The People’s Bailout = OWS goes to the mattresses!
Quote:
“Now OWS is launching the ROLLING JUBILEE, a program that has been in development for months. OWS is going to start buying distressed debt (medical bills, student loans, etc.) in order to forgive it. As a test run, we spent $500, which bought $14,000 of distressed debt. We then ERASED THAT DEBT. (If you’re a debt broker, once you own someone’s debt you can do whatever you want with it — traditionally, you hound debtors to their grave trying to collect. We’re playing a different game. A MORE AWESOME GAME.)”
If that is actually feasible in NZ we need to go for it. Forgiving debt like this gives families the opportunity to get out of the poverty trap which is imposible on low wages if you have a debt millstone around your neck. It only takes one dentists bill to screw you over for a very long time… we also need to sort out some sort of dental subsidisation I know too many people with screwed teeth and no way to afford the work…
Wow. Sometimes it is possible, when creditors have given up, to buy a collection of debt for only a few cents on the dollar.
However, the difficulty is ensuring understanding the detail of the underlying debt that efforts go to helping the right people…eg not a millionaire property developer who has walked away from his leaky building project…
When you buy the debt, you buy the ownership title to that debt. You now own it instead of say, the bank’s credit card division which used to own the debt.
And the credit card indebted person now owes the money to YOU not to the originator of the debt (the bank’s credit card division in this example).
If you can understand this, and that debts can be collected together in bundles, and then be considered as cashflow generating assets which can be bought and sold, you’ll also start to understand how the Mortgaged Backed Securities (MBS) subprime crisis happened.
Often too businesses sell debt at a portion of it’s value.
I’m owed $500-00. I can spend $ and time chasing this up or sell it too someone else (say a debt collector) for $200-00. I get some of my money back which helps my cash flow, write off the rest and the debt collector carries the cost of the time and the risk he won’t get his money back.
It’s also why lots of times you can’t pay the money owing back to the firm you owed it too.
Quote:
“In his later years, Stephen had moved from campaigning for the decriminalization of marijuana to focussing on medical cannabis. Green Cross was the realization of that activism. It provided medical quality marijuana to patients with a doctor’s prescription. NZ law allows for doctors to prescribe synthetic marijuana and the 2010 Law Commission review called for that to be widened to organic marijuana as well.
That’s where Green Cross came in. They had a list of patients with doctor’s prescriptions whose illnesses ranged from those with chronic pain to cancer. Synthetic product did not work for many of these people.”
Don’t think Bradbury has made his case yet. Will see what he comes up with in parts 2 and 3. There is more background to why someone kills themselves than Bradbury has presented, and to make the case that the police tactics pushed McIntyre to take his own life would involve the police knowing about the background.
I can understand Bradbury’s anger and sadness at the loss of his friend, and am sure that the police’s actions were bullying and unnecessary.
The way the article reads
The admin privileges
– allow alteration of teachers bank accounts numbers.
– may allow access to teachers bank account to remove money.
So you could divert the teachers salary to your account, or just remove money.
Foss said he had been advised it was “not possible” to confirm that funds had not been diverted.
HUH
“The principal then contacted Novopay who took those admin rights away for that school and gave her admin rights for another school, again.”
HUH
Novopay business owner Rebecca Elvy said the system was rigorously tested to ensure it is a secure online service.
“We take the security of payroll data and employees’ personal information very seriously,” she said.
SURE
Novopay business owner Rebecca Elvy said the system was rigorously tested to ensure it is a secure online service.
“We take the security of payroll data and employees’ personal information very seriously,” she said.
SURE
Fuck yeah, the suffering of these men, this boy or this boy all wrapped up muzza in a glib reference to your own lunacy…. false flag and you’d have had the double.
Joe people died and suffered, absolutely they did/do, but like fcuk, should people not want to learn and understand that those who suffered and died, just like we see in the ME and other parts of the world now, have been and are being used.
That includes family members of mine who served and died!
Why is it that we only care about war fighters and workers after they are dead? They go to war and fight for some obscure reason, that has an outcome more uncertain than a USA presidential election.
It seems that we assuage our callousness as human beings with this token Anzac Day and other remembrances, a good chance to see guns fired and uniforms. And the people running the commemoration do not like anti-war protests. Says a lot.
My birth father did his best and now lies underground in France. He had principles and would be shocked to see what has happened to us all since the War to end all Wars.
