna Morrison, and Mary Jo Coiro, “Long Term Effects of Parental Divorce on Parent-Child Relationships, Adjustment and Achievement in Young Adulthood.” Journal of Family Psychology 7 (1993). Disturbing news: Children of never-married mothers are more than twice as likely to have been treated for an emotional or behavioral problem. – Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center for Health Statistics, National Health Interview Survey, Hyattsille, MD, 1988 Fatherless aggression: In a longitudinal study of 1,197 fourthgrade students, researchers observed “greater levels of aggression in boys from mother-only households than from boys in mother-father households.” – Source: N. VadenKierman, N. Ialongo, J. Pearson, and S. Kellam, “Household Family Structure and Children’s Aggressive Behavior: A Longitudinal Study of Urban Elementary School Children,” Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 23, no. 5 (1995). Crazy victims: Eighty percent of adolescents in psychiatric hospitals come from broken homes. – Source: J.B. Elshtain, “Family Matters...”, Christian Century, July 1993. Duh to dead: “The economic consequences of a [father’s] absence are often accompanied by psychological consequences, which include higher-than-average levels of youth suicide, low intellectual and education performance, and higher-than-average rates of mental illness, violence and drug use.” – Source: William Galston, Elaine Kamarck. Progressive Policy Institute. 1993 Violent rejection: Kids who exhibited violent behavior at school were 11 times as likely not to live with their fathers and six times as likely to have parents who were not married. Boys from families with absent fathers are at higher risk for violent behavior than boys from intact families. – Source: J.L. Sheline (et al.), “Risk Factors...”, American Journal of Public Health, No. 84. 1994. With the list continuing through to schooling, socio economic problems and even to prison inmates, (70% of juveniles in state reform institutions grew up in single- or no-parent situ-

ations), the importance of fathers is more important than ever. A solution needs to be found, without placing the blame on either party but being aware of what is going on in our children’s’ lives. Walking hand in hand with high divorce rates, fatherlessness is an issue that needs to hold just as much importance in the family courts. Family First NZ comments on the importance of family. They ask in their article, “Why Marriage Matters in a Violent Society?” for the government not to miss the key point in their 26-point action; $10 million plan to stop gangs and street violence. “There are clearly some benefits from some of these programmes. But all this funding, and all this work, is missing a key point: marriage matters. And families matter”. The key point here seeming to be, that every kid needs a dad and this in itself is an issue to be acknowledged. For more information visit: www.familyfirst.org.nz www.dadsforkids.com www.fatherhoodfoundation.com n INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008 61

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think life | money It was another warm Saturday even though the nights were becoming decidedly cool. The days were still balmy and George, like most townies, was thrilled with the run of such fine weather. He had turned up early at the bowling club hoping to catch up with his long time friend Jim as he had heard that the fifth largest bank in the United States looked like it was heading for bankruptcy. Jim was delighted to see George as they were paired to play the semi-finals and he wanted to discuss game strategy. To hell with that thought George, he was more interested in understanding the implications surrounding the economic future of the Western world. George knew that Jim had a strong interest in all things financial and that he depended upon his financial adviser for a large part of his knowledge. He had also been known to share his thoughts openly when he had stored a few pints away at the completion of bowls. Most members’ awareness of things economic could be sourced back to Jim’s passion for the topic. It is likely that the US authorities learnt from the UK debacle when Northern Rock, England’s seventh largest bank faltered late in 2007. The UK Government stepped in and said that it would back it. However an avalanche of soothing words from the Government did not stop anxious depositors forming huge queues outside branches across the country. Cool heads suggested that the best thing they could have done was to facilitate a quick and friendly takeover with another large operator, thus removing the Northern Rock name from the business landscape. Once the politicians became involved, this incisive and intelligent option was quickly removed from the list of available options. Jim had given this isse considerable thought and he too had come to a similar conclusion and recalled sharing this wisdom with George over a new year’s barbeque. It came as no surprise to him that when the US authorities were faced with a remarkably similar situation several months later they did exactly that. They effectively discounted Bear Stearns assets and gave J P Morgan the cash to complete the transaction. The surprising fact underlying the transaction was that it was completed on a Sunday. George was keen to hear from Jim the reasons why the authorities just did not let Bear Stearns fail and for the US to suffer the obvious economic pain that came with such a failure. Jim said it was simple. Bear Stearns 64 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

Bowling for dollars Financial commentator Peter Hensley suggests gold could be a crackerjack play was just too big to fail. It was involved in too many transactions. It was a major force within the system and had been a facilitating and enthusiastic cornerstone participant in the credit expansion fiasco of the past two decades. Because of this simple fact, if they let Bear Stearns fail, their financial system would have been paralyzed. It was either party or counter-party to a range of complex investment transactions, both locally and internationally and if Bear Stearns was allowed to default, the entire financial network of both the United States and potentially the world could have been placed in jeopardy. George sat in silence. How could we have gone so close to the abyss and not have it reported as such in the media? Jim had the answer for that as well. The global financial system is built entirely on confidence. Each of the players collectively relied on each other to keep the party going. The system had to rescue Bear Stearns otherwise the system itself was at risk. Lack of confidence in U.K.’s Northern Rock and the subsequent queues that

stretched around city blocks is a modern reminder of what can happen when the public losses faith in a financial institution. Jim spoke quietly to George when he said that we aren’t out of the woods yet. The credit expansion boom that has been going for almost two decades is not going to be fixed on a Sunday afternoon. Although it is comforting to see the authorities are aware of the problems that have been created by lax lending policies, it will take more than a bail out of Bear Stearns to fix the problems that exist in the system. Over the past decade there has been a concerted effort by Governments around the world to stop their individual economies from lapsing into recession. They have made very effective use of the only two silver bullets available to them, money supply and interest rates. To a country they have introduced large quantities of new money into their systems over the past decade whilst at the same time tweaking interest rates to best suit their individual circumstances. Because George had his usual blank

look on his face, Jim went on to explain that asset price inflation such as shares and property increases had silently morphed over to consumer inflation. History shows that any sustained increase in money supply always leads to inflation and a decrease in the value of ones currency. Jim could see the lights starting to come on in George’s eyes. He recalled that Warren Buffett stated publicly a year or two ago that he thought the US dollar would lose value and took a significant investment against the US dollar. It turned out that he was a little early. George also recalled that Jim’s adviser was a big fan of the price of gold increasing in value. He felt obliged to point out to Jim that gold had fallen in excess of 10 % – from $1,040 to $940 an ounce. Jim’s adviser thought this was excellent as it gives those who have missed out on establishing an investment in gold an opportunity to buy in. One of the reasons behind the pull back in the gold price has been the markets short term reaction to the rescue of Bear Stearns. The US dollar has recovered a little ground and gold has given up a little of the huge gains it has made recently. Jim’s adviser suggests that gold is into its second stage

of a bull market and is just consolidating. The most profitable third stage is a while off yet. That will occur when the public loses faith in the wider financial system and heads en masse for the historic store of value that gold provides. Gold analysts suggest that short term market sentiment could see gold trade as low as USD$850 before the relentless upwards trek commences once again. The financial system needs time to recover. It needs time to digest the volume of new money that has been created over the past two decades and it needs to dispose of the toxic waste that was created with the expansion of exotic securities which includes the sub prime mortgage crisis. The US authorities have at least displayed commitment to the cause. They have shown that they will do whatever it takes to keep the global financial system on the straight and narrow. Other commentators and analysts suggest that it is a train wreck waiting to happen and it is only a matter of time. They say that Bear Stearns is the first cockroach that was blinded by the sunlight. They believe there are many more and that the US Federal Reserve won’t be able to catch them all. Whilst it is impossible to predict the

“George sat in silence. How could we have gone so close to the abyss and not have it reported as such in the media? future, it is reasonably certain that we are entering a period of credit contraction. Lending standards and strict criteria will be reintroduced. Loans will be difficult to source and savers will be selective where they choose to invest their funds. Investment risk will be reappraised and common sense should return to pricing of investment risk. George’s thoughts returned to the weather and the strategy required for the upcoming semifinal. Jim recalled that his adviser had told him that whilst the markets were readjusting and repositioning themselves, uncertainty would prevail. For some, uncertainty would bring opportunities and gold could likely have its day in the sun. © 2008 by Peter J Hensley. Readers should be aware that his disclosure statement is available on request and is free of charge.

EVE’S BITE

THE DIVINITY CODE

“…the most politically incorrect book” in New Zealand. He is absolutely right…Prepare to be surprised and shocked. Wishart may ruﬀle a few feathers but his arguments are fair as his evidence proves. If you are looking for a stimulating mental challenge, or a cause to fight for, Eve’s Bite will definitely satisfy. – Wairarapa Times-Age

Wishart takes up the gauntlet laid down by Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion, and in fact, uses Dawkins own logic and methodology to launch a counter-attack against unbelief. Challenging…thought provoking…compelling – keepingstock.blogspot.com

Discover the truth for yourself. Get these two books today from Whitcoulls, Borders, PaperPlus, Dymocks, Take Note, and all good independent booksellers, or online at

I’m having a cracking good read of another cracking good read – The Divinity Code by Ian Wishart, his follow-up book to Eve’s Bite which was also a cracking good read – comment on “Being Frank”

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think life | EDUCATION

Deliberately promoting decline The gloves are off in the debate over education standards, as Amy Brooke quotes Dover Beach In the mid-70s in Britain, while Andrew Neil, editor of the Sunday Times, drew attention to the emergence of a barbaric underclass, so-called intellectual élites began to talk about behind the scenes about planning for “the civilized management of decline”. We should dispense with this misused word, élites. It is no longer used as a term of respect for those excelling in their chosen fields through exceptional talent and industry. Instead it is now used pejoratively in relation to self-selected mandarins who could more appropriately be called les enflés, or 66 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

les isolés – those shielded or apart from the consequences of their narrow, even ridiculously bloated thinking inflicted on the public at large. They are still with us, predominantly in those areas where Alexander Pope warned us to be very careful of superficiality in thinking: “A little learning is a dangerous thing…” Only the capacity to put what is, in fact, very hard work into thinking deeply prevents the shallow assumption of rightness in deciding for others that is a characteristic disease of this age. It is particularly prevalent wherever ignorant government bureaucrats, under-educated MPs, rampant

managerialism, officialdom, and academics of varying hues all flourish. In other words, too many now in a position of inflicting their assumed superior wisdom on others have become a blight on what was once a civilized, coherent vision of the values that held together the West. In Dover Beach, Matthew Arnold foresaw – from the Victorian age of vitality, optimism, confidence and discovery – a receding tide of civilisation and certitude; that essential values would become undermined with the attack on Christianity, long underpinning society. Acknowledgment of its spiritual and cultural values – in particular,

respect for individual freedom and worth – enabled it to withstand the sequential and combined onslaughts of those bloodthirsty creeds, fascism and communism. But now, to the changing spots of basically the same man-eating animal, Islamic fundamentalism has been added, unceasingly preying on democratic values. Our response? The pitiful shallowness of an anti-culture which promotes ignorance, celebrating uncouthness and the dumbingdown, if not actual disparagement of those values which provided us with self-respect and cohesiveness. We are not yet a broken society, but we are one breaking, the gap in attitudes and standards from our parents’ generation constantly widening. As a large part of this, we have become a country blighted by conniving opportunists and racial activists from among radicalised Maoris manipulating their own people – many trained overseas in the tactics of Marxist destabilisation and corruption – serviced by the cynical pragmatism of Maori vote-buying by major political parties. Both these are forces are not only corrupt, but are driving a stake through the heart of a formerly internally peaceful nation. Our young are leaving – both in disgust and because our brightest and best have been cynically burdened by the preceding baby-boomer generation of the selfish Sixties with a level of debt which makes it impossible for them to stay here, to plan even to have children, if they marry, let alone live on one wage and still afford a house for a young family. Essentially, we are being controlled and vulgarised by two main institutions, a monopolistic education bureaucracy run largely by the ignorant and under-educated while directed by the Machiavellian; and by a media almost wholly and cynically devoted to profit. Specialising in sensationalism, its mischief and even malice (let alone the ignorance and sheer laziness of so many media studies graduates) have long over-ruled any supposed priorities – such as to genuinely inform – or to dig to the truth of issues. The consequence is the very low regard and lack of trust journalists now receive from the public. There are signs now, too, that parents are beginning to belatedly realize they have little reason to trust the State’s education monopoly of the intellectual nurturing of their children. In fact, evidence is emerging that their values and those of our politburo are almost totally in conflict. While parents thought they were sending their children

