ISSN 1172-4153 |  Volume 2  |  Issue 43  |  |  14 August 2009 

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E D I T I O N

BREAST IS BEST Mums latch on� 

Page 2

VILI GOOD� World champs 

Page 11

D�ESERT RATS Back to Hell Page 18

NZTONIGHT

Cellphone ban wins praise page 2

COMMENT

Obama supports this thug page 5

WORLD

Taiwan wants NZ aidpage 8

AucklandSat: 16°/10°    Sun: 15°/9°

HamiltonSat: 17°/9°    Sun: 16°/5°

WellingtonSat: 16°/11°    Sun: 12°/7°

QueenstownSat: 11°/2°    Sun: 9°/0°

ChristchurchSat: 12°/6°  Sun: 12°/4°

DunedinSat: 12°/8°    Sun: 11°/5°

MUSIC

Old rock stars do diepage 14

on the INSIDE

Continue reading

By Ian Wishart (additional reporting by NZPA)

WELLINGTON, AUG 14 –� Big discrepancies have emerged between the sentences handed down in two manslaughter cases involving exorcisms.

An uncle and four aunts who all received community-based sentences today for the manslaughter of niece Janet Moses in an ill-fated exorcism attempt committed a “crime of love”, says one of their lawyers.

Greg King made the comment outside the High Court in Wellington after Justice Simon France spared the five accused jail terms, saying they had not intended to harm 22-year-old Ms Moses but were trying to help her.

However, while King and his clients are celebrat-ing their freedom today, parallels have been drawn with a 2001 exorcism case involving an Auckland-based Korean pastor and a Korean member of his

congregation. Pastor Luke Lee was jailed for six years over the death of a woman whom he acciden-tally strangled during an exorcism.

Lee’s methods were condemned by other Chris-tian exorcists, who reminded media there was no evidence in the Bible that Jesus Christ ever cast out demons by beating people up.

But while Lee was sent to jail for six years in what Justice Paterson described as a “deterrent” sentence

for those who might try similar violent exorcisms, that precedent evidently wasn’t considered strong in this latest case.

Janet Moses, a young mother-of-two who may have been suffering a mental illness, drowned in October 2007 after extended family members poured copi-ous amounts of water into her mouth and nose over several days in a bid to lift a makutu or curse.

Different standards in exorcism sentencing

By Sarah McDougall of NZPA

WELLINGTON, AUG 14 NZPA –� A heli-skiing guide was killed today in an avalanche in Canterbury.

The man from Alpine Guides died after being bur-ied by the avalanche on Ragged Range in Methven – the same area where an Australian tourist was killed while skiing with the company a month ago. The guide, who was with four clients, had been look-ing at the runs in the Ragged Range when he was caught directly in the avalanche about 4pm, Alpine

Guides managing director Bryan Carter said. “He was subsequently located and dug out by

other guides. “He was unconscious and despite treatment ... over

the next two hours, I understand, unfortunately he didn’t survive.” Mr Carter, who spoke to NZPA while on his way to Methven tonight, said he did not know how long the man had been buried but the guides had returned from the rescue about 6.30pm.

He understood the four clients were not caught in the avalanche.

By Ian Wishart

Signs tonight that the National Government has been firmly captured by global warming fundamen-talists, even though Climate Change minister Nick Smith admits the science is not settled.

Prime Minister John Key’s specially appointed science advisor, Sir Peter Gluckman, has published a science opinion on the Beehive website equating climate change skeptics with AIDS virus deniers.

“A similar debate occurred about AIDS, where a minority of scientists maintained for a long time that the disease was not caused by a virus,” Gluck-man says. “This view was manifestly wrong in the eyes of most scientists, but nevertheless some dis-tinguished scientists, albeit usually not experts in virology, took different views until the science became irrefutable. The political consequences of this denialism had tragic results in some African countries.”

Gluckman’s article continues with a clear demon-stration he believes humans are causing dangerous temperature change.

“The higher the rise the greater the effect on our lives, and the scientific literature indicates many risks for more than a 2°C rise in global temperature compared to pre-industrial conditions…In New Zealand, even this small increase will have effects on our agriculture, coastlines and regional climates. The associated sea level rises will dramatically affect some of our Pacific Island neighbours.”

But with sea levels rising at less than 3 millime-tres per year, it could be centuries before rising sea levels override the much more common threat to Pacific islands: eroding coral and sinking seamounts as the ancient volcanoes they’re perched on are sucked back into the earth’s mantle at a rate of up to 30 centimetres a year in some locations. All of this appears to have escaped the Beehive’s notice.

On the subject of rising CO2 levels, The Prime

Mixed climate messages from Govt

Guide killed in avalanche

Continue reading

Continue reading

NZPA/Ross Setford

14 August  2009 �

WorlD’s Dumbest bAnk robber in ACtionANCHORAGE, AlASkA, AuG. 14 (uPI) – Authorities in� Alaska said a ban�k robber showed his ID an�d gave his n�ame an�d ban�k accoun�t n�umber to a teller before the crime. 

The FBI said Jarell Paul Arn�old, 34, walked in�to the Alaska USA Federal Credit Un�ion� in� An�chorage about 1:05 p.m. last Friday an�d made an� in�quiry about the bal-an�ce of his accoun�t, showin�g his ID an�d givin�g his n�ame an�d accoun�t n�umber. Then� he gave the teller a n�ote deman�din�g mon�ey an�d sayin�g he had a gun� con�cealed, the An�chorage Daily News reported today. 

FBI agen�ts – familiar with Arn�old from a 2004 ban�k robbery charge, for which he was sen�ten�ced to 57 mon�ths in� prison� – con�firmed his iden�tity usin�g ban�k-surveillan�ce footage. An�d he allegedly con�fessed to the crime at the time of his arrest Mon�day. 

Agen�ts said Arn�old, who was taken� to the An�chorage Jail, admitted to robbin�g the ban�k but said he did n�ot have a gun� at the time. 

AustrAliA texting Alien fisH CANBERRA, AuStRAlIA, AuG. 14 (uPI) – An� Australian� magazin�e is givin�g people a chan�ce to sen�d a message to far-distan�t plan�ets, assumin�g an�yon�e is out there to listen�. 

The messages would be sen�t to Gliese 581d, a water-covered world eight times the size of Earth, COSMOS Magazin�e said. The plan�et, 20 light years from Earth, is the closest Earth-type plan�et discovered so far. 

It’s like a ‘message in� a bottle’ cast out in�to the stars, said Wilson� da Silva, editor of COSMOS. What’s in�terest-in�g is n�ot just whether there’s an�yon�e listen�in�g, but what the public will say to in�telligen�t life on� an�other plan�et, given� the opportun�ity. 

The project is part of Australia’s Nation�al Scien�ce Week, with those in�terested in� speakin�g to the galaxy asked to log on� to www.HelloFromEarth.net before 5 p.m., Aug. 24, Sydn�ey time. Messages are limited to 160 characters. 

The messages will be beamed Aug. 28 to Gliese 581d from the Can�berra Deep Space Commun�ication� Complex, in� Tidbin�billa. 

No replies are likely before 2051, un�less the residen�ts, if an�y, of Gliese 581d have discovered a faster mean�s of in�terstellar commun�ication�. 

missing $2,000 mAileD bACk to oWner OVIEDO, FlA., AuG. 14 (uPI) – A Florida woman� who lost her wallet with $2,000 cash at a store said the mon�ey was return�ed by an� an�on�ymous woman� who said her daughter had the mon�ey. 

Oviedo police said the woman� was shoppin�g last week at a Charlotte Russe clothin�g store in� the Oviedo Marketplace shoppin�g cen�ter when� she acciden�tally left without pickin�g up her wallet from a ben�ch where she had set it down�, WKMG-TV, Orlan�do, Fla., reported today. 

Police said the store does n�ot have security cameras an�d Charlotte Russe employees were un�able to locate the wallet. 

The woman� later told police she received a package in� the mail con�tain�in�g her wallet, her driver’s licen�se an�d the $2,000. She said the an�on�ymously mailed package in�cluded a n�ote from a woman� who wrote she had discovered the items amon�g the belon�gin�gs of her daughter, who had plan�n�ed to spen�d the cash at Victoria’s Secret. 

britisH tHeme pArk ConsiDers speeDo bAn AltON, ENGlAND, AuG. 14 (uPI) – Britain�’s Alton� Towers theme park says it is con�siderin�g revision�s to its dress code amid a rise in� popularity of revealin�g Speedo swimwear for men�. 

Rachael Lockitt, public relation�s man�ager with the Alton�, En�glan�d, theme park said man�agers are discour-agin�g male patron�s from wearin�g Speedos an�d may con�sider a full ban� if the fashion� choice con�tin�ues to be an� issue, Sky News On�lin�e reported. 

With the heat wave over the weeken�d, we saw a big in�crease in� men� wearin�g tight Speedos, Lockitt said. Plan�s are in� place to in�troduce a ban�, should this con�tin�ue. We are a family resort an�d we don�’t wan�t children� askin�g question�s. 

Alton� Towers released a statemen�t sayin�g the style of swimwear is more suited to Spain� than� Staffordshire. 

While women� may hail the return� of the skimpy bathers, the style itself is n�ot deemed public or family frien�dly, the statemen�t said. Therefore we are requestin�g that male swimmers wear more appropriate styles such as boardshorts. 

Back to the front page

NEW ZEALAND

off BEAT

WELLINGTON, AUG 14 –� A Government ban on using cellphones while driving will put New Zea-land in line with the world’s most successful road safety nations, the New Zealand Traffic Institute (Trafinz) says.

The ban comes into force here on November 1 and will result in an $80 fine and 20 demerit points for drivers talking or texting while on the road.

At least 50 other countries have bans or partial bans, many of which incur penalties far greater than New Zealand. In Ireland using a cellphone in a car can result in a three month prison sentence.

Trafinz president Andy Foster said the ban was a good step toward achieving New Zealand’s 2020 road safety goals – the 2010 goal of no more than 300 road deaths a year has been missed by “a depressingly wide margin”.

“Banning hand-held cellphones is an important step towards a community-owned road safety cul-ture and achieving our road safety vision, but it is

just one part of a large range of interventions that will need to be taken to reduce death and injury on our roads,” Mr Foster said.

The ban is part of a wider government road safety strategy announced yesterday by Transport Minis-ter Steven Joyce.

The strategy includes making it compulsory for motorbikes and mopeds to have their headlights on during the day and allows delivery people to ride their mopeds or motorcycles on the footpath no faster than 10kmh.

“ Researchers tells us that a key reason a cell-phone conversation is dangerous is that in a face-to-face conversation the person in the car can also sees the risks around you and can pause the conversa-tion, whereas a person on a cellphone cannot – it is really that simple,” Mr Foster said.

“Trafinz encourages drivers to turn off cellphones when getting in the car, just as we do when going into meetings or the cinema.”

Support for cellphone ban grows

WELLINGTON, AUG 14 –� Breastfeeding rates are on the rise in New Zealand.

Data collected by Plunket has shown a 6 percent rise over the past six years in the number of mothers exclusively breastfeeding their babies until they are six months old, from 10 percent in 2003 to 16 per-cent in 2009. “Breastfeeding rates in New Zealand are definitely improving,” Plunket clinical adviser Allison Jamieson said. “It is pleasing to see that more babies are being breastfed for longer and more exclusively for longer.”

The number of Pacific and Maori babies being exclusively breastfed in the first four months had risen by five percent, to 33 percent of Maori babies and 12 percent of Pacific babies in 2009.

Overall the number of babies being exclusively breastfed for the first four months had also risen by 5 percent to 42 percent in 2009.

The data is collected by Plunket every six months and given to the Ministry of Health and district health boards.

Plunket was delighted to see the increase because breastfeeding played a huge part in providing the best start for children, Ms Jamieson said. The sup-

port of the mother’s partner and her family were known to be strong factors in whether she chose to breastfeed and for how long, she said. Breast-feeding-friendly workplaces also helped. Ideally

More mums breastfeeding in NZ

Minister’s science advisor argues that it will almost certainly cause higher temperatures.

“There is a remote possibility that if we did lit-tle or nothing then the temperature would not rise to unacceptable levels. But we cannot gamble the future of the whole planet on the low probability of that occurring.”

The problem for the Beehive is that the latest satellite data shows that while CO2 levels continue rising, temperatures are not (see graphs), a situation

that puts the whole CO2 theory in doubt.Meanwhile, Climate Change Minister Nick Smith

has finally responded to a question asking why he’s been telling people not to read Air Con because it’s inaccurate.

We challenged Smith on whether he’d actually read the book, and what inaccuracies he’d found.

In a letter to TGIF Edition today, Smith did not identify anything inaccurate in Air Con, and added, “Air Con sets out to disprove the mainstream scien-tific assessment of the risks of climate change, and

reports data that supports that view.”Nonetheless, the Government preferred Gareth

Morgan’s Poles Apart which supported the Govern-ment’s policy decisions more closely.

Still, says Smith, “I am not one who says the sci-ence is 100% certain”, and that although the Gov-ernment is pushing an emissions trading scheme now, that could change.

“We also need to keep flexibility in our approach so we can ramp up or down our responses as this complex issue evolves.”

