The Riverman Reports - Inc. Huttz World : 2009-04-19

Friday, April 24, 2009

NEW ZEALAND ANZAC DAY DAWN SERVICES WELL ATTENDED...

April 25 2009:

New Zealand Anzac Day dawn services well-attended:

Thousands turn out for Anzac Day services; wet and windy at War Memorial Museum Auckland, fine in Wellington at Cenotaph.

Dawn services are underway throughout the country.

In Auckland, thousands of people have gathered at the War Memorial Museum on a wet and windy morning.

At the National Cenotaph in Wellington, it is a fine morning. Prime Minister John Key and other dignitaries are at the service.

In Christchurch, Dean Peter Beck is impressed by what he says is an ever-growing young crowd attending Anzac Day commemorations. Two services are being held in Cathedral Square. Nineteen services will be held in the region including at Akaroa, Diamond Harbour and Papanui.

Dean Beck says the number of people braving the dawn parade has been growing year by year.

"And it gets younger every year too. It's an extraordinary service really. Very, very moving indeed. But the real statement in that about a commitment of our people for a vision of the world of peace with justice."

Acknowledgements:
© 2009 NZCity, NewsTalk

Read here

Monday, April 20, 2009

THE STRANGER - A STORY FOR YOU ALL...

Just picked up a little story this morning, which I would like to share with you all.

"The Stranger".

A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small Texas town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on.

As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to obey. But the stranger...he was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies.

If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future! He took my family to the first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem to mind.

Sometimes, Mom would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to the kitchen for peace and quiet. (I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)

Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home... Not from us, our friends or any visitors. Our longtime visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush. My Dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol. But the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly and pipes distinguished.

He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing.

I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked... And NEVER asked to leave.

More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you could walk into my parents' den today, you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.

His name?.... .. .

We just call him 'TV.'

(Note: This should be required reading for every household)

His wife is called Computer;

Their first child is named Cellphone.

Acknowledgements to Elaine Winchester:

The secret life of the television set

Sunday, April 19, 2009

ANZAC DAY, APRIL 25, IS ONE OF AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND'S MOST IMPORTANT ANNIVERSARIES - IT COMMEMORATES THE LANDING AT ANZAC COVE AS PART OF THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN...

First published at Qassia:

The Gallipoli campaign in World War One was part of the wider invasion of the Dardenelles by British and Empire troops against the Ottoman Turkish Empire to eventually capture Istanbul. For the troops from Australia and New Zealand in the "ANZAC" force, it was a form of baptism under fire and made an indelible impression on the psyche of Australians and New Zealanders for nearly a century later.

But first there was important business in Cairo to deal with: "THE BATTLE OF WAZZA"

The Battle of Wazza in Cairo in 1915 - and sex had a lot to do with it...

In 1915 the Anzac troops were training and resting in Egypt before moving towards the Dardenelles in Turkey and a date with destiny in Gallipoli and World War One history. These were mostly young men, some no more than boys, from the bush, towns and the cities in every state of Australia; and their New Zealand cousins over the Tasman Sea from the North Cape to the Bluff, the North, the South and Stewart Islands, from the countryside, the bush, the towns and the cities, Pakeha and Maori alike, even a few from Cook and Niue Islands as well. These were the Anzacs - the Australia New Zealand Army Corps. And history would, indeed, record and remember their deeds in coming months.

This is one of their stories: The Battle of Wazza.

The Anzacs had been stationed in Cairo in 1915 for a number of weeks leading up to the Gallipoli campaign. Suddenly one hot and dusty day they turned on some of their hosts, and rioted in one of Cairo's most notorious streets on which several handred Anzac troops set fire to brothels while hundreds of other troops looked on. In fact it has been recorded that over 3,000 Anzac troops rioted for three days throughout Cairo's red-light district burning and trashing dozens of these houses of ill-fame.

The actioned was allegedly precipitated by claims that alcohol supplies had been urinated in to make them go further. The difficulties in getting treatment for veneral disease probably didn't help the situation as well. Many troops had been left isolated from their comrades for days at a time in special compounds during this period.

An enquiry made later allegedly revealed that Kiwi troops were more heavily involved than their Aussie cousins. Perhaps it was the beginning of a century when New Zealanders were in the forefront of many campaigns involving social justice in a variety of theatres of action.

This riot, and the actual reasons which precipitated it, resulted in a New Zealand woman, Ettie Rout, setting up a social and sexual support service in Paris for Anzac soldiers on leave from the Western Front. She advocated the supply of condoms and antiseptic ointments to the troops, and the setting up of a safe sex brothel. She would be considered a 'saint' by the troops and the wickedest woman in Britain by a British Bishop. But this is another story for another time.

The Gallipoli Campaign