New Zealand’s tenure as protector of Samoa is something of deep shame to me as a Kiwi and I am astounded at the good will shown by Samoans in being able to forgive NZ for the atrocities committed.
But talking about bloody goldfish. What was Te Radar thinking?
The Crown’s tenure as protector of Aotearoa is something of deep shame to me as a White Kiwi and I am astounded at the good will shown by Moari in being able to forgive us for the atrocities committed.
Watching Te Radar is somewhat disturbing for me: under the banner of humour what is really a squalid RWNJ has been allowed lose at our expense. He comes across to me as a rather heartless little bigot, the supposedly humorous result of bringing children up in an ethos that ignores anything other than the immediate that you cannot profit by. Hence his ignoring history in favour of making fun with goldfish as a prop.
Oh and no chips around the place unless they’re sold as traditional ‘fish and chips’ because McDonalds doesn’t like it. And Olympic head Jacques Rogge having to backtrack on obesity comments because coca cola doesn’t like it.
Welcome to the corporate games, showcasing the efficiency of the private sector, with the taxpayer picking up the tab for whatever is required. Makes me wonder how much the Athens Olympics had to do with Greece’s runaway debt.
Yes, rosy, I have been remembering how the Athens Olympics was touted as being beneficial to Greece’s economy: Ditto for the UK. Yet the UK is still struggling to get things ready for the games:
London’s aging infrastructure kept offering up unpleasant surprises as the main road near Heathrow Airport remained closed following emergency repairs. The British mobile phone company O2, meanwhile, acknowledged that thousands of customers had been affected by outages on its network a bad omen ahead of the first iPhone games.
Meanwhile Canadian TV bids to get coverage for the Russian 2014 Winter Olympics and 2016 Brazil summer Olympics has run into a roadblock. It seems the Canadian channels are unwilling to pay as much money as the IOC wants.
Security will be tight with airport-style restrictions on liquids greater than 100ml and no more than one soft-sided bag is allowed and must fit under the spectator’s seat.
[…]
Organisers will be looking out for ‘any objects or clothing bearing political statements or overt commercial identification intended for “ambush marketing”’ to avoid scenarios like the 2010 football World Cup when Bavaria Beer filled a section of seats with a bevy of Dutch girls wearing orange.
They’ll be no picnics or eating too much food brought from home with ‘excessive amounts of food’ and alcohol on the no-go list.
Organisers figure that the more than 14 million meals to be served across 40 locations during the Games will suffice.
Spectators won’t be able to shelter from London’s unpredictable weather with no ‘large golf-style umbrellas’ or ‘oversized hats’
[…]
They’ll be no chance to make a racquet or cheer too loudly with ‘noisemakers such as hunting horns, air horns, klaxons, drums, vuvuzelas and whistles’ off limits.
Ticketholders went to Twitter to express their surprise at the long list of restrictions.
One said: ‘Coming to the 2012Olympics? No frisbees or picnic hampers. It’s gonna rain and Heathrow sucks.’
Not just subsidised, but controlled using all the powers of the State – police, military and judicial among others – for those advertisers, not for citizens.
Someone before mentioned it is the embedded link – I assume this time it’s “missiles on top of residential high rises”, which is blue and contains a link to the Guardian article.
Ah, so it appears that when I quote someone I should take out her link? It was QoT who accused me of link-whoring that you’re thinking of, which is still laughable, as I do put links – when I am quoting someone who put a link!
No matter what s/he thinks, I almost never out my own links… 😀
(I quote people because for the life of me I can’t figure out the number system that people refer to – because I can’t even see those numbers!)
I quote people by copying and pasting the quoted words and hand-typing the quote/italic codes. It turns out like this without the link in the original link. I don’t think such links are necessary anyway, because the quote refers back to who said it & their link up thread for anyone who wants it. Like so….
So the Olympics – missiles on top of residential high rises with residents having no grounds to object, security officers not trained and soldiers coming back from Afganistan to fill the gaps at the same time as facing redundancy.
I didn’t “accuse you of link-whoring”, Vicky. I just noted that you have always, to my knowledge, complained about being spam-filtered after embedding links, which are a pretty classic “warning sign” to filters. Another clear pattern is that you’re embedding links within quotes on all those occasions, which might add to the filter’s decision to moderate you.
Certainly you’re probably just copying-and-pasting in other people’s previous comments which you’re responding to, but the filter has no way of knowing that. And also is totally OUT TO CENSOR YOU!!!!!
In future, I invite you to actually use links when accusing me of harassment. I’m sure everyone would find it highly illuminating to compare what I’ve actually said with your version of reality. Like this.
Not always. I initially noticed that I got caught whenever I put in a link but since then I’ve put in links that didn’t cause to be trapped. I’ve also been caught in the trap without any links.
It’s something to do with the new system but I couldn’t say what yet.
Michael Woodhouse offered influence on his vote and Andrew White has responded with his opinion and suggestions on the Alcohol Reform Bill:
I am under 20 years of age and I would like to express my staunch disapproval of any attempt to increase the alcohol purchase age. I also oppose a split of the alcohol purchase age. I disagree with many other parts of the Alcohol Reform Bill too. I urge you to vote “no” to any alcohol purchase age increase.
The status quo of being 18 years old to purchase alcohol from bars and liquor stores should be retained. I have no disagreement with tackling the issue of alcohol abuse; that is a valid and important aim. However what the Alcohol Reform Bill would do would be a knee jerk reaction and excessive.
Petey boy,The only Jerk is you .You need Parental Guidance.
Latest research shows their has been a marked increase in foetal alcohol syndrome since alcohol laws have been laxed.
Under age drinking and the damage its doing is a direct result of 1999 reforms.
$ 6 billion a year problem and your at your Pathetic Grovaling best.
NZ,s second most dangerous drug and you are making excuses for your corrupt coalition
taking bribes from the booze pushers.
I’m not making excuses for anything, if you calmed down enough from troll duty to actually see what was posted you would see that it wasn’t me saying anything.
Why don’t you try and influence Michael Woodhouse’s vote yourself? He said he’s open to persuasion. I suggest you don’t try the abuse approach though, that rarely succeeds at anything.
I agree with the sentiment expressed by Andrew White.
The new laws are punitive, hypocritical, discriminatory, potentially racist and open to abuse and police profiling of young people.
The youth abuse of alcohol is directly linked to increased availability and cheapness of the sugary coloured mixed spirits drinks, like Codys, KGB and Woodstock.
When these drinks were heavily taxed in Australia, youth drinking dropped dramatically and Independent liquor which manufactures these products had to close their Australian bottling plant.
None of that is being addressed here. In fact IL who market campaigns are directed to children are protected and defended. While young people are being targeted with punitive laws when they respond to IL and their competitors marketing campaigns and obscenely cheap products.
The effect of raising the age, risks seeing a whole generation of young people earning criminal convictions which stays on their record for life. While we protect the real criminals.
No doubt as usual, it will be the Island and Maori youth of South Auckland and Porrirua who will be picked out by the police to appear in court on such charges. Initiating a relentless downward cycle for many.
Wow, crappy pay the Ministry of Justice. I had to re read this as I thought $33.5K WAS the part time rate but in fact it goes on to say this rate will be pro rata for part timers
CSR pay has been dropping a lot. When I was a CSR a few years ago I had an income close $50k. Now you’ll be lucky to find such a job that pays $40k. It’s the decreasing wages that is part and parcel of the capitalist dynamic.