“And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight. Where ignorant armies clash by night... – Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold to school to become well-educated, and to give them a better chance than they themselves had, the apparatchiks of the education bureaucracy have, incredibly enough, long been withholding vital reading, literacy, and arithmetical competencies from our young in state schools – let alone access for all young New Zealanders, whether of European, Maori, and now Asian descent, to that body of knowledge which comprises the best of what which has been thought and said in Western culture. What has replaced this are the politicized issues in which our young have been immersed. Any who still think that this has been accidental or agenda-free are naive indeed. So whose values have prevailed? In the 1970s, when Phil Amos was Minister of Education, a group of Kurow parents with young children in this North Otago area got together at the local school to scrutinize a series of new sex comics for school distribution. An accompanying editorial in the secondary teachers’ magazine, then called Forum, also suggested that youngsters might be informed that swallowing cinnamon before having sex provided cinnamon-flavoured sperm. Parents wer stunned and disgusted. Apparently, too, sexual relationships were now to be regarded as merely a recreational activity among New Zealand children. A subsequent protest to the editor at the time brought a grudging acknowledgment that some might object to this sort of material being provided. Significantly, when we tackled those promoting these distorted, comic book travesties of the complex relationships between the sexes which have formed the basis of some of our greatest literature – as well as some of the most problematic questions in history – in essence, protesting about the absence of any values at all in this material, we were aggressively told by visiting educationists that any question of actual values was irrelevant and inappropriate. Their view? In “a pluralistic, multicultural society”, we had “no right to inflict our values on others”. Weasel words indeed. The deliberate withholding of values respected by and held in common by all enduring civiliza-

tions is in itself a statement of values – i.e. a repudiation of them. But by the 60s onwards, schools were compelled to promote a trivialized and vulgarized sex education (such as fitting condoms over bananas) that began the damaging onslaught against defenceless, hormonally aroused and confused adolescents. The inevitable consequences of widespread sexual experimentation have led to some of the highest rates of venereal disease in the world and to prematurely sexualized girls (as well as boys), now both prey and predator, binge-drinking their way to oblivion. At the same time, those behind the “new” thinking were not slow in promoting their own values – or lack of them – and these were to be the new norm. Widespread unease about the education bureaucracy’s damaging diktats has elicted their new feel-good “values” based on – wait for it – so-called human rights – Aotearoa initiatives, the Treaty of Waitangi, multiculturalism, ethnicity and diversity, etc. – mirror-image opportunities to continue to politicize our children. So much for “the civilized management of decline.” But what is civilized about promoting decline? “Listen! you hear the grating roar Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling, At their return, up the high strand, Begin, and cease, and then again begin… © Amy Brooke www.amybrooke.co.nz http://www.livejournal com/users/brookeonline/

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think life | SCIENCE

History in the stars Scientists are exploring the effects of meteorites through the ages, writes Faye Flam

Magnified 25,000 times under a university’s scanning electron microscope, a couple of flecks of dirt offer up a landscape full of crags, valleys, ridges – and, to Dee Breger’s eyes, a window back in time. The tiny grains came from the sea floor below the Gulf of Carpenteria in northern Australia, part of an underground layer dating to the first millennium. Breger and her colleagues believe the material holds signs that a fragment of a comet crashed to Earth during that period. Such an event might explain the months of cold summers and dark days that began in A.D. 536 and led to a well-documented period of famine and unrest. And, they say, while such an event would have been catastrophic, it was not unique. By comparing the historical and archaeological records with hard-to-prove physical evidence, they are trying to make a case 68 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

that rocks from space were responsible for altering human affairs in ways so huge that some have entered mythology. It is an uphill battle. “We’re mavericks,” says Breger, a microscopist who is not formally trained in science. Scanning her dirt sample on a nearby screen, she zooms in on what looks like a splotch of paint. “We call that a splat.” Breger instructs the machine to analyze the composition. Traces of some metals in the form of a splat can be a sign of a powerful explosion, she says – one you might get if a piece of a comet or asteroid slammed into the Earth. Scanning further, she stops at a sphere, less than a hundredth of a millimeter across (much smaller than the width of a human hair). Under the electron microscope it resembles a planet or some exotic moon, the surface scarred with rifts and cracks, all

suggestive of molten rock or metal that was blasted into the air and quickly cooled. It was Dallas Abbott, a marine geophysicist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York, who brought these samples to Drexel. Breger teamed with Abbott while working at Lamont-Doherty, first as a scientific illustrator and then as a microscopist. The former art student moved to Drexel four years ago for the chance to work with more powerful instruments. “The lab here is state-of-the-art,” she says. They and a few colleagues in the Holocene Impact Working Group – named for the period covering the last 20,000 years – have been proposing for years that several large objects from space hit the Earth with enough force to influence global climate within human history. Abbott estimates this happened perhaps five times in the

last 6,000 years. Most sudden climate changes over the eons remain unexplained, and most scientists argue that a lack of convincing evidence for any theory is not much of a reason to support this one. “Impacts are the solution of choice when you don’t have any data,” says astronomer Donald Yeomans of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Still, astronomers generally agree that the Earth has been smacked around by comets and asteroids, and that some altered the history of life. The most famous of them fell around 65 million years ago – kicking up enough debris, it now appears, to cool the planet and kill off the dinosaurs. Much more recently, for 18 months around A.D. 536, a thick haze and freakish cold gripped Europe. As Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea put it: “... the sun gave forth its light without brightness ... and it seemed exceedingly like the sun in eclipse, for the beams it shed were not clear.” Tree growth rings dated to that time appear narrow and sickly as far away as North America and Central Asia, an indication that the cold and darkness spanned the globe. The period coincided with devastating crop failures that some have linked to the fall of the Roman Empire. There definitely was a climate anomaly at that time, says Richard Alley, a climate expert and glaciologist at Pennsylvania State University. But he, like most in the field, favors an alternative explanation: that a large volcanic eruption dimmed the skies. Not only are eruptions relatively common compared with large impacts, he says, there now appears to be a record stored in ice caps near Greenland and Antarctica. Scientists drilling out deep cores can date ice laid down in that era to within a year or two, Alley says, and evidence of telltale volcanic sulfates in layers from A.D. 536 was published just last month. Looking more broadly, Abbott and Breger are also seeking clues to a possible impact 4,800 years ago. Around that time, many different cultures advanced myths of catastrophic floods, Abbott says, including the biblical account of Noah’s ark. To find out what happened, she’s gathering clues on scales small and large. With satellite images now widely available through Google Earth, Abbott is examining massive, V-shaped formations in northern Australia and, at the other end of the Pacific, in Madagascar, the island off East Africa. She argues that these were

created by a giant impact in the Indian Ocean that sent a mega tsunami in different directions. “The one in Australia rises more than 100 feet above sea level,” Abbott says. Her critics contend these are just big sand dunes created by prevailing winds, an explanation that she says doesn’t go nearly far enough. And the actual point of impact? With remote sensing technology, Abbott says she’s found signs that might indicate the presence of an 30-km-wide crater. But it’s more than 300 metres below the surface and hard to confirm. She’s seeking funding for a more thorough exploration. If they put together enough lines of evidence for enough separate events, Abbott says, the work may back up an idea promoted by a minority of British astronomers that a few thousand years ago a massive comet swung inward from the fringes of the solar system, broke up near the Earth – and has been periodically dropping pieces on the planet ever since. What’s left, these astronomers proposed, is now called Comet Encke – a tiny chunk

of ice and dirt that orbits the sun every three years. Others say that while the idea that pieces of what is now Encke fall to earth is plausible, the evidence is unconvincing. “It’s a little dinky comet right now,” says David Morrison, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California. “If Encke was responsible for something, it’s aged quickly.” Proving that a given geological formation was caused by an impact is not a simple matter even when it’s on land, says Jay Melosh, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Lab. It’s even harder under water. In that case, one of the best indicators is the concentration of rare elements, especially iridium, that would have come with the comet or asteroid and then blasted through the atmosphere on impact. And it’s one thing to find evidence of an impact, Melosh says, and another to demonstrate that it was big enough to lead to global climate change.

“Scientists drilling out deep cores can date ice laid down in that era to within a year or two and evidence of telltale volcanic sulfates in layers from A.D. 536 was published just last month

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think life | TECHNOLOGY

The weakest link Many cellphones lack good security features, and pose a corporate security risk, writes Wailin Wong

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Smartphones are poised to become the next major security challenge for businesses. For now, a good rule of thumb for on-the-go workers is: “If you don’t need to do it, don’t do it,” says Aaron Cohen, chief executive of a firm that provides security training for companies and government agencies. Cohen warns against idly checking e-mail or opening sensitive documents on a hand-held device – unless it’s absolutely necessary. Security experts say that in general, business-oriented smart phones (Palm Treo’s, BlackBerries) come from the manufacturer with decent built-in safeguards, such as encryption and firewalls. But consumer-oriented mobile phones, which have far fewer safety features, are increasingly taking on such PC-like characteristics as Wi-Fi connectivity, making them attractive to people who want to use them for work. In a survey conducted this year of 1,070 small businesses in North America, 60 percent of firms say they’ve seen an increase in security issues related to the use of hand-held computing devices in the last 12 months. Chris Nickerson, a security specialist at Alternative Technology, says the concern for businesses is whether these phones “will cause so much of a risk that they will eventually ... just be banned from corporate environments.” Tech security consultant Aaron Mog says he’s preparing for a “whole new generation of security applications – applications for mobile devices and ways to secure access.” Laptops, smart phones and PDAs give employees the ability to work from home or travel far from the office, all while transporting the information they need on their mobile devices. But the increasing ease of working remotely is creating a growing set of security concerns for companies. Workers on the go “still want access to the same data applications that they have if they’re sitting at their desk in their office,” says Steven Ostrowski, spokesman at the Computing Technology Industry Association. “Mobility is a great thing ... (but) every one of those individuals that’s accessing the network remotely is a security risk.” So far, there haven’t been any high-profile epidemics of mobile viruses like the “I love you” worm for PCs that spread rapidly around the world in 2000. But developers have introduced “proof of concept” malware for cell phones to demonstrate the

destructive potential of such worms. The “Cabir” virus, which made its first appearance in 2004, used Bluetooth technology to jump from phone to phone. Another virus, known as “Commwarrior.A,” replicated itself by sending a picture or text message to people in the infected device’s contacts list. “I’m sure there may be some things that ... haven’t made the front page yet, but it doesn’t mean it’s not existent,” Jeff Falcon, a security specialist at computer reseller CDW, says of mobile malware. “It’s inevitable with the rapid growth of mobile devices and BlackBerries and smart phones that it’s going to shift in that direction.” Nickerson recalls walking through an airport carrying a suitcase that contained a device that sucked up hundreds of megabytes of contact information and other personal data through unprotected Bluetooth connections. Nickerson has used the same machine in the offices of his corporate clients. The gadget searches for Bluetooth devices where users haven’t changed the manufacturer-provided default passwords. The machine then enters the default password and accesses information through the nowopen Bluetooth connection. “You’ll walk through the cube farm and you’ll be amazed,” says Nickerson, who is featured in a new Court TV program that follows his team as it infiltrates corporate security systems. “You’ll look at this hard drive when you’re done, and you’ll see everything from pictures of people’s families to user names and passwords and financial data.” When people take their work out of the office, the threats to corporate security multiply. Someone using a company laptop to send data from a non-secure Wi-Fi hot spot could unwittingly have that information monitored. Neglecting to set new passwords on phones and other devices leaves them vulnerable. There’s also the headache of theft or misplacement of phones, external hard drives and pen-size flash drives. Eric Hines, a former teenage hacker and computer security expert, once passed through an airport security line with a coworker who accidentally switched his laptop with an identical one owned by the person behind him. “No matter how great security technology gets, humans will always be the weakest factor,” says Hines. Hines, 29, started poking into government networks when he was 13, using a

dial-up modem. Back then, hacking was for bragging rights or the sophomoric pleasure of defacing a Web site. Hines and other security industry officials say profit now largely drives attacks, as the kind of information traveling over wireless networks increases in volume and value. A stolen credit card with an accompanying security code can fetch at least US$9, compared with $1.50 for just the number and its expiration date. It’s not just retailers that need to protect their networks. Mark Weldler, who runs three nursing homes, says he’s migrated practically all of his operations and record keeping, including client medical and financial data, to online software providers in the last two years. “To me, that is the only way I can be efficient across my company and get information to people,” says Weldler, who also noted that officials are increasingly requiring health-care providers to submit infor-

mation online. “In today’s world, you can’t be standalone, just having information in a building. ... It’s too costly and it’s too much to do and you won’t get it right.” Keeping all of this information safe – not only from outside eyes, but from internal employees who shouldn’t have access to certain kinds of data – has required Weldler to spend more on security. Three years ago, he increased his technology budget by 50 percent. This year, he’s projecting an annual increase of 10 percent to upgrade mobile security for himself and a handful of other employees who carry BlackBerries. Ostrowski says a greater emphasis on training will also help companies communicate to their employees that there’s a trade-off between convenience and security risks. “Security has to come out of the IT department,” Ostrowski says. “It can’t be relegated to the geeks anymore. It has to be part of the corporate culture.”