They believed she was possessed by a demon and that it was linked to the theft by a relative of a con-crete lion statue from outside a Greytown hotel in Wairarapa a few weeks earlier.

The death of Ms Moses did not occur because of a recognised ritual or any “fanatical beliefs”, said Justice France.

What happened was not the result of any cultural or religious practice.

“Makutu did not kill her – she drowned.” The family was not unique in their belief in the

healing powers of water, he said. But things deteriorated when more than 30

whanau members – sleep and food deprived, who had crammed into a small hot flat – began to use water more prolifically. There was so much water in the one-bedroom unit that a hole was drilled in the floor to let some of it escape. Ms Moses was held for a prolonged period under the shower and force-fed quantities of water in attempts to clear out the demon.

“It is undoubted that, at some stage, hysteria entered the room,” Justice France said.

The amount of water “so compromised her air-ways and lungs that she drowned”.

He added: “The accused did what they genuinely thought was right. I have no doubt they believed that she was possessed by makutu and were trying to help.”

Authorities were not called to the house for sev-eral hours because the family then turned their attention to a 14-year-old cousin of Ms Moses and “tried to save her”.

Justice France told John Rawiri, 50, and his sis-ters Glenys Wright, 53, Angela Orupe, 47, Aroha Wharepapa, 49, and Tanginoa Apanui, 43, at the outset that he “would not be sending anyone to jail at the end of today’s exercise”.

This followed the submissions of Crown and defence lawyers, during which the women in the dock wept into handkerchiefs.

“Prison would not achieve anything,” said the judge. Nor did he see any great need for deterrents.

“This is a unique case and unlikely to be repeated.” The death was highly unintended and unexpected, but

it would be wrong to say there was no responsibility. “A young woman died in horrible circumstances where

others were keeping her isolated from the world.” The culpability of the convicted lay in their

failure to seek outside help and in ignoring other options, the judge said.

Relatives and supporters who crammed the pub-lic gallery and spilled out into the foyer remained silent until the proceedings had ended.

As Justice France rose, they stood and clapped loudly. Tears, smiles, embraces and relief were the order of the day.

However, they closed ranks outside the court and refused to talk to the throng of waiting media.

Lawyers, too were reticent. Defence counsel Mike Antunovic said of the five accused: “They deserved that result.”

– NZPA Back to the front page

babies should be breastfed exclusively for the first six months with some breastfeeding to continue for two years or more, Ms Jamieson said.

– NZPA

14 August  2009  �NEW ZEALAND

Back to the front page

WELLINGTON, AUG 14 –� Major restructuring is the “last thing” the health system needs, the Public Service Association says.

A review report on the health service suggested establishing a National Health Board to oversee and fund district health boards.

Health Minister Tony Ryall ordered the review in January and has received a draft report, The Dominion Post reported.

He was expected to release it for public discussion in the next few weeks before decisions are made about implementing its recommendations.

PSA national secretary Brenda Pilott said restructuring the system was no guarantee of fur-ther benefits.

“The last thing our health service needs is the upheaval and expense of another major restructuring.

“In fact, adding another administrative layer to

Unions don’t like  possible health changes

the health system is more likely to increase the cost of delivering health services,” Ms Pilott said.

A National Health Board would be similar to the former Health Funding Authority that was scrapped because it didn’t work, she said.

The report warned of cuts ahead in the rate of growth in health spending – which Finance Minister Bill English signalled in his May budget.

It also calls for a debate about which health serv-ices should be provided by the Government.

Labour’s health spokeswoman, Ruth Dyson, said a new National Health Board would mean another layer of bureaucracy and would be a re-run of the previous National government’s policies.

She said Mr Ryall had consistently argued that there were too many bureaucrats in the health system.

– NZPA

WELLINGTON, AUG 14 –� An Auckland fisherman who hid 85 snapper under the floorboards of his boat has been fined $3000 and ordered to forfeit his vessel.

Fishery officers stopped Tony Do , of Man-gere, in February at the Kawakawa Bay boat ramp, in Manukau City, where they found the concealed fish aboard his 4.4m alu-minium fishing boat.

The 51-year-old Vietnamese yardman, also known as Thai Viet Do, was yesterday sentenced in Manukau District Court.

Judge Graham Hubble fined Do $3000, plus $130 court costs and had his boat, out-board motor, trailer and fishing gear forfeited to the Crown.

When the officers asked to inspect Do’s catch in February he had initially shown them 36 snapper which was the maximum amount allowed for the three adults and one child on board.

However, the officers inspected the boat and found a flap had been

cut in the floorboards under the petrol tank where they saw a number of snapper

packed into the boat’s bilges. After removing the entire floor they

found 85 concealed snapper. Do admitted hiding the fish to avoid

being caught by officers who regularly patrolled the boat ramp. It was the third time he had been caught

with excess snapper and the second time he had lost a boat because of his actions. Ministry of Fisheries district compliance man-

ager Greg Keys said snapper were a finite resource and limits were in place to ensure the fish numbers remained plentiful.

It was disappointing to see Do being caught again with large numbers of excess snapper , he said.

– NZPA

Fish fiend pinged and fined

WELLINGTON, AUG 14 –� Retail sales rose a season-ally and inflation-adjusted 0.4 percent in the June quarter, reinforcing hopes that the economy is close to a turning point after 18 months in recession.

The data was better than expected, with the median forecast of economists in a Reuters poll having been for no change.

It coincided with news that the residential real estate market held firm in July, according to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand

Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) said the rise in total retail sales volumes was the first since the September 2007 quarter.

ASB economists said the report mirrored a sta-bilisation in economic data globally.

Vehicle fuel volumes rose 2.8 percent, vehicle sales volumes edged down 0.2 percent, and appliance sales volumes lifted 3.1 percent.

Actual sales in the June quarter were down 1.8 percent from a year ago at $15.6 billion, while the volume of actual retail sales was down 4 percent over the year, SNZ said.

For the month of June seasonally adjusted retail sales rose 0.1 percent from May, with appliance sales up 9.9 percent or $20 million, and fuel sales up 2 percent or $10 million. Clothing and softgoods sales were down 9.1 percent or $21 million.

Total retail sales values rose a seasonally adjusted 1.1 percent, or $174m, in the June quarter compared to the March quarter.

BNZ senior economist Craig Ebert said the retail data was consistent with the mild recovery expected in the second half of the year, maybe with some hints it was coming a fraction earlier and a frac-tion stronger.

An issue was how much the stabilising of volumes was due to aggressive discounting, he said.

Other than that, the data seemed to sit with some other indicators which seemed to be stabilising if not becoming slightly positive.

ASB economists said there was increasing con-fidence that the economy was past its worst and

close to a turning point but a recovery was likely to be muted.

ASB still expects the Reserve Bank to cut inter-est rates further because a strong NZ dollar has tightened monetary conditions.

Deutsche Bank argued that there was no sensible argument for reducing the official cash rate further at this stage.

UBS senior economist Robin Clements said the data looked slightly better than expected.

“I think the sales for the June month were a touch better, and it looks as if the retail price increases for the quarter were not quite as much as expected, so that all added up to a slightly stronger quarter.”

SNZ said 15 of the 24 retail industries recorded increased sales in the latest quarter.

Vehicle sales rose for the first time since the Sep-tember 2007 quarter, gaining 3 percent or $47m.

Despite that rise, the value of vehicle sales in the June quarter was around the same quarterly level as in 2001, about $1.6 billion.

But the value of vehicle fuel sales fell 2.2 percent, or $34m, even with the rise in volumes.

Core retails sales, which exclude the four vehicle-related industries, also rose a seasonally adjusted 1.1 percent in the June quarter, with supermarket and grocery stores sales up 2.3 percent or $86m.

Cafe and restaurant sales rose 3.4 percent or $33m, appliance sales gained 4.5 percent or $27m, and takeaway food lifted 7.5 percent or $23m.

Among categories recording falls, accommoda-tion dropped 3.8 percent or $24m.

A 0.2 percent rise in core retailing sales volumes included a 0.9 percent rise in supermarket and gro-cery store sales volumes, and a 2.5 percent rise for cafes and restaurants, along with the rise in appli-ance volumes.

The seasonally adjusted volume of retail sales per head rose 0.1 percent in the June quarter from the previous three months, the first quarterly increase since September 2007.

– NZPA

NZ retail sales volumes up

“But one of them has a twisted back or a bit of a back injury – but nothing serious.”

The company had rated the avalanc he risk in the area today as considerable, which was a step up from moderate but a step down from high, Mr Carter said. The company would be reviewing the types of conditions it took people out in, he said.

“It’s important to realise that a lot of people have been out heli-skiing over the last month in difficult con-ditions and with mostly very successful outcomes.

“But of course we have to look at how this hap-pened, why it happened because of the events, you know, that goes without saying.”

Before the Australian client was “regretfully” killed in an avalanche about a month ago the com-pany had not had a fatality for 30 years, he said.

“ Very sadly I have to say we’ve had two within a month.”

It had been a “very difficult” season, but other than that he did not know why the two deaths had occurred in such a short space of time, he said.

“Until I get fully briefed on what’s happened that’s probably about all I can say at the moment.”

The guide, who died today, was very experienced and had been working with the company for about 12 to 13 years, Mr Carter said.

Police said helicopters had transported the patients to accessible airfields as fog in the area was causing problems. The rest of the party had been transported to Glenfalloch Station.

Methven police would be talking to the injured. One other man has been killed in an avalanche

while snowboarding at Coronet Peak near Queen-stown this winter.

– NZPA

14 August  2009  �

-D�istinguishing between correction and violence“When� war comes, the first casualty is truth.” In� the debate over smackin�g an�d the associated referen�dum, the defin�i-tion� of violen�ce is the casualty. Advocates of the “yes” vote get away with usin�g the word “violen�ce” all the time. They don�’t distin�guish between� respon�sible paren�ts who use a light smack from those usin�g implemen�ts to in�flict severe pain�. Emotive words like “beltin�g”, “beatin�g” an�d “whack-in�g” all blur the distin�ction�. 

But  the  differen�ce  between�  paren�tal  correction�  an�d violen�ce is critical. The occasion�al smack is n�ot the same as  abuse  with  jug  cords,  belts  an�d  sticks. The  latter  is totally  un�acceptable  an�d  most  paren�ts  kn�ow  the  differ-en�ce – they always have. 

This debate is n�ot about legal rights but the lived expe-rien�ce of family life. Despite hysteria to the con�trary, those opposin�g Sue Bradford’s law are n�ot con�don�in�g smack-in�g, but  they kn�ow that respon�sible paren�tin�g requires a ran�ge of skills an�d techn�iques to do the job.

Man�y votin�g “n�o” are upset with the state limitin�g their option�s an�d makin�g them crimin�als if they dare to smack. The caveat that in�vestigatin�g police exercise discretion� on� a case-by-case basis prior to charges bein�g laid doesn�’t allay paren�tal  fears n�or promote con�sisten�cy  in� en�force-men�t, which is the basis of good law. 

Ms Bradford herself is con�fused: she doesn�’t wan�t light smackin�g crimin�alised, but then� claims she wan�ts children� to be “free from violen�ce”. 

Good law, though, has to be en�forceable an�d this equivo-cation� on�ly muddies the waters of what is mean�t by violen�ce. The former s.59 of the Crimes Act assumed respon�sible par-en�tin�g an�d respected paren�tal freedom up to a poin�t. Where real abuse occurred, the police were right to prosecute. 

Ms Bradford’s amen�dmen�t did n�ot come about by the wholesale failure of s.59 but by the sustain�ed activism of certain� groups ben�t on� popularisin�g particular un�derstan�d-in�gs of children�’s rights. Children� are n�ot marchin�g in� the streets  deman�din�g  reform;  they wan�t  lovin�g,  committed paren�ts, n�ot more legal rights. 

As on�e writer has put it, a child is protected because she is loved, n�ot because she has a right to be protected. Paren�tin�g in�volves a respon�sibility to n�urture an�d provide for  the  child  from  in�fan�cy  to  in�depen�den�ce  aroun�d  18 years  of  age.  Most  paren�ts  do  n�ot  seek  to  harm  their children� but wan�t the best for them an�d often� harbour a desire they will do better in� life than� they have. 

In� this sen�se, the “best in�terests of the child” (that hack-n�eyed n�otion� en�shrin�ed  in�  the 1989 UN Con�ven�tion� on� the Rights of the Child) is fleshed out every day in� families when�  paren�ts  love,  n�urture,  disciplin�e  an�d  sacrifice  for their children�. Moreover, the paren�t-child relation�ship has n�ever been� equal in� terms of political power. 

Con�flict always in�volves the will of the adult again�st that of the child. “Stop hittin�g your brother”; “go to your room”; “pick up your clothes” in�volves paren�ts assertin�g their will. On�ly in� recen�t times an�d as a result of the waffle offered by discourse an�alysis have theorists con�ceptualised n�or-mal ten�sion�s as a power issue in� an�y political sen�se. This has created an� artificial atmosphere of competin�g rights between� paren�ts an�d children�. 

When� rights clash, whose rights are most right? This is the where the yes supporters depart from the n�o voters in� the referen�dum. The former see the world in� terms of child’s legal rights but the latter just wan�t to get on� with paren�tin�g without run�n�in�g foul of the law for usin�g the odd smack. 