“We also think infrastructure assets with monopoly characteristics are especially important to the functioning of the wider economy.
Labour published a closed list of assets that we believe ought to be run in the New Zealand interest because they have monopoly characteristics – assets such as electricity line networks, water and airports.
The list excludes telecommunications and electricity generation” (David Parker)
Surely electricity generation should be classed as an infrastructure asset with monopoly characteristics. (more so than an airport to my mind.)
Or is this a roundabout way of saying we won’t buy them back once sold without actually coming out and saying it?
And this is the point that Chris Trotter made yesterday:
All those hundreds of Labour and Green volunteers standing in the cold getting signatures for a petition,and Labour won’t even say electricity generation is a monopoly worth protecting.
Chris Trotter has made some more points today. He starts:
Labour seeks middle ground on policies
‘We can’t afford the luxury of uncompromising dogma.” The Green Party should write that down. It’s a direct quote from Labour’s deputy leader and environment spokesman, Grant Robertson.
He was speaking alongside – and keeping an eye on, a cynic might suggest – David Cunliffe at a Labour and the Environment forum at the Titirangi Public Library on Saturday, June 23.
And closes:
An alternative government committed to the notion that “business as usual simply cannot continue” would instantly attract the enmity of every entrenched industrial, commercial and financial interest in the land.
It’s leaders would be pilloried, denounced and demonised, and, honestly, Robertson has never struck me as a politician who would voluntarily risk any of those experiences.
That’s the message he’s conveying to his rival for the Labour leadership and, more importantly, it’s what he’s saying to the Greens’ co-leaders, Russel Norman and Metiria Turei.
It’s a simple and brutal warning: there’s a Cabinet seat for you in the next Labour-led Government, but only if you’re willing to leave your radical ideas (“uncompromising dogma”) at the door, only if you accept that it will be business as close to usual as Labour can make it.
If Grant Robertson or anyone else currently in the Labour caucus thinks they can cower those in politics who have an ideological spine, they will have this site, and Bowalley Road, and Dimpost, and Ideologically impure, and Bomber, and indeed most of the activist base to contend with. That’s pretty much most of the progressive activists in New Zealand.
The activist base owns these sites, and they are the main political commons of New Zealand now. Increasingly Labour’s old political MP guard will buy a head-on fight with the activist base.
Just in case they learn’t nothing from the 1980s, that will consign them to more party splits, and staying out of power for a few more terms yet.
Labour’s a dead duck. Just look at the last 3 months, scandal, after incompetent scandal, and where’s shearer or any labour politician?????? No where. Just Missing in Action, AWOL no matter how you put it they arergiving a real good impersonation of a party with no ideas, and no trustworthy members. Just a bunch of bad jokes for Shonky to laugh at.
Parker’s speech rang alarm bells for me, on at least two counts: firstly, the exclusion of electricity generation from those things that should be run ‘in the NZ interest.’ Secondly the term “in NZ interests” rather than public ownership. Chris Trotter has written about his speech as well.
It is tragic comedy of the most putrid taste. The sooner Labour open up leadership to a vote for the party membership the better. Shearer and Parker might as well join National. Clowns.
If you want to have your say about how Labour chooses its next leader, you should write or call the members of Labour’s New Zealand Council in the next 24 hours, because on Sunday they will make the call on exactly how much say your voice will have.
Otherwise it’s back to Trevor Mallard and whomever he wants, which is what we have now.
Aye. I read Parker’s speech and I could not figure out if it was coming from a Labour politician or a National politician.
Give me Cunliffe any day. At least the guy is willing to talk about a Tobin tax to start decreasing inequalities and he realises that the world’s carrying capacity is limited.
Is the service needed by everybody? Then it’s a monopoly.
Labour are working on the failed idea that having two or more suppliers is competition but having so few suppliers is an oligopoly which is just as bad as a private monopoly as the LIBOR scandal has just proved.
Re AUTHORITY
regretably, imo, everything i have learned about the human animal suggests the inevitability of authoritarian structures to comfort the majority.
Dominance is an essential human motive (that is, motives reduce discomforting arousal) just like the overarching motive of Security.
Interestingly, blogging has the potential for expression of other essential human motives too,
for example,
Curiosity Achievement Affiliation Autonomy Nurturance Exhibition Order Play
So remember, the three treasures COMPASSION MODERATION HUMILITY.
I drop these all the time but i remember where they are and i pick them up again.
ARE THERE MANY TINORANGITIRATANGA OR influential representative GREENS that visit this site?
Re AUTHORITY
regretably, imo, everything i have learned about the human animal suggests the inevitability of authoritarian structures to comfort the majority.
Sam Hall
Not always Sam
Ordinary men and women will sometimes go to extraordinary lengths to defy “AUTHORITY” sacrificing their comfort and security at risk to their very lives.
Confucious was talking about leaders who were serving the comple needs of the country. At a time that 90% of the Chinese population were peasants with no formal education.
“The quick pace of change in much of the region is under-appreciated. There’s warming in the Western Antarctic, changing species distributions, and a quickening in the rate of ice-loss, among other clear signs,”
Professor Steven Chown Monash University Antarctic Science team leader.
Will the Green Party take action against the ETS which is preventing parliament from being forced to take action on GHGs? Or will the Greens hold their tongues hoping to get more bums on seats in parliament by not being seen to be “to radical”?
There is an interesting dichotomy of thinking going on here….given that the financial justification argument is used by those for and against new road construction there must be a tacit acceptance that new road construction is to be debated on the parameter of cost justification.
Very few of those involved in the debate seem to be convinced that new road construction is entirely unnecessary and that cost does not come into it. Listening to most Labour speeches we constantly hear the refrains of “progress”, “development”, “expansion” and “growth”. From the Right these are all that their event horizon has in view. So we all back blindly at full speed toward the abyss we all know is really there.
To retain some positive sanity I have decided to take the a viewpoint that the roading projects are actually necessary infrastructural development for massed bicycle transit, using today’s resources to provision capital works today for tomorrows fuel starved future. Long live the Key Memorial Cycleway, delivered in another guise by the Law of Paradox.
In this morning’s NZ Herald…..”Prime Minister John Key has confirmed the Government is considering listing Mighty River Power on the Australian Stock Exchange, but denies it will result in more overseas shareholders. Mr Key said no decision had yet been made on whether to list Mighty River Power on the Australian Stock Exchange as well as the New Zealand Stock Exchange when the Government puts up to 49 per cent of the company up for sale this year……”
With so many New Zealanders living there now, and so much of our business there, as well as our business ownership, it’s not really surprising to find New Zealand acting more and more like a state of Australia than its own sovereign state anymore.
Auckland is well on track to have 40% of the population and 40% of the economy (beyond its current third), dominating New Zealand’s commercial and social life (and increasingly its political life) just like Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth do to their respective states.
So the Stock Exchange takeover will be felt more with a whimper, in fact more just a part of our becoming another Australian state in all but constitution.
The CEO of the NZX is begging Bill English not to float the shares in Australia, guess he feels it’s his entitlement to have a major snout in the plunder trough.