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feel life | sport

NZPA / Wayne Drought

Fast boat to China The final countdown’s started for the biggest sporting show on the planet, being held in the world’s most populous and criticised country. Early August is a mere flex of a muscle for the hundreds of New Zealanders, and tens of thousands of athletes worldwide, who’ve devoted their lives to be part of the Beijing Olympics.Investigate magazine columnist Chris Forster joins the trail of three Kiwi endeavours – a comeback king, an imported swim coach and a bunch of unlikely lasses. ROB WADDELL is a colossus of the rowing world. Eight years ago he lifted New Zealand’s sole gold at the Sydney Olympics, then gave the sport away for a lengthy stint grinding the huge sails of Team New Zealand in two America’s Cup campaigns. 72 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

The two-time world champion is also the proud owner of an immensely powerful athletic body, and something was eating away at him. Driven by a case of the whatifs and desiring a slice of the sport’s stunning recent success, 33 year old Waddell

launched his bid to clamber back into the single sculls saddle in Beijing. It set-up either by design or pure accident an epic, controversial one-one-one selection battle with three times world champion Mahe Drysdale. All countries are only allowed one competitor per rowing event, so in its wisdom Rowing New Zealand decided to pit the two champs head-to-head. A nation was captivated and divided as the two battled it out in a trial on Lake Karapiro. There was even live radio and television coverage of the two horse race. Waddell was desperate to match his Olympiad feats of eight years earlier, facing a rather reluctant and unimpressed Drysdale. The multiple Halberg Award winner hadn’t been consulted on the trial. He was timing his peak for the big deal in Beijing and suddenly had to hit top gear five months earlier. They were locked at one-all. It was all down to a decider on a mild Tuesday morning when disaster struck for Waddell. He’d

suffered an untimely return of a heart condition known as atrial fibrillation. Basically his heart was misbehaving and it meant Drysdale won the decider by a country mile to secure the single sculls berth. But there was a consolation prize. If Waddell could trial successfully for a second time he’d secure a seat in the double sculls. He made the grade, shoving the luckless Matthew Trott to the reserves bench and joining forces with promising under23 sculler Nathan Cohen. The relief was huge. “It’s been 6 months since the America’s Cup now. I approached this with an open mind. I didn’t really know where I’d end up. I think it’s a good crew and we’ve got a good chance”. He’s got no regrets about the confrontation with Drysdale. “The battle with Mahe couldn’t have been better preparation. It’s all been made possible by the tough racing this season. You’re only young once and you only do this once in your life. You just get on with it”. JAN CAMERON is synonymous with the

resurgence of New Zealand swimming. The Australian coach lives and breathes the sport in this country and has the likes of Moss Burmester, Dean Kent and Helen Norfolk in her stable for the Games of the 29th Olympiad. It’s a fiercely competitive sport at the top. World records have been dropping like flies during trials in Australia and in Europe – due in no small part to the space age full length Speedo swim suits. These performance-enhancing uniforms take 20 minutes to squeeze into and can trim invaluable fractions of a second off swim times. Many of Cameron’s elite swimmers utilised the new zoot suits to full advantage during their high pressure Olympic trials at Waitakere. Cameron had set the FINA A standard for the event, which requires a top 16 ranking in the world. To her eternal credit seven individuals made the grade after a string of personal bests and New Zealand records, along with five relay specialists. It was a fine haul led by Burmester, medley ace Norfolk, breast stroker Dean Snyders and backstroker Melissa Ingram. “I can’t say I’m surprised but it’s very, very pleasant that people delivered on the time, on the day – when they had to”.

“It was all down to a decider on a mild Tuesday morning when disaster struck for Waddell. He’d suffered an untimely return of a heart condition known as atrial fibrillation. Basically his heart was misbehaving and it meant Drysdale won the decider by a country mile to secure the single sculls berth Jan’s now urging the swimmers to keep improving, to keep pushing themselves in what will be her swansong as national swim coach. Burmester’s the best chance for a medal – ranked number four in the world in his 200 butterfly speciality that netted gold at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. He’s bought into the sink or swim philosophy. “I always said if I couldn’t go any faster, I’d give up. I just want to keep improving”. THE FOOTBALL FERNS are probably the

most contentious of all the New Zealand’s Olympic selections. All they had to do to qualify under FIFA’s lenient rules was to beat Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby and hey presto they were the Oceania qualifyers for Beijing. A 7-nil pounding of the PNG minnows guaranteed their slot. That was the easy part. Then they had to sweat on the New Zealand Olympic Committee to rubberstamp the qualification. Under the strict rules they’ve imposed to improve New Zealand’s medal haul at the big show, all competitors heading to Beijing must be ranked 16th or better. Nevermind the New Zealand women had been given an easy ride, and FIFA would frown upon our far-flung land if it turned down the Oceania qualification. At last year’s World Cup in China, they were blitzed by eventual finalists Brazil 5-nil in their pool opener, but improved to hold Denmark and their hosts to 2-nil scorelines. In fact they finished their pool play with better goal differences than noted footballing nations Argentina and Ghana. But their ratification still went an extra step from the NZOC to its board. The committee eventually decided to waive the strict criteria by noting the young side had shown a steady and solid improvement since 2007. It was a rare vote for the future, and the next Olympics in London in 2012. Football in this country boasts the most under-13 female participants for any sport, including netball.

Twenty-four-year-old Moorwood’s given up her studies at Virginia University in the States to be part of last year’s World Cup in China and now to live the Olympic dream. It was all worth it when she turned up to training one Thursday night and found out her team of amateurs and students would be part of the Games experience. New Zealand’s desperate to improve its medal haul, from the three gold and two silver of Athens four years ago, and the government and its SPARC agency has poured increasing lumps of taxpayer money into elite sport. For all that desire and necessity to succeed on the world stage you could argue the raw, elated and amateur New Zealand women’s footballers encapsulate the true spirit of the Olympic movement.

nd rowing’s New Zeala medal chances MEN Single Sculls u Mahe Drysdale – World Champion 2005-2006-2007 Double Scull u Rob Waddell and Nathan Cohen Coxless Four u 2007 World Champions Coxless Pair u 2006 World Champions, 2007 runners-up WOMEN Single Sculls u Emma Twigg – under-23 World Champion Double Scull u the EversSwindell twins – Athens Gold, 2007 World Championship silver Coxless Pair u 2005 World Champions, Silver in 2006

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feel life | HEALTH

Depressing news Claire Morrow looks at some sad facts about the psychiatric industry

Following the news lately, you may have seen the studies indicating that most anti-depressants have no real lasting effects against depression. After a spate of drug company scandals in the last few years and the increasing criticisms of “Big Pharma”, I’m sure it comes as no great surprise to the majority of the population that antidepressant medications may not be the holy grail of mental wellbeing after all. It is certainly true that Tom Cruise has taken the whole anti-psychiatry movement a bit too far – the Church of Scientology is opposed to psychiatry in general. Mr Cruise famously apologised to Brooke Sheilds after his comments disparaging her widely publicized use of antidepressants when suffering from post natal depression. But by her own telling, Brooke Sheilds was quite ill. Severe post-natal depression can be devastating and even life threatening for both mother and infant and needs treatment. It is in fact an emergency. However, the oft-criticised quick fix approach of modern medicine, the idea that drugs are the answer, does have a few flaws. One of the most obvious is that doc74 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

tors sometimes receive hefty kickbacks for medicines they prescribe and psychiatrists are doctors at the end of the day. Less obviously, studies have repeatedly shown that even small gifts, such as the ubiquitous drug company pen, influence prescribing habits. The doctor clutching the “Prozac” pen is more likely to prescribe Prozac and in all likelyhood will be unaware that they are doing so. Not being unreasonable, or hopelessly naive, most doctors believe that of course doctors in general are vulnerable to this kind of effect (known as prescriber bias), with one exception. The exception? The overwhelmind majority of surveyed doctors feel that they personally are immune from being thus influenced. Of course, they are not. When it comes to depression, most people would be well served to consider first basic physiology and then basic neurophysiology. Considering that your brain receives a quarter of your blood flow, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that pulse rate is probably going to have an effect on your mental processes. It isn’t always the case that the obvious is true but, in this

instance, it seems to be. A rapid pulse will certainly cause agitation. As pulse is linked principally to the heart (and secondarily to the circulatory system – veins and arteries), problems with the heart which manifest with variations to heart rythym and/or pulse rate are quite clearly going to affect your mental state. Most of the activities of daily living have an impact on neurochemistry. It is not highly technical to suggest to people that instead of moping in bed all day, perhaps a brisk stroll in the sunshine followed by some healthy exercise and decent food might do them the world of good. Of course, in some severe instances this is not going to cut the mustard, but for the majority of cases where the depression is of the more mild variety, it isn’t terribly bad advice. If a patient is too depressed to go for a walk, they’re probably depressed. Despite all the negative connotations of vanity, body image is often closely related to self-image, which is related to sense of worth, which is related to an overall state of happiness – at this point the subtler benefits of exercise should be becoming more obvious. Look good, feel good and all that. Depression is usually linked to serotonin imbalance and exercise is a source of endorphin release. Regular exercise raises overall serotonin levels and contibutes to the regulation of sleepwake cycles. Depression can be caused by, and itself causes, altered sleeping patterns, so merely restoring normal sleep patterns can have a significant positive impact on mood. From a neuro-physiological standpoint, exercise should be the first step in aiding mild depression. If you’ve just gone for a healthy run followed by a rigorous session of weight lifting, boxing, pilates, yoga, or whatever your preferred method of inducing sweat may be, you’ll likely be too exhausted to worry about your problems. Modern medicine also tends to forget that one of the basics of older styles of medicine was food. Partly linked to “you are what you eat”, people from earlier generations understood that different foods affected your mood. While these things were well known in medieval times, we seem to have thrown the baby out with the bath water in their haste to embrace the new ‘scientific’ method of medicine. I am not suggesting that you embrace a macrobiotic diet on impulse. In fact, a restrictive diet can lead to malnutrition, which can lead to alterations in mood. It is not uncommon for someone who feels “flat, tired, not right” to be suffering iron deficiency, or a deficit of some

other vital vitamin or mineral. Likewise a high junk food diet is unlikely to meet your nutritional needs. This recent study combined with slightly older ones examining suicide rates of people on Prozac seem to indicate that it may well be time for a re-assessment of the way in which we treat psychiatric problems. All medicines have side effects, including a number of herbal remedies. St John’s Wort – the herbal remedy for depression – has slightly more side effects that the drug company versions. If there is a treatment avaliable that does not carry those risks then we would do well to consider it first. We all know this. This is the kind of advice grandma might give you: “In my day there was none of this Prozac nonsense. What you need is three square meals a day and a good brisk walk in the fresh air”. It’s so obvious that we don’t pay enough attention to it. The correct answer is either “Yes ma’am” or, “Actually, Nan, I’m really sick...antidepressants might save my life”. But we don’t need to always jump straight to the latter. I have no wish to encourage the type of thinking that occasionally becomes pandemic where all doctors are butchers and not to be trusted. But I do think it is time to consider that if doctors are being paid to prescribe drugs, then we should perhaps consider that they are not utterly impartial in their judgment, and may well be mis- or over- prescribing anti-depressant medication. They may be overworked, they may assume you’ve already tried diet and exercise. They may be – and evidence suggests this – short of time and worried that if they do not offer a script that you will not consider them a good doctor. And, short of time, unsure if you are very depressed or a little, doctors may err on the side of caution, fearing that if they do not treat your depression with drugs that you may become (or be) desperately ill and they will be guilty of malpractice. Not to belittle mental illness in any way, but it may well be time to examine things and decide whether people suffering from whatever particular problem may be best served by examining the root causes of their problems, and trying to undo those first, before imbibing what may well be a detrimental substance. One thing has been proven about anti-depressants; they may not work, but if you stop taking them cold turkey, you are going to encounter a host of problems. Psychiatrists have been getting a fairly hard time for a while, mainly due to their lack of results in a lot of areas. Before R D Laing offered his famous criticisms, psychiatrists were sometimes regarded as strange mystics of the human mind. After his studies, serious holes began to appear in their reputation, which they have been at pains to cover ever since. It is true that they do some good work, but all too often research studies are conducted suggesting that while for very serious cases they are necessary, for the less severe, they often tend to do more harm than good. And let’s not even start on drug companies. They do good work. Lot’s of good work. But they do some pretty dodgy things too. My particular favourite was a counseling study that showed that Catholic priests had a higher success rate in curing depression than did psychologists or psychiatrists. One hopes that the lesson (thanks, Gran) is learned, and if you or someone you know is beginning to suffer signs of depression, the first things to look at are your diet, lifestyle, and exercise. It has been shown quite clearly that diets high in refined sugar, fried fats, and other equally delicious but awful consumables are directly linked to depression and anxiety. So go for a change of pace. Try eating three vegetarian meals a week. Stop drinking coca-cola,

drink more water. Walk a little more, sit down a little less. Get a touch more sun, quite necessary for processing Vitamin D. Most importantly, before you sign up for Prozac try and see if there’s anything you can do about it yourself. If you’ve tried a healthier diet, exercising more, and working on the problems and it still hasn’t done any good, then perhaps that is the time to consult a psychiatrist. But one hopes not before that.

