Scott Brown (Republican) takes Kennedy's senate seat in Massachusetts

Unbelievably, Republican Scott Brown has defeated Democrat Martha Coakley for recently deceased Edward Kennedy's US Senate seat. This is a kick in the balls for President Obama on the eve of his first year in office. It is blatantly clear that if a Republican can win much beloved Ted Kennedy's seat in super left Massachusetts that the public are clearly not happy with the was the Obama administration is panning out.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy held the seat for nearly half a century.

Democrats needed Coakley to win for a 60th vote to thwart Republican filibusters. Sen elect Brown will become the 41st Republican in the 100-member Senate, which could allow the Republicans to block the Democrats health care legislation and the rest of Obama's agenda.

If this was a referendum on the Democrats Health Care bill and the lack of fulfillment of President Obama's election promises, then I predict change in these upcoming midterm elections. The change will be towards the Republican Party and their more conservative views. Sen Harry Reid, Sen Boxer, Nancy Pelosi and President Obamabest listen to the voting public if they want to keep their jobs after their next election. This should be a clear and loud message to them.

Congratulations Senator Elect Brown.

Schumacher signs with Mercedes GP for 2010 and beyond

F1 legend and 7 time world champion Michael Schumacher has signed with Mercedes GP (Formally Brawn and Honda) for a 3 year period. This means that Michael will once again be partnered with Ross Brawn who has been with him during his previous world championship years. Michael will be 41 years old when the season starts making him the oldest driver on the grid. 2010 is going to be a brilliant year in F1. Wonder if Ralph will get the same idea?

Kimi Raikkonen moves from F1 to WRC for 2010

Kimi Raikkonen previously a brilliant F1 driver at Ferrari (World Champion 2007), McLaren and Sauber will be moving away from Formula 1 and competing in the 2010 season of the WRC. Ferrari paid out his contract 1 year early to allow double World F1 Champion Fernando Alonso to take the seat opposite Massa for 10. Raikkonen will be racing under the Citroen Junior banner for the WRC championship team. Kimi will campaign in all but one of the 13 rounds next year, sitting out the New Zealand event which is a bit of a shame as I would have liked to see if Kimi can keep up with my old neighbor and NZ rally expert Patrick Malley.

Greg Johnson New Years Eve Party at the Windsor Castle in Parnell Auckland NZ

Get your tickets and celebrate with Greg Johnson and band including a couple of songs by upcoming Singer / Songwriter Taylor Cornell from Venice California... Get your tickets before it is sold out.... I look forward to seeing you there.

Dallas Texas

I just got back from Dallas Texas where my girlfriend and I visited for Thanksgiving. We traveled to Fort Worth and viewed the running of the longhorn cattle, has a nice BBQ lunch, went to the 6th floor museum to see where Kennedy was assassinated and had a very nice Thanksgiving with family and friends.

Dallas was very impressive. The dining is great, the city itself seems to be smaller than Auckland, but the houses are bigger. The Christmas lights were out and it was beautiful.
Drove past W's house ( or at least to the gate ) looked at some open homes and all in all had a fantastic time.

Dallas Texas is well worth a visit.

Big trip

Just got back from a long drive. Flew to EGE Eagle Vail Colorado, collected a vehicle from there and drove it to Olympic Valley ( Squaw Lake Tahoe ) which was 978 miles. Popped in to Orem Utah to see an old school pal Paul Glover and his family on the way and had fun. Had a night in Tahoe and then collected a different vehicle and drove the 495 miles back to LA.... Fun Fun.

Veterans Day

Thank you to all the Veterans out there that have and still keep us safe.

Cuba-US hold high level unannounced talks.

A top US Diplomat has spent 6 days in Havana holding high level talks with the Cuban government. Originally this was just for discussing a direct mail system between USA and Cuba but talks escalated.

Looks like there is beginning to be a thaw in relations between Havana and Washington...

Patrick Swayze RIP

Greg Johnson and Boh Runga to tour New Zealand October 2009

Famous Kiwi singer songwriters Greg Johnson and Boh Runga are flying down from Los Angeles to do a acoustic tour of New Zealand this October. The pulpit will be replacing the moshpit for this particular tour, as they will be playing in churches, known for their great acoustics around the country and will be belting out all of your favorite tunes. Supported by Classic Hits, Nathan King and Lydia Cole. No preaching guaranteed :-)
Get your tickets at www.acousticchurchtour.co.nz or www.ticketek.co.nz it will be worth it.

September 11th 2009

Let us not forget 9/11/2001

Canada - New Zealand Air Transport Agreement signed.

