TGIF Edition 7 November 08

NZTONIGHT

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Secret taper Kees Keizer

The truth about Obama

They don’t want children

The return of Stacey

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ISSN 1172-4153 | Volume 1 | Issue 14 |

| 7 November 2008

Prediction: A National landslide

By Ian Wishart

Former Act party leader Richard Prebble is picking a National landslide in this weekend’s election, and believes the Electoral Finance Act has done irreparable damage to Labour’s own election campaign.

Speaking to TGIF Edition on the eve of the poll, Prebble said the polls are not telling the full story.

“I actually think that it’s going to be a very big win for National.While you look at the latest polls and it’s technically possible Labour could pull it off, I think that the polls are under-recording what’s going to happen.What they don’t record is the people who say they’re going to vote, but eventually don’t bother.”

Prebble says there’s an overwhelming mood for change, and many Labour supporters are demotivated. He argues that while left wing voters may find it easy to give an opinion pollster their vote over the phone, they may not be sufficiently enthused to waste time voting in the election itself.

He also warns that the Electoral Finance Act has quashed Labour’s usual attempts to rally the troops.

“I personally think the Electoral Finance Act has come back to bite them very hard. There is a general rule of thumb that if you really want to win over a voter you have to communicate with them six times in election year.

“Here in the Rotorua electorate where I live, the second most marginal seat in the country, I haven’t received a single piece of literature (and nor have my neighbours) from either of the two candidates who are running…because if they actually wrote to us they’d blow the whole budget [under the Electoral Finance Act rules], and one letter is not enough!

“If the Labour candidate was going to hold the seat, she would have had to communicate with me six times this year, but she hasn’t written to me

Dunedin

on the

INSIDE LIBERTY ARREST Page 3

GLASSIE TRIAL Page 4

AMERICAN DREAM Page 9 Fresh faces: National Party candidate Nikki Kaye undertakes last minute campaigning in Auckland Central. If the landslide prediction is correct, she’ll be one of the new MPs. NZPA / Wayne Drought

or my next door neighbour once because she can’t afford to.And I blame the Electoral Finance Act. “Obama spent eight bucks a voter, but over here a party spends 20 cents. Good elections are expensive, but in this country you’re not allowed to do it.”

The former Act leader is also warning that the incoming government will have a major crisis on its hands.

“I’m very concerned that neither National nor Labour are addressing the very serious economic situation we’re facing. John Key’s going to get himself elected without having got himself a mandate.

He should have. The things that have been costed are based on a Treasury report that’s now six weeks out of date, and the international crisis is moving very rapidly.”

JOHN LENNON Page 15

EXCLUSIVE

Prebble speech details “assassination” attempt on Clark

By Ian Wishart Editor, TGIF Edition

A staggering speech delivered by former Act Party leader Richard Prebble to a private international symposium has just surfaced on the internet, suggesting that he, Prime Minister Helen Clark and the editor of the New Zealand Herald were the subjects of an assassination attempt by suspected Islamic terrorists five years ago.

The speech, never before reported, was given to a

peace and interfaith symposium in South Korea in January 2004, but was only posted online in June this year by the symposium organisers.

TGIF Edition stumbled across the claims this week while conducting background research on next week’s interfaith meeting at the United Nations.

“International terrorism is a global crisis that has even reached New Zealand,”Prebble told delegates to the January 2004 symposium.

“Last year, there were two different attempts on my life; there were also attacks on the life of the

Prime Minister, on the American Ambassador and on the editor of the largest newspaper. While no group has publicly taken responsibility, our New Zealand security forces believe that it is a Muslim extremist group.

“I do not advocate assassination to you as a political strategy, but it certainly gets your attention. It has my attention. I am keen to know who it is who would like to have my life and why. I must say that I have not, as a politician, taken a great interest in the Muslim religion or in the problems of the Mid-

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dle East because they seem so far away from New Zealand.Well, they now have my attention.”

It appears Richard Prebble used former SAS bodyguards to protect him after the ‘assassination’ attempts, as a security firm lists Prebble as a client.

Prebble told the interfaith symposium he wasn’t convinced that poverty or poor education were factors in the rise of Islamic terrorism: “Recently, I visited Israel to see for myself. I looked at the security fence and the people queuing Continue reading

7 November 2008

off BEAT

Labour, Greens linked to secret Nats tapes scandal

NEW ZEALAND

Woman ran with rabid fox on arm CHINO VALLEY, Ariz., (UPI) – A Chino Valley, Arizona, woman said she is receiving a series of shots after she ran two kilometres with a rabid fox hanging from her arm.

Michelle Felicepta, 30, said she encountered the fox while she was jogging in the late afternoon Tuesday at the base of Granite Mountain, The (Prescott, Ariz.)

Courier reported today.

“I knew something was wrong when its eyes locked in on me,” Felicepta said.

Felicepta said the fox bit her foot before she grabbed it by the neck.

“As soon as I grabbed its neck, it started thrashing and grabbed my left arm,” she said.

She said the rabid animal clamped down on her arm so hard that she had to run the distance back to her car with the fox in tow. Felicepta said she managed to pry the fox’s jaws open and throw it in her trunk before driving to the hospital.

Dwight D’Evelyn, spokesman for the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office, said the fox also bit a Yavapai County Animal Control officer who was trying to retrieve the animal from Felicepta’s trunk.

D’Evelyn said Felicepta will require five rabies shots during the next few weeks, while the animal control officer will only need two or three due to a pre-exposure rabies vaccination.

By Ian Wishart

The Green Party have denied knowing about a dirty tricks campaign against the National Party, after blogger David Farrar discovered the man who’d secretly taped National MPs for TV3 was flatting with a Green Party parliamentary staff member.

The Greens, who last election claimed they themselves were the victims of a dirty tricks campaign,told TGIF Edition today they had no knowledge of the secret taping of National’s deputy leader Bill English at a party function, nor did the Greens condone it.

Earlier this week the secret taper was outed by blogger Cameron Slater as one Kees Keizer. Then Farrar’s check of the electoral habitation index revealed Keizer lives with Stephen Day, who’s a parliamentary worker tasked with liaising between Labour and the Green party, based in Green MP Sue Bradford’s office.

TV3 News Director Mark Jennings denied knowing that the leaked tapes had come from the household of a Labour/Greens staff member.

In a statement to TGIF,Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons accused Kiwiblog of ‘mischief-making’: “The Green Party says National Party blogger David Farrar is mischief-making over his attempts to link the Greens to the cocktail party recordings.

“While it is true that the man who admits to having made the recordings is related to a Green Party staff member, no one in the office, including the

Kees Keizer, pictured last year

taper’s relative, was aware of his plans to make the tape recordings,” Co-Leaders Jeanette Fitzsimons and Russel Norman said.

“Neither Russel or myself were even aware of the taper’s identity till yesterday when he was named on another blog,”Ms Fitzsimons said.

FROM FRONT PAGE

Man gets engagement assist from Starbucks NEW YORK, (UPI) – A 32-year-old man says he was allowed to use a Starbucks coffee house in New York as the surprise location for his engagement proposal to his girlfriend. Lingerie designer Lenny Tawil said he knew his girlfriend, Harari, was a Starbucks regular and decided to deliver an engagement ring to her through the facility’s drive-through window, the New York Daily News said this afternoon.

She comes here every day, so this is nothing different, he said of yesterday’s unique proposal.

Sure enough, the 23-year-old Harari visited the drivethrough-only coffee house and received a cup filled with a jewellery box instead of her usual iced macchiato.

That was when Tawil appeared on scene and made his proposal to a joyful and receptive Harari, the newspaper said.

For Starbucks store manager Liz Fagundo, the choice to allow the engagement request to occur was a no-brainer.

“I said yes right away,” Fagundo told the Daily News. You can meet at Starbucks; you can get engaged in Starbucks.

Branch saves cat in 17-story plunge MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, (UPI) – A cat’s last-second grasp of a tree branch is credited with saving its life just before it ended a 17-story fall from an apartment west of Toronto.

Building superintendent Daniel Ambaye told the Toronto Sun he found the cat in a messy apartment its owners had abandoned in Mississauga. He spotted the black and white cat in a bedroom as he surveyed the mess, and said he backed away so as not to frighten it.

Then, he heard a terrible, loud screeching noise as the cat went out the unscreened window.

Ambaye said he expected the worst when he got to the ground, but the cat was lying dazed and injured, clutching a piece of branch that had broken its fall.

He said he took the cat inside and cleaned its wounds and called animal authorities. However, he said it took more than half an hour before the cat would let go of the branch, he told the Sun. The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals picked up the cat, and spokeswoman Alison Cross said it would survive.

Meanwhile, she said charges will be filed against the people who abandoned it.

Getty

NZPA / Ross Setford

up in order to get through the fence. I also listened very carefully to those who are advocating solutions.

There are those who say that, if we eliminate poverty, if everyone has an education, if everyone has a good job, if we are more prosperous, then there will be peace. I am sure that these are all worthy aims; in fact I am sure we all share them.The difficulty I have with this explanation is that, when I look at the September 11 hijackers, I see that they were all edu-

cated.They all had good jobs.They were prosperous.

They were not on the airplane for economic reasons.

They were there motivated by their beliefs.

“How do you begin a dialogue with somebody who says that it is their religion that causes them to act? In New Zealand we are brought up to believe that politics and religion should be separate. How can I start a dialogue with someone who says that religion is now at the centre and politics follows. If

“We have checked, and he has never been a Green Party member.

“The Green Party believes in transparency and honesty we do not condone the secret taping of private conversations.”

RELATED STORY: Best of Blogs

we are to have dialogue, if we are to have peace, we must first understand each other’s religious beliefs.

Two years ago I would have said, what has religion to do with the UN? And now it seems to me that unless we have an interreligious council at the UN, we cannot even start to talk, and until you are able to talk, you have no chance of peace. So I think that this is an important idea. I think it will help bring peace to the world. It might even save my life.”

Prebble’s speech also forms part of a published record of the symposium available in book form.

Prebble was stunned to get a phone call today about the speech from TGIF Edition: “I’m constantly amazed at what you manage to dig up, I’d never have found that old speech in a lifetime of looking.”

The former Act party leader says at the time he gave the speech, he’d been told by police and security agencies that it was a suspected Islamist terror plot, but the eventual culprit turned out to be more benign.

“It turned out to be, humiliatingly, a 15 year old boy, in the end, who’d sent this powder that turned out to be flour to all of us. I’d forgotten all about that speech,”he laughed.

However, Prebble revealed the security scare is likely to have cost the taxpayer considerably, as undercover police were assigned 24/7 to protect those who’d been targeted.

“Their original advice was,‘we’ve had a very serious threat and the Commissioner has ordered you to be given 24 hour protection and you are going to receive it whether you want it or not’.

“The undercover police stuck out, because they shadowed me wherever I went for ages,”he told TGIF. “My neighbours used to sidle up to me and ask if there was some major unreported crime in the street that they needed to be aware of, because they could see the constant presence of this unmarked police car, day and night, and the plain clothes officers.

“New Zealanders can spot a plain clothes policeman from a hundred metres away!”

Prebble said the visibility of the police bodyguard reminded him of a humourous incident involving Prime Minister David Lange.

“He came home one day and found when he entered his house that the SIS or someone had come and erected spotlights on his house that switched on when he arrived. And he said to his security detail,‘how does it help my security that when I come home these spotlights come on? Or have you put them in so that the assassin shoots me, and not you?’”

Back to the front page

NEW ZEALAND

7 November 2008

Nats comfortable with latest polls

NZPA / NZ Police

Wellington, Nov 7 – National is poised to lead a centre-right government after tomorrow’s election, with latest polls showing Labour’s bid for a fourth term slipping away.

NZPA’s rolling poll, an average of the last six surveys, gives National, ACT and United Future 64 seats.

The most Labour could muster with the Greens, the Progressive Party and the Maori party is 58 – a clear six seat majority for the centre-right in a Parliament of 122 MPs. The only bright news for Labour is in the latest Roy Morgan poll, which conducted a poll of 500 people a week for the two weeks ending last Sunday. At that stage, the Morgan figures show National, on 42% against Labour’s 34.5% would require the Maori party to govern.The Morgan poll still has NZ First on 4.5%, but the poll was completed before the helicopter revelations had a chance to make an impact.

But despite the poor results for Labour in two other polls published today – Fairfax Media scores the main parties 49 percent,31 percent and the New Zealand Herald 47.9 percent, 36.4 percent – party leader Helen Clark still believes she can pull of a remarkable turn around victory for the centre-left.

“We’re certainly picking up a lot of strong support for Labour out there on the ground, and the feeling that this isn’t the time to jump into the unknown,” Miss Clark said this morning.

“I think people are aware there’s a pretty serious international crisis out there and that Labour can be counted on to protect jobs and vulnerable people.”

Miss Clark shrugged off the latest polls.

“That’s what most of them said last time, there’s nothing new about that,”she said.

National’s leader, John Key, said the survey results were “fantastic”but he wasn’t taking anything for granted.

“Polls are one thing, election night results can be a very different thing,”he said.

An important feature of the polls over the last two weeks has been the surge in support for the Greens, and to a slightly lesser degree for right-wing ACT.

The Greens have taken votes off Labour and are up to 8.6 percent in the rolling poll.

That would give them 11 seats in the new Parliament compared with six they held in the last one.

ACT is polling at 2.8 percent which would give it four seats. It had two in the last Parliament.

If ACT gains nearly 3 percent tomorrow night, former Labour Party finance minister Sir Roger Douglas will be back in Parliament.

The rolling poll puts New Zealand First on 3.4 percent support – no seats, because without holding an electorate it must reach the 5 percent threshold.

Party leader Winston Peters is contesting Tauranga but he is trailing National’s Simon Bridges.

Ron Mark is fighting for Rimutaka, a safe Labour seat.

But NZ First is still a dangerous wild card.

If Mr Peters could pull off what would be a lastminute miracle and get his party over 5 percent it would have six seats, and the entire landscape would change.

National has shunned Mr Peters and won’t have anything to do with him post-election.

He would have to go with Labour, and National’s majority would evaporate.

The Maori Party is expected to hold the four seats it already has but its candidates are trailing Labour MPs in the other three Maori seats.

It has not decided which of the main parties it will support after the election,but on current polling it will not be in the“kingmaker”position of holding the balance of power because National would not need it.

Another feature of the recent polls is that voters do not seem interested in the centre parties, NZ First and United Future, or Jim Anderton’s left-wing Progressive Party.

United Future leader Peter Dunne will hold his Ohariu seat and join National but his party is only rating 0.5 percent and it will not have any more MPs. The Progressive Party is barely registering in the polls and Mr Anderton will again be its only MP because of his grip on the Wigram seat.

– NZPA

Teenager appears in Youth Court for murder of Kerikeri student Auckland, Nov 7 – A 14-year-old Kerikeri High School student, charged with the murder and indecent assault of Liberty Templeman, was known to the teenager but was not her boyfriend, police say.

Far North Area Commander Inspector Chris Scahill said the 14-year-old appeared in the Kaikohe Youth Court this afternoon facing one charge of murder and one charge of indecent assault of 15-year-old Liberty.

Northland police spokeswoman Sarah Kennett told NZPA the 14-year-old, a student at Kerikeri High School, was known to Liberty, but was not her boyfriend.

The teenager was remanded into the custody of ChildYouth and Family until his next court appearance, she said.

Liberty was found murdered last weekend and will be farewelled tomorrow in what is expected to be one of the largest funerals the Far North town of Kerikeri has seen.

Earlier police searched a house about four kilometres from where her body was found,off Cobham Road,in

the Wairoa Stream in Kerikeri last Sunday evening.

