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ISSN 1172-4153 | Volume 1 | Issue 8 |
| 26 September 2008 He died ‘a hero’
Auckland, Sept 26 – Slain hero Austin Hemmings had no idea his simple act of kindness to a
stranger who asked for help would leave him dead
in the street a few seconds later.
Police said Mr Hemmings, 44, the father of three
teenage children, went to the aid of a woman who
was being attacked near Mills Lane in downtown
Auckland shortly after 5pm yesterday.
He was stabbed in the chest and mortally
wounded, staggered about 50 metres before he fell
dead on the street, blood streaming from a chest
wound and running in rivulets down Mills Lane.
Members of the public and paramedics worked
feverishly to revive Mr Hemmings but police say his
chest wound was so bad there was nothing anyone
could do.
Today as Mr Hemmings’ body lay behind him
under a police tent and an hour after a man appeared
in court charged with assaulting the woman, Detective Senior Sergeant Gerry Whitley said one simple
word described Mr Hemmings – “heroic”.
Without his intervention the woman may have
died.
“He had no idea and there were no signs that in a
very short space of time – just a second – it would
escalate into a very violent reaction.
“He did not do anything to provoke that reaction
whatsoever. He went to the assistance of a woman
asking for it and received a fatal wound,”Mr Whitley said.
Mr Hemmings, a manager who moved to Devonport on Auckland’s North Shore from Hamilton six
months ago, was not trying to stop the man, he was
trying to help the woman.
Continue reading
Dunedin
on the
INSIDE
NZ MILK
PINGED Melamine found here Page 3
KEA KAHA Another chick born Page 4
WORLD
ON BRINK Detective Senior Sergeant Gerry Whitley talks to the Media at the scene where Austin Hemmings was stabbed to death after trying to rescue a
female colleague who was being attacked. NZPA / Wayne Drought. INSET: 44 year old Austin Bernard Hemmings who was killed while coming to the
aid of a woman adjacent to the BNZ Tower / NZPA / NZ Police
Money crisis spreads Page 7
Clark and Key won’t debate the rest
Wellington, Sept 26
– Prime Minister Helen
Clark and National
Party leader John Key
have refused to share
the stage with other
party leaders in an election campaign TV debate.
They both say their head to head debates are the
ones that really matter, because one or the other is
going to lead the next government.
TV3 and TVNZ wanted the leaders of all eight parties represented in Parliament to take part in an MMP
debate, which has happened in previous campaigns.
But the two leaders refused,and did not change their
minds when both networks asked them to reconsider.
“There are two candidates for prime minister
– I’m one and the Leader of the Opposition is the
other. That’s why the head to head debates are so
important,”Miss Clark said on TV3 News.
Mr Key held the same view.
“There are only two people who can lead the next
government – Helen Clark and myself. It’s a very
important opportunity for New Zealanders to compare and contrast.”
They will appear in two leaders debates during
the campaign.
Neither would say which one of them instigated
the agreement that neither would appear with the
other leaders.
Political scientist Jon Johansson said they were
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arrogant, and ACT leader Rodney Hide said it
was the “old club”arrangement where Labour and
National stitched up deals between themselves.
In 2005 there was a row when TV3 tried to exclude
United Future leader Peter Dunne and Progressive
Party leader Jim Anderton from the MMP debate.
The network said eight was too many, but Mr
Dunne and Mr Anderton went to court and TV3
had to let them take part.
– NZPA
NEW ZEALAND
off
BEAT
26 September 2008
Cullen: NZ economy dependent on US sorting out finance crisis
U.S. President
George W. Bush
prepares to
host a meeting
with Republican
Presidential
Nominee Sen.
John McCain
(AZ), Democratic
Presidential
Nominee Sen.
Barack Obama
(IL) and other
Congressional
leaders to discuss the current
economic crises. UPI Photo/Roger
L. Wollenberg
THE FIRST BITE IS THE DEEPEST Sydney (DPA) – An Australian woman has admitted grinding up glass and putting it in her husband’s
sandwiches in anger over an affair that broke up their
20-year marriage, news reports said today. The husband
found out and kept his lunches in a freezer to be used in
evidence against her, the court in Hobart, Tasmania, was
told. The prosecution is pushing for the woman to face a
charge of domestic violence, arguing that doctoring the
lunches her husband took to work could have had fatal
consequences.
BLACK HUMOUR DES MOINES, Iowa, (UPI) – An official at a community
college in Des Moines, Iowa, says his school is struggling
to deal with a handbook typo rife with controversy. Des
Moines Area Community College school president Rob
Denson said nearly 10,000 copies of the student handbook were handed out with a typo reading Black History
Linch and Learn, The Des Moines (Iowa) Register said.
The Linch typo, which was supposed to read Lunch,
appears to refer to lynching and the typo unfortunately
came attached to a reference to a minority group,
Denson said. There’s no question in my mind that it was
inadvertent, the school president said.
RADIO STATION CAUSES CHAOS
FORT PIERCE, Fla., (UPI) – Fort Pierce, Fla., police are
blaming at least four traffic accidents on a radio station
gas giveaway. Police Capt. Greg Kirk said Wednesday
afternoon’s promotion by WMBX-FM and attorney Willie
Gary caused four accidents and resulted in one arrest for
battery, TCPalm.com said. The gas giveaway took place
during a two-hour period. The first 102 people to reach
a specific gas station were eligible. Kirk said police were
unprepared for the more than 3,000 people who tried
to reach the station in time for the giveaway. We would
have redirected traffic and had more officers there, that’s
for sure, he said. Kirk told TCPalm.com that more than
30 police officers were used to control traffic in the
area during the publicity stunt and St. Lucie County Fire
Rescue were also on hand as a precaution.
LUCKY THEY WEREN’T PIRANHA TACOMA, (UPI) – Proprietors of a Tacoma, Wash.,
nail salon said they are now offering a procedure that
involves small fish removing dead skin from the feet
of customers. The owners of the Peridot Nail Salon
said they are the first business in the Northwest United
States to use chin chin, or doctor fish, to soften the
feet of customers, the Tacoma News Tribune reported
Thursday. Tuyet Tweety Bui, co-owner of the salon, said
the 15-minute procedure does not cause any harm to
customers, but the fish do tickle their feet.
Wellington, Sept 26 – New Zealand’s economic
fortune largely depends on the United States sorting its financial crisis, Finance Minister Michael
Cullen said today.
Speaking after statistics confirmed New Zealand
had been in recession for the first half of the year, Dr
Cullen said the country was probably experiencing
a third quarter of economic shrinkage as well.
He was confident there would be some growth in
the last quarter of the year or early 2009.
Though this was subject to“one very, very important caveat”– if the US financial crisis was not sorted
out then there was a serious risk an international
credit crisis would create a major international economic slowdown, he said.
“That is something where New Zealand is a cork
on the wave in the ocean,”Dr Cullen said.
American political leaders are trying to get agreement on a trillion dollar rescue package that would
result in the Government buying dodgy mortgages
off banks and finance companies.
Dr Cullen was very hopeful this would happen
in a matter of days.
Even if this did happen there were tight times
ahead for whoever formed the next government.
Dr Cullen said the cash deficits for the next four
years were “significantly worse than forecast at
budget time”.
The forecast at budget was for around $3.5 billion a year.
Treasury will open the Government’s books on
October 6 as well as its latest fiscal and economic
forecasts in the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal
Update (Prefu)
Dr Cullen said the“enormously successful”introduction of KiwiSaver had “fiscal consequences”
which would become apparent at Prefu.
About two-thirds of the deterioration in position
was based on the economy.
“The slow down in the New Zealand economy has
been deeper than forecast at budget time.
“The impact of the international credit crunch
and some errors by Treasury in terms of forecasting
means the deficits that we are forecasting for the
next four years will be very much larger than they
were at budget time.”
The other third in deterioration would be from
more spending due to KiwiSaver and the uptake of
early childhood education subsidies.
No matter who won the election they would be
forced into fiscal restraint without large increases
in spending or reductions in virtue, he said.
National leader John Key said Dr Cullen had shut
up the shop and was blaming the world economy.
“At times like this, people look to the government
for a sense of direction. People can get through a
recession if they see the path ahead to better
incomes,”Mr Key said.
“The reality is that fiscal initiatives at this point
must be targeted at strengthening the economy
for the future. Only a strong economy can provide
continued improvements in public services.”
Dr Cullen said tax cuts taking effect from next
week would help feed spending and the pressure
from high oil prices was down a little. Dr Cullen
described the debt track as “not a pretty picture”
and indicated it would exceed targets.
Asked if there was any room for big election promises,Dr Cullen said there was room for a“modest total in
terms of spending promises provided there is restraint
across the board in other areas of spending”.
Figures published today by Statistics New Zealand show gross domestic product (GDP) shrank
0.2 percent in the June quarter.
That follows a decline of 0.3 percent in the March
quarter, so the country now meets the common definition of recession – two consecutive quarters of
economic contraction.
The last time economic activity declined for consecutive quarters was the three quarters ending
March 1998.
Annual growth in GDP was 2.6 percent for the
June year.
– NZPA
Underlying economic weakness worse than expected
Wellington, Sept 26 – The economy shrank
less than expected in the June quarter, but some
economists are warning that underlying weaknesses
were worse than had been thought.
Figures published today by Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) show gross domestic product (GDP)
shrank 0.2 percent in the June quarter.
That follows a decline of 0.3 percent in the March
quarter, so the country now meets the common definition of recession – two consecutive quarters of
economic contraction.
The last time economic activity declined for consecutive quarters was the three quarters ending
March 1998.
Annual growth in GDP was 2.6 percent for the
June year.
While confirming the economy was in recession
during the first half of 2008, the second quarter contraction was smaller than the 0.5 percent median
forecast from a Reuters poll of economists.
But ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said the
composition of the data revealed greater underlying
weakness in the economy than expected.
The drought-affected components of agricul-
ture and electricity were not quite as weak as he
expected, declining 0.6 percent and 1.6 percent
respectively, he said.
Those sectors more exposed to the household
slowdown were “much weaker”. Retail trade was
down 1.9 percent, wholesale trade down 1.2 percent,
and financial, business and insurance services down
0.7 percent.
Also suggesting a weaker underlying economy
was the 0.5 percent decline in expenditure GDP,
which was an alternative way of measuring GDP.
In particular, an 8.2 percent decline in residential
investment in the quarter was far more severe than
expected, Mr Tuffley said.
Net exports also dragged on GDP growth significantly, with exports falling 0.2 percent in the
quarter due to drought induced declines in dairy
exports, while imports surged 3.3 percent.
As a result of today’s data he continued to expect
the Reserve Bank to cut the official cash rate (OCR)
by half a percentage point, to 7 percent, at its next
announcement on October 23.
ANZ said that given the global backdrop, it
saw little reason to change its rate cut stance. It
expects two more 50-basis point cuts before the
end of the year, followed by a pause at 6.5 percent
for six months.
“Housing and retailing are fast becoming yesterday’s story, and the emerging risks are sectors
related to the global growth cycle,”ANZ said.
Bank of New Zealand head of research Stephen
Toplis said he thought the better than anticipated
GDP figure was “actually an issue of timing and
not substance”.
As a result BNZ had lowered its pick for the third
quarter to a fall in GDP of 0.5 percent.
The main surprise in the second quarter was a 1.4
percent jump in manufacturing, he said.
A closer look at the data revealed the surprise largely
came from a much larger stock kill than anticipated.
“Perversely, it reveals that the drought-induced
need to reduce stock numbers actually bolstered
GDP,”Mr Toplis said.
“Of less surprise was the parlous state of the
domestic economy largely stemming from the correction occurring in the housing market and its flow
on to household spending.”
– NZPA
NEW ZEALAND
26 September 2008
Melamine in high-priced dairy protein
By Kent Atkinson of NZPA
Wellington, Sept 26 – One of New Zealand’s
most expensive dairy exports, lactoferrin, which
sells for about $500,000 a tonne, has been contaminated with melamine.
But food safety officials say they don’t know how
the contamination occurred and are now looking at
whether the melamine was in the raw milk.
The officials declined to say which manufacturer
sent the contaminated lactoferrin to China,where the
melamine was detected by in-market testing in the
wake of the sale of poisoned milk as infant formula.
Only three New Zealand dairy companies produce
lactoferrin – a milk protein used in sports drinks,
infant formulas and capsules sold as dietary supplements to boost people’s immune systems – and
Fonterra and Westland have both told NZPA their
products were not involved.
The remaining company,Tatua,based at Tatuanui
near Morrinsville,is the world’s biggest manufacturer
of lactoferrin, and processes up to 14,000 tonnes of
raw milk to extract just one tonne of the protein.
Tatua chairman Steve Allen referred media queries
to the company’s’chief executive,Paul McGilvary,but
FROM FRONT PAGE “He was responding like a lot of people do in our
communities.Every day people ...avoid crime,prevent
told NZPA he had been busy working with the New melamine.“Explanations for its presence in this case it and he had no idea it would change so rapidly.
Zealand Food Safety Authority until tonight.
include leaching from plastic involved in processing
“He was assisting the woman as she asked.
“This whole thing, internationally, is pretty major,” or packaging, or other unintended outcome of the
“He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
said Mr Allen. Overseas perceptions of the New Zea- manufacturing process.”
Mr Whitley said the devastated and shocked
land food industry were crucial and it was impor“We can’t say definitively where it’s come from,” woman was grieving for a man she did not know
tant to get all the facts right.
he said.
but who had tried to help her.
NZFSA director of compliance and investigation
The authority was following a lot of leads,and had so
Mr Whitley said Mr Hemmings’family was findGeoff Allen told NZPA he believed the contami- far ruled out deliberate adulteration, and had“practi- ing it hard to cope with his death.
nated lactoferrin might have come from more than cally eliminated”contamination caused by the manufac“I am struggling to really describe the total grief
one company.
turing process,which is common to all three exporters. they are going through – total devastation.
“We’re still waiting for official results from all
“We can see no mechanism where melamine can be
“They are an amazing, beautiful family and the
of the manufacturers of lactoferrin, so I can’t say introduced or produced during the process,”he said. dignity they are showing the police and the cooperawhich one is in and which one is out.”
“Now, we’re looking back and saying ‘how can tion they are showing is just fantastic.”
Yesterday Mr Allen said the authority was consid- it come in or be introduced in the raw material’,”
The family learnt of the tragedy when paramedering any role which might have been played in the he said.
ics called them using the ICE (in case of emercontamination by cyromazine, an insecticide which
Dr Allen said the contamination was at low levels gency) system programmed into Mr Hemmings’
breaks down to melamine in mammals.
which did not present any health risk for consumers. cellphone.
NZFSA has 24 livestock drenches and sprays
He questioned whether the melamine would
Within an hour family members arrived at Mills
containing cyromazine listed among registered be detectable once it was diluted when used as an Lane where Mr Hemmings lay.
agricultural compounds on its website.
ingredient in a finished product.
They were kept away from the body but today
“The possible contribution of breakdown prodIn June, NZFSA published a list of contaminant they were allowed into the police tent which covucts from cyromazine is being included in the inves- levels it will allow in animal products, and specified ered Mr Hemmings’ body where it had lain for 20
tigations that are underway.’
a maximum permissible level of cyromazine and hours.
Dr Allen had earlier confirmed that NZ lactof- melamine as 0.3mg/kg in sheepmeats, and 0.15mg/
It was a poignant and heart-wrenching
errin sent to China had been contaminated with kg in poultry and eggs.
moment.
Family members covered their eyes to hide their
grief, hugged each other and cried.After a few minutes they also helped pick up the grey body bag
inside the tent, put it on a stretcher and wheel it
She this time blew 695mg.
and was able to collect her car when she was sober, to a hearse.
Today a 45-year-old sickness beneficiary in a
She would appear in the Christchurch Traffic he said.
Court within the next few weeks, he said.
Mr Murton said the woman had given no expla- white police boiler suit appeared in Auckland DisIn the meantime the woman was allowed to drive nation about why she was drunk at that time of trict Court charged with assaulting the woman.
His name was suppressed and he was remanded
her car “if sober”.
the morning and why she drove her children to
in custody to appear again on October 17.
Mr Murton told NZPA police had to work within school.
He was expected to face a murder charge at his
guidelines and were not in a position to suspend her
The woman was not aggressive and the children
next appearance.
licence or confiscate her car.
were thankfully not harmed, he said.
He was arrested at 4.30am – 11 hours after Mr
Even though the woman was more than three
Mr Murton said the incident showed that comtimes the limit when stopped on the first occasion, pulsory breath testing should occur at all times of Hemmings died – when police raided a house in
Otahuhu, south Auckland.
it was her first drink-driving offence, he said.
the day and night.
The weapon used to stab Mr Hemmings had yet
“We have to take into account all types of things,
“This is evidence of the dangers that drink-driving
like the type of licence and whether it’s the first poses, not only to road users, but in this case to chil- to be found, Mr Whitley said.
– NZPA
offence.”
dren, pedestrians and parents, even before school.”
Back to the front page
The woman found an alternative way to get home
– NZPA
Drunk woman caught driving kids to school – again
Auckland, Sept 26 – A woman stopped twice
within 24 hours for drink-driving while dropping
her children off at primary school, will be allowed to
continue to drive until she appears in traffic court.
The 48-year-old was stopped at a compulsory
breath testing site at 9am yesterday on Centaurus
Road, Cashmere, in Christchurch, and was nearly
three times the legal limit.
The woman was dropping her primary school
aged children off at school and blew 1199mg, Canterbury road policing acting senior sergeant Greg
Murton said.
The legal limit is 400mg.
Today she was stopped at 8.45am, again as she
dropped her children off at their primary school.
Parliament comes to an end with small bangs and whimpers
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Wellington, Sept 26 – The 48th Parliament has
come to an end with a few small bangs and some
whimpers as well.
The adjournment motion debate today was the
last chance for MPs to speak in this term and they
will now head out on the campaign trail ahead of
the November 8 election.
It was also the last opportunity for MPs to drop
any defamatory material under the cover of parliamentary privilege.
This time there were no political“neutron bombs”
though New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters
continued to lob a few grenades at ACT’s use of
trusts to funnel donations.
There was much political rhetoric thrown around
the House as both Labour and National predicted
each other’s demise during the election campaign.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen’s speech
started off quietly, outlining the achievements of
the Government and the heavy weather facing the
economy.
It was nine minutes before the heckling rose in
volume as Dr Cullen turned his tongue on National
leader John Key saying Mr Key could not maintain
a position for two seconds.
He predicted that Mr Key would trip up on
the campaign trail and expose National’s true
agenda.
Labour’s barrage against Mr Key began within
seconds of his speech in reply, saying the Government began and ended this term embroiled in
scandal.
He accused Dr Cullen of leading New Zealand
into recession and said National believed in tax cuts
as an economic policy not a political one.
Mr Key said Prime Minister Helen Clark had led
a“government of failure”and New Zealanders would
turn to his party to lead the way forward.
Mr Peters said National had done nothing in the
last three years waiting for the Government to collapse and it had not.