And now we are going to spend millions of dollars on some new symbolic edifice to the dead and gone. Let’s instead invest the money into Scholarships, a Trust in their name helping their grandchildren’s children and the country under whose banner they went forth.
I’m hopeful that John Banks will have a fair and unbiased trial, which will eventuate in a guilty verdict for a corrupt practice. A prosecution and conviction for such an offense would undoubtedly mean an end to Banks’ political career, and force a by-election in Epsom…
The Royal Commission finding that there was a culture of production before safety is damning.
The company’s failures are unforgivable. But it would have been comforting if the inquiry had found at least one hero within officialdom, a quiet but determined whistle blower, someone who spoke up, but who was either shushed or ignored.
There used to be a time when you could rely on that. No more.
The culture which has percolated from the top down is built around a fear of repercussions. Reports to the minister are carefully framed. Stark warnings about death and destruction go down like a cup of cold proverbial.
They are a gun to the minister’s head. They are brown envelope fodder, a leak waiting to happen. That’s why they are never sent.
The only documents leaked these days seem to concern pay and conditions. Maybe it’s time to bring back the cardigan wearers.
So part of the the problem within the government sector that was responsible for regulating the mine was that the people feared speaking truth to power.
Well it’s not a democracy then is it? It’s a dictatorship in order to protect those at the top. Don’t speak the truth about problems because they could be used politically against various politicians just shows what a total sham the us against them system is… And the result in this case is lost lives. Don’t expect the government to identify and fix the problem though. What a bunch of culpable idiots!
So far, the only information released has been about the two “concept camps” run at the end of 2010, which showed all but two of the 17 teens on the programme went on to reoffend. Requests for information about the 78 participants in the seven camps run since were refused by both the Ministry for Social Development and its Associate Minister Chester Borrows, who said making public the information about the “nature of offences or offending” could identify the youth involved.
Which is a load of bollocks because offenders are identified in court anyway unless they’re under-age in which case their identities are rightly protected but in that case naming the offences won’t identify the perpetrators.
….But the prize for shameless disaster capitalism surely goes to right-wing economist Russell S. Sobel, writing in a New York Times online forum. Sobel suggested that, in hard-hit areas, FEMA should create “free trade zones—in which all normal regulations, licensing and taxes[are] suspended.” This corporate free-for-all would, apparently, “better provide the goods and services victims need.”
Yes that’s right: this catastrophe very likely created by climate change—a crisis born of the colossal regulatory failure to prevent corporations from treating the atmosphere as their open sewer—is just one more opportunity for more deregulation. And the fact that this storm has demonstrated that poor and working-class people are far more vulnerable to the climate crisis shows that this is clearly the right moment to strip those people of what few labor protections they have left, as well as to privatize the meager public services available to them. Most of all, when faced with an extraordinarily costly crisis born of corporate greed, hand out tax holidays to corporations…..
……..For a long time, climate change was treated by environmentalists as a great equalizer, the one issue that affected everyone, rich or poor. They failed to account for the myriad ways by which the superrich would protect themselves from the less savory effects of the economic model that made them so wealthy. In the past six years, we have seen the emergence of private firefighters in the United States, hired by insurance companies to offer a “concierge” service to their wealthier clients, as well as the short-lived “HelpJet”—a charter airline in Florida that offered five-star evacuation services from hurricane zones. “No standing in lines, no hassle with crowds, just a first class experience that turns a problem into a vacation.” And, post-Sandy, upscale real estate agents are predicting that back-up power generators will be the new status symbol with the penthouse and mansion set.
It seems that for some, climate change is imagined less as a clear and present danger than as a kind of spa vacation; nothing that the right combination of bespoke services and well-curated accessories can’t overcome. That, at least, was the impression left by the Barneys New York pre-Sandy sale—which offered deals on Sencha green tea, backgammon sets and $500 throw blankets so its high-end customers could “settle in with style”. Let the rest of the world eat “social strategies, formal or informal.”
……there are changes we can make that actually have a chance of getting our emissions down to the level science demands. These include relocalizing our economies (so we are going to need those farmers where they are); vastly expanding and reimagining the public sphere to not just hold back the next storm but to prevent even worse disruptions in the future; regulating the hell out of corporations and reducing their poisonous political power; and reinventing economics so it no longer defines success as the endless expansion of consumption.
