I do want the earth to exist in a pure and pristine condition but the cynical part of me says that will inevitably  happen a few years after the last human takes it’s last breath. Unfortunately for us humans, and the other species that share our environment, we have a tendency to behave more selfishly when we live in larger communities. Now that our society is becoming a global community due to constant advances in electronics and coding we are almost certain to eventually destroy the environments we live in and therefore ourselves due to self interest and individualism. These things just are.  And while I have no psychic powers, or magic crystal balls, or even a decent education, I can guess how long it will take for humanity to achieve extinction. The flame that burns twice as bright can only burn half as long, and we are burning so very, very bright. There is always the possibility that we may yet evolve to adapt to our changed environment but there are no guarantees this would happen and would rely on a relatively slow change in environment. Anything could happen but I’d guess after 100 more generations we would know one way or the other. I believe the end will come from within, a result of social dynamics, rather than of an external origin. Although I’d expect smaller societies, geographically isolated and more self sufficient, to continue on, for a time. Of course anything is possible, but I don’t expect aliens to arrive with gifts of vastly superior technology to help fix our planet. The easiest way to fix our planet would be to get rid of us so perhaps better that doesn’t happen. If I have a point at all it’s this; will voting for the Green party in any way improve the environment I live in? (self-interest) I think the Greens will do better than the polls suggest, but once again Winston Peters will attempt to shut them out of any coalition deal. It is sad but that is exactly how he behaved in the past and there seems to be no change in his attitude. (might be more irascible if that’s possible) So a vote for the smelly hippies probably wont be enough to get them into government so their policies wouldn’t get priority. Although they did put forward the bill that turned into the law banning people from bashing their kids. Something I am honestly personally grateful for. It gave me the courage to intervene, before that law I had watched in helpless horror, to scared to speak up. Or should I vote for a fringe party with no chance of making the 5% threshold, the Party Party Party, or some such thing. Perhaps.

Writing this was supposed to help me decide what to do with my fundamental democratic human right. But I’m conflicted and no matter which party I lean towards my fundamental human right feels fundamentally wrong. And all too human, full of self-interest and hatred of the people vying to represent me. Maybe I’m too difficult to please and nobody could possibly be good enough to represent me.

I don’t expect anybody to read this, except you wankers at the GCSB but if you did keep your criticism and opinions to yourself. I’m not interested.

As election day approaches I still don’t know what or who to vote for. I sometimes think I will just not do it. Refuse to participate. Abstain from voting, on principle, because I hate them all and there is no-one worth voting for. But then I think about the individuals in our prisons that don’t have that option. Banned from participation in the democratic process. Why?  I try to think of valid reasons for this denial of a basic human right. It surely can’t be over fears the prison population could be large enough to swing an election. Polling within prisons would seem to be straight-forward enough. Campaigning would be an interesting experience. As a nation we should recognise the fact that this is wrong. We should be showing the inmates of these institutions that they are part of our society. That they are equally responsible for choosing the representatives that make the rules we are expected to live by. The very same rules that were broken to result in incarceration. Lastly the sorriest group, the wrongly convicted. The possibility of even one innocent person being denied the right to vote is one too many.