He and New Zealand First had experience a
“tumultuous” three months, battling “forces out
there working day and night”.
Mr Peters said New Zealanders would flock to his
party as they knew the media were out to get him.
In particular he predicted “tens of thousands”
of Maori had changed their minds and “would be
coming home”.
A few speeches later retiring Speaker Margaret
Wilson brought the adjournment debate to a close,
ending the 48th Parliament.
Parliament is likely to resume in late November or
early in December depending on the election result
and how difficult it is to form a government.
– NZPA
NEW ZEALAND
26 September 2008
ZOO produces chick – 90th kea in national breeding programme
Wellington, Sept 26 – Hamilton Zoo has bred
its first kea chick in 15 years, after being given permission to boost the numbers in captivity.
Only 100 kea are kept in captivity throughout the
country in a managed breeding programme, and
when Hamilton was given the nod to put first-time
parents,Tane (15) and Kowhai (9) to work, numbers
had fallen to 89.The pair laid three eggs.
“Four zoos have been asked to each breed a chick
this year, if possible,” said Hamilton Zoo director
Stephen Standley.
“We were very excited when the recommendation to breed came through, and especially when
our birds were quick to respond and produced a
healthy chick.
“We destroyed two eggs and replaced them with
dummy eggs.”
The zoo did not wait to select the healthiest fledgling because that would mean killing the chicks
which were rejected – a move unlikely to be popular
with the public.
The remaining egg hatched on September 15, and
the chick will take up to 13 weeks to leave the nest
so won’t be on show to the public until around midDecember.Kea pairs bond for life and are the world’s
only alpine parrot,with fewer than 5000 remaining in
the wild in the South Island’s high country.
High country farmers used to carry cut-down
shotguns to shoot kea they claimed were attacking
lambs, but that practice was outlawed in 1986.
Federated Farmers high country spokesman
Donald Aubrey told the NZ Herald that kea attacks
were a known hazard for high-country farmers.
“They target the area around a sheep’s kidneys,”
Mr Aubrey said.
“They do that by riding on the back of the sheep
and pecking around the spinal region.”
– NZPA
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File photo. NZPA/Ross Setford
Harbourmaster defends jetboat rescue
Wellington, Sept 26 – Queenstown harbourmaster Marty Black has defended the handling of the
rescue at a jetboat crash in which a Chinese tourist
died after being trapped under the boat yesterday.
The Kawarau Jet boat was carrying 22 passengers, all from a China tour party, and the driver, when
it flipped at 2.45 pm yesterday after apparently
hitting a sandbar where Shotover and Kawarau
Rivers meet.
There was initial confusion about numbers on
the boat, but when it became apparent a person was
unaccounted for, helicopters were called to assist
with aerial searches, while other jetboats scoured
the river, a St John officer said.
But it was about 90 minutes after the crash before
the boat was lifted and the woman’s body was found,
despite requests from her companions for earlier
action from rescuers.
Mr Black, who headed the rescue, said it took
some time but had to be done properly, otherwise
more lives would have been put at risk.
“The problem is the boat weighs around 4-1/2
tonnes and it is just not something you can lift with
people, so you have got to get some machinery in
there,”Mr Black told Radio New Zealand.
The shingle in the river was too soft to use a digger, so the only option was a Heliworks B3 heavy-lift
helicopter.
It took about 30 minutes for the helicopter to
arrive, with Queenstown-based commercial divers
arriving after that.
“I know there is a timeline, but unfortunately
you have got to take your time and make sure you
don’t put other people at risk and that was our main
concern – not to put other people at risk and try to
do it as fast as possible, as safely as possible,” said
Mr Black.
“At the confluence where the boat went over, the
river was relatively swift, the boat was technically
moving and you could not put anyone near that boat
until it was secured or partly lifted by helicopter.”
He said he was satisfied given the difficult circumstances that“we did everything possible.”
He said Kawarau Jet,New Zealand’s first commercial jetboat operation, was a responsible operator.
The company has suspended operations, with
director Andrew Brinsley describing the incident as
the blackest in the company’s 47-year history.
Police, Maritime New Zealand and Traffic Accident Investigation Commission have started investigations, with some passengers interviewed today.
Eight of the passengers were taken to hospital.
Two remained in Lakes District Hospital in Queenstown today for observation, while one was in Dunedin Hospital with a dislocated shoulder.
– NZPA
NZ dollar rises on better than expected GDP data
Wellington, Sept 26 – The New Zealand dollar rose on better than expected gross domestic
data today but dealers said the long term trend
is downward.
The NZ dollar was at US68.76c by 5pm today, up
from the US68.25c at 8am and
US68.60c at 5pm yesterday.
Though second quarter GDP
data confirmed the economy is
in recession the 0.2 percent fall in
the quarter was less than the 0.5
percent the market was expecting.
“Most people were erring on the side of a worst
than expected number so the market was short kiwi
going into the number,”John Body, head of markets
at ANZ, said.
“A lot of those positions got closed out and the
market decided to square up for the weekend,” he
said.
The talks to save the US financial system stumbled
today so that situation is expected to remain a focus.
For NZ dollar investors the expectation is still
that the Reserve Bank will be
cutting interest rates over time
and that implies a weaker currency.
Interest rate cuts would ultimately drive the direction of
the NZ dollar, Mr Body said.
By 5pm the kiwi was buying 0.4687
euro against 0.4665 yesterday, and 72.70 yen from
72.65 yen. Against the Australian dollar it was at
A82.47c against A81.78c.The trade weighted index
was up at 64.32 from 64.04.
–NZPA
EDITORIAL
26 September 2008
Editorial Letters Bring back the death penalty
There is a growing sense of utter frustration with
the New Zealand justice system, and its capture by
lobby groups with liberal agendas.
The senseless killing of Aucklander Austin Hemmings is a poster-case for the return of the death
penalty.
Since New Zealand abolished capital punishment
nearly fifty years ago, our crime rate has skyrocketed. Sure, there are a number of factors, but equally
we can’t ignore some fairly obvious ones.
We’re too soft on crime. Full of white, western
liberal guilt, we wring our hands over the incarceration of a criminal. Our Labour-led politicians
shed political tears if prisoners aren’t treated in
an utterly humane fashion, with all of their ‘rights’
recognised.
Liberal lawyers constantly remind us that a society is judged on how it takes care of its prisoners, but
when was the last time you heard a journalist ask
the bleedingly obvious question: Says who?
I’m sorry. I’m sick of it. For thousands of years,
murder in most societies was met by swift dispatch
of the culprit. Re-offending was unheard of, and
the threat of execution was a salutary reminder
of what lay in store if one spilt human blood in a
criminal way.
What was wrong with capital punishment?
Arguments about getting the wrong person have
some validity, but in this modern age we can reserve
capital punishment for those cases where the evidence is absolute. It would be necessary, I feel, to
delineate between cold savagery and your common
or garden homicide, to introduce ‘degrees of murder’
for lack of a better description.
“Whodunnits”relying on screeds of circumstantial evidence and doubtful forensics would not
attract execution, but scum like RSA killer William Bell would be a sitter for receiving the final
whistle.
Austin Hemmings’only crime was to go to the aid
of a woman being attacked. His death should not put
any of us off, because we should still be prepared to
help a fellow citizen. But it should serve as a warning
to be more wary of potential weapons.
In my youth I stumbled across a scuffle in central Wellington and leaped in to assist, only to find
myself staring down the blade of a 20 cm knife waving just in front of my nose, clutched by a man who
had already stabbed two people.
I hadn’t known this when I tried to restrain him.
It didn’t put me off helping out, although it certainly
caused me to focus – there was no way I was letting
go of his knife wrist come hell or high water.
Anybody who is prepared to kill their fellow New
Zealanders in the course of committing a crime
doesn’t deserve our sympathy, in my view. So he
had a tough childhood? So have many other noncriminals. So he has a drug habit? We don’t accept
alcoholism as a defence to drink driving.
Law and order is a real problem in New Zealand,
and it won’t be solved by giving prisoners flat screen
TVs and Playstations.
Execution may offend our liberal sensibilities, but
it sends a message: crime has consequences.
SUBSCRIBE TO TGIF! Comment Unpopular British prime minister
saves job with U.S. political tactic
By Julie Sell
McClatchy Newspapers
LONDON – He is the son of a Scottish minister, a
serious man who is as dour as his predecessor Tony
Blair was gregarious. But only 15 months after taking charge, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown
is fighting for his political life – with a chorus of
critics calling for him to resign.
Thanks in part to the growing international
financial crisis, and a well-photographed onstage
kiss from his wife, Sarah, at the Labour Party conference this week – he pulled back from the brink
of disaster, at least for the moment.
What made the Browns’ embrace in front of the
party gathering so unusual in a country known for
its repressed emotions was not only its originality
– it was the first time a spouse had ever introduced
a British leader at a national conference – but also
the plight of the kissee. As the Daily Mail said in
a headline, the popular Sarah Brown’s introduction before his speech to the conference on Tuesday
“made Gordon at last seem normal.”Commentators
saw Sarah Brown’s appearance and kiss, which was
splashed in the press, as a campaign tactic borrowed
from America’s political conventions.
Brown, who previously had served for 10 years as
Britain’s top financial official, was ironically also
helped by the financial crisis. During his time as
chancellor of the exchequer in Blair’s government,
London was transformed into a global financial centre rivalling New York. Leading investment banks,
hedge funds and private equity firms from around
the world were attracted by a system governed by
what many call “light-touch regulation” – Brown
prefers the term “risk-based regulation” – that
involved fewer specific rules than financial firms
face in America. Critics say this makes him partly
responsible for the risky behaviour of those firms,
saying he has had years to clamp down on them.
In his conference speechWednesday,though,Brown
said the current financial crisis required an experienced pair of hands and collaboration with international partners.“This is not a time for a novice,”said
the prime minister.The swipe appeared aimed both at
his Conservative opponent, David Cameron, but also
younger Labour officials such as the foreign secretary,
David Miliband, who are eyeing Brown’s job.
Brown’s combination of unexpected passion and
undoubted competence in financial matters appears
to have fended off critics who sought his immediate
Many
Labour
insiders say
the government
continues to
founder under
Brown, and some
party officials
have said they
will give him
only a few more
months, until
next summer at
most, to turn
around Labour’s
fortunes
resignation, and the prime minister flew to NewYork
on Wednesday to belatedly join other world leaders
at a big United Nations conference.
But with a general election required by law in
Britain before 2010, the question is how long the
reprieve will last. Many Labour insiders say the
government continues to founder under Brown,
and some party officials have said they will give
him only a few more months, until next summer at
most, to turn around Labour’s fortunes. National
polls have consistently shown that the opposition
Conservatives would soundly trounce Labour if a
general election were held now.
Personality aside, unpopular policy positions
have contributed to Brown’s recent woes. These
included a proposal to revise tax policy in a way
that would hurt some of the poor, and his attempt
to extend the term during which police might hold
suspected terrorist plotters without formal charges
to 42 days, far longer than is allowed in most developed countries. More recently, with a mortgage crisis
rippling across Britain and home prices falling, he
unveiled much-touted plans to help homebuyers
that fell flat with much of the public.
As Brown’s problems have mounted, Labour’s
popularity has fallen across the country. In recent
months the ruling party has lost several important
elections to fill open parliamentary seats.
Speaking to his party this week, Brown emphasized the need for“fairness”in Britain. He proposed
free drugs for cancer patients, free nursery-school
for young children, and a pledge to eventually eliminate charges for drug purchases by people with
long-term illnesses.
-In defence of polygamy
Having re-read your Investigate article on polygamy/polyamory, and in reply to your response to my letter to me
subsequently (current issue, Investigate):
1. You present a very one-sided view of polygamists/
polyamorists as all requiring state-funded welfare. There is
no mention made of polygamists/polyamorists who support
themselves and are financially secure, contributing to society.
2. You have not interviewed any local polygamists/polyamorists. Your story, by Melody Towns, is based on overseas cases.
3. To my knowledge, there are no calls whatsoever for
polygamist/polyamorist families to be funded by the state
here in NZ. (As opposed to “Working with Families”, which
gives tax-rebates to other families.)
4. You present the statement, “marriage is between one
man and one woman...” That is not a view supported by
everyone in society.
5. You present the statement, “Do we betray the ideal now
by approving a form of union in which women are inevitably
subservient?” This patronising statement seems to ignore the
obvious; many women willingly engage in polygamist/polyamorist lifestyles. You also ignore those relationships where
one woman has more than one male partner. Or where she
has a male and a female partner. Or... (The permutations
are endless.)
6. You present the statement, “where children are
dragged into these adult fantasy lifestyles”. Without any
research from your part, you make a blanket statement
inferring that children in polygamist/polyamorist families
are living in an inferior home? Yet, when we read the
media stories, children are bashed, maimed, abused,
and killed by either male-female couples; solo-parents;
or by members of the Clergy who forego adult partners
because “god told them to” – but find a spot of kiddiefiddling quite ‘ok’.
And yet it’s polygamist/polyamorist families are detrimental to children???
7. You refer to “taxpayer subsidies” for polygamist/
polyamorist families.
Under current law, if a couple are working; one
becomes suddenly unemployed; the fact that the other
spouse is still in employment precludes the newly-unemployed spouse from receiving an unemployment benefit.
I assume that this would apply to polygamist/polyamorist
situations.
In short, I found your article lacking in substance, poorly
researched, and with little value. It presented only one side
of the situation; no local experiences; and was highly moralistic. The only thing missing was satanic-rituals, eating
babies, and conspiracies for Global Domination.
It reminded me of the anti-homosexual hysteria during
the debate over the1986 Homosexual Law Reform Bill.
Highly moralistic critics of the Bill warned of an impending
apocalypse; sex-in-the streets; and an end to society as we
know it.
Twenty-two years later, we are still here. (And no one
has offered to have sex-in-the-street with me.)
Frank Macskasy Upper Hutt
Editor responds:
Frank, you obviously aren’t frequenting the right streets!
There are a couple in Wellington that spring to mind
where, for a fee, such a service would be offered.
However, the bigger point is this: it is very easy and simplistic to trot out a series of seemingly innocuous scenarios
and to present them as analogous to the wider issue. On
the same grounds (consent), one could argue that a 13
year old girl or boy capable of sexual activity is capable of
making a judgement on whether they should have sex with
an adult. Holland has pushed just this perverted line and it
is now lawful for decrepit old paedophiles to groom 13 year
olds – even pre-adolescent ones – for sex. To add insult
to injury, the Dutch state has decreed that parents have no
right to interfere in such a relationship (the State and its laws
being supreme to ‘outdated’ moral views) unless the child
was not a willing participant.
This is where unfettered sexual liberalism leads, Frank.
Into insanity. And I think if we looked at what the community regarded as acceptable in 1986 and compared it to
what goes on these days, many would say there has been
an increase in lewdness across the board.
Letters to the editor can be posted to:
PO BOX 302188, Nort Harbour, North Shore 0751 or
emailed to: [email protected]
THE BLOGS
26 September 2008
Best of the blogs
Democracy is dead:
The liberal-left mediaocracy rule
By ‘Fairfacts Media’ No Minister Peter Hitchens at the (UK) Mail on Sunday has stirred
a lively debate on the power of the media establishment.
Regardless of who his in control, its liberal-left
values help undermine those who oppose them.
Witness the destruction of more conservative leaders
in Britain like Iain Duncan Smith, or David Davis.
Thus, we see the rise of those who fit their values
like Tony Blair and David Cameron.
Our political parties are corpses and democracy
as we used to know it is quite dead, Hitchens states
boldly.
Dr Richard North at EU Referendum notes that
every four years or so there is an electoral reshuffle
but nothing really changes, the same lib-left policies stay, regardless of their continuing damage to
health, education ,etc, etc.
The Archbishop-Cranmer blog nods sadly in agreement.
Indeed, the demonisation of Sarah Palin by the
liberal media seems to confirm this.The MSM prefers
and adores Obama because he is what they seek.
As for New Zealand, I guess much of the same
can apply. Don Brash saved the National Party. He
doubled its support, making it the electable beast it
is today. But despite such achievements the media
was ever keen to stick the boot in, play up every
gaffe, and Orewa was branded as ‘racist’or ‘hardline’
despite fitting in with the values of New Zealand.
They couldn’t wait to ask for his resignation on
the night of Election 2005.
Similarly, when they can, the media tries to
present Roger Douglas as some old dinosaur, a
relic of another age who will bring about wholesale cruelty.
And so we get John Key and National as Labourlite. The media give him an easier time as he fits in
with them more so than Brash. So whoever wins the
election,be it National or Liarbour,the policy settings
for New Zealand will be pretty much the same.
We will have an ‘electoral reshuffle’ – new faces
, same policy.’What She said’ as the slogan goes.
National has abandonned its values, has gone ‘slippery’, so not to frighten the horses who have been
brainwashed by the mediocracy.
Meanwhile, over in Australia, out goes the conservative Brendon Nelson, for the centrist Malcolm
Turnbull to lead the Liberals. A global warming
believing republican in tune with such mediacratic
philosophies.The conservatives are sidelined in the
Libs’bid for support and electability.
That appears to be the line Peter Hitchens and
others take.
It all sounds oddly and disturbingly convincing,
doesn’t it?
The Privileges Committee Report
By David Farrar Kiwiblog The Privileges Committee report has now been
released and is online here.
It is 280 pages long.
By a majority vote, they have recommended
Peters be censured by the House. I cannot recall
the last time an MP was censured.
The majority includes United Future’s Peter
Dunne, the Greens’Russel Norman and Te Ururoa
Flavell from the Maori Party. This is every party
on the Privileges Committee except members of
Labour First. Note Peter Dunne is a Minister in
the Government and the Greens have a co-operation agreement with Labour and the Maori Party
abstain on supply and confidence.
They note on the issue of Henry refusing to disclose
who suggested Henry approach Glenn for money:
“We have received advice that legal professional
privilege relates to communications made for the purpose of conveying legal advice and that it does not relate
to the identity of a client, particularly when the issue
does not relate to the communication of legal advice.
“We note that legal professional privilege should not
be used as an excuse to withhold information requested
by the Privileges Committee, particularly in circumstances where this privilege does not apply.”
They make the point that they have required
a high standard of proof for their findings, as the
allegations are serious – beyond the normal balance
of probabilities.
They have determined that there was no debt
from Peters to Henry, so no adverse finding there.
But they have found the $100,000 constituted a gift
as it benefited Peters:
“We consider that the payment was of benefit to
Mr Peters. Mr Henry’s work on the election petition
did not create a direct legal obligation for Mr Peters
to pay Mr Henry’s fees. However, Mr Henry told us
that Mr Peters “knows that he owes me in the moral
sense…”,18 and most clients would acknowledge such
a moral obligation to pay a barrister.
“A third-party payment to a member’s barrister
benefits the member by discharging the moral (and
potential legal) obligation to make payment and also
by enabling the barrister to provide more assistance to
the member in the future. Further, in these particular
circumstances the payment contributed to funding an
election petition which, if it had been successful, would
have been of political benefit to Mr Peters.”