These are approaches to the crisis would help rebuild the real economy at a time when most of us have had it with speculative bubbles. They would create lasting jobs at a time when they are urgently needed. And they would strengthen our ties to one another and to our communities— goals that, while abstract, can nonetheless save lives in a crisis.
Just as the Great Depression and the Second World War launched populist movements that claimed as their proud legacies social safety nets across the industrialized world, so climate change can be a historic moment to usher in the next great wave of progressive change. Moreover, none of the anti-democratic trickery I described in The Shock Doctrine is necessary to advance this agenda. Far from seizing on the climate crisis to push through unpopular policies, our task is to seize upon it to demand a truly populist agenda.
The reconstruction from Sandy is a great place to start road testing these ideas. Unlike the disaster capitalists who use crisis to end-run democracy, a People’s Recovery (as many from the Occupy movement are already demanding) would call for new democratic processes, including neighborhood assemblies, to decide how hard-hit communities should be rebuilt. The overriding principle must be addressing the twin crises of inequality and climate change at the same time. For starters, that means reconstruction that doesn’t just create jobs but jobs that pay a living wage. It means not just more public transit, but energy efficient affordable housing along those transit lines. It also means not just more renewable power but democratic community control over those projects.
But at the same time as we ramp up alternatives, we need to step up the fight against the forces actively making the climate crisis worse. Regardless of who wins the election, that means standing firm against the continued expansion of the fossil fuel sector into new and high-risk territories, whether through tar sands, fracking, coal exports to China or Arctic drilling. It also means recognizing the limits of political pressure and going after the fossil fuel companies directly, as we are doing at 350.org with our “Do The Math” tour. These companies have shown that they are willing to burn five times as much carbon as the most conservative estimates say is compatible with a livable planet. We’ve done the math, and we simply can’t let them……
……. The good news is that this is a crime in progress; it is still within our power to stop it. Let’s make sure that this time, the good guys win.
The reconstruction from Sandy is a great place to start road testing these ideas. Unlike the disaster capitalists who use crisis to end-run democracy, a People’s Recovery (as many from the Occupy movement are already demanding) would call for new democratic processes, including neighborhood assemblies, to decide how hard-hit communities should be rebuilt. The overriding principle must be addressing the twin crises of inequality and climate change at the same time. For starters, that means reconstruction that doesn’t just create jobs but jobs that pay a living wage. It means not just more public transit, but energy efficient affordable housing along those transit lines. It also means not just more renewable power but democratic community control over those projects.
Naomi Kline
Christchurch should also be a place for road testing new forms of democracy like neighborhood assemblies, to decide how hard hit communities should be rebuilt.
Unfortunately the disaster capitalists are in the saddle in Christchurch and are determined to use the crisis as end run on democracy in the region. The exact opposite of what should be done. You can guarantee that rather than rather than pay a living wage to the workers actually doing the rebuild. the big contractors will be using the disaster as an excuse break down wages and conditions to line their own pockets. These same big contractors, favorites of the National Party, will be awarded huge pork barrel contracts from the taxpayer account, which will all be hidden from public scrutiny and democratic oversight by Brownly and others on the grounds of “commercial sensitivity”. With the huge fortunes that are going to be made in Christchurch by the disaster capitalists with the compliance of their anti-democratic political supporters in National, the Christchurch Earthquake was not bad news just different kind of good news.
We have already seen the scandalous waste of taxpayers money that results when a favourite of the Government was paid an undisclosed amount to provide camper vans for temporary accommodation that was never used by those who needed it because the rentals were way too expensive.
I forgot to mention the disaster capitalists opportunistic use of the Christchurch earthquake disaster to attack social provision in the region, starting it seems with the schools and the school children and families they serve. Whoo hoo, if we can keep this up, a chance of more tax cuts for the rich folk.
“Do you, Cameron Slater, agree that both John Banks and Don Brash should have both been charged as former fellow Directors of Huljich Wealth Management (NZ) Ltd, for signing Huljich Kiwisaver Scheme registered prospectuses dated 22 August 2008 and 18 September 2009 which contained untrue statments – a STRICT LIABILITY offence under s.58(3) of the Securities Act?