As I have previously implied I would like to vote in the Tai Tokerau electorate but I’m denied this basic right because I’m not Maori. Not even a little. Not even a fingernail. As a child growing up I did feel a bit Maori. Our Maori friends and neighbours often said I did things in a Maori way. I would like to be on the Maori roll so I could vote for Kelvin Davis. I’ve said before that although I don’t know him or know much about him, I think he’d do well for Labour. And I want to do something for Labour. After I had been made redundant and been struggling financially. Going from sub-contracting on short term projects to the benefit and back repeatedly. It was Labour’s policies when Helen Clark was in power that gave me a hand up, retrained me for work that was in demand, and helped me find the job I still have now, ten years later. But even though I feel I owe them something  I can’t vote for those losers simply because they are such losers, but voting for Davis may have eased my conscience. Labour’s policies also helped me by providing affordable night classes, enabling me to improve myself and improve my chances of advancement at work. I believe National scrapped both those initiatives soon after coming to power. That reminds me, John Key is talking tax cuts again. Please no. I still remember the disappointment I felt when he was first elected, supposedly borrowing up large overseas to fund tax cuts so we could all be a little better off.  I realised after the first time I got paid that there was less money in the bank, not more. The ACC levy had increased a larger amount than the tax had decreased. I saw then that John Key fiddles with the truth in a similar way to how he fiddles the numbers. I also hear that Winston Peters publicly suggested a coalition with Labour might happen. I think this is a sure sign Winston is leaning towards National and is trying to put them under pressure so they are more likely to agree to his demands. I’d bet some of his demands are pretty outrageous. I wonder what he’s angling for, deputy prime minister? Or foreign minister? I don’t think so. Too much real work and he’s done those before… More likely the justice portfolio. He would love that irony of taking Collins’ old job. I think he dislikes her almost as much as I do.

Main points; votes for inmates, hospital inmates too. Also stamp out racism in our electoral system.  Let anybody choose to be on the Maori roll. How can a pakeha be able to be a candidate in a Maori seat but unable to vote in it. This is not fair.

Next; can I vote for smelly hippies?

