Thomas W. Devine's Blog, page 16
April 30, 2016
ISIL Wins
I can’t help wondering if ISIL wil lose the battle but win the war.
They and their oppononents (Muslim and infidel) have left little for refugees to return to in the Middle-East – just ruined villages, towns and cities, judging by television reports. The refugees have fled to Europe in what may be unsustainable numbers, let’s face it.
The refugees may feel grateful for being given sanctuary but, as ‘have nots’, they’re also bound to experience envy of the ‘haves’. It’s bad enough being a ‘local’ in that situation.
If the refugees become disaffected, aren’t they likely to turn against their host countries and retaliate? Is that how ISIL may win the war?
I guess I’m being a pessimist.
They and their oppononents (Muslim and infidel) have left little for refugees to return to in the Middle-East – just ruined villages, towns and cities, judging by television reports. The refugees have fled to Europe in what may be unsustainable numbers, let’s face it.
The refugees may feel grateful for being given sanctuary but, as ‘have nots’, they’re also bound to experience envy of the ‘haves’. It’s bad enough being a ‘local’ in that situation.
If the refugees become disaffected, aren’t they likely to turn against their host countries and retaliate? Is that how ISIL may win the war?
I guess I’m being a pessimist.
April 23, 2016
Jungle Law
Nothing better in a news article about drug dealing, you’d think, than quoting an academic. Then you come across this twaddle (The Dominion Post April 20, 2016) from a Canterbury University professor of sociology and criminology:
“Gangs aren’t bound by law. They have to work out their own laws.”
His first statement is anarchic in the worst possible way. His second is simply referring to the law of the jungle, which requires no originality to follow. It encompasses the “standover moves, rip-offs, theft and deceit” that he refers to in this article by John Edens.
“Gangs aren’t bound by law. They have to work out their own laws.”
His first statement is anarchic in the worst possible way. His second is simply referring to the law of the jungle, which requires no originality to follow. It encompasses the “standover moves, rip-offs, theft and deceit” that he refers to in this article by John Edens.
April 16, 2016
Nice Turn of Phrase
Peter Cullinane, as he often does, writes a nice turn of phrase over social issues. Most recently (Welcome, April 2016):
“A society that trivialises what is sacred ends up making idols of what is trivial. Celebrities, glitter, banality and consumerism makie poor substitutes for meaning. Life begins to feel empty.”
I knew that emptiness for many years of my life.
Cullinane also asserts that “if there is no God, and no big picture to give our lives meaning, we are like disconnected pieces. Life can become bewildering,” he says.
Feeling that way yourself?
“A society that trivialises what is sacred ends up making idols of what is trivial. Celebrities, glitter, banality and consumerism makie poor substitutes for meaning. Life begins to feel empty.”
I knew that emptiness for many years of my life.
Cullinane also asserts that “if there is no God, and no big picture to give our lives meaning, we are like disconnected pieces. Life can become bewildering,” he says.
Feeling that way yourself?
April 9, 2016
Discrimination or Not
Wellington youth worker Joe Nieddu, claimed in The Dominion Post (April 8, 2016) that a woman taxi driver had “discriminated” against him “for being gay”.
Now, one might think she had refused to take him as a fare or made him get out of the cab as soon as she found out his sexual orientation. She did neither. She treated him like any other service-seeking passenger and delivered him to his destination (doubtless at a standard fare).
What she did do, when she found out he was gay, was politely tell him her personal opinion of homosexuality.
That dialogue directly resulted from Nieddu chatting with taxi driver. He could have exercised his right not to answer her questions about his “partner.”
I find no discrimation, just a secular fuss about the right of the cabbie to speak her Christian views. It didn’t justify a photo and big headlines on page 5 of the newspaper
Congratulations to Capital Taxis for the way they handled the complainst against their driver, and to managing director, Tim Lau, for saying publicly that the driver’s comments “were not discrimination”.
Now, one might think she had refused to take him as a fare or made him get out of the cab as soon as she found out his sexual orientation. She did neither. She treated him like any other service-seeking passenger and delivered him to his destination (doubtless at a standard fare).
What she did do, when she found out he was gay, was politely tell him her personal opinion of homosexuality.
That dialogue directly resulted from Nieddu chatting with taxi driver. He could have exercised his right not to answer her questions about his “partner.”