She had been reported missing 24 hours earlier after failing to keep an appointment with a friend.

Mr Scahill said Liberty’s family have been told about the arrest.

They were relieved a person had been charged and were focusing on the funeral tomorrow and time with their family, he said.

More than 40 police staff spent many hours working on the case and Mr Scahill said he wanted thank the staff for their dedication and hard work, which led to a successful outcome.

“I would like to thank the people of Kerikeri who assisted police with their inquiries and I acknowledge the support they have given police during what has been a difficult case to work on.

“This has been a tragic case and it will have a major impact on all those involved.”

The 14-year-old will reappear at the Kaikohe Youth Court on November 17.

– NZPA

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NEW ZEALAND

7 November 2008

NZ dollar falls as risk aversion increases

clothesline and spinning it around.

During one wrestling move Nia’s head hit and broke the wooden base of the couch.

Kemp said she told Kuka about Wiremu Curtis’ violence towards Nia and admitted she had thrown shoes at the child but only to “growl”, not harm her.

Nia’s cousin, Michael Pearson, told police in his statement that Wiremu Curtis regularly “power bombed”and “choke slammed”Nia and put her in a dryer.

The Curtis brothers have pleaded not guilty to murdering Nia, while Kuka, Pearson and Kemp have denied manslaughter charges.

The trial, which has been going for three weeks, is expected to take at least one more week.

Wellington, Nov 7 – The New Zealand dollar had a look below US58c today when stop loss selling and a return of risk aversion put it under pressure.

Another meltdown on Wall Street overnight ratcheted up the risk aversion story and there was nowhere for the currency to go but down. Down it went to US57.90c in morning trading from US59.30c at 5pm yesterday.

“It was equity weakness again. It pushed the aussie and kiwi dollars down,” said Jake Soanes, head of financial market sales at Westpac.

He said when the currency broke through US58c there was a run of stop loss orders.Then exporters started buying, taking the currency higher. It was at US58.68c at 5pm.

Mr Soanes said the turmoil in international markets was a bigger issue for investors than the New Zealand election on Saturday but investors did want to see a clear result from the election.

The New Zealand dollar lost ground against the yen which benefited from a safe haven status. The NZ dollar was at 57.15 yen at 5pm from 57.98 yen yesterday.

Overnight the New Zealand dollar gained against the euro after the European Central Bank (ECB) cut interest rates by half a percentage point, disappointing investors seeking a more aggressive, growth-supportive move.

But by 5pm the NZ dollar was buying 0.4605 euro, unchanged from yesterday. The ECB cut, to 3.25 percent, was relatively small compared to the Bank of England’s shock decision to slash British rates by 150 basis points to 3 percent -- their lowest in more than half a century.

The NZ dollar was little changed against sterling at 37.45p.Against the Australian dollar it was A87.90c from A87.98c yesterday.The trade weighted index was 59.37 at 5pm from 59.73.

– NZPA

– NZPA

The mother of dead Rotorua toddler Nia Glassie, Lisa Kuka leaves the Manukau District Court trying to avoid the media after being charged with manslaughter over her child’s death.NZPA / Nigel Marple

Finger of blame points Rotorua, Nov 7 – The partner of toddler Nia Glassie’s mother had the finger pointed at him by co-accused today as statements were read at a trial in Rotorua over the toddler’s death.

Wiremu Curtis, formerly the partner of Nia’s mother, Lisa Kuka, is one of five people, including Kuka, charged over the toddler’s brain injury death in August last year.

In the High Court at Rotorua today, Detective Matthew McLeod said when he interviewed Kuka at Rotorua Hospital she told him Nia was“fine”when she arrived home from work at 7.30pm on July 20.

However, the toddler did not wake when she bathed her during the night after wetting her bed.

Nia didn’t wake as usual the next morning and after initially thinking she was“really tired”, Kuka said she realised by mid-morning something was

wrong as the toddler was unresponsive.

Nia died 12 days after being taken to hospital in a coma.

Kuka told police her other children said they played wrestling games with Nia and she had accidentally fallen off Curtis’ shoulders and hit her head.

On July 24, Detective Mark van Kempen interviewed Kuka at Starship Children’s Hospital. She said she had overheard Wiremu Curtis’ brother, Michael Curtis, telling Wiremu not to say anything to police and that her own children had told her Nia was put in a dryer.

She said she had never abused her children.

The court heard that Michael Curtis’ partner, Oriwa Kemp, told police she saw Wiremu Curtis using wrestling moves on Nia and putting her on a

Unstable weather sparks over 200 lightning strikes

EPS43100

Police name bride killed in car crash Auckland, Nov 7 – Police have named the 26-year-old bride who was killed in a car crash on the way home from her wedding reception.

An Auckland City police spokeswoman said Yan Liu, a Chinese national who worked at an early childcare centre, had been living in New Zealand for

Wellington, Nov 7 – Clashes of warm and cold air sparked thunder and over 200 lightning strikes around eastern parts of central New Zealand this afternoon.

MetService severe weather forecaster Eric Brenstrum said such events happened in spring when the sun was warming the ground but conditions could still present chilly air.

Mr Brenstrum said the storms were sparked by cold air moving over warm ground,causing the warm air near the ground to rapidly rise and expand.

Processes then occurred which led to turbulent conditions.

“You get an enormous electric potential across a short piece of air.The air then ionises and becomes a conductor and you get lightning.”

Mr Brenstrum said there had also been hail in the Wellington area, including reports of hailstones 1cm across in the suburb of Johnsonville.

There were similar conditions this morning in Canterbury, where snow recently fell to low levels.

After heading north through Marlborough and Wellington, the stormy conditions continued through parts of Wairarapa.

Mr Brenstrum said probably the most concerning outcome of the weather at present was that severe frosts were expected across much of the country tomorrow morning and on Sunday.

The frosts left vineyard owners and orchardists in Otago, Canterbury, Marlborough and Hawke’s Bay exposed to potential damage to tender young fruit.

three years.

Mrs Liu was killed after leaving a reception at an East Tamaki Chinese restaurant, her husband was not travelling in the same car.

The crash happened at the corner of Carbine Rd and the South Eastern Highway at 11.15pm yesterday when the car hit a light pole.

Yan Liu died at the scene and the two other passengers had to be cut from the vehicle.

Two of the three other occupants in the BMW crash vehicle – a man and a woman – are still in serious condition in Auckland Hospital.

The male driver of the car was discharged from hospital in the early hours of this morning.

The car has been impounded and will undergo forensic examination in the next few coming days.

Yan Liu’s family in China has been told of her death and are endeavouring to make their way to New Zealand.

The couple were married in the Beachhaven Anglican Church yesterday afternoon and Yan Liu was travelling to their Hillcrest, North Shore home, with friends at the time of the fatal crash.

– NZPA

– NZPA

EDITORIAL

7 November 2008

Editorial

Letters

And so it ends…

Within hours of reading this, many of you will have cast your votes and, in a bigger sense, the die of history as well. It’s been quite the week for it.

Internationally, the old money is now openly talking about the introduction of a new world order, and Americans have elected a charismatic new President who apparently has Mosaic aspirations, as he famously told his followers: “This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.”

Yeah,well.Born of a white woman and a black man, possibly in Hawaii but possibly in Kenya, raised an Asian muslim but professing to be a Christian,claiming to be a moderate but exposed with links to organised crime and the hard left,allegedly concerned about families and children,but voting in favour of abortions right up to the day before the child is due to be born, and in favour of permitting spikes to be driven into the brains of such babies as an abortion technique at the moment they are born – President Barack Hussein Obama is a welcome addition to the rich tapestry of chaos unfolding internationally.

On the one hand it’s fantastic that Americans finally broke out of the rich white guy mould.

I think the final tipping of the scales came in the hypocrisy of seeing Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons signing the bellies of pregnant women with the slogan ‘vote for me’ Obama’s victory is a giant leap forward for immigrant communities worldwide in its symbolism.

But on the other hand, why did the 95% of African-Americans who voted for Obama overlook his connections and past record?

That, however, seems to be the central theme of Western politics these days. The more that politicians let standards slip in the community, the lower the expectations voters have of their politicians. It becomes a vicious circle of sleaze and corruption, and funnily enough the sleazier it gets the louder

the politicians become in declaring their honesty and decrying those who dare to question.

It has been a long,grinding,wearying,gruelling campaign for politicians and the public alike, ever since Labour and the Greens’anti-democratic push to pass the Electoral Finance Act last year.That Act declared that the campaign officially began on January 1st.Fools.

I was sick of this election about nine months ago, and I’m sure many others have had enough as well.

I think the final tipping of the scales came in the hypocrisy of seeing Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons signing the bellies of pregnant women with the slogan ‘vote for me’. Given that the Greens, like Obama, are staunch supporters of abortion, it was a bit much. Eighteen thousand potential wageearners and taxpayers are slaughtered every year in New Zealand as “inconveniences”.

Of course, when they’re a little older, like James Whakaruru or the Kahui twins, we’re all suddenly outraged when they’re killed. Strange how we can turn a blind eye to killing when it suits us.

Labour made the election about Trust. The Greens made it about children. Hypocrites, the lot SUBSCRIBE TO TGIF! of them.

Comment

Walker’s World: Obama’s first big test

By Martin Walker

WASHINGTON, (UPI) – Barack Obama’s first big test is just a week away, and the immediate prospect is that he might duck it or even fail it.

America’s first black president will enter the White House with a monstrously difficult agenda that includes a global financial crisis, a recession in the United States, two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorism and the climate change challenge, just to name the most obvious.

Of those, the one that worries most people most immediately is the global financial crisis, and on Nov. 15 President George W. Bush has invited the leaders of the Group of 20 industrialized nations for a Washington summit to address it. Optimists say this should be the meeting that lays down the ground rules for a new Bretton Woods agreement, based on the 1944-1945 meetings in New Hampshire where Britain and the United States designed the postwar economic system.

Leaders of the Group of Eight leading industrial countries will be there, including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who initially called for such a summit.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel already has discussed the agenda for the meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and they both plan to attend, along with the leaders of Japan and Canada.

But the G20 is bigger than that and includes China, whose President Hu Jintao says he will attend, plus India, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. Argentina, Australia, South Korea, Turkey and Indonesia are also expected, along with the heads of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.

Altogether, the G20 accounts for three-quarters of the world’s GDP. This is shaping up to be the economic equivalent of the Treaty of Versailles or the Congress of Vienna, one of those grand international gatherings that can define an era. But as President-elect Barack Obama said last week,“We only have one president at a time, and on Nov. 15 that will still be George Bush”.

Before the election,White House press secretary Dana Perino said the administration will seek the input of the president-elect. But she added that the administration thinks that the severity of the global crisis requires nations to move ahead before a new president is sworn in on Jan. 20.

“The time will be just about right to have it then,

because a lot of the emergency measures that these countries have put forward are hopefully starting to have an impact on credit markets,”Perino said.

Members of Obama’s inner circle are still discussing this, but there is a lot of reluctance to attend.

They are fielding a lot of input from Washington ambassadors and proposed congratulation calls from foreign leaders who all want to say that there will not be much point in having the summit if Obama is not going to be at the table to pledge his commitment to whatever plans and decisions are made here. Bush, after all, has only 10 weeks left in office.

So far, the indications are that Obama will duck the event, on the precedent that Franklin Roosevelt set in 1932 when the lame-duck President Herbert Hoover tried to rope Roosevelt in to make joint decisions on tackling the Great Depression. In

the United States at this meeting, Bush or Obama?

Who will decide on the wording of the statement on world trade? Will it be free trader Bush or the more protectionist Obama, who said in the campaign he wants to review the North American Free Trade Agreement? Who carries out the immediate decisions, Bush’s Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson or the replacement Obama has yet to choose?

The issue at hand could hardly be more pressing or more serious: the grand design for the global economic system of the 21st century.And the world markets and the banks and investors will be hanging on every word that is said. If this summit turns out to be a bust, the sense of gloom is likely to hit markets and stock prices everywhere.

And Obama will take part of the blame, leaving a very big hole where his global honeymoon was supposed to be.

But if the meeting goes ahead, who speaks for the United States at this meeting, Bush or Obama? Who will decide on the wording of the statement on world trade? Will it be free trader Bush or the more protectionist Obama, who said in the campaign he wants to review the North American Free Trade Agreement? effect, Roosevelt said Hoover was on his own until Inauguration Day.This is an understandable position for Obama to take.This will be Bush’s meeting, with his invitations to his White House and under Bush’s auspices, and he will be in the chair. It will be staffed by his aides, which means they will draft the final statement on whatever decisions are made.

There will be no clear role for Obama, even though the other world leaders are all aching to meet him.

Indeed, if he is not going to attend, expect cancellations, great disappointment and the frightening prospect for the world’s markets that they will be left twisting in the wind until Obama takes the oath of office on Jan. 20.

“We cannot possibly afford to wait until Jan. 20 with the global economy in this deep crisis,” former World Bank President James Wolfensohn told this reporter moments after Obama’s victory was declared.

But if the meeting goes ahead, who speaks for

There could be ways around this. Bush could do the honourable thing: open the summit meeting, call it to order, and then hand the chair to Obama and either leave the room or sit to one side and promise to back whatever decisions his successor takes. It would take superhuman self-restraint and humility on Bush’s part, and somebody probably would have to lock Dick Cheney in the basement, but it is possible.

Another idea being discussed between Obama aides and a heavyweight Washington think tank is that as soon as the Bush summit ends with some boilerplate language and expressions of solidarity and good will, it immediately reconvenes elsewhere in Washington with Obama in pride of place, and all the other world leaders beaming as their TV stations back home project them meeting with the world’s new man of the hour.And the markets are happy.

This is Obama’s first big decision and his first big test.Welcome to the big leagues.

-Nero fiddles The amount of economic ignorance of politicians and the media is shocking. We are being told ad nauseum that the worldwide crash brought on by housing market “bubbles” and subprime mortgage lending, represent a “failure of markets” and an example of the perils of “deregulation”.

May I ask; who controls 1) the supply of money 2) the base interest rate 3) the supply of housing (through “zoning” and RMAtype legislation)?

Unless we wake up to the reality that it is government mismanagement of these factors that is responsible for the current problem, AND that NZ and many other countries have this problem irrespective of what happens on “Wall Street”; this problem will recur, and it will be worse each time it happens, and the last, biggest one will be impossible for governments to “bail out”.

How can we trust finance ministers and reserve bank governors and government-paid “regulators”, of which there are already many; to regulate and avoid further such crises if they didn’t see this one coming, can’t see the next one coming, can’t see or admit their own role in causing the problem, and won’t listen to the people who warned them about the last one and are already warning them about the next one?

And why are none of my letters on this subject getting printed?

Philip G. Hayward, Lower Hutt -Open letter to Trevor Mallard The Food Standards Australia and New Zealand full assessment report and regulatory impact assessment for food derived from glyphosate tolerant soya beans included the following: The World Health Organisation considered this issue in 1993 at a Workshop on the health aspects of marker genes in genetically modified plants. It was concluded at that Workshop that there is no recorded evidence of transfer of genes from plants to micro organisms in the gut and also that such transfers would be extremely unlikely given the complexity of the steps required.

As you well know, with 6 out of 7 people infected with the transgene from GM soya after just one meal, that their conclusions were wrong. The result is that about half our people now carry this gene in their gut and no testing has ever been completed to see what it is doing. We do know that soya related allergies increased 50% in the USA at the same time as this was brought to market there.