They further note:
“It is clear that the intent of the donor in this case
was not to benefit the barrister. It was the member’s
legal expenses that were being contributed to, not the
barrister’s wellbeing. Mr Henry’s actions on receipt
of Mr Glenn’s money were also unusual. Mr Henry
wrote a “pro forma” invoice for GST and income tax
purposes.We do not believe this is the normal response
of the recipient of a gift. For a GST invoice to have
been written, there must have been a taxable supply
of services by Mr Henry. The relevant services were
received by the member (or his solicitor, Mr Gates, on
his behalf).
“Together, these elements show clearly that the payment constituted a gift to Mr Peters.”
On the issue of whether Peters knew:
“The majority of us believe it is extremely unlikely
that Mr Peters and Mr Glenn could have had a conversation on that date without the issue of a donation being raised, even if the original contact with Mr
Glenn had been by Mr Henry, as claimed by Mr Peters
and Mr Henry. The majority of us consider that the
sequence of telephone calls followed immediately by an
email containing bank account details indicates that
the topic must have arisen during one or both of those
conversations. It would have assisted our consideration if Mr Peters or Mr Henry had been able to recall
more detail of their telephone conversation. Given the
evidence before us, the majority of us concluded that
Mr Peters had some knowledge of Mr Glenn’s intention
to make a donation.”
And their conclusion:
“The majority of us find that Mr Peters had some
knowledge of the $100,000 donation. Further, we
find that Mr Peters, having an understanding of
the arrangement by which funds were raised by Mr
Henry, needed to make an honest attempt to file a correct return. For both these reasons, the majority of us
find that a contempt occurred.”
The proposed penalty:
“Making a false or misleading return is a serious
matter, akin to misleading the House.The majority of
us therefore recommend that Mr Peters be censured for
knowingly providing false or misleading information
on a return of pecuniary interests, and ordered to file,
within seven days of the House so ordering, amended
returns for the years ended 31 January 2006, 2007,
and 2008 covering any gifts, debts, or payments in
kind that he has not previously registered.We request
that the registrar ensure that the amended returns are
published, recording that they are made subject to an
order of the House.”
This could be interesting, as it means any other
donation to Peters’legal fees, in excess of $500, has
to be disclosed – if the House accepts the recommendation.
Now on the part regarding who paid for the
$40,000 to Clarkson. Brian Henry is saying that as
the cheque was from Wayne Peters’ trust account,
he saw this as a reimbursement by Winston personally. Hilarious.
Now onto the letter from the SFO.The Director
makes it very clear he got advise on whether to
inform the Committee, and he has also bent over
backwards to be fair to the donors who paid the
$40,000 by redacting their names. He even asks the
Privileges Committee not to order him to supply
further information, even though he acknowledges
a request from the Privileges Committee over-rides
the secrecy provisions of the Serious Fraud Act.
The money laundering around the $40,000 is fascinating. Brian Henry did pay the $40,000 but the
day before he sent Thompson Wilson (the law firm
where two of the Spencer Trustees then worked) his
bank account details.
The Spencer Trust only has $15,400 being left over
donations from Donor A.Then Person B (not Winston
Peters we are told) lent the Trust $24,600 so they
could pay $40,000 to Brian Henry on 5 April.
Donor A (almost certainly the Velas) then donated
4 cheques of $9,999 on the 7th of April 2006. Each
cheque was from a different subsidiary company.
This allowed Person B’s loan to be repaid on 7
April.
What this means is that Donor A (almost certainly the Velas) personally donated $40,000 to pay
off the $40,000 debt Peters owed Clarkson. He has
to now declare this on his amended returns.
This raises massive issues relating to the conduct of
his portfolios.The whole idea of disclosure is that the
transparency it brings to whether Government decisions are affected by donations or gifts to an MP.
So the Minister for Racing in 2006 had Donor A
– almost certainly the Velas, pay a $40,000 debt on
his behalf. The Velas are multi-millionaires in the
racing industry. And the Minister of Racing convinces the Government – against Treasury advice
– to provide lots of money to the racing industry.
Does Helen Clark not think that this gift should
have been disclosed as it strikes at the heart of decision making in her Government? And no it is nothing
to do with NZ First – this is a personal gift to the
Minister of Racing from persons massively affected
by the policies he is responsible for in his portfolio.
Helen actually has three decisions to make.They
are:
1. Does she sack Peters as a Minister for breaking
the Cabinet Manual and not disclosing a $100,000
gift (let alone the multiple lies Peters has told)
2. Having the $100,000 gift declared, does she
allow Peters to keep it? Probably as it was paid
to Henry, not Peters – but here is the big problem
for her.
3. The $40,000 from the Velas (assuming it is
them) has to now be filed on the Register by
Peters. Clark has to now decide whether she lets
him keep the $40,000.
Here is the Cabinet Manual quote from section
2.79:
Ministers who accept gifts worth more than the
prescribed value must not only disclose them to the
Registrar of Pecuniary Interests of Members of Parliament, but also must relinquish them, unless they
obtain the express permission of the Prime Minister
to retain them.
So it is clear Helen has to decide whether Peters
keeps the $40,000 gift (payment of a debt) from
the Velas.
Now how corrupt will she look, if she says it is
okay for her Minister of Racing to take and keep
$40,000 from a family/company which has benefited hugely from the decisions of the Minister
of Racing. He managed to force through millions
of dollars of funding of racing prizes, against the
advice of Treasury.
Clark has to make a decision on this. Peters has
to relinquish the gift unless she gives her express
permission he can keep it.
No wonder Winston wanted the SFO evidence
suppressed. It was bad enough that NZ First had
benefited by huge donations from the Velas, but to
have it revealed that Peters personally was gifted
$40,000 from them is hugely damaging.
Now it is possible the donations were not from
the Velas but read the SFO letter and it looks highly
likely. We should know more when Peters does his
amended returns.
And as you consider all this, consider what depths
the ethical standards of the Clark Government have
descended to. Clark condones a Minister who:
1. breaks the rules of the Register of Pecuniary
Interests
2. breaks the rules of the Cabinet Manual
3. fails to disclose a $100,000 gift
4. tells multiple lies about it
5. gives false evidence to the Privileges Committee
6. benefits with $100,000 towards his legal fees
from a billionaire whom he then lobbies to be
made Consul to Monaco
7.has a $40,000 debt paid off by a company/family that benefits greatly from policy decisions he
makes as Minister of Racing
8. has filed false donation returns to the Electoral
Commission
Any one of these should be enough for dismissal
arguably. But Clark is keeping him on despite all
of the above. Could standards possibly get any
lower?
ANALYSIS
26 September 2008
World financial crisis deepens
By Martin Walker
ZURICH, Switzerland – Other countries that
have been raking in cash like China and the oilexporting states have sovereign wealth funds. The
United States instead has been forced to resort to
the opposite, a sovereign debt fund.
That, at least, was how it looked when U.S.Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben Bernanke launched their $700 billion plan over the weekend.Around the world, critics
sneered at the humbling of America’s once-dominant financial system.
“The American empire in the world is reaching
the end of its road,”crowed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in his speech to the United
Nations this week.
But then came two less-than-expected develop-
ments.The first was that their plan was not immediately hailed as the saviour of the U.S. economy, but
came in for considerable sniping in Congress and
from doubting commentators. It no longer looks
like a done deal, and the markets have been sinking again as a result, despite the awful warnings
that Paulson and Bernanke delivered to Congress
in their testimony Tuesday.
The second unexpected event was the accumulating evidence that while the United States is catching
pneumonia, the rest of the world may be in even
worse shape.
Start with Britain’s banks, where one key event
of last week’s crisis was the government’s pressure
on Lloyds Bank to rescue the sinking HBOS, which
had been formed from a merger of Royal Bank of
Scotland and Halifax, Britain’s biggest mortgage
lender. That rescue is now under heavy fire, most
ominously from Scotland, where it is seen as clever
English bankers taking advantage of temporary
troubles to buy up Scottish assets cheap.
Those temporary troubles took hold because of
a heavy amount of short selling of British bank
stocks, and matters calmed when short selling was
banned and shorts contracts had to be disclosed.
The U.S. hedge fund of John Paulson, it emerged,
had put close to $2 billion into a bet that British
banks were heading down fast, shorting up to 1
percent each of Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds,
Barclays and HBOS.
But maybe the short sellers knew what they were
doing. British and European banks, it now emerges,
tend to be far more heavily leveraged than their U.S.
counterparts. A recent Citigroup report reckoned
that the average European bank’s tier-one capital represented only 3.1 percent of tangible assets,
about half the safety margin deemed essential in
the United States.
“The dozen largest European banks have now,
on average, an overall leverage ratio (shareholders’equity to total assets) of 35, which has actually
increased so far this year, compared with less than
20 for the largest U.S. banks,” argues Daniel Gros,
who runs the leading Brussels think tank the Centre
for European Policy Studies.
He estimated Deutsche Bank’s leverage ratio at
50, Barclays at about 60 and notes that while Fortis
Bank’s leverage ratio is about 33, its obligations
amount to three times the GDP of Belgium, where
it is based.
The largest European banks have become not
only too big to fail, but also too big to be saved, he
concludes.
One of those giant European banks, France’s
Societe Generale, is now warning that the financial
crisis is poised to get a great deal worse because of
looming problems for emerging markets in general
and China in particular.
“The collapse of emerging market economies will
shake investors to the core. The great unwind has
only just begun,” said Albert Edwards, the bank’s
global strategist.“The consensus has a touching
belief that emerging markets will prove resilient
despite a deep downturn in developed economies.
My view is that an outright contraction in global
GDP is entirely possible next year.
“The big surprise in store is what could happen
in China. The potential for a deep recession in the
U.S. is already on the radar screen, but people will
be stunned if China’s economy contracts, as I believe
it will.“Investors could be massively caught out.We
could see monthly trade surpluses in the U.S. within
a year,”he said.
This followed an ominous report from the China
team of Fitch Ratings that China’s banks are in
trouble, having used an underground market to sidestep state restrictions on lending and keep the loans
off their books. One such ploy, in which the banks
act as loan-arranging brokers between clients, is
now valued at US$220 billion.
These types of credit and/or institutions fall outside the traditional structures of financial supervision, exposing banks to a growing amount of risk
that is for the most part hidden. By getting a portion
of their credit off books, Chinese banks are able to
comply with official loan quotas while in practice
exceeding them, the Fitch team said. The Chinese
banking system is nearing the point at which it can
no longer sustain additional large net withdrawals
of liquidity without generating further strains on
banks’ability to lend.
This is starting to sound apocalyptic. The SocGen strategist goes on to predict that the emerging
market liquidity squeeze will intensify ferociously,
and assets linked to the region will become toxic
waste. That includes previously resilient banks
such as HSBC, Standard Chartered and Banco
Santander.
Meanwhile,another warning came from a banking
forum in Beijing this week, where Tang Shuangning, chairman of China Everbright Bank, told the
gathering,“Among all the financial crises, this may
be the one that affects China most.”
Whatever Congress finally agrees to do with the
Paulson rescue plan, it looks as if this financial
crisis has a lot further to run and a lot further to
spread.
– UPI
Fear of terror worsens attacks
By Shaun Waterman
WASHINGTON – The number of people suffering
psychologically induced symptoms could far outweigh the number of actual victims in a chemical,
biological or nuclear incident, according to a confidential US Department of Homeland Security
briefing document.
Mass psychogenic illness can spread rapidly
throughout a population,says the briefing,citing incidents in California in 2003 and Chechnya in 2005.
The briefing, prepared in 2006 but only leaked
last week, defines mass psychogenic illness as “a
phenomenon in which social trauma or anxiety
combines with a suspicious event to produce psychosomatic symptoms, such as nausea, difficulty
breathing, and paralysis”.
In October 2003, the briefing says, bank customers and staff in California became ill, with symptoms
including headache, fever, faintness, and numbness
in extremities after a man sprayed an aerosol can
into the air – although subsequent investigation
determined that no chemical or biological agents
were present.
“Observed symptoms might have been psychosomatic,”the paper quotes investigators as concluding.
The document, posted last week by Wikileaks.
org, highlights the fact that officials’ public statements during chemical or biological events such as
a suspected terrorist attack can easily make matters
worse – and that their ability to make them better
is crucially reliant on a credibility with the public
that many fear is eroding.
George Foresman, the Homeland Security
undersecretary for preparedness until last year,
questioned whether the average citizen would trust
what the government tells them about the likelihood
that they’ve been exposed or not been exposed to a
certain pathogen or a chemical.
“The trust between the American people and
those who are in positions of authority and responsibility is not as strong as it needs to be,” he told
United Press International.“People are cynical
about government communications especially about
terrorism.”
Foresman said public fears were likely to be
greatest when confronted with something where
you cannot see easily whether you’ve been affected
or not – for instance in the case of a release of a
biological agent.
The antidote to that fear is guidance and information, he said.
“Government (communication) has got to be
direct, it’s got to be quick and it’s got to be exact,”
Foresman said, adding that the officials (delivering
it) need to be credible, which would often mean
local public health, emergency management or law
enforcement figures, rather than more senior elected
officials like a governor or a president.
He said this kind of crisis communication
required in-depth discussions with the local and
national media about what you know and – to be
honest – what you don’t know.
Jim Harper, director of information policy studies for the libertarian Cato Institute, said the U.S.
government had failed to do necessary strategic
thinking about reassuring people in the event of
an incident.
Psychosomatic effects aside,
many experts believe the
other effects of panic during a
chemical or biological attack
– the impact on transportation systems and the nation’s
economy, for example – could
far outweigh the direct effects on
the victims and their community.
There was a lack of truly
strategic planning, said Harper.
“What kind of communications will
reassure people that their society is not under
threat of destruction?
“It’s got to be more than just ‘run for the hills,’
even if you’re saying ‘these are the specific hills you
should run for’,”he concluded.
You have to give people a sense of control, said
Paul Slovic of Decision Research, a risk-perception
specialist.“Either the sense that their government is
in control, is handling it … and/or explicit information (about the possible effects of any attack) which
will enable them to take control themselves.”
The leaked homeland security briefing recommends that the possibility of psych-somatic symptoms be taken into account in incident planning
and response scenarios. Officials should ensure they
are communicating safety and security measures
taken by the government and industry to defend
against attacks; educating the public on the nature
of biological and chemical attacks so they can accurately identify symptoms; (and) ensuring a quick
response to real or psychosomatic outbreaks to
isolate affected individuals and reassure
the public.
The department declined to comment,
but Foresman said he believed Homeland
Security and the federal
government as a whole
had made progress on
the communications and
response issue, compared
with the way the anthrax
attacks had been handled
in the fall of 2001.
He said the response to
Hurricane Ike had been a model of what he called
joint information centres – where officials from
different agencies could cooperate on developing
a common operation picture and sharing it with
the public.
Because of that,Texas Gov. Rick Perry was able,
in one briefing, to cover the entire range of issues
they were dealing with, said Foresman, adding
that a range of local officials had participated in
the briefings alongside Perry to address detailed
questions.
But the biggest improvement of the last six or
seven years, said Foresman, was on the task of getting the technical data and turning it into plain,
simple, understandable language.
“The Department of Homeland Security as a
whole and government as a whole is doing much
better,”he concluded.
“Doing a better job with a smaller hurricane is
not good enough,”retorted Harper.
– UPI
WORLD
26 September 2008
Trillion dollar bailout hangs in the balance China’s economy
Washington – Just hours after Congress appeared
on the verge of agreement on an emergency rescue
plan for the US financial system, a historic White
House meeting turned stormy and broke up this
afternoon with no formal consensus on the controversial proposal.
US President George W Bush had called the
urgent meeting with legislators, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and legislative
leaders at the behest of Senator John McCain, the
Republican presidential nominee.
Participants afterward said that McCain said little during the contentious meeting – and even may
have played a spoiler role.
Bush called the meeting hoping to seal consensus
on his US$700 billion dollar (NZ$1 trillion) rescue
plan for a financial system in which credit has dried up
amid the deepening crisis over bad mortgage debt.
Tensions have escalated in Washington in the days
since Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
realized the economy was headed for serious trouble
– a“long and painful recession,”Bush said Thursday
– without a quick fix of cash to buy up the bad
mortgage debt and related securities.
By early this morning, it appeared Democrats
and Republicans had reached agreement on the
principles of the rescue plan that would include
additions of bipartisan oversight, restrictions on
executive salaries in firms benefiting from the deal
and partial government ownership of the firms.
But House Republicans mounted a serious challenge to the agreement and even proposed an alternative solution by the time officials headed to the
White House, several officials said.
Democratic Senator Chris Dodd suggested that
McCain had ambushed the bipartisan agreement in
an effort to boost his profile on his weakest issue, the
economy, less than six weeks before the November
4 elections. Dodd described the most contentious
moment at the White House as the point when
McCain appeared to be supporting a proposal from
conservative House Republicans, who are wary of
what would be the largest intervention into the
capital markets in US history.
“I’m not sure what John McCain said at the meeting,”said Dodd, who claimed that the Republican
candidate had not make clear any of his ideas.
Senate majority leader Harry Reid, who attended
the White House meeting, said that McCain said
“nothing of substance” at the meeting about the
700-billion-dollar deal.
Dodd charged that McCain’s sudden decision to
suspend his campaign and rush to Washington in
the middle of delicate negotiations “looked to me
like a rescue plan for John McCain” instead of a
rescue plan for the economy.
The Democrats, who have held the majority in
Congress for two years, are in the difficult position of having to work with the deeply unpopular
Republican president to find a way to stave off fullblown financial panic.
Republicans, especially in the House of Representatives, have raised the loudest condemnations
against plan, which is anathema for the centre-right
fading fast
By V. Phani Kumar
MarketWatch
Photo: Tom Williams
The first Obama-McCain debate was slated for
Saturday afternoon NZ time. McCain yesterday
called for a delay in light of the national financial
crisis and said he would not participate unless
Congress had reached agreement on the plan
advocates of free markets. Democrats insist that a
majority of Republicans in Congress get behind the
bill, seeking the political cover of a bipartisan plan
amid an increasingly angry public reaction to the
idea that tax dollars will bail out the Wall Street firms
whose messy investments caused the current crisis.
After the meeting, Obama said it appeared there
was a “rough consensus”on the plan, though details
remained to be resolved. Negotiations are continuing.
In a subtle jab at his opponent, the Democratic
nominee said he believed agreement had been
reached “even before John McCain and I even
landed in Washington. Something happened in the
intervening hours.”
“One of the concerns that I’ve had over the last
several days is that when you start interjecting
presidential politics into delicate negotiations, you
can create more problems rather than less,”he said
in a broadcast interview.
“Both Senator McCain and myself need to be
very careful about how we inject ourselves into the
process.”
After McCain on Thursday declared a unilateral
suspension of his campaign, the two candidates
released a joint statement urging a speedy adoption
of the rescue plan and agreeing on the conditions
suggested by Congress.
The first Obama-McCain debate was slated for
Saturday afternoon NZ time. McCain yesterday
called for a delay in light of the national financial
crisis and said he would not participate unless Congress had reached agreement on the plan.