The rate of child abuse in� New Zealan�d is horrific. But let’s target the real causes rather than� create a hypersen�-sitive rights culture where respon�sible paren�ts are treated as  crimin�als  for  usin�g  the  occasion�al  smack.  Let’s  also distin�guish between� paren�tal correction� an�d violen�ce. 

The  Bradford  law  fails  to  do  so  an�d  is  con�fusin�g, presumptive  an�d  placin�g  un�due  pressure  on�  police resources. 

What an� iron�y that we have rampan�t youth crime an�d un�preceden�ted  violen�ce  in�  our  streets  –  yes,  violen�ce – yet we seem absorbed with this issue.

Dr Michael Reid is a parent, teacher, and author of the 2006

book From Innocents to Agents: children and children’s rights in New Zealand. 

  Sign Up Now to receive FREE regular updates about the

issues affecting families in NZ http://www.familyfirst.org.nz/index.cfm/Sign_up

EDITORIAL

Walker’s World

subsCribe to tgif!

editorial family matters

Calling all driversA fascinating debate is ensuing over the Govern-ment’s decision to ban the use of hand-held cell-phones while driving.

At one level, opposing the restrictions coming into force on November 1 seems counter-intuitive . We’ve all used cellphones, and many of us have used them while driving. They are, after all, “mobile” phones.

I for one know how distracting they can be, and how driving ability is impaired while we fumble with keys or hold the phone to our ears on a roundabout.

However, I struggle with the claim that cellphones are a major cause of road fatalities. The road toll has plummeted from up to 1000 people a year back in the 1980s when cellphones were first introduced, to under 400 people.

This drastic cut in the road toll has coincided with an explosion in cellphone use. There are now more cellphones than cars in New Zealand and in fact more cellphones than people.

If cellphones led to fatals, given the heavy cell-phone use of the modern generation, road fatalities should have gone through the roof. They haven’t.

However, and here’s the rub, cellphones appear to be causing a lot of ordinary fender-benders – low speed or minor collisions. The insurance companies

are the first to admit they see a number of prangs related to cellphone use while driving.

However, there are a large number of distractions for drivers, not just cellphones. Children would be the worst, I suspect, as they can’t drive and don’t understand tense traffic moments. Children pop-ping up with inane questions just as you pull out of an intersection, or deciding to have a World War 3 moment in the back seat , are a major distraction as any parent can testify.

Modern car stereos are a bugbear too. Gone are the simple pushbutton cassette deck/AM radios of the 80s. You could change a station just by winding the knob, and there were only three stations in town whose band positions you could find in the dark.

Instead, today’s driver is confronted by more lights and console switches on the 12 speaker sound system than confronted astronaut Michael Collins piloting the Apollo moon mission.

The buttons are tiny, fiddly and don’t just turn things on and off; they send the driver on a path-way through various programmed cycles until you return to the setting you actually wanted.

How many accidents are caused by people drop-ping food or drink into their laps while driving?

So yes, a ban on cellphone use while driving will have some impact on road safety, but only a small impact in the big scheme of things.

To my mind wired cellphone headsets should be banned – there is significant distraction when an earpiece falls out because your arm caught the wire while you rounded a corner.

Bluetooth handsfree speaker kits are OK, pro-vided you have a good loud one that can pick up your voice well. If you are having to lean towards the dashboard or visor to speak then it’s a distraction, not an assistance.

In fact, the only genuinely safe way I’ve found to use a mobile while driving is with the wireless Blue-tooth earpiece. No wires mean it can’t get tangled in your arms while you drive, meaning you have total unrestricted head and arm movement. I can talk and drive happily on a Bluetooth headset because it doesn’t distract me.

Anything else, not worth it. With some new phones capable of turning text messages into speech and vice versa, it seems evolution will take care of mobile office requirements as we look for safer ways to continue as road warriors.

By David A. Ridenour

WASHINGTON –� The Senate recently confirmed Sonia Sotomayor as the 111th justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, but it needn’t have bothered. The Obama administration apparently believes Supreme Courts can be ignored.

After the removal of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya from office, Secretary of State Hillary Clin-ton was quick to condemn the move, saying it could create a “terrible precedent.” What terrible prec-edent did she think might be established? A Latin American country actually following its constitu-tion? Despite what you may have heard, there was no coup d’etat in Honduras.

Manuel Zelaya, a Hugo Chavez wannabe, was legally removed from office for violating his coun-try’s constitution in an effort to extend his power.

Zelaya had proposed a national referendum to amend the Honduran constitution to permit him to serve an unlimited number of terms – much as Ven-ezuela’s Hugo Chavez proposed in 2007. However, unlike Venezuela, the chief executive in Honduras is constitutionally-barred from proposing such a referendum.

Zelaya was legally removed from office in a 15-0 decision by the Honduran Supreme Court for violat-ing Article 239 of the constitution, which states: “No citizen that has already served as head of the Exec-utive Branch can be President or Vice President. Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform ... will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years.” Significantly, nine of the Supreme Court Justices are members of Zelaya’s OWN party.

To the court’s credit, its initial response to Zelaya’s referendum was restrained. Rather than ordering his immediate removal from office, it ruled his ref-erendum unconstitutional and ordered the military, which normally carries out balloting logistics, to refrain from distributing ballots.

But Zelaya decided to go ahead with it anyway. When his country’s top military leader, Gen. Vasquez Velasquez, refused to violate the high court’s order, Zelaya fired him. When the court ordered him rein-stated, Zelaya refused.

Zelaya and a group of his supporters then broke into a military facility where the referendum ballots were stored, stole them and began distributing them in violation of the court’s directive. The ballots, not surprisingly, were printed in Venezuela.

Obama supports legally-deposed thug

Zelaya shouldn’t have just been removed from office, he should have been imprisoned.

Yet, the United States condemned Honduras and rescinded all aid to the country – an unfortunate consequence of a secretary of state completely out of her depth.

The Hondurans can be forgiven if they’re just a

little bit protective of their constitution. At the time Honduras adopted its current constitution in 1982, it had already gone through 15 constitutions since gaining independence from Spain – a new one, on average, every 10 years.

Previous constitutions proved ineffective in restraining executive power and led to a succes-sion of authoritarian military regimes. This is why the current constitution requires the removal of any president who proposes extending his term.

One can’t argue with the results. President Zelaya’s election marked the seventh consecutive democratic election in Honduras, the most in its history. By removing him, Honduras was simply acting to prevent that streak from ending.

By denouncing rather than praising Honduras’ defense of its democracy, the Obama administration sent the wrong message to Hondurans.

It sent the wrong message to Hugo Chavez and other regional despots who now must question America’s commitment to defending democracy.

And it sent the wrong message to Americans concerned about Obama’s commitment to demo-cratic values.

If Barack Obama continues to put his ideology before freedom, he may fall to a kind of coup himself – something the rest of us like to call “elections.”

David A. Riden�our is vice presiden�t of the Nation�al Cen�ter for Public 

Policy Research, a con�servative thin�k tan�k. 

14 August  2009 �ANALYSIS

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

WASHINGTON –� Is Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal theft-proof? Former President Pervez Musharraf and his successor Asif Ali Zardari and their army and intelligence chiefs repeatedly have assured both the Bush and Obama administrations that their 80-odd nuclear weapons are as secure as the U.S. arsenal of some 7,000 city busters. The Pakistanis have sepa-rated warheads from delivery systems and stored them in different secret locations throughout the second-largest Muslim country in the world after Indonesia. The United States has given Pakistan copies of its own blueprint to ensure full-proof, total safety. Yet Pakistan’s secret nuclear storage sites are known to Islamist extremists and have been attacked at least three times over the last two years, according to two recent reputable reports.

The Baltimore-based Maldon Institute, whose worldwide staff consists mostly of retired intelli-gence officers, and the Times of India’s Washing-ton-based Foreign Editor Chidanand Rajghatta both report attempted nuclear thefts that have been tracked by Shaun Gregory, a professor at the Uni-versity of Bradford in Britain. The first such attack against the nuclear missile storage facility was on Nov. 1, 2007, at Sargodha; the second, by a suicide bomber, occurred Dec. 10, 2007, against Pakistan’s

nuclear air base at Kamra; and the third and most alarming was launched Aug. 20, 2008, by several suicide bombers who blew up key entry points to a nuclear weapons complex at the Wah cantonment, long believed to be one of Pakistan’s main nuclear weapons assembly points, where warheads and launchers come together in a national emergency.

Gregory’s research paper was first published in West Point’s Counter Terrorism Center Sentinel and elicited no attention or reaction. Renowned terrorist expert Peter Bergen, one of the very few journal-ists to interview al-Qaida chief Osama Bin Laden before Sept. 11, 2001, reviewed Gregory’s paper and was baffled by the lack of reaction from the rest of the media.

While not denying the three incidents, Pakistan has said repeatedly that its nuclear weapons are fully secured and there is no chance of them falling into the hands of Islamist extremists, a phenom-enon that has attracted a limited number of offic-ers. During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1979-89), Islamist extremism was encouraged by the three powers funding the anti-Soviet insurgents, known as the mujahedin (whose sons and grandsons are today’s Taliban guerrillas). The fear in those days was communist expansion into Pakistan. And madrassas, Koranic schools for boys only, funded by Saudi Arabia’s fundamentalist Wahabi clergy, were

set up along the border as an ideological barrier against Moscow’s godless state religion.

Since then, the madrassa phenomenon has spread to the entire country, and today’s reform movement has touched roughly 250 madrassas out of 12,500. The rest are still producing jobless teenagers who are easily seduced by the jihadi siren song to fight the imperialist apostates from the United States, Israel and India. Still more worrisome is the number of younger army officers who embraced Islamist extremism in the heady days of the February 1989 Soviet defeat in Afghanistan. When the United States began punishing Pakistan with all manner of sanctions for its secret nuclear weapons program throughout the 1990s, the young officers, reared in what became a bitterly anti-American environment, are today’s one-, two- and three-star generals.

Relations between Pakistan’s generals and their U.S. counterparts are now middling to good, but at arm’s length. Following the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a Pakistani general with the Inter-Services Intelligence agency toured the tribal areas along the Afghan bor-der to tell tribal elders that Pakistan would be next on America’s list of Muslim targets. The American government, this general explained to a tribal chief who is a longtime friend of this reporter, is determined to seize Islam’s nuclear weapons. This was when Gen. Hamid Gul, a former ISI chief, spread the word that Sept. 11 had been concocted by the CIA and Israel’s Mossad to provide a pretext for attacking Muslim countries. Sadly, many well-intentioned Pakistanis still believe to this day what is straight disinforma-tion designed to manipulate public opinion against the United States.

Gregory points out that during Pakistan’s secret nuclear weapons buildup in the 1970s (after East Pakistan was conquered by the Indian army in 1971

and turned into Bangladesh) and 1980s (when the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Afghanistan), its principal concern was the risk of India overrun-ning its nuclear facilities in a blitzkrieg armored offensive if they were located close to the 780-mile border between the two countries. Instead, most of the nuclear weapons infrastructure was moved to the north and west and to the region around the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi (a military garrison city).

This brought these installations close to where Taliban insurgents were operating, in Pakistan proper, as close as 60 miles to the capital. American and Pakistani perceptions of the growing threat to its nukes narrowed accordingly. Gregory says the army conducts a tight selection process drawing almost exclusively on officers from Punjab province who are believed to have fewer links with religious extremism, or with the Pashtun areas of the North-West Frontier province and the Federally Adminis-tered Tribal Areas abutting the Afghan border.

The Times of India and the Maldon Institute reported Pakistan also operates an analog to the U.S. Personnel Reliability Program that screens individuals for Islamist sympathies, personality problems, drug use, inappropriate external affilia-tions, and sexual deviancy. Gregory reckons that in total, between 8,000 and 10,000 individuals from the army’s security division and from the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, Military Intelligence and Intelligence Bureau agencies are involved in the security clearance and monitoring of those with nuclear weapons duties.

Pakistan also uses dummy sites to confuse would-be attackers. Formal command authority is under President Zardari and his Cabinet. But Army chief Ashfaq Kayani has complete control over the coun-try’s nuclear weapons. But Gregory also says that despite elaborate safeguards, empirical evidence points to a clear set of weaknesses and vulner-abilities in Pakistan’s nuclear safety and security arrangements.

How the thousands employed by the nuclear establishment feel about the United States is not known. The question is not considered relevant, per-haps because U.S. and Pakistani views still differ on the nature of the war in Afghanistan. The Taliban was useful after the Soviets left Afghanistan. Many of ISI’s senior officers believe it will be useful again after the United States and its NATO allies leave.

Pakistan nuke thefts foiled

BERLIN –� In the first elections in 20 years, young leaders gained influential posts in Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah Party.

Fourteen out of the 18 positions up for election held at the West Bank city of Bethlehem have gone to Fatah’s younger generation, as al-Jazeera Inter-national reported Aug. 12.

The voting outlines the tensions between the more ideologically oriented followers of the movement’s founder Yasser Arafat and the younger generation that has talked to Israel.

Only four of the 10 members of Fatah’s old guard could hold on to their positions in the powerful 23-member Central Committee of Fatah.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was re-elected as the Head of Fatah. Abbas has served as Fatah’s Head since Arafat’s death in 2004.