The funding agencies mention in your letter talk of investment, I do understand the rationale for why GM funding is linked to financial outcomes; my deep concern is that every other nation has the same rationale. Frankly I see New Zealand as the last chance to test this food if not us then who?

The Russian virologist claiming a billion people could die in the next pandemic, did not factor in any increase based on GM releases. Again with some antibiotics bringing a 10000 fold increase in gene transfer, and our lack of knowledge on increased attempted gene transfer rates from GMO’s, we are talking about the largest risk to our species survival.

Minister please realise I have reached the end of my courage, I will not be following this any further, I have been threatened, shot at and have had considerable property stolen or broken. Eight years it has taken me to give this message and I need to move on from this.

My understanding is that we have the political system and media we deserve. 500 editors have received my warnings as well as every political party. My hope is that this is enough, if not the universe does not require our species survival, and our lack of responsibility suggests we do not deserve it.

Peter Brake, Former Management Accountant Bio Engineering Institute, Auckland University

Letters to the editor can be posted to: PO BOX 302188, North Harbour, North Shore 0751 or emailed to: letters@tgifedition.tv

BLOGS

7 November 2008

Best of the blogs The Tainted President

By ‘Fairfacts Media’ No Minister I hate to blow the media’s bubble, but America yesterday elected a tainted president.

Never before in its history has it elected anyone as extreme and so tainted by corruption.

The corruption extends right through his career, be it the dubious circumstances of his senate candidacy, the voter fraud used to beat Hillary Clinton in the primaries, the voter fraud featuring ACORN registering the dead and Mickey Mouse to vote, the unlawful donations from overseas, and the unlawful secret donations above campaign legal limits.Then, we have the voter fraud we saw yesterday, such as people voting twice, as blogged yesterday.

We see a president involved with dubious associations throughout his career too; from dodgy businessmen like Tony Rezko, terrorists like William Ayers, from whose house Obama launched his political career, and then there is his pastor of 20 years, Rev Wright who says ‘God Damn America.’

And then we get to policy.

We see a president who opposed the surge which has finally brought peace to Iraq. We see a president that wants to weaken US defences. We see a president that has the most left wing voting record in the very short time he served in the Senate.We see a president that wants to spread the wealth, reflecting his earlier links to a far left socialist party.

But with all these faults, how did Obama make it?

It was because of the power of the media.The MSM might be fading in power but it gave all it could for Obama, as if it was one last gasp, one dying wish.

Thus, much about Obama’s background remains unknown. Even the scandals and associations mentioned about were either downplayed or ignored. Education and other records remain hidden.

In contrast, every misdemeanour or ‘scandal’ by the Republicans was hyped up while the blunders and the Obama-Biden camp were often ignored where possible.

No VP candidate ever endured the character assassination that Sarah Palin faced. Hordes of media descended on Alaska to dig the dirt on one of the country’s most popular governors.

We heard much about Troopergate, and how Palin abused her powers, but only this week was she finally cleared, but it was too late.

We heard about the $150,000 spent on Palin’s clothes, but there was no outrage over the $5 million Greek-style set for Obama at his selection as candidate.

Palin was touted as inexperienced even though as governor, she has more executive experience than Obama. Palin was also the maverick who took on her own party and rooted out corruption,while Obama carried on the ways of the Chicago political machine that created him.

Yet,despite this the gap between Obama-Biden and McCain-Palin was less than 4%, even though the electoral system makes it appear a 2-1 landslide.But that reflects the skilfulness of the way I must admit Obama ran his campaign, which was superior to that of the Republicans.

Obama overturned his earlier pledge to accept state funding, but it meant he could raise far more and outspend McCain by more than 2-1. It meant Obama could take money from overseas or more in anonymous donations than allowed.Thus, it funded his campaign volunteers, huge advertising blitzes, etc.

Meanwhile, McCain-Palin was hampered by an unpopular Bush presidency and a faltering economy blamed on the Republicans, even though the financial crisis was caused largely from the easy loan policies of banks and financial institutions such as Fannie and Freddie.

And how did they makes these sub-prime loans, but thanks to the affirmative action polices of Democrats Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton pushing loans onto people who could ill afford them. Loans pushed by community activist organisations like ACORN, who of course had one Barack Obama to represent them as a lawyer in at least one case.

The Republicans, including McCain, tried to tame Fannie and Freddie but Democrats like Obama in the pay of Fannie and Freddie were able to stop them.The Democrats were largely to blame for the crisis, but they managed to shift the blame to Bush and the Republicans.

This confirms how much the media was so in the tank for Obama.

The line about ‘Wall Street Greed’became so much easier to sell, rather than the greed of people wanting houses they could not afford.

And so the media presented a vision of Obama, a dream of Obama, all based simply on his race. It did not criticise. It did not investigate.

It went for a new version of the American Dream.

But dreams have a way of turning into nightmares.A harsh reality now awaits President Obama.HisVP Joe Biden says Obama will be tested shortly on foreign policy. But Obama faces domestic issues too, like the economy and the Obama camp has already begun downplaying expectations.

Indeed, even with the MSN in the tank for him in 2012, will Obama survive? His political experience is light. He has no record to build upon, only talk of hope and change.

And so the media presented a vision of Obama, a dream of Obama, all based simply on his race. It did not criticise. It did not investigate. It went for a new version of the American Dream.

But dreams have a way of turning into nightmares. A harsh reality now awaits President Obama I expect I will be condemned by some for this piece. I may be accused of having the hate from the hate filled websites I visit.

But Obama has been anointed on grounds of his race.The media is raising his colour as the defining characteristic about him.

Yes, it is great America can elect a black man, as any other race. But I look forward to the day when the race, sex or sexual orientation of an American president is not an issue.

This is why, in contrast to much of the media coverage you will see today, I am raising Obama’s policies, his associations, his character.

For these are the issues a president should be judged upon.

And it is on these issues I oppose and fear an Obama presidency and much preferred the option of McCain-Palin. Indeed, the Republicans were the choice of over 47% of the US voting population, not a bad result considering all the things working against them.

Senator McCain in his concession speech showed much decency and it reflected the mark of the man.America would be far better served with him as leader, an experienced leader for our tough times.

The question that remains is,how much will it and the world come to regret the Obama presidency, despite all the talk of hope and change.

Kees Keizer

By David Farrar Kiwiblog The NZ Herald has an interview with the secret taper – Mr Kees Keizer.

He claims it was all a sort of spur of the moment thing. As Tui says yeah right.

Speaking publicly for the first time, Mr Keizer said he came up with the idea to tape MPs at the cocktail party before National’s August conference on the spur of the moment.

Yes of course.You’re sitting around a Friday planning what to do for the weekend, and you think hey I’ll go a cocktail party of a party I despise and try and tape them all. Of course that was spur of the moment, and

wow I just happened to have a tape recorder in my pocket.

Mr Keizer said he took a digital recorder and had“legitimately”entered the conference by paying for a ticket – although he would not say what name he used.

Which is admitting he purchased it under false pretences.

Once Mr Keizer was in, he said he used his real full name and said he was interested in joining the Young Nats.

Actually he said he was a Young National, according at least one person who talked to him.

Mr Keizer has drip-fed the tapes to TV3 political editor Duncan Garner and refused to comment when asked if there would be more before the election. Mr Garner has indicated there could be more.

And of course something you do on the spur of a moment as a prank, you leak selectively to TV3 by anonymous e-mail timing each one for maximum political damage.

Mr Keizer said he had not edited the recordings to change the context but rather to keep his voice secret. He refused to release the full recordings so this could be tested.

And this tells us all we need to know. Now that his identity is known, there is no reason for him not to release a full recording.And the ethics of any media organisation that runs a selective extract will beyond doubt be tested with the Broadcasting Standards Authority.

It was one thing to accept partial recordings when the sender was anonymous and wanted to keep his identity secret. But there is no ethical reason why TV3 could accept a partial recording now his identity is known. Doing so would indicate partisan motives rather than journalistic ones.

He said while he had friends and connections in the Labour, including those on the Labour-affiliated website The Standard, he also had friends in National too.

The Standard is the website where a blogger calling himself Batman posted about John Key’s supposed links H-Fee.That blogger is believed to be a senior official, most likely party president Mike Williams, although he has denied it was him.

The chances that his mates at The Standard don’t know all about it are nil, and as many of them are ministerial and parliamentary staffers, you can be sure Labour knows exactly what is in the tapes.

“I’d like to just absolutely confirm that I’m not a member of any political party and I’ve not been put into this by any political party or organisation.”

Of course he was not put up to it. The thought that Helen sits on the 9th floor ordering such tapings is ridiculous. But look at what he has not denied – that he has kept Labour informed of what is in the tapes, so they can plan their campaign around them.

Mr Keizer said his complaint about the EMA advert – made just days before the cocktail party – was not linked to Labour, but rather that he “wanted to learn more about the Electoral Finance Act and saw this as an opportunity.”

Now if anything confirms Keizer as an unmitigated liar, it is this statement. He complained about the EMA advert as an opportunity to learn more about the EFA!!!

“What you heard was genuine, there was no editing specifically to have it so it was in misleading quotes.”…

Mr Keizer said he would not be releasing the entire tape.

“Most of it is useless. It wouldn’t do any credit to anyone.”

So if he is telling the truth, why wouldn’t he release the full tape to show the full answers and what he said to elicit those answers? There is only one logical reason.

UPDATE

What a coincidence We read today about the secret taper, Kees Keizer.And his preposterous story about how he did it on the spur of the moment, and didn’t tell anyone about it.

Well according to the electoral roll/habitation index, Mr Keizer has a flatmate.A Mr Stephen Day. Now it is possible the roll is out of date, but this post is on the assumption it is accurate – and just before an election you expect it to be.

And what does Stephen do? He is employed by Ministerial Services and acts as a liaison between Labour and the Greens!! – officially on the issue of Buy NZ made.This means he is taxpayer funded through Ministerial Services yet works for Sue Bradford on behalf of the Labour-led Government.

Stephen appears to be a professional unionist, having worked for OUSA, NZEI, SFWU and Finsec before his latest job.

Now I am sure we will be told that Mr Day had no idea what his flatmate was up to.That he never even whispered a word to him,and that he spent all that time making audio recordings without being noticed.

I will let readers apply their own Tui test of credibility to this one.

ANALYSIS

7 November 2008

Has multiculturalism failed?

By Stefan Nicola

BERLIN-NEUKOELLN, Germany – When 29-yearold Fadi Saad walks the streets of Berlin-Neukoelln, even the toughest kids approach to say hi.

A man with a military haircut, a flat nose (it was broken three times) and the body of a running back, Saad is somewhat of a star in Neukoelln, one of Germany’s most infamous city districts. In his youth, the German with a Palestinian background was a member of an Arab gang that terrorized the streets of Wedding, in northern Berlin. After what he calls a horrific weekend in jail, at the age of 15, Saad decided that his life had to take a turn for the better. He finished school, an in-firm training as an office clerk.

“I wanted to make my parents proud,” he told United Press International over lunch in a community centre in Neukoelln. Saad just wrote a book about his life, and for the past five years has worked as a social worker responsible for northern Neukoelln. Here the young – many of whom look up to Saad like a big brother – have only very slim chances for a better future.

One of 12 boroughs of Berlin, Neukoelln, in the southeast of the capital, has a population of over 300,000 (that’s more than Strasbourg, France). Until the late 1960s, Neukoelln was a typical blue-collar district; today it is dominated by immigrants and Germans with an immigrant background. Most of its citizens hail from Turkey and from Arab countries, some from northern Africa and Russia.

While many ethnic Germans still live in Neukoelln, most of them are old; the overwhelming majority of the young have an immigrant background.In several schools, their quota towers at over 90 percent.

“In 10 years, we will be a migrant city,” Heinz Buschkowsky, Neukoelln’s mayor, told a group of

foreign journalists Wednesday.

Already one-third of Neukoelln’s 300,000 citizens live on government aid and unemployment is at 20 percent, yet officials on the ground say the real figures are much higher.

“Lots of women are not even registered with authorities,”Gilles Duhem, a French social worker who leads the community centre where this reporter met Saad, told the foreign press.

“Crime rates in Neukoelln are high, youth gangs fight each other or steal, and in the area around Hermannplatz, you can get anything you want, Kalashnikovs ... angel dust,”Buschkowsky, 60, said.

In Neukoelln, he added, you don’t have to speak a word of German.“You have the entire infrastructure in Turkish or Arabic at hand,”he said.

Districts like Neukoelln are the reason why the German government since 2006 has been holding socalled integration summits,which are aimed at better integrating Germany’s immigrant population.

The third such summit is due to take place next week in the chancellor’s office in Berlin, bringing together government officials, representatives from migrant groups, business associations and sports clubs to prevent Germany having to face similar situations as Paris did with its suburb riots a few years ago.

Security officials have warned of parallel societies forming in districts such as Neukoelln, which may turn into breeding grounds of interethnic confrontation, or even radical extremists.They fear sleeper cells inside Germany’s Muslim population, and imams preaching radical messages to the disillusioned youth.

Yet Buschkowsky and the social workers on the ground (who feel the summit is mere political posing) say the real problem has very little or nothing to do with immigration and a gradual Islamization

of society.The key to saving Neukoelln, they say, is education.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in its latest report harshly criticized the unequal chances given to children of immigrant parents in Germany’s school system, and rightly so, Buschkowsky said.

Of the Neukoelln youth, nearly 70 percent drop out of school or finish with a degree from the socalled Hauptschule, the lowest institution in Germany’s three-tier high school system – a diploma that gives virtually no chance of landing a decent job.

Duhem, the social worker, said the problem hitting Neukoelln hard now has been known since the 1970s.

“But politicians have turned a blind eye on this problem and done nothing, in the hope that someone in the future solves it,”he said. Experts call for social workers, a greater teacher-to-student ratio and more money for problematic schools – so far without success.

Yet the fault lies not only with Germany’s school system. Often the problems start at home. Many of the parents can’t read or write, or lack the basic German skills to help their children with homework.

“I have kids here with parents that don’t know whether their child is in first or in second grade,” Duhem said.“This has nothing to do with values, culture or ethnicity.That’s pure ignorance.”

Buschkowsky has called for more radical steps to protect kids from their parents. He speaks favourably of Rotterdam’s zero-tolerance policy, which was created in 2002 to make the Dutch city safer, and he would like to see similar measures introduced in Berlin.

“In Rotterdam, parents must come to school to receive their children’s grades three times a year. If they fail to show up, their government aid is cancelled,” Buschkowsky said.“I sadly don’t have the

powers to introduce such a measure here,”he said.

The Neukoelln mayor is a highly controversial figure inside his centre-left Social Democratic Party: He is at the same time lauded and criticized for directly mentioning honour killings and forced marriages in Berlin, has warned of France-like riots in Germany, and became famous with the statement that“multiculti has failed”.

Buschkowsky is unwilling to sugarcoat the social tensions in Berlin, as many of his party colleagues have done. He wants more money for German classes, for the schools in Neukoelln, and for the extension of key integration projects launched in his district.

One of these projects (Neukoelln has devised some 800 over the past eight years) is the Mitmachzirkus, a weeklong circus workshop in which children learn how to trust and care for each other.“At the end of the workshop, the kids even stage their own show,” Buschkowsky said.

Another project is the Borough Mothers program, in which jobless women receive six months of training in education, values and nutrition.These women, who have mainly Turkish or Arabic backgrounds, then approach isolated families, trying to pull them into society. Some 140 women make an estimated 2,000 family visits per year.

Both projects may not receive further state funding, Buschkowsky said.“That’s the sad reality,” he added.

Yet initiatives like these, and the passionate work done by Duhem,Saad and many others,already have made a difference in Neukoelln, observers say.