Obama plans to show up in Mississippi for the
debate, calling it important for the candidates to
“explain our vision of where the economy needs to
go. ... One of us is going to be in charge of this mess
in four months.”
“My sense is we can do more than one thing at
a time, and I think that’s what’s required of the
president of the United States,”Obama said.
McCain changed his message this afternoon,
saying he was “hopeful that we’ll get enough of an
agreement (Friday) that I’ll make this debate.”
Asked if he could suffer for appearing to be
grandstanding, McCain, told NBC News:“This is
what I need to do for my country, and if that hurts
me politically, well, I’ll gladly take the penalty.”
– DPA
HONG KONG – Hopes of a
rapid recovery in the health
of the Chinese economy after
the Olympic Games are fading fast on weakening commodity as well as property
prices, Citigroup said in a
report released Thursday.
“All signs are pointing
towards an across-the-board
slowdown in the Chinese economy. The particular
worrying signs are rapid cuts in steel prices, surging
steel exports, deceleration in electricity consumption growth and weakening coal prices,”Citigroup
Lan Xue wrote in the report.
Lan said an unexpected reduction in steel prices
for November announced last week by Baoshan
Iron & Steel Co., China’s largest steelmaker, suggested steel companies weren’t expecting any major
rebound in economic activities.
Baoshan last week announced a reduction of 800
yuan (US$117) a tonne,or more than 10 percent over
October,in the prices of hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel
coils for November, according to reports.
“Another sign of weakening demand is the recent
surge in steel exporters which has been very evident”
since the second quarter, Lan added.
China’s economic indicators were expected to
show an improvement after the Olympics, after
industrial production weakened in the run up to
the Games last month, partly because the government shut down several polluting factories in and
around Beijing.
Official data released earlier this month showed
that the growth in China’s industrial output slowed
to 12.8 percent in August from the same month a
year ago, the weakest pace in six years. In July, China’s industrial production expanded 14.7 percent.
Lan said“a significant deterioration in the property sector”was believed to be one of the key reasons
behind the weakness in domestic demand.
“We have seen quite widely spread month-onmonth decline in sales volumes, which could hinder”
growth in property development in future, said Lan.
“Along with its multiplier impact on the economy,
it is very difficult to replace the damage from a
slowing property sector.”
Other analysts echoed the views on the weakening outlook for the Chinese property market.
DBS Vickers analyst Jasmine Lai wrote that
sharp price cuts by property developers and sluggish sales have“increased the risks for a hard-landing in the China property market.”
“About one-third of corporate loans are pledged
by real estate. Any plunge in property prices may
create uncertainties for the banking system. Hence,
the timing and aggressiveness of the introduction of
government measures to revive the property market
is very important,”she added.
Why a bailout? Here’s what could happen without one
By Martha Brannigan
Without a government rescue of U.S.financial markets,
experts say some worst-case scenarios could ensue:
Your employer won’t be able to make payroll
because the company’s bank account has been
frozen in a bank failure.
Your credit card will be rejected when you try
to pay for groceries or fill your gas tank.
Your bank may close.
“Continuing failures of financial institutions and
frozen credit ‘threaten…families’ financial wellbeing, the viability of businesses both small and
large, and the very health of our economy,”Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson testified Wednesday
before the Senate.
And Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke
added bluntly that without a rescue plan,the country
faces a certain recession and rising unemployment.
For months, the credit markets that provide the
lifeblood of the U.S. economic system have been
bogged down, initially over fears and uncertainty
about soured mortgage loans.
Home mortgages are sliced into a variety of complex packages that have made it difficult for investors to value then now that the real estate market
has turned down. Those doubts have dried up the
market for trading these securities.
In turn, bankers, stung by bad loans, have tightened lending standards so that it’s now hard for the
average consumer to get a mortgage, a car loan, or
a line of credit to carry out normal financial activities. Similarly, businesses that need to borrow cash
to expand operations, buy new equipment or carry
on normal operations face tougher hurdles.
With mounting bank failures, banks have gotten
increasingly fearful of even lending money to one
another overnight – an essential element to providing the financial system with the liquidity needed
to do business.
“Based on what Bernanke and Paulson say, there
would be more bank failures and an exacerbation of
the recent reluctance of banks to lend to one another
and to their customers,” said Mark J. Flannery, a
finance professor at the University of Florida.
The hope of the Bush administration – and at
this point it is only a hope – is that the government
stepping in as the buyer of last resort for the toxic
mortgage securities will stabilize the market.
Once the banks sell off the bad mortgage securities and find ways to rebuild their capital base, they
could go forward on steady footing and resume more
normal lending.
“No one likes to see government money going to
bail out other people, but we have no choice,” said
Ken Thomas, a Miami banking consultant.“With
Bear Stearns and Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae,
we were doing this piecemeal, and we realized the
piecemeal approach was not working.”
As lawmakers hash out the details of the plan,
most experts say something has to be done – and
quickly.
“The financial markets and banking system are
based on confidence,”said Krishnan Dandapani, a
Florida International University finance professor.
“The failure of one institution could lead to a
chain reaction. It would be almost like the Great
Depression happening all over again.”
26 September 2008
WORLD
Ireland joins NZ,
officially in recession
LONDON – The Irish economy,plagued by a collapsing property market,became the first in the 15-nation
euro zone to meet a widely accepted definition of
recession, government data showed Thursday.
The Central Statistics Office said gross domestic
product saw a quarterly contraction of 0.5 percent
in the second quarter, following a 0.3 percent drop
in the first quarter, the Central Statistics Office said.
A recession is informally defined as at least two
consecutive quarters of shrinking GDP.
By Jonathan S. Landay
fire coming from the Pakistani checkpoint at the International Security Assistance Force).”
President Bush recently authorized stepped-up
And economists say worse is still to come.
helicopters. Our guys then fired suppressive rounds
“All in all, it is clear that the Irish boom has well
WASHINGTON – Pakistani forces today fired at U.S. into the ground down the hill from the checkpoint,” cross-border U.S. missile strikes and at least one
helicopters and traded shots with U.S. troops and said Adm. Gregory Smith, a spokesman for Tampa, commando raid. U.S. commanders have long com- and truly turned to bust. And with the (European
plained that Pakistan has failed to act decisively Central Bank) fretting about inflation concerns
Afghan police on the Afghan-Pakistan border in the Fla.-based U.S. Central Command.
elsewhere in the euro zone, there is little help on
latest blow to cooperation between Washington and
The Pakistani soldiers“turned their fire down the against extremist sanctuaries in the tribal area.
Pakistani civilian and military leaders, anxious the immediate horizon,”said Jonathan Loynes, chief
Islamabad, U.S. officials said.
hillside at the U.S.-Afghan patrol,”said Smith.
Neither side reported casualties in the incident,
The U.S.-Afghan patrol fired directly at the Paki- to tamp down widespread popular outrage over the European economist at Capital Economics.
Ireland’s economy had boomed as the property
which occurred when the helicopters crossed into stani checkpoint, and the shooting lasted about five U.S. strikes and reports of civilian casualties, have
the Pakistani tribal agency of North Waziristan, minutes, he said. Smith said officers with U.S.-led been warning that their troops would use force to market surged. But prices began to tumble in early
2007, and the GDP data showed the bursting of a
the Pakistan army said.
NATO forces contacted Pakistani counterparts to defend the border.
“Just as we will not let Pakistan’s territory to be housing bubble was taking a significant toll.
In New York, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zard- determine exactly what happened and work out
used by terrorists for attacks against our people and
The CSO data said real capital investment was
ari said that Pakistani soldiers only fired “flares” ways to avoid future clashes.
to demarcate the mountainous border for the heli“The good news here is that while there was some our neighbours, we cannot allow our territory and down 18.8 percent in the second quarter from a
copter pilots.
judgment error on the part of the Pakistani border our sovereignty to be violated by our friends,”Zard- year earlier, with significant falls in house building and in purchases of transport equipment and
“Sometimes the border in so mixed that they post to fire at our helicopters, no one was hurt,”said ari said in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly.
“Unilateral actions of great powers should not machinery.
don’t realize they have crossed the border,”he told a senior U.S. defence official who asked not to be
inflame the passions of allies,”he said.
Industrial output, including construction, rose
reporters as he sat down to talks with Secretary of further identified so he could speak freely.
Many experts inside and outside the Bush admin- by 1 percent from a year ago. But the construction
State Condoleezza Rice. Rice agreed that the border
The Pakistani military gave a different version,say“is very, very unclear.”
ing in a statement that the helicopters“passed over our istration are concerned that the growing frictions sector itself fell by 12.2 percent, the CSO said.
Consumer spending fell 1.4 percent over the preAccording to the U.S. military, Pakistani troops in border post and were well inside Pakistan territory.” are crippling cooperation between the United States
vious 12 months.
a hillside border checkpoint fired at two U.S. OH-58
“Our own security forces fire anticipatory warning and Pakistan, supposed allies against terrorism.
“This is really bad.This is not the way allies act,”
Loynes said house prices,which are down around 14
Kiowa reconnaissance helicopters providing cover shots. On this, the helicopters returned fire and flew
for Afghan police and U.S. military trainers patrol- back,”the statement said.“The issue is being resolved said Seth Jones of the RAND Corp.“Both sides are percent from their peak, have much further to fall.
“We previously estimated that they will fall by
ling inside the Tanai district of Khost Province.
through existing coordination and communication clearly to blame, although to be honest, I don’t know
20 percent, but that now looks too conservative,”he
The Afghan police and U.S. soldiers “observed channel between Pakistan Army and ISAF (NATO’s that the U.S. had too many other options.”
said.“We now predict that Irish house prices will fall
by 30 percent from peak to trough, but even bigger
falls are perfectly possible.”
Not all economists view GDP as the best measure
for the Irish economy, however, placing more emphaOranjemund, Namibia – The archaeologists are were unable to exploit this find and everything is
“These ingots still clearly show the trident that sis on gross national product due to the country’s
into raptures about the close to 500-year-old ship- still in its place”.
was the seal of the merchant house Jacob Fugger, large foreign-owned sector.
wreck currently being removed from the seabed off
Webber Ndoro from the African World Heritage the main suppliers of the Portuguese crown at the
Still, GNP saw a quarterly fall of 3.1 percent in
Namibia’s southern coast.
Fund says the shipwreck not only gives an insight time,”Alves explains.
the second quarter after a 0.8 percent rise in the
“This is a world heritage that needs to be care- into life aboard a vessel of its kind in the 1600s,but it
“And then the gold coins that show a very spe- first quarter.
fully preserved,”says Bruno Werz, the archaeologist also allows for conclusions about trade at the time. cific embossing that shows they were minted after
“The question of whether Ireland was in recesleading the excavation. His colleague, Francisco
“This ship really allows for a neutral insight into October 1525 and were of such high quality that sion or not in (the second quarter) is nitpicking and
Alves agrees, saying the find provides a window into the world 500 years ago,” he said.“Until now, the everyone wanted them,”he adds.
almost inconsequential because we are there now”
bygone times of seafarers and discoverers.
history of the time was written by the Portuguese
The 60 elephant tusks from the ship appear to in the third quarter, said Rossa White, economist at
Their work is concentrated around the wreck themselves.”
indicate that the vessel was destined for India, Davy Research in Dublin.
of a Portuguese merchant ship discovered along a
Archaeologists and experts from Namibia, South because Indian carvers apparently preferred the
The domestically owned economy, meanwhile,
restricted area seven metres below sea level on the Africa, Zimbabwe, the United Kingdom, the United harder African ivory.
is performing much worse than the multinational
treacherous Atlantic coast about 160 kilometres States and Portugal are working round the clock
Ndoro says the ship showed that“globalization is sector,White said.
south of Luederitz.
to retrieve the remains of the ship by October 10, not a modern day phenomenon, even in those days
“Looking more broadly at employment, producThe ship had been carrying a treasure of gold because the costs of sea-walling the site situated people traded between the continents of Europe, tion, output and household incomes, the economy
coins from the 16th century, copper ingots and silver in a so-called mini-mine run into thousands of dol- Africa and Asia.”
is clearly sliding,”White said.“But the worst of the
coins, canons, swords and ivory, as well as pewter lars daily.
He is convinced that more finds of this nature impact from the decline in house completions”has
tableware, ceramic carafes and rare navigational
Namibia’s state diamond mining company, Nam- could me made along the Namibian Coast. “It yet to be felt and will be seen in the second-half of
instruments.
deb, has lent its expertise to the operation.“They hasn’t been called the Skeleton Coast for nothing this year and the first half of 2009.
The vessel – a Nau – was discovered during the know how to find diamonds in the desert and thus and Namibia should begin training its own archaeDeclining business-confidence indicators across the
sea-walling of a dredge mine in the area of the coun- they also know how to spot coins and other small ologists to prepare for what it could find in future”, euro zone have heightened fears that the 15-nation
try classed as a“Sperrgebiet”or no-go zone.
objects,” Namdeb archaeologist Dieter Noli told he said.
region could also slide into recession after posting a
“This treasure is so extraordinary, because we Deutsche Presse Agentur.
The treasures found belong to the Namibian gov- 0.2 percent contraction in second-quarter GDP.
really have found an extremely well-preserved part
So far thousands of gold and silver coins have ernment, which is funding the excavation.
But the Frankfurt-based ECB is still widely
of history,”says Werz.
been found and are being kept under lock and key
But some artifacts are to be taken elsewhere for expected to leave interest rates on hold in the com“We are very lucky, because it was lying beneath at the Bank of Namibia in the capital Windhoek. research and preservation purposes, an exercise that ing months as it deals with annual inflation rates
the sea in the high-security diamond mining area, Tonnes of copper and tin are safely stored in sheds could take up to 30 years to complete.
well above its target just below 2 percent.
which means that treasure seekers and hobby divers on Namdeb premises.
– DPA
– MarketWatch.com Inc.
U.S. troops clash with Pakistani forces near Afghan border
500 year old treasure ship gives up its haul
10
WORLD
26 September 2008
Syria sprung over secret nuke facility
Vienna – The head of the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) refused today to yield to
the demand of the United States and other countries to speed up the probe of an Syrian alleged
secret nuclear reactor that Israel bombed in 2006.
In response to a US request for a full report on Syria
by November, IAEA Director General Mohamed
ElBaradei told the agency’s board that“we will provide a report as and when we have enough facts”.
The timing of the report “will not be based on
politics”, but on the inspector’s assessment, ElBaradei said. He also mentioned that investigations had
been slowed down by the assassination of a Syrian
intermediary.
In April, the US provided the IAEA with photographs and other evidence indicating Syria had
nearly completed an undisclosed reactor in the
desert before Israeli warplanes bombed the site.
IAEA inspectors visited the al-Kibar site in June.
According to ElBaradei, they have not found any
evidence of nuclear materials at the site so far.The
location was razed and a new structure was erected
after the air attack.
Officials close to the IAEA said that samples
were also still being analyzed for graphite, a material
used in nuclear reactors.
Without mentioning Israel or the US, ElBaradei
criticized both countries for not having shared their suspicions before the“gratuitous use of force”in Syria.
“Once the evidence has been eliminated, it
becomes quite difficult for us to establish the facts,”
the Director General said.“The corpse is gone.”
At the board meeting that ended Thursday
evening, IAEA members including the United
States and European Union countries criticized
Syria for not allowing more visits that the nuclear
inspectors have asked for.
“Syria’s failure to cooperate with inspectors in a
full and timely manner is a matter of serious concern,”US Ambassador Gregory Schulte said.
ElBaradei told the 35 members on the IAEA
board that “the reason that Syria has been late in
providing additional information [is] that our interlocutor has been assassinated in Syria”.
Pirates hit paydirt off Kenyan coast
The Director General was referring to General
Mohamed Suleiman, a security adviser to Syrian
president Bashar al-Assad, who was shot by a sniper
on August 2, a senior diplomat said.
Syrian Ambassador Mohammad Badi Khattab
told Deutsche Presse Agentur his authorities were
not blocking inspections but had agreed with the
nuclear agency to wait for final results of a first visit
IAEA visit to the site in June before considering
“further developments”.
“It’s the International Atomic Energy Agency,
not the American Atomic Energy Agency”, Khattab
said in reaction to the call on the IAEA to issue a
full report on Syria by November.
Khattab reiterated his country’s claim that al-
Kiev – Pirates operating near the shores of Kenya
grabbed a Ukrainian cargo ship possibly loaded
with military munitions and even tanks, the Interfax news agency reported this morning.
Three motor boats loaded with armed men intercepted the Ukrainian bulk carrier Faini in international waters off Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast,
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry officials said.
The Belize-flagged vessel was carrying an authorized Ukrainian government arms shipment to
Kibar was a conventional military installation.
Kenya including 30 type T-72 tanks, an additional
The diplomat added that US efforts to prevent number of armoured personnel carriers, and munia discussion among IAEA members about Isra- tions, according to Ukraine media reports.
el’s nuclear weapons capabilities amounted to a
Ukrainian diplomats confirmed that the vessel
“double standard.”
with 21 crew members aboard – 17 Ukrainians, 3
According to Western diplomats, several agency Russians, and one Latvian – had been captured by
members were disappointed that IAEA Director the buccaneers but declined to provided details on
General Mohammed ElBaradei provided them with the ship’s cargo.
only a very brief oral report this week.
The captain contacted the ship’s owner by telOne official close to the IAEA said that rather ephone and reported that armed men were boarding,
than highlighting the Syria issue, it was the organi- shortly before losing communications.
zation’s goal to“keep lines of communication clear”
Ukrainian government and commercial reprewith Syria, because inspectors wanted to make fur- sentatives were attempting to re-establish contact.
ther visits to additional sites.
The pirates’demands, if any, were not reported.
– DPA
– DPA
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42715
NORFOLK, Virginia – An American physicist has
been charged with violating federal arms control
laws by selling rocket technology to China that’s
now being used in that country’s space program.
Quan-Sheng Shu, 68, a naturalized U.S. citizen
who was born in Shanghai, was arrested yesterday
morning and made an initial appearance that afternoon in U.S. District Court in Norfolk. He is being
held in jail pending a bond hearing Monday.
Selling defence and space technology to China
or other prohibited countries without a license is a
violation of the federal Arms Export Control Act.
Shu operates Amac International Inc. at the
Applied Research Center in the Thomas Jefferson
National Accelerator Facility in Virginia. He is
accused of selling technology to China,using a French
company as an intermediary,for the development of
hydrogen-propelled rockets, according to a criminal
complaint unsealed Wednesday afternoon.
The complaint says China paid him more than
US$250,000. He also is charged with bribing Chinese officials to push the sale through.
China is currently developing an advanced space
facility in the southern island of Hainan.
“This facility will house liquid-propelled heavy
payload launch vehicles designed to send space
station and satellites into orbit, as well as provide
support for manned space flight and future lunar
missions,”the complaint says.
China has been trying to advance its space program for years with the ultimate goal of putting a
man on the moon, according to news reports. Later
this week, China plans to launch three astronauts
into space and conduct its first space walk. The
country also currently has an unmanned probe
orbiting the moon.