Hey now, smokeskreen, thanks to NACT’s complete failure to close the gap with Aussie and stop driving Kiwis there in search of decent jobs and pay, there could be plenty of Kiwi Mums and Dads to buy Mighty River Power shares over the ditch.
Has anyone picked up the conflict Whale Oil has re the V8’s. He keeps going on about them and Len’s support for Pukekohe and that Hampton Downs is the track it should have gone to. Hampton Downs had advertising banners on WO site. Obvious he’s on someone’s payroll. Not into V8’s but if my rates money is being spent on it, better it is in our region and not Waikato.
Man! I visited Mr Slater for the first proper time today and he seems quite touchy, maybe parochial in his views. I thought what a waste. Mans gotta learn to harness his emotions better.
And heaps of anger on that site.
If we want to deal with the problems of youth binge drinking, out of wedlock teen pregnancy, STD’s and so forth then a few simple solutions could work wonders.
1. Dismantle the welfare state.
2. End all forms of state education, or state subsidy for education.
3. Ban the Family Planning organization from New Zealand.
4. Criminalize abortion.
5. Ban contraception for unmarried persons.
6. Raise the legal drinking age to 21
7. Restore compulsory national service for all able bodied 18-21 year olds.
What will probably come up in follow up comments:
8. Compulsory fundamental Christian indoctrination.
9. A ban on the words ‘Darwin’ and ‘evolution’.
10. A ban on all climate science.
These people are fundamentalists who’s ideal society is a fasc1st theocracy. And that’s not an exaggeration, that’s an accurate sober interpretation of their own statements.
Such views are so offensive that any reasonable person with any understanding of history ought to reject them out of hand as the insane ramblings of violent lunatics.
And yet here’s you, quoting them as if they were on the spectrum of views that deserved consideration as any part of a serious discussion about civil society because doing so might make your own views appear more reasonable by comparison.
That’s a disgrace, Pete George, and a pathetically transparent disgrace at that. Go sit in the corner and think about what you’ve done.
That’s a disgrace felix, you’ve conclusion jumped again, this time right into the mud. Hard to believe that’s not deliberately way way over the top (like Lee), so I guess you’re trying to joke.
I responded to that post: There’s about 0% chance of any of those things happening. Which is just as well. The logistics of doing it would be just about impossible and the outcomes would be not what you would like to see.
I didn’t respond any stronger because there’s no point. I’ve had a number of futile ‘debates’ with Lee, he’s as bad as the worst here, zero chance of him changing his views. He is regarded as an extreme nutter on Kiwiblog by 99%. Even you would be more accepted there.
There’s about 0% chance of any of those things happening. Which is just as well.
I think we all need to stop and appreciate the glory of this comment. Hey now, PG is totes anti all these things … but still had to get in his Superior Political Knowledge 2c about their likelihood first.
I like that part how even felix would be more accepted, there, by the 99% who are all quite reasonable chaps and are not right wing conservatives. Why, they’d find barking radical felix more acceptable than right wing conservatism.
The kiwi blog right, or 99% of it at least, isn’t really right at all.
You can’t help making things up, can you. Do you really have to have things explained? No, you don’t, but I’ll explain for others who might think something of your nonsense.
Lee is a very conservative fundamental Christian rightie and few if any at KB agree with his usual views, like those I’ve given as an example here.
The only one as extreme as Lee is the now rare appearences of Redbaiter. Felix is correct on one thing (not much else) – their ideal society is a fasc1st theocracy
The rest on KB range across the spectrum. There’s a few vocal ones to the right of Act, quite a few centre to rightish, and a few around centre and to the left, and a few regular lefties, who, if they stand firm usually get given a reasonable hearing most of the time. The only leftie who continually gets a hard time is Philu, but KB is one of the few blogs he’s not banned from (at the moment).
If felix – or you – commented there and played it straight and strong without trying to be clever and dishonest like you are here at times you would get a reasonable go from most at KB.
I know from experience, when I started at KB I was labeled a leftie and attacked a lot, but that subsided after a few months. It’s not as bad there now as it was then, in part due to a few centre/lefties standing their ground and playing it straight.
There’s still shit flying at times, but it’s easier to have reasonable discussions than here. I still have some ding dongs, but can then agree with the same person in the next argument. Here it seems to be once an ‘enemy’, always an enemy, no matter what you say.
pete – how about the truth? Why are you going on about that other blog and linking all the time – have you had a vision that you will bring the two opposed sides together in shared middleness. I hope it isn’t some sort of continuation of OccupyPete – you know how that worked out. I sense some plan in there somewhere – you know you might get more supporters for that plan if you were upfront rather than sneaky.
It’s not just about two blogs. I also comment on some other blogs and forums, I use Facebook and Twitter, I have my own two blogs, I use email a lot, I use the phone and I talk to people face to face. I’ve been learning stuff. learning about integrated multimedia. Learning about parties, learning how activists operate, developing a thick skin. Every different option has it’s strengths and things to learn.
I’ve been working on a strategy for three years now, I’m always looking for opportunities to try and fast track things. It will take another 3 years probably to know really if I’m going to achieve what I wanted to. I’ve got a couple of important meetings coming up that will give me a good idea of progress.
I think I’m more upfront about who I am and what I do than most people on blogs – I do politics differently and I’m not put off by the same old crap, repeated and repeated. I know that frustrates those trying to score some sort of victories but I don’t care about that, it’s their problem, not mine. The abusers reflect far more on themselves than their targets anyway, most people can see through their bullshit.
I think this blog’s got a lot of potential, but it wastes a lot of that by too much negativity. If 80% attack (most of it futile) was converted into 80% doing something positive and useful it would be a lot more successful. In my opinion.
Obviously all the experience you are gaining and planning is for something and I would assume it involves people – do you consider the comments that you get and how you could maybe improve your chances of getting people behind whatever you are up to, by taking on board the often positive and honestly given feedback? or do you feel that you already do that – and i hope you don’t think that because I haven’t seen any evidence of that and I remember when you first turned up. I remember you saying you were here to listen and learn – when did that change pete or is it still your goal.
When people get frustrated they insult – do you ever really consider why they are getting frustrated? – the thing is pete you could actually use the expertise and knowledge of commenters on this site to achieve your goals but you may have to shed some ego or something. Who knows – we all have our stuff.
I think quite a few here are frustated by a lot more than me, I’m just an available target to take it out on. If it wasn’t me it would be someone else. They’re useful to me but aren’t my target, I pick up my support quietly – not many are going to risk getting openly clobbered alongside me here, are they.
I do learn from and use the expertise and knowledge of commenters here, there is some good amongst the negative nonces. But activists here are not interested in learning from some naive inexperienced person like me who hasn’t done all the hard yards they’ve done.
Until one day they wake up to what’s going on in the wider population – who are sick of the old politicking, they want to be listened to and taken notice of. Things are happening outside the bubble, I’m just a small part of what’s going on. It’s a matter of tying it together and harnessing it. Just by being observant (this time in the local newspaper) I’ve made what could be a major breakthrough just today, nowhere near the blogs.
I’m targeting three main things (on one level, more on another level) – I’ve been active on one, others have independently been active on the other two. It’s happening and the time is right, it just needs these things to come together.
A number of times I’ve said here I’m happy to share what I’m doing with anyone who’s interested, the more that get on board the better.
