Croz Walsh's Blog -- New Zealand and Fiji: How Much Fairer They Could Be

IMPORTANT NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS 10 Jan.2011

New Posting days and times. From this week there will be no postings on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays unless there is very important breaking news.  On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, there will be two posting, the first at noon, the second late in the afternoon. Weekend Readings will be posted at noon on Saturdays.
New article identification. From today, each item in every posting will have a unique number. This will enable readers to refer to individual items when commenting and access these items using the Search facility in the left sidebar.
New map feature.Click on Zoom Map/Air Photo Fiji tab under the main heading, and zoom in to a map or satellite photo anywhere in Fiji or zoom out to see the world courtesy of Google Maps.
New Quotation for the Week.  Posted every weekend in the right sidebar. SCROLL DOWN TO SEE WEEKEND READING.

N0001.  CAFE PACIFIC USES READERS' COMMENTS. It's great to see recognition for the quality of com…

If you can, tune in tomorrow night (Monday) from about 7:30-7:55  to listen to a panel discussion on Fiji.  Panelists are Nik Naidu, Richard Pamatatau, Peni Moore and myself.

DON'T MISS WEEKEND POSTINGS:  More rubbish from Tupuola on Fiji military, Women and Poverty, Bainimarama address to Arab League,  Parmesh Chand on Public Sector Reform, Allen Lockington's regular column,  Reserve Bank help to Small Business, Feleti Sevele talks sense, New Aussie PM.

Quote for the Week
Journalists say a thing they know isn't true in the hope that if they go on saying it long enough, it will be true.  Arnold Bennett.

KIDS FLY FREE.  Air Pacific is offering a free return seat for one child accompanied by one adult (two children with mum and dad) for sale up until August 15, and for travel between September 2010 and February 2011. Call your travel agent now. Note: This blog offers free advertising to companies that assist the Fiji economy.

NEW FORMATS FOR COMPANION BLOGS. Your opinions on the new format on this and the companion blog Na Sala Cava would be most welcome. Click Directions icon in right sidebar. I will be publishing a new Na Salan Cava questio…

NA SALA CAVA?  Two new "Way Forward" questions (#4-5)  will be posted tomorrow Friday at noon. Scroll down to see the first three questions and comments.

NEW BLOG SITE. Instead of summarizing the comments as previously intended,  I have opened a new blog site, Na Sala Cavu? Which Path Forward for Fiji? Click here here  to check it out how it looks for #1-3 .  More details tomorrow.

FIJI SUN RISES AGAIN. The Fiji Sun 'article' lauding the PM, criticized so strongly by this blog and readers, was not a hoax but neither was it an article. It was, in fact, a letter to the editor published by the Sun last Saturday and uploaded, more of less automatically, to the Sun's website.

AUSNZ OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY, FIJI, PACIFIC. PM Bainimarama has  condemned the PI Forum Secretariat for not including Fiji in trade and development talks being funded by the European Union. Bainimarama says the EU has provided funds through the Forum Secretariat for trade and development talks …

ANNOUNCEMENT The existing Comments feature encourages readers to comment on individual posts. The new feature Letters to the Editor encourages you to write on anything, including what Fiji media editors may self-censor.  Each Letters to the Editor posted will run for two weeks. A new Letters to the Editor feature will be posted each Monday. These are the rules: 1. All letters must be signed, even if only with a pseudonym
2. Letters must address issues and treat others with respect
3. All letters must be in English but well known vernacular words may be used. 4. Letters that are personal, use foul language, or do not meet normal standards will be deleted. Please save me the time of deleting such comments. All you have to do is ask howyou would think, feel and react if you were the recipient of the barbs you think so "brilliant and  devasting", and modify your words accordingly.
5. All letters should start with a heading indicating the subject or topic.
Dear Prime Minister

In some week…

Two weeks ago we launched Allen Lockington's Saturday feature Life Goes On to spread a smile or two between our otherwise sombre, and sometimes depressing, posts. Today Wednesday at 12:00 noon we launch another regular weekly feature, the "High Noon" quiz, that will always be published at noon on Wednesdays, with answers published Mondays at 9:00am.

Older readers will recognize the title as that of a famous 1950's Western film starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly in which Cooper, the small town US Marshall, faces a gang of killers. My choice of title does not cast Bainimarama, Qarase or anyone else in the role of marshal, but it does have a moral message. The forces for good in Fiji must ensure that its "high noon" will be resolved by words and not bullets.

The quiz consists of two groups of five questions. The first five can be answered from postings and other features in the blog, and are mainly intended to assist your quick searches. The second five com…

Announcement
This Blog Site and the Pro-Government IG Blog Site
Crosbie Walsh 30 Jan 2009

I added a link to the IG blog (Pro-Govt Blog) because IG's views are important and I'm pleased IG responded with a link to my site, which it describes as "neutral".

This mutual inclusion of links does not, of course, mean that we necessarily agree with each other's individual postings. For the record, I am particularly disturbed by the tone and threats in its recent post Double Minded RFN Bloggers.

It is easy, of course, for "armchair outsiders" like myself to call for reasoned and less emotional outbursts from all parties. It is much harder for those directly involved or affected to remain calm in the face of what, from their different perspectives, they see as obstructionism, insult or worse. It is also rather satisfying to "let fly" at opponents. But this does not mean that such an approach is wise or helpful. Indeed, it could be counter-productive. Old &q;…