“China has independently developed the ‘Long
March’rocket group,”the country’s state-run newspaper, the China Daily, reported last fall.“Now China
has a matured technology to develop propellants
made from liquid hydrogen.”
That report came about eight months after Shu
completed his deal with the Chinese government,
according to U.S. authorities.
The court records do not indicate a connection,
however.
The FBI and the Justice Department declined to
comment beyond what is in the criminal complaint.
SPORT
26 September 2008
11
Manly brace for toughest test
the same goes for Manly legend Steve Menzies.
“That’s a big job to stop those two guys.They’re
Sydney, Sept 26 – Both sides are coming off big the guys that really lead from the front, they’re the
wins but Manly’s brains trust are predicting a low- motivation and all the younger guys are jumping
scoring, defensive slugfest against the New Zealand on their backs.”
Warriors in tomorrow’s National Rugby League
Orford labelled it his side’s toughest challenge
(NRL) grand final qualifier.
all year.
Confidence isn’t an issue for either side, largely
Canny Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler,a premiership
injury-free and in form at the most important stage winner as a player with Manly in 1987 and 1996 and
of the season as they eye either Melbourne or Cro- a beaten grand finalist as coach against Melbourne a
nulla in next Sunday’s grand final.
year ago, struggled to see a score blowout.
Manly are warm favourites with Australian
Last time the sides met in Sydney, Manly smashed
bookmakers, with a single $A250,000 bet at odds of a defensively inept Warriors 52-6 at Brookvale Oval
$A1.42 with TAB Sportsbet on Tuesday which fur- in March.
ther shortened the Sea Eagles into
Hasler wouldn’t hear of that
$1.36 while the Warriors drifted
result
having any relevance here
Orford
to $A3.
and acknowledged two key factors,
said the
Dally M medal winner and
self-belief and momentum, were
Manly halfback Matt Orford, Warriors’
spurring the Warriors.
whose side had last weekend off
“There’s plenty to admire
after a 38-6 dispatch of the Drag- talismen in
about their efforts so far.They’ve
ons, was tipping a heart-stopper jerseys eight
got good momentum and play
at the Sydney Football Stadium
with plenty of energy mixed with
and 10, Steve
as the Warriors breezed into town
emotion.
Price and Ruben
last night.
“They’re playing good football
“We’re wary because they’re Wiki, had the
and they’re an experienced side, a
in great form.They just blew the
lot of players who’ve played a lot
Roosters off the park (30-13 last biggest targets
of rep footy.
Friday), they were too big and too on their heads
“It’s very, very even ground
strong and played a disciplined
come Saturday night. These
for the Sea
game of football,”Orford said.
games are 50-50, always have
“But I just know that if we can Eagles’ pack
been.”
repeat that performance against
The Sea Eagles were keeping
the Dragons we’re going to give ourselves every it low-key as they shortened into NRL favouritism
chance.
with some bookies, holding just one media session
“The plan is,a real disciplined type of football and a on Wednesday before locking the gates to their
grinding game.I’m sure it’s going to be very close and training ground at Narrabeen.
I dare say there won’t be too many points scored.”
Key centre Steven Bell (calf) remained an injury
Orford said the Warriors’talismen in jerseys eight doubt for the Eagles.
and 10, Steve Price and Ruben Wiki, had the biggest
The Warriors were due to train in central Sydney
targets on their heads for the Sea Eagles’ pack. It and face the media this afternoon to put the finishcould potentially be Wiki’s last NRL game, although ing touches on a trouble-free preparation.
By Mark Geenty of NZPA
NZPA / Nigel Marple
Lights on for Singapore Grand Prix
Singapore – With Singapore’s Formula One circuit given the final thumbs-up, drivers readied for
crucial practice runs to attune themselves to the
5,067-kilometre narrow street race under lights.
The 20 drivers have practice sessions early tomorrow morning NZ time.
“Practice will be as important as ever,”said world
championship leader Lewis Hamilton of the first
Grand Prix at night.
The drivers so far have only been able to test the
Marina Bay circuit on simulators.The actual practice would supply data on tyre wear, grip levels and
time lost at the pit lanes, observers said.
If it rains on race day Sunday, visibility and tyre
performance would change, providing additional
challenges.
The anti-clockwise track layout weaving around
Singapore’s landmarks has 23 turns.
“We’re all very excited to get out on the circuit
for the first time and experience what it is like,”
Hamilton said.
The International Automobile Federation
(FIA), the sport’s governing body, gave the track
the green light Thursday and the final go-ahead
for the event.
Hamilton is leading the drivers’ standings by a
point over Ferrari’s Felipe Massa with four races
to go after Singapore. His appeal against a penalty
received after cutting a corner at the Belgian Grand
Prix was rejected Tuesday by an FIA court.
Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali
brushed aside speculation that Singapore could be
pivotal in the race for the driver’s title.
“The Singapore race is very important because we
only have four races to go,”he said,“but I’m expecting that this year, the championship will finish once
again at the last race,”which is in Brazil.
The lighting system consists of 108,423 metres of
power cables, 240 steel pylons and 1,500 projectors,
creating light that is four times brighter than that
used at sports stadiums.
– DPA
Campbell in red figures again
Sutton Coldfield, England, Sept 25 – Michael
Campbell’s late season resurgence continued with
the New Zealand golfer posting a three-under-par
69 at the British Masters today.
Campbell recorded five birdies on The Belfry
course to end the first round of the Stg1.8 million
($NZ4.93 million) event eighth equal, two shots
behind the leading pair, Australian Marcus Fraser
and Sweden’s Mikael Lundberg.
Five players,including Campbell’s playing partner
Lee Westwood, are next best after rounds of 68.
It marked a continuation of Campbell’s recent
fine form. He has made the cut in his last six tournaments and registered three top-10 results in his
past four appearances.
Campbell was naturally happy with his consistency, despite a double bogey at the ninth..
“I played nicely for 17 holes and there was just
the one mistake and that’s when I found the water
to the right of the ninth.
“But overall I am happy and it was a good day’s
work,”said Campbell, who revealed he will end his
2008 European Tour campaign at next week’s Alfred
Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.
Fellow New Zealander Gareth Paddison is
already staring at the weekend off after carding a
disappointing 77.
– NZPA
SPORT
12
26 September 2008
Phoenix’s Tony
Lochhead, left
and Marriners
Adrian Caceres
leap over the
Phoenix goalie
Glen Moss as he
makes a save
in the A-League
football match,
Westpac Stadium. NZPA / Ross Setford
Fans in a fever over Phoenix’s lacklustre season
stretched 15 pages in length.
It followed their eighth match without a win,
Wellington, Sept 26 – For many Phoenix fans, stretching back to last season.
Sunday’s home A-League soccer showdown with
Said one poster:“Last week was apparently a line
high-flying Sydney FC could well prove another in the sand.Well, guess what? The tide just came in
frustrating test of their patience.
and we’re back to square one.”
After an unsettled week in the aftermath of sinkWith striker Shane Smeltz suffering a goal
ing to the bottom of the standings through a depress- drought by his high standards, the majority in the
ing 0-1 loss to Perth, the Ricki Herbert-coached side thread wonder if Herbert has got his starting lineconducted some soul searching with team owner up, tactics and game substitutions right.
Terry Serepisos and among themselves.
They may just be wondering a bit longer.
The answer, according to skipper Andrew Durante,
The question is, what should the Phoenix do?
was for the players to work harder and to overcome a
With 16 matches left, do they go for the draw to
lack of self-confidence that had contributed to their earn respect or for a win to keep their season alive?
record of two draws and three losses after five rounds.
On paper, they should pose little threat to
Having seen their side score just three goals unbeaten Sydney who have three wins and two
while conceding nine, the Phoenix’s“Yellow Fever” draws for 11 points.
fans vented their feelings in a website forum that
Wellington’s back four will have their hands full
By Peter Martinez of NZPA
trying to subdue the likes of John Aloisi, Steve Corica and Mark Bridge, while goalkeeper Glen Moss
will need to be alert for Brendan Santalab, who
scored with a stunning 30m thunderbolt in the 3-0
win over Adelaide last week.
The return of speedy All Whites winger Leo Bertos from a groin injury which has sidelined him for
weeks could provide the spark the Phoenix need.
And Herbert’s recall of veteran striker Vaughan
Coveny to potentially partner Smeltz points to an
attacking mindset on Sunday.
However, it has been the midfield mix that has
proved to be the weak point in the Phoenix.
There is only one genuine playmaker there in
Daniel and variations from among Michael Ferrante, Richard Johnson,Troy Hearfield, Leilei Gao
and Adam Kwasnik have so far failed to gel and
impose themselves on their opposition.
nzru sticks with shield status quo
Wellington, Sept 26 – Proposed changes on
a perceived need to spice up the Ranfurly Shield
have been canned.
New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive
Steve Tew said today the decision was made after
feedback from provincial unions clearly stated no
changes were desired.
“Based on various discussions regarding the Ranfurly Shield, we had been encouraged to explore
with provincial unions how we might look at raising
the visibility of the Ranfurly Shield.
“Having listened to the feedback,there is clear view
that we should leave the rules regarding challenges in
the Air New Zealand Cup as they are,”Tew said.
However, the NZRU will recommend a change to
the shield regulations to provide that the winners
of the previous year’s Meads Cups be automatically
granted a shield challenge in the following year as
one of the two mandatory challenges.
The second mandatory challenge from a Heartland championship provincial union would be at
the discretion of the holders.
This change will be recommended at the next
NZRU annual or special general meeting.
Among the proposed changes in the NZRU’s
competition review conducted recently was for
the shield to be at stake home and away after four
successful defences.
Other options were to have one or two away challenges in the regular season and the two pre-season
challenges to be automatically allocated to the holders of the Meads and Lochore Cups.
Wellington, Sept 26 – The Louis Vuitton Pacific
regatta off Auckland has attracted seven confirmed
entries, just a week after the announcement of the
event.
Organisers said today that with 23 expressions of
interest received so far, the remaining eight berths
could be expected to be snapped up.
Among the confirmed entries are five former cup
competitors – Team New Zealand, Oracle Racing
(US), K-Challenge (France), Mascalzone Latino
(Italy), and Shosholoza (South Africa).
An Italian and one other team have also entered,
but will announce their participation later.
The regatta will be held in Auckland from January 31 to February 14 next year.
Three races are planned each day on a 3.2km
windward-leeward course laid on Waitemata Harbour between Rangitoto Island and the city.
– NZPA
Keenan to succeed dumped
Willering
The shield-holder is never forced to defend it in an
away match, although they may choose to, as Auckland did many times during their record tenure as
shield holders between 1985 and 1993.
Auckland played both their mandatory defences
against Heartland teams in 2008 on the road.
Wellington are the current holders, having lifted
it off Auckland with a 27-0 win last Saturday.
Wellington, Sept 26 – Te Aroha Keenan has
been promoted to coach the Northern Mystics in
the trans-Tasman netball league.
Her appointment was confirmed today by the
Auckland-based franchise.
Keenan assisted previous coach Yvonne Willering, who was last month dumped one year into her
three-year contract.
A former Silver Fern, she has previously coached
New Zealand under-21, the Cook Islands and the
Auckland Diamonds.
The Mystics finished eighth among 10 teams
in the inaugural trans-Tasman competition this
year.
“I’m really excited about the role. It’s going to
be a big challenge but I am confident I can get the
most out of this team in 2009,”Keenan said.
Keenan said she wanted to make winning the
ANZ Championship title a priority, but her initial
goals were to get working with the team and the
support network around it.
“For me the first thing is to get to know the ins
and outs of the team and get the support team
together to form a cohesive unit with a view to
winning games.”
Mystics officials said it was likely two assistant
coaches would be appointed to help Keenan.
– NZPA
– NZPA
Wellington’s
Jeremy Thrush
shows off the
Ranfurly Shield
on the arrival at
the airport after
defeating Auckland 27-0 in the
Air New Zealand
Cup rugby match.
NZPA / Ross Setford
Currently, the shield holder at the end of each
season is required to accept at least seven challenges
for the following year.
All home games during league play, but not during knockout playoffs, in the Air NZ Cup or Heartland championship are automatic challenges.
The remaining shield defences must be made up
of challenges from unions in the other domestic
competition.
Seven confirm
entries for LV Pacific series
WEEKEND
26 September 2008
13
TV & Film entertainment
NEWS
Survey: Wives rule the TV remote PHILADELPHIA, (UPI) – In 43 percent of all mixed
gender couples women make decisions in more areas
than men, including who controls the TV remote, a
U.S. survey indicates. The Pew Research Centre survey
says men make more of the decisions in 26 percent of
couples, while 31 percent split decision-making responsibilities equally. Forty-five percent of women say they
manage the money in the household and 23 percent
say their partner does. Men see things differently – 37
percent say they manage the money, while 30 percent
report that their partner mostly handles the household
finances. For many couples, neither partner has the
final word on shared weekend plans. But 46 percent
jointly make decisions about buying major items for the
home. Twenty-six percent of women say they are about
as likely to decide what to watch on television as 28
percent of their spouses. Men are slightly more likely to
say their spouse decides – 30 percent – than say they
control the remote – 24 percent. A total of 2,250 adults
were interviewed by telephone, including 1,260 who
were married or living with a partner. The subsample of
those who were in couples is plus/minus 3 percentage
points, while the margin of error for the overall sample is
plus/minus 2.3 percentage points.
Earth-bound
Hollywood returns to the centre of the Earth with a new dimension
We might be digging for an analogy here, but compare the Earth to a golf ball (and the Big Bang as
tee time!): Both have a dense inner core, a lighter
but rigid middle interior, and a relatively wafer-thin
surface. Our planet may not be white and dimpled,
but it certainly flies through space.
What we’re pretty sure it doesn’t have inside are
vast oceans, bejewelled caverns and prehistoric
animal life.
“Whattya mean?”joked Eric Brevig, director of
the action-adventure extravaganza Journey to the
Centre of the Earth (opening this weekend) in which
the phantasmagoria of the 1864 Jules Verne novel
are recreated, and a plausible human drama is sandwiched in between the 3-D pyrotechnics.
“My idea was taking the classic novel and making
it accessible for a modern audience,”he said.“It was a
challenge – there were scripts around that were period
scripts, but my idea was to take the fun of the movie,
which is that there’s stuff down there that people don’t
know about, and make the characters emotionally
interesting. ... And they’re not just uninteresting
humans in a movie about visual effects.”
Brevig knew he had an edge with Brendan Fraser
in the lead (“He was my first choice ...“I thought,‘If I
can get this guy, half my work is done”). Fraser plays
Trevor Anderson, a forward-thinking seismologist
whose brother disappeared some years before.When
Trevor’s nephew Sean (Josh Hutcherson) comes to
visit, he arrives with a box of his father’s
papers. Inside is a copy of the Jules Verne
book, with notes indicating the existence of
a portal to inner Earth.The next thing you
know, Trevor and Sean are off to Iceland,
where they pick up a beautiful guide (Anita
Briem).The trio vanishes into the ground.
It was Fraser’s idea, Brevig said, to change
the Trevor-Sean relationship from father-son
to uncle-nephew, which gives them a common
concern – the missing brother/father – and
the movie more of an emotional hook. But there’s no
getting around it:At the heart and soul of“Journey
to the Centre of the Earth”is a whole host of visual
effects and the attraction of 3-D.What Verne wrote
about – in a book that was geologically clueless coming from a 19th century author who predicted space
travel – is custom-made for filmmaking technocrats.
(It also inspired the Henry Levin movie of 1959,
whose visual-effects people are forever in debt to
the inventor of papier mâche.)
3-D has its critics: Brevig admitted he wanted to
make something that “wouldn’t hurt the eyes.”
“3-D opens up a wonderful tool set for the director
and shuts a lot (of doors) for the visual-effects people,”
Brevig said.“Because a lot of what visual effects are
about is tricking the audience,and you can’t trick the
audience if they can see it with both eyes.There are
a lot of shortcuts you have to rethink.”
Effects vet Christopher Townsend (Star Wars,A.
I.,Pirates of the Caribbean), who led Brevig’s visual
tech team, said it was difficult bringing the experience of a“mono”world to make a film in“stereo.”(“In
visual effects,”said Brevig,“3-D refers to computer
graphics that can move around and have shape, so
we used ‘stereo’– and then it’s the sound people who
get all confused.”) In 2-D cinema, Townsend said,
building a mountain involves certain conventions:
“You make it small, you decrease the contrast on
the image, increase the black to imply depth, soften
the focus and put it behind other things.That’s the
basic recipe.”
But in stereo – everything is shot twice, and the
images“married”– two eyes are working and forced
perspective doesn’t cut it.“You can put the mountain behind the person in the foreground, but it
will be on the same visual plane as the character,”
Townsend said.“So you need to really construct
something larger and put it 1,000 feet behind your
character. It makes the work a lot harder.”
Still,Townsend thinks it’s the way to go,regardless
of content.“Someone was saying,‘Well, you wouldn’t
do a little romantic comedy in stereo,’and I said,‘No,I
think you do.’You do My Dinner With Andre in stereo,
you do Before Sunrise, two people sitting in a cafe
talking.People will say,‘That doesn’t make sense,’but
if you imagine it as a stereo film, you’d be the third
person at the table.It wouldn’t have to be an eye-popping thing. But you’d be more immersed in it.”
– By John Anderson
Make-believe is the real thing for Journey star Brendan Fraser
If anybody knows the secret to how one acts when starring in big-screen, big-effects summer movie spectacles, it’s Brendan Fraser. The guy’s
done two Mummy movies, with a third in theatres now. And he’s in Journey to the Centre of the Earth, a 3-D action epic, opening today.
“I have to believe what I’m playing against is real,” says Fraser, who faces a T-Rex and gigantic Venus flytraps in Journey. “If I don’t, the
audience will sense that, and the movie won’t work.”
So the director, Eric Brevig, has to be the one who gives Fraser’s trade secret away.
“He’ll slug down a couple of Red Bulls, one right after the other, before a big scene,” Brevig says, laughing. “That’s
technique!”
Fraser, 39, has done his share of edgy, indie fare, turning in winning performances in films from Gods & Monsters to The
Quiet American and Crash. But his forte is lighter fare, and his niche seems to be big, family-oriented action-adventures. He
loves the idea of making movies his kids (he has three) would love.
“You do something like this and you watch a kid of 8 sit through it and you know what unbridled glee looks like,” Fraser says.
And if family film is his niche, his MO as an actor doesn’t hurt. He’s a nice guy. Everybody says so. “Approachable” reads
his bio on the Internet Movie Database. Funny, too, a bit of a goof. He won the job in the break-out hit George of the Jungle
by working out for months, then tearing off his shirt in the audition. He tries his hand at a James Mason impression when
recalling the 1959 big screen version of Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
“Brendan’s just an incredibly likable human being,” offers his Air I Breathe screenwriter, Bob DeRosa. “Very charming and funny.”
“He’s fun to watch as a guy who can’t seem to do anything right,” says Brevig.
And “his ‘big dumb guy/Dad’ persona can carry a film,” adds the movie biz website Fantasymoguls.com.