Mohammed Dahlan from the refugee camp in Khan Younis and Nabil Shaath from Gaza City are the most prominent figures that were voted into Fatah’s Central Committee.

Mohammed Dahlan served as the head of the Fatah security force in Gaza.

This is going to be a turning point between the past and the future, the future which will mend all the political, party and internal problems inside Fatah, Dahlan said in a television statement broad-casted by al-Jazeera International.

According to a report in the online edition of Ger-man newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Dahlan said

Aug. 11 that it would be one of the most important tasks of Fatah to make peace with Hamas that is ruling in the Gaza strip.

According to sueddeutsche.de Aug. 12, Dahlan also called for a time schedule as a condition to resume peace talks with Israel.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Fatah’s radical and uncompromising positions cre-ated an unbridgeable gap between us and them, according to an Aug. 11 BBC news report.

According to a profile on Dahlan compiled by al-Jazeera International, Dahlan was involved in the first Palestinian intifada in 1987.

Israeli authorities deported Dahlan to Jordan in 1988. He moved on to Tunisia to join PLO leaders.

He returned to Gaza with Yasser Arafat in 1994 and became the head of security forces.

After the signing of the Oslo peace accords in 1994, Dahlan became a permanent member of the Palestin-ian negotiating team on security issues. Dahlan joined negotiations at Camp David peace talks in 2000.

Dahlan, however, is a controversial figure and was accused of corruption and criticized for his relations to the United States and Israel.

Fatah was founded in the 1950s to fight Israel. Fatah joined the Oslo peace process in the 1990s arguing for a two-state solution. The Fatah Party lost elections to Hamas in 2006.

According to a report by al-Jazeera International Aug. 12, 11 senior leaders from the Gaza Strip have

stepped down from their office as a sign of protest against the election process.

Ahmed Nasser, a senior Fatah member in Gaza, announced the resignation of the entire 11-member board on Wednesday, saying that party members from the Strip were not well represented in the 23-member Central Committee, according to the al-Jazeera International report.

Can Palestine’s young Turks change history?

pAkistAn HAs sAiD repeAteDly tHAt its

nuCleAr WeApons Are fully seCureD AnD tHere is no CHAnCe of tHem fAlling into tHe HAnDs of islAmist extremists

However, the resignation from the member board only means withdrawing from the committee; they will still hold on to their party membership.

Fatah delegates from the West Bank claimed most of the 18 positions out of the 23 Central Committee seats that were elected, al-Jazeera International reported.

– UPI

14 August  2009  �

By Peter Curson

Over the last few decades the world has experienced more rapid and extensive population change than at any comparable time in its history. Countries from all major political, ethnic and religious back-grounds and virtually from every part of the globe have experienced extraordinary change in the size and structure of their populations. So looking to the future what is this demographic tsunami likely to produce and what are the population trends that are likely to shape our world in the decades to come?

Well in the first place a good proportion of the world’s population is turning grey. Developed nations are ageing fast and many developing countries are only a decade or so behind. People are having far fewer babies than they once did and the impact is beginning to show throughout the world. In Italy, for example, the fertility rate is cur-rently 1.3 children per woman and in Japan it is 1.2. Even in China with its teeming millions, fertility is only 1.7. As fertility falls and baby-boomers hit the retirement queues, the elderly will make up a much greater proportion of the total population in many countries and working age adults will decline in numbers. In Japan more than 21% of the popula-tion are currently aged over 65.

By 2050 it is possible that more than 40% of the Japanese population will be considered old. Within 25 years most European countries will have between 20 and 25% of their population in the aged category. But look at China, currently the world’s most popu-lous country. Within 40 years China will have almost 350 million people aged over 65 and will be the first country to substantially grey without being in an advanced developed state. But in many ways it is the ‘oldest-old’ who will highlight this demographic revolution. In most developed countries the oldest-old or people aged over 80 are the fastest growing age category. By 2030 many European countries will have between 8 and 10% of their population aged over 80. And it is not only developed countries. Even China will follow suit and within 20 years China may well have 100 million people aged over 80 or 12% of the total population.

Even in Australia and New Zealand, the ‘old old’ are poised to dominate the growth stakes over the next few decades. One result of all this is that there will be fewer workers to contribute to the pension and health costs of the old unless governments encourage higher fertility as a number are currently trying to do via ‘baby-bonuses’.

The second population trend of note is the wide division appearing between Africa and some coun-tries in Asia and the rest of the world, particularly with respect to population growth and fertility lev-els. While the population of some developed coun-tries will actually fall over the next few decades, others will quickly leap to take their place in the

numerical stakes. Ethiopia, for example, is likely to have a greater population than Russia within the next 25 years and Uganda more people than Ger-many. Many are now arguing that such population growth in some of the world’s poorest countries will substantially strain weak infrastructures and may well lead to a scarcity of water and food, produce environmental degradation and the proliferation of disease-ridden slums and squatter settlements in and around many cities.

While such growth may have dramatic effects at home, will it produce any change in the global geopolitical situation? Perhaps not, but the decline of Asia-Pacific powers like Russia and Japan may well alter the balance of ‘power’ in our region. The answer to many is population control, increased access to contraception and formal family planning programs. Others argue that birth rates begin to fall when educational levels and wealth increase, and that educating girls to read and write is the best contraceptive of all.

The third population issue is a trend in some coun-tries, particularly in Asia, to have too many males and too few females. Normally more males are born than females at a ratio of about 104/105:100. But this basic ‘demographic law’ has been turned on its head in parts of Asia. China, with its strong prefer-ence for sons and its ‘1 child policy’, has produced a society where 120 males are born for every 100 females. In parts of rural China the rate even exceeds 160:100. By 2020 it is possible that China will have 30 million more men than women, creating something of a classic ‘marriage squeeze’. Possibly 15% of all Chinese males may well find themselves unable to find a potential partner. India too, risks following this trend. Perhaps the ‘boat people’ of the future will be Chinese and Indian males anxiously searching the southern ocean for an antipodean mate?

The fourth population trend is one in which the ‘South’ is moving ‘North’ as people from the poorer southern countries are attracted to the US and Europe. Each year more than 500,000 Mexicans cross illegally into the US and North and West Afri-cans are making their way to Europe. This, allied to the movement of legal workers and migrants is transforming the cultural and ethnic face of many developed countries. Within 40 years, for example, 24% of the US population will be of Hispanic origin, up from about 15% today.

In Australia’s region, ‘boat people’, illegal migrants from Asia and the Middle East, are becoming more significant and the movement of many young peo-ple from Africa and Asia to study in Australia and New Zealand, has helped transform the social and demographic structure of many cities.

The final population trend is the wild card of infectious disease. HIV/AIDS has already put a lid on population growth in some Sub-Saharan coun-tries such as South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe.

HIV/AIDS has the effect of removing young males and females from the population when they might otherwise contribute to fertility and economic development of their countries. But HIV/AIDS aside, the world is entering a new era of infectious disease and it is more than likely that we will all suf-fer a variety of pandemics and localised epidemics over the next 50 or so years.

While demography is at best an imprecise science, particularly when it attempts to predict the future, there seems little doubt that within 20 to 30 years our world will be somewhat different to what it is today. Demographically our world underwent massive changes during the last century and will continue to do so over the next. If nothing else, the last few decades of the 20th century demonstrated how coun-tries could undergo radical demographic, social and

economic change in only a handful of years. The unprecedented ageing and decline of work-

ing age adults and falling fertility will ultimately spread to all countries. In the developed world, faced in some cases by actual population decline, there will be further debates about the need for large scale immigration to help maintain the labour force. We will also need to address many other issues, such as how to define ‘old’ in the 21st century, how to maintain social, health and pension benefits and the need to ensure that that extraordinary reservoir of wisdom, learning, skills and reliability that will characterise tomorrows ‘old’ is not left to idle among retirement queues..

Peter Curson� is Professor in� Population� & Security, at the Cen�tre for 

In�tern�ation�al Security Studies, Faculty of Econ�omics & Busin�ess, the 

Un�iversity of Sydn�ey. He is also a TGIF Edition subscriber

No babies means no pension

ANALYSIS

14 August  2009 �

obAmA At ApeC singAporeWASHINGtON (DPA) – US Presiden�t Barack Obama will atten�d a gatherin�g of Asia-Pacific leaders in� Sin�ga-pore later this year for discussion�s on� revivin�g the global econ�omy, the White House said today. 

The Asia-Pacific Econ�omic Cooperation� meetin�g is to take place November 14-15. Spokesman� Robert Gibbs said Obama will likely visit other coun�tries in� the region� but n�o stops have been� fin�alized. 

“Presiden�t Obama looks forward to workin�g with APEC leaders to promote open� trade an�d in�vestmen�t, support econ�omic recovery an�d sustain�able developmen�t, an�d address key challen�ges facin�g the region� an�d the world,” Gibbs said.

nZ$270 million in lottery jACkpotROmE (DPA) – Italy’s jackpot craze hit feverish levels today as Europe’s biggest lottery prize in� history – 131.5 million� euros – wen�t un�claimed. 

Non�e of the million�s of players had the right combin�a-tion� of six n�umbers in� a field of 1-to-90 to seize the coveted treasure. That mean�s the Superen�alotto n�ow climbs to 136 million� euros (NZ$270 million�) for the n�ext drawin�g on� Mon�day. 

Italy’s Superen�alotto jackpot was last won� in� Jan�uary. Its largest to date was 100.7 million� euros in� October 2008. 

CorsiCAn trAgeDyPARIS (DPA) – A 16-year-old Corsican� youth killed his paren�ts an�d 10-year-old twin� brothers with a shotgun� as they lay asleep, media reports on� the Fren�ch islan�d said today. 

They said the 16-year-old had told police after givin�g himself up that he remembered n�othin�g of the shootin�gs, which wiped out the en�tire family in� their detached home in� Albitreccia village 30 kilometres east of the islan�d’s capital, Ajaccio. 

It was n�ot immediately clear what had led the teen�-ager to carry out the killin�gs – apparen�tly in� cold blood – durin�g the n�ight between� Tuesday an�d Wedn�esday, the reports said. 

They said the family had lived quietly, with the paren�ts workin�g in� busin�ess at a n�earby resort. The teen�ager had n�o record of bein�g in� trouble with the police. 

The reports said the teen�ager had apparen�tly left the shotgun� n�ear his paren�ts’ house an�d wan�dered aimlessly aroun�d the resort of Porticcio before visitin�g his un�cle an�d sayin�g what he had don�e. 

The un�cle had then� taken� him to the police at on�e in� the morn�in�g, sayin�g: “The boy has killed killed his family.” The teen�ager was due in�itially to appear before an� exam-in�in�g magistrate. 

The family tragedy brought to 20 the n�umber of people murdered on� Corsica sin�ce the begin�n�in�g of the year after 21 were killed last year on� an� islan�d kn�own� for scores to be settled by use of arms. 

The Prefect of Corsica Paul Michel, recen�tly warn�ed that this year could prove even� bloodier than� last. Some 4,500 residen�ts of the islan�d possess a weapon�s licen�ce compared with just 1,200 in� Paris. 

WORLD

updatein �0 seconds

TAIPEI –� Taiwan, facing the worst typhoon-related flooding and mudslides in half a century, today sought aid from foreign countries.

The Taiwanese Foreign Ministry stated that the country needed equipment and materials to clear roads, recover bodies and shelter survivors, as well as helicopters and pilots to deliver these materials.

In addition, disinfectants, sterilizing agents and portable water purification systems were need in large supply to prevent the breakout of disease.

The ministry said it notified the United States, Japan, the European Union, New Zealand, Australia and other countries of its emergency needs.

The Foreign Ministry also thanked foreign coun-tries for their donation of cash and relief material and their messages of concern.

As of Thursday, China, the US, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong donated cash in aid of the flood victims, and Singapore sent a chartered plane carry-ing 50,000-Singapore-dollars (35,000-US-dollars) worth of food and medicine.

Typhoon Morakot slammed into Taiwan over the weekend, triggering mudslides that buried several mountain villages in the south. As of Thursday, the typhoon was officially reported to have left 116 dead, 59 missing and 25 injured, with agricultural losses surging to 8.8 billion Taiwan dollars (267 million US dollars), the second highest in the island’s history.

The death toll is expected to rise as many villagers remain trapped, and rescuers cannot reach some set-tlements due to mudslides and damaged bridges.

The head of Hsiaolin village in Kaohsiung County said 600 villagers were buried alive. Out of the vil-lage’s nearly 200 houses, only two are standing.

Houses in other villages have been swept away by mudslides and their inhabitants remain missing.

The government has been criticized by the public for being slow in getting rescue efforts underway.

President Ma Ying-jeou on a Wednesday visit to a disaster area was greeted by angry survivors with a placard saying “Crippled Government” and was told by one survivor: “We voted for you, but it is so hard to see you.”

Huang Huang-hui, deputy principal of Cheng Kung University, told a meeting of the ruling Kuomintang Party that it was absurd that local authorities had to apply to higher authorities to request military

helicopters to search for survivors. “The only way for President Ma to understand

the situation of the survivors is for the Presidential Office to be flooded,” he said.

Premier Liu Chao-shiuan however defended the government’s position, saying bad weather pre-vented a more rapid dispatch of the helicopters.