I acknowledge I simply get dragged into the fray here a bit, it’s not strictly part of the plan but it’s a good learning experience in some ways – learning off my own mistakes and off others. I’m fallible – that’s one thing we have to learn to accept without major dramas, even the best politicians are fallible, but if there was a resignation for every mistake there would be only one left.
And hey, despite what some try to paint me as, I can and do work with people from any party. Part of the plan is to be able to express your own views and have your own affiliations while working with others with different connections – and often different ways they want to do things. The main aim is a neutral structure we can all work within, together more than at each other’s throats. And we all need to understand and accept that none of us can have it all our own way. Compromise and cooperation are essential parts of doing democracy better.
For me I’d much rather debate the issues than spend time correcting what you assert and i’d say most are the same – certainly that is what i’ve seen since you started posting.
And you must admit you deliberately stir it up and make pretty wild statements sometimes – that makes me think you are not really serious and don’t really care or believe what you write and then i wonder if it just a laugh for you. I can assure you it is not a joke to me. I, like many, make sacrifices to get online and participate in debate and I do it, like most, because i am passionate and care about the issues – it’s not a game, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun 🙂
I acknowledge I simply get dragged into the fray here a bit, it’s not strictly part of the plan
Pete, your plan is based on negativity – it’s not a winner.
I acknowledge I’m sometimes negative and sometimes stir. But I’m nowhere near as negative as much of what goes on here, apart from being the target of negative frustration.
I’ve quite often tried positive approaches here. Most often it’s not me that turns them negative. But I will stand up for myself against it – and then get the blame for being disruptive. Nine times out of ten I don’t start it.
For fucks sake, even if people disagree with something I post, if it was that easy to argue against why don’t they do that instead of launch into attacks? Sometimes I am argued against and sometimes I’m wrong. But most of the time it’s just shit being thrown. Repeatedly and deliberately. And it pisses them off when I don’t hissy fit or bugger off like others do.
Often far more is attributed to me than what I say or what I intend. Look at felix’s and PB’s responses to this thread. Intelligent people being clever? Stupid? I still don’t know what they expect to achieve, but you’d think they’d have woken up to the fact that repeating the same games is not getting them anywhere. I play here (and look for opportinities, which come up from time to time) and keep doing most of what I want to do elsewhere. While they achieve what? Do they really keep getting thrills from fomenting the PG diss club?
Does anyone else here actually have any goals? Or is everyone just kicking shit out of anything that passes through until, they hope between despairs, the next election falls into their laps by default?
I still don’t know what they expect to achieve, but you’d think they’d have woken up to the fact that repeating the same games is not getting them anywhere.
Oh Jesus, there goes my irony meter! And it was just out of warranty!
learn about issues and events from people who are clear, specific and provide links for their sources;
challenge those statements that should not remain unchallenged and thereby acceptable, e.g. rape minimisation;
where I can add some knowledge to a debate, add it; and
have fun and keep awake while waiting for other things not internet-connected to complete.
And the negative responses you get are possibly due to the fact that discussing anything with you is curiously similar to punching a bowl of jelly – it all displaces around one’s fist and the next thing you know it’s splashed and left a mess everywhere.
Pete it may surprise you to know, as QoT has wittily (prob not a real word) pointed out, that your complaints against others are what others complain about you. The difference is we are many, with widely different views and persuasions – surely that must sink in a little. You are complaining about that which you actively seek.
and that’s okay i’m not judging anyone, just, as I say, I would rather spend my time debating than correcting your deliberate provocations.
“the fact that discussing anything with you is curiously similar to punching a bowl of jelly – it all displaces around one’s fist and the next thing you know it’s splashed and left a mess everywhere.”
The best description. To add to that – when it’s all conclusively splashed out and left a mess everywhere, it then mysteriously disappears.
PG you’re a useful idiot like Obama. People like John Key do not operate in good faith and they will screw you every time. That’s why politics has to be rough and tumble, and expose the sordid nature of the current government.
I’ve seen good faith work much better than shitting on everything. Sure, politics can have some rough and tumble, but that’s no excuse for being perpetually destructive arseholes.
This is the 21st century. Politics can work better, but only if we look at how to do it better. Last party standing is a pretty stupid aim. Far too much resource goes into futile negatives. Many in the fray don’t see it and make excuses for more stupidity. But people on the outside have had a gutsful of it.
I stood in the last election for a purpose. I get dissed for the small number of votes I got but I don’t care about that, those who criticise me got no votes at all. I tried a few experiments (as well as built contacts). By far the best responses I got were when I talked about less crap in politics, and listening to the people more and better.
The anti asset sales campaign, Save TVNZ 7, all that stuff is part of a bigger mood. Labour think they are winning with their campaigns, but they aren’t achieving anything tangible. And are unlikely to. Unless they step back and recognise the bigger picture. The old ways are history.
We are moving into an age of people power democracy – as long as we have the will and make sure build a sound neutral system. We don’t need to change much – except recognise we can do it if we want to, we can make sure politicians know what we want rather than sit back and expect them to do it all but also expect them to do it poorly.
Height of comedy: when a person whose commenting history on this blog consists of:
– weasel words in abundance
– never clearly stating his own opinion
– consistently finding excuses for his Glorious Leader and why we shouldn’t take Peter Dunne’s words at face value
– trying to draw attention to his own blog without being upfront about his purpose
… includes himself in the group of people who are going to Save Politics From This Horrible Meanness And Spite.
Pete, if you’re going to accuse me of making things up, please quote and say what you think I’ve got wrong.
You said “even felix”. That puts felix as some sort of extremist on a par with what goes on at kb. Or maybe not. But what else could you mean?
You constantly complain about how nasty people here are, and yet you have little digs in nearly every comment you make. You don’t make those digs over at kb. Your commenting style here is oppositional in ways that it is not at kb. You come here looking for fights, and go to kb and report the fights you have here. No wonder you don’t get as much shit.
And the rest of what I said also stands. kb is right wing conservative. Read that thread on saudi. Or the one from a while back on Breivik. There were a few people saying flat out that that mass killing in Norway was justifiable, and might happen here. It’s not just lee and RB. There’s Thor for one, and there are others just as extreme, and many more not far off. There are a number who would happily sign up to many of the points on that list.
What is the general position on feminism over there?
Or religious freedom?
And i’m not saying they all believ the same thing, or that their aren’t debates. But look at what you can comforatbly say there and know you will get support.
The reason those extremists comment there is because they are accepted there. They are comfortable there. Why? because people are nice to them. They can say things that identify them as proto-fasc1sts, and after a few testy words, turn around and have nice chats with people about something they agree on, like the Treaty, or welfare bludgers, or cultural marxism, or how everyone at the standard is a big old poopy pants and mean and we don’t even look at the standard anymore because blah blah they’re so extreme.
This started when you said that extremist’s comment (which you now call fasc1sm) was real right wing conservatism.
That makes the 99% of kb what? center right? That would be why Key is considered a ‘quisling’?
the average kb commenter, or thereabouts, is a real right wing conservative.
Take your blinkers off and have a close read of the place. Look who is comfortable there. Look at the racism people feel comfortable spouting for goodness sake.
You say that people here have you labelled as an enemy, and that we never change our minds.
Have a look at how you actually respond to questions. You do not come across as someone playing with a straight bat here.