Which is why you can look forward to seeing him in “three gorgeous dimensions” in Journey to the Centre of the Earth, in August in The
Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, and early next year in the fantasy Inkheart, based on the Cornelia Funke novel, playing, yup, “a dad,
who, little does his daughter realize, when he reads aloud can make things in the books become real.”
– By Roger Moore
This journey’s
been taken before
Brendan Fraser may be a bona fide movie star, but can he possibly
compare to Pat Boone? When the ‘50s pop idol (now a columnist for WorldNetDaily) stepped into the role of Alec McEwen for
1959’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth, he was coming off
several years of singing top-charting hits and making Little Richard
songs (like “Tutti-Frutti”) safe for white America. His performance?
Let’s say it ranks up there with fellow rockers Ricky Nelson in Rio
Bravo and Fabian in Five Weeks in a Balloon.
The crowning performance in Henry Levin’s version of the
Jules Verne classic is by James Mason, who is so hammy
you could smell it from sea level. As Prof. Oliver Lindenbrook,
knighted geologist from the University of Edinburgh, it is Mason
who leads Alec, strapping Icelander Hans Belker (Peter Ronson);
Hans’ duck, Gertrude; the evil Count Saknussem (Thayer David),
and the recently widowed Carla Goetaborg (Arlene Dahl) into a
subterranean lair of giant lizards and secret oceans. Carla’s late
husband did the research Lindenbrook uses to make his trip. Bad
guys are in hot pursuit.
The ‘59 Journey got three Oscar nominations, and while the
special effects pale in comparison to the 3-D pyrotechnics of the
new film, they aren’t bad, considering their time. The older version was also fairly faithful to the Verne book (except for the bad
guys, and the fact that the novel began in Germany rather than
Scotland). The new film uses the novel itself as a plot device; the
male principals (Fraser and young Josh Hutcherson) are Americans
who team up with an Icelandic guide (Anita Briem) to follow a
“Vernian” route below ground. There are plenty of other updates
as well – Googling at 30,000 feet during the flight to Iceland, for
instance, or our intrepid explorers trying to use a cell phone miles
below the Earth’s crust. Things, we can be sure, that Pat Boone
never dreamed about.
See the movie trailer REVIEWS
14
26 September 2008
Music But this was no Brady Bunch. According to
Quincy and Lloyd, Elvera outrageously favoured
her own children, even calling Quincy and Lloyd
“Jones’ boys.”The emotional toll was deep.
“When you’d see a mother brush the hair of her
child,”he explains,“every bone and cell in your body
would just cringe.You wanted that so bad.”
To earn spending money, Jones got a paper route,
pressed clothes and shined shoes for the pimps
around Dick Green’s jook joint.“I carried a .32
snub nose in my paper bag,”says Jones.“Still have
it.Who-o-o-ole lotta rednecks in the Army and stuff,
you know. I never took a chance.”
At 12, Jones discovered music, which, with its
colour and emotion, became, he says, his surrogate
mother.At junior high school, he played trumpet in
the band and sang in a gospel group. Babysitting
for music teacher Joseph Powe (who later taught at
Garfield), he also discovered books about arranging
and Frank Skinner’s classic about composing for
film,“Underscore.”
In the fall of 1947, Jones entered Garfield as a
sophomore.
One of the first kids he met was Charlie Taylor,
who played saxophone and whose mother, Evelyn Bundy, had been one of Seattle’s first society
jazz-band leaders. Taylor invited Jones to join his
swing band, which soon attracted the attention of
local promoter Bumps Blackwell, who later made
a name for himself as Little Richard’s producer.
As the Bumps Blackwell Junior Band, the group
played all over the Northwest, backing up the great
Billie Holiday and Billy Eckstine, and discovering
on a white cushion next to an array of couches. Seattle’s lively jazz nightclub scene at places like the
By Paul De Barros
He looks trimmer than he did in February, and Washington Social Club, and the Black Elks Club.
The Seattle Times
later boasts he’s lost nine kilos. (“I was drinking
From the start, Jones had been as interested in
In the late 1940s, when Quincy Delight Jones lived then.”) His mellifluous voice is deep and seductive, composing and arranging as in playing the trumon 22nd Avenue, just a block from his alma mater, his brown eyes magnetic, making you feel you’re pet. One night, the great swing band leader Lionel
Garfield High School, there was a place they called the most important person in the room. He smiles Hampton came to town and the 15-year-old Jones
showed Hamp an original piece he’d been working
“the dream window”in the attic, where he and his broadly, and often.
“I just got a doctorate from Washington Univer- on,“Suite to the Four Winds.”Hampton invited him
seven brothers and sisters slept.
“We would look out there,”recalls Jones’youngest sity; Princeton; then there was the University of to join. Giddy, Jones jumped on the bus, only to be
brother, Richard, now a federal judge in Seattle, Washington; the Pequot Tribe, in Alaska; Cambo- told by Hampton’s wife that he was too young. He
“and think,‘What is it I can possibly do? Where is dia; China; Brazil; Abu Dhabi; Dubai – it’s insane,” was crushed.
“I wanted to escape, man,”he says.
life going to take me?’We weren’t looking at a spec- he begins, like a man speaking with amazement
And not just from Elvera, but from his mother,
tacular lake.We grew up looking at the blackberry about somebody else’s life.“I got to go to London for
bushes and garbage in the lot across the street.You Mandela’s thing next week (Nelson Mandela’s 90th who eventually showed up in Seattle and shadowed
birthday), then Sardinia on a boat for 10 days.Then Quincy and Lloyd until she died in 1999. (Seattle
had to have a big imagination.”
A big imagination indeed.This was a very differ- the Montreux festival, Beijing. I’ve been to China Centre employees recall a gentle, volatile soul who
often dropped by and quoted the Bible.)
ent time in America.The armed forces, most musi- 16 times in the last year-and-a-half.”
A plaque nearby honours him as an artistic
In this family nightmare, Jones’ father, with
cians unions and Major League Baseball were still
his big heart and sterling work ethic, somehow
segregated; interracial dating was scandalous; and adviser for the Beijing Olympic Games.
“Spielberg pulled out, you know,”he says, clearly trumped the pain and loss Jones felt from Sarah
lynching was still a fact of life in the South. There
and Elvera:
were no black people on TV or radio, unless they disturbed.
Along with film director Ang Lee, the three of
“He was making $55 a week and had eight kids,
were domestics.
Yet Quincy Jones,looking out that“dream window,” them were hired as consultants for the opening and man, but he gave me everything he had. He was an
somehow imagined a future that not only transcended closing ceremonies. Jones had come under pressure absolute workaholic. He had a saying: Once a task is
– especially from Mia Farrow – to quit, because of just begun, never leave until it’s done. Be the labour
all that, but in some ways would transform it.
great or small, do it well or not at all.”
You’ve seen the radiant Jones on Hollywood Chinese behavior toward Darfur.
“I love Mia,”he says.“I’ve known her since she was
Sitting behing his huge desk in Seattle’s federal
award shows or perhaps even read his heartbreakingly frank book,“Q:The Autobiography of Quincy 17. I don’t need political lessons from her. I’m not a courthouse, Quincy’s brother Richard, 17 years his
Jones.”You probably know he produced the big- quitter, it’s that simple. I’m just not a quitter.When junior, has a similar recollection:
“Daddy hammered that into my head from the
gest-selling album of all time, Michael Jackson’s a country is 1 billion, 300 million, you don’t pull out
time we came out of the womb. He used to talk about
“Thriller,”and one of the best-selling singles, the star- on them.You work it out.They are comers, man.”
Such spirited independence, honouring of com- the ‘shelf of life’ – that there’s a lot of competition
studded“We Are the World.”Or that he co-produced
the film“The Colour Purple”with Steven Spielberg mitments, indomitable work ethic and determina- on the bottom, because everybody wanted to go for
and has won more Grammy Awards (27) than any tion to be where the action is have been hallmarks easy pickings. But if you went to the top shelf, there
of Jones from the beginning.
weren’t a lot of people fighting for that, because
other artist in popular music.
Born during the Great Depression, March 14, they knew how hard it was to get up there. Shoot
But what was he like as a young man? What will
his legacy be? Who is Quincy Jones, really? And 1933, in Chicago’s South Side ghetto, Jones and his for the very best.”
Apparently, the lesson sank in. Quincy Jones and
what prompted the audacity of his dream, looking brother Lloyd braved gang-infested streets and
looked on, terrified, as their schizophrenic mother, Taylor – who became a successful anthropologist
out that window?
– sat around after rehearsals, practicing how they
A relaxed, rambling conversation in June at his Sarah, was taken away in a straitjacket.
“A guy attacked me with a knife when I was 7 would sign their names when they got famous.
2000-square-metre home in Bel Air, Calif. – designed
“When all the other guys would go to study hall,”
by high school classmate Gerald Allison – offered some years old,” says Jones, holding up his still-scarred
right hand.“I was on the wrong street.”
says classmate and fellow trumpeter Morrie Capeinsights into Jones’complex personality and career.
Quincy’s father, Quincy Delight Jones Sr., a car- luto,“he’d go to the music room and he’d scribble
Jones and Allison spent five years working on this
dream home, which features an enormous, round penter who worked for gangsters, remarried, this out maybe 16 bars and bring them to rehearsal.
living room with a domed ceiling in the style of time to Quincy’s friend Waymond’s mother, Elvera, And he’d say, ‘Hey guys, let’s try this out.’ He just
an African house. Art from every continent graces who had two other children,Theresa and Katherine. had a knack.You could tell right away he was somethe rooms, and family photographs are arranged in Shortly thereafter, in 1943, the new, blended family body that was just going to go way, way ahead of
galleries. On a grand piano stands a Humanitar- moved to Bremerton in Washington state, where everybody else.”
ian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Quincy’s father landed a wartime job in the Puget
The story has often been told how Jones and Ray
Arts and Sciences, and Jones’ Count Basie/Frank Sound Naval Shipyard.There would eventually be Charles met – probably at the Black Elks Club – and
Sinatra songbook.
three more children – Jeanette, Margie and Richard it makes for a fine celebrity tale. But what usually
Jones walks in, wearing shorts, and plops down – bringing the total to eight.
gets lost in the telling is that Ray Charles wasn’t the
Daring to dream
world-famous soul singer then. He was a completely
unknown, blind, 16-year-old musician from Florida
named R.C. Robinson, playing bebop piano and alto
sax and singing like Nat Cole. How a 14-year-old
kid would think to approach such a person speaks
volumes about just how determined Jones was to
learn his craft.
“I asked him,” says Jones,“ ‘How in the hell do
eight brass players play at the same time and not
play the same notes?’And he said ‘Easy,’ and bang!
he hit a Bb7 in prime position and a C7.That was
the bebop sound.That opened the door. Because I
learn quick, you know?”
The musicians Jones admired in those days were
the flamboyant new beboppers Charlie Parker and
Dizzy Gillespie, and he and his gang did their best
to imitate the new styles, wearing zoot suits and
fedoras and talking jive.
“We were the bad boys,”Jones says,“so we had all
the girls, man. Like the rappers.”
His career launched, Jones moved to an apartment in NewYork with Jeri Caldwell, who’d been his
girlfriend since their junior year at Garfield.
Jones married Caldwell, but it didn’t last long –
mostly, he admits, because he was such a compulsive
Don Juan.Jones has been married and divorced three
times:Caldwell,mother of his daughter,Jolie,was first;
then Swedish model Ulla Andersson, with whom he
fathered Martina and Quincy Delight Jones III; and
finally to“Mod Squad”star Peggy Lipton, mother of
Rashida (Karen on TV’s “The Office”) and fashion
designer Kidada. Jones has fathered two other children: Rachel, by dancer Carol Reynolds, and Kenya,
by actress Nastassja Kinski.
A workaholic who rarely participated in the rearing of his children, Jones is alternately regretful
and defensive.
“Jolie was a model making $400 a week with
Eileen Ford when she was 14,”he says.“First black
model on Mademoiselle. But she was wild! She said,
‘Why didn’t you stop me?’ I said, ‘I thought you
knew what you were doing.’You know? But they all
survived their dramas.”
Jones is fond of boasting his ex-wives and children
all get along. But Andersson (who raised Quincy III
in Sweden, and once had severe drug and alcohol
problems) wrote a scathing autobiography,“Red
Carpet Blues,”and has called Jones a“sociopath”and
accused him of turning their son against her.
Wrote Kidada in Jones’autobiography:“My dad
does not deal well with pain. He does not allow it in.
He’s like Winnie the Pooh. He is the sweetest, kindest
person ... but his own pain, he buried it with deals,
food, ideas, scripts, work, work, work.”
Jones seems to be taking fatherhood more seriously with his youngest, Kenya, 15, who lives down
the street with her mother.
“She just got 11 A’s and two B’s at the Lycee Francais,”he says proudly, then adds a little sheepishly,
“I’m doing pretty good.”
Some jazz musicians view Jones as an opportunist who deserted the art of jazz for the commerce of
pop. But as many others have noted, Jones’creative
vision makes moot most arguments about jumping
musical fences. In 1973, when funk was king, he
coproduced the TV show“Duke Ellington,We Love
You Madly.”Quincy says Ellington himself told him
after the show,“Q, you may be the one to decategorize American music.”
Jones continues to try to live up to that expectation. One of the new albums he has planned is a
collaboration between bebop trumpet player Clark
Terry and rapper Snoop Dogg.“That’s what we need,
man,” he says.“Get (the rappers) involved in jazz.
(Bill) Cosby slaps their hands.You can’t do that.
You got to get them involved.”
At the commencement, he reinforced his abiding
love of jazz.“We must never, never, never forget that
jazz is the classical music of pop music,”he said.
But Basie probably summed it up best. After
“Thriller”came out, he told Quincy,“Man, that stuff
you and Michael did? Me and Duke would never
have even dreamed about nothin’that big.You hear
me? We wouldn’t even dare to dream about it!”
Staring out that“dream window”on 22nd Avenue,
Quincy Jones dared to dream.
REVIEWS
26 September 2008
NEW CD RELEASES
Jackson Browne
0Time the Conqueror
0Inside Recordings
It would seem unfathomable but Jackson
Browne, a left-wing
activist who is suing
Republican Sen.John
McCain for using his
song “Running On
Empty” in his presidential campaign,
once thrived musically under Republican administrations. His finest, most eloquent albums –“Late for
the Sky”(1974) and“The Pretender”(1976) – were
released during the Ford administration.
But during the Reagan era, Browne’s albums
abruptly shifted the focus from poetic, interpersonal introspection to political diatribes scolding
American policy domestic and abroad. His fan base
dwindled and his melodies failed him as he became
more strident.“I’m Alive” in 1993 was a welcome
return to relationship-based material but his two
studio albums since then have been forgettable.
On “Time the Conqueror,” Browne, 59, has
reclaimed some of the musical grace of his best ‘70s
work despite mixing political commentary (the
Bush administration-bashing“The Drums of War”)
with personal songs like the winsome“Giving That
Heaven Away.”The latter, with its cheery organ and
pop hook, sounds of a piece with side two of 1980’s
“Hold Out.”
Only two songs keep“Time the Conqueror”from
scaling Browne’s top shelf: the idiotic“Going Down
to Cuba,”a tune so insipid – every woman in Cuba
“has gardenias in their hair”he sings longingly – it
could offend.At nine minutes, the plodding“Where
WereYou,”echoes Browne’s ‘80s missteps. Still, eight
out of 10 keepers is admirable, especially as it comes
this late in Browne’s formidable career.
15
Books Many levels of life in
the Indian metropolis
Sacred Games
0By Vikram Chanda
0Faber & Faber, $27.99
Chandra, 47, was born in
Delhi, India. After briefly
attending St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai (formerly
Bombay), he immigrated
to the United States in 1984
and enrolled in Pomona College in Southern California.
He graduated magna cum
laude with an English
degree, with emphasis on
creative writing.
Some of his family and friends in India had
careers in filmmaking – “I lived on the edge of the
industry for years”– so it seemed natural for him to
attend film school. He chose Columbia University
in New York City.
Then something dramatic happened: One evening
in the university library, Chandra came across Col.
James“Sikander”Skinner’s autobiography and was
so inspired that he quit film school to spend the
next few years writing his first book, Red Earth and
Pouring Rain. Skinner was a 19th-century soldier
with a British father and an Indian mother.
“I became obsessed,” Chandra recalled. “I’ve
always loved cinema and thought that (filmmaking) was the way to make a living, but I had to do
what I felt compelled to do and worry about the
making-a-living part later.”
Clearly, he made the right choice.
After the critically acclaimed debut of Red Earth,
he wrote another hit, Love and Longing in Bombay.
Next came Sacred Games, a sensation in India a
year before it became a hardback sensation in the
–Howard Cohen United States.The megabook – in more ways than
one, at 928 pages for the newly released paperback
Pussycat Dolls
– claimed seven years of Chandra’s writing life.
0Doll Domination
The multi-award-winning tale was one of the
0Interscope
most anticipated titles of 2007 and the object of
an international bidding war among publishers.
Harper-Collins won, reportedly paying Chandra
Has it really been US$1 million.
three years since the
On the surface, Sacred Games is the story of
Pussycat Dolls sunk India’s most-wanted master criminal, Ganesh Gaitheir manicured tonde, and his relationship with corrupt Sikh police
claws into feminists’ inspector Sartaj Singh, who has made a career of
jugulars worldwide busting his nemesis.
with their strip-clubBut this is no simple Holmes-Moriarty adventure.
worthy hit “Don’t It works on numerous levels, the most vibrant of
Cha?” The girls are which paints a landscape of contemporary India
back with the aptly titled “Doll Domination,” 16 and explores its sociological and political machinnew songs tailor-made for the Top 40.
ery. It addresses crime, politics, religion, the caste
The first track and single,“When I Grow Up,”gets system, history, business, the psychology of power,
the proverbial Cristal flowing quickly with a lively beat the juxtaposition of good and evil, and the effects of
and sleek,sexy vocals.Of course,the vapid chorus lets merging cultures – to name a few of its topics.
you know what you’re in for over the rest of the album:
I talked with Chandra on the phone from his
“When I grow up, I wanna be famous, I wanna be a home in Oakland. He and his wife, Melanie Abrams
star, I wanna be in movies/When I grow up, I wanna (author of the erotic novel Playing), teach creative
see the world, drive nice cars, I wanna have boobies.” writing at the University of California, Berkeley.
Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was deep like them?
“We had a baby girl on May 5 – Leela – so things
All cattiness aside, the Pussycat Dolls take what are kind of surreal right now,”he said, sounding a bit
the Spice Girls started to a more lascivious and sleep deprived. Forgive my ignorance, but why does
therefore club-worthy level – they know what they Chandra call Mumbai by its former name, Bombay?
really, really want, and exactly how to get it.