– DPA

Taiwan appeals for NZ aid

CARACAS –� At least 12 reporters were injured today in Caracas while they campaigned against a controversial new education bill sponsored by the government of President Hugo Chavez.

The group was handing out leaflets against a spe-cific article in the proposed bill that would allow the Education Ministry to suspend broadcasting by any media whenever the ministry sees fit, a spokesman for the reporters said.

The reporters, who work for the dailies Ultimas Noticias, El Mundo and Lider en Deportes, were on the central Urdaneta Avenue when they were insulted and attacked with stones and sticks, alleg-edly by Chavez supporters. They were handing out leaflets against the proposed legislation.

The reporters were initially taken care of at the nearby building of El Mundo, but several later went to hospital for treatment, Juan Pablo Arocha, a spokesman for El Mundo reporters, told the Ger-man Press Agency dpa.

Earlier, groups marching for and against the pro-posal headed for the National Assembly building, where the bill was being debated. However, only supporters of the planned legislation made it to the National Assembly, while tear gas was used to break up the group of critics.

The legislature was expected to pass, since Chavez supporters have a large majority in the chamber.

According to the Venezuelan government, the new law would boost university autonomy, integration between families and teachers, and equal access to education.

– DPA

Journalists hurt as communists tighten grip

14 August  2009  �WORLD

NEW DELHI –� A group of harassed husbands are to meet in the northern Indian hill town of Shimla Satur-day to protest against domestic violence against men and the misuse of laws intended to protect women.

Men who are beaten up by their wives and have no avenue for redress or complaint, extortion of money through false dowry cases, cruelty to parents-in-law by wives, using child custody as a tool to demoralize men – these are just some of the issues that will be discussed at the national convention organized by the Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF).

“We have organized the national convention on August 15, India’s Independence Day, because we want to use the occasion to speak out about how more and more men in this country are losing their freedom and are victims,” SIFF member Virag Dhulia said.

“About 100 leaders representing organizations

working for men’s rights will be attending the three-day convention in Shimla. They represent about 30,000 members,” Dhulia added.

SIFF runs 100 helplines across the country to help men in distress.

“You would be surprised at the number of calls we get – they average 300 to 350 a week and come from all across the country,” Dhulia said.

Dhulia, who works at an information technol-ogy firm in the southern city of Bangalore, des-perately searched for help when he found himself facing dowry and maintenance demands, which he claims were false.

“The SIFF helplines, the weekly meetings it organizes where men in similar circumstances can interact, helped me understand that mine was not a one-off problem, that the phenomenon is widespread,” he said.

Indian men claim they’re henpecked

COPENHAGEN –� Protests were staged in Dan-ish cities today after police forced their way into a church and detained 19 Iraqis who had sought refuge there after their asylum applications had been turned down.

In Copenhagen some 12,000 people were esti-mated to have joined in the protest.

Pastor Per Ramsland, whose Brorson church in the Copenhagen suburb of Norrebro has hosted 60 Iraqis since May, said he “never dreamed that something like this could happen,” adding it violated Danish traditions of church sanctuary.

Justice Minister Brian Mikkelsen, however, defended the police and said in a statement “the law must be respected” and “one should not count on special treatment even if one occupies a church.”

Copenhagen bishop Norman Svendsen said he regret-ted the events and has asked for information about the overnight raid in which 50 police officers took part.

Lutheran pastors that belong to a pro-asylum network also voiced concern as did human rights groups ranging from Amnesty International to the Danish Red Cross.

Danish politicians, including former prime min-ister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, also voiced criticism. However, other members of Rasmussen’s opposition Social Democrats said they supported the principle of repatriation of refugees.

Denmark and Iraq in May signed an agreement over the repatriation of some 240 Iraqis.

In a related development, police said that seven other Iraqis who had not been in the church were repatriated to Iraq on Thursday.

Early Thursday, scores of protesters gathered out-side the church and some clashed with police during attempts to stop a bus transporting the young Iraqi men. Five protesters were briefly arrested.

At the time of the overnight raid, some 30 Iraqis were reported to be in the Brorson church. Police did not detain women, children or elderly who have left the church and sought help from friends.

Birthe Ronn Hornbech, minister for refu-gee, immigration and integration affairs, earlier defended the police action and in an interview with TV2 News said she did not understand how Ramsland and the church council could allow the asylum seekers to use the church.

The repatriation agreement has been criticized since some of the affected individuals and families have been in Denmark for up to 10 years.

Human rights organizations, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR and numerous Danish civil society groups have asked the government to allow them to stay on a humanitarian basis, citing Iraq’s precarious security situation.

– DPA

Danish police invade church

Wasis Ali, an early member of SIFF, said, “We try to provide moral support in those initial terrible months to make sure a person’s health or career does not crumble.”

Dowry is a rampant problem in Indian society and is often used to exploit and harass the bride and her family.

Under Indian law, a dowry is defined as a gift demanded or given as a precondition for marriage. Giving or receiving any dowry of more than 7,000 rupees (about 150 dollars) is a crime and can be punished by imprisonment of up to six months.

In efforts to contain rising dowry-related violence and deaths, a new section was introduced to India’s Penal Code in 1983 which says that a husband or relative of a husband who is found to subject the wife to cruelty would be punished by imprisonment

of up to three years and a hefty fine.Various surveys, like a recent one by eastern state Oris-

sa’s Women Commission, have found that dowry-related laws and the Domestic Violence Act were being increas-ingly used by women to harass their husbands.

“These laws are needed, given the centuries-old history of exploitation of women, but unfortunately the law has been framed in a manner which leaves many loopholes that are exploited by unscrupulous women and their families,” Kolkata-based lawyer Sadhana Sarkar said.

The police can immediately arrest the husband and in-laws when a woman complains. Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan said in Delhi in February that in some cases the matrimonial cruelty provi-sions were “grossly misused.”

– DPA

LONDON –� British government climate researchers admitted tonight they’ve erased decades of raw temperature data from their files, making it nigh on impossible for their climate change projections to be independently tested or verified.

The bombshell revelation from the UK’s Climate Research Unit means the massive worldwide emis-sions trading scheme planned by the United Nations is based on no peer-reviewed temperature data.

“Data storage availability in the 1980s meant that we were not able to keep the multiple sources for some sites, only the station series after adjust-ment for homogeneity issues. We, therefore, do not hold the original raw data but only the value-added (i.e. quality controlled and homogenized) data,” the CRU said in a news release today.

The unit, based at the University of East Anglia, works with the UK Met Office Hadley Centre as one of the lynchpins of world climate data.

Other scientists are highly skeptical of the claim that data storage limits are to blame, as temperature readings are tiny amounts of text data and would have taken up minimal disk space, even given the technology of the 1980s. Raw data could just as eas-ily have been printed out on paper for storage.

British journalist Andrew Orlowski says it’s the lat-est in a string of “we don’t have to tell you” or “the goat ate my homework” excuses not to release the data:

“The CRU has refused to release the raw weather station data and its processing methods for inspec-

tion – except to hand-picked academics – for several years. Instead, it releases a processed version, in grid-ded form. NASA maintains its own (GISSTEMP), but the CRU Global Climate Dataset, is the most cited surface temperature record by the UN IPCC.

“We’ve wiped the climate data” – scientists

So any errors in CRU cascade around the world, and become part of ‘the science’.

“Professor Phil Jones, the activist-scientist who maintains the data set, has cited various reasons for refusing to release the raw data. Most famously,

Jones told an Australian climate scientist in 2005:“ ‘Even if WMO agrees, I will still not pass on the data.

We have 25 or so years invested in the work. Why should I make the data available to you, when your aim is to try and find something wrong with it’,” complained Jones.

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14 August  2009  11SPORT

By NZPA staff

WELLINGTON, AUG 14 –� The face of sevens rugby could change significantly as a result of its pos-sible inclusion in the 2016 Olympic Games, New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew said today.

Rugby sevens and golf took a major step towards the 2016 Olympics after being shortlisted by the Inter-national Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday.

The two sports, which last featured in the Olym-pics more than 80 years ago, were selected from seven candidate sports by the IOC’s executive board. A final vote on their inclusion will be held at the IOC session in Copenhagen in October.

At a media conference here today with New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) secretary general Barry Maister, Tew said the decision could make a substantial difference to how sevens was approached.

“The amount of energy and effort that will go into our competitors’ preparation for their sevens pro-gramme is likely to increase considerably,” he said.

“I think the whole sevens circuit will become much more competitive than it already is. We’re

already finding it a bit harder than we used to, so we’ll have to take some stock in terms of our own preparation.”

Tew said it was also possible the International Rugby Board (IRB) could reconsider its approach to sevens.

“One of the questions the IRB has to ask itself, and we’ll be part of that, is what happens to the sevens World Cup.”

Tew said the NZRU was committed to having the “best possible team on the paddock” if sevens made the 2016 Olympics.

“A lot of guys will absolutely cherish the oppor-tunity to play at an Olympic event.

“It adds another complication to our scheduling and the way we select our sides, but I think that most other sports would love to have this little challenge.

“We’ll confront it with a half-full glass approach and look to finding the right answer so we can send a team away that will do justice to the opportunity of Olympic medal.”

Maister said the strength of rugby and golf in New Zealand meant the overnight decision to put them forward for inclusion in 2016 was excellent news.

Team sports introduced a new dimension to the

Olympic Games, making them more universally appealing, he said.

“They certainly add to the commercial viability of the Olympics Games – some of these team sports are significant in their commercial proposition for the IOC.”

Maister said that made life more difficult for the smaller sports.

“It’s tough on them. If you look at the squashes and the softballs, both of whom are strong sports in New Zealand, it’s pretty tough today to compete against the larger professional sports.

“The impact they have on the Olympic pro-gramme is huge.”

He said there was no doubt the five sports that missed the cut – squash, softball, baseball, roller sports and karate – wouldn’t give up on their Olym-pic dream.

“I suspect they’ll be back along with others, vying to get on that programme.”

It was pleasing the IOC had grasped the nettle of looking at the Games programme, which hadn’t been changed for many years, he added.

“It was really a closed shop and it’s not now – sports have to justify their inclusion and justify their main-

tenance on the programme. Your place isn’t secure... it will be up for scrutiny every four years.”

The IOC’s criteria included commercial viability, the ease of staging and managing, international television appeal, the number of countries that participate and gender issues.

Maister said the inclusion of rugby and golf would have little effect on government sports funding agency Sparc’s approach to the Olympic Games.

“Sparc has indicated that if we keep our stand-ards high, as we did pre-Beijing – and top 16 in the world is high – they will continue to support those sports,” he said.

Sparc already had its plans out for the 2012 Lon-don Olympics, Maister said.

“It knows which sports it’s supporting, and they know that. Sparc targets sports that are likely to make a difference and are capable of success.

“I’m sure it will continue to do that and I’d see that both of these sports could be within that realm.”

Tew said the NZRU already received significant support from Sparc.

“We appreciate that support and we have a great partnership with them – we don’t see that chang-ing at all.”

By Robert Lowe of NZPA

AUCkLAND, AUG 14 –� New Zealand Warrior Sam Rapira is relishing the prospect of a head-to-head clash with one of the National Rugby League’s (NRL) form props tomorrow night.

The Warriors are away to Parramatta, for whom Fuifui Moimoi has been in destructive mood.

Man of the match in the 40-8 win over Newcastle last weekend, Moimoi has been an influential fig-ure, along with fullback Jarryd Hayne, in the Eels’ resurgence over the past month.

“Personally, I can’t wait,” Rapira said of the match-up with his fellow Kiwis international.

“It’s going a good test. He’s a key guy we need to stop but, in saying that, he needs to stop us too.”

However, Rapira also accepted the Warriors’ for-wards had to provide a vastly improved start to what they managed in their 10-30 loss to the Gold Coast last weekend.

The Titans, helped by repeat sets from astute kicking and by penalties, dominated the opening quarter in possession and territory, and built an ultimately decisive 14-0 lead.

“The first 20 wasn’t good,” Rapira said. “The start of every game sets the trend and we

set it bad.” Rapira said the bench of Evarn Tuimavave, Jacob

Lillyman, Ukuma Ta’ai and Ian Henderson did a good job in helping the Warriors mount a comeback and get to within four points.

“They picked it up and got the boys going for-ward and that allowed the backs to do a bit with the ball,” he said.

“But the start was nowhere near good enough. We realise that and we’ve been working hard at training to get that right, but it’s got to improve out of sight this weekend.”

The Warriors and Parramatta met in the opening round in Auckland in Auckland, with the home side winning 26-18.

For most of the four months after that, both clubs struggled for consistency.

However, with an unbroken streak of four succes-sive wins, Parramatta have charged up the table to within one point of the top eight.

The Warriors have not been able to produce a similar change in fortunes.

With just one win in their past seven matches, they have accepted that playoffs football is beyond them.

Heading into their trip to Parramatta Stadium, they languish third from bottom, just four points above cellar dwellers the Sydney Roosters with four rounds to go.

But Rapira said there was still plenty to play for. “We know we can’t make the playoffs, but person-

ally and as a team, we want to win,” he said. “The last couple of weeks we haven’t performed

like we want to and we want to show our fans and our families how proud we are playing for the War-riors.”