HEALTHBRIEFS ACTIVE KIDS LIVE LONGER u Sedentary children are up to six times more likely than active ones to be at serious risk for heart disease when they’re older, according to a University of North Carolina study that included hundreds of children. At ages 7 through 10, the children were checked for a number of key health indicators, such as height, body mass and fat, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, along with physical activity levels, Agence France-Presse reported. The children were checked again seven years later to see if they’d developed any signs of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of symptoms that point to increased risk of heart trouble. Almost 5 percent of them had at least three core symptoms of metabolic syndrome. Those with these core symptoms were six times likelier to have had low aerobic fitness as children, and five times likelier to have had low levels of physical activity at the start of the study, AFP reported. The study appears in the journal Dynamic Medicine. FEMALE MIDRIFFS LINKED TO HEART DISEASE u U.S. researchers say women who carry excess weight around their waists have a higher risk of contracting fatal cancer or heart disease. The study by Harvard University and the National Institutes of Health analyzed data from more than 44,000 women whose medical history and lifestyle were tracked over the course of 16 years. During that time, 3,507 of the women died --1,748 of cancer and 751 of heart disease. Researchers found women with waist size equal to or greater than 35 inches were about twice as likely to die of heart disease as were women with a waist size less than 28 inches. Women with a waist size of 35 inches or more were also twice as likely to die of cancer as were women with smaller waists. The findings were published in the journal Circulation. BACON THE SECRET TO LONG LIFE? u Gertrude Baines, one of the world’s oldest women, celebrated her 114th birthday this month at a convalescent center in Los Angeles. Baines, born near Atlanta in 1894, said she never consumed alcohol or smoked, but regularly eats bacon with her breakfast, the Los Angeles Times reported. “I eat bacon, toast -- I like all kinds of food. If it tastes good, I eat it. If it doesn’t taste good, I don’t eat it,” she told the newspaper. Baines, who is in good health and frequently exercises, says she spends her days watching television shows she loves such as The Price is Right and the Jerry Springer Show. The only people older than Baines are Edna Parker of Indiana, who has her 115th birthday this month, and Maria de Jesus of Portugal, who had her 114th birthday in September, the Times said.

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feel life | ALT.HEALTH shelves. There are still hundreds of thousands of dosages in people’s medicine cabinets.” The search for D.J.’s treatment has gone through half a dozen doctors and hospitals – most recently to Miami Children’s Hospital, where D.J. was examined by Dr. Trevor Resnick, the hospital’s chief of neurology and professor of neurology at the University of Miami School of Medicine. Through his persistence, Mannello was the only member of the public to testify in October before an FDA advisory panel on the safety of children’s cold remedies. “It’s too late for my son,” he told the hearing officials. “But I don’t want it to happen to anybody else. Please do the right thing and remove these drugs from the shelves immediately.” ABC News interOne American’s fight to get kids’ cough medicines banned is a viewed Mannello outside warning the world needs to hear, writes Fred Tasker the hearing room, and the interview appeared with anchor Charles Nine year old D.J. Mannello hops off the he was eight weeks old, when a case of near- Gibson on ABC’s “World News Tonight” school bus, bounces into his dad’s insur- pneumonia turned into chronic, thick- that evening. ance office and settles into a chair. “Hi, mucus congestion. They persist in that The FDA hearings were based in part honey,” says Roxanne, his mother. Seconds belief even though D.J.’s doctors disagree, on a September 2007 report, which doclater, her face freezes. and say his problems might be congenital umented how the agency had received 54 “Dan,” she tells D.J.’s father, “he’s hav- or caused by early injury, but not by over- reports of deaths associated with over-theing another seizure.” counter decongestants and 69 reports of the-counter cold medicines. The boy’s bright eyes dull. His head No matter. Since D.J.’s first seizure, his deaths connected to over-the-counter antidroops. He can’t speak. His parents take father has been on a mission to get the histamines from 1969 to 2006 in children, him into their arms. US government to take children’s cough mostly 2 and younger. The Centers for His father kisses his forehead: “You all syrup and cold medicines off the shelves. Disease Control and Prevention reported right, bro?” The mission has taken him to FDA hear- last year that at least 1,500 children younger Dennis James Mannello isn’t all right. ings and put him on national TV. In than 2 have had serious complications from Since he was 16 months he has suffered January, there was a taste of victory – the the medicines from 2004 to 2005, includalmost-daily seizures, been in and out of FDA warned that over-the-counter cold ing three deaths. hospitals, back and forth to doctors, on medicines should not be used in children The advisory panel voted to ban over-theand off medicines and diets. counter cold products for children younger younger than 2. “Nothing seems to help him for very “Serious and potentially life-threatening than 6. Panel members says there was no long,” says Roxanne. side effects can occur from such use,” the proof the drugs helped children, and some Dan and Roxanne blame over-the-coun- agency says in its public health advisory. evidence they caused damage. The FDA ter cold remedies they gave their son on To 42 year old Dan Mannello, it wasn’t subsequently issued its public health advidoctors’ recommendations starting when enough: “There are still medicines on the sory in January, warning the medicines not

Kids’ cough medicines

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be given to children under age 2, the group most vulnerable to potential harm, studies show. The FDA is studying the issue for children between 2 and 6. Drug manufacturers responded in three ways: • Just before the hearings, they pulled from the shelves 14 over-the-counter cold and cough medications for toddlers and infants. These included Dimetapp, Robitussin, Tylenol and Triaminic brands. • They vowed to fight a ban on medicines for children 2 to 6. • They promised to study the dosage of children’s cold remedies. Dosage has been a concern because, without studies of the medicines in children, doctors have had to extrapolate from adult dosages – a process that some doctors say does not work. “There is no problem with these products if they’re used at the recommended doses at the recommended intervals,” says Linda Suydam, president of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, the drug makers’ trade group. “We feel they are products that parents need and want, and so they should be on the market.” ACCIDENTS, DOSAGES

Suydam argues that most problems stem from accidental ingestion or incorrect dosage. “Problems could be dealt with through education,” she says. “We want to educate parents not to keep them where their children can reach them.” Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore’s commissioner of health, disagrees. He coauthored a petition that led to the FDA hearings. He started the petition after four children died in six years in his city. “In 2006 the Maryland state medical examiner attributed the deaths in part to overdoses of common cold medicines,” Sharfstein says. “The labeling is complicated, which causes inadvertent overdoses. If there was a real benefit, you could try to fix that problem by educating the public. But we’re talking about a mild illness – the common cold. “Why take the risk?” D.J. Mannello was born in Tampa on Oct. 20, 1998. At eight weeks, his father says, a case of near-pneumonia turned into a chronic thick, sticky mucus. “The doctor says he’s too young for a prescription, so just give him an overthe-counter medication,” his father says. His mother says that, following the label’s instructions, they asked their doctor what dose to give their son – but she doesn’t

remember which doctor or what dose was recommended. D.J. was given the medicine over several months, she says. At 16 months, D.J. suffered his first seizure. Dan Mannello says a doctor at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla., told them a blood vessel in his son’s left frontal lobe had burst. An MRI found scar tissue in his brain. D.J.’s original diagnosis in 2000: dysplasia without focal point, the father says. (The doctor who made the diagnosis declined to be interviewed.) Dysplasia is defined as “abnormal development or growth of tissues, organs, or cells.” The “without focus” part means there’s nothing concrete on which to operate to correct it. In the same year as D.J.’s diagnosis, Mannello saw a segment on “60 Minutes” about dozens of lawsuits against manufacturers of cold medicines, including overthe-counter medicines containing the ingredient phenylpropanolamine (PPA). Several cold medicine manufacturers voluntarily removed the ingredient after a May 2000 study for the FDA by Yale Medical School suggested it might cause brain hemorrhages. The Mannellos have a bottle of decongestant they say they gave to D.J. that lists that ingredient. The lawsuits are ongoing, says Hiram “Ted” Carey, of Robinson & Cole in Boston, who is handling some of them. But none has come to trial, and the size of outof-court settlements isn’t known because of confidentiality agreements. “The big question in the trials is this,” Carey says: “Did the PPA cause the injury? If you can’t get an expert to say so, you have a big problem.” Dan Mannello tried to join the lawsuits, but his doctors wouldn’t give him a diagnosis on which he could base a lawsuit. Still, Mannello soldiers on. He’s working now with Gene Odom, a product liability lawyer. Odom is pragmatic: “Some doctors will tell you, `I cannot say what was the cause.’ That will be the battle. We will have other doctors look at the records and see if they think the drug could cause this problem.” ATTENDING SCHOOL

D.J. is in year three at a primary school for special needs kids. “He doesn’t make it every day,” his father says. “But when he does he can run and play and laugh; he’s a real hell raiser. He’s very good at recognition, but he has a hard time communicating – talking, writing.

“He gets hurt all the time. The school has me on speed dial. I can be there in five minutes.” His mother goes on: “He was having two or three seizures a day. He would start off across the floor and just fall on his face. It was hard to watch. He’s had three or four broken noses, any number of goosebumps on his head, eight stitches in his skull, 10 in his leg; he has a scar on his forehead.” Later in the day after his seizure in his father’s office, D.J. is playing in the yard with his sister, Alexis, 12, and their dog, a “refugee from the pound” mixed-breed named Ellie. The house, a small ranch, is in foreclosure. “It’s been a battle. It’s cost me my business, my house and my marriage,” Mannello says. D.J.’s parents were divorced in 2000, but vow to keep on fighting for their son. They have joint custody, with D.J. living most of the time with his dad. “The bitterness is gone now,” says Mannello. “We’re just trying to do the best we can for D.J.” “I hope he can overcome this,” says his mother. “I hope he can meet a girl and fall in love and have a home and a family. I’m sad and frustrated. We’ve tried so many things, but nothing seems to help him for very long.” PULLED FROM THE SHELVES Here are the 14 over-the-counter infant and toddler cough and cold medicines taken off the market by drug makers: u Dimetapp Decongestant Plus Cough Infant Drops u Dimetapp Decongestant Infant Drops u Little Colds Decongestant Plus Cough u Little Colds Multi-Symptom Cold Formula u Pediacare Infant Drops Decongestant (containing pseudoephedrine) u Pediacare Infant Drops Decongestant & Cough (containing pseudoephedrine) u Pediacare Infant Dropper Decongestant (containing phenylephrine) u Pediacare Infant Dropper Long-Acting Cough u Pediacare Infant Dropper Decongestant & Cough (containing phenylephrine) u Robitussin Infant Cough DM Drops u Triaminic Infant & Toddler Thin Strips Decongestant u Triaminic Infant & Toddler Thin Strips Decongestant Plus Cough u Tylenol Concentrated Infants’ Drops Plus Cold u Tylenol Concentrated Infants’ Drops Plus Cold & Cough

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taste life travel

HANOI – “Hello, pineapple!” That’s our next-door neighbor, the woman in the straw hat with baskets of pineapples and bananas balanced on either end of a bamboo pole, calling out to me over the din of the motorbikes whizzing by the front door of the Golden Lotus Hotel. “Pineapple? Bananas? How much you want to pay?” Hmm ... maybe some pho instead. Set up by 5:30 a.m. for the breakfast rush, our neighborhood vendor lines up blue plastic stools along the curb. It won’t be long before customers arrive for her beef noodle soup steaming in a pot on the sidewalk. The Vissan Sai Gon bakery has fresh baguettes. A few blocks away, at Cafe Pho Co near Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi’s version of Seattle’s Green Lake, glasses of ca phe sua da – iced espresso with sweetened condensed milk – await. Who needs Paris when we have Hanoi? All we have to do is get across the street. Think about what it would be like to walk across a highway at rush hour, and you start to get an idea of what it means to be a pedestrian in Hanoi. Take out the median and most of the traffic lights. Replace most of the cars with motorbikes, all honking their horns at the same time. Then start walking. Don’t hesitate. Don’t stop in the middle of the street. Keep going. Somehow, it all works. Are cars on the way? “Five or six years ago, all you could see in the streets were bicycles,” says Cuong Nguyen, 29, a guide for a local travel agency. If the trend continues, Hanoi’s streets will be clogged with cars in another five or six years, just like Bangkok and Beijing. For now, however, the back of an xe om – motorcycle taxi, or moto for short – is 78 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

Photography: Mee Lin Woon

Don’t mention the war Who needs Paris when we have Hanoi?, writes Carol Pucci an efficient way of getting from one place to another quickly. For my first ride, I chose a driver whose glasses, graying hair and mustache reminded me of my father. His Honda was old and beat-up, but his look of experience trumped a fancy bike. We agreed on a price for the short ride back to my hotel. I hopped on, hugged his waist and off we went, honking our way around a few cars and buses, but mostly other bikes.

It was midafternoon, and traffic was light. I wouldn’t do this at rush hour, or in the rain when the streets are a sea of colored plastic ponchos, but for a short ride with a good driver, it actually felt safer than crossing a busy intersection on foot. It certainly was easier. It was also cheap thrills. My ride cost 60 cents. In Bangkok, we awakened to the chanting of Buddhist monks. In Kuala Lumpur, it was the Muslim call to prayer. Here in

Hanoi, the sounds of business start early and go late. Communism and capitalism blend easily. A post-Vietnam War baby boom and a fast-paced, free-market economy have combined to make Hanoi one of Asia’s best values. An example is the Golden Lotus, where my husband, Tom, and I stayed in the Hoan Kiem Lake district on the edge of the old quarter, a maze of 36 streets laid out during medieval times, each named after the merchandise made or sold there. At US$50 a night, including breakfast, the 12-room Golden Lotus (www.goldenlotushotel.com.vn) was the best lodging value we found in three weeks of traveling through Southeast Asia. The rooms were long and narrow, with balconies fronting the street. Ours had floors of lacquered wood, a desk, wardrobe, king-size bed, modern bathroom and an Internet connection. Hanging on one wall was a knock-off Picasso, the work of one of the many Hanoi street artists who copy famous paintings and sell them for about US$45 each. Our street, Hang Trong, was lined with shops selling silks and lacquerware, but it’s also a neighborhood where locals live on the upper floors of tall, skinny houses built by the French in the 19th century. Almost anyone can and does start a business. I stood on our balcony one morning and counted the kinds of roving shops people run from the backs of bicycles. I spotted bikes laden with teapots and kitchen utensils, plastic buckets, rattan baskets, flowers, baguettes, brooms and potted plants. Women are adept at balancing baskets on their shoulders with bamboo poles. Some carry nothing heavier than paper funeral supplies; others haul pineapples or melons or portable kitchens for making egg sandwiches on the spot. The best eating is done squatting curbside on a plastic stool while a woman dishes out bowls of pho (noodle soup) spiked with lime, slices of chili pepper and handfuls of fresh herbs. Sidewalks aside, there are tons of atmospheric restaurants hidden in converted 19th-century shop houses along the back streets. Two can eat well for $12-$15 with beer or fruit shakes. At Green Tangerine, in a restored French villa at 48 Hang Be Street in the old quarter, we sampled well-prepared traditional Vietnamese dishes several notches above what was available on the street or in small cafes. The pho with spring onions was more delicate than anything we had tasted so far.