“Depending on what language you’re speaking,
As on the Dolls’ 2005 debut album, the girls you call it by different names,”he explained.
employ high-wattage help: Snoop Dogg lends the
“ ‘Mumbai’ comes from right-wing nativist polimonotonous yet hypnotic“Bottle Pop”some street tics.” In a conversation with the media last year,
cred, even giving his own hit“Drop It Like It’s Hot” Chandra said “Sacred Games” was the fulfilment
a shout-out; Missy Elliott adds a playful, grrrl-power of his effort to write “an anti-thriller and overturn
rap to“Whatcha Think About That”(“If your dude the classic cop detective structure.”
ain’t actin’ right, you tell that dude he got to go”);
It appears he succeeded.
and embattled R&B vet R. Kelly helps power the
“In crime fiction, there has always been the notion
aching melody to“Out of this Club.”
of the detective and the criminal being reverse mirFans of previous hits“Don’t Cha,”“Stickwitu”and ror images of each other,” he said.“They’re often
“Buttons”have much to rejoice over, as these Dolls played as independent protagonists.We like to see
are born for pop-chart domination, all right.
ourselves as protagonists, but maybe we’re not.
– Michael Hamersly
“What I became increasingly aware of as I talked
with more and more people (in Mumbai) was that
each person was a small part of a much larger game.
Even a gangster who has achieved the power to shut
down a city becomes a pawn in something that is
much larger than him.
“That approach resonates with very old Indian
ideas about karma, the notion that we are forced to
act and must make choices, but that often we don’t
understand why we are being asked to make these
choices,”he said.“Then we don’t always have control
over the results of our actions.What we do (in our
actions) resonates forever, in a sense.”
During the years Chandra spent writing Sacred
Games, he shuttled back and forth between the Bay
Area and Mumbai, spending about five months a
year researching his story in the Indian city.
“Going both ways was culture shock, yes, but that
kind of alienation is useful for a writer,”he said.“You
start to notice things on both sides that otherwise
become invisible when you live in a place full time.
The nice part of having an academic life is you get
chunks of free time you can use for research.”
The book’s characters are vividly drawn, but
Mumbai is very much a major player as well.
“Quite so,”he said.“It’s always been a unique city
in the Indian context.The legend has always been
that Bombay is a place you can go and make it really
big, so it’s a city of immigrants from all over India,
the place where change always seems to start and
spread through the country.
“Also, because of poverty and class structure, one
must acknowledge that it can be a very cruel place.
It eats people up. It’s got complete extremes of enormous wealth and the most atrocious poverty right
next to each other.
“Added to that is Bollywood – our version of Los
Angeles. Because of Bollywood, Bombay is the most
mythologized city in the Indian popular imagination.”
Bombay is also a city partly controlled by organized crime.While writing Love and Longing in Bombay, Chandra became friendly with several policemen and crime-beat journalists.
Later, they introduced him to social workers, historians and other law enforcement people –“Anyone
who had behind-the-scenes stories about the criminal underworld and was willing to tell them.”
These contacts helped him gain audiences with
the top crime bosses themselves.“I met some colourful people on both sides of the legal line”he said.“In
some ways, the big bosses are curiously public figures.The dons understand the value of public relations and act more or less like corporate heads.
“One of the first dons I met has since built a
career as a legitimate politician,”Chandra continued.“Visiting him was like going to the court of a
king. Of course, he was smart and was going to lie
to me about certain things.
“But for a fiction writer, his lies were interesting
because they revealed how he wants to be perceived
in the public arena.”
– By Allen Pierleoni
Paul Auster’s
thoughtful new novel
finds healing in a
fractured world
Man in the Dark
0By Paul Auster
0Faber & Faber, $35
One way to read the title
of Paul Auster’s multilayered new novel, Man in the
Dark, is literally: The main
character lies fitfully awake
at night, in his dark room,
reflecting, regretting, creating.
Whether or not it’s Fit-
zgerald’s 3 a.m., we’re presented one soul’s dark
night.
Then there’s a big-picture meaning: We are all
doomed to our special brand of darkness, and when
will man (human beings, that is) ever learn?
In between those interpretive anchors, other men
in the dark, with intertwining fates, also appear in
Auster’s aching and gripping 14th novel. One is a
secondary character, who becomes the target of a
sinister conspiracy. One is a hostage in the darkest of situations. Another is George W. Bush, not a
character here but a presence, who’s a not-so-subtle
target of Auster’s political distress.
Intrigued?
Entering a piece of Paul Auster’s fiction often
seems like a blindfolded journey through a maze.
Ever since his debut in City of Glass (1981) and the
metaphysical mysteries of the New York Trilogy,
readers have come to expect brooding explorations
of character, consciousness and the contingencies
of life.
Man in the Dark is no different, though it should
stand with the best of Auster’s work. As in other
Auster novels – Oracle Night, for example – there’s
a book within a book, a fiction within a fiction. Even
the second-level characters contemplate their existence, a mind game in itself when we’re talking of
literary inventions.
Auster frequently sets his fictions in the world of
writers and artists, which can come off as a form of
precious literary navel-gazing. Despite that, there’s
much more going on here, and the human heart of
the story becomes strong, complex and compelling
as this short novel unfolds.
The central man in the dark is August Brill, a
retired book critic (of all things) who, after the death
of his wife and a crippling car accident, has moved
into their daughter’s Vermont country house.
Brill can’t sleep and so he writes in his head,
orchestrating a novel that proposes an alternative
history to our recent national nightmares. In his
projected story, the terror attacks on the United
States of Sept. 11, 2001, did not occur. Instead,
the country is experiencing a civil war, a series of
regional conflicts and breakaways spawned by revolutionary displeasure over the judicial decision in
2000 that handed Bush the presidency.
Brill’s imagined central character, Owen Brick,
seems to be trapped and on the wrong side. And
some very tough guys threaten to kill him unless
he carries out the task of assassinating the man
who has caused this conflict: yes, that’s right, the
writer August Brill.
“The story,”he relates,“is about a man who must
kill the person who created him, and why pretend
that I am not that person? By putting myself into
the story, the story becomes real. Or else I become
unreal, yet one more figment of my own imagination.
Either way, the effect is more satisfying, more in harmony with my mood – which is dark, my little ones,
as dark as the obsidian night that surrounds me.”
What Brill is really up to is diversion. Some terrible things have happened and he can’t bear to
dwell.
But, of course, he must.And in the moving second
half of the novel, Brill recounts the story of his life,
his loves, his broken marriage and more. He shares
this with his granddaughter one sleepless night. .
The young woman, it turns out, has her own terrible grief, which she has escaped of late by watching
movies and disengaging from ambition.
Brill eventually allows himself to revisit the
horrific death of his granddaughter’s onetime boyfriend.A young man who’d been against the war, he
took a trucking job with a contractor in Iraq and
met his fate at the hand of kidnappers. His execution, a gruesome murder, was video-recorded for
all to see, including Brill and his granddaughter,
on the Web.
This is our world,Auster seems to be saying, and
we must find a way to live in it no matter how dark
it gets. If his ending moments of healing and grace
come a bit too easily, there’s no real harm in that. It
is, after all, a fiction. Or maybe not.
– By Steve Paul
HEALTH
16
26 September 2008
Study: Massage helps recovery at cellular level
By Cynthia Billhartz Gregorian
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS – US Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps
got a massage twice a day in Beijing. His teammate,
Dara Torres, had two massage therapists on standby.And a bunch of sedated rabbits in Ohio recently
had massage performed on their legs after bouts of
intense exercise.
Phelps, 23, made history by winning eight gold
medals. Torres, 41, became the oldest swimmer
to compete in an Olympic event and win a silver
medal.
As for the rabbits? They might have proved scientifically what athletes and trainers have long
believed: Massage really does help with muscle
recovery.
According to a recent study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, researchers at
Ohio State University found that Swedish massage
helped speed muscle recovery at the cellular level for
rabbits who got mechanically intense exercise.
Athletes also use Swedish massage – stroking,
kneading and pressing soft tissue.Thomas Best, professor of family medicine at Ohio State University
and senior author of the rabbit study, said it’s too
soon for clinical trials on humans. But he considers
the rabbits a strong start toward confirming massage’s benefits to athletes.
Best said he hopes further research “will dictate
how much massage is needed, for how long and when
it should be performed after exercise.”
In the study, researchers used a mechanical device
to create a motion similar to the way quadriceps in
human thighs move when running downhill.
Afterward, some rabbits got Swedish massage,
others did not but were rested. Scientists found that
the muscles of the massaged rabbits had improved
function, less swelling and fewer signs of inflammation than did muscles in non-massaged rabbits.
Those findings don’t surprise Jim Anderson, the
Frese thinks massage also may do something
else: promote the release of endorphins, a
natural sedative that alleviates pain and produces
a general sense of well-being. Massage is also more
beneficial as athletes age
athletic trainer for a US football team. He remembers players getting massaged 25 years ago. More
than half the players get massages now, he said.They
hire their own massage therapists, who massage
them the day after a game, Anderson said. Many
follow up with another the day before a game to
loosen their muscles, a process that relaxes them
mentally.
“The way their bodies feel after a game, if some-
thing can alleviate that pain and soreness, they look
at it as something good,”Anderson said.“It gets fresh
(oxygenated) blood in there, and getting fresh blood
to an area helps speed recovery.”
Muscles produce lactic acid during intense workouts, said Ethel Frese, a professor of physical therapy at St. Louis University and a cardiovascular and
pulmonary specialist.The more intense the workout,
the more lactic acid is produced. And the greater
the accumulation of lactic acid, the more fatigued
– and painful – the muscle becomes.
Lactic acid will dissipate on its own, but enhancing blood circulation helps get rid of it quicker.That
helps relieve muscle cramps and spasms, she said.
Cynthia Riberio, vice president of the American
Massage Therapy Association, has seen massage go
beyond just helping with recovery from injuries and
suggests using it during all phases of competition.
Before athletic events, a massage therapist can
help athletes warm up by jostling and stretching
the muscles and using circular friction and simple
compression on specific body parts. This can continue, only more gently, during competition when
the muscles are fatigued.And after an event, Swedish massage is best, Riberio said.
That’s up for debate, says Mark Frank of St. Louis
Rehabilitative and Sports Massage in Creve Coeur,
Mo. He says there are about 200 approaches to
massage and that he’s had success with myofascial
therapy which targets tissue rather than specific
muscles.
Whatever the case, experts have long touted other
means of reducing soreness and swelling after hard,
prolonged exercise, such as icing overworked muscles, taking anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen and properly cooling down. Cool-downs, during
which activity is gradually decreased rather than
abruptly stopping, prevents lactic acid from pooling
in tired muscles.
Frese thinks massage also may do something
else: promote the release of endorphins, a natural
sedative that alleviates pain and produces a general
sense of well-being. Massage is also more beneficial
as athletes age, she said.
“The more fit you are, the less lactic acid you produce at a given workload and the faster you clear
it,”she said.“As you age, you’re not as fit.You’ll never
be at 70 what you were at 20 and you do tend to
lose flexibility.”
Has anyone told Dara Torres?
‘Dog therapy’ among the prescriptions at children’s hospital
By Harry Jackson
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS – When Nel the Dalmatian stuck her
head in the hospital room, Stephanie Brown’s mood
changed from sullen to tickled.
“When Nel walks in the room, Stephanie just
lights up,”said Debra Hardy, mother of Stephanie
Brown, a patient last spring at St. Louis Children’s
Hospital.
Stephanie, 16, had been in and out of the hospital
since November. Nel visited her there, hopping into
the bed to snuggle.
“I’ve been missing my dogs at home,”Stephanie
said, adding that when Nel arrives,“I feel good; but
when she leaves, I feel bad again.”
Nel is one of a dozen therapy dogs at Children’s.
Nel allows children to grab – sometimes at high
speed – hug, kiss and cuddle her. She often wears costumes: bright-coloured hats, star-shaped sunglasses
and neckerchiefs with her name on it.
She’s allowed into bed with children. She seems
to just know how to pay special attention to a child
who’s sad, and to play with a child who needs to
burn energy.
June Brennan-Mueller, Nel’s handler, recalls a
15-month-old girl who wouldn’t walk and hardly
moved.
“They’d stand her up for a moment and she’d sit
back down,”Brennan-Mueller said.“Nel went in and
the girl became fascinated with Nel’s wagging tail.
She followed Nel’s tail and before long she was walking all the way around the room.
“The children love her and she loves them.When
we come into the hospital, it takes us a half-hour
to get from the lobby to the elevator” because of
the children.
Jill Malan, Child Life Services Manager for St.
Louis Children’s Hospital, directs programs that
help children enjoy their times in the hospital.The
program is more than 10 years old.
“The children are glad to see the dogs, and the
dogs are glad to see the children,” Malan says.
“They’re great motivators.”
Doctors are known to prescribe dog visits, Malan
says.
Bill Dahlkamp, director of the TOUCH Dog program with Support Dogs of St. Louis, says his service
provides dogs for about 70 sites.
It takes a special kind of dog to visit paediatric
hospitals, Dahlkamp says.
“We want a dog that’s tolerant in any situation
and a dog that’s cautious around patients and hospital equipment,”Dahlkamp said.
To get into the TOUCH program, the owner
volunteers along with the pet. Both go through 12
weeks of training.
Nel is a Dalmatian – a breed known to be highenergy, impulsive and hard-headed – but that
doesn’t faze Dahlkamp.
“We don’t look at breeds,” Dahlkamp says.“It’s
all based on temperament. We have a Rottweiler,
pit bull, mixed breeds.”
The typical graduates, though, are golden and
Labrador retrievers.
HIGGINS THERAPY
Keshia Fulton, 16, is another fan. She was born with
cerebral palsy and gets regular physical therapy at
Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital to stretch her
tight muscles – exercises that can be painful.
Then one day, in walked Higgins, a 32-kg Golden
retriever-poodle mix. Keshia became so fascinated
with the dog that she disregarded the pain. The
physical therapist was able to stretch her legs almost
30 percent more.
“If they’re with Higgins, they’ll pay attention to
him and not the pain,”says Betty Miller, a nurse and
handler for Higgins.
Dogs are more like“specialists”at Cardinal Glennon. Children with brain
tumours,strokes and head
injuries“come in confused
and crying,”and the dogs
get specific tasks to help
the children.
Some examples: Higgins will play tug of war
with children who need
to get stronger, obey commands from children
with speech problems
due to brain injury and
play fetch with children
who need to work on
coordination skills.
A dog will help a child
focus, get control and
be distracted from the
ordeal of being hospitalized, Miller says.
“Once a child was crying during a hospital visit,”
Miller recalls. Higgins quieted the child – reflexively,
it seemed – by putting his head in the child’s lap.
“Dogs just seem to know.”
What sort of dogs are suited for this work?
Higgins was specially bred and trained by
C.H.A.M.P., which stands for Canine Helpers Allow
More Possibilities.
Nel, on the other hand, was an apparent casualty
of the Dalmatian fad that followed the Disney movies“101 Dalmatians”and“102 Dalmatians”several
years ago.A dog rescuer in rural Missouri found her
abandoned, and Spotsavers, a Dalmatian rescue
group in St. Louis, took her in. Brennan-Mueller,
a Spotsavers member, volunteered her for therapy
dog training. That was five years ago when a veterinarian estimated that Nel was 2-3 years old. Nel
graduated with the highest grade a dog can get
– four weeks ahead of schedule.
“Nel was sweet and good with people,”said Dahlkamp of Touch Dogs.
Joey Murphy would agree. As a toddler, Joey,
now 8, grew afraid of dogs after watching a family
puppy bite a sibling while playing. Even when he
first visited St. Louis Children’s Hospital a year
ago to battle leukaemia, he put a sign on his door,
“No Dogs.”
One day, Nel got close enough to lick his hand and
nuzzle him.They’ve been friends ever since.
When asked where Nel got her name, Joey threw
his arm around Nel’s neck.
“Never Ending Love,”he said with a smile.
SCIENCE & TECH 17
26 September 2008
50 years later, how the credit card changed the world
By Patrick May
San Jose Mercury News
SAN JOSE, Calif. – They called it the Fresno
Drop. Fifty years ago this month, Bank of America
mass-mailed to nearly every home in Fresno, Calif.,
a small piece of plastic called the BankAmericard.
The credit card had arrived, a shiny corkscrew for
each recipient to unbottle thousands of dollars in
spending money that hadn’t existed before they
ripped open those envelopes.
That first taste went right to Fresno’s head.
By the second year, cardholders had racked up
nearly US$60 million in purchases. BankAmericard morphed into the Visa powerhouse. And a
half-century later, as America embraced and then
exported the concept of buying things with money
folks didn’t necessarily have, the whole world has
gotten tipsy.
And following in the wake of the subprime mortgage mess, the credit card bender could end up being
uglier than ever.
“Credit lubricated the economy in ways we
couldn’t have conceived of before,”said Bella Berlly, a certified financial planner in California.“But
as a society we became completely inebriated on it.
Being able to just ‘put it on my credit card’ fuelled
the sense that you could do anything, like a Superman effect.”
The world would never be the same. Diners Club,
a so-called charge card that required complete payment each month, had come a few years earlier,
the legendary brainchild of a wealthy New York
financier caught cashless after a meal at a highclass steak joint.
But the Fresno Drop would pack a much bigger
wallop. Dee Hock, the credit card guru who later
turned the BankAmericard into the sprawling Visa
network of member banks,was really the father of“the
electronification of money,”says spokesman Will Valentine at San Francisco-based Visa, whose corporate
mantra is to“root out spending by cash and checks.”
Along with its younger siblings like debit and
prepaid cards, the revolving credit card – which
charges interest and lets customers make partial
payments – fundamentally changed not only the
way people think about money, but western civilisation itself.
Santa Clara University finance Professor Meir
Statman describes credit as “interwoven into our
society.”With consumers no longer tethered to cash
on hand or in the bank, the financial realities of
our lives – how we save, spend, borrow and budget
– went through a sort of time warp.
Armed with plastic, consumers now could charge
their way into glittering new lifestyles their parents
could only have dreamed of.
“Before credit cards, credit came in small-dollar
instalment loans and people tended not to use them
unless they really needed help,”said Kathleen Keest,
a former assistant attorney general in Iowa who now
works with the Centre for Responsible Lending.“When
you had to go to your bank to get a personal note,you
really thought about it.But when suddenly it’s a piece
of plastic in your pocket, debt almost becomes something that happens without thinking about it.”
The sea change has been extraordinary. Revolving debt in the US, most of it from credit cards,
stood at US$1.5 billion in 1968, according to the
Federal Reserve.This year, it has reached US$969.9
billion (Reserve Bank figures in New Zealand reveal
NZ$5.1 billion – US$3.5 billion – outstanding on
credit card debt alone in August this year).
Those 60,000 cards dropped into Fresno 50 years
ago have mushroomed to 3.67 billion payment cards
today, with more than two-thirds of them in circulation outside the US.
It’s a great big plastic world out there. Norm Mag-
nuson with the Washington, D.C.-based Consumer
Data Industry Association recalls buying a“TV on
credit in the ‘60s, and my father about had a heart
attack. Today you stand in line at Starbucks and
people use credit to buy a $4 cup of coffee.”