While he had plenty of respect for the Eels, he also believed the Warriors had the goods to cause an upset.

“They’ve got good go-forward and have good backs like Jarryd Hayne and Krisnan Inu,” he said.

“From one to 17 they are going to be a tough squad and we have to combat them from every angle – forwards, backs, attack, defence. If we can do that, I can’t see why we can’t win.”

By Tom Bartlett for NZPA

WELLINGTON, AUG 14 –� The athletics world cham-pionships beginning in Berlin tomorrow (NZ) will be a development exercise for the 11-strong New Zealand team, with the exception of Val Vili and Kimberley Smith.

Shot put star Vili is undoubtedly New Zealand’s headline act.

Having recorded the top seven best throws of the year, including a New Zealand record 20.69 metres in Brazil three months ago, Vili is odds-on to add another gold medal to her already glitter-ing record.

As defending world and Olympic champion, Vili has been a dominant presence in women’s shot put over the past two years and has positioned herself as the thrower to beat in Berlin.

Smith has been quietly improving and has a cred-itable third-placed 14 minute 52.39 seconds finish in the 5000m at London’s Crystal Palace meet in July fresh in her mind.

With that background, a podium finish, particu-larly in her favoured 10,000m event, is a realistic goal.

But barring Vili and Smith, the meet is shaping up

as a chance for Athletics New Zealand to assess the next generation of stars ahead of London 2012.

For the first time in a long time at the world championships, there is no Beatrice Faumuina in the discus throw, and familiar names like sprinter James Dolphin and heptathlete Rebecca Wardell are also missing after they failed to qualify.

Seven of the 11 New Zealanders in action are considered “development athletes” and while a top 16 result is still the aim, a lid has been kept on expectations, according to Athletics New Zealand

high performance director Kevin Ankrom.

“For someone like Valerie or Kim, our specific expectation is for them to be competitive again: obviously Val can be competitive again,” he said.

“But for me, it’s trying to get the new kids in. The Monique Williamses, the Brent Newdicks. This is more their world cham-pionships in some ways. This is the new generation for the next Olympics.

“This is their critical time to get the experience and get the opportunity to grow from it,” he said.

British-born middle distance runner Nikki Ham-blin and hurdler Andrea Miller join Smith in track events, as does 200m-400m sprinter Williams.

She comes to Berlin on the back of her 23.11 second gold medal triumph over 200m at the world university games in Belgrade last month.

Hamblin, who only recently gained New Zealand citizenship after a lengthy process with immigra-tion officials, will run the 800m and 1500m while

Miller is entered in the 100m hurdles. Stuart Farquhar rounds out New Zealand’s

involvement in the men’s javelin. Ankrom rates Williams and decathlete Newdick

as ones to watch from the development group. “Keep an eye out for Monique. She could surprise

a few people and get into a semi. “Also if things are going well for Brent, he could

finish quite high.” However the hopes of New Zealand rest with Vili

and, to a lesser degree, Smith. Ankrom believes the pair are at the height of

their powers. “(With Vili) you’re getting someone who, even

though she’s young, is a seasoned veteran in her event. Kim is the same. She’s growing mentally in her sport more than anything.

“Both are growing in confidence, becoming vet-erans of their sport. It’s at these meets over the next two or three years that they will leave their legacy,” he said.

Williams is the first of the New Zealand contin-gent in action on Saturday night (NZ time) when she races in the heats of the 400m.

The final of the 10,000m, featuring Kimberley Smith, is early on Sunday morning (NZ time).

Rugby sevens could have world impact

Warriors looking for big start from forwards

Vili, Smith head promising NZ team into Berlin

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14 August  2009  1�WEEKEND

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The Hurt Locker

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A Perfect Getaway

Julie & Julia0Cast: Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci0Director: Nora Ephron0Length: 123 minutes0Rated: PG-13 (for brief strong language and some sensuality)

She had me at “butter.”Meryl Streep’s Julia Child doesn’t just say it. She

breathes it, she sighs it, she croons it. It’s practically her first word in the movie Julie & Julia, when Child and husband Paul settle in for their first meal in France and a sizzling pan of sole meuniere is pre-sented at tableside.

I’ve been besieged by food fans and friends who want to know if they should go. After all, reviews have been lukewarm.

What do I say? Go, by all means. If you love food, if you love cooking, if you love Julia, go. My col-league Lawrence Toppman said in his review, “as Child would have told you, a souffle isn’t a filling meal.” Au contraire, mon ami. With a salad and a glass of wine, Julia would have told you a souffle can be a delightful meal. Not all meals have to be banquets, son.

That said, a couple of things stick with me about the movie. The food world has been falling over itself to proclaim that returning Child’s legacy to public attention will end the trivializing of the food world.

One industry report, Phil Lempert’s “Supermar-ket Guru,” predicted last week, “There is no doubt that the era of celebrity chef is over. Cute and cleav-age is about to be replaced by substance.”

That’s a bit optimistic, isn’t it? Yes, Child’s original cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, is back on the shelves and is selling well. Some people who buy it might even cook from it.

But don’t expect the Food Network to replace reality shows with real cooking anytime soon. The publishers who rejected Child’s book 50 years ago also thought women would have no patience with recipes that take time. Not much has changed.

There also is a great injustice to Child in the movie that deflated my souffle a bit.

In the movie, Child’s decade-long battle to get “Mastering” written and published is contrasted with Julie Powell’s blog, The Julie-Julia Project, in which she attempts to cook the entire book in a year.

And that’s where my issue lies. While the Julia that Streep portrays is uncannily real, the Julie Powell on screen isn’t at all like the Julie Powell of the blog or the book that resulted from it.

The real Powell wasn’t a failed writer, she was a failed actress. She didn’t have Amy Adams’ pert nose and cute, fluffy frustrations. She had a messy personal life and heaping dose of self-absorption.

Toward the end of the movie, when Powell’s blog has been featured in The New York Times, Powell is floating on success, her answering machine bom-barded with offers of fame and potential fortune. Then she gets a call from a reporter to report that Julia hates the blog.

Powell is crushed and sobbing. Julia looks like a bully,

and the movie never corrects the impression. I wanted to stand up and shout, “Wait! That’s not fair.”

In the book, Powell is profane and disrespectful of Child. She comes off as a sloppy cook, and she wasn’t driven by a desire to share and to teach. She wanted attention, and she grabbed Child’s apron strings to get it.

Child guarded her integrity throughout her career. Look in your kitchen – there are no Julia Child knives or seasoning mixes.

Child loved students and welcomed anyone who had the desire to learn. But imagine yourself at nearly 90, finding out that your life’s work has become someone else’s plaything.

Maybe now is the time to pay Child the honour she really would have wanted: After you see the movie, go home. Open her book, and cook something. Not for attention, but just for yourself.

Watch the trailer 

– By Kathleen Purvis

Lorna’s Silence0Cast: With Arta Dobroshi, Jeremie Renier, Alban Ukaj, Fabrizio Rongione 0Directors: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne 0Length: 105 mins.0Rated: R (for nudity, sex, violence, profanity, adult themes)

Sin�ce  turn�in�g  from documen�taries  to fiction�  in�  the mid-1990s, the Belgian� filmmakin�g brothers Jean�-Pierre an�d Luc Darden�n�e have crafted a series of stun�n�in�g  if bleak dramas about Europe’s outcasts:  the un�employed,  the homeless, an� un�derclass of illegal immigran�ts, black mar-keteers, teen�age hoods an�d thieves.

In� Lorna’s Silence, the Darden�n�es’ austere but oddly hopeful fifth film, an� Alban�ian� woman� (the mesmerizin�g Arta Dobroshi) tries to make a n�ew life for herself in� the Belgian� city of Liege. Lorn�a shares an� apartmen�t with Claudy (Jeremie Ren�ier, from the Darden�n�es’ The Promise an�d The Child ), a jun�kie who has fear an�d failure in� his eyes. The pair are husban�d an�d wife: Lorn�a married Claudy to gain� her Belgian� citizen�ship, a plan� orchestrated by the mobster, Fabio (Fabrizio Ron�gion�e). Either by overdose or “acciden�t,” Claudy is a gon�er – an�d then� Lorn�a can� be wed to a Russian� who likewise seeks European� papers. Thousan�ds an�d thousan�ds of euros will chan�ge han�ds.

But there are complication�s to Fabio’s scheme: There is Lorn�a’s Alban�ian� boyfrien�d, Sokol (Alban� Ukaj), with whom she wan�ts to open� a sn�ack bar. An�d, more profoun�dly, there is Lorn�a’s guilt: she doesn�’t wan�t Claudy, who is tryin�g to get clean�, to die.

If  the plot soun�ds  like a whole  lot of melodrama,  the Darden�n�es – usin�g 35mm film for the first time – make it all un�stin�tin�gly real. There is (un�til the film’s beautiful coda) n�o musical score. There are n�o fan�cy camera moves. It is up to the actors to en�gage us, to compel us – an�d Dobroshi does, with n�aturalism an�d fierce grace.

The Darden�n�es track the actress as her character goes to work (at a dry clean�ers), reluctan�tly con�spires with Fabio, commiserates with Sokol an�d worries about – an�d abets – Claudy.

Dobroshi’s Lorn�a almost trembles with a con�viction� that everythin�g is goin�g to turn� out right, even� as she sabotages the cash-fueled design�s of Fabio an�d his bosses. 

On� on�e level, Lorna’s Silence is about the un�easy com-min�glin�g of the estran�ged an�d the established, of the poor an�d the middle-class, in� the n�ew Europe. But on� a deeper level, the Darden�n�es’ film offers a portrait of a fragile yet determin�ed woman� set on� makin�g a home for herself in� the world, even� as that world un�ravels before her eyes.

– By Steven Rea

For the love of Julia, please see this movie

14 August  2009 14

music

REVIEWS

By Don Walker Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

NEW YORk –� Les Paul, the genius who rose to become one of the most influential musicians in the 20th century, has died at the age of 94.

The Gibson Guitar Co. said on its Web site that Paul died of complications of pneumonia at a White Plains (N.Y.) hospital.

Paul was best known as a pioneer in the devel-opment of the solid-body electric guitar and the originator of multi-track recording.

Paul, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was also a major recording artist in the 1940s and 1950s, and performed in Manhattan late in life.

With his wife Mary Ford, Paul enjoyed a series of over 25 top 40 hits in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s including “Vaya Con Dios,” “Hummingbird,” and “How High the Moon.” The couple later divorced and Mary Ford died in 1977.

Paul influenced scores of musicians in the worlds of rock and jazz. One of them was Steve Miller. Back in 1948, Miller’s father struck up a friendship with Paul when the guitarist was visiting Milwaukee for a date at a local club.

“Les and Mary showed me my first chords,” Miller told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “He’s such a great player, everytime I go to New York I go to the club and jam with Les. There’s just this vibe around him. It’s always a jam session and all the cats are always there.”

Aside from making rock-and-roll possible with his creation of the electric guitar, Paul also contrib-uted immensely to the advance of studio record-ing over the years with inventions like multitrack recording, reverb, and more than a dozen others.

Paul McCartney once said this of Paul: “Les was one of the greatest innovators in recording tech-niques. The work he put into developing the guitar that was named after him made the instrument an all-time classic, and his incredible playing skills make him one of the masters of the instrument.”

In 1990 Capitol honored him with a boxed set “Les Paul the Legend and the Legacy.” The 4 CD box contained liner notes by Paul himself and 34 never-before released tracks.

Born Lester William Polsfuss, Les Paul started performing at home when he was 10 years old, organizing his own little orchestra. He also became fascinated with electronics, building his own broad-casting set in his basement.

A music teacher had told Paul’s mother not to waste her money on lessons for the boy because he wasn’t “musically inclined.”

By 1928, however, Paul had a hot new stage act. At age 13, he was a local sensation: Red Hot Red, the Wizard of Waukesha. He played at Lions Club functions, speakeasies and nightclubs. There were pictures of young “Red” at the Mahwah studio.

Paul played at a barbecue stand near Milwaukee, he said, but remembered people in their cars com-plaining that they couldn’t hear him. He solved the problem by creating an electric guitar out of his acoustic guitar. He simply jabbed a phonograph needle into the 1912-model instrument and wired it to his mother’s radio.

To make it easier for people to hear his singing, Paul said, he built a microphone, by wiring the mouthpiece part of his mother’s telephone (now attached to a broomstick) to his father’s radio.

He then designed a recording machine using the flywheel from a Cadillac (his father owned a garage) and a belt from a dentist’s drill. “Here she is,” Paul said, pointing to the crude-looking but functional device in his studio.

About the same time he saved money from his newspaper route and bought a Silvertone guitar, for $2.49. “I took off the sixth string because my fingers couldn’t reach it,” he recalled.

As he practiced his new instrument and listened to jazz bands from Chicago over the radio, Paul noticed

that an acoustic guitar, which got its amplification from the string ringing off the hollow body, could not compete for volume in a big band. It needed a boost, he thought.

Only 13 years old at the time, he reasoned that a phonograph pickup – the little device that takes the sound from a record and makes it loud enough to hear – could provide the extra volume if placed under the strings and sent to a radio speaker.

Thus was born a rudimentary electric guitar, using the cartridge and stylus from a phonograph, in 1927.

