Earth Hour or gulags more important?

I hope the sanctimonious act of mass onanism called Earth Hour gave people what they wanted - a sense of purpose from an act that at best is about saving a couple of cents. Auckland and Wellington cities allegedly participated in this. I'm glad the Green Party didn't promote it.

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Meanwhile, while the world looks at China - I want yet again to raise the horror of the gulags in North Korea. I'll do it because unlike "climate change" you don't hear about it most days, you don't have sanctimonious little do-gooders telling you to do something about it - just 50,000 men, women and children in slave labour camps.

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Yes, and when they escape to China - China returns them so they can all go back to the gulags.

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LiNKorea's blog takes an uncompromising view on addressing the horrors of North Korea. They should be the top of the agenda for Amnesty International, and anyone else demanding improvements in human rights.

Many Heathrow travellers enjoying relief

well not those at Terminal 5. That's a disaster. It's not even a wholesale shift of all BA flights. All that happened is that most Terminal 1 BA flights were shifted to Terminal 5, none of the Terminal 4 flights have moved. They are scheduled to move in a month, but that's unlikely to happen on time. So expect a second major failure when that shift occurs.

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However, by contrast Terminal 1 by some accounts is an absolute breeze.

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You see, with almost all BA flights having moved out of Terminal 1 to Terminal 5, those remaining ones are flying through with a capacious, though aging terminal.

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Biggest airline at Terminal 1 is BMI, enjoying its highest ever reliability levels at Heathrow, as well as a boon from those avoiding BA with all of the troubles. You can also enjoy Heathrow's easiest to use terminal if you fly:

- Aer Lingus;

- Asiana;

- Cyprus Airways;

- El Al;

- Finnair;

- Icelandair;

- LOT Polish Airlines;

- South African Airways;

- Transaero; and

- US Airways.

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BA also has kept flights to Spain, Portugal and Finland at Terminal 1, for now (partly as BA wants routes operated jointly with codeshare partners not to operate from Terminal 5).

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So, for now, avoid Terminal 5 - which continues to have flights cancelled, baggage delayed and more disturbingly luggage lost for transit. That means don't use Heathrow as a transit hub flying BA.

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On the other hand, if you are flying any of the above airlines, Terminal 1 is apparently a breeze, with a 60% reduction in passengers - there are plenty of places to sit, baggage is getting through fast, no queues for gates on arrival. Meanwhile it's getting refurbished, and both Air New Zealand and United Airlines are moving there from Terminal 3 on 10 June.

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So there is a new experience at Heathrow - it's at Terminal 1. Give the other one at least a month to shakedown.

Easter means farewell till Tuesday

escaping this cold place to go south!

Cullen shows how dirty politics is

Well there must be something in it if John Key denies he would let Roger Douglas implement a "radical right wing agenda", although methinks he is partly posturing cleverly to say "go on take some votes on the right and be my preferred coalition partner".

According to the NZ Herald, Michael Cullen, who was in Cabinet with Roger Douglas and voted to privatise Telecom, among other things, is bleating that Douglas would "flog off the schools, hospitals and cut benefits". Hell, if only! Cullen shows who he wants to appeal to - those who live off the state, not those who pay for it, as if wasting billions of taxpayers' money on growing the state is a great success.

What Douglas DID say was far from radical:

- Get rid of the 39% tax rate, which National voted against in 2000 but hasn't the balls to get rid of today;

- Inflation adjust all tax brackets since 1999, which was Dr. Cullen's policy writ large, but isn't exactly flat tax or abolishing income tax which was ACT policy before;

- $40,000 p.a. income tax free threshold, which IS rather radical, but does mean that perhaps as much as a half of taxpayers would no longer be so - except for GST. That isn't a bad thing, except those people will still vote to get money spent on them;

- Abolishing Working for Families, which National voted against but hasn't the balls to get rid of;

- Introducing education vouchers, which National had as policy in 1987, but hasn't the balls to introduce;

- Rental out spare hospital ward capacity to be used privately - which should hardly be an issue if public funding isn't available to use them;

- Cutting state spending by $3-$5 billion per annum, which is laudable - except little detail about where and how.

