Ebola - The next Spanish Flu

In 1918 the world experienced a flu pandemic that infected rougly 500 million people and killed 50 to 100 million of them. A huge disaster in human terms. Ebola could be the equivalent of the flu pandemic this century. This is especially true if the spreads beyond its current borders It is estimated that in West Africa alone that the virus is under reported by 2.5 times as a minimum, that makes the 8000 confirmed cases more like 20,000 and with a death rate of 50% the problem is much wider than that officially reported. In West Africa we are dealing with the difficulty of access to areas, the problems with having diagnostic facilities to confirm the actual incidence of the disease and also the mistrust of local people who are unwilling to accept that this is actually happening. This disease needs a concerted effort to contain it in the areas that it already has a strong grip on and then wait it out until the disease disappears naturally. ie no one left to infect. In the mean time we need to find a cure or better ways to treat it that results in far fewer deaths. If you have been planning a trip to West Africa, cancel it. Many of the health care workers have themselves become infected and died. This is not a situation to be triffled with. The disease spreads easily and is obviously very contagious. It has an unpredictable incubation period and the dead are apparently contagious for up to 3 days. We must not be hysterical about the situation but we do need to isolate the disease where it currently is if we want to avoid another catastrophic event.

Islamic State Group

I have read recently about twitter posts by people of the Muslim religion comparing the western civilisations of not apologising for Adolf Hitler while decrying the actions of the Islamic State movement. One glaringly obvious difference is that the western civilised states opposed to Adolf Hitler actually did something about it. They went to war and eradicated the perpetrator of the actions carried out under the name of Adolf Hitler. Then put other senior members of that regime on trial. I don't see much of the Islamic nations doing anything to eradicate the Islamic State leadership and their extremist followers. A little less bleating and more action is required. These people should not be fleeing ther homes and cities, they should be fighting back with everything under their power and in any way they can. If the Islamic State manage to take control of an area the people there should start a well organised campaign to slowly kill off any of the Islamic State members they can, plant bombs, poison their food

3 Mor Years

Well the National Party of New Zealand has secured another 3 years running the country. The worst part is that they can be a government without the help of any other party. Heaven knows what they might chose to do! How did it happen? Firstly the .com fiasco only helped John Key, mass surveillance wasn't an issue for the majority of Kiwis who implicitly believe that the government knows best, it's a Kiwi trait. They also do it with the justice system, hence some of the great miscarriages if justice we have seen. Also, for those sitting on the fence regarding surveillance were pushed in the National Party direction by the ever so convenient raids and arrests by the Australian Authorities just a few days before polling day. A happy coincidence? Perhaps. What we need is for a few disaffected National MP,s to quit! not likely to happen. However we do know that not a great deal will change over the next three years. We have another government that has no clear vision beyond New Zealand being a primary agricultural producer and not much else. As a nation we had better hope that prices remain at high levels for what we do produce, but that is unlikely as more countries having seen the high returns for agricultural produce begin to catch up and flood the market with produce, bringing the high price market to an end. Result, increasing government deficits, higher interest rates and higher unemployment. I hope I'm wrong.

Pro Russian Rebels Shoot Down Passenger Jet?

From recent news reports, it appears that the Pro Russian separatists in the Ukraine have shot down a Malaysian Airways commercial flight. Each side is blaming the other, but since the rebels do not have any aircraft and only a missile system provide by the kremlin, it makes more sense that this is a rebel activity. Putin should rein in his pet monkey, probably assassinate him to remove the problem, and let the Ukraine get on with running the Ukraine. Putins' annexation of the Crimea demonstrated how insecure Putin is. He has constantly paraded himself as some sort of macho man and his support of the anti gay Russian legislation really goes to demonstrate that he is probably a 'closet homosexual' or has been guilty of homosexual activities in the past. I do think he doth protest too much! One can only hope that Putin puts the brakes on the Ukrainian Pro Russian seperatists, but it is unlikely, since every historical look at his reactions show he is more likely to throw his toys out of the cot, of make some similar gesture of immaturity. Alexander Borodai, pet monkey of Putin, along with other Putin cheer leaders, has gone too far and needs to be eliminated.