By 1941, with his career as a country and jazz guitarist taking off, Paul came up with the idea that an electric guitar need not have a hollow body at all. The pickup did all the work, so theoretically a guitar could be fashioned from a solid piece of wood. And that is exactly what he did, using a four-by-four as the body and a more sophisticated pickup. Col-leagues called it “the log.”

At Bing Crosby’s suggestion Paul built his own recording studio and came up with more inventions like reverb. In 1953 he perfected the first multi-track recording machine, a revolutionary device that allowed musicians to lay down separate lines of music and vocals and blend them together.

He married Mary Ford in 1949. He and his first wife, Virginia, whom he had married in 1937, had two sons, Gene and Russel. With Mary Ford he had a son, Robert, and adopted a girl, Colleen.

Guitar legend Les Paul dies at 94

TOP: les Paul is transported from mitchell International Airport on the Gibson Bus to the Downer theater where the PBS documentary Les Paul Chasing Sound is premiering. Paul arrived for two days and nights of activities, including a concert at the age of 92. the legendary les Paul invented the solid body electric guitar which has become the Gibson les Paul. may 9, 2007. GARY PORtER/milwaukee Journal Sentinel/PSG). BOTTOM: 93-year-old guitarist les Paul responds to a rousing greet-ing from the audience prior to playing a benefit concert Saturday, June 21, 2008 at the Pabst theater in milwaukee, Wis. mark Hoffman/milwaukee Journal Sentinel/PSG

to mAke it eAsier for people to HeAr

His singing, pAul sAiD, He built A miCropHone, by Wiring tHe moutHpieCe pArt of His motHer’s telepHone (noW AttACHeD to A broomstiCk) to His fAtHer’s rADio

14 August  2009  1�

books NEW CD RELEASES

REVIEWS

This sequel is Swede revengeThe Girl Who Played With Fire0Stieg Larsson0Alfred A. Knopf (503 pages,)

If you haven’t already read Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, put down this review, go out and buy a copy right now. Last year’s unputdownable Swedish thriller was an international bestseller and critical triumph and is available in paperback.

Welcome back. If you’ve finished Tattoo, then nothing is going to dissuade you from picking up Volume 2 of Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy. (The author was reportedly planning a 10-book series but died from a heart attack in 2004.) You must find out what happens next to Lisbeth Salander, the hacker-punk-vigilante who played second fiddle to investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist in Tattoo but now takes center stage.

As the book opens, Salander is making the most of the fortune she, well, stole, at the end of Tattoo. She is estranged from Blomkvist but has taken up mathematics as a hobby and is working on solving Fermat’s Last Theorem. She has also acquired a new set of breasts. Blomkvist’s magazine, Millennium, is getting ready to expose a sex-trafficking ring with ties to the highest reaches of the Swedish govern-ment. Then the journalists working on the expose are found murdered, and Salander’s fingerprints are found at the scene.

Everyone starts investigating: Blomkvist to find out if his colleagues’ research was accurate, Salander to clear her name. Meanwhile, the police find that the government is a little too interested in their investiga-tion. And, to complicate matters further, Salander’s evil guardian, whom she ritually humiliated in Tattoo, is looking into her past as a way to exact revenge.

Bit by bit, the story of Salander’s unspeakably abusive childhood is unearthed, and everyone – Blomkvist, the police, the readers, even Salander – comes to understand how her character – fearless, wild, withdrawn, crude, moral – was forged.

As absorbing as it is, Fire falls short of Tattoo. For one, the novelty of a thriller set in modern-day Sweden has worn off. For Americans who think of Sweden as a country of Volvo-driving, sexually lib-eral communitarians, the very existence of greed, deviance and social injustice in their midst comes as a shock ... at first.

Then too, the villains are more familiar. Whereas the baddies in Tattoo were crooked, perverted indus-trialists, these are violent criminal lowlifes, all too common on American TV and in movies.

There is more than a little authorial laziness. The connections between Salander’s past and the crimes that Blomkvist’s magazine is exposing strain cre-dulity. And too much of the plot relies on Salander’s ability to hack into anyone’s computer at any time – it’s just too darn convenient.

And yet, I couldn’t put down The Girl Who Played With Fire and eagerly await book three, due to be published in the U.S. in 2010. As long as Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander are out there exposing (his specialty) and punishing (hers) the wicked, I want to be along for the ride.

– By Erica Marcus

‘Clutch Hand,’ the original GodfatherThe First Family: Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder, and the Birth of the American Mafia0Mike Dash0Random House (375 pages)

His name was Giuseppe Morello.He came to New York City in 1892 from Cor-

leone, the town in western Sicily whose name Mario

Puzo borrowed to create literature’s most famous Mafioso.

A half-century before The Godfather, he was the face of organized crime in America.

That’s the takeaway from The First Family, Mike Dash’s highly researched and smoothly written book on the origins of the Mafia in the United States.

Focusing primarily on New York City and using an infamous mob hit – the 1903 Barrel Murder – as the jumping-off point, the book, on one level, is a police procedural set against the backdrop of the Italian immigrant experience.

Dash’s straightforward account – he accurately describes it as a “narrative history” – provides con-text for the birth of an American underworld insti-tution, but he in no way glamorizes the gangsters who dominate his story.

Morello, shrewd, ruthless and calculating, emerges as the prototype of the ethnic crime boss, the sine qua non of New World Mafiosi.

Known as “Clutch” or “The Clutch Hand” because he had been born with a deformed right arm, More-llo was, in the words of one investigator, “consci-entiously and zealously bad,” an individual who “enjoyed” being a criminal.

The book’s entertaining narrative loses its pacing only in the final chapters when Dash appears in a rush to wrap up events and machine-guns a series of vignettes of the major players in the infamous Castellammare War, a conflict in the 1930s that would include Morello’s assassination.

By contrast, it is the story of a 1903 mob murder, told in almost film noir style, that Dash effectively uses to launch The First Family.

The grisly discovery of the body of Benedetto Madonia stuffed in a barrel abandoned in Lower Manhattan in April 1903 first attracted law enforce-ment to the dealings of the Morello crime family.

Relying on police files, federal reports and court records now more than a century old, Dash lets the story unfold while setting the stage with details about two of the city’s Italian enclaves at the time, one in Lower Manhattan and the other in East Harlem.

The Barrel Murder was eventually tied to Morel-lo’s counterfeiting operation, a lucrative enterprise built around fake $2 and $5 bills – this was, after all, 1903.

The same kind of dogged research allows Dash to write with panache and authority on Black Hand extor-tions; the shakedown of artichoke importers; gambling operations; and, believe it or not, horse rustling.

Morello and his people had a hand in all of it.“The truth was that Morello and his henchmen

were parasites who terrorized their fellow countrymen, exploited the weak and dealt in fear,” writes Dash.

The family of a Sicilian-born doctor, for exam-ple, received several threatening letters from the “Black Hand” before Morello offered to solve the problem by paying the $100 the extortionists were demanding.

It was a classic Mafia gambit. The ploy, still used in underworld circles today, is known as “create and solve.”

Morello, who had in fact sent the letters, was given free medical service in appreciation for his intervention. Before long, most of Morello’s family – in-laws, cousins, wife and children – were also being treated for free.

The good guys in the yarn include Secret Service agent William Flynn, the son of Irish immigrants, who was the point man in the counterfeiting inves-tigations that provided so much of the background on Morello.

Another top cop profiled in the book is New York City police officer Joseph Petrosino. The Italian-born crime fighter, who was promoted to detective by Police

Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt, was “one of the two or three most famous policemen in the city, and argu-ably the entire United States,” Dash writes.

Petrosino was named to head the Italian Squad, a precursor of today’s organized crime bureaus. Dash points out that in a police department with more than 4,000 members, there were only eight who spoke Italian.

And in the kind of aside that both brings a smile and underscores Dash’s ability to use small details to make large points, he notes that one of the cops assigned to the detail was Hugh Cassidy.

This, he writes, “baffled newspaper reporters until it was discovered that the man had been born Ugo Cassidi and had Anglicized his name.”

Petrosino was a relentless investigator whose status and reputation provided a counterbalance to the ethnic stereotyping that plagued the Italian American community as immigrants from southern Italy poured into New York City.

He was killed in 1909 while in Palermo, gathering information about mobsters who were migrating to New York.

While there has never been a clearcut answer to who was behind that assassination, Dash implies that “The Clutch Hand” had a reach that stretched back to his native land.

– By George Anastasia

A peek behind the creative curtain with 16 authorsRogue Males: Conversations & Confrontations About the Writing Life0Craig McDonald0Bleak House Books. (320 pages,)

Craig McDonald gives a peek behind the creative curtain with this illuminating compilation of 16 author interviews. McDonald shows his skill at get-ting writers to talk about themselves, their work and the craft of writing. In one of his last interviews, the late James Crumley reveals that he once thought of killing off his character Milo, but his wife talked him out of it. Fittingly, Rogue Males is dedicated to Crumley.

Elmore Leonard tells why he decided to bring back three characters in Road Dogs, which he was still working on during the time of this interview. Leonard’s pick for the best crime novel? The Friends of Eddie Coyle.”

Daniel Woodrell, who has become a cult favorite, talks about his choice of the Ozarks as a setting. Woodrell’s brilliant The Death of Sweet Mister gets a nice quote from Dennis Lehane who calls it “the best coming-of-age story” that is also “one of the most vicious, brilliant noirs.”

Max Allen Collins discusses his Road to Perdition 2 and the film that was based on his graphic novel. Producer/writer Stephen Cannell also offers insight on his long career in television and movies that include The A-Team, 21 Jump Street, The Rockford Files, Baretta, as well as several novels.

European and American readers have different reactions to Jack Reacher, says his creator, Lee Child. European audiences, he says, seem more upset by Reacher’s vigilante nature.

McDonald, an Edgar nominee for “Head Games,” also offers insightful introductions and a bibliogra-phy for each author. As a result, you want to imme-diately start reading each author’s works.

– By Oline H. Cogdill

Ian Hunter0Man Overboard0New West

Ian Hunter is not merely “still active” at age 70 – the old dude is excelling. In October, the raspy-voiced songwriter extraordinaire will finally front a temporarily reunited Mott the Hoople as the

influential if underrated British glam band cel-ebrates its 40th anniversary onstage in London. Meanwhile, the iconic shades-sporting rock-and-roll lifer just furthered his solo legacy – begun when Mott splintered in 1974 and Hunter subsequently emigrated to America – with his third strong studio album of this decade.

“Man Overboard,” like 2001’s “Rant” and 2007’s “Shrunken Heads,” showcases Hunter’s enduring ability to marry Dylanesque lyrical detail with lad-dish blues-rock panache and wry, folkish balladry. Maximizing his most recent hot songwriting streak, it was recorded quickly late last year with Hunter on acoustic guitar, piano, and harmonica, fleshed out by his tour-tightened band. The 11 tracks vary from mellower tunes – love songs like “Way With Words,” even a surprisingly effective Native American folk-tale-telling in “The River of Tears” – to evocative rockers like the swelling, Celtic-flavored “The Great Escape” and disdainful “Babylon Blues.”

– David R. Stampone

Mindy Smith0Stupid Love0Vanguard

Mindy Smith, whose 2004 debut spawned the country hit “Come to Jesus,” is a model of restraint. The Nashville-based singer-song-writer has a lovely, pure soprano. She ascends to a girlish high reg-

ister for her soft ballads – it’s no wonder that Alison Krauss has covered her songs – and she roughens it, slightly, for the occasional midtempo, twangy tune. But she never loses her cool. “Stupid Love,” Smith’s fourth album including an excellent Christmas record, is unfailingly pleasant and often beautiful.

Ranging from the sparse, introspective “I’m Dis-appointed” to the rolling, high-spirited “What Went Wrong” to the soaring, string-kissed “Couldn’t Stand the Rain,” “Stupid Love” is full of well-constructed songs about the highs and lows of love (one of which is called “Highs and Lows”). Even when she’s trapped in heartbreak, Smith sounds soothing and unflappable.

– Steve Klinge

Matt Wilson Quartet 0That’s Gonna Leave a Mark0Palmetto Records

Drummer Matt Wilson’s quartet makes for one steamy congrega-tion. The drummer, whose collab-orators include Dewey Redman, Philly trumpeter Terell Stafford, and the Either/Orchestra, presents

his eighth recording here – all are on the Palmetto label – and it’s acidic, energetic, and never boring.

Tenor and soprano saxophonist Jeff Lederer takes turns blowing some muscular stuff with alto saxophonist Andrew D’Angelo.

The tunes are shapely and well chosen. John Lewis’ “Two Bass Hit” creates a bebop interlude featuring bassist Chris Lightcap, while “Area Man” projects a slinky, secret-agent feel.

The title track is shrill and playful – the shrieking qualifies as part of the fun – while “Getting Friendly,” which Wilson bills as a quirky love song, makes for a romantic ditty.

– Karl Stark

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14 August  2009  1�SCIENCE & TECH

By Anne krishnan

Q: I have a problem with our Dell laptop compu-ter’s wireless connection using Internet Explorer. At various times, the speed drops down to sloth and then stops altogether. At the same time, other com-puters, a desktop connected directly to the router and another laptop which is connected through the wireless connection both function. When the Dell is taken to another wireless site location, it works.A: I receive questions like this every so often, and I posed several to Dianne Dunlap, a customer sup-port engineer specializing in wireless technology for Cisco Systems.