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The sad thing is, in their heart of hearts both Key AND Cullen know that what Douglas did in the 1980s (and Cullen voted for it all in the House of Representatives and was in Cabinet for half of that government) was necessary and positive, and notwithstanding that the New Zealand economy is the better for it. Neither man is half that of Douglas, who faced down trade unions, farmers, manufacturers and countless interest groups suckling off the starving state tit and said "no more", as they were all suckling the productive sector and consumers dry.

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Douglas has proposed a moderate agenda, positive yes, but hardly major leaps forward of the Unfinished Business kind, although it IS a winding back of the state. A high tax free threshold is a major tax cut.

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However, nothing exemplifies the filthy lucre that is politics more than both men willing to take out the knives to Douglas to pander to the lowest common denominator, the Muldoonists, the Alliance retards and the second handers who constantly call for the "Guv'mint" to "do something", usually involving giving them some money or giving their favourite cause some money, taking it from someone else and telling people what to do. Key and Cullen know there are far more economically illiterate socialist types than productive types, so will sell out principle for politics.

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Pragmatic? Perhaps yes. Revoltingly insincere and hypocritical? I hardly need to say so.

Pity those who can't avoid Earth Hour

A bunch of hand wringing environmentalists are promoting Earth Hour. A time when at 8pm (not at the same time, but 8pm local time wherever you are) you are meant to turn off the lights. You see to some this is the most important thing i the world to do - turn off the lights, feel so good that you've saved a couple of cents on your power bill, turn them on and feel purged of the sin of consumerism.

What banal nonsense.

23 million people are going to be participating in it without much choice. Take a guess who. Almost all of them aren't allowed to leave, can't own a car, take a flight or use the internet.

Last year I blogged about the true horror there. The existence of the gulags that keep children. One is called Camp 22. Camp 22 keeps 50,000 men, women and children as prisoners.

Testimony from those who have been prisoners and camp guards talks of 5 year old political prisoners. 5! Children of most ages are expected to work at gulags.

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This 122 page report talks of the camps murdering newborn children who are not ethnically pure Korean. Some of the other stories from former prisoners include: Pregnant women have induced abortions. Prisoners do not get to bathe or any change of clothes. Prisoners are regularly beaten by fists, sticks, rifle butts or thrown against concrete walls. A 4 year old boy imprisoned with his mother dying of malnutrition. Forcing prisoners to beat each other up. Pregnant women raped by prison guards.

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Former prison guard Ahm Myong Chol describes it all here.


This Earth Hour I ask you, for the sake of the tens of thousands in Camp 22 and the millions in North Korea, instead of engaging in some easy environmental onanism, go here and donate to LINK (Liberty in North Korea). Demand that all political parties standing in the 2008 election lobby to get this and all of the North Korean gulags shut down and the prisoners freed. Demand that North Korea stop imprisoning children and pregnant women, and stop executing new born babies of prisoners. Demand that this neo-Nazi/Stalinist/Pol Pot type horror end.

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Given New Zealand's new relationship with North Korea, which Winston Peters has led - I want Winston to write to the ambassador to Australia/NZ from North Korea, demanding that, as a first step, all children are released from gulags and the Red Cross be permitted to enter the gulags and report on conditions. I expect the Prime Minister to support this. I expect Keith Locke and the Green Party to demand this as much as they demand freedom for Tibet and the end to Guantanamo Bay. This is a chance for politicians in New Zealand to stand up together for the end to the most vile oppression on earth today. We don't have a trade relationship with North Korea that's worth thinking twice about this.

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This is about children being imprisoned, tortured, enslaved and murdered! Nothing is more important that ending this. Ask all candidates for election this year what they would do about it.

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This is more important than turning the fucking lights out.