PS: If anyone has contact details for Graham McCready – I’m rather keen to have a chat about his private prosecution of John Banks over allegations that he filed a false electoral return for his 2012 Auckland mayoral campaign.
very lolworthy, tv3 just called john keys wife ‘the first lady’, jeez, little america. (i know, i shouldnt watch that crap but im always curious to what they show & dont show (for e.g. no mention of the novapay scandal))
very lolworthy, tv3 just called john keys wife ‘the first lady’, jeez, little america
TV3 always are Little America! For years when we lived in Mt Eden/Albert, we couldn’t get TV1, so I got used to 3 News, and apathy means I don’t change, and so I am familiar with their quirks. Good thing I don’t rely on only them for news!
They have never referred to Bush or Obama as ‘the American President’ but just ‘the president’… also, there are other little things they do. Like Leighton Smith, they report what Steve Wright on the BBC WS used to call ‘bizarre news stories’ from the USA, as if they are local, very misleadingly sometimes.
And it looks like this government’s anti-democratic ways are now starting to get official notice:
Axing Environment Canterbury elections until at least 2016 is a breach of the Government’s commitment to democracy, New Zealand’s Human Rights Commission says.
Chief human rights commissioner David Rutherford yesterday hit out at the Government for introducing the Environment Canterbury (Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Bill, during a Local Government and Environment Select Committee meeting.
Rutherford said the bill breached some of the international human rights commitments the Government had made.
Now, I wonder if the government can be taken to court over those breach of rights.
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Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
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You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
The People’s Bailout = OWS goes to the mattresses!
Quote:
“Now OWS is launching the ROLLING JUBILEE, a program that has been in development for months. OWS is going to start buying distressed debt (medical bills, student loans, etc.) in order to forgive it. As a test run, we spent $500, which bought $14,000 of distressed debt. We then ERASED THAT DEBT. (If you’re a debt broker, once you own someone’s debt you can do whatever you want with it — traditionally, you hound debtors to their grave trying to collect. We’re playing a different game. A MORE AWESOME GAME.)”
http://wilwheaton.tumblr.com/post/35309150177/the-peoples-bailout
If that is actually feasible in NZ we need to go for it. Forgiving debt like this gives families the opportunity to get out of the poverty trap which is imposible on low wages if you have a debt millstone around your neck. It only takes one dentists bill to screw you over for a very long time… we also need to sort out some sort of dental subsidisation I know too many people with screwed teeth and no way to afford the work…
And make sure you floss, brush and gargle at least twice a day.
AWS. Sounds awesome!
Wow. Sometimes it is possible, when creditors have given up, to buy a collection of debt for only a few cents on the dollar.
However, the difficulty is ensuring understanding the detail of the underlying debt that efforts go to helping the right people…eg not a millionaire property developer who has walked away from his leaky building project…
How does this work? If I buy someone’s debt, doesn’t the person who the debt is owed to just now come after me?
Using a hypothetical example.
When you buy the debt, you buy the ownership title to that debt. You now own it instead of say, the bank’s credit card division which used to own the debt.
And the credit card indebted person now owes the money to YOU not to the originator of the debt (the bank’s credit card division in this example).
If you can understand this, and that debts can be collected together in bundles, and then be considered as cashflow generating assets which can be bought and sold, you’ll also start to understand how the Mortgaged Backed Securities (MBS) subprime crisis happened.
Often too businesses sell debt at a portion of it’s value.
I’m owed $500-00. I can spend $ and time chasing this up or sell it too someone else (say a debt collector) for $200-00. I get some of my money back which helps my cash flow, write off the rest and the debt collector carries the cost of the time and the risk he won’t get his money back.
It’s also why lots of times you can’t pay the money owing back to the firm you owed it too.
The debt no longer belongs to them.
I had no idea about the law around this issue so really glad I came across this story.
Tumeke exclusive: Did police tactics kill Steven McIntyre? (Below is the link to Part 1)
http://tumeke.blogspot.co.nz/2012/11/tumeke-exclusive-did-nz-police-tactics.html
Quote:
“In his later years, Stephen had moved from campaigning for the decriminalization of marijuana to focussing on medical cannabis. Green Cross was the realization of that activism. It provided medical quality marijuana to patients with a doctor’s prescription. NZ law allows for doctors to prescribe synthetic marijuana and the 2010 Law Commission review called for that to be widened to organic marijuana as well.
That’s where Green Cross came in. They had a list of patients with doctor’s prescriptions whose illnesses ranged from those with chronic pain to cancer. Synthetic product did not work for many of these people.”
“Did police tactics kill Steven McIntyre?”
Don’t think Bradbury has made his case yet. Will see what he comes up with in parts 2 and 3. There is more background to why someone kills themselves than Bradbury has presented, and to make the case that the police tactics pushed McIntyre to take his own life would involve the police knowing about the background.
I can understand Bradbury’s anger and sadness at the loss of his friend, and am sure that the police’s actions were bullying and unnecessary.
Everything John Key’s crappy administration touches turns to shit for ordinary folk:-
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/7933869/Security-fears-in-teachers-pay-leak
The way the article reads
The admin privileges
– allow alteration of teachers bank accounts numbers.
– may allow access to teachers bank account to remove money.
So you could divert the teachers salary to your account, or just remove money.
Foss said he had been advised it was “not possible” to confirm that funds had not been diverted.
HUH
“The principal then contacted Novopay who took those admin rights away for that school and gave her admin rights for another school, again.”
HUH
Novopay business owner Rebecca Elvy said the system was rigorously tested to ensure it is a secure online service.
“We take the security of payroll data and employees’ personal information very seriously,” she said.
SURE
This is what happens when you starve the public service and give private providers carte blanche to do clumsy lazy incompetent shit.
Rigorously tested … blah blah blah
Secure online service … blah blah blah
“We take the security of payroll data and employees’ personal information very seriously” … blah blah blah
Bullshit detector is working overtime …
I am so glad to work for PTEs, now!
Codenames and numbers. Fucking great. What’s ‘Talent3?..or 1?…or whatever? Calling in a drone strike?
Lest we forget.
On the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month.
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.
Quite something that we are expected to pay rememberance on a date and time representing the number 11, it being a “key” in satanic numerology!.
Using the war, deaths/injuries, physical, mental or otherwise, being remembered, is simply another ritual for the sicko’s in charge!
Least we forget, indeed!
What does the bloody American Remembrance Day have to do with anything Kiwi?
We have our own day that we use to recall war and sacrifice, remember? What was it called again?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day
Thanks…but the article says our national day of remembrance is Anzac Day. Doesn’t hurt to have another one later in the year I suppose.
The 11 11 11 is armistice day, the end of ww1.
Yes and it’s been marked here for around a century – since 1919. RSA NZ had a ceremonies today.
Fuck yeah, the suffering of these men, this boy or this boy all wrapped up muzza in a glib reference to your own lunacy…. false flag and you’d have had the double.
Joe people died and suffered, absolutely they did/do, but like fcuk, should people not want to learn and understand that those who suffered and died, just like we see in the ME and other parts of the world now, have been and are being used.
That includes family members of mine who served and died!
Why is it that we only care about war fighters and workers after they are dead? They go to war and fight for some obscure reason, that has an outcome more uncertain than a USA presidential election.
It seems that we assuage our callousness as human beings with this token Anzac Day and other remembrances, a good chance to see guns fired and uniforms. And the people running the commemoration do not like anti-war protests. Says a lot.
My birth father did his best and now lies underground in France. He had principles and would be shocked to see what has happened to us all since the War to end all Wars.
And now we are going to spend millions of dollars on some new symbolic edifice to the dead and gone. Let’s instead invest the money into Scholarships, a Trust in their name helping their grandchildren’s children and the country under whose banner they went forth.
Anti-Iran Stuxnet computer virus infects US corporations
You can’t make this shit up.
http://rt.com/usa/news/stuxnet-chevron-cyber-virus-348/
In other news, there has been a massive surge in the number of Americans on foodstamps, now 47.1M people.
Yes, they delayed the release of these AUGUST statistics until AFTER the Presidential Elections.
Banks not off the hook
I’m hopeful that John Banks will have a fair and unbiased trial, which will eventuate in a guilty verdict for a corrupt practice. A prosecution and conviction for such an offense would undoubtedly mean an end to Banks’ political career, and force a by-election in Epsom…
This is actually a fairly good article:
So part of the the problem within the government sector that was responsible for regulating the mine was that the people feared speaking truth to power.
That is indicative that our democracy is a sham.
Well it’s not a democracy then is it? It’s a dictatorship in order to protect those at the top. Don’t speak the truth about problems because they could be used politically against various politicians just shows what a total sham the us against them system is… And the result in this case is lost lives. Don’t expect the government to identify and fix the problem though. What a bunch of culpable idiots!
Minister keeps a lid on boot camp failure figures
Which is a load of bollocks because offenders are identified in court anyway unless they’re under-age in which case their identities are rightly protected but in that case naming the offences won’t identify the perpetrators.
Sunday (melancholy and the infinite sadness)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USR3bX_PtU4
Caption time???
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/royals-remember-new-zealand-s-fallen-5208854
What on earth are Joky Hen and the chap behind him so interested in while HRH and his wife seem to be unfazed by?
Have they both squeezed one out and trying to look innocent?
Naomi Kline tells it like it is.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/11/06-1
A combination of Free Trade Zones and Free Fire Zones would be the ultimate American dream!
Christchurch should also be a place for road testing new forms of democracy like neighborhood assemblies, to decide how hard hit communities should be rebuilt.
Unfortunately the disaster capitalists are in the saddle in Christchurch and are determined to use the crisis as end run on democracy in the region. The exact opposite of what should be done. You can guarantee that rather than rather than pay a living wage to the workers actually doing the rebuild. the big contractors will be using the disaster as an excuse break down wages and conditions to line their own pockets. These same big contractors, favorites of the National Party, will be awarded huge pork barrel contracts from the taxpayer account, which will all be hidden from public scrutiny and democratic oversight by Brownly and others on the grounds of “commercial sensitivity”. With the huge fortunes that are going to be made in Christchurch by the disaster capitalists with the compliance of their anti-democratic political supporters in National, the Christchurch Earthquake was not bad news just different kind of good news.
We have already seen the scandalous waste of taxpayers money that results when a favourite of the Government was paid an undisclosed amount to provide camper vans for temporary accommodation that was never used by those who needed it because the rentals were way too expensive.
I forgot to mention the disaster capitalists opportunistic use of the Christchurch earthquake disaster to attack social provision in the region, starting it seems with the schools and the school children and families they serve. Whoo hoo, if we can keep this up, a chance of more tax cuts for the rich folk.
Anyone remember the Libertarian movement?
We need too shred those beliefs …… moronic anarchy.
Now these should put to rest all the BS about the left being big spenders of other peoples money:
http://www.johnpemberton.co.nz/html/government_debt.html
http://www.johnpemberton.co.nz/html/new_zealand_government_debt_eom.html
The facts are in, it’s the right that are the big spenders of other peoples money.
WONDERS WILL NEVER CEASE!
AM ABLE TO POST AGAIN ON CAMERON SLATER’S ‘WHALEOIL’ BLOG! 🙂
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2012/11/serial-troublemaker-alleged-blackmailer-graham-mcready-is-at-it-again/
“Do you, Cameron Slater, agree that both John Banks and Don Brash should have both been charged as former fellow Directors of Huljich Wealth Management (NZ) Ltd, for signing Huljich Kiwisaver Scheme registered prospectuses dated 22 August 2008 and 18 September 2009 which contained untrue statments – a STRICT LIABILITY offence under s.58(3) of the Securities Act?
Yes or no?
Kind regards,
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption campaigner’
http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com”
______________________________________________________________________________
PS: If anyone has contact details for Graham McCready – I’m rather keen to have a chat about his private prosecution of John Banks over allegations that he filed a false electoral return for his 2012 Auckland mayoral campaign.
This government’s Track Record:
The wages of the top 1% have gone up pretty good, so Key and English have delivered.
Well, they delivered to their actual base. They just haven’t delivered anything that they promised to anyone else.
Brian Edwards excuses for cronyism
Perhaps it was the pervasive right wing stench of Duncan Garner that was clouding his thoughts, or perhaps he is truly that deluded…
very lolworthy, tv3 just called john keys wife ‘the first lady’, jeez, little america. (i know, i shouldnt watch that crap but im always curious to what they show & dont show (for e.g. no mention of the novapay scandal))
TV3 always are Little America! For years when we lived in Mt Eden/Albert, we couldn’t get TV1, so I got used to 3 News, and apathy means I don’t change, and so I am familiar with their quirks. Good thing I don’t rely on only them for news!
They have never referred to Bush or Obama as ‘the American President’ but just ‘the president’… also, there are other little things they do. Like Leighton Smith, they report what Steve Wright on the BBC WS used to call ‘bizarre news stories’ from the USA, as if they are local, very misleadingly sometimes.
And it looks like this government’s anti-democratic ways are now starting to get official notice:
Now, I wonder if the government can be taken to court over those breach of rights.