I’ll start with the Green Party. As with Labour I hate the Greens, (but not as much as I hate Labour,) because they could have been so much better and so much more than they are now. I am not talking about their current campaign which I think is OK. I mean I despise the weakness and naivety they show in the way they have allowed the media to set the agenda and portray them as politically naive looneys who would seriously threaten the security and economic stability of the country if allowed anywhere near the corridors of power. Neither of the current main players have considered including the Greens in their governments in the past, simply because mainstream N.Z still regards them as a fringe element. And because the other minor parties, N.Z First, A.C.T and United Future all refused to work with them.  Although they did prop up a struggling Labour minority government with a supply and demand agreement so N.Z would retain economic stability.  The Greens are seen by N.Zers as perfect to be in opposition, soothing our collective conscience by drawing attention to, and providing criticism of the worst of our current governments environmental carnage. They had… They still have the potential to be a real positive force in the governance of the country in the future. But not if they carry on like this. I think Russel Norman is probably the only politician in N.Z  that could hold his own against John Key, from a personality perspective. I believe Norman has the goods but he’s getting older, losing his looks, as we all do, and the Greens have no back-up.  Metiria Turei just doesn’t seem to be a credible, viable alternative. She can be great at her job but it wont matter because neither Joe Blow, or his mrs, is going to vote for her. There would be more than a few people enlightened enough to back her but nowhere near enough. They haven’t had a popular public face since Nandor left. They obviously have hopes for Gareth Hughes, but he has shown me nothing to suggest he has the necessary charisma. It’s true that John Key is also ageing, as you do, and will struggle to connect with younger voters. However he is the incumbent and even with the large monkey on his back that is Judith Crush’nBurn Collins, he is expected to win by a comfortable margin. His biggest concern is not Russel Norman, or Cunliffe , he has accounted for them.  It’s the wild-card of Internet/Mana, Dotcom’s revenge, brought on by the frailties of his allies. Peter Dunne is pathetic, he should be dunne and dusted.  A.C.T is an unfunny joke. John Key will need to get down on his knees and beg Epsom to vote for some nobody so his guy can take a dive. Epsom should be ashamed. The Maori party too is under siege. (Not from Labour, even with Kelvin Davis, who is a person Labour should be grooming intensively to front up to the media  as a spokesperson for  Labour at every opportunity. Now! Quickly, before he gets old and fat. If Labour had done that after the last election they might be more than the bad joke they have become.) It’s been Internet/Mana which has been significantly raising its’ profile.  Internet/Mana seems to have a larger number of billboards than the Maori Party, and they are more interesting looking billboards too. The Maori Party needs help but they have distanced themselves from their electorate. John Key may not help them much here. Selling access to John Key at Maori Party fund-raising events shows they treat their main supporters with contempt. They know it’s not Maori business people paying thousands to sit next to John Key at such fund-raising events. I digress. I’m being critical of the Greens today, Maori Party later. So the Greens have been such a disappointment to me because I really wanted there to be a party I could support whole-heartedly. I realise the Green share of the nationwide vote has increased consistently since the introduction of M.M.P and the Greens abandoning the Alliance.  From the point of view of a new political party they have been very successful. From the point of view of me looking for someone to vote for;  I want to be able to express support for their policies and be confident they will fairly accurately represent my beliefs and positions on relevant issues. Which I think gets to the core of the problem I have with the Greens. I wanted them to focus on forming a realistic view of environmental issues, to be open-minded, to create policies which hopefully would be  innovative, and would lead to real progress with some of our key environmental problems. Instead they seem to be thinking that every election more young people get to vote,  and more conservative right wing voting old people die so don’t get to vote. The result should be, more votes for the Greens, less votes for N.Z First. This theory ignores the fact that former supporters and sympathisers are also ageing and becoming more conservative in their outlook. Not conservative enough to vote Conservative I hope. I’ll explain why I can’t stand them later too. Anyway short story is the Greens failed me in respect to all the aspirations I had for them to be a shining beacon that accurately represented my views in parliament. Instead they  just expressed opinions on too many things. Many of them I didn’t agree with. Why couldn’t they stick to the environment and a socially responsible economy? Some of the opinions/policies were ill-informed, others were just a stream of politically correct nonsense. They still don’t seem to get it that they don’t need to have a stated position on every subject. The Green Party website is full of credit worthy policies and ideas but over the last 12 months their people have constantly strayed off message. Only Russel Norman has stuck to the script. The list of candidates is also uninspiring. They are all probably nice, hard-working people, but the party lacks personalities now. They were undoubtedly happy to lose Nandor Tanczos and Sue Bradman so they could portray themselves as a more serious, slightly left of centre party. Luckily for the Greens this year Colin Craig has made enough outrageous statements to overshadow any Green M.P who makes ill-conceived comments. They should attract the younger voters by having more diversity among the candidates. I’m not talking about ethnic , religious or sexual preference diversity. I’m talking about diversity of character, of a range of personalities. Even though the Green candidates come from a much wider range of backgrounds than any other party, a glance at the party list shows a trend that leans toward the bureaucrats. It’s important to have bureaucrats, but it’s also important to have characters that can capture the imagination of the public. People who are self-assured and confident, but also grateful, humble and sincere. People who are larger than life and still just a small part of the team. The refusal to recognise this need and to stick to the real issues are why I lost faith in the Greens, and why I still resent and despise them.

Now onto Judith Crush’nBurn Collins. She is such a bad liar I don’t know why she even bothers. She and Slater had obviously decided the way to deal with the latest incriminating communications between them that has been made public is to deny everything and accuse the whistle blower of fabricating the conversation. Crybaby Collins immediately exposed her untruth by admitting to the N.Z Herald that she knew it was a discussion on Facebook that had been released. Even though the Herald had not passed on that information to her and was trying to assert that the conversation via Facebook had never happened. If it never happened how did she know it happened using Facebook? Then she tried to lie her way out of this admission by saying it had to be Facebook because that’s all she used… And Twitter. Why didn’t she assume the supposed forgery was via Twitter? She couldn’t think of another lie. She obviously knew it was via Facebook because that’s where she had the conversation. He tries to wriggle out of it by saying he has no record of that discussion. Duhh He probably deleted it just so he could use that line without technically telling a lie. They have both lost whatever credibility they had. Which was none in the first place if you ask me. Scum of the earth. Both of them.