“It has really gotten better recently; crime has gone down,” Saad told UPI. Even if statistics still look gloomy, one can rely on Saad’s judgment. If anyone knows the streets of Neukoelln, it’s him.

– UPI

U.S., Iraq wrangle over troops

By Richard Tomkins

SAMARA, Iraq – The question of whether U.S.military forces will remain in Iraq next year, and, if so, how they will conduct operations, is still unsettled between Washington and Baghdad as wrangling continues over a proposed Status of Forces Agreement.

The bilateral accord, snagged by political infighting in Iraq, would provide the internationally recognized legal cover for continued U.S. military presence in Iraq when the U.N. Security Council mandate for it expires Dec. 31.

Without an accord or new mandate, all U.S. military operations in Iraq would in theory come to an immediate stop, including thousands of citizen volunteers who guard their communities with U.S. oversight and funding.

We have to have a legal framework to stay here, U.S. Army Gen. Raymond Odierno said during a visit to Samara, about 200 km north of Baghdad.

“So are there other options for a legal framework?

Maybe, but what we are hoping for is for an agreement between two sovereign countries.

“We’re working with the government of Iraq on this, and the bottom line is, if we don’t have a legal framework, we’re going to have to take a look at what happens.”

Odierno is the commander of all U.S. forces in Iraq. He assumed the position in September, replacing Gen. David Petraeus.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have been negotiating a Status of Forces Agreement for more than eight months. Sticking points have included provisions for Iraqi legal jurisdiction over U.S. personnel in the country, a date for U.S. withdrawal and control over military operations.The United States has more than 100 country-specific SOF deals around the world, according to U.S. officials.

Exact details of a draft agreement with Iraq have not been disclosed,but outgoing Secretary of Defence Robert Gates told Congress this month that U.S.

troops would have to withdraw from all cities and towns by June 30 and leave the country by the end of 2011 unless other arrangements were made.

News reports have said a draft agreement reached this month, and leaked to the media, includes the following provisions: All U.S. military operations would need the agreement of the Iraqi government and must be coordinated with Iraqi authorities. A joint U.S.Iraqi committee would be set up for coordination.

U.S. military forces would not be allowed to arrest or detain people without an Iraqi court order, and those arrested must be turned over to Iraqi authorities within 24 hours.

U.S. troops would no longer be allowed to enter and search homes without a warrant in hand from Iraqi authorities, except in combat situations.

U.S. troops must end their presence in Iraqi cities and towns by June 30 and leave Iraq by the end of 2011.

Before the end of the agreement, Iraq can ask the United States to maintain forces in the country for training and support.

Provisions of the draft agreement apparently have sparked a firestorm within Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Shiite-dominated coalition government. Some factions apparently object to the clause allowing the possibility for U.S. troops to remain after 2011.

Maliki reportedly has called for proposed amendments from members of his Cabinet.Any such proposed amendments by the Iraqis would then be subject to renewed negotiations with U.S. officials.

Maliki’s 37-member Cabinet of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds would then have to approve the final draft of the measure before it is sent to the country’s Parliament.

There are other sources of pressure on the Maliki government as well.Anti-American cleric Moqtada Sadr, believed to be in Iran, has called for total withdrawal of U.S. forces and has warned a new elite

militia was being formed to fight U.S. troops in a prolonged occupation. Iranian-born Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the country’s most respected Shiite leader, has said he would only countenance an SOF deal passed by elected legislators.

Just as important is opposition from Iran, which has supplied weapons to militias fighting the U.S. presence in Iraq.

“The bottom line is the government of Iran has their own issues here,”Odierno said.“I think they do not want the government of the United States here in Iraq.They do not want a long-term relationship between Iraq and the United States.And ultimately, I think, that’s the issue here.”

Odierno, who has been criticized by Iraqi politicians for remarks on Iranian efforts to block a Status of Forces Agreement, last week sent to Iraqi government ministers a detailed outline of the operational consequences resulting from failure to approve a bilateral accord or obtain a new U.N. mandate: U.S. military rebuilding projects that employ thousands of Iraqis would cease, training of Iraqi forces – including police – would end, as would all joint military security operations. Key U.S. military support for Iraqi army forces – such as transport, communications, medical evacuation and air cover – would be halted.

Iraq, with no air control capability at present, nonetheless would have to take over air traffic control and also assume total responsibility for guarding its borders.

“What they were provided was (the content of some PowerPoint slides) that showed this is the support we give that we might have to pull back,” Odierno said.“We provided that to all the leaders.

And it was just a fax, a statement of facts of the things we are doing.

“We want to work together.We think the government of Iraq is on the right track.The government of Iraq and the United States want the same things.We

Provisions of the draft agreement apparently have sparked a firestorm within Prime Minister Nouri alMaliki’s Shiite-dominated coalition government want the government of Iraq to be successful, and a bilateral agreement would move that forward.”

The capabilities of Iraqi military forces have improved greatly, he said, but they still“need logistics, they need aviation support,they need a little bit of fire (support) … but although they’ve come a long way, they still need some training with our leaders as well, and partnering is the best way ahead for them.

“I think a bit longer – a year, 18 months – more of partnering with these units will make a whole lot of difference for them, and a lot of them will be able to stand on their own.”

A way out of the impasse would be for Maliki to ask for another extension of the U.N. mandate for U.S. operations in Iraq. But time is running short, and those on the Security Council opposed to continued U.S. presence here could knock down any request from the Maliki government.

Meanwhile, U.S. forces in Iraq are continuing with their missions, hunting down terrorists in joint operations with Iraqi forces, mentoring security forces and overseeing the rebuilding of schools and infrastructure using Iraqi funds. Officers asked said they have received no orders on what to do come Jan. 1 if there is no SOFA or U.N. mandate.

Odierno said he remains optimistic the accord or other arrangement would be reached before Dec. 31.

– UPI

WORLD

7 November 2008

Obama money buys love

By Greg Gordon McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON – Flush with a tidal wave of campaign donations, Barack Obama spent US$250 million on television ads in his presidential campaign, outflanking John McCain and the Republican Party by as much as $80 million, a leading political ad-monitoring firm said.

Obama took full advantage of his decision, which McCain criticized, to become the first presidential candidate to forgo public financing for the general election campaign, despite an earlier pledge to limit himself to $84.1 million in federal funds.

Beginning in early June, he amassed about $364 million for the fall campaign, Federal Election Commission records show. Obama’s campaign reports already show that he raised a record-shattering US$668 million (NZ$1.1 billion) since entering the race last year, with some donations yet to be disclosed.

He had enough cash to “play hunches” and make expensive TV advertising forays in long-held Republican states, including Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota and Virginia, said Evan Tracey, president of the Virginiabased Campaign Media Analysis Group.

Obama’s campaign even advertised in Alaska before Republican rival McCain picked its governor, Sarah Palin, as his running mate, he said.

“At the end of the day,he was able to make this race all on Republican turf, and he was able to do it by applying leverage via these dollars,”Tracey said.

On Tuesday, Obama captured half a dozen states that Bush won in 2004: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Mexico and Virginia.

Obama spent roughly $31 million on TV networks, resurrecting an option that had been “more or less given up for dead in presidential politics,”and using it for half-hour infomercials.

His ad spending smashed President Bush’s 2004 record of $188 million on TV ads,Tracey said, even though Bush began advertising for the fall campaign in March of that year, three months earlier.

The Obama campaign made large TV buys in cities such as Chicago,whose stations beam into northwest Indiana,and in Washington,where they reach northern Virginia, helping him capture the state.

But convincing Gates, who has chafed at the idea Obama held net TV advertising advantages over of setting a timetable for withdrawal in Iraq, would McCain of $1.6 million in Denver, $2.6 million in seem implausible if Obama were to push for a strict Charlotte, N.C., $8.9 million in Miami, $7 million timeline. in Tampa, Fla., and $1.7 million in Chicago,Tracey “It would have to be preceded by a come-to-Jesus said. The campaign spent $1.7 million on Chicago moment between Gates and Obama,” said Leslie stations, though only 13 percent of their viewers Gelb, a senior fellow and president emeritus at the live in Indiana.

Council on Foreign Relations, who supports asking In contrast, McCain spent more than $100 milGates to stick around.“There would have to be a lion in private donations over the summer, but was clear understanding of the policy that the president limited to $84.1 million in public money beginning wants and whether it is something that Gates is in early September.The Republican National Comcomfortable with.” mittee narrowed the gap, amassing more than $200 But in moving away from the 16-month timeline million to assist McCain. and retaining Gates, Obama also risks alienating the Tracey said that McCain’s campaign spent about anti-war movement, a significant part of his base. $135 million on TV ads, and the RNC kicked in more Matthis Chiroux, an activist with Iraq Veterans than $40 million for coordinated or independently Against the War, an organization that is pressing produced pro-McCain or anti-Obama television ads. for a quick end to the war, said that Obama has Harder to measure is how much the TV ad wars won sympathies within the anti-war movement that affected the outcome. could quickly evaporate if he does not take quick Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political action to begin a drawdown in Iraq. scientist, said he thinks that “the fundamentals of “I think that Obama has very successfully the election year were so favorable to Democrats branded himself as anti-war, but the fact remains that Obama would have won even if McCain had that he’s willing to keep a residual force in Iraq outspent him.” indefinitely, he wants to escalate in Afghanistan,” However, he said that Obama’s extra cash might Chiroux said.“My hope is that he starts bringing have helped him“expand his Electoral College map home the troops from Iraq immediately, but I think and add some ... votes in very closely contested those of us in the anti-war movement could find places like Indiana and North Carolina,” building ourselves disappointed. It’s going to be important a margin that “gives the new president the feel of that we keep the pressure up.” a mandate.”

Obama: possible backdown on Iraq withdrawal

By Aamer Madhani Chicago Tribune

WASHINGTON – In his campaign to win the White House, a cornerstone of Barack Obama’s campaign was a pledge that from day one in office he would work to end the war in Iraq.

But as Obama readies himself to take the reins as commander-in-chief, some military and foreignpolicy experts say Obama may show some flexibility in how he goes about withdrawing troops from Iraq.

Any retreat from his campaign promises, however, runs the risk of displeasing the anti-war movement that backed him.

At the centre of Obama’s plan for Iraq was a call to bring home all U.S. combat troops within 16 months of taking office, but on the campaign trail over the summer – and as conditions on the ground in Iraq improved – Obama’s tone on Iraq also shifted.

Obama increasingly spoke of a “sensible withdrawal” and underscored on the stump that no timetable should be“overly rigid.”He also has been open to keeping a residual force in Iraq for an undetermined length.

Michael O’Hanlon,a national security expert at the Brookings Institution inWashington,said that Obama has enough political capital to free him from“pleasing the left”of the Democratic Party as he presses forward with his strategy for Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Obama to the left is what Ronald Reagan was

to the right,”O’Hanlon said.“He can do no wrong. If you’re ending the war anyway, and it is a question if you’re doing it in 1½, 2 or 3½ years. ... He’s already moving things in the direction they want him to.”

His transition team has indicated that Obama’s national security and foreign policy teams may have a bipartisan feel.Among those being considered for key positions are Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican set to retire from the Senate in January who has been critical of President George W. Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq, and Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Obama is also weighing whether to ask current Defence Secretary Robert Gates to remain at the helm of the Pentagon, at least for a transitional period, as he attempts to start a drawdown of troops in Iraq while enlarging the American footprint in Afghanistan. National security and foreign policy experts argue that Gates would provide some continuity during a key period in the two wars.

Gates, who succeeded Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, has forged good relations with both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, who credited him with a realistic outlook on the wars.

Former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig, who advised Obama on national security issues during the campaign, last month lauded Gates as a “good defence secretary”who would be an“even better one in an Obama administration.”

WORLD

7 November 2008

On victory: ‘Dreams can come true’

The American Dream: even Pakistani muslims could feel it, releasing pigeons to celebrate the victory of Barrack Obama in US Presidential Election, in Karachi on Thursday, November 06, 2008. (Ali Azhar/PPI Photo)

By Dahleen Glanton and Howard Witt Chicago Tribune

SELMA, Alabama – It ranks as America’s bedrock civics lesson and most enduring national fable: the notion that any child born a U.S. citizen can one day grow up to become president.And on Tuesday night, for nearly 11 million African-American children, that fable finally came true.

“When you ask my kids what they want to be

when they grow up, they always say they want to work at McDonald’s or at Wal-Mart,” said Joslyn Reddick, the principal of an elementary school in this iconic city so closely tied to America’s civil rights struggle.

“Now they will see that an African-American has achieved the highest station in the United States.They can see for themselves that dreams can come true.”

The decisive victory of Democratic Sen. Barack Obama over Republican Sen.John McCain lends itself

to all kinds of superlatives: unprecedented, historic, epochal. But the real impact of Obama’s election is measured in millions of smaller, individual reactions – in the elation of African-Americans who can at last see in the nation’s leader a reflection of themselves, or the enthusiasm of whites who hope for improvement in the nation’s long-troubled racial relations.

“A black man has just become the most highprofile human being on the planet Earth,”exulted Gina McCauley, an attorney and prominent black commentator in Austin,Texas.“I don’t think we can quantify how that will change the way AfricanAmericans view themselves and the country.”

Americans of all persuasions paused Tuesday to take stock of just how far their nation had come in the realm of racial relations.For many, it was an occasion to marvel at the progress.

“You think about where we were as a country, how the South was segregated,”said Sandy Spiegel, 66, a white retired nurse and lifelong Republican from Chicago who switched her party affiliation this year so she could vote for Obama.“I think this is just hopeful for our country in the 21st century, to have someone that has so many skills, so many abilities and is a man of colour.

“I honestly think this will be extremely well received on a global basis, that America can actually elect someone other than a white male.”

Yet the gulf in both perceptions and reality between blacks and whites in the United States remains wide. Blacks are twice as likely as whites to tell pollsters that racial discrimination remains a major problem in the country.Three times as many blacks as whites live below the poverty line, and they are twice as likely to be jobless.

As a result, race – and race-based fears – coursed beneath the surface of the campaign.

Even among the millions of ordinary white Americans who recoil at any kind of racial extremism,there was a distinct sense that for some, the concept of a black president would take some getting used to.

In culturally conservative Meigs County in southeastern Ohio, where blacks make up less than 1 percent of the population, racial diversity is something residents read about in a magazine or see on television because the closest large population of blacks live more than 80 miles north, in Columbus, or a two-hour drive west, in Cincinnati.

Despite chronic unemployment and little optimism for a brighter economic future, voters here gave President Bush nearly 60 percent of their support in 2004. Last March, in the Democratic primary, the agent of change they embraced was Hillary Clinton, who clobbered Obama in Meigs County by a whopping 4-to-1 margin.

For Meigs County residents,some of whom still refer to blacks as“coloureds,”Obama – like blacks in general – remains an unknown, and therefore suspicious.

“I hate to sound racist, but I’m afraid of another situation with the South seceding from the Union, another Civil War,”said Jason Pierce, 20, a construction worker who lives in Pomeroy, Ohio.“I think a lot of people will see this as (blacks) trying to take over the country.”

By contrast, many other whites, particularly from more urbanized areas of the nation, were not simply making their peace with Obama’s victory – they were rejoicing over it.

“This is like a revolution!” exclaimed Spiegel, who attended Duke University nursing school at a time when the school was segregated and lived for years in the strongly Republican Chicago suburb of Naperville.“I think Obama is going to be an amazing president.”

Gay marriage critics sweep three states

By John Gramlich

Opponents of same-sex marriage scored resounding victories in Arizona and Florida on Election Day, and won in California 52% to 48% on a measure to ban gay marriages in the nation’s most populous state.