Cyclist Killed

Here in New Zealand we have yet another cyclist killed on the road in the early hours of the morning. There is probably fault on the part of both parties but my recent experience in the Hamilton area has been that there are far too many cyclists who do not seem to understand that they need to be seen. I have recently witnessed several cyclists out in the early morning with no lights on their person or bicycle and to boot wearing black or very dark clothing. Even in the city the street lighting is not that great as to make such cyclists easily visible. I am not aware of the details of this mornings accident but obviously the driver has not seen the cyclist and just ploughed straight into her. She may have been wearing all the right gear and had lights but the accident occurred anyway. It is more important for cyclist to be extra vigilant for their own safety. The same goes for pedestrians and motorists need to be more vigilant. As a cyclist you must be aware that you are sharing the road with vehicles of much greater substance than a cycle and that in any encounter you are going to come off second best. Please cyclists, for your own safety make sure you are easily visible, you need to stand out like a lighthouse to be sure you can be seen from at least 50-100 metres away.

Shame On You

We had something of a tragedy when the three young Israelis were kidnapped and murdered. Rightly Israel was determined to bring the culprits to justice. Other Israelis have brought shame on themselves and their country by going out a killing another innocent Palestinian teenager. You do not right a wrong by killing the innocent. The perpetrators of this act are no better than those who killed the Israeli boys. Both are equally bad. The Bible old testament that the Jewish faith seems so keen on my well say "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" but it means that of the individual responsible not anybody who happens to be passing by. Israel is just as bad as the Palestinian Hamas. Both groups go for indiscriminate killing. Both are wrong.

Don,t Let The Minority Destroy Your Religion

As at 2010, according to Wikipedia, there was over 1.6 billion Muslims in the world.The number of radicals is said to be anywhere from 7% to 30%. I find it hard to believe there is anywhere near 30% since every Muslim I know is not in the least radical. They observe Muslim traditions and prayers, etc. but do not try and convert you or go around destroying the local Christian or even Jewish places of worship. Please, clean up your own house. The 93% or even 70% of you need to take back the good name of your religion and get rid of the radicals who bring all 1.6 billion of you a bad name. Let's face it only bad news makes the headlines. While every religion thinks it is the only one and true religion most people are happy for individuals to follow there own path. Religion and belief is a personal thing. No one is right or wrong. Provided their beliefs do not infringe on the rights of other people it is okay, when other peoples freedom to choose their own way is interfered with is the time that any religion if overstepping the mark. Come on all you good Muslims, put your house in order, start in Syria, Africa, Indonesia, Pakistan, and anywhere else that these extremists have got a following.

Been Away A Long Time

My last post was in 2012, too long away, I think. It isn't that there has not been anything to comment on, just that I have been too lazy. What is annoying me at the moment is the situation in Syria. Here we have another bunch of ragheads destroying religious shrines and buildings all because they belong to another religion or, even more stupid, they belong to a different sect of the same religion. I can understand that nutters exist and the current leader of ISIS, the biggest idiot for a long time, Abu Bakr al-Baghadadi, is indeed a nutter. What I can't understand is that he has any followers! Do they really have no minds of their own. They obviously don't study the Koran or are not familiar with any other religious ideals. All religions basically say turn a blind eye, live and let live, they only get stroppy when they are being persecuted. Muslims certainly aren't being persecuted but are becoming the persecutors. It is time the UN created a "Protect the world from religious nutters" division. These would be deployed when any nutcase created a Fatwa or promoted any violence against any person or group of persons, they would go in and kill the loud mouth and let the rest of mankind get on with simply living their lives in a peaceful manner. As I have said in previous observations. The Muslim religion is 600 years behind Christianity and cannot seem to live and let live even amongst themselves. It is time for the men and women of Syria and any other place these self proclaimed madmen live to stand up and be counted and bring the perpetrator of these crimes to justice. You never seem to see women behaving is such a disgraceful manner.