A new Air Transport Agreement has been signed between New Zealand and Canada, Transport Minister Steven Joyce and Trade Minister Tim Groser announced today.

"New Zealand and Canada have a long-standing partnership. The Agreement, signed overnight in Singapore, creates new opportunities for the further development of business, tourism and people-to-people links between New Zealand and Canada," Mr Groser said.

"The Agreement removes previous limitations on the frequency of flights that can be provided. Additionally, New Zealand and Canadian carriers can now operate to and beyond each others' country over any routing." This is brilliant, It means that Air NZ can fly to Vancouver and then direct to Europe / Asia / North and South America. Air Canada can fly direct to NZ and then over to Australia / Asia etc. Maybe the fares will get even better for the traveling citizens of Canada and New Zealand?

Full story courtesy of The PM of NZ here......

New Zealand moving closer to Australia?

Goodness me, I am not sure what citizens of either country will be thinking about this???

Having said that Sir Roger Douglas and the ACT Party have said that with some hard work and changes New Zealand can be on par with Australia soon...May New Zealand advance and prosper.

Ted Brown Moments More Precious video

This is Los Angeles based New Zealand born singer Ted Brown's latest video for the song "Moments more Precious" from the album 'Shaky's Blessing'. It was directed by Matt Palmer and shot in the beautiful North Island of New Zealand...

US-NZ Congressional friends

This is rather interesting. Wonder if it is working???

Why crush the boy / girl racers cars?

I was reading today on stuff.co.nz this article about a new law which will enable councils to crush car of excessively naughty boy and girl racers.

Why?

Firstly, if these naughty racers are driving cars which are blatantly not legal for the road and they are in an area which is known for illegal racing, then confiscate the car, take the racers license and get them in front of the judge FAST within the month.

Most of these racers are harmless and are simply just trying to drive around town, showing off their new rear wing, wheels and lowering kit that ruins the cars handling and makes them look ridiculously foolish.

It is the buffoonish behavior from one or two (normally intoxicated or insane) that cause harm to others. Those folks need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The naughty racers normally have spent most of their money on souping up their horrendous looking vehicle and can't afford to pay any fines. No problem, take the car and put it up for auction ( not to be purchased by the perpetrator) and put the sale amount ( if any ) towards driver education programs and any previous outstanding fines. If the car does not sell then dismantle is and part it out or donate it to the local schools / Poly tech automotive departments for training up and coming apprentices.

Why crush with no one getting the benefit of the buffoonery?

A fine means nothing to most of these folks if they really do not get in trouble when they break the law. Give the Police the power to catch the naughty racers, give the courts the ability to move fast on the prosecution and don't give a car back to ANY driver until all fines are paid.

Fines for broken indicators, expired warrant / rego ( within a week ) and small and possible innocent problems should be low and they can be annulled with the owner of the car showing up to see the oversight has been fixed.

A person that has been caught 3- 5 times for having no rego / warrant, drivers license, spinning wheels, spreading diesel etc should be treated differently with a harsher penalty. A bit of time in a cell and a bit of hard labour as well as a bit of ridicule. How about every idiot looking vehicle that is impounded is inspected by a professional on tv who takes the mickey out of the modifications Top Gear style. The owner would be required to explain why they think the modifications are important and why they think recklessly spinning the wheels in a populated area makes them a bigger person. The naughty racer who proves to be the biggest idiot via online vote will get an extra 6 months of license suspension and will provide some comedy to the viewing public?

Greg Johnson video Kiss Me featuring Robert Good and Nicks BMW Z8

This is a cool video for the song Kiss me that has resurfaced from Greg Johnson's archives. It was filmed in 2004 and I even have a part in it...... Along with Nicks BMW Z8 Alpina that we "borrowed" for the day. SHHHH.

50,000 Hits

Onwards and upwards.... Thanks for checking in.

Star Trek the movie (2009)

I had the opportunity to preview the new Star Trek movie last night at the Paramount Studios.

James T. Kirk, the USS Enterprise and Spock were in full effect. This is a brilliant movie and I would expect that when it is released tomorrow it will gather quite a following.
There is an all star line up including Karl Urban a fellow Kiwi, Winona Ryder ( who I didn't even recognize ), Chris Pine who did a brilliant job as J T Kirk, Zachary Quinto who made a stellar appearance as Spock and .................... best of all Leonard Nimoy who put the ears back on and came back as his original but aged character from the original TV series.

I was not much of a Sci- Fi fan, but this is a movie that makes me want to become one. There is humor, originality and it is not unfathomable. I recommend you go to the cinema and watch this movie twice.Live Long and Prosper

One of these photos are not like the others. Obama - Chavez