If you never meant to say that the 99% of kb commenters aren’t right wing conservatives, then it’s not the reader’s fault for interpreting your words that way.
This sort of thing happens with your comments a lot. You say something that seems to imply something, and then call people dishonest when they take the implication. And then you gte on your high horse about poeple making things up, but never get around to explaiing what it is you initially meant.
Youn obviously have no idea of most of what I have done at KB over the years. I’ve scaled back what I say there, the topics you mention have been done that many times there – with the same old players, that there’s no point in being involved. So I mostly only dabble there now.
Have a look in General Debate tomorrow. There is likely to be a debate on climate change in the morning. And later, soon after the topic of marriage equality comes up, (unless it has already started prior to that) give it an hour based on averages, there will be several people who will repeat the same things with the same sort of quotes and links that they always do. Some will argue against them, most won’t bother, again. I could name now the most likely participants in both those debates. Same as three years ago when I first started there. I had major debates on both then, now I just keep out of it most of the time. I steer clear of some debates here too, futile exercise.
I do sometimes speak up against the crap there – I did that last weekend and some expressed their displeasure at me, they like it to be a free for all and don’t like me being a do-gooder. But it does make a difference. If someone doesn’t speak up against it then it just deteriorates over time. But I’m not a full time baby sitter.
I’m finished for the day, I’ll have a go at your other queries tomorrow, depending on time.
if you’re going to accuse me of making things up, please quote and say what you think I’ve got wrong.
From your first response:
the 99% who are all quite reasonable chaps and are not right wing conservatives.
I didn’t claim that, and I haven’t seen anyone else claim that. Did you make it up?
Why, they’d find barking radical felix more acceptable than right wing conservatism.
Did you make up the description of felix? I said to felix “Even you would be more accepted there”, meaning a leftie who can at times argue and even sometimes concede points would be more accepted than an extreme Christian conservative would be more accepted there. For example RRM, mikenmild, alex (a Green who also comments here) are accepted more than Lee is.
The kiwi blog right, or 99% of it at least, isn’t really right at all.
Did you make that up? The only people I can think of who claim that are Lee01 and Redbaiter.
It’s the sensible centre ackshully.
Did you make that up? I haven’t seen anyone claim that.
Pete those statements are things reasonably that follow from your statement that lee is a RWC.
If your statement was true, and if lee is far to the right and far more conservative thann others at kb, then it follows that others at kb are not right wing conservatives.
This is exactly what i mean when I said that you say something loaded with implications, and then call us dishonesty for stating the implications of what you said.
I didn’t make them up, they are the implications of what you said.
If you don’t want to be misconstrued, be more careful about what you write.
To be clear, do you think Lee is what a right wing conservative looks like, or do you think he is quite a bit more extreme than that?
I didn’t make them up, they are the implications of what you said.
Take a look at that statement. They are not “the implications”, they your claimed implications, which are so obviously off the mark as to be ridiculous. Presumably you’re not totally ignorant of what KB is actually like, so it’s hard to see it as anything other than making things up.
Maybe you could prove me wrong by substantiating your ‘implications’.
As a proven liar yourself, Pete, you are in no position to be questioning the bona fides of others. PB is right; he’s accurately deconstructed your rant and your response is more pathetic whining. The only reason you won’t restrict yourself to posting over at KB is that you are seen as a joke there too.
You’re the liar, you’ve proven nothing except your own obsession with dishonest stalking. What have you achieved in a year? Nothing but self discrediting. As you have amply shown here. Te Reo Puthetic. Why don’t you put your time and efforts towards something useful? Like openly supporting your leader? No, you’ll probably carry on discrediting Labour. Like here.
1) lee is a right wing conservative
2) lee is not accepted by 99% of kb commenters on account of his radicalism.
Let’s accept those statements as being true
now heI’ll just introduce another premiss, that I don’t think is controversial. ie I think it is true, therfore we can’t exclude the truth right?
3) Right wing conservatism is within the bounds of reasonable politics in nz. We have mps that would self describe as RW and Conservative. The governing national party is regularly described as having a right wing conservtive faction
Those are the premises. 1, and 2, are what you have said, and 3 is a description of how RWC is used as a term in NZ.
From those 3 premises, we can legitimatly draw some conclusions.These are called implications. Drawing implications from premisses what logic is.
So here we go, conclusions, and the premisses that imply them:
4) Right wing conservatism is considered extreme and not acceptable by 99% of the kb commentariat. (1,2)
5) the kb commentariat is centrist in terms of NZ politics because they find right wing conservatism to be extremist (3,4)
All that flows quite naturally from your defining of Lee as what RW Conservatism looks like. Conservatism isn’t an extremist philisophy pete. Lee is an extremist, he is radical. What is the opposite of radical? That’s right, conservative.
Your positioning of Lee as a RWC defines him as having a place on the spectrum. You put him at a point, that means we can work out where other poeple are on the spectrum, incuding the kb crowd who disagree with him, (but not so much that they won’t joke around with him about lefties and the like).
The point is that I disagree with you that Lee is a RWC, because if he was, then it it would make kb a centrists sort of place, which it clearly is not.
That is unacceptable pete – I am angry that you have mangled and insulted the language. Please apologise immediately – you don’t need to abuse Māori to make your points or rather if you, you confirm vile, racist, scum attitudes and the consequences of that will not be pleasant for you i promise.
PB used to comment there a lot when I started looking around the local blogs, as did many others here. But from the last few times I have looked over there, it looks like the most of the regulars from 2007/8 have disappeared (which was when I read there every day). I am unsurprised as it got very tedious after the 2008 election campaign..
You can’t even withdraw and apologise when your racism is pointed out. You are twisted and a racist with no integrity or honesty and don’t worry i won’t forget your whinging, pathetic, intoxicated bleatings from last night.
In that case Pete perhaps it’s time to be the bigger person, rise above these petty squabbles, and return to the relatively civil discussion you were having with P’s b.
felix, if you review your reaction to my original comment on this thread, do you still stand by that as stated?
PB’s reply reminds me of some of my responses – a bit waffly when trying to justify himself.
He had made things up by reading all sorts of things from my comment that simply weren’t there and are nonsense. I really don’t think there’s much more that can be debated on it.
I’ve already pointed out the flaws, I think you both overreacted somewhat, and we obviously still disagree. I don’t see what else there is to say. I thought it was a trivial post in the first place so I’m bemused it has created so much attention.
Time to move on – I have other things to do this morning anyway, in the real world.
Pete, I’ve explained it a number of times, and each time you claim not to understand. That’s why in the latest attempt I waffled. And I apologise for the typos.
So I won’t waffle, but ask a simple question.
If Lee is what a conservative right winger looks like, what does that make the others? If Lee is what a CRW is, and the others are not as extreme as him, then what are they?
I was not arguing that the 99% are centrists. I agree with you that that is nonsense.
But it is a nonsense that follows directly from the claim that Lee is what a RWC looks like. That’s a claim that I think is nonsense. And lo and behold, nonsense directly implies other nonsense.
I’ve explained that at least three times, and you’ve not responded to that point in any way. You just accuse me of being dishonest.
