Capitalism on its death-bed? Breath of life revives it!

As the financial tornado sweeps through Wall Street – and Main Street – we all sit and watch, wondering how far its ill-winds will reach.

If I lived in the USA, which I don’t, and had bought a home, which I haven’t, and which was now repossessed by the bank, I’d be pretty angry. Angry that those at the top of the financial food chain were now being bailed out by – me – and every other taxpayer in the USA: what happened to capitalist markets finding their own level? Perform or die? Eat or be eaten?

Has this Govt. bail-out, sorry, ‘rescue package’, changed the financial rules?

Is it now ... when we profit we grow bigger, when we loose you pay, with your house and your taxes – heads I win, tails you lose?

All this adds to the interest of the USA elections … makes our local concerns seem small in the scale of things … and once again makes us in the rest of the western world wishing we had a vote too – after all, we have to live with the results so it only seems fair.

New Zealand women get the vote in1893

Women’s suffrage 1893 – New Zealand first in the world to give women the vote.

Yesterday, 19th September 2008 women in New Zealand celebrated, and remembered with gratitude, the struggle for the right to vote. (For detailed information of this see NZs online encyclopaedia http://www.teara.govt.nz/ )

Here in Christchurch we are proud of the fact that Kate Shephard was a prime organiser of the 31,872-signature petition (collected over seven years) and every year we gather at the memorial (cnr Worcester Boulevard & Cambridge Terrace) which depicts the women and the wheelbarrow in which the petition was taken to Parliament in Wellington. (see photo)

Suffrage day is often also called White Camellia day, as women who supported enfranchisement wore a white camellia, yesterday women both wore the flowers and lay them at the wonderful memorial. The memorial was unveiled at the 100 year anniversary and a new camellia verity was also created then and named ‘Kate Sheppard’. Yesterday we celebrated 115 years of all NZ women being able to vote.

So far, from my research, it seems only one of my ancestors, great-grandmother Elizabeth Rowe, (married Herbert Bunny) signed the petition and during that same year, 1893, her daughter, Mabel, my maternal grandmother was born.

One of the great things about the 1893 Electoral Bill was passed was that Maori women were given the vote too … not just women with land. Unfortunately Chinese women, in fact all Chinese people, did not get the vote until the early 1950s.

With our MMP method of voting however, New Zealand now has Asian members of parliament and look to have more elected during the next elections ( 8th November 2008).

Don’t waste the courage and strength of those 19th century women – make sure you vote.

What do kiwis think about?

Well, I guess the birds think pretty much the same as kiwi humans do in some areas. What's for dinner? Who to vote for? And, why write a blog?

I've already had dinner so don't have to answer that question today; who to vote for - well with all the drama in politics right now, I would like everyone to vote GREEN and keep our smaller parties in the beehive. Everyone under 35 or so will not remeber what its like to have the terrible left/ right swings at every election ... and what was even worse, we were governed ( controled?) by mostly white men over 50.

Now we have all our views being heard in the house on that Wellington hill - there are women, and gays, and Maori, and Asians, and consertivate, and liberals, all having to work things out between them - slowing the process down and stopping laws being foisted on us by parties that didn't have a marjoity .

I'm happy no one party has a majority, but with a cloition of varous groups at lest most of us get the people we voted for representing us. Keep MMP. Vote Green, and pick up plastic off the beaches wherever in the world you happen to be. (this I have discovered is the secret of happiness).

So thats what kiwis think ... well, to be truthful, its what this Kiwi thinks right now. What are you thinking about MMP? Greens? Add your comment.