Magnuson says credit“gives you the opportunity
to not only have a better standard of living, but
you’re also putting more money into the economy
and it’s being recirculated. Since two-thirds of our
economy is based on consumer spending, the more
consumers purchase, the better off the economy.”
Companies like Visa and MasterCard, which maintain networks of financial institutions lending the
money and collecting fees every time a card is used,
have become spectacularly wealthy through this
easy access to credit. Visa’s recent initial public
offering was the largest in U.S. history, while MasterCard’s stock has soared nearly 500 percent since
it went public two years ago, their markets overseas
growing like wildfire.
But while most cardholders pay off their debt,
there remains a very dark side to the credit card,
“a deceptively simple device that has the capability
of destroying you,”says Adam Levin, co-founder of
San Francisco-based credit.com.
Critical of the card issuers’heavy fees and aggressive marketing tactics, especially toward financenaive student and low-income communities, Levin
says “people have been bludgeoned”by credit card
offers, often going to consumers already struggling
with debt.“It’s like taking a vampire and putting
him in the middle of a blood bank.”
Still, the middle-aged credit card seems destined
for many happy returns.With issuers pushing prepaid cards and direct-deposit products that link
your wages right to that plastic in your wallet, cash
and cheques seem like endangered species in the
financial jungle.
“Globally, the Visa card is coin of the realm,”says
David Robertson, publisher of the payment-card
industry newsletter The Nilson Report.“I can’t use
American currency or checks anywhere in the world
like I can with Visa.”
But in a delicious irony, wireless and other kinds
of technology may soon free the credit card from
that humble material that first brought it to life 50
years ago – plastic.
“There will always be currency,”Robertson says.
“But there might not always be plastic cards.”
NASA to purchase Russian rockets Google, phone home
WASHINGTON – NASA’s top achievement in Congress this year boils down to a single sentence – one
line in a huge spending bill that would allow NASA
to circumvent an arms-control law and purchase
Russian-made Soyuz spacecraft.
For NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, that
might be enough to enable him to retire the space
shuttle in 2010 and still get U.S. astronauts to the
international space station.
On Thursday, the House approved a US$630 billion measure to fund the government through next
year that includes a sentence allowing NASA to
purchase Soyuz until July 2016.
For weeks, Griffin has told lawmakers that the
Soyuz is the only reliable way to send American
astronauts to the space station in the gap between
the shuttle’s retirement and the planned first mission of its replacement, now set for 2015. But he
needed a waiver from the law banning high-tech
purchases from Russia because of that country’s
sale of nuclear materials to Iran.
Now it’s up to the Senate, where a key panel
approved the same waiver Wednesday. Passage is
considered likely because it is attached to the spending bill – “must-pass” legislation before Congress
adjourns for the year.
The tipping point may have come earlier this
week when presidential candidate Barack Obama
sent a letter to Democratic leaders in Congress urging them to OK the waiver.
“At the end of 2011, NASA will no longer even
have the legal authority to continue paying Russia
for Soyuz flights, so unless we act immediately, the
U.S. will abandon its role in supporting, and benefiting from, missions to this amazing facility, leaving
it to our international partners,”he wrote.
Google offered up a new vision
of computing’s future this
week, and it has little to do
with desktops or laptops.
It’s a future that focuses on
mobility, with access to the
Internet – and the ability to
search its vastness, of course
– no matter where you are from
a device that clips to your belt
or sits in your purse.
The Google phone has arrived.
Breaking into mobile phones is a huge opportunity for Google, because the field is wide open,
featuring an amalgam of carriers, software firms,
handset makers and a growing cadre of third-party
developers.
“The mobile phone today is where the PC was
15 years ago,” said analyst Michael Gartenberg, a
vice president at Jupitermedia.“The key difference
is that there is no ‘Windows’ for mobile devices, a
dominant player that controls everything.”
Indeed, there is no single gatekeeper, the way
Microsoft with its operating system has remained
on the vast majority of computers. Rather, Microsoft
is one of many outfits – like Palm and Blackberry to
name a couple of top-end players – trying to capture
mobile market share. So there is a huge opportunity
for Google, like Apple showed last year, to develop
a product with a set of features that appeals to an
increasing need to be always connected, always
online, always at work and always
entertained.
Google’s first phone, called Google
G1, was developed in partnership
with US wireless carrier TMobile and handset maker
HTC – better known downunder for the Harrier and
Apache handsets retailed by
Telecom. It will go on sale in
the US on Oct. 22 for US$179
with a two-year contract.
The phone is handsome and is operated by a
touch screen and a slide-out keypad. It runs on a
software platform that Google developed, called
Android.
The phone works with several Internet-based email clients, but it is optimized for Google’s Gmail.
Other Google products prominent on the phone
include Google Maps with Street View – useful for
pointing out landmarks for those who are directionally challenged – and Google Talk, an instant messaging service for Gmail that can use location-based
tools on the G1 to pinpoint friends.
Like the iPhone, the T-Mobile G1 will provide a
platform for third-party applications. Google calls
it the Android Market – Google co-founder Sergey
Brin referred to it as the “App Store,”the name of
Apple’s software store, during his brief appearance
Tuesday – where users will be able to download a
host of programs.
DISCOVERY
18
26 September 2008
IF YOU GO
Road trip Italiano
local restaurant and shiatsu massage therapist, and her photographer
husband, Enrico Pofi.
They were our hosts at Sentieri Luminosi, the B&B they opened
CALITRI, Italy – Books on food make some of the best travel companions. One of my favourites is“The Food and Wine Guide to Naples recently in the 19th-century stone building they bought a few years
and Campania,”filled with vivid descriptions and photos of Southern ago after moving from Naples.
The family lives on the top floor and rents out a bottom-floor apartItalian towns and villages waiting to be discovered.
Many Italian Americans trace their roots to this area, but guide- ment to guests for about US$70. From their garden planted with
books generally focus only on Naples, Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast, fig, orange and olive trees, we looked down on the new town – built
leaving travellers with the impression that a massive earthquake in after the earthquake – and the restored medieval old town built on
the ruins of a Samnite city, all of it surrounded by mountains and
1980 left nothing much else to see.
Author Carla Capalbo, an American food writer who lives part-time terraced vineyards.
in a pocket-size village called Nusco, shows her readers what a difFortified each morning by Loredana’s apple and raisin strudel,
ference 28 years make, not only in the towns themselves, many with scrambled eggs, olives and fennel from her garden, we spent the next
beautifully restored medieval centres, but in the food and wine of a rich few days exploring little mountain towns known for their ceramics;
cow- and sheep-milk cheeses; wine; and torrone, a nougat candy made
agricultural region surrounded by spectacular mountain scenery.
Tuscany without the tourists and high prices came to mind when with honey, nuts and egg whites.
Our goal was to find some of the places in Capalbo’s book, but getting
my husband, Tom, and I rented a car in Rome and drove inland to
on the road by 10 a.m. or so gave us only three hours before the midday
spend a week exploring.
As it is in the next-door regions of Calabria and Molise, where work break when everything shuts down until late afternoon.
Rather than give into the frustration of finding things closed, we
our families have roots, big sites and important museums are few
focused on what I called “Italian moments,” surin rural Campania. The reward for a long drive
prises such as listening to opera music while sitting
along a winding road might be a Roman arch left
Calitri has
on a cafe terrace overlooking miles of rolling hills
standing in a field, or a country inn specializing in
in Sant’Agata, or finding all the pottery studios
what Capalbo calls an “educated cucina povera,”
always
closed in the ceramics town of San Lorenzello and,
a modern twist on the traditional peasant food
been a town
instead, settling for a tour of the village bakery.
familiar to many an Italian American.
In Cusana Murti, a centre for wood crafts, we
Consider the 2 hour lunch we had at a farm that people
found no wood carvers, but the smell of cooking
restaurant outside Taurasi, a wine town about an left. Thousands
tomato sauce led us to a tent where a group of vilhour’s drive from Naples.
lage men hovered over cast-iron pots.A community
We toured the cellars of Antonio Caggiano, 71, emigrated to
supper was planned for later that evening, and of
an architect who took up winemaking in 1990. other parts
course we were invited.
While helping clear debris after the earthquake, he
of Italy, South
We had no idea what to expect when we drove
gathered up stone carvings and farm tools and creto our next stop, the hilltop hamlet of Calitri in
ated an underground cantina where he decorated America and the
the province of Avellino. An isolated mountain
passageways with antique fountains and arranged United States
town bordering Basilicata, one of Italy’s poorest
bottles of wine in vaults like museum pieces.
regions, Calitri has always been a town that people
After a tour and tasting that lasted more than an in the 1900s in
left.Thousands emigrated to other parts of Italy,
hour, he gave us directions to a friend’s farmhouse search of jobs,
South America and the United States in the 1900s
restaurant, where we sat around a table, eating
in search of jobs, and again after 1980.
family-style with a group from Ireland. Platters and again
Now tourism is starting to spawn a small migraof air-cured salami and ham, dishes of marinated after 1980
tion of foreigners interested in exploring their roots
peppers and bowls of zucchini, potatoes and white
beans were followed by pasta, lamb chops and salads.When the waiter or buying a vacation home. Browsing the Internet one day, I found Web
finally served a nougat dessert topped with crushed hazelnuts, it was sites listing houses for rent in the “Borgo Antico,”the medieval-town
nearly 5 p.m.
centre that was all but abandoned after the earthquake.
It sounds like a cliché to call this the“real Italy,”but if those words
Ten thousand people lived in the borgo in the 1950s, some in caves
define a part of the country so far untouched by mass tourism, this within the remains of a 12th-century castle, others in houses with
is it.
thick stone walls.There were 25 churches and elegant mansions.Today
In Sant’Agata dei Goti, an ancient town built on a rock cliff above a just 500 of Caltri’s 5,000 residents live here, mostly elderly people who
river in an area called the Sannio, we met Loredana Fusaro, a cook at a refused to move to a modern, new town built next door. They walk
By Carol Pucci
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home along cobbled pedestrian passageways – streets in ancient times
– well-lighted, but not wide enough for cars.A few of the homes have
fresh coats of pastel paint, but many more are vacant with weeds
growing around weathered doorways.
Fourth-generation Calitri resident Emma Basile, 29, remembers“the
old town as a place for cats, not people,”when she was growing up. But
a few years ago, a private development company began buying up a
few of the houses, restoring them and selling them to foreign investors
as vacation homes.After finishing school in Milan and Naples, Basile
returned to Calitri and opened a real-estate and rental-propertymanagement office that doubles as the unofficial tourist bureau.
I couldn’t believe our luck when she met us in the town square on
a rainy, windy evening and walked with us to the 15th-century house
we had rented for four days from a British couple.
Basile brokered the sale after the death of the former owner, 90year-old Graziella Di Cosmo. During restoration, workers exposed
500-year-old stone walls under crumbling plaster and preserved a
stone hearth with slots for the big copper pots Graziella used for
making tomato sauce.
Our bedroom overlooked miles of rolling green pasture land and a
trail of steps leading to a little hilltop church where locals go to pray on
Good Friday and the start of soccer season.All for US$85 a night.
Basile showed us around town the next morning, walking us through
the castle that’s being restored and taking us into cellars where locals
age cheese and cure salami. She suggested day trips to nearby villages
and archaeological sites, but mostly we enjoyed spending time as
temporary residents of Calitri.
Thursdays are market days, when older women, dressed in black,
shop the open-air stalls stocked with polka-dot bras, men’s suits and
lemons the size of miniature footballs.
Our dollars stretched easily.We sampled one-euro cups of hot chocolate at a stand-up bar on the piazza, where the owner, Mario Andriaccio,
has a collection of 4,000 postcards, including one of Seattle’s Space
Needle.At a restaurant called Osteria Three Roses, we drank red wine
from ceramic pitchers and sampled pasta cannazze, noodles shaped
like hand-rolled cigarettes topped with tomato sauce and sheep- and
cow-milk cheeses. Dinner for three was $50.
Basile told us that her mother cried when she decided to move
back to Calitri. She hoped her daughter would work abroad or in one
of the big Italian cities.
Maybe someday. But right now she’s busy chasing her vision of
what the old town might once again become. Her father, a banker, was
born in the borgo, and they’ve become partners in several projects,
including a new wine bar.
Sitting in her tiny office, surrounded by piles of tourist brochures,
she dreams of the day when couples will walk arm-in-arm along the
narrow streets. Shops and art galleries will fill the vacant buildings
and cellars. Balconies will overflow with flowers, all signs of a new
generation of Calitrians staking their future on a corner of Italy so
many others left behind.
NZ CLASSIC
26 September 2008
19
The wreck of the Macquarie
Acclaimed science fiction writer Jules Verne didn’t just write Around the World in 80 Days, he
also wrote an epic about New Zealand and Australia called In Search of the Castaways, published in 1867. If you missed the previous instalment of this serial, you can download it here.
But a greater danger was at hand, and one that it was too late to
prevent.About half-past eleven, John Mangles and Wilson, who stayed
on deck throughout the gale, were suddenly struck by an unusual
noise. Their nautical instincts awoke. John seized the sailor’s hand.
“The reef!”said he.
“Yes,”said Wilson;“the waves breaking on the bank.”
“Not more than two cables’ length off?”
“At farthest? The land is there!”
John leaned over the side, gazed into the dark water, and called out,
“Wilson, the lead!”
The master, posted forward, seemed to have no idea of his position.
Wilson seized the lead-line, sprang to the fore-chains, and threw the
lead; the rope ran out between his fingers, at the third knot the lead
stopped.
“Three fathoms,”cried Wilson.
“Captain,”said John, running to Will Halley,“we are on the breakers.”
Whether or not he saw Halley shrug his shoulders is of very little
importance. But he hurried to the helm, put it hard down, while Wilson,
leaving the line, hauled at the main-topsail brace to bring the ship to
the wind.The man who was steering received a smart blow, and could
not comprehend the sudden attack.
“Let her go! Let her go!”said the young captain, working her to get
away from the reefs.
For half a minute the starboard side of the vessel was turned toward
them, and, in spite of the darkness, John could discern a line of foam
which moaned and gleamed four fathoms away.
At this moment, Will Halley, comprehending the danger, lost his
head. His sailors, hardly sobered, could not understand his orders. His
incoherent words, his contradictory orders showed that this stupid sot
had quite lost his self-control. He was taken by surprise at the proximity of the land, which was eight miles off, when he thought it was thirty
or forty miles off. The currents had thrown him out of his habitual
track, and this miserable slave of routine was left quite helpless.
Still the prompt manoeuvre of John Mangles succeeded in keeping
the Macquarie off the breakers. But John did not know the position.
For anything he could tell he was girdled in by reefs.The wind blew
them strongly toward the east, and at every lurch they might strike.
In fact, the sound of the reef soon redoubled on the starboard side
of the bow.They must luff again. John put the helm down again and
brought her up.The breakers increased under the bow of the vessel, and
it was necessary to put her about to regain the open sea.Whether she
would be able to go about under shortened sail, and badly trimmed as
she was, remained to be seen, but there was nothing else to be done.
“Helm hard down!”cried Mangles to Wilson.
The Macquarie began to near the new line of reefs: in another
moment the waves were seen dashing on submerged rocks. It was a
moment of inexpressible anxiety. The spray was luminous, just as if
lit up by sudden phosphorescence.The roaring of the sea was like the
voice of those ancient Tritons whom poetic mythology endowed with who were now wrapped in a drunken sleep, also refreshed themselves
life.Wilson and Mulrady hung to the wheel with all their weight. Some by a short nap, and a profound silence reigned on board the ship, herself
cordage gave way, which endangered the foremast. It seemed doubtful slumbering peacefully on her bed of sand.
whether she would go about without further damage.
Toward four o’clock the first peep of dawn appeared in the east.
Suddenly the wind fell and the vessel fell back, and turning her The clouds were dimly defined by the pale light of the dawn. John
became hopeless.A high wave caught her below, carried her up on the returned to the deck. The horizon was veiled with a curtain of fog.
reefs, where she struck with great violence.The foremast came down Some faint outlines were shadowed in the mist, but at a considerable
with all the forerigging.The brig rose twice, and then lay motionless, height.A slight swell still agitated the sea, but the more distant waves
heeled over on her port side at an angle of 30°.
were undistinguishable in a motionless bank of clouds.
The glass of the skylight had been smashed to powder.The passenJohn waited.The light gradually increased, and the horizon acquired
gers rushed out. But the waves were sweeping the deck from one side a rosy hue.The curtain slowly rose over the vast watery stage. Black
to the other, and they dared not stay there. John Mangles, knowing reefs rose out of the waters. Then a line became defined on the belt
the ship to be safely lodged in the sand, begged them to return to of foam, and there gleamed a luminous beacon-light point behind a
their own quarters.
low hill which concealed the scarcely risen sun. There was the land,
“Tell me the truth, John,”said Glenarvan, calmly.
less than nine miles off.
“The truth, my Lord, is that we are at a standstill.Whether the sea
“Land ho!”cried John Mangles.
will devour us is another question; but we have time to consider.”
His companions, aroused by his voice, rushed to the poop, and gazed
“It is midnight?”
in silence at the coast whose outline lay on the horizon.Whether they
“Yes, my Lord, and we must wait for the day.”
were received as friends or enemies, that coast must be their refuge.
“Can we not lower the boat?”
“Where is Halley?”asked Glenarvan.
“In such a sea, and in the dark, it is impossible.And, besides, where
“I do not know, my Lord,”replied John Mangles.
could we land?”
“Where are the sailors?”
“Well, then, John, let us wait for the daylight.”
“Invisible, like himself.”
Will Halley, however, ran up and down the deck like a maniac. His
“Probably dead drunk, like himself,”added McNabbs.
crew had recovered their senses, and now broached a cask of brandy,
“Let them be called,” said Glenarvan,“we cannot leave them on
and began to drink. John foresaw that if they became drunk, terrible the ship.”
scenes would ensue.
Mulrady and Wilson went down to the forecastle, and two minThe captain could not be relied on to restrain them; the wretched utes after they returned. The place was empty! They then searched
man tore his hair and wrung his hands. His whole thought was his between decks, and then the hold. But found no trace of Will Halley
uninsured cargo.“I am ruined! I am lost!” he would cry, as he ran nor his sailors.
from side to side.
“What! No one?”exclaimed Glenarvan.
John Mangles did not waste time on him. He armed his two com“Could they have fallen into the sea?”asked Paganel.
panions, and they all held themselves in readiness to resist the sail“Everything is possible,” replied John Mangles, who was getting
ors who were filling themselves with brandy, seasoned with fearful uneasy.Then turning toward the stern:“To the boat!”said he.
blasphemies.
Wilson and Mulrady followed to launch the yawl.The yawl was gone.
“The first of these wretches
that comes near the ladies, I will
shoot like a dog,” said the Major,
quietly.
The sailors doubtless saw that
the passengers were determined
to hold their own, for after some
attempts at pillage, they disappeared to their own quarters.
John Mangles thought no more of
these drunken rascals, and waited
impatiently for the dawn. The
ship was now quite motionless.
The sea became gradually calmer.
The wind fell. The hull would be
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