Election 2014 (part 3) Now we know it is in September.

OK, we have a date. The PM ha announced that September is the time because it will gel in nicely re the G20 meeting that is going to be held soon after and if NZ is going to reap some benefit from that, we need the election over and done with so that the PM, whoever it is (is he giving up?) will be up and running.
OK, let the campaign begin and lets identify what the real issues are. We don't need the sideshows and personality issues but we all know that this is what we will get. National is well ahead in the polls and Labour and the Greens have a huge job ahead of them if they wish to make inroads into that lead. They will not do so if they concentrate on 'who went to China and endorsed milk!' Get real and tell us about, education (Charter schools and real moves to increase the achievement of Maori and Pacifica children, not massaged figures about imaginary successes). Tell us what your plans are for health, for building up NZ enterprises so that jobs are created for NZers. Restore the R and D budget from the State to encourage the real creation of jobs. Look to enhancing life and opportunity in the regions, so that Auckland is not top heavy.
Forget about the wannabe parties. They do not have a future. I put KDC and his party in that category along with the Conservative party; the one led by the 'I'll sue your pants off,' bloke.' Neither of these two parties will do much to improve life for NZers, but in the spirit of true democracy, I am the last to try to suggest that they should not stand--I'm just saying that they are a 'wasted space.'
We are not like the 'Dear Leader' country where there is no choice, but it would be great if NZers actually got out and voted--we must participate in the process of electing a Government, because we believe that being heard is up to us. Staying 'silent' by not voting is turning your back on our country.
Let the great debate begin and after the results are in, how about we accept the results, knowing that we conduct elections in NZ that are for the most part---fair and not tainted by corrupt officials in the pay of megalomaniac leaders. We do not need to 'hit the streets' because the election has been stolen. That can only happen if we let it!
www.authorneilcoleman.com

Dogs do smile!

People often make the claim that dogs smile. I used to put this down to 'ownership pride.' Since aquring my Jack Russell, I have had to revise my former view that the doggie parents were just exhibiting an extension of the same traits they had for their kids---you know the one----'my kids the best in the world.' Well, that's OK with me, because I too feel that pride or love or whatever it is that is peculiar to those of us who ave furry friends in our 'families. Take a look at the picture and tell em that Perdy is NOT smiling. Nah, don't, becuase if I think she is, she damn well IS!

Of course she's smiling!

www.authorneilcoleman.com

OH goody---it's election time in the land of 'Dear Leader.'

The most famous comedian in the world must surely be the’ Dear Leader’ of North Korea or should I say the Democratic Republic of North Korea. This hidden menagerie has been off the planet for the last 60 or so years and the system that they have devised must certainly be one of the most unusual on earth. The fact that they include the term Democratic in their name is of course not the only case of such ‘missing-the-point’ descriptors. If it wasn’t for the suffering of the ‘Dear Leader’s’ people, it would indeed be funny, but I doubt many could find humour is mass starvation and human rights abuses.

Take for example the actual process for the upcoming election: One must register---OK I can go along with that; then voting is compulsory and that too is not the craziest of notions, given that other countries also have such a rule, in which it is possible to enter an informal vote. It is from that point though that the picture becomes even more farcical. One collects the voting paper, on which there is only one ‘sanctioned’ candidate, chosen by the ‘Party, and endorsed of course by the ‘Dear Leader,’ who in his wisdom and all-knowing of everything that is important for his survival, makes the best decisions for his ‘kingdom.’

One fills in the paper, voting either ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Of course if your choice is, ‘no’ you need to go through to another alcove, one that is clearly labelled as the ‘no’ vote. Who in their right mind, and after having endured a system that has basically been perpetrated for 60 plus years, thereby enhancing the rigidity of the said system, would ever vote no? Maybe some have but they would have signed their own death warrant. ‘Few people would come out of the  ‘re-education’ camps, alive or at least severely unscathed, mentally or physically.

Even North Korea’s near neighbour, the might China, looks like a land of opportunity, compared to North Korea. I am sure they wriggle with embarrassment at the goings on in the ‘mad kingdom’ across the border. What is even more worrying is that the Dear Leader had his crazy finger on the switch that could rain death and destruction on the people of the region. That his people starve and live in a manner that is more akin to that of mediaeval Europe, tells a great deal about this megalomaniac, murderer.  At some point, China is going to need to take action, least the scourge that lives across the border causes an end to China’s so-called economic miracle(for some, but not all). Still, I know which country I would rather live in, one party state or not! It ain’t the land of Dear Leader!

www.authorneilcoleman.com