“When you’re talking about home PCs and users, nearly anything can be causing this kind of issue,” she said. She provided a thorough breakdown of solutions to address possible problems with the wireless card and network. I’ll explore her sugges-tions in this column and the next.

• If the problem is with the wireless card (also known as a network interface card, or NIC), the first thing to check is that the card’s drivers are current, Dunlap said.

The existing drivers can be determined by

going to “Start,” then “Control Panel,” “System,” the “Hardware” tab and “Device Manager.” Look under “Network Adapters” to find your wireless card, then click on the card and select “Properties” under the “Action” menu at the top of the screen. Click on the “Driver” tab to see the driver date and NIC ven-dor/model.

Unless the drivers are extremely current, you should go to the card vendor’s Web site, locate cur-rent drivers for the card, and download/update the drivers, Dunlap said. You might also want to check the “Power Management” tab on the menu above to see if the card supports “power save.” While sav-ing power is a good idea, if a card goes into power save but does not wake up afterwards, the setting is ill-advised.

• If you’re using Microsoft to configure the card, you also should be sure that the service packs and system patches on your XP or Windows Vista oper-ating system are up to date. That means Service Pack 3 for XP and Service Pack 1 for Vista.

• The wireless card vendor often will have a management utility that can be used instead of the Microsoft utility to set up connection parameters for the card. One may work better than the other, so

Dunlap suggests checking to see if the vendor has its own management utility when you’re looking for the most up-to-date drivers.

•You might also want to be sure that unused adapters in the PC, such as any wired Ethernet adapters, are disabled. Check it out by going to “Control Panel,” then “Network Connections.”

• If you are using the Microsoft utility (also known as “Wireless-0”) to manage the card, you can see if the card has obtained the IP address that’s necessary for communicating with the network by selecting the “Control Panel” and “Network Con-nections,” then choosing your card and clicking on the “Support” tab.

The card and its default gateway should both have addresses other than 0.0.0.0 or 169.#.#.#, Dunlap said.

If there are other PCs on the local network, the default gateway for all PCs should be the same, and each PC’s IP address, while unique, should share the first three sets of numbers to signify they’re on the same network. If there’s a problem with the IP addresses, try resetting them with the “repair con-nection” button on that screen.

– MCT

Likely culprits for wireless faults

By Renee Schoof McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON –� One way the world could slash its electricity use, dependence on fossil fuels and emis-sions of heat-trapping gases is really quite simple: better light bulbs.

The US Department of Energy is backing research and development aimed at getting light-emitting diodes into common use in homes and businesses at a price that saves money. Hurdles remain: Costs are still high, the quality of what’s on the market varies and not all the technical issues have been worked out. Energy experts are confident, however, that this new lighting is the future and that energy savings will be enormous.

Lighting consumes 22 percent of electricity in the United States. The DOE predicts that solid-state lighting – which uses semiconducting materials to convert electricity into light, and includes LEDs – has the potential to reduce energy use for lighting by one-third by 2030. That’s the equivalent of sav-ing the output of 40 large (1,000-megawatt) power plants, the greenhouse gas emissions of 47 million cars and $30 billion.

LEDs already light universities from Miami to Anchorage, Alaska, streets in many cities and an increasing number of businesses that need lights on all the time.

“In your home, lighting may be 10 percent of your bill. But in an office building it’s probably 40 percent, and so if you reduce your lighting energy consumption by a large fraction, the savings will be huge,” said James Brodrick, who leads the DOE’s solid-state lighting program.

A fact sheet from Brodrick’s office says this about LEDs: “In the coming decade, they will become a key to affordable net-zero energy buildings, build-ings that produce at least as much energy annually as they use from the grid.”

The technology is advancing quickly, and costs will continue to drop, Brodrick said. The DOE tests LEDs and sets performance and efficiency guide-lines under its Energy Star program.

LEDs are directional lights, used in recessed light-ing and under-counter lights, for example. They’re not yet available as bulbs that cast light all around and fit in ordinary sockets.

“There’s an enormous and exciting potential, but we have a long way to go before we see anything besides directional lighting,” said Jeffrey P. Har-ris, the vice president for programs at the Alliance to Save Energy, a nonprofit group that promotes energy efficiency.

Even so, LEDs already are used to light offices,

hotels, restaurants and other businesses.The DOE predicts that LEDs will have better per-

formance capability than fluorescent lighting in the next few years, and that they’ll continue to improve after that. They’re now comparable with fluorescent fixtures in efficiency, and the DOE says its Energy Star LEDs last two to five times longer.

Chuck Swoboda, the chairman and chief execu-

tive officer of a leading company in LED lighting, said that commercial use of LEDs would drive down costs, and that a lower initial cost plus the value of energy savings would make them attractive. “It’s not that different from the argument of why you should put insulation in a home,” he said.

LEDs have other advantages: They can be dimmed, don’t emit heat, don’t contain mercury

Forget toxic CFLs, LED light bulbs are the future– unlike compact fluorescents – and can produce warm-toned light.

Swoboda said his company was focusing on com-mercial sales now because that market was bigger than the residential market and commercial users got quicker paybacks from reduced energy and maintenance costs.

Home Depot, the world’s biggest retailer of light bulbs, is starting to stock LED bulbs and plans to have 10 kinds by September, said Jorge Fernandez, who’s in charge of light bulb purchases for the company.

“There’s definitely a lot of interest, but the price is high, and a lot of people say they’re waiting to see when the price drops,” he said.

Felicia Spagnoli, a spokeswoman for Philips Lighting Electronics North America, said com-mercial users could make up for the higher costs of LEDs in as little as a year or two.

“We can address environmental concerns at the same time we improve the quality and use of light,” she said. “Many people when they think of doing good for the environment think it means going without or having lesser quality, but that’s abso-lutely not the case with LEDs.”

Philips is working on many kinds of LEDs, includ-ing one to replace a 40-watt incandescent bulb that’s scheduled to be available next year, she said.

Derrick Hall of RE/Construct Inc. in Asheville, N.C., said that residential customers weren’t asking for LEDs because of the high upfront cost. Still, he’s hearing of some nonresidential customers who are looking into LEDs for the energy savings.

LEDs are much better than other lighting options, Hall said. The quality of the light is “far superior,” they offer big energy savings and there’s no cost to society for dealing with mercury, he said. Mercury, a neurotoxin, is found in compact fluorescent bulbs and can cause poisoning of homes if they break.

Swoboda said that some of the biggest commer-cial users for LEDs now were fast-food restaurants, because LEDs’ light makes food look appealing.

A McDonald’s that opened in July in Cary, N.C., is lit almost entirely with daylight and LED lights. Ric Richards, the franchise owner, said the restaurant used 78 percent less electricity than a traditional one.

And the quality of the light?“Awesome,” he said. “The restaurant has great

ambience.”Richards estimated that the upfront costs of the

lighting would be paid back in two to four years with lower electricity bills.

ON THE WEBDepartment of Energy information on lEDs 

Energy Star information on lEDs

in tHe Coming DeCADe, tHey Will beCome A key to AfforDAble net-Zero energy builDings, builDings

tHAt proDuCe At leAst As muCH energy AnnuAlly As tHey use from tHe griD

14 August  2009 1�NEWSFOCUS

By Nancy A. Youssef McClatchy Newspapers

ZHARI DISTRICT, AfGHANISTAN –� Two miles from the gates of this isolated Canadian forward military base in southern Afghanistan is Sangsar, where the Taliban’s harsh interpretation of Islam was born.

A few miles farther east is a school in Siah Choy where students learn to build roadside bombs for passing U.S. and Afghan troops or the farmers who welcome them. In Nakhonay, about six miles farther east, the Taliban store thousands of weapons to dis-tribute in the region.

This fertile part of southern Afghanistan is the front line of the war between the American-led coalition and the Taliban, but neither the U.S. nor its coalition partners have any troops stationed in these villages. The Taliban’s grip here is so strong that Afghan government leaders can’t live in their own villages, so the farmers turn to the militants to settle local disputes. When Afghans go to the polls Thursday to pick a president, no one here will vote because the Taliban have ordered them to stay home.

The coalition’s precarious position in Kandahar province after nearly eight years of a war that’s claimed more than 775 American lives is a warning that the new U.S. campaign to subdue the Taliban in the Islamists’ heartland will be, at best, an uphill struggle.

Later this month, soldiers from the 5th Brigade of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division out of Fort Lewis, Wash., will take control of this base, part of an American troop increase that Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghani-stan, has said is key to wresting control from the Taliban.

“Kandahar is very important to Afghanistan,” McChrystal said last month in an interview with

McClatchy Newspapers. “As we get additional forces in the country, one of the areas that will be of high-est priority is the security of Kandahar city and Kandahar province, because both together have great importance.”

The tactics the U.S. honed in Iraq will be of little or no use here, where roadways are dusty unpaved tracks, creek beds or lush Vietnam-like terrain. Indeed, this part of Kandahar province is one of the few places in Afghanistan where farmers can grow grapes, opium poppies and marijuana. Tem-peratures easily reach 55 degrees in the summer. Soldiers walk a few hundred metres and collapse before a shot is fired.

For three years, a Canadian force of a few hundred has faced as many as 15,000 Taliban here. In those three years, however, the Canadians acknowledge that they’ve had little more than a “finger in the dike strategy” aimed at preventing Taliban forces from capturing Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second-largest city, 20 miles to the east. With few resources, stalemate was the Canadians’ strategy.

America’s allies have no territorial gains to show for the effort. The schools they built were destroyed after the Taliban took them over and used them to stage ambushes. The small outposts they established, including the one in Sangsar, were abandoned in 2007 under constant Taliban attack.

“All we were really able to do, and have been able to do, is keep the insurgency sufficiently at bay that it doesn’t become a real challenge to the state,” said Canadian Brig. Gen. Jonathan Vance, who com-mands 2,800 troops in Kandahar province, about 300 of them based in Sangsar. “And it’s not a real challenge to the state.”

The Canadians’ efforts to guide and train their Afghan counterparts who share this base have been equally frustrating.

At a meeting of local elders last month on the Afghan side of the base, Canadian and Afghan sol-diers and police officers sat around a table laden with Oreos and pretzels mixed with dried apricots and figs.

The local police chief, Bizmullah Jan, asked for more help from the Canadians. But the Canadians’ lack of troops makes it hard for them to support the Afghans the way the Afghans would like.

“Your troops need to understand that they are better fighters than the Taliban, and the Taliban are not good fighters. ... The Taliban have an ammo issue as well,” said Capt. Chris Blouin, 31, of Quebec, who’s assigned to the Bravo Company in the 2nd Battalion of Canada’s Royal 22nd Regiment. “Don’t shoot everywhere. This is your country, and you need to be out the wire (in front) first.”

The local Afghan army chief, Lt. Col Miranwar, who like many Afghans uses only one name, chimed in: “You have the technology, the best technology, but every time the Taliban fight, you cannot find them. ... You say you are here to help and support us, so we need support and help from you.”

Blouin didn’t budge. “It is chaotic on the ground, and there are too many people, so I cannot see who is the enemy. ... It is a mistake to count too much on the technology because the Taliban doesn’t have technology.”

“Yes, but the Taliban have the authority over the whole area,” Miranwar replied.

The Canadians are bitter about their role. They’ve lost 125 soldiers – the highest proportionally of any coalition partner – and have killed thousands of Tal-iban fighters and hundreds more civilians in short bursts of operations, usually lasting a few days.

Now they feel the clock ticking: They have two years to make a lasting difference before political pressure probably will force them to go home. Cana-

What greets the SASWith kiwi crack troops returning to the Taliban heartland, this awaits

da’s politicians have said that their combat forces will leave Afghanistan by the end of 2011.

“We are proud to have been here. This is the heart of the insurgency,” said Capt. Christian Maranda, 30, of Quebec and of Bravo Company. “But of course it’s frustrating, because we lose ground every time we lose an area.”

The local population has lost hope that the coa-lition can wrest control from the Taliban fighters who hide in their fields and take over their homes. Afghans resent the Canadians for making their lives more difficult. They’ve seen civilians killed. Their districts aren’t safe. Canadian soldiers often have driven off the roads and destroyed farmers’ 100-year-old grapevines in an effort to dodge the explosives that are waiting for them.

“Every yard is a trench for the enemy. ... The peo-ple don’t think about government and elections. The people now are just trying to save themselves,” said district leader Naiz Mohammed Abdul Sarahadi, who splits his time between the base and Kandahar city because his district is too dangerous for him.

“Whenever there are more coalition forces, there are more deaths. These operations should have a result. We have an operation, and the Taliban move back in.”

tHe loCAl populAtion HAs lost Hope

tHAt tHe CoAlition CAn Wrest Control from tHe tAlibAn figHters WHo HiDe in tHeir fielDs AnD tAke oVer tHeir Homes

two members of the New Zealand Provincial Recon-struction team provide security in Shebar district, Bamyan province. In addition to security, New Zealand Defense Force tG Crib 14 works closely with government officials to tailor development programs in Bamyan. (Photo by u.S. Army 1st lt. lory Stevens, task Force War-rior Public Affairs Office