I find no discrimation, just a secular fuss about the right of the cabbie to speak her Christian views. It didn’t justify a photo and big headlines on page 5 of the newspaper
Congratulations to Capital Taxis for the way they handled the complainst against their driver, and to managing director, Tim Lau, for saying publicly that the driver’s comments “were not discrimination”.
April 2, 2016
What if?
The novel I am curerently writing is made up on these ‘what ifs’:
• a New Zealand atheist (Matt Couper) works in Iraq for a private military and security company?
• Matt saves the life of a young Muslim teenager (Tara Nasrim)?
• Tara comes to New Zealand as an orphaned refugee?
• grown-up now, Tara falls in love with Matt?
• Matt has a Muslim rival for Tara’s affection?
• Middle-Eastern strife comes to New Zealand?
Since Islamic extremism hasn’t reached the shores of New Zealand, the last ‘what if?’ was the most difficult to deal with. We don't want that strife here but no one can say with certainty that it will never happen. The authenticity of this part of the story-line depends on the possibility that it could.
I’m writing a tale where the antagonists are Muslim. In fairness, to them, I’m at pains to show that extremists don’t represent Islam as a whole, that there is much good in Islam, and that some ‘Christian’ countries in the world don’t have cleaner hands than some ‘Muslim’ countries.
After all, ‘Christian’ countries (histotically and today) have committed atrocities against Jews in Europe, Muslims in the Middle-East and Central Europe, and Catholics in Ireland, to give examples.
• a New Zealand atheist (Matt Couper) works in Iraq for a private military and security company?
• Matt saves the life of a young Muslim teenager (Tara Nasrim)?
• Tara comes to New Zealand as an orphaned refugee?
• grown-up now, Tara falls in love with Matt?
• Matt has a Muslim rival for Tara’s affection?
• Middle-Eastern strife comes to New Zealand?
Since Islamic extremism hasn’t reached the shores of New Zealand, the last ‘what if?’ was the most difficult to deal with. We don't want that strife here but no one can say with certainty that it will never happen. The authenticity of this part of the story-line depends on the possibility that it could.
I’m writing a tale where the antagonists are Muslim. In fairness, to them, I’m at pains to show that extremists don’t represent Islam as a whole, that there is much good in Islam, and that some ‘Christian’ countries in the world don’t have cleaner hands than some ‘Muslim’ countries.
After all, ‘Christian’ countries (histotically and today) have committed atrocities against Jews in Europe, Muslims in the Middle-East and Central Europe, and Catholics in Ireland, to give examples.
March 26, 2016
Nothing to Show
Columnist, Duncan Garner, asks if anyone cares anynmore about the debate over changing the New Zealand national flag (The Dominion Post, March 26, 2016). That comes just a few days after the negative referendum result.
I care.
The country spent $26 million and has nothing to show for it. That fits my definition of big-time, wasteful public expenditure.
I care.
The country spent $26 million and has nothing to show for it. That fits my definition of big-time, wasteful public expenditure.
March 19, 2016
Almost Finished
I know it’s time to start serious plotting for A NOVEL when my mind begins writing the story without being put to the task.
That was then.
Now, I’ve all but finished the first draft. The hardest plot decision was whether or not to let the lead protagonist live or die.
I didn’t know he was going to be put himself in a life and death situation until I was well into writing the story, but characters move in mysterious ways, their entertainment to perform..
No title yet. I’ll wait until I’m into revisions.
That was then.
Now, I’ve all but finished the first draft. The hardest plot decision was whether or not to let the lead protagonist live or die.
I didn’t know he was going to be put himself in a life and death situation until I was well into writing the story, but characters move in mysterious ways, their entertainment to perform..
No title yet. I’ll wait until I’m into revisions.
March 5, 2016
Private Enterprise
Consider this:
• In February this year, dairy farming debt in New Zealand hit NZ$38 billion (it grew last year at about $10 million a day);
• 1 in 10 dairy farmers are feeling under pressure from their banks over their mortgages;
• The Primary Industries Minister is encouraging bankers to show mercy to farmers in trouble;
• 12.5% of loans are non-performing now and that could be 40% in a couple of years time;
• At $4 to $4.50 per kilo of milk solids payout, some 80% of farmers will need to be borrowing just to keep going;
• Our foreign competitors can produce for close to a dollar a kilo less than NZ’s current average cost of production.
