Stephen Witherden’s Website :: Politics

Soon I am going to write a post about what I did in my weekend, along with some pretty photos, but another story has to be told first.

They are currently doing some renovating outside the place I work and as a consequence have recently poured some new cement down. I walked past it this afternoon and breathed in the heavy, earthy smell and started to remember.

They say that smells are indelibly linked to memory. It certainly seems that a certain smell can conjure up a whole raft of memories that would otherwise be inaccessible to us. For me, the smell of freshly poured cement rang a bell in my head, which pealed loudly with the name “Des the Bricklayer”.

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This post is about South Africa. I tell many stories of the 18 years I lived in South Africa, most of which is true. Possibly one of the most bizarre tales I have to tell is of the South African taxis.

A “Taxi” is not really a taxi in the traditional sense of the word. It’s actually a hi-ace kombi van, designed to seat about 15 people, plus the driver. South African taxi drivers are well renowned for their selective application of the road code and their proclivity for dangerously overloading their taxis. It’s not uncommon to see a broken down beat-up old vehicle with almost no suspension, tailgate scraping on the tarmac and the door opening automatically, not due to any clever electronics, but courtesy of the fact that it is tied on with rope (I have seen this).
The image above is borrowed with permission from Mike Gerhardt (flickr).

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I apologise for yet another “gay” post. This will be the last for a while, I promise, but given the referendum in the US and the recent law change in South Africa, I thought it was timely.

In a recent referendum, 8 American states recently voted on constitutional changes to “protect” marriage. Only one state did not pass that referendum. The vote in most states was pretty emphatic and overwhelmingly: “yes, protect marriage by making it only between a man and a woman”.

Why? Most gays wonder why other people feel so strongly about our private lives that they feel they should make new laws specifically preventing us from legally legitemising our existing monogamous, long-term relationships.

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Ok, so Ted Haggard’s been all over the news and, in my arrogance, I feel like I have something to say on the matter.

What? You don’t know about him? Well, I guess maybe it’s only big news here in the US, or maybe only big news in Christian circles.

Essentially, it’s a story of a man, just a man. A man who (it turns out) has been living with a big secret his entire adult life. You see, from the current evidence, it looks like he’s gay. “Huh” you say “that’s not a problem, some of my best friends are gay.” Yeah, true. I agree, I don’t have a problem with him being gay. I know many gay people, and I consider myself gay. There’s nothing wrong with that.

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Reports are filtering in from around the world that Korea has actually gone ahead with their threat and performed a nuclear test.

The image on the right (click for bigger view) is taken from Google Earth and shows data I have combined from news reports and seismic activity information.

Looks like the makers of “Team America World Police” were right. Kim Jong Il is one crazy bugger.

Here’s hoping the world’s response is measured, even-handed but firm. May God forgive us for unleashing the power of the atom on the world with such arrogance.

Data from here and here and here.

While in Austin I also got an opportunity to spend time at the President Lyndon B Johnson library. All past presidents have libraries in their honour. The LBJ library is the only one with no entry fee (at LBJ’s request). That should tell immediately you something about this man.

Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ for short) was America’s 36th President. He started off working as a teacher in a rural school in Texas, pretty soon though he was propelled into politics. After a long and successful career in US politics, as a congressman, senator and vice president, he had the difficult and unenviable task of picking up the pieces after JFK was assassinated in 1963.

In many ways he is similar to the incumbent president, George Bush. After all, he was born, raised, died and is buried in Texas. His entire two terms in office were dogged by a very unpopular war he had inherited and didn’t shy away from: the Vietnam War. He will always be remembered for the part he played in that unfortunate time in America’s history.

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I made a bit of a faux pas today. We were talking at lunch about Wal-Mart. I love Wal-Mart: it’s a cross between Spotlight, Briscoes, The Warehouse, Pack ‘n Save, The Shoe Warehouse, Subway, Just-Cuts, Rebel Sport, Mitre 10, Repco… well, you get the picture. It’s a big warehouse that sells everything (except alcohol). They also (to my great astonishment) sell guns. These pictures I am displaying in this post were taken (with permission) from within my local Wal-Mart! Between the golf clubs and the fishing poles.

Anyway, I was marvelling at how incredible it is that guns are sold in what amounts to a supermarket when a man proudly piped up: “my 13-year-old son has a revolver”. My jaw dropped. Let me try to explain my reaction to you: in New Zealand, there essentially are no guns. The police don’t carry guns. If you want a revolver, it takes a year for them to approve of it and the police have to check out your house to make sure you have a secure gun safe. For all intents and purposes, guns are about as non-existent as snakes. That’s right, no snakes in New Zealand either. (more…)

So I am now officially a New Zealand citizen! The ceremony was very nice. There were only about 20 people there so it was quite cosy.

The person leading the ceremony made it out to be a very special (almost spiritual) occasion. I disagreed with him a little there. For me, the special / spiritual occasion had already happened many years ago, the moment I set foot on New Zealand soil. A date I will forever remember: December 5^th, 1997. (more…)

So, it looks like the elections are over. I may be biased but my feeling is that Labour (50 seats) has a better chance of forming a government than National (49 seats). Click more to find out why.

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