This is a classic example of why people get pissed off at you. you demand explanations, and when given them multiple times, you refuse to respond. It’s frustrating as fuck, and is what leads people to think you are just trolling. If you are not trolling, why refuse to engage with people’s explanations?
ffs felix, pull your head in. I’ve had other priorities today. And I notice that while you’re demanding an answer you haven’t bothered to answer a simple question yourself. What gives?
If Lee is what a conservative right winger looks like, what does that make the others?
Lee is one type of radical conservative Christian. A handful of others tend that way.
If Lee is what a CRW is, and the others are not as extreme as him, then what are they?
What do you want me to do, give you a description of everyone? There’s a wide range of regulars and occcasional visitors, from right to left. And they have many and variable views. Like here.
There’s a core of regular conservative Christians who are like bees to honey on topics like homosexuality, marriage equality, sex outside marriage etc.
There are moderate Christians who don’t discuss religion much.
There are a few regular lefties. I’m sometimes included in that group – I was labeled as left from the start and had some major battles (and some debates) but now they realise I address individual issues as I see them.
There’s a few regular lawyers who provide excellent input on legal and criminal matters.
There are some Act (or ex-Act) supporters.
And there are many in between all of those. Some very reasonable, some can be abusive and obnoxious, and more in somewhere in between.
DPF himself is not staunchly right, he is quite liberal on some social issues – he strongly supports marraige equality and non draconian alcohol legilislation, he states support and compliments for Labour and Greens parties and people at times. He is pro-republic (so am I) but there’s probably more pro-monarchy on KB.
I have quite similar views to DPF on many things, but disagree on some, and have had a few strong disagreements.
And like here, I’ve always been a bit of an outsider at KB. Many don’t like their views challenged, especialy when those views are longstanding and fixed.
Kiwiblog is probably more active than here, and is tolerant of more variety. It has far less of the activist agendas and targeted harassment that goes on here.
It’s far more complex than you seem to understand. Or than you want to acknowledge because it doesn’t suit what you are trying to do.
Right versus left only remains in the minds of a few who cling to the past and get ever more frustrated that things keep moving on.
You’re not getting away with that, Pete. You said Lee was a “real” right wing conservative.
The question was, what does that make the others (who are generally referred to as right wing conservatives, but who you’ve excluded from being “real” ones by reserving that description for nutters like Lee)?
You said Lee was a “real” right wing conservative.
You’re not getting away with that, felix. You seem to jump to too many incorrect conclusions, unless you are deliberately playing games.Where did I say that?
That makes a pretty big difference. If you hadn’t jumped to conclusions based on not understanding what I said then this futility would never have wasted so much time.
If that is a “real” right wing conservative view, then what does that make the vast majority of what we commonly understand to be “right wing conservative” views?
The only serious interpretation I can see is that if Lee’s comment represents “real” right wing conservative thought, then all the stuff we usually consider to be right wing conservative thought must be more like “middle-or-the-road” thought.
And that’s exactly what I think you were trying to say all along, without actually saying it of course.
If you weren’t trying to say that, you need to provide an alternate interpretation what you said. So far you haven’t done that at all.
He described it as “real conservative right wing comment.”
The conservative right wing would generally be thought of as people like Bill English, or Judith Collins.
So either Pete is saying that they are middle of the road conservative right wingers, or that they are fake conservatives, or something else. Who knows.
defending the concept of gender equity, nah, wanking about Islam. Again, the only dissent from the 99% is from the lefties. But honest, that real conservaitive guy is the only nut on KB.
Rural NZ is full of old school conservative Tories. And in general, they are great people. Often more dependable and helpful in a scrape than flaky impractical over-intellectual liberal lefties.
Unfortunately, most of these ‘wet’ Tories aren’t really aware that National has long been run behind the scenes by sociopathic neoliberal banksters.
Very good C.V. I agree.
Most of the items listed in Post #17 (1-7) have been a way of life at some time in the past. History repeats itself.
60 years ago all male youths had to do 3 months “National Service” (CMT) and it is remarkable how much they matured in 3 months (even me?). Three months away from Mum, learning to get up at 06.30 hrs every morning, washing their own clothes, making their bed every day, setting out to do something and achieving it. Accepting discipline. Learninig to live as a group, NOT “what is in it for me”. The same standard of bed, meals, entertainment etc. as everyone else you were working with. No one pandering to you. The surprise is that the individual liked himself more afterwards.
It was not a holiday camp, desperate to attract more supporters. It was to prepare you for a different way of life. Something where “Life is Difficult”.
The most vocal critics of CMT are afaid of it. They are young or have not experienced it so they are not qualified to pass judgement.
There used to be a tonne of forestry, rail and telco jobs for our young NZers to build up their practical skills and work ethic too. All long gone sadly.
CMT is not what young people need now. They need the discipline of having a 7am to 3:30pm job to turn up to, Mon to Fri. One which lets them learn practical skills and interact with workmates and customers. As well as learning the basics of business and management over time, if they are inclined.
Having discipline forced upon you is not the same as being taught self-discipline. The former leads to authoritarian states (see any military coup over the last century) and the latter leads to democratic freedom.
Bill English? This is what Pete George thinks of English – quote below a comment from PG on Kiwiblog General Debate on 1 July 2012:
July 1st, 2012 at 9:24 am
Bill English is an excellent deputy PM. Steady, dependable, straight talker, consistent aims, careful management of a difficult economy. A good balance to Key’s leadership.
Hang on, PB, I’ve just eureka’d another interpretation: Petey had a brainfart and used an adjective instead of an adverb, and thus meant a “really conservative right wing comment.”
He’s just so gosh-darned embarrassed at such an elementary grammatical slip-up he can’t admit it.
Sounds like the basis of a novel about a community such as the Hobbits’. Tolkien has already done it PG you’re wasting your time. Even Harry potter and his friends and supporters would be a good role model for your basic attributes.
Unfortunately PG your KB pal isn’t actually propounding the values of Christ, he’s got some kind of old testament hodgepodge with a large serving of bigotry.
Are you a Labour Party Member? Do you support the membership having a genuine and effective role in when and how we select the Leader? Are you concerned that ” senior sources” wants the Caucus to have a block vote? And that they can over-ride the process if their preferred candidate is not selected? Do you want to influence those on the NZ Council shaping the decision? They want to hear from you. Here is the contact info that you require.
David Shearer david.shearer@parliament.govt.nz
Grant Robertson, grant.robertson@parliament.govt.nz,
Moira Coatsworth
Chris Flatt, gensec@labour.org.nz
Maori Senior VP, Parekura Horomia parekura.horomia@parliament.govt.nz
Women’s VP, Kate Sutton
Senior VP, Robert Gallagher
Affiliates VP, Angus McConnell,
Policy Council, Jordan Carter,
Young Labour VP, Glenn Riddell,
Te Kaunihere, Rudy Taylor,
Te Kaunihere, Deborah Mahuta-Coyle,
Pacific Island Vice President,
Area 1, Tanja Bristow,
Area 1, Paul Chalmers,
Area 2, Sonya Church,
Area 3, Shane Stieller,
Area 4, Paul Tolich,
Area 5, Tony Milne,
Area 6, Glenda Alexander,
Rainbow Sector, Simon Randall,
Moderators – is this a privacy breach? Seems iffy to display these here publicly.