The dairy industry, having boomed on higher income in the past, is in trouble. The government says there will be no bailout package. It seems to prove the wisdom of the old maxim: ‘never a lender or a borrower be’. Those who get in debt by jumping on the bandwagon of a boom, and those who lend to them, seem not to have learnt lessons from economic history. The profit-driven actions of a few will cost not just them but, in the end, many.
I can only say, please drink more NZ milk and eat more NZ milk products.
(Statistics were taken from an article by Gordon Campbell in Kapi-Mana News, March 1, 2016.)
• In February this year, dairy farming debt in New Zealand hit NZ$38 billion (it grew last year at about $10 million a day);
• 1 in 10 dairy farmers are feeling under pressure from their banks over their mortgages;
• The Primary Industries Minister is encouraging bankers to show mercy to farmers in trouble;
• 12.5% of loans are non-performing now and that could be 40% in a couple of years time;
• At $4 to $4.50 per kilo of milk solids payout, some 80% of farmers will need to be borrowing just to keep going;
• Our foreign competitors can produce for close to a dollar a kilo less than NZ’s current average cost of production.
The dairy industry, having boomed on higher income in the past, is in trouble. The government says there will be no bailout package. It seems to prove the wisdom of the old maxim: ‘never a lender or a borrower be’. Those who get in debt by jumping on the bandwagon of a boom, and those who lend to them, seem not to have learnt lessons from economic history. The profit-driven actions of a few will cost not just them but, in the end, many.
I can only say, please drink more NZ milk and eat more NZ milk products.
(Statistics were taken from an article by Gordon Campbell in Kapi-Mana News, March 1, 2016.)
February 20, 2016
Writers Week
At the end of March, Wellington (New Zealand) will host the 30th anniversary of Writers Week. As usual, the mini-festival will be dominated by presentations from invited overseas writers.
I haven’t got anything against overseas writers but you’d think that New Zealand Writers Week should be all about New Zealand writers - exclusively so.
Competition for book sales is hard enough without our own Writers Week promoting foreign writers and books. Let’s spend one week celebrating our own.
I haven’t got anything against overseas writers but you’d think that New Zealand Writers Week should be all about New Zealand writers - exclusively so.
Competition for book sales is hard enough without our own Writers Week promoting foreign writers and books. Let’s spend one week celebrating our own.
February 13, 2016
Coping
This post is about not coping financially in a Western economy.
Consider this quote (NZ Catholic: Jan. 24-Feb.6, 2016) from an article by Stephen Olsen:
“If you’re at the ‘bottom end’ then your income (flowing [out] like a river) isn’t going to accumulate into enough personal wealth sufficient to open up opportunities, or provide security in tough times, or give you something to borrow against, or act as a basis to foster a larger stake in society from.”
I doubt that politicians and the comparatively well-off can truly understand that situation.
As a volunteer citizen adviser working in a poorer suburb of Greater Wellington I can put human faces to a quote like this.
Take just one client I’ve seen: She had to use her old car to get to work at night as a cleaner. To drive it legally it had to have a current warrant of fitness. If she got caught by the traffic police with an out of date warrant she would not have any money to pay the fine. To renew the warrant on her car she first had to buy two new tyres. She had no money for that either. If she couldn’t drive her car she would lose her job.
This dilemma reflects reality for the lowly paid in any Western economy. That’s not to deny that it’s much better than starving in the Third World.
Consider this quote (NZ Catholic: Jan. 24-Feb.6, 2016) from an article by Stephen Olsen:
“If you’re at the ‘bottom end’ then your income (flowing [out] like a river) isn’t going to accumulate into enough personal wealth sufficient to open up opportunities, or provide security in tough times, or give you something to borrow against, or act as a basis to foster a larger stake in society from.”
I doubt that politicians and the comparatively well-off can truly understand that situation.
As a volunteer citizen adviser working in a poorer suburb of Greater Wellington I can put human faces to a quote like this.
Take just one client I’ve seen: She had to use her old car to get to work at night as a cleaner. To drive it legally it had to have a current warrant of fitness. If she got caught by the traffic police with an out of date warrant she would not have any money to pay the fine. To renew the warrant on her car she first had to buy two new tyres. She had no money for that either. If she couldn’t drive her car she would lose her job.
This dilemma reflects reality for the lowly paid in any Western economy. That’s not to deny that it’s much better than starving in the Third World.