The Californian voters’ decision to approve Proposition 8 – the nation’s most expensive ballot measure fight this year, with more than $70 million in contributions – has inflicted a serious emotional blow to same-sex couples who less than six months ago won the right to wed under a state high court ruling.

More than 11,000 gay couples – many from out of state – already have married in California.Although California Attorney General Jerry Brown has said passage of Proposition 8 would not invalidate those marriage licenses, gay rights advocates say they are not sure his opinion would withstand a court challenge.

The vote overturned California’s liberal law.

Only two other states, Massachusetts and Connecticut, now allow same-sex marriage.

With the addition of Arizona and Florida, 29 states now have prohibitions in their constitutions to block same-sex marriage and head off state court rulings such as those in Massachusetts, California and Connecticut that legalized gay unions. Two years ago, Arizona became the first and only state where voters have ever rejected a gay marriage ban; this year’s proposal was worded less broadly.

All but four of the gay marriage bans were adopted after Massachusetts, following a court ruling, became the first to marry gay couples in 2004.

Jordan Lawrence of the Alliance Defense Fund, which opposes gay marriage, said passage of the proposals in Arizona and Florida – and possibly in California – ensures that more states will consider constitutional bans in the future.

“This is not a dying issue.This is not an issue that had its heyday in the 2004 election and is dwin-

dling,”Lawrence said in a telephone interview with Stateline.org.

The gay marriage bans were among the most closely watched of the 153 measures on 36 states’ ballots this year, a list that included scores of politically explosive social issues.

Voters in Colorado and South Dakota rejected

sweeping bans on abortion that could have tested Roe v.Wade, the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that provided women seeking abortions with legal protections. Washington became only the second state after Oregon to allow doctor-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. Michigan lifted a 30-year ban on stem-cell research. Nebraska agreed

to ban affirmative action.

The irony of the gay marriage ban is that it came from many of Obama’s core support groups: 70% of a blacks and a sizeable majority of Latinos voted in favour of the ban, leaving Obama’s rainbow supporters seething.

– MCT

With the addition of Arizona and Florida, 29 states now have prohibitions in their constitutions to block same-sex marriage and head off state court rulings such as those in Massachusetts, California and Connecticut that legalized gay unions

WORLD

10

7 November 2008

Birth rate hits danger level Hong Kong – Hong Kong’s population crisis is likely to worsen as a survey showed Thursday that nearly four in 10 women want only one child or no children at all.

The study by the Hong Kong Family Planning Association found a growing trend toward childlessness in the wealthy city, which already has one of the world’s lowest birth rates.

Twenty-six per cent of 1,500 women interviewed said they wanted only one child compared with 10 per cent in 1992, and 13 per cent said they wanted no children, compared with 5 per cent in 1992.

Less than 50 per cent said they wanted two children, a decrease of more than 10 per cent from 1992 when a similar large-scale survey was conducted.

Hong Kong’s birth rate is already less than one child per woman, compared with around three in the 1980s, and the government is facing twin problems of an ageing population and a general labour shortage.

Couples in Hong Kong are increasingly unwilling to have big families because of the high-rise city’s limited living space and notoriously high living and education costs.

Professor Paul Yip, who headed the survey, said another major factor was that women were marrying later and delaying having children because of careers and the perceived expense of children.

Forty per cent of women married for four to five years still had no children and the number of women aged 35 to 39 who were still childless had risen significantly, the study found.

Almost one in three women aged 35 to 39 in the city of 6.9 million said they had fewer children than they wanted but many said they did not want to risk a late pregnancy.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang three years ago appealed to couples to have three children each, but surveys and censuses indicated that few couples are so far willing to take his advice.

ColorChinaPhoto

New York – US President George W Bush will join other heads of state at the United Nations next week for discussion on religion and cooperation for peace, the UN said.

The Kings of Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and presidents of the Philippines, Pakistan, Bahrain, Israel, Qatar and United Arab Emirates are among those expected to attend the session in the UN General Assembly November 12-13.

Enrique Yeves, spokesman for the 192-nation assembly, said a dozen heads of state and 40 to 50 government delegations have confirmed attendance at the Alliance of Civilisations project.

Yeves said the UN considers the number of participants “very good.” Heads of state, particularly from the United States, usually would send lowerranking officials to such a meeting. But Bush is finishing up his presidency with obviously a less hectic schedule and has time to spare.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he had received“an encouraging list”of dignitaries to take part in the interfaith dialogue.

“This initiative will be a very important one that will provide us very important momentum where all the world leaders, representatives from different faiths, different regions, will sit together,”Ban said.

The interfaith dialogue is built to deepen understanding and appreciation of religions,faiths and cultures,which will help create a favourable environment for the resolution of political issues, Ban said.

The assembly had held two rounds of discussion on the issue in the past years at ministerial levels.

It would be the first time that heads of state would take part in the discussion.

– DPA

– DPA

Muslim activist Keysar Trad, who recently caused a furore by urging the government to change the law to allow polygamy, has warned of a “Muslim backlash”, if requests to build more Islamic schools in western Sydney are rejected

Tensions on the outskirts of Sydney Sydney – Farms are being bought up on Sydney’s western fringes and turned into housing estates.

Most locals don’t like it.

Some of those upset at the encroachment of Australia’s largest city on their traditional lands have legitimate concerns.The greenery is disappearing, the extra traffic is disruptive, the semblance of country life is lost.Others just fear strangers. The

UN dream of world religious unity closer

new families often come from the suburbs where Muslim immigrants congregate – and bring with them demands for mosques and Islamic schools.

“I don’t want people coming to where I live who come from a culture where it’s acceptable to use women and children as suicide bombers against their enemies,” said Kate McCulloch,a resident who has campaigned against an Islamic school being built in Camden.

“The school is just the thin end of the wedge.

You only have to look at those countries that have accepted Arabs and other Islamic people to see how they’ve come in and waged violent campaigns to displace the locals.”

McCulloch, often pictured in newspapers draped in the Australian flag, has been accused of racism and of inciting violence.

Local councils have distanced themselves from her extreme views.They have been at pains to explain that applications for the building of Islamic schools have been vetted solely on planning considerations.

They have pointed out that there are Islamic schools in western Sydney and that they receive government funding just like Catholic schools.

Within local councils McCulloch’s views have faint echoes.Max Parker is a councillor and invoked the anxiety of locals when speaking out against an application to build an Islamic school at Bass Hill.

“I think that most people that live in the area have got a fear of Muslims, as they are in the world today, moving into that area,”Parker said.

For some among Australia’s 300,000 Muslims (most live in western Sydney), it’s not about green space but a case of culture clash.

Zaid Khan, who lives in a western Sydney suburb with a large Muslim community, notes that Muslims who live in suburbs like his are criticized for their refusal to integrate but that when they try and move out they are rejected as interlopers.

Muslim activist Keysar Trad, who recently caused a furore by urging the government to change the law to allow polygamy, has warned of a “Muslim backlash”, if requests to build more Islamic schools in western Sydney are rejected.

Quranic Society spokesman Issam Obeid said that Camden Council was applying a“double-standard”rather than simply following planning rules.

“No one knows anything about the Catholic school and they say ‘Yeah, give it a tick already.’ I think racism is affecting this.”

Bernard Salt, a respected demographer, downplays Islamophobia and pushes culture shock as an explanation for the argy-bargy over what gets built in Camden and other places yet to yield to greater Sydney.

“Camden sits like demographic island,” he said.

“It’s almost like here was a reprieve, a sanctuary from the southwest urban sprawl.”

– DPA

SPORT

7 November 2008

11

Barnes adds spice to standard fare

By Chris Barclay of NZPA

Edinburgh, Nov 6 – When the All Blacks launch their Grand Slam bid at the home of Scottish rugby, ironically it will be an Englishman occupying centre stage on Murrayfield.

Although All Blacks management have sought to downplay the significance of their reunion with Wayne Barnes, scrutiny of the referee in charge when New Zealand crashed out of last year’s World Cup is inevitable.

New Zealand rugby folklore will forever hold Barnes accountable for the All Blacks’18-20 quarterfinal loss to France.

And it is not inconceivable that New Zealand fans in the stands on Saturday (6.15am Sunday NZT) might be unwilling to forget or forgive his role in the All Blacks’demise in Cardiff Millennium Stadium last October – those non-existent penalties, the missed forward pass, the sinbinning of Luke McAlister.

While All Blacks coach Graham Henry and senior players have skirted around Barnes’involvement this week, assistant coach Wayne Smith attempted to bring a degree of closure after the team’s final practice session.

“We’ve moved on, we’ve all got to get on with it and play the game,”he said.

“I go a long way back with Wayne. He was a young referee when I was over (coaching) at Northampton.

He refereed us countless times.

“Wayne was a good young ref coming through and he’s a good ref now.”

The International Rugby Board (IRB) agree, making the bold appointment and then carefully guarding the 29-year-old before kickoff.

He has been off limits ahead of a test that, Barnes factor apart, has the standard expectations associated with internationals featuring the All Blacks and Scotland.

The Scots’uninspiring record precedes them.

They boast one win from each of their last Six Nations campaigns, and two draws and 24 losses

from 103 years of one-sided rivalry with the All Blacks.

New Zealand will field a lineup featuring three new caps and only one front liner who started last weekend’s Bledisloe Cup stopover in Hong Kong.

Ali Williams backs-up in the pack and the lock is also the only All Black who started the last time the two nations met – a contrived World Cup game in Edinburgh last year where Scotland’s virtual B side lost 40-0 while their big guns focused on the decisive pool match with Italy.

The Scots are taking this encounter more seriously, and rightly so as they need to win either this weekend or next – against the world champion Springboks – to secure a favourable draw when the 2011 World Cup pools are announced in London on December 1.

Seedings are not an issue for the No 1 ranked All Blacks who have confidently made 12 changes to the team who scraped past the Wallabies last weekend, taking the opportunity to usher in new No 8 Liam Messam, blindside flanker Kieran Read and loosehead prop Jamie Mackintosh.

Allied to their inexperience is the fact five more players are in their first season of test football.

Smith said part of the challenge facing the new faces was handling the mental pressure of making their test debuts.

“It’s bound to be an emotional experience for the first timers as it is for the guys that have 50 caps,”he said.

To that end hooker Keven Mealamu, who captains the side for the first time, and second rower Williams have assumed important advisory roles.

Williams, who started his 57-test career with a 28-31 loss to England at Twickenham in 2002, said the best advice he could give the new caps was to stay calm.

“Once you get through the haka it’s a bit of a relief but in the first 10 minutes you sort of run around like a headless chicken.Then you slowly settle down and realise it’s just another game of rugby.”

Meanwhile, the Scots were also issuing encourag-

NZPA/Ross Setford

New Zealand will field a lineup featuring three new caps and only one front liner who started last weekend’s Bledisloe Cup stopover in Hong Kong ing responses to the age old question:“Can you beat the All Blacks this time?”

Recently capped players maintained they were unaffected by the legacy of Scottish failure.

“We go in full of confidence especially after pulling off an historic win in Argentina last time out,” said two-test centre Ben Cairns.

He is among six players facing the All Blacks for the first time alongside backs Thom Evans, Nick

A hugely popular figure with the fans, he has a room named after him at Mt Smart Stadium and he made his announcement this morning in, appropriately, the Stacey Jones Lounge. NZPA / Robert Lowe

League’s resurrected star taking ‘small steps’

By Robert Lowe of NZPA

Auckland, Nov 7 NZPA – Champion halfback Stacey Jones cautioned against expecting“too much too soon”from him after his shock announcement today that he was coming out of rugby league retirement.

Jones, 32, has signed a one-year deal with the New Zealand Warriors, the club with which he spent 11 National Rugby League seasons before his move to the English Super League at the end of 2005.

He officially hung up his boots a year ago and his only on-field action since then was a cameo role

for the All Golds against the New Zealand Maori in New Plymouth last month.

“It’s small steps at a time to see how we go,”he said.

“When I finished my body was in good condition.

It’s probably more a mental thing. At the moment I’m feeling fresh.”

Jones, who also won 46 caps with the Kiwis, said an approach by Warriors coach Ivan Cleary and his involvement with the All Golds had rekindled his desire to play.

The player nicknamed the Little General said he thought long and hard before coming to his decision.

He believed he would regret it down the track if he turned down the opportunity and he was confident he could still cut it at NRL level.

“At the end of the day, I had to ask myself, am I keen to play, can I get myself into the position to do that, and the answer was yes.”

Jones made his first-grade debut as an 18-yearold in 1995 in the Warriors’inaugural season.

The Aucklander went on to clock up 238 games, score 75 tries and total 654 points for the Warriors, all of which remain club records.

A hugely popular figure with the fans, he has a

De Luca plus the front row of Allan Jacobsen, Ross Ford and Euan Murray.

Cairns emphasised the All Blacks had no psychological grip over them.

“We haven’t got bad experiences of playing them, we go in fresh, full of confidence and looking forward to the challenge,”he said.

“We have an element of surprise too, they won’t have seen a lot of us.” room named after him at Mt Smart Stadium and he made his announcement this morning in, appropriately, the Stacey Jones Lounge.

Jones had two Super League seasons with Les Catalans and was to have stayed on with the French club for one more campaign this year.

By mutual consent, Jones didn’t go through with a third season because of a desire to return home.

The agreement he reached with Les Catalans prevented him from playing for another club in 2008, but he was signed up by the Warriors as their kicking coach.

Jones said his motivation for lacing up his boots again was to try to win an NRL title, something he came closest to in 2002 when the Warriors lost the grand final to the Sydney Roosters.

His decision means Cleary will have an abundance of choice in the halves, an area that has been a weakness for the Warriors ever since Jones left for France.

Others in the frame include Grant Rovelli, Michael Witt and Nathan Fien, as well as new signings Joel Moon and Liam Foram, who are moving from Brisbane and Melbourne respectively.

Utility Lance Hohaia is also an option, as is centre Jerome Ropati, while young Auckland Vulcan Aaron Heremaia has been given the chance to impress the coaching staff during the off-season.

Asked if Jones would be first in line for the No 7 jersey, Cleary said time would tell how much of an on-field contribution he would make.

Cleary said his one-time team-mate still had a fair way to go in his training and a big question would be how his body held up.

“At this stage, he’s another piece in the jigsaw and another one fighting to get a jersey,”he said.

“The difference he does have is that he’s a proven big match player.”

Cleary added that Jones’ experience would be invaluable to the whole squad whether he played many games or not.

SPORT

12

7 November 2008

Tennis Masters prepare for battle

“One thing is not to get too carried away with the ball carrying through to the ‘keeper, but to worry about your area and where you can get the Australian batters out.”

The bulk of the New Zealand squad travel across the Tasman on Monday ahead of a four-day warmup match against New South Wales beginning in Sydney on Thursday.

The second test is in Adelaide, starting on November 28.

“I haven’t played in Australia apart from on a school trip and something I’ve always wanted to do is play against the likes of Ricky Ponting and Brett Lee and guys like that,”Southee said.

“It will be exciting and I’m really looking forward to the chance to go up against the best in the world.”

Shanghai – With Rafael Nadal in injury crisis and missing the Masters Cup, healthy contenders began finding their form in smoggy Shanghai under the closed roof at the Qi Zhong stadium for the seasonending classic starting on Sunday.

Andy Murray, playing the eight-man wrap-up event for the first time in his career, has been keeping a relatively high profile, attending the midweek draw ceremony and earning praise from former great John McEnroe.

“When Andy Murray first came on the scene three or four years ago you heard people say that he could win ‘majors,’and he’s putting all that together now,” said McEnroe, speaking to officials of the senior Black Rock Masters in London next month.

“What I love the most is how incredibly well he’s moving. It’s unbelievable.

“Most people can’t move on the court like that and find the position and the angles that Andy’s able to come up with.The way he’s able to keep an opponent on his heels is really hard to do.

“He believes in the way he plays and he doesn’t change his game plan – he mixes up his shots so well.

He’s got the hands and he can play up at the net as well and he’s got a great brain and head for tennis.”

Murray’s rising game is in sharp contrast to that of Nadal, first number one player to miss the Masters Cup since it went to the current format in 2000.

The four-time French Open champion who won his first Wimbledon and Olympic gold medal in this season of eight trophys, pulled out of Shanghai on Monday with the right knee tendinitis which forced him to quit last Friday at the Paris Masters.

Now, the subdued Spaniard is worried that he might not pull up fit for the Davis Cup final in Argentina November 21-23.“If I’m only 40 per cent, I won’t go,”he told Spanish radio.“I have to see how the knee pulls up.”

Nadal is desperate not to miss the Davis date at Mar del Plata.“Who doesn’t want to play the Davis Cup final? It’s my last major objective this season.

“Any player would want to be there, and I’m not an exception.”

Nadal is current resting until the weekend at his island village of Manacor on Mallorca, with more tests on his troublesome knee set for early next week as the Masters Cup goes deep into the group stage.

– NZPA

– DPA

against Partizan Belgrade.

Both goals for the home side were scored by Germany striker Mario Gomez late in the game.

Stuttgart coach Armin Veh said that even though they had scored only in the second half, they had dominated proceedings throughout: “We were the better side and had many chances.

It was a good game from my team.”

Gomez, who has now scored five goals in the UEFA Cup, said that the team was much better in the second half.“We were rewarded for our efforts in the second half.”

Valencia the lead on the hour in their Group G game in Spain against FC Copenhagen, but Brazilian midfielder Cesar Santin levelled for the Danish team four minutes from the end.

St Etienne beat Rosenborg Trondheim 3-0 in the other group G game, while former UEFA Cup winners Galatasaray Istanbul won 2-0 at Benfica Lisbon in Group B. In the same group, Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin managed to play to a goalless draw at Metalist Kharkiv to move second in Group B with two points from their two matches.

With the top three advancing from the five-team groups, Hertha coach Lucien Favre accentuated the positive:“I look at it this way: we won a point, rather than losing two.”

He did, however, add that at times the last pass was missing from the team.

Berlin captain Arne Friedrich said that the team did well at the back.“But upfront we should have done more,”he said.

AS Nancy and CSKA Moscow took control of Group H. The Russian club won 3-1 at Feyenoord Rotterdam for their second victory from two games, while AC Nancy drew 2-2 at Polish club Lech Poznan to take them to four points. Poznan is third in the group with one point.

NZPA / Ross Setford

Southee looking to restart test career Auckland, Nov 7 – Pace bowler Tim Southee hopes to get the chance to resume his stalled test cricket career when the New Zealand team head to Australia next week.

The teenager is one of five pace bowlers named in a 15-man squad to prepare for the first test starting in Brisbane on November 20.

Southee, 19, made a dream test debut against England in Napier in March, when he took a fivewicket bag and then hit a whirlwind 77 not out from just 40 balls.

But he has made just one further test appearance since then, at Lord’s in May, when his return from 16 overs was none for 59.

A stomach bug laid him low for the second test at Old Trafford, opening the door for Iain O’Brien, who has held his place since, including in the two-

test series in Bangladesh last month.

Because of the conditions in Chittagong and Dhaka, the Black Caps opted for just two pacemen in O’Brien and Kyle Mills, leaving Southee to sit on the sidelines after having appeared in the three one-dayers.

“It was disappointing not to play in a test there, but it was going to be hard with us playing only two seamers,”he said.

“I guess I just have to wait for the chance again and grab it with both hands and make the most of it.”

With the Brisbane pitch likely to provide plenty of bounce, the New Zealand selectors have included five pace bowlers in their squad.

Southee was relishing the prospect of bowling at the ‘Gabba if he ended up being picked in the 11.

“It will be good to have the bounce,”he said.

No surprises in UEFA cup Hamburg – There were victories for most favourites in today’s UEFA Cup group games, with Serie A clubs AC Milan and Udinese being two of six club with two wins from two matches.

Former Champions League winners Milan needed a goal four minutes into injury time from substitute Ronaldinho to break down the Sporting Braga defence.

The other Group E game saw German Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg come from behind to beat Dutch club Heerenveen 5-1 in the so-called Group of Death.

With Premier League side Portsmouth also in the group,Wolfsburg went into the game knowing that they could not afford to lose at home.

Finnish midfielder Mika Vaeyrynen gave the visitors the lead just after the half hour, but Edin Dzeko equalized just three minutes later. Grafite gave his side the lead six minutes from the break.

In the second half, Wolfsburg proved far too strong for Heerenveen as Dzeko, Zvjezdan Misimovic and Jacek Krzynowek added goals to give the Bundesliga side a convincing 5-1 victory in their first match in the group phase.

Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath said that he was impressed with his side’s performance in the second half.

“Heerenveen looked strong in the first half, but we then took control in the second,”he said.“It was

a good game for my side.”

There was a good win for Udinese, who won 21 at Spartak Moscow to register their second win from two games and move atop Group D with six points. Fabio Quagliarella scored twice for the Italian club.

The other group game saw Harry Redknapp take his Tottenham Hotspur side to an excellent 40 victory against Dinamo Zagreb in his first UEFA Cup game in charge of the London club. Darren Bent scored a hat trick for the struggling Premier League side.

Aston Villa was another Premier League side securing a victory with a 1-0 win at Slavia Prague to take them to six points in Group F from John Carew’s first-half deflection into the Slavia goal Aston Villa was another Premier League side securing a victory with a 1-0 win at Slavia Prague to take them to six points in Group F from John Carew’s first-half deflection into the Slavia goal.

Ajax Amsterdam beat MSK Zilina 1-0 to put their UEFA Cup campaign back on track in the same group.

VfB Stuttgart, who lost their first Group C game in Sevilla, Spain, bounced back with a 2-0 win

With Standard Liege beating Sevilla 1-0 in the other group game, Liege, Sevilla, Stuttgart and Sampdoria all have three points, while Belgrade are left struggling without a point from their two games.

In Group A, Manchester City beat Dutch club Twente Enschede 3-2, while Schalke 04 drew 1-1 at Racing Santander.

Former Spanish striker Fernando Morientes gave

– DPA

WEEKEND

7 November 2008

13

TV & Film

entertainment

NEWS

Brideshead Revisited

0Director: Julian Jarrold 0Cast: Matthew Goode, Emma Thompson, Hayley Atwell, Ben Whishaw, Michael Gambon, Greta Scacchi.

0Length: 135 minutes 0Rated: M (sex scenes) Emma Thompson steals the new film version of Brideshead Revisited.

As Lady Marchmain, the genteel but fierce matriarch of Eveyln Waugh’s story, she projects so much intelligence, resolve and even a touch of malevolence that she towers over the pretty young things with whom she shares the screen.

She’s so good that when her character vanishes halfway through, the movie never recovers.

Old timers may recall the 10-hour British TV version of Brideshead that aired in the early ‘80s. Of necessity this new edition – written and directed

by Julian Jarrold (Kinky Boots,Becoming Jane) and penned by Jeremy Brock and Andrew Davies – compresses the book’s 20-year narrative and eliminates numerous tangential characters.

It’s a workmanlike job, but not a terribly inspired one.And it may well puzzle viewers who’ve always heard that Waugh was a supreme satirist. This Brideshead seems awfully dour.

Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) is a lower middle-class Brit who in the 1920s goes to university and despite a warning to steer clear of“sodomites” finds himself adopted by a band of, ahem, colourful students led by Sebastian Flyte (Ben Whishaw).

Sebastian is fey, catty, alcoholic and rather sad.

Charles, though, is deeply impressed with his new friend. Sebastian is filthy rich and a lord – exotic credentials to a young man from a class of shopkeepers.

And when Sebastian lets Charles tag along on a visit to Brideshead, his family’s sprawling country estate, the newcomer is bowled over. Sebastian may sneer at the gallery filled with oils of his noble ancestors, but to Charles it’s a dream come true, a vision of what British life is supposed to be.

The film is basically about Charles lifelong quest to become a member of this family.

Charles is invited to spend a summer at Brideshead, spending his days skinny-dipping and lolling about with Sebastian and raiding the family wine

With white hair, a stiff demeanour and a deadly sarcasm masked by polite civility, this grand dame is simultaneously attractive and intimidating cellar. He finds himself drawn to Sebastian’s sister Julia (Hayley Atwell), an attraction that will create problems when the emotionally needy Sebastian feels rejected.

(A problem: The film is maddeningly coy about Charles’sexual orientation. Is he bisexual? Gay but posing as straight in the hope of a good marriage?

Or simply straight but naive and sending out mixed signals?)

Charles’ real challenge is Sebastian and Julia’s mother, Lady Marchmain. With white hair, a stiff demeanour and a deadly sarcasm masked by polite civility, this grand dame is simultaneously attractive and intimidating. She’s also a hard-core Catholic who tolerates Charles’ atheism as a fad that will be outgrown – at least until she sees his intentions toward Julia.Then the iron fist comes down.

Brideshead gets lost in its second half when the adult Charles, now an established painter, attempts to reconnect with Julia, who is trapped in a loveless marriage arranged by her late mother.Without Thompson’s weighty presence and with the flam-

boyant Sebastian tucked away in the ‘30s version of rehab, the enterprise rests on the shoulders of Goode and Atwell.They’re attractive enough but a bit underwhelming.

In fact, there’s almost no heat in their relationship.Those looking for a good dose of romance will be disappointed – especially when in the last reel Brideshead turns into an examination of religious faith and Catholic fidelity.

Happily there’s some juicy supporting work on display: Jonathan Cake as Julia’s husband, a cad who will happily“sell”her to Charles; Michael Gambon as Julia and Sebastian’s father, who long ago fled his religious wife for a new life with his mistress in Venice; Ed Stoppard as the oldest Flyte child – devout, prim, proper and ponderously unimaginative...no doubt his mother’s favourite.And look for Patrick Malahide as Charles’ preoccupied, fuddy duddy father, who seems to be living on his own little planet.

Justices debate fines for swearing on TV WASHINGTON (MCT) – A clearly divided Supreme Court this week debated indecent language for an hour without anyone using the words in question.

Circumlocutions like “the F-word” and “the S-word” sufficed as the court considered the year’s highest-profile free-speech controversy.

All signs now point to a tight decision over whether broadcasters can be fined for allowing use of so-called “fleeting expletives,” which are swear words used in passing.

The court’s conservative justices showed sympathy for the Federal Communications Commission members who want to punish broadcasters. Associate Justice Antonin Scalia denounced the “coarsening” effect of swearing, while Chief Justice John Roberts warned about “impressionable children” being harmed by inherently dirty words.

“Why do you think the F-word has shocking value?”

Robert asked rhetorically. “It’s because it’s associated with sexual or excretory activity; that’s what gives it its force.”

Added Scalia, “that’s what gives it its zing.”

But other justices sounded more willing to tolerate the occasional swear word, with Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, a Navy veteran, noting that sometimes “you can’t help but laugh” at how a swear word is deployed.

More pointedly, some justices suggested the FCC’s stern new swear words policy came about arbitrarily.

“There seems to be no rhyme or reason with some of the changes the commission has made,” Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said.

The dispute in the case called FCC v. Fox Television Stations centres on two questions. The broader one is whether regulators violate First Amendment free speech rights by fining broadcasters for an occasional swear word. The other question is narrower, and it might be the only one the court actually decides: whether the FCC acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” in changing its policy about indecent language in 2004.

“It was, at a minimum, a rational policy choice,” Solicitor General Gregory Garre insisted.

Loosening indecency standards, Garre warned ominously, could lead to “Big Bird dropping the F-bomb on Sesame Street.”

Attorney Carter Phillips, representing Fox Television Stations, retorted that “there was no explanation” for the FCC’s policy change.

The policy change in question arose following a live 2003 broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards, when the lead singer Bono from the Irish rock band U2 declared his award was “really, really, f---ing brilliant.” During the 2003 Billboard Music Award, quasi-celebrity Nicole Richie declared “it’s not so f---ing simple” to remove “cow s--- out of a Prada purse.”

And during the 2002 Billboard Music Awards, Cher celebrated by denouncing her myriad doubters.

“I’ve also had critics for the last 40 years saying that I was on my way out every year. Right.” the Fresno High School dropout originally known as Cherilyn Sarkisian said. “So f--- ‘em. I still have a job and they don’t.”

FCC career staffers initially considered such language the kind of passing expletive, drained of sexual content, that has been grudgingly accepted for the past three decades. This reasoning dates back to a mid-1970s Supreme Court decision, involving comedian George Carlin, in which the court determined that “isolated use of a potentially offensive word” differs from the “verbal shock treatment” of profane repetition.

The politically appointed FCC, then reversed the staff decision and declared that even a fleeting reference to what the commission called “the F-word” could be deemed unacceptable. The fines for broadcasters could potentially reach as high as $325,000.

“It’s one of the most vulgar, graphic and explicit words for sexual activity,” Garre told the Court.

Countered Stevens: “That’s a word that is often used with no reference to sexual connotations.”

A court decision is expected by next June.

– By Michael Doyle

Watch trailer

– By Robert W. Butler

REVIEWS

14

7 November 2008

Music

Straddling the ‘Cross’-road: Amy Grant’s faith infuses her music

By Sue Nowicki McClatchy Newspapers

MODESTO, Calif. – Amy Grant is the best-selling female Christian music artist in the world.

With 30 million albums sold worldwide, nine platinum albums, six Grammy Awards and 26 Dove Awards under her belt, Grant also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

But she has said she prefers an evening of hanging out with her family to life in the spotlights, and that her faith is a simple gift that she relies on, both in tough days and good ones.

Married to country star Vince Gill, Grant has three children from her first marriage – Matt, 21, Millie, 19, and Sarah, 16. Gill has a daughter from

his first marriage, Jenny, 26. And the couple has a daughter, Corrina, 7.

We caught up with Grant last week at her home near Nashville for a discussion of her faith and family.

Q: You’ve said that you went to church regularly with your parents.When and how did you make that relationship with Christ your own?

A: It sort of was in two phases. I remember that May evening when I was 12. I knew I was going to walk down the aisle that Sunday evening (to accept Christ). It was very thought out. I just remember how special it was.

Then, two years later, when I was 14, and on through high school, I started going to a different church. My two oldest sisters went to school in Boston and started going to a church that was very

active.When they came home, they looked around and got active in a Nashville church on Music Row. It was musical, but people were in blue jeans and barefoot. Street people came.A lot of college kids.

I had so much Bible; I knew it like I knew history and my math facts.But it was in that free-form setting at Belmont Church that I came to know a relationship with Jesus.All the dots were connecting.I prayed a lot as a little kid,but it was a lot of King James speaking – a lot of reverence. I loved it. I loved the old hymns.

At my all-girls high school,it was a very intense education; really high standards. I saw a lot of mental, emotional, spiritual need, but it’s easy to medicate when you have money – new clothes, a new car. But I wasn’t around a lot of physical need.

When I went to the (Belmont) youth group, we

walked into an apartment.These kids were so welcoming, so inviting. None came from my school.

They were so easygoing and open.There were drug problems, a couple of unexpected pregnancies, people whose parents couldn’t pay the rent. I loved my school, but I plugged into that youth group.

I began writing songs and asked another friend to do songs with me in a school assembly.We sang and shared stories.After that, I found letters stuffed in my locker, in my books, from a lot of upperclassmen saying,“Can we talk?”More needs than I knew.

Q: Do you have a favourite Bible verse?

A: So many.When I was in college, a group of us used to run, or jog or limp, and for a time, we had to bring a verse and then we had to memorize it while we were jogging. I think that lasted maybe one week. Mine was Hebrews 10:23 – “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

Q: You’ve gone through a lot of challenges and changes in the past 10 years. How has your faith helped you?

A: For all of us, our faith shapes how we see life.

My husband came back a while ago after having lunch with a new friend. This man had opened up about his war experiences (in Vietnam), about the killing and the horrors. This man said,“My faith saved me from the war.”That’s true. Our faith saves us from ourselves, our circumstances. There have been times of amazing growth and times of feeling stagnant for a lot of reasons.

I think a great thing happens after you turn 40.

I have found that my emotional pendulum doesn’t swing as wide, and my emotional and spiritual roots feel deeper.I remember looking at my parents’spiritual maturity when I was a kid and wondering,“When am I going to feel like that?”I think it’s the hard times, whether they’re imposed on us or whether we bring them on ourselves, that brings it.

Q: Are you doing anything different in sharing your faith and beliefs with your youngest daughter,Corrina, than you did with your older three children?

A: Probably. I guess I’d have to ask them. I’m older and probably more relaxed. I would imagine that hopefully at times, I’m a better listener than I was as a young mom.

Q: Now that you’re the mom of a couple of young adults, how has your spiritual advice or practices changed? Do you ever want to throttle them for some of the choices they’re making?

A: I find I say less the older I get. They’re not going to listen anyway, unless they want to hear.

When they’re children, you’re sort of gearing toward them. As adults, I talk to them like I would talk to myself, only I say a lot less. Mostly, I try to be encouraging. Life is the greatest teacher. At this point, it’s not going to be mom’s words.

One of my kids, I won’t say which one, was having a really tough time the other night.We were out on the front porch.You know, you can’t fix it.We sat in the rocking chair. I said,“Two things come to mind right now.One was a verse your grandmother used to quote all the time –‘All things work together for good to those who love God,to those who are called according to his purpose.’And then I added,‘You know, all of us are called according to his purpose.’That might not be other people’s theology, but it’s what I believe – that all of us are called for his purpose.

Second, I heard Bruce Springsteen once say, “Great enlightenment is always preceded by a f – up.”I don’t talk that way, but it was a quote. It’s life.

The things in heaven and things on earth are so articulated by Bruce and God.That’s the way I’ve raised my kids – I’m not preachy Church Lady.

Q: What’s the best part of being God’s daughter?

A: The best part is knowing if I never lifted a finger, it wouldn’t change his love for me.That’s true of everybody. We just live in such a performancebased world – who looks the best, who serves the best, who tries the hardest, who does the most. I mean I don’t want to lay around in bed and eat bon bons. But I’m so thankful that I don’t have to work to earn his love.

Watch El Shaddai Watch Big Yellow Taxi Watch The Next Time I Fall

REVIEWS

7 November 2008

NEW CD RELEASES

Books

John Lennon wanted to live in NZ

Pink

0Funhouse Is Pink pop’s Sarah Palin?

Alecia Moore has always portrayed herself as an outsider, someone on the periphery of pop’s humdrum dumbness. Not only has Pink put down tween cultural types Lindsay and Paris (e.g., Pink’s hit “Stupid Girl”). She still seems sarcastically inured to the human frailties behind top-pop-tart stardom on her peppy new“So What.”

Yet from 2000’s double-platinum debut Can’t Take Me Home to 2001’s anthemic “Get the Party Started”(Bally Fitness and the NBA used it in ads) to the majority of her hit catalogue, few do glossy pop-rock better.

Though Pink gives her love life with ex-husbanddrummer Carey Hart a tongue-in-cheek lashing on “So What”and“Please Don’t Leave Me,”she slaps her caustic self silly during the Kid-Rock-ish C&W of “Mean.”There are more than a few emotional references to busting up, breaking down, and messy scenarios with drugs and parents, including the suicide-squeezing“It’s AllYour Fault.”Yet Pink funnels blame, dread and truculence through zealously contagious hooks with sonic rocking panache and the husky vocals of a kid who finally found those raunchy old Ray Charles records in her basement.

– A.D. Amorosi

Hank Williams

0The Unreleased Recordings Williams and his Drifting Cowboys cut this music in 1951 for their morning radio show on Nashville’s WSM. Usually they performed live, but they had to prerecord shows that could air while they were on the road.

Remarkably clear and with no overdubs, these tracks offer a complete picture of Williams as he ranges from stark, despairing ballads to uplifting gospel rave-ups, using his own hits, numbers by others, and – most interesting – songs he never formally recorded. He offers spoken introductions in several places, and vigorous harmonies by his band members add to the energy level and live, spontaneous feel. In at least one instance Williams adds different lyrics to one of his older hits, 1949’s“MindYour Own Business,” providing another hint of his turbulent home life:“If I get my head beat black and blue/ That’s my wife and my stove wood, too.”

– Nick Cristiano

Johnny Cash

0At Folsom Prison: Legacy Edition How many times can you expand a classic? In the case of this 1968 Johnny Cash landmark, at least twice.This three-disc set builds on the 1999 reissue by adding the complete second show from that January day and a DVD documentary.

The music remains a thrilling distillation of the Man in Black’s timeless appeal. Backed by his Tennessee Three as well as Carl Perkins and June Carter (not yet his wife),Cash establishes an immediate rapport with the inmates:His empathy for them,and by extension all the downtrodden,is immediately apparent,but he also exudes a whiff of danger and rebellion himself.

The result is an atmosphere crackling with energy.

The DVD includes interviews with children Rosanne Cash and John Carter Cash, Marty Stuart and Merle Haggard, and frames Cash’s performance in the context of his career. Most touchingly, it also tells the sad story of Glen Sherley, the inmate whose song Cash sang that day at Folsom.

–N.C.

15

John Lennon: The Life

0By Philip Norman 0HarperCollins, hardback, $54.95 Everybody from Bill Clinton to Fidel Castro loves to remember John Lennon as the dippy Utopian of“Imagine”:”Imagine there’s no countries/It isn’t hard to do/Nothing to kill or die for/And no religion, too.” Less remembered is the Lennon of “Run For Your Life”:“Well I’d rather see you dead little girl/ Than to be with another man.”In Philip Norman’s merciless biography, Lennon No. 2 is on full display, and the picture isn’t pretty.

Spiteful and selfish, miserly and misogynistic, Lennon abused his friends, cheated on his women, quarrelled with almost everyone he knew, and wanted to take his son away to a new life in New Zealand. His politics were phony and his public persona a pose, the working-class hero who never laboured a day in his life. (Personal motto:“Death before work.”)

Even such details as his all-macrobiotic diet were hippie spinmastering; Norman recounts a horrified host discovering Lennon and Yoko Ono ransacking his refrigerator for bologna.

John Lennon:The Life started out as a semi-authorized biography,with Norman – the author of Shout! The Beatles in Their Generation, a well-regarded history of the group’s complicated and ultimately disastrous business dealings – getting full access to Ono and her family for three years’worth of interviews.

But when Ono got a look at an early version of the manuscript, she told Norman he had been“mean to John”and cut him off.“I hope that in time she may revise this judgment for I do not think any other reader will share it,”he writes.

Oh yes they will. Unlike Albert Goldman’s vicious The Lives of John Lennon, this book is no calculated character assassination. Norman admires Lennon’s writing and musicianship and even appears to have some personal affection for Lennon. But he’s undone by his reporting, which again and again butts up against the ruthlessness and self-indulgence with which Lennon conducted his life.

Manipulative from childhood, when he learned to play his troubled mother against the aunt who raised him, Lennon skated through art school on work done by his friends, then secured gigs for his band by installing the son of a club owner as the drummer.When the drummer, Pete Best, outlived his usefulness, and the band got a recording contract, Lennon sent the group’s manager to fire him.

He loved to play the role of a thuggish Teddy Boy, the primitive British gangbangers of the day but let his burlier friends finish the fights he started.“He was playing the tough guy with nothing to back it up, which was a dangerous thing to do,”recalls a bar bouncer who rescued Lennon from countless brawls when the Beatles were playing seedy bars in Germany.

No one was immune from his bullying. He smacked a girlfriend for talking to another man.

(And you thought “You Can’t Do That”– “Well, it’s the second time, I’ve caught you talking to him/Do I have to tell you one more time, I think it’s a sin” – was just a song.) He once mugged a drunken fan.

And Norman even investigates – inconclusively – an accusation that the brain haemorrhage that killed original Beatles bass player Stuart Sutcliffe was caused by a beating administered by Lennon.

Perhaps no one suffered more at Lennon’s hands than Cynthia Powell, his first wife. If their courtship was often ugly – when Cynthia suffered an appendicitis attack while on a date, Lennon simply put her on a train to her mother’s house – their marriage was an utter travail. Left alone to cope with her pregnancy (Lennon was on the road and under

pressure from his manager to keep the marriage secret), she endured a threadbare existence while her husband splurged on clothes. A college friend who bumped into Cynthia was aghast to learn that she had only a one-pound note to her name “and she was terrified that John would find out about it and take it.”

Lennon cheated on Cynthia with friends, fans, practically any female at hand. (The dreamy, sitardriven record “Norwegian Wood,” widely assumed to be a drug anthem when it was released in 1965, actually chronicled an affair with a downstairs neighbour.) Yet when Lennon dumped her for the loony avant-garde artist Ono in 1968, the divorce suit accused Cynthia of adultery, even though Ono was pregnant with his child.

As the Beatles rose from a boozy bar band into the leading cultural export of Great Britain, Lennon maintained a carefully manicured image of puppy-dog rebellion, epitomized by his remark at a concert attended by various members of the royal family:“Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you’ll just rattle your jewellery.”With Ono, he restyled himself as king of the counterculture, with even less authenticity.

Certainly his callous blend of macho faithlessness and nearly deranged jealousy continued.

Soon after taking up with Ono, he demanded that she write out a list of everyone she’d slept with – then flew into a rage when he saw it. (Like “You Can’t Do That,”“Run For Your Life”was less a song than a way of life.) And at the same time he was proclaiming that the Beatles’ company Apple Corps was practicing “Western communism,” he was privately blistering its lawyers and managers for bleeding money. One such tirade, about how he was “sick of being (bleeped) around by men in suits, sitting around on their fat arses”upset a deal that would have allowed the Beatles to keep control of their song publishing.

Michael Jackson, who gets a nickel every time somebody plays “Yesterday”or“I Want To HoldYour Hand,”will no doubt be amused to read “John Lennon: The Life.” It’s even possible that Lennon would, too; had he survived a deranged fan’s bullet in 1980, he’d be 68 and perhaps past the age of artifice. Certainly, whether he liked it or not, he would recognize the portrait in these pages.“These things are left out, about what bastards we were,”he confessed in an unguarded post-Beatles moment.“(Bleeping) big bastards, that’s what the Beatles were.You have to be a bastard to make it, and that’s a fact. And the Beatles were the biggest bastards on Earth.”Reading John Lennon: The Life, you won’t doubt it.

– By Glenn Garvin

Greenwashing: you can’t even trust environmental groups Green, Inc.

0By Christine MacDonald 0The Lyons Press, 265 pages From scrappy beginnings as bands of activists, scientists and lawyers, many of the big environmental groups have gone corporate.

Working in gleaming Washington offices, they pay their top executives salaries that reach into the upper six figures, send out high-pressure fundraising letters and peddle resource-wasting tote bags, calendars and other consumer goods to their

members. Rather than holding protests and filing lawsuits, many set up “partnerships” with miners, timber companies and developers that provide environmental cover to corporations in exchange for money and promises of better behaviour.

Christine MacDonald’s Green, Inc. catalogues some of the abuses of this new world of corporate environmentalism, providing compelling stories of how environmental groups cosy up to polluters and receive little in return. But her book promises a lot more than it delivers.

“An environmental insider reveals how a good case has gone bad,”declares the cover.“In 2006, journalist Christine MacDonald began a dream job at one of the world’s largest environmental organizations. She was in for a shock.”

But the promised“insider”account never materializes.We get a few paragraphs here and there about MacDonald’s work at Conservation International.But for the most part,this is an outsider’s account.It relies partly on work previously published in The Washington Post and other publications that have taken hard looks at groups such as The Nature Conservancy, Environmental Defence and the Sierra Club.

Despite these limitations, the book provides a worthwhile look at how groups of outsiders won a seat at the table and what they had to give up in return.

The story of Conservation International illustrates much of what MacDonald thinks is wrong with the movement. The group began in the late 1980s in a few rooms in an old Washington hotel, with members travelling to South American rain forests in World War II-era planes.Today its chairman and cofounder, Peter Seligman, travels in private jets, consorts with the super-rich and raises piles of money from big polluters.

Conservation International partnered with Chevron, Shell and other oil companies in something called the Energy and Biodiversity Initiative, which, like similar partnerships,“seemed to exist largely to publicize itself.”

The group issued reports, created a Web site, got some press and disbanded. In a fight over a Brazilian rain forest, as MacDonald tells it, Conservation International struck a deal with the New York agribusiness firm Bunge Ltd., which ran a soybean operation, ending up siding with Bunge in fights with local environmental activists.

Other groups make similar deals.

The Sierra Club endorsed a line of Clorox cleansers this year as “environmentally friendly,” in exchange for a percentage of sales revenue, even though the group’s Toxics Committee had not conducted an analysis of the products.The group’s Florida chapter passed a resolution in protest.The homebuilder Centex Corp. made a deal with The Nature Conservancy to donate $35 for every home built. The Nature Conservancy netted several million dollars a year and Centex, whose products contribute to urban sprawl, touted its two “conservation leadership awards” from the group as evidence of its green record.

MacDonald provides a depressing catalogue of evils by the big environmental groups. But her account is unsystematic, unbalanced and lacks perspective.

Granted there have been abuses, as environmental groups took their eyes off the ball and focused on making deals rather than protecting the environment. But have any of these partnerships done any good? Do the old confrontational approaches of litigation and publicity ever fail? Are their circumstances better suited to partnerships or better suited to confrontation? What led to this change in strategy? Was it just greed and a desire for publicity or was this new approach a rational response to failures of the old confrontational ways?

MacDonald hints at the answers. But while she provides a lot of grist for discussion, a hard look at these issues will have to await another book.

– By David Fleshler

DISCOVERY

16

7 November 2008

I try not to cross the street for fear of being killed by a motorbike.

I look up at wrought iron balconies and slanted red roofs, at thick electrical lines crisscrossing like spider webs.The city of 6 million is full of funky and colourful French-inspired four-story houses only about 12 feet wide and very deep, so multiple generations can live together. On the ground floor is usually a shop. On the upper floors, the families.

The streets are a maze of all these shops. Different streets have shops that sell the same thing. So there’s the paint street, the appliance street, the shoe street, the box-and-paper street, like a mall without a map.

Before I get completely lost, I navigate back to the hotel in the rain.

Cu Da (16 km west of Hanoi)

A one-legged man in his tiny shop beckons me inside. His shop is part of a crumbling villa at least 150 years old. His town is billed as another “ancient village”like Duong Lam, another stop on the cultural tour I requested. But Cu Da is not ready for tourists.

Inside his courtyard, five dogs whimper and bark. He shouts at them and they cower away. He just recently moved to this old home, which looks out on a dirt street. Rain falls steadily. A motorbike roars past.

Across the street is the Nhue River, which smells ripe and heavy with sewage. Trash litters the bank and boxes float down the shiny dark surface.The smell is overpowering. Like some other“former”rivers in metropolitan Hanoi, Nhue has become a sewer.

The village is in an otherwise pretty spot, surrounded by rice paddies and fields of arrowroot, which the residents make into flour for vermicelli noodles. Canals contain plenty of fish, caught with picturesque bamboo fishing traps. Morning glories grow in the canals. Rice paddies line the road.

Many dogs – small, short-legged and brown – roam the streets.

Chickens cackle. Ducks skitter.

Like the chickens and ducks, the dogs will be killed and eaten.

Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City, southern Vietnam)

The lure of Vietnam

By Ellen Creager

HOI AN, Vietnam – Temples and monuments are interesting. But they don’t hold a candle to Vietnam’s people.

Why? The duality of this nation, with one foot in slow, ancient ways and the other in a hectic future, begs to be noticed.The only way to do that is to get out of the tourist bus. Step out of the bubble and meet people.Walk around.Ask questions. Pay attention.

Since Vietnam normalized relations with the United States in 1995, the nation of 85 million has soared economically. Skyscrapers rise.

Cell phones spread.

But work here is labour intensive. People still pick rice by hand.

If a tablecloth takes 10 weeks to embroider, so be it. If silk requires the cultivation of silkworms, consider it done. If a hole needs digging, bring on 10 men with shovels.

Although Vietnam likely won’t meet its goal of 5 million tourists this year because of the slowing world economy, more than 330,000 Americans have already visited this year, up 6 percent from a year ago. Vietnam is not only historically meaningful to Americans, it is amazingly affordable.

With US$3 dinners and US$60 hotel rooms, you can spend nearly three weeks in Vietnam for the same price as a week in Europe. It’s also possible to plan a custom trip at a reasonable price. Best of all, you can request cultural tourism opportunities that will expand your experience.

The wider you roam, the better you will understand this country.

Here are six indelible images of Vietnam: Hoi An (central Vietnam)

Mr. Sanh, Mrs. Bay and I sit in a shallow wooden boat on the Thu Bon River.

They drop a trailing net and lift their paddles.

Then ...

Bam! Bam! Bam! They hit the sides of the boat. They give me a paddle. Bam! I hit the boat.The noise, they say, attracts fish.We paddle back and pull up the silvery net, revealing four wriggling fish no bigger than my hand from the brackish river.

We throw the line out again.And again.And again.Along the riverbanks grow thick water coconut palms. During the Vietnam War, the Viet Cong hid in those palms, unseen by their enemies.

Mr. Sanh and Mrs. Bay – I never do find out their first names – fish to make a living.They fish to eat.They live on the riverbank in a small concrete house, which has electricity and a TV. So their whole world

is not fishing. Just most of it.

This town, Hoi An, is also an arts mecca, a haven for painters, lantern makers and silk makers.You can have a custom suit made overnight.

You can buy original art.You can visit a Chinese temple or Japanese bridge.You can go to the beach on the South China Sea. Or, you can just go fishing.

Duong Lam (2 hours northwest of Hanoi)

Mr.The Ha Huu brews his own soy sauce and sells it. He knows how to raise honeybees and grow rice. He lives in a 375-year-old home of red brick, owned by his family since it was built.

Mr.The’s wife serves visitors a complex meal she whips up on two tiny kitchen burners – seaweed-wrapped pork, delicate fried tofu, spring rolls – while Mr. The regales tourists with the history of his house.

Eleven framed pictures of Catholic saints hang on the walls.They were given to Mr.The’s relatives by missionaries decades ago. He says he is Catholic.Also Buddhist.Also, like most Vietnamese, he worships his ancestors.

Mr.The has opened his house to tourists, offering lunch.Afterward, he takes them on a driving tour of his village, including the pagoda where he worships and an old Buddhist temple.

Duong Lam evokes an old Vietnam – no billboards, little traffic and quiet vistas of farmers in conical hats harvesting rice growing heavy in the fields.

Mr.The has relatives in America.They lived in Saigon and fled after the Vietnam War. They came back to visit him once, but he’s never been to visit them.

What do they do in America? I ask.

He shrugs.“Something with fish.”

Hanoi (northern Vietnam)

It is pouring rain. I step out from my hotel onto the crazy street, cars and motorbikes going every which way, heedless of traffic signs, honking, honking. My umbrella keeps inverting in the post-typhoon wind.

I need another. I walk past many small shops, but I can’t see inside their dark interiors.Then I see a little girl minding a shop. Behind her is a shelf with one red plaid umbrella.

How much is the umbrella? I ask. She runs to get her father, or maybe it’s her uncle or brother. He says $3. I nod. I give the girl $3. I pop open the new umbrella and walk down the street, just like a Hanoi woman, deliberately and with dignity.

Saigon living, admits my guide Bui Do Cong Thanh, is more relaxed than in the uptight north.

“We are in a hurry here to do business, but there will suddenly be a moment in the day that we notice we have forgotten to see the bird singing in the tree,”he says.“We love life.”

They also love danger. On the roads, everyone goes. Nobody stops, not even for traffic lights.Wild drivers on motorbikes carry everything from ladders to stacks of caged birds to babies on their laps.

This has been a sophisticated – and even decadent – tourist and ex-pat destination since the French ruled Indochina in the first half of the 20th Century. Novelist Graham Greene wrote“The Quiet American” here.War correspondents hung out at the Rex Hotel, which today is finely restored and accepting guests.

And tell this to your mail carrier next time you see him.The most interesting building in Vietnam’s largest city (7 million people) is the Saigon Central Post Office. Built by the French, it has glorious arching ceilings and a cathedral-like air.A giant portrait of a smiling Ho Chi Minh hangs high on the wall.

The post office is the second busiest tourist attraction in Saigon, after the Cu Chi tunnels.

Cu Chi (45 miles north of Saigon)

Squeeze down the stairs and through a low, tiny tunnel. Hunch over and follow the man with the flashlight.

It is claustrophobic and panic-inducing.Also riveting.

The Cu Chi tunnels are the most famous site from the Vietnam War. From about 1965 to 1975, 16,000 Viet Cong and their families lived underground here. Their mission? Hold territory in South Vietnam and fight off the American attack.

Visitors can see how the Viet Cong expanded into about 125 miles of tunnels.They dug by hand, using only tiny shovels and small bamboo baskets. The incredibly complex web was complete with booby traps, secret smoke-releasing structures, air vents disguised as termite mounds, and weapons created out of leftover metal bomb parts.

Cu Chi was the terminus of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, connected to North Vietnam during the war.

Above ground, American forces dropped bombs and chemicals to strip the land and force the Viet Cong from their underground lair.

It did not work.

Now, Cu Chi has a souvenir shop. Its grounds include parts of the original tunnels visitors can walk through (widened for larger Westerners), some original bunkers and some B-52 bomb craters. It also has a visitors centre with a cutaway scale model of the three-level tunnel complex, which looks an awfully lot like an ant farm.Visitors also see a 10-minute scratchy black-and-white film about Cu Chi, produced by the Vietnamese in 1967 during what they call the American War. “Like a crazy bunch of devils, the Americans fired on women and children and chickens ... who were destroyed by the bombs and bullets of Washington, D.C.”the movie’s narrator says.

My guide says some American visitors are upset by that film. I found it interesting as an historic artifact.

And a testament that former enemies can turn into friends.

NZ CLASSIC

7 November 2008

17

Introduction to the cannibals

Acclaimed science fiction writer Jules Verne didn’t just write Around the World in 80 Days, he also wrote an epic about New Zealand and Australia called In Search of the Castaways, published in 1867. If you missed the previous instalment of this serial, you can download it here.

The next morning at daybreak a thick fog was clinging to the surface of the river.A portion of the vapours that saturated the air were condensed by the cold, and lay as a dense cloud on the water. But the rays of the sun soon broke through the watery mass and melted it away.

A tongue of land, sharply pointed and bristling with bushes, projected into the uniting streams.The swifter waters of the Waipa rushed against the current of the Waikato for a quarter of a mile before they mingled with it; but the calm and majestic river soon quieted the noisy stream and carried it off quietly in its course to the Pacific Ocean.

When the vapour disappeared, a boat was seen ascending the current of the Waikato. It was a canoe seventy feet long, five broad, and three deep; the prow raised like that of a Venetian gondola, and the whole hollowed out of a trunk of a kahikatea. A bed of dry fern was laid at the bottom. It was swiftly rowed by eight oars, and steered with a paddle by a man seated in the stern.

This man was a tall Maori, about forty-five years of age, broadchested, muscular, with powerfully developed hands and feet. His prominent and deeply-furrowed brow, his fierce look, and sinister expression, gave him a formidable aspect.

Tattooing, or “moko,” as the New Zealanders call it, is a mark of great distinction. None is worthy of these honorary lines, who has not distinguished himself in repeated fights.The slaves and the lower class cannot obtain this decoration. Chiefs of high position may be known by the finish and precision and truth of the design, which sometimes covers their whole bodies with the figures of animals. Some are found to undergo the painful operation of“moko”five times.The more illustrious, the more illustrated, is the rule of New Zealand.

Dumont D’Urville has given some curious details as to this custom.

He justly observes that“moko”is the counterpart of the armorial bearings of which many families in Europe are so vain. But he remarks that there is this difference: the armorial bearings of Europe are frequently a proof only of the merits of the first who bore them, and are no certificate of the merits of his descendants; while the individual coat-of-arms of the Maori is an irrefragable proof that it was earned by the display of extraordinary personal courage.

The practice of tattooing, independently of the consideration it procures, has also a useful aspect. It gives the cutaneous system an increased thickness, enabling it to resist the inclemency of the season and the incessant attacks of the mosquito.

As to the chief who was steering the canoe, there could be no mistake.

The sharpened albatross bone used by the Maori tattooer, had five times scored his countenance. He was in his fifth edition, and betrayed it in his haughty bearing.

His figure, draped in a large mat woven of“phormium”trimmed with dogskins, was clothed with a pair of cotton drawers, blood-stained from recent combats. From the pendant lobe of his ears hung earrings of green jade, and round his neck a quivering necklace of “pounamu,”a kind of jade stone sacred among the New Zealanders.At his side lay an English rifle, and a “patou-patou,”a kind of two-headed ax of an emerald color, and eighteen inches long. Beside him sat nine armed warriors of inferior rank, ferocious-looking fellows, some of them suffering from recent wounds. They sat quite motionless, wrapped in their flax mantles.Three savage-looking dogs lay at their feet.The eight rowers in the prow seemed to be servants or slaves of the chief.

They rowed vigorously, and propelled the boat against the not very rapid current of the Waikato, with extraordinary velocity.

In the centre of this long canoe, with their feet tied together, sat ten European prisoners closely packed together.

It was Glenarvan and Lady Helena, Mary Grant, Robert, Paganel, the Major, John Mangles, the steward, and the two sailors.

The night before, the little band had unwittingly, owing to the mist, encamped in the midst of a numerous party of natives. Toward the middle of the night they were surprised in their sleep, were made prisoners, and carried on board the canoe.They had not been ill-treated, so far, but all attempts at resistance had been vain. Their arms and ammunition were in the hands of the savages, and they would soon have been targets for their own balls.

They were soon aware, from a few English words used by the natives, that they were a retreating party of the tribe who had been beaten and decimated by the English troops, and were on their way back to the Upper Waikato. The Maori chief, whose principal warriors had been picked off by the soldiers of the 42nd Regiment, was returning to make a final appeal to the tribes of the Waikato district, so that he might go to the aid of the indomitable William Thompson, who was still holding his own against the conquerors. The chief’s name was “Kai-Koumou,”a name of evil boding in the native language, mean-

ing “He who eats the limbs of his enemy.”He was bold and brave, but his cruelty was equally remarkable. No pity was to be expected at his hands. His name was well known to the English soldiers, and a price had been set on his head by the governor of New Zealand.

This terrible blow befell Glenarvan at the very moment when he was about to reach the long-desired haven of Auckland, and so regain his own country; but no one who looked at his cool, calm features, could have guessed the anguish he endured. Glenarvan always rose to his misfortunes. He felt that his part was to be the strength and the example of his wife and companions; that he was the head and chief; ready to die for the rest if circumstances required it. He was of a deeply religious turn of mind, and never lost his trust in Providence

Tattooing, or “moko,” as the New Zealanders call it, is a mark of great distinction. None is worthy of these honorary lines, who has not distinguished himself in repeated fights. The slaves and the lower class cannot obtain this decoration

the natives would try to get them exchanged. So they had a chance of salvation, and the case was not quite so desperate.

The canoe was speeding rapidly up the river. Paganel, whose excitable temperament always rebounded from one extreme to the other, had quite regained his spirits. He consoled himself that the natives were saving them the trouble of the journey to the English outposts, and that was so much gain. So he took it quite quietly and followed on the map the course of the Waikato across the plains and valleys of the province. Lady Helena and Mary Grant, concealing their alarm, conversed in a low voice with Glenarvan, and the keenest physiognomists would have failed to see any anxiety in their faces.

The Waikato is the national river in New Zealand. It is to the Maoris what the Rhine is to the Germans, and the Danube to the Slavs. In its course of 200 miles it waters the finest lands of the North Island, from the province of Wellington to the province of Auckland. It gave its name to all those indomitable tribes of the river district, which rose en masse against the invaders.

The waters of this river are still almost strangers to any craft but the native canoe.The most audacious tourist will scarcely venture to invade these sacred shores; in fact, the Upper Waikato is sealed against profane Europeans.

Paganel was aware of the feelings of veneration with which the natives regard this great arterial stream. He knew that the English and German naturalists had never penetrated further than its junction with the Waipa. He wondered how far the good pleasure of KaiKoumou would carry his captives? He could not have guessed, but for hearing the word “Taupo” repeatedly uttered between the chief and his warriors. He consulted his map and saw that“Taupo”was the name of a lake celebrated in geographical annals, and lying in the most mountainous part of the island, at the southern extremity of Auckland province. The Waikato passes through this lake and then flows on for 120 miles.

nor his belief in the sacred character of his enterprise. In the midst of this crowning peril he did not give way to any feeling of regret at having been induced to venture into this country of savages.

His companions were worthy of him; they entered into his lofty views; and judging by their haughty demeanour, it would scarcely have been supposed that they were hurrying to the final catastrophe. With one accord, and by Glenarvan’s advice, they resolved to affect utter indifference before the natives. It was the only way to impress these ferocious natures.

Savages in general, and particularly the Maoris, have a notion of dignity from which they never derogate. They respect, above all things, coolness and courage.

Glenarvan was aware that by this mode of procedure, he and his companions would spare themselves needless humiliation.

From the moment of embarking,the natives,who were very taciturn, like all savages, had scarcely exchanged a word, but from the few sentences they did utter, Glenarvan felt certain that the English language was familiar to them.

He therefore made up his mind to question the chief on the fate that awaited them.Addressing himself to Kai-Koumou, he said in a perfectly unconcerned voice: “Where are we going, chief?”

Kai-Koumou looked coolly at him and made no answer.

“What are you going to do with us?”pursued Glenarvan.

A sudden gleam flashed into the eyes of Kai-Koumou, and he said in a deep voice: “Exchange you, if your own people care to have you; eat you if they don’t.”

Glenarvan asked no further questions; but hope revived in his heart. He concluded that some Maori chiefs had fallen into the TO VIEW THE TRAILER hands of the English, and that

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