[At first glance most, if not all, of these look like they would already be in the public domain…RL]
[Thanks – agree with RL on most, but I’m going to err on the side of caution and delete all non parliamentary addresses. THese people are easy to find if you want them… r0b]
I’m not now a Labour party member. But I like thinking NZs have an interest in Labour aspiring to have a leader and policies that stand tall. Something to turn to away from NACTs craven crap.
NZs who are for good economics that are fair to all, and have positive effects on our trading figures, and policies that first pilot new approaches to chronic social problems and then incorporate them in the most effective way into long-term action. These should seek to be respect-building so people are self-supporting with true alternatives to welfare. Then we won’t have a lot of weakened and addicted people relying on an alcohol buzz to gloss over their pathetic lives.
Roy Morgan,(as usual),is being nice to the National Party, even Slippery knows this as National’s own polling has, (so the Wellington rumor has it),it hovering round the 41-42%,
It’s why the vacant smile has been wiped off of Slippery’s dial for the last couple of months,Morgan, (again as usual) has NZFirst below the 5% which is a joke,
The education war which for a few weeks has been mainly waged off the radar broke out again yesterday with Education Minister Hekia Parata telling School Principles not to get ‘political’ in newsletters sent home to parents,
The reply from the school principles didn’t exactly say ”Hekia go f**k yourself”, but, the intent was there…
Labour are beginning to look consistent.
Greens still good, but bouncy – you’d expect that, though, at those levels. National are beginning to hit the area of “no longer able to delude oneself”.
I have been imagining a Perfect Storm brewing for the LAW AND ORDER MOB.
Police Budget Restraints
Low Police Morale
Low Defense Force Morale
Diminished Border Security
A Property Crime “Gaze”
Bandidos
Organised Crime
Income Reductions and Losses
Bath Salts etc
Increased Theft
Increased Domestic Violence
Increased Child Abuse and Neglect
Immigration
Migration
Ethnic Tension
Government at a Distance
Asset Sales
Treaty Settlements
Mental Health
Drug Use on the Road
Rise of the Far Right
Rise of the Revolutionary Left
Anti-Capitalism
Anti-Corporate Sentiment
If we could have a pragmatic look at Laura Norder one thing we would introduce is permanent containment in prison for serial rapists etc. Murray Wilson is being let out with extraordinarily expensive security checking regimes. And the women and children of NZ are the guinea pigs to test if his attitudes have unexpectedly turned to the decent. Then we will know if he can manage to be good, or perhaps just seems to be by nefarious means. He can go out and sweet talk or bribe or stupeify or threaten some female or child into serving him and debasing themselves and ruining their ability to trust, have self-respect and cope with sexuality.
Now if a man was bent on attacking lawyers and judges, the story would be different. He would be too dangerous to be released.
Foetal alcohol syndrome. I am disgusted. Why should women be responsible for controlling their alcohol intake? It’s a woman’s right to have what she wants and the fact that the female body reacts faster to alcohol is so unfair! Women can be drunk after drinking less than men, and no way should anybody have to control their binge drinking if that is what they enjoy.
Drinking is one of the advantages of being grown up. To show we are adult and Free, to go out, load up and spew all over. It’s so much fun, that’s why we do it as often as we can. And it makes a lot of money for wealth creators. So it’s good for the economy. What can be wrong with that. (Sarcasm for people who can’t filter anything in their brain cells.)
Works out great if you’re a beer baron. Keep the population boozed and ignorant, preferably from the age of 13 onwards. Minimal tax, maximum profit, and more addicts on the turps. Sweet!
The Crown says Maori water rights need to be defined but that those rights will not be affected by selling energy assets. This is because energy companies have limited rights and a limited time to use water, and because shareholding isn’t a right of governance or management within a company.
Ultimately it will come down to the tribunal ruling at the end of the month and whether the prime minister chooses to listen.
I tend to agree that in the end the Maori rights over the likes of the Waikato river are hardly likely to be affected by having parts of ,in this case, Mighty River Power sold off,
The reverse though is that Mighty River Power has no guarantee into the future that Maori will allow them the continued use of their river, both via the water and the small fact that Mighty river have for a considerable amount of time had dams sitting in the middle of said river while not having paid the ‘owners’ the rent,
I would well imagine that as the Crown via its Counsel at the Tribunal hearings today all but conceded Maori ‘rights’ in the matter the Maori Council who have taken the lead so far in instigating the urgent hearing will now be in discussion with it’s Counsel with regards to a High Court injunction which would halt the sales process until such time as the Crown,Maori Council, and, the Tribes can reach agreement upon the full ramifications of Maori ‘water rights’…
3 News has a guy who thinks he’s Steven Seagal banging on about the 50% chance of “terrorists” getting into the games. What gives? Faux News would love this story, and heaven knows where 3 News gets its non-American stories from, but this one is quite mad.
I commented to Firstline about it this morning, seems very irresponsible publicising a security breach opportunity like that regardless of whether it’s credible or not.
How Julian Assange’s private life helped conceal the real triumph of WikiLeaks
by PATRICK COCKBURN, The Independent, July 1, 2012
As Julian Assange evades arrest by taking refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in Knightsbridge to escape extradition to Sweden, and possibly the US, British commentators have targeted him with shrill abuse. They almost froth with rage as they cite petty examples of his supposed gaucheness, egotism and appearance, as if these were criminal faults.
These criticisms tell one more about the conventionality and herd instinct of British opinion-makers than they do about Assange. Ignored, in all this, is his achievement as founder of WikiLeaks in publishing US government cables giving people across the world insight into how their governments really behave. Such public knowledge is the core of democracy because voters must be accurately informed if they are to be able to chose representatives to carry out their wishes.
Thanks to WikiLeaks, more information has become available about what the US and allied states are doing and thinking than ever before. The only competing revelations that come to mind were the publication by the victorious Bolsheviks in 1917 of secret treaties, including plans to carve up the Middle East by Britain and France. A more obvious parallel was the publication of the Pentagon Papers thanks to Daniel Ellsberg in 1971, revealing systematic lying by the Johnson administration about Vietnam. In similar fashion to Assange, Ellsberg was reviled by the US government and threatened with the severest punishment.
An extraordinary aspect of the campaign against Assange is that op-ed writers feel free to pump out thousands of words about his alleged faults, with never a mention of far more serious state crimes revealed by WikiLeaks. All these critics, and readers who agree them, should first switch on YouTube and watch a 17-minute video film taken by the crew of an Apache helicopter over east Baghdad on 12 July 2007. It shows the helicopter crew machine-gunning to death people on the ground in the belief that they are all armed insurgents. In fact, I cannot see any arms and what in one case was identified as a gun turned out to be the camera of a young Reuters’ photographer, Namir Noor-Eldeen, who was killed along with his driver, Saeed Chmagh. The video shows the helicopter coming in for a second attack on a van that had stopped to pick up the dead and wounded. The driver was killed and two children wounded. “Ha! Ha! I hit ’em,” shouts one of the US crewmen triumphantly. “Look at those dead bastards.”
I was in Baghdad when the shooting took place and I remember at the time disbelieving, along with other journalists, the Pentagon’s claim that the dead were all armed insurgents, but we could not prove it. Rebel gunmen did not amble about the streets in plain view when a US helicopter was nearby. The existence of a video of the killings became known, but the US Defense Department adamantly refused to release it under the Freedom of Information Act. The official story of what had happened would not have been effectively challenged if a US soldier, Bradley Manning, had not turned over the video to WikiLeaks, which released it in 2010.