“Women are adept at balancing baskets on their shoulders with bamboo poles. Some carry nothing heavier than paper funeral supplies; others haul pineapples or melons or portable kitchens for making egg sandwiches on the spot. With the fans spinning overhead, the shutters open and French jazz almost drowning out the traffic noise, the Tangerine was a splurge by Hanoi standards, but like most everything here, a bargain by ours. The bill was NZ$25 each with drinks. For people-watching, we headed each morning and most evenings to Hoan Kiem Lake, the symbolic center of modern Hanoi, where a stroll usually calls for a snack, and vendors are at the ready with slices of chocolate bread, water, ice cream or oranges. Cigarette sellers claim prime sidewalk real estate after dark, competing with each other by using the cartons to create towering displays. Mornings before dawn, friends get together to do tai chi, aerobic dance to boom-box music, play badminton or lift barbells at portable sidewalk gyms. Hoan Kiem (Lake of the Restored Sword) gets its name from a legend. In the 15th century, Emperor Le Thai To supposedly handed down a magic sword to a mythical tortoise living in the lake, helping him fight off Chinese invaders. A prime spot for picture-taking is the fifth-floor rooftop of the City View Cafe on Dinh Tien Hoang Street, a few doors from the Thang Long Puppet Theatre where puppeteers stand waste-deep in water while

manipulating fire-breathing dragons with bamboo sticks. Here a dollar buys an iced coffee and a window table on the terrace, with a view of the lake or rush-hour traffic. Your choice.

IF YOU GO WHERE u The Vietnamese capital of Hanoi is in North Vietnam, about 85 miles inland from the South China Sea. LODGING u Golden Lotus Hotel, 32 Pho Hang Trong, Old Quarter. Phone: 00-84 928 8583, or see www.goldenlotushotel.com.vn. Rates: US$40-$50 for a double with breakfast. Deluxe rooms have balconies facing the street. CURRENCY u Everyone’s a millionaire. One U.S. dollar is worth about 16,000 Vietnamese dong. Most places accept U.S. dollars. Automated teller machines (dispensing dong) are widely available. TRAVELER’S TIP u Bells ringing in the old quarter signal that the garbage man is making his rounds through the neighborhood. MORE INFORMATION u See www.vietnamtourism.com.

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008 79

taste life travel number escalates to more than 350), and on this day at least, it seemed that half of those came with their own rainbows. The indigenous Guarani tribe, which inhabited the tropical jungles of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, named the falls Iguaz, or “Big Water.” The full import of just how big dawned on me as I made my way across the catwalk that allows visitors to stand directly over the Devil’s Throat, the most impressive of the falls, and get a 260-degree view of the surrounding waters. My initial feeling was one of vertigo, staring at the deep chasm into which the waters plunged, and Patti Nickell journeys deep into I grasped the edges of the catwalk – South American jungle slick from the mists churned up by the IGUAZU FALLS, Argentina – I heard the falls – in a sort of death grip. That feeling changed to exhilaration later falls before I saw them – the rumbling thunder of water that spews from the in the day as I made my way down hunGarganta del Diablo, or Devil’s Throat. dreds of steps carved into a cliff to board By the time I reached the catwalk that took a speedboat for what is referred to as “the me to the very edge of the world’s widest Great Adventure.” A more daring version waterfall, I knew that I was looking at one of Niagara’s Maid of the Mist, the Great of the planet’s most awe-inspiring natu- Adventure took us beneath the outer edges ral wonders. of two of the falls – where we momenThe first sight of IguazFalls, straddling tarily disappeared in a lacy swirl of mist – the border of Argentina and Brazil, leaves to reappear in the churning waters of the the viewer speechless, with emotions run- Iguaz River. As adrenaline-boosting as it ning the gamut from amazement that any- was, the Great Adventure was mild comthing could be so beautiful to sheer terror pared to a former daredevil stunt: heading that anything could be so powerful. Next to the edge of the falls in a rowboat full to Iguaz, Niagara Falls seems like the driz- of tourists. That activity was discontinued zle from your shower head; in the pan- in the 1940s, when one rower, incorrectly theon of the world’s waterfalls, only Africa’s estimating how close he could get before Victoria Falls compares. At Iguaz, an aver- turning back, went over the falls, taking age of more than 53,000 cubic feet of water seven German tourists with him. a second (as much as 450,000 cubic feet Iguaz Falls is not just about the water. It’s a second during the rainy season) pours a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The falls in torrents over 200-foot cliffs, creating a are in a virgin jungle ecosystem, protected horseshoe of 275 separate falls (my guide by national parks on either side of the told me that during the rainy season that cascades. The jungle is home to immense

After Iguazú Falls, Niagara is puny

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o rchids and a rich fauna that includes coatis, jaguars, crocodiles, snakes and poisonous spiders – the last of which “can only be found on the Brazilian side,” my Argentine guide said jokingly. Visitors can stay in the national park. On the Argentine side, where 80 percent of the falls is located, many prefer to stay at the Sheraton because of its proximity to the falls. That might seem like a good idea at first, but considering that one visitor remarked that the sound “was like white noise on a million television sets with the volume turned all the way up,” a better choice might be the IguazGrand Hotel Resort & Casino, a five-star property that is an easy drive from the falls but that will allow a peaceful night’s repose. There’s also its sister property, the Panoramic, which combines colonial architecture with chic modern decor. On my last night, I sat sipping a cocktail poolside at the Panoramic, watching the sun set over the Parana River, which marks the boundary of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. Savoring my experiences at Iguaz, I was reminded of Eleanor Roosevelt’s words upon first seeing these falls: “Poor Niagara.”

IF YOU GO Where to stay u Iguazu Grand Hotel Resort & Casino. A member of Leading Small Hotels of the World, this 108-room property is a good choice for those looking for all the amenities. Set amid beautiful tropical gardens, it offers spacious accommodations, sophisticated dining options (El Jardin for continental cuisine and La Terraza for traditional Argentine barbecues, as well as a tango performance every Saturday night), a full-service spa, and the area’s only casino. Located 15 minutes by car from the falls. Rates range from US$350 to $455. +54 3757 49-8050; www.iguazugrandhotel.net. Panoramic Hotel Iguazu is a boutique hotel situated on a hilltop overlooking the Parana River, with a view of three countries: Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The sister property to the Iguazu Grand, it has 91 rooms decorated in contemporary style, a lively lobby bar, two restaurants, and an infinity pool that boasts the area’s best view. Rates begin at US$250. +54 3757 49-8133; www.panoramic-hoteliguazu.com.

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INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008 81

taste life FOOD

Holiday cooking adventure Oh joy, they’re home again. Gather in the kitchen to whip up some family fun – and a healthful dinner, writes Gwin Grogran Grimes Help your kids build some culinary muscle this spring by learning to make a few family-friendly favorites at home. Cooking with fresh ingredients is often more healthful than dining out, especially if the latter means value meals and drive-through windows. When you cook at home, you know exactly what is going into the food. You can adapt recipes to personal tastes, decrease fat and sugar and/or increase the fiber, vegetables or fruits. And, when you’re not rushed to get dinner on the table, cooking with kids can be fun. I’ve gathered a few recipes that I’ll call my all-time greatest hits and adapted them so that families can prepare them together. Even on spring break, parents should look for “teachable moments” while cooking: math, science, reading – even bioethics – can come into play and be discussed in the kitchen. But, above all, have fun. HONEY-WHEAT PIZZA CRUST

Adapted from chef Wolfgang Puck’s recipe, I’ve added whole wheat for more fiber. Pizza is the ultimate customizable meal – and a great way to include more vegetables in any diet. Smothered in tomato sauce and low-fat mozzarella cheese, even broccoli tastes good! Makes 4 individual-size pizza crusts 82 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

1 package active dry yeast 1 teaspoon honey 1 cup warm water (between 40 to 46 degrees) 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup whole wheat flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing

Toppings of your choice

Directions using a stand mixer:

1. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and honey in 1/4 cup of the warm water and set aside. 2. In a mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the flour and the salt. Add the oil, yeast-honey-water mixture, and the remaining 3/4 cup of water and mix on low until the dough comes cleanly away from the sides of the bowl and clusters around the dough hook, about 5 minutes.

If it doesn’t, add more flour, about a tablespoon at a time, until it does. Directions using a food processor:

1. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and honey in 1/4 cup of the warm water and set aside. 2. Combine the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse once or twice, add the remaining ingredients and process until the dough begins to form a ball. If it seems too wet and gooey, add flour a tablespoon at a time and pulse.

browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Remember that the oven is very hot and be careful as you place the pizza into and take it out of the oven. Transfer the pizza to a firm surface and let it sit for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese is set. Cut into slices and serve immediately. Adapted from www.wolfgangpuck.com

Nutritional analysis per pizza crust: 399 calories, 8 grams fat, 72 grams carbohydrates, 11 grams protein, 0 milligrams cholesterol, 474 milligrams sodium, 6 grams dietary fibre, 18 percent of calories from fat. EASY BISCUITS

Directions for both methods:

3. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and knead for 2 or 3 minutes. Simply press on the dough ball with the heel of your hand, fold the dough in half and turn it a quarter-turn and press again. Repeat until the dough is smooth and firm. 4. Cover the dough with a clean, damp towel and let it rise in a warm spot for about 30 minutes. You will be able to tell the dough is ready when you stick a (clean) finger into the dough up to the knuckle and the dough doesn’t spring back. If your finger mark leaves a big hole, it’s ready. 5. Divide the dough into four pieces and form into balls. Work each ball by pulling down the sides and tucking under the bottom of the ball and pinching it tightly. Repeat 4 or 5 times. Then on a smooth, unfloured surface, roll the ball under the palm of your hand until the top of the dough is smooth and firm, about 1 minute. Cover the dough with a damp towel and let it rest for 15 to 20 minutes. (At this point, the balls can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to 2 days.) 6. Place a pizza stone, if available, on the middle rack of the oven and preheat the oven to 500 degrees. 7. To prepare each pizza, dip the ball of dough into flour, shake off the excess flour, place the dough on a clean, lightly floured surface, and start to stretch the dough. Press down on the center, spreading the dough into an 8-inch circle, with outer border a little thicker than the inner circle. If you find this difficult to do, use a small rolling pin to roll out the dough. Lightly brush the inner circle of the dough with oil and arrange the toppings of your choice over the inner circle 8. Using a rimless flat baking pan, slide the pizza onto the baking stone or the wire rack and bake until the pizza crust is nicely

I have often used this recipe when teaching kids’ classes. To make a savory biscuit, simply add some grated cheese and a pinch of dried herbs or spices (granulated garlic is good). Makes about 8 medium-size biscuits 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for the counter 2 teaspoons granulated sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder (check the expiration date on the can to make sure it is fresh) 1/2 teaspoon salt 1-1/2 cups heavy (or whipping) cream

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 230 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or coat with nonstick spray. 2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Stir in the cream with a wooden spoon until dough forms, about 30 seconds. 3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and gather into a ball. Pat out into a circle about }-inch thick. Be careful not to overwork the dough; it could make the biscuits tough. 4. Cut out biscuits with a cookie or biscuit cutter. Do not twist the cutter in order to allow the biscuits to rise as high as possible. (Twisting the cutter can seal the edges.) Place cut-out biscuits onto the prepared baking pan. (The baking sheet can be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 2 hours.) 5. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Nutritional analysis per biscuit: 272 calories, 17 grams fat, 26 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams protein, 61 milligrams cholesterol, 273 milligrams sodium, 1 gram dietary fibre, 55 percent of calories from fat.

TIPS TO MAKE YOUR KITCHEN ADVENTURES SUCCESSFUL

Be prepared. Shop for ingredients ahead of time. Don’t wait until the last minute to go to the store. Include your kids in the listmaking and selection processes. Set aside time to cook. Estimate how long it will take to prepare a recipe, then allow at least an extra half-hour than what you think you’ll need. Try to keep the pace relaxed. Gather all your ingredients, equipment and tools before you begin to cook. Chefs call this “mise en place,” meaning everything in its place. It will save you time and frustration while you cook. De-stress the kitchen as much as possible. Turn off the television, forward the phones to voice mail and focus on cooking. A little music (not too loud) can provide a nice background. Establish some kitchen rules when cooking with kids based on each child’s developmental abilities. Some children can and should be taught to correctly use kitchen knives. The youngest kids can help pour dry ingredients, measure or stir. Children should always have adult supervision when operating kitchen appliances, handling sharp tools and preparing hot foods. Clean as you go. (My mother, with whom I cook occasionally, made me write that.) Gwin Grogan Grimes is a culinary instructor, bakery owner, cookbook author and consultant. She can be reached at mrs.chef@yahoo.com.

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touch life > drive Remember how pudgy and plain your old girlfriend looked at the last high school reunion, as if time had blurred her lines? And then you saw her six months later strutting through some tony downtown restaurant, and she was cut-and-buff, a woman suddenly with muscle and attitude and presence. That’s the way I view the ‘08 Subaru WRX STI. When I drove the regular ‘08 Impreza WRX a couple of months ago, I liked its strong turbocharged 2.5-litre motor, which mustered a highly respectable and responsive 224 horsepower. But I thought the car handled softly, cost too much ($59,990) and had dull styling and an uninspired interior. In short, it was a chubby date in bad clothes with a good personality. Then the muscled-up STI version of the WRX rolled up recently. Holy pecs and lats, Batman. This car’s been in a gym. As you probably know, the STI is Subaru’s rally-inspired – and rally-tested – factory hotrod, a midsize sedan similar that’s intended as a “halo” vehicle to lure customers much the way Ford’s old SVT vehicles or Chrysler’s SRT cars and trucks did. While it starts with some of the same basic pieces as the WRX, it gets hot in a hurry. The flat four-cylinder engine gets a bigger intercooler, and the turbocharger is cranked up to 14.7 pounds of boost. The result is 305 horsepower and 290 pound-feet of torque – and that may be a conservative rating. In another indication of this car’s intentions, only one transmission is offered: a six-speed manual – the way the gods intended fast cars to be equipped. But my red STI, which had a base price of $64,990, also got some flattering new clothes – no small feat. The taller, wider, restyled ‘08 Impreza that provides the body and platform for the STI is not destined to ever be class favorite. From the side, the dowdy sedan looks too much like a Camry and seems too thick and blocky for its skinny tires and wheels. I didn’t expect a miracle. But the STI makes a decent pass at it. The car keeps the WRX’s strongest design feature – its tough intercooler hood scoop – and adds an attractive lower grille and small driving lights. The fenders get aggressive flares that are filled with 245-40 tires on nicelooking 18-spoke alloy wheels. The muscular fenders and a small horizontal chrome STI badge near the front wheels give the sides of the STI some much-needed character. And in back, Subaru added dual twin-tipped exhausts – a total of four pipes, in other words – which may be a bit much for a four-cylinder car. But, hey, this little beast has 305 horsepower and zips to 100 km/h in roughly 4.8 seconds. No matter what you drive, this is not a sedan to take lightly. The STI’s sophisticated all-wheel-drive system, for example, has a driver-controlled center differential that you can use to shift power 84 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

STI gives WRX va-va-voom Subaru’s new hot hatch can hit 100 km/h faster than many European sports cars, but you’ll pay for the privilege, writes Terry Box

from front to rear depending on what your traction needs are. Some enthusiast magazines have lightly criticized the new STI for becoming too refined. But to my middle-aged body, it feels like a good boy racer with a little nicer interior and slightly softer ride. Fire it up, and you’ll get the message. The STI’s exhaust note is a mix of flat tones, mechanical whirrings and bad-boy air pump. Step on the accelerator, and it swells from a low, off-center thrum to an appealing howl.

But expect to work some to get your aural satisfaction – a subject I think Mick Jagger set to music. The clutch in the Subie is fairly stiff and abrupt. Moreover, the linkage on the six-speed is a bit more vague than I like. But both are easy to get accustomed to, and the STI shifts up and down sweetly – a real plus in the daily metal scrum of rush hour. It also had an electronic high-tech feature I actually enjoyed, something called SI-Drive that allows drivers to select their throttle maps – and thus how the engine responds to the accelerator. Being a fairly reasonable little guy on the dark side of 55, I opted for “sport sharp,” which provided some edgy boot for a car with strong legs. The STI prefers to get started with some flourish and is kind of flat below 3,000 rpm. But around 3,000, the fuse gets lit, and the car rushes to 6,000 rpm so quickly that mere mortals will struggle

“Although the dark gray interior in my STI was better than the WRX I had, I still thought it had too much plastic for a $65,000 car

to shift fast enough to keep up with the motor. I found the ride firm but much more fluid than the underpinnings attached to the V-8 muscle cars that some people drive. I was less enthusiastic about the steering, which was light like I generally prefer. But like a lot of all-wheel-drive cars, it felt fuzzy at speed – as if the car was trying to compensate for all the weight over the front wheels. Steering by accelerator At times in hard curves, I wasn’t entirely sure what the front wheels were doing. But that’s no big deal because most of the time you can steer with the accelerator. When the front wheels began to scramble for traction, take a deep breath and nudge the accelerator. (I hardly ever hit anything large using this stab-and-steer, crazed rally-driver method. Just kidding, Subaru.) The grip gets even better when you learn to adjust the center differential with the big knob on the console. This will come as no surprise to those of you who accurately view me as a 20th-century Luddite, but I never quite mastered it in the few days I had the STI. It didn’t matter. As you would expect in a high-performance car of this calibre, the brakes are terrific and should bail you out of most of the trouble the STI can get you into. But don’t count on economy in your adventures. The STI returns V-8 fuel consumption – in fact, the new six litre 430 horsepower Corvette gets better highway mileage than the STI. Although the dark gray interior in my STI was better than the WRX I had, I still thought it had too much plastic for a $65,000 car. I like the interesting Tribeca swoop in the dashboard and the smallish, thick, three-spoke steering wheel. But the stylish, supportive leather sport seats with some sort of grippy suede material in the center almost saved the interior. For the most part, though, you’ll just have to accept that Subaru apparently put most of its money into the engine and suspension, not the dashboard and door panels. I wouldn’t argue with that approach. As good as Subaru is, the automaker isn’t growing as fast as it had anticipated a few years ago, and the STI could give the company a little kick. And Subaru, a small division of Fuji Heavy Industries in Japan, needs as many sales as it can get to enable it to fund all the new technologies that seem to arrive hourly. The most overused words at the show – green and sustainability – hint at the giant loads of bull hooey we had to shovel through, and I promise you it’s rolling your way. But the green thing also puts pressure on automakers to be able to tell consumers that they have diesels, hypebrids, plug-in hybrids, golf carts (excuse me, electric cars) and the biggest stretch for now, fuel-cell vehicles. “It is critical,” a Subaru US exec told me at the Detroit Motor Show this year. “We know and our parent company knows we’ve got to have the emerging technologies. We can do it faster if we are making our sales targets.” Even as an old muscle-car guy, an eight-cylinder graybeard in a four-cylinder world, I think I could be happy for a while with Subaru’s STI. I’m not so sure about the long term. But since the do-gooders may soon be ruling us, I’ll keep the STI on my list. INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008 85

touch life > toybox PDF Converter 5 Pro Nuance Communications, a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions, has unveiled PDF Converter Professional 5, the best selling PDF desktop alternative to Adobe Acrobat for government, corporate, and academic organisations. Users can easily turn individual email messages into PDF, or archive complete folders of email into PDF. File attachments within the email message are automatically embedded in their native format into the PDF. Email that is archived to PDF can save up to 50% in space requirements versus saving them as uncompressed email messages. You can now automatically split PDF documents that have a large number of pages into a set of smaller PDF files. Users can also (re)assemble multiple PDF files into a single PDF document. Now it is possible to distribute a PDF for comment, and then easily merge all sticky-notes and annotations into a master PDF document. PDF Converter Professional 5 is available immediately through Nuance and its global network of resale partners. RRP $199 (incl. GST) For additional information on all products, features, pricing and volume licensing programs, please visit http://apac.nuance.com or call Mistral Software on 09 271 4661

HDR-TG1: World’s smallest & lightest HD camcorder Now there’s no excuse for leaving your camcorder behind when you could catch the moment in sparkling HD. Sony’s sensationally styled Handycam HDR-TG1 is your perfect partner for nights out or weekends away. What’s more, it’s tough enough to keep up with today’s active lifestyles – whether you’re on the piste or paragliding. Great for city breaks when you don’t want to be weighed down, the TG1 slips effortlessly into a purse, bag or jacket pocket. Little bigger than your mobile phone, it’s the smallest, slimmest, lightest camcorder ever to feature 1920x1080 Full HD recording with crisp 5.1ch surround sound. It’s also the world’s first camcorder that features a body using pure titanium – a material that’s 40% lighter than steel and twice as strong as aluminium. The tough titanium shell is finished with a Premium Hard Coating. This extra-strong protective layer shrugs off everyday scratches – from active sports or hectic holidays – ensuring the HDR-TG1 keeps its high-fashion looks for longer. Recording on Memory Stick PRO Duo media (4GB Memory Stick supplied) means there’s no need to carry bulky tapes or discs if you’re out for the evening or spending a weekend away and want to capture your favourite moments. An optional 16GB Memory Stick records up to 5 hours 55min of full HD movies (LP mode). For more details see www.sonystyle.com

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COOLPIX P80 Packing the power of 10.1 megapixels, the P80 captures fine detail with the creative freedom to crop and edit. The P80 features Nikon’s legendary NIKKOR optics, ensuring quality images even while at a distance to subjects. The P80’s 18x Zoom-NIKKOR lens covers focal lengths from 27-486mm (35mm format equivalent). To ensure steady shots while utilizing the camera’s versatile zoom capabilities, the COOLPIX P80 is equipped with Optical Vibration Reduction (VR). The P80 includes intuitive controls via dedicated command and mode dials, providing easy access to shooting controls and exposure mode settings. The P80 offers Programmed Auto [P], Shutter-priority Auto [S], Aperture-priority Auto [A] and Manual [M] modes granting users the ability to tap into the creativity of D-SLR functions while maintaining the simplicity of COOLPIX functionality. What’s more, the P80 has the benefit of an all-new Sport Continuous Mode, allowing users to shoot as many as 30 consecutive pictures at four, six, or a quick 13 frames per second. Capturing photos in lower light conditions is no problem for the P80. With a light sensitivity range up to ISO 6400, users can now create new opportunities to capture more natural-looking photos with minimal light, or fast moving subjects with unparalleled clarity. For more information about the P80 and other COOLPIX cameras, please visit www.nikonusa.com.

The Sanctuary The Sanctuary is a beautiful, simple solution to a real everyday problem. A place to put the multitude of personal items we all carry around so they are easily located again when later needed and, always fully charged. The simple and compact design conceals a universal charger compatible with over 1500 electronic devices from most major brands and a USB port allowing hundreds more electronic devices to be charged using just The Sanctuary. Users can from now on charge their cell phone, PDA, Blackberry, iPod, MP3 player, and bluetooth headset simultaneously in one location. A Charging Station designed for daily use at the bedside table, kitchen counter, office desk, etc, The Sanctuary performs its functions with ease and elegance. The Sanctuary never truly reveals its multi-purpose electronic capabilities so the user develops an emotional attachment, as it becomes personalized and integral to one’s daily routine. Visit http://www.bluelounge.com/thesanctuary.php

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008 87

see life / pages

Granta us peace This month Michael Morrissey looks at milestones literary and historical GRANTA 100 Edited by William Boyd Granta Books, $30 Granta began as a Cambridge University magazine and in that first incarnation did not set the world on fire. Then American Bill Buford revived it in 1983 and one could (almost) claim the world of letters hasn’t been the same since. Published in a handsome book format, it became the world’s most admired and read literary magazine. “Literary” is a bit of a misnomer in Granta’s case for it didn’t print poetry, literary criticism or obscure postmodern writers. It had a strong political bent and frequently printed lucid reports from the most dangerous regions of the globe. A hallmark piece of this type would be James Fenton’s piece on the liberation of Saigon which he paid witness to from atop a tank. The world’s best travel writers queued up (or were lined up) for inclusion – writers like Norman Lewis, Jonathan Raban, Jan Morris. And there have been a plenitude of excellent short stories and extracts from novels. Granta has consistently been on the side of the factory worker, the labouring classes, the oppressed, the suffering, the politically marginalised and terrorised but has never stooped to banal propaganda. The late George Orwell would have fitted into their pages very nicely. Granta consistently assembles a compellingly readable package not cluttered with academic jargon or obscurantist concerns. Now 25 years on, from when Granta first went seriously public, it has turned 100. The 95 issues I have – I am missing the first five (now collectors’ items) – take up two shelves of my bookcase. Am I perhaps to look forward to a further 100? Among a host of Granta goodies, my favourites in this issue were Hanif Kureishi’s subtle evocation of Pakistan, James Fenton’s 88 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

lyric description of the clavichord, editor Ian Jack’s memories of India, Isabel Hilton’s mournful account of Greenland’s rapidly melting ice, Doris Lessing’s wonderful account of gathering eggs, and Lucy Eyre’s thoughtful analysis of why we are so drawn to photograph exotic tribes like the Hamar and Mursi who live in Omo Valley in south-west Ethiopia. And indeed, for more obvious reasons, why they now enjoy the experience of being filmed and photographed by tourists gawking at their everyday activities: it provides them with extra income. Poetry makes a rare visit and while that which appears is skillful and striking, though for Granta uncharacteristically obscure, it felt oddly out of place. The downside – a rare thing for this magazine – are the silly one-off questions asked of writers. Gary Shteyngart was asked, “Gary, what are you going to do in ten or twenty years when people stop reading literature or novels completely?” My guess is they could well be reading Granta – if they leave out silly questions. TWO LITTLE BOYS By Duncan Sarkies Penguin, $28 Two Little Boys is the first novel by well-known Dunedin screen writer Duncan Sarkies. It begins with a device recommended by many screen writers – put your hero (or anti-hero) into a jam, mess, dilemma, emergency, crime scene. And then make it worse. Watch gleefully (or suspensefully) as the hero squirms and tries to deal with it. In this case, the emergency is a manslaughter caused by hapless Nige swerving his vehicle to avoid a stray cat. What’s a bloke to do in such a situation? Obviously, drop in on his best mate and beg for help. And Deano, his bolder friend, obliges. There follows a partly hilarious, partly farcical romp as the hapless pair try

to deal with their situation which could well become a movie. Much as I wanted to like this tale of adolescent carnage and the emotional equivalent of road rage, I found myself getting irritated. Nige and Deano are just not interesting enough as characters. Their parallel narrative voices are too similar. The twin narrative approach which worked stunningly well in John Fowles’ first novel The Collector and Robert Gover’s One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding doesn’t work so well here. These two novels show how this technique often works best when the characters are of opposite gender and have opposite values, background etc resulting in their voices being being dramatically different. The danger in having a “dumb”character is the plethora of dumb ie uninteresting thoughts and words. (eg: “When I had my first day here I thought it was ... really intense, you know, but now it’s not intense.”) Two Little Boys has too much of this kind of banality. Forrest Gump tried it on with a subnormal fellow and got away with it. Dim-witted Nige is a less successful take. There is an interesting and even compelling theme which threatens to overtake the book’s given plot – accidental murder and what to do about the body. It is the powerful theme of male friendship. This is the sort of mateship that gives rise to the much repeated, “I’d take a bullet for you” – the stuff of comradeship on the battle field. Interweaved with this is the familiar and powerful emotion of jealousy – specifically Deano’s jealousy of Nige’s burgeoning friendship with Maori writer Gav. Jealousy is one thing, attempted murder is another. Readers may vary in their responses as to the psychological plausibility of the would be assassination which would make a lot more sense if the relations between the three young men were gay. Their intense, one might say homo-emotionality, stops short of actual homosexuality. So it could be said, it is a subtext – something hinted that never overtly declares itself. Though I could be wrong about this. Perhaps it is mateship at its deepest level. Emotional love without physical love. Among the book’s concluding scenes is an improbable ledge rescue following an attempted murder – a scene that might work well on the screen where the improbable is half way expected even normal. In the pages of a novel, it looks like a contrivance. If I was going to push someone off a cliff, I’d check there was an unimpeded drop. Despite my reservations, New Zealanders have taken this book to their hearts, for at the time of writing, it was number one on the local best seller list.

the political correctness of the new nomenclature, is that once the condition of bipolarity is examined, there follows the immediate division into mania and depression, the two components which the original term clearly declared. So where’s the gain in the new name? Though the text claims that in 1979 Karl Loenhard separated bipolar disorder from unipolar depression (yet another ugly neologism), I remain of the view that political correctness made psychiatrists recoil in terror from the near-sounding terms maniacal and maniac which always somehow suggested an axe murderer was on the loose. Whatever we call it, the condition is a real one in the psychiatric canon. Some one per cent or, if the more minor forms (such as cyclothamia) are included, up to four cent of the population suffer from it. The depression aspect is the most likely to prove fatal – those suffering from it are considered to be 15 times more likely to commit suicide than normal people. It is not a condition to be taken lightly. The initial description of mania on page 4 is both thin (only seven characteristics are offered) and poorly expressed in clumsy language. However, the book picks it up in a fuller way on page 32 with several dozen behaviours or inner thought patterns organised under three headings. Yet even then many of these are truncated to a single one line description and would have benefited from case examples – an aspect the book is short on. The example of bizarre behaviour is itself almost bizarre – someone who phoned everyone he knew to suggest they join a political party to eradicate fraud in the art market. What, I am tempted to ask – especially if one is interested in such matters – is so bizarre about such a strategy? Ironically, this book doesn’t give a sufficiently detailed account of what is actually like to be manic. It does not even mention paranoia which is the aspect of mania most likely to bring trouble both for the manic person and those around them. The strong historical association of mania with creativity is not explored. However, despite the aforementioned criticisms, there is much merit in the book. It has very detailed strategies on how to nip rising mania or sinking depression in the bud. It points out that bipolarity must be distinguished from several other disturbed states eg schizophrenia, schizoaffective personality, Borderline Personality Disorder, and even multiple sclerosis and drug-induced states which can mimic bipolar disorder. It warns against the sufferer becoming the illness or conversely denying it. It also rightly emphasises the importance of sleep – a single night without sleep can trigger an episode in a sensitive individual. On the positive side (among many such), it lists several possible reasons that a person contemplating suicide might find to live. I find myself a trifle sceptical that a person either in the grip of mania or a strong compulsion to commit suicide might turn to this book – though therapists certainly might. On the hand, if such a person reads the book early on, he/she might find a strategy that could help deal with the extreme mental states that are characteristic of the condition. Let us hope so.

LIVING WITH BIPOLAR By Lesley Berk, Michael Berk, David Castle and Sue Lauder Allen and Unwin, $24.95

CALLISTO By Torsten Krol Atlantic Books, $38

Once upon a time there was manic depression. Now there is bipolar disorder. With the aid of the shoddy grammar that the book’s title condones, this term has been shortened to bipolar, i.e., an adjective has become a noun. Ugh! The ironic thing, despite

This novel’s plot could be compared to a furled umbrella that gradually opens. A warning – once you open it, you’ll want to keep reading and forget about the drizzle of housework. Here’s the opening sequence of the story: a nondescript young drifter called Odell INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008 89

Deefus (white, though racists inform him it is a “nigger name”) has a motorcar breakdown and walks into the nearest house seeking help – which his new seeming friend, a lawn-mowing misfit called Dean Lowry, willingly provides. In a scene which readers will variously assess as either paranoia or self defence, Odell dispatches his “friend”with a baseball bat because he fears he is to be killed and buried in a graveyard hole that Dean has excavated. Though it’s bad enough having to deal with a dead body, the situation is quickly complicated by the arrival of the deceased man’s sister (as luck would have it, a policewoman), and other friends and acquaintances inquiring after the missing deceased – including a dope dealer. Obviously, young Odell has to think fast and keep moving that dead body. By the end of the novel, I was losing count of how many times the body had been buried, dug up and reburied – though Odell keeps reminding us. Bizarrely, each time the macabre deed is done it fits in logically with the grimly burgeoning plot. Hence this blackly comic scenario would certainly look good on film and yet also surprisingly stands up just as well on the page. As the book progresses, Odell’s plight gradually gets worse by very chapter. There must have been a part of him that wished he had joined the army as he had originally planned even though this might have meant a tour of duty in Iraq. As if one body wasn’t enough, Odell finds another corpse in the freezer – Dean’s aunt. The plot can only thicken from now on in – and it does. Before long Odell has become literally a punch bag between the local cop, the FBI and an even more sinister organisation called Homeland Security (Bush’s masterminded creation for spying on its own citizens) because of his connection to Dean, would-be convert to Islam. Homeland Security’s security is so good it can make calls undetectable by the FBI and it’s hinted that they can spy on Odell any time they feel like it – though an outright admission naturally is not forthcoming. Every time a young man stumbles on two bodies (especially one that he has helped create), I am reminded of Dostoyevksy’s Crime and Punishment and start making comparisons which is a little unfair, as Dostoyevsky is probably the world greatest novelist – so who is going to be capable of equaling let alone surpassing him? Of course, Odell is no intellectual like Raskolnikov (in fact he’s almost as dumb as Nige in the proximately parallel Two Little Boys). Further forced comparison with Dostoyevsky might yield the self torment of the protagonist and eventual redemption. But that’s as far as we can go Easy as it is to be annoyed at Odell’s naivety and stupidity, it’s well to remember this is a satirical not a realist work though all the surface appurtenances of realism are present. If Odell’s treatment at the Guantanamo Bay-style camp is bad, it is mild compared to what he would have received in Iraq. In the end, the overzealous patriots say sorry to Odell, here’s ten thousand and shut up. I don’t know enough about America to know if this is close to reality or not, but it is definitely a softer treatment than Odell would get in totalitarian countries where mistakes don’t count – the innocent are gun fodder like anyone else who falls out of favour. Though it may not have been intended, the fact that Odell gets let off and there is a happy ending seems implausible. Perhaps Krol lost his nerve or felt sorry for his set-upon hero or is he saying that America, as punitive as it can be when it mistakenly pursues an innocent victim suspected of terrorism, is still not nearly as bad as other countries? Intriguing afterthought – despite the American content and mode of narration, Krol (a pseudonym) is 90 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

not an American but an Australian who closely guards his identity – a suitable suspect for Homeland Security? THE SECOND PLANE By Martin Amis Jonathan Cape, $44.99 Martin Amis could not write a boring book even if he tried – his style is constantly lively and original. Apart from the felicities of his technique, he is willing to tackle “difficult” subjects, like Islamic terrorism. It might be mentioned in passing that few journalists tackle it here – Ian Wishart being an exception. There are some left-wing sympathisers who in their eagerness to understand the historic why of Islamic terrorism – the carving up of the Ottoman empire and the crude creation of new states regardless of ethnic and historic boundaries – (among other reasons) sometime move to a sort of justification. I feel uneasy with this line of thought – it’s a bit like saying because Germany was treated badly by the Allies after World War One, Hitler’s “retaliation” is justified or condonable. Luckily, Islamic terrorism has so far fallen a long way short of Hitlerian vengeance. But the day the second plane ploughed into the second World Trade Tower at high speed, must be burned into Western consciousness like no other spectacle since the nuclear explosion over Hiroshima. The collective psyche took a terrible jolt. “That second plane looked eagerly alive, and galvanised with malice ...” As Amis writes: We speak of ‘plane rage’ but it was the plane itself that was in frenzy, one felt, as it gunned and steadied and then smeared itself into the South Tower. Even the flames and smoke were opulently evil, with their vampiric reds and blacks. Murder-suicide from without was not duplicated within to provide what was perhaps the day’s most desolating spectacle. They flailed and kicked as they came down. In the longest essay in this passionate collection, Amis charts the origins of what has come to be called Islamism to Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian activist who was tortured and hanged for a failed attempt on the life of Nasser in 1954. His most influential book, Milestones, written behind bars, is compared by Amis to Mein Kampf. As paraphrased by Amis, Qutb views on the Americans are similar to Hitler’s on the Jews – they are barbarous, infidels, “arrogant animals unworthy of life”. And, of course, America is controlled by Jews. In other words, peaceful negotiation doesn’t seem likely. On a more personal note are two terrifying short stories. The first, ‘In the Palace of the End’ is a fact-based tale of the terror of being one of the doubles of Uday, Saddam’s eldest son, a man said to be crueller and more vicious than Saddam himself. This is a macabre read, and the depth of human evil plumbed is intimidating – it includes revolting details of child torture and medieval torture instruments. The second, as its title states, chillingly outlines the `The Last Days of Muhammad Atta’, – a man, one is not surprised to read, who does not laugh. The only leavening is explored in the semi-humorous portrayal of Tony Blair who is depicted as a charmer who wriggles uneasily when answering difficult, i.e. personal or religious, questions. Amis even has a faint touch of anti-Americanism himself – he doesn’t care for the event under discussion to be abbreviated to numbers, therefore he entitles his essay September 11. This is an unflinching and elegantly written book that deserves to be read.

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see life / music

Something to Bragg about Chris Philpott muses on the return of Billy Bragg Billy Bragg Mr Love And Justice Adding to an illustrious career spanning over 25 years, during which he’s released nearly a dozen albums and collaborated with the likes of Johnny Marr (guitarist for The Smiths), R.E.M., Less Than Jake, Wilco, and current chart-topper Kate Nash, Billy Bragg returns this month with his 12th full length, Mr Love and Justice. Known for his short, catchy fusings of his punk rock roots, acoustic-folk standards and a healthy amount of political sentiment, Bragg has stuck to what he knows best here, rarely straying out of the mold of his previous work while experimenting with instruments as wide ranging as trumpet, piano, double-bass and slide guitar. The other notable aspect of Mr Love and Justice is the noticeable lack of political statement – Bragg is as politically active as ever, and while that sentiment is still present here it just seems to be far more subtle than his previous work. For the most part these songs are simply more intimate and personal; one could imagine Bragg playing and singing in his lounge to a loved one. Overall, Mr Love and Justice is a good, middle-of-the-road collection that will appeal to almost any listener, and a worthy addition to Bragg’s back catalogue. The Reason Athings Couldn’t Be Better Sometimes albums come across my desk, and at first glance they don’t seem to be anything special. Such was the case with Things Couldn’t Be Better, the latest, and by far most accomplished, release from Canadian punk-pop band The Reason. Produced by Juno the Canadian equivalent of the Grammy’s) winner Gavin Brown, and led by able frontman Adam White, The 92 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

Reason appear to have hit their collective stride on this release, with the 2+ years production time showing through in both the quality of the tracks and in the overall vibe of the album. With a knack for catchy guitar licks and perfectly suited vocals, the group works its way through 12 almost-ideal pop-rock songs – the longest track is just over 4 minutes, and its incredibly hard to pick a highlight, which can only ever be a good thing. Kicking into gear with singles “This Is Just the Beginning” and “All I Ever Wanted”, Things shuffles along nicely without ever getting stale or boring, as pepperings of synthesizer and piano add a new dimension to the groups’ songs – and even though it does falter at times it’s hard to fault what should be one of the top mainstream albums of the year. Muse Haarp As a 3-time veteran of Muse concerts here in New Zealand (twice at the Big Day Out, and again last November at Auckland’s Waitakere Trusts Stadium) I implore you: if you do nothing else I recommend, at least check out Haarp, the second live release by the group, and one of the best live DVDs on the planet. It’s not so much that Muse are one of the best live acts on the planet, even though they are … its just that they are so damn entertaining that you simply shouldn’t miss them. Coming with a live DVD containing 20 songs spanning the groups glorious career, and a CD containing 14 of the best tracks from the show, Haarp is the very definition of ‘value for money’. Hits like “New Born”, “Hysteria”, “Knights of Cydonia” and crowd favourite “Feeling Good” are best experienced live, and short of travelling to a show, this is the closest you can get to that experience. This collection is not perfect – the sound is not as mind-blowing as it would be at a real show – but don’t let that deter you. I say again: if never do anything else I say, make sure you check out Haarp by Muse: your new favourite band.

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see life / movies

Horton hears the box office dollars The new Dr Seuss movie is doing well at the US box office, and should be the el primo holiday movie here as well Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! Voices: Jim Carrey, Steve Carell Directed by: Steve Martino, Jimmy Walker Rated: G 125 minutes It might not be the most groundbreaking animated movie in recent years, but the bright and bighearted new adaptation of the 1954 Dr. Seuss classic Horton Hears a Who! certainly hits its target. Without resorting to the crude comedy and shrill theatrics of the most recent live-action Dr. Seuss adaptations, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Cat in the Hat, directors Steve Martino and Jimmy Hayward vividly bring to life the author’s off-kilter universe. They also remain deeply faithful to Seuss’ original story, a quietly spiritual fable about learning to believe in a higher power – and, sometimes, a smaller one, too. Horton, as Seuss fans probably don’t need reminding, is the lovably sensitive elephant with a perfect memory and a ferocious sense of loyalty who also appears in the author’s Horton Hatches the Egg (1940). One day while frolicking in the jungle, Horton (voice by Jim Carrey) hears a distinct noise coming from a tiny speck of dust floating through the air. When he chases it and captures it on the head of a bright pink clover, he discovers the truth: Living inside that speck is an entire breed of cherubic creatures known as Whos, the residents of a microscopic town called Whoville. Part of what made Ron Howard’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas such a resolutely sour experience was that it rendered Dr. Seuss’ Whos as bunch of malformed, blank-eyed freaks – they looked as if they just stumbled off the set of The Hills Have Eyes. Martino and Hayward correct this problem, with lovely computer anima94 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

tion that updates the Whos’ look to the 21st century while maintaining their goofy, widely grinning appeal. The Mayor of Whoville (Steve Carell) is a particularly adorable creation – an eccentric father (of 99 daughters and one very quiet boy) who becomes convinced that the weather disturbances in his town are signs pointing to the end of Who civilization. Splendidly narrated by newsman Charles Osgood, Horton Hears a Who! follows what happens when Horton and The Mayor find a way to communicate between their two worlds. The Mayor learns that Whoville could be destroyed in an instant and attempts to warn his fellow citizens. But in Whoville, nothing has ever before gone wrong – and so no one pays the Mayor any heed. For his part, Horton determines to carry the speck of dust to safety. But he soon finds himself subject to widespread ridicule among the jungle creatures, especially from Sour Kangaroo (Carol Burnett), who doesn’t want Horton spreading his fantastical ideas about alternative universes and other species of humanity, and who even goes so far as to hire a vulture hitman (Will Arnett) to destroy the speck. It doesn’t take much effort to discern a religious message here; Dr. Seuss seemed to be arguing against both the dogmatists, like Sour Kangaroo, who insist on shoving their beliefs down others’ throats and the agnostics who refuse to accept that, way up in the sky, a God-like invisible elephant might very well be controlling our fates. The screenplay, by Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul, allows these ideas to flower naturally and subtly so that, by the end, the movie has turned unexpectedly moving. It’s a tale of people who maintain their faith and believe so doggedly in themselves that they inevitably triumph over all naysayers. (This was the same theme of last year’s masterful Ratatouille – a deeply spiritual animated movie that worshipped at the altar of the saute pan.) Horton Hears a Who! is far from perfect: The opening 15 minutes

have a frantic, hyper-edited quality that’s all too common in kids’ movies today – and yet it takes forever for the story to take grip. And while both Carrey and Carell keep the grating comic shtick to a minimum, this movie still suffers from a surfeit of celebrity: Do we really need the distraction of every last supporting part, whether it’s Horton’s best-friend mouse Morton (Seth Rogen), the Mayor’s wife Sally (Amy Poehler) or the nerdy Dr. Mary Lou Larue (Isla Fisher) being voiced by a famous person? Approached with the proper expectations, though, Horton Hears a Who! is gratifying and swift – an ideal Saturday matinee. And compared with some of Pixar’s recent efforts, especially “Ratatouille” and The Incredibles, this movie strikes me as much more suited to younger viewers. (At the very least, you don’t need to know the difference between chervil and chives to follow the plot.) Best of all is the movie’s marvelous visual look, which bounces between the bright, kid-friendly pop colors of the jungle and the more elegant and mature-looking whites, browns and dark greens of Whoville. “A person’s a person, no matter how small,” Dr. Seuss famously wrote. Accordingly, Horton Hears a Who! has a little something for everyone. Reviewed by Christopher Kelly Nim’s Island Starring:: Abigail Breslin, Jodie Foster Directed by: Jennifer Flackett Rated: PG 96 minutes Walking out of a screening of Nim’s Island, I couldn’t help wondering just why Jodie Foster chose to appear in this movie. A family-fare adventure comedy, Nim’s Island stars Abigail Breslin as an 11-year-old girl who lives on a small South Pacific island with her father and a covey of animal friends. It’s clear why Breslin wanted to appear in this movie. Lead roles for 11-year-olds don’t come along every day, and Breslin’s Nim Rusoe is a kind of girl version of Robinson Crusoe – confident, resourceful and at ease with nature. And it’s easy to understand why Gerard Butler chose to play the double role of Nim’s father Jack Rusoe and fictional character Alex Rover. Butler made a splash in 300, but the Scottish actor is new to the screen and not in a position to be turning down roles that give him a lot of screen time – even roles in children’s movies. But why did Foster, an actress who can be choosy about her roles, elect to play a comic role in a children’s story that alternates awkwardly between over-earnest and silly? Foster plays Alexandra Rover, the agoraphobic author of a highly successful series of books about a fearless adventurer. Alexandra, who cleans her hands with Purel every few minutes, attempts to rescue Nim when she discovers that the girl is living on her own, but it is Alexandra who is rescued, learning to dine in style on grubs and to be “the hero of her own story.” Alexandra’s struggles are moderately amusing, but the other intended comic element of the movie, a cruise ship full of fat passengers, is painfully unfunny. Still, the movie moves along at a fast pace, and families with girls, particularly girls who have an affinity for animals, might feel an affinity for Nim’s Island. Reviewed by Cathy Frisinger

SNAPSHOTS THE BANK JOB R (nudity, sexual candor, profanity) 110 minutes Kiwi Roger Donaldson`s hightension thriller, inspired by an actual 1971 London heist, stars Jason Statham (of the sandpaper face and voice) as a roughneck who thinks he`s in it for the money and jewelry but learns there are items in the bank vault that the Crown wants recovered. – Reviewed by Carrie Rickey

BE KIND REWIND PG-13 (profanity, adult themes) 101 minutes A sweet, goofy comedy about two video store clerks who film their own slapdash reenactments - everything from Ghostbusters to 2001 - when the struggling shop’s inventory is destroyed. With Jack Black and Mos Def, from the eccentric and pretty brilliant Frenchman, Michel Gondry. – Reviewed by Steven Rea.

THE BUCKET LIST PG-13 (profanity, sexual candor) 98 minutes Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as terminally-ill men who decide to stop and smell the roses. Which would be fine if director Rob Reiner didn’t rub our noses in a bouquet of plastic blooms. – Reviewed by Carrie Rickey

INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008 95

see life / dvds ter is pretty sure she’s a real princess. Exuding a kindness that enhances his good looks, Dempsey seems like a modern-day Prince Charming. Robert might reject fairy-tale love as fantasy, but he can’t help but be impressed when Giselle draws followers, animal and human, with her singing. Enchanted contains some innuendo and a sequence that might frighten sensitive young ones. That’s the thing about live action – the same sequence would be no sweat in animated form. Reviewed by Carla Meyer Evening Starring: Vanessa Redgrave, Natasha Richardson, Toni Collette, Claire Danes, Mamie Gummer, Patrick Wilson Directed by: Lajos Koltai Rated: M 112 minutes

One Enchanted Evening The part-animated blockbuster Enchanted is out in time for the school holidays Enchanted Starring: Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Rachel Covey, Susan Sarandon, Idina Menzel and Timothy Spall Directed by: Kevin Lima Rated: G 107 minute Amy Adams transitions beautifully in Enchanted, a charming twist on Disney fairy tales that should please `tween girls especially. As Giselle, Adams (Junebug) brings the same ebullient innocence to her interaction with New York divorce lawyer Robert (Patrick Dempsey) as she does to singing before an audience of woodland creatures in the animated land of Andalasia. The animated portion lasts just long enough to establish the ultra-whirlwind romance of Giselle and Prince Edward (James Marsden, who, like Adams, is delightfully un-ironic throughout). On the day Giselle and Edward are to be married, Edward’s evil stepmother, Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon), sends Giselle down a well that leads to a modern-day Times Square. Narissa doesn’t want Giselle stealing her thunder or her crown. Alone in the bustling city, Giselle has trouble finding a sympathetic ear. Having so successfully promoted the idea of fairy-tale love over its long history, Disney only nibbles the hand that feeds it with “Enchanted.” The idea of sudden, impossibly romantic love undergoes a thorough inspection – via the divorce lawyer’s naturally cynical view of the concept – but ultimately is deemed sound. It’s something like fate, after all, that leads Robert’s 6-year-old daughter (a quietly expressive Rachel Covey) to notice Giselle knocking on the faux door of a billboard advertising a “Palace” casino. Whereas Robert thinks Giselle might be loony, his daugh96 INVESTIGATEMAGAZINE.COM May 2008

Boasting an ensemble of Hollywood’s best actresses, this drama is unabashedly sentimental but still effective. It streamlines the book’s narrative but never overlooks a chance to tug on the viewer’s heartstrings. Savvy theater managers will stock Kleenex in the concession stand. Ann (Vanessa Redgrave) is dying. Her two adult daughters have come home to await the inevitable. As she’s waking from a nap, Ann groggily mumbles something about Harris, a name that Constance (Redgrave’s real-life daughter Natasha Richardson) and Nina (Toni Collette) have never heard before. They become determined to find out who he is. We learn his identity quickly, but it takes the daughters most of the movie to piece together the evidence that Harris was their mother’s first true love. The narrative jumps back to the early 1950s when a college-age Ann (now played by Claire Danes, Shopgirl) goes to the wedding of her best friend, Lila (Mamie Gummer, The Hoax), and meets the charming Harris (Patrick Wilson, Little Children). Ann is taken with Harris immediately, but he keeps her at a distance. For starters, he’s older than she is; he’s already finished medical school and has gone into private practice. Besides, his best friend, Buddy (British actor Hugh Dancy), makes it embarrassingly clear that he’s smitten with Ann and wants to marry her, even though his mother (Glenn Close) isn’t exactly giddy about the idea. The narrative jumps back and forth between then and now, with Constance and Nina trying to nail down the story about Harris. It’s not easy. Director Lajos Koltai blends Ann’s memories with bits of wishful thinking and the dreamy illusions that are a byproduct of her pain medications. Sometimes, even the audience isn’t sure what’s what. Koltai, a longtime cinematographer who is directing only his second feature film (and first outside his native Hungary), gives each member of the deep cast a chance to shine. There’s no way to do that without making the plot episodic, but the roles are all well-played. He also adds a nifty casting touch when the modern-day Lila shows up to visit Ann. We’re taken aback by how much the older Lila looks like her younger self. Then again, she should, we quickly remind ourselves. She’s played by Meryl Streep, who is Gummer’s mother. Eventually, it all comes down to love: young love, old love between friends and the boundless love between a mother and her daughters. Viewers in a sentimental mood are going to love it. Reviewed by Jeff Strickler