He still evades rape charges, though. Those “faults” really might be criminal behaviour rather than embarrassing social peccadillos – and we’ll never even have a shot at knowing unless he faces trial.
Fuck yes / +1 / upvoted / IAWTC on that. Seriously people, how hard is it to recognise that “defences” of Assange like this are the absolute epitome of “hush your little women problems, The Cause Is More Important than holding people accountable!” apologism?
Bonus points for specifying that it’s “shrill” abuse, by the way. Haven’t seen that card played since Hilary had a shot at the US Presidency.
My baffled response was because your comment made no fucking sense. I’d link to the multiple well-referenced posts I’ve made about the Assange case, but no doubt they’re just “shrill”.
It’s some fantastic circular logic you’re operating on. If critical of Assange => has not “read enough” about Assange case. If pro-Assange => obviously well-informed. Have fun with that, I’ll just be over here watching you continuously show your misogynist ass.
“It’s some fantastic circular logic you’re operating on. If critical of Assange => has not “read enough” about Assange case. If pro-Assange => obviously well-informed.”
Yep. This fits the devil or angel concept rather than the flawed human being concept where someone can do really good things like expose governments who are complicit in war, torture, murder and the like and at the same time be involved in some really dubious events that requires examination of personal morals and behaviours. In this case the person is not brave enough, when his own personal safety is on the line, to front up to it.
It’s not an either/or situation to be supportive of wikileaks AND expect Assange to front up to the consequences of his personal behaviour.
My baffled response was because your comment made no fucking sense.
No, your baffled response was because you could offer no coherent response.
I’d link to the multiple well-referenced posts I’ve made about the Assange case, but no doubt they’re just “shrill”.
Going by what you’ve written in your last couple of attempts I suspect that your “multiple” posts on this subject are neither well referenced nor well intentioned.
And he’s eager to have that demonstrate [sic] in court, obviously
There is no case to answer. The allegations are fraudulent.
What Assange does fear, and what anyone who cares for democracy fears, is that the notoriously weak-kneed and complaisant Swedish regime will be bullied into rendering him to face state vengeance in the U.S.
You know that as well, of course, but you haven’t got the integrity to admit it.
Demonstrated in court McFlock? WTF? Has Sweden suddenly decided to man up and lay actual criminal charges against Assange? Please let me know.
As far as I am concerned, Sweden’s co-operation with US authorities in an extraordinary rendition in 2001 which led to two Egyptian men being tortured and interrogated is enough of a reason for Assange NOT to allow himself to enter the control of Swedish authorities. Since his next stop would be to the US to face capital espionage charges.
Goodness knows I would hate to misrepresent the case, like spreading rumours about “sex by surprise” and other ways to minimise the concept of sex without consent..
like spreading rumours about “sex by surprise” and other ways to minimise the concept of sex without consent..
‘Sex by surprise’ was the original charge, I am surprised that you don’t know that.
Sex without consent? Both women consented, and seemed perfectly happy until they found out about each other. The time to withdraw consent is before getting your kit off and having at it, and the way to withdraw consent is to get up and leave, not whine about it days later!
Really, women like these 2 run the risk of making all women look like nutmegs, and minimising the problems of those genuinely raped. Not, it seems, that they’d be the type to care!
Vicky, I have previously provided you with plenty of evidence that the “sex by surprise” claims are bullshit, and that Assange, by his own lawyer’s statements, is someone who has sex with people without prior consent. That’s called “rape” in most places.
Here’s some more. Maybe you’ll read it this time, if you’re not too busy laughing at how clever it is to misgender me.
Okay, I am reading the blog you linked to, and I am rather unimpressed so far, as he starts by stating how much he doesn’t like Assange.
He also (weirdly) defends the IDF..
“alleging that IDF soldiers harvested the organs of Palestinian teenagers” against an allegation that afaik has never actually been made!
For the rest, the link doesn’t say what you wish it did. Fail!
Yes, well I can easily understand why a person being upfront and honest about their biases might be confusing to you.
Wow, not just losing your grip on reality, but you’ve lost it already! Are you trying to say I am not open about my biases? Dear child, this guy you link to is a paranoid who is bound to be deeply hostile and suspicious to anyone similar to Assange. After all, if the existence of Israel/USA is threatened we’re all in trouble, right?
I’m personally quite impressed that if Vicky hasn’t heard of it before, it doesn’t exist even when the author provides links to their basis for claiming it.
But more seriously, your wee link also nicely said why the “can’t we do a phone interview” thing is such tripe: the warrant was issued because he skipped on an arranged interview. Fool me once, and all that.
It’s the difference between cooperative and non-cooperative. The warrant is for the allegations. The warrant is necessary because he skipped the interview (and the country).
To claim that now ‘he’s willing to be interviewed why won’t they listen’ neglects the fact that he claimed he was willing to be interviewed right up until he skipped the country.
Yes, well I can easily understand why a person being upfront and honest about their [sic] biases might be confusing to you.
“Upfront and honest”? You’ve been caught out quoting a lunatic, extremist, dishonest website and that is your only response?
I was a little surprised that anyone on this forum, which is known for its informed and intelligent discussions, could have written such nonsense as you did in your original response to my initial post.
It’s hard to know whether to despise you for your nastiness or pity you for your abject ignorance.
Morrissey, your responses are way over the top. The following is a description from the site, of Garrlous Law; the blog you describe as “lunatic, dishonest and extemist”. Did you actually follow the link before you (over)reacted?
This blog is written by a pupil barrister and seeks to explore in detail developments in English law. It does this with a view to making the law more accessible to people outside the legal profession. Matters of public interest and legal developments are dissected and assessed, with a view to understanding what is going on in the legal world.
This blog is written for both a professional and a lay audience. It aims to be accessible to people outside the legal profession. If at any time you feel it isn’t, please say so.
The time to withdraw Vicky, is anytime anyone wants to. It is disgusting for you to suggest otherwise. Are you seriously suggesting that it is legal or moral to force a partner after they ask for it to stop? Do you really see all men as being monsters once aroused?
And you are again wilfully spreading misinformation about this case. You have had the evidence presented to you in numerous previous discussions. And yet you continue. What’s your problem Vicky?
Are you seriously suggesting that it is legal or moral to force a partner after they ask for it to stop? Do you really see all men as being monsters once aroused?
As far as I know, the woman who claims she was raped, claims that on the basis of deciding during the second bout, that she wasn’t happy about it after all. That is not the time to suddenly withdraw consent!
Ah, fuggediboudit. The right wing have got some eager converts here! Amazing what they can use…
Yes fully agree. Just wondering about the technicalities because they worry me.
Is there a grace period after a woman changes her mind mid-intercourse where a man has time to pull out so that he can avoid committing rape? Even a few seconds grace would be helpful. Or is he considered to be instantaneously raping her from the moment she changes her mind if penetration is still occurring?
And if a woman does change her mind during intercourse and withdraws consent, is she even obligated to tell or signal the male her decision in a timely manner?
For instance, she could save herself the risk of an unpleasant or embarrassing confrontation there and then, and charges could still be laid against the man at some later date.
CV, if you are really this confused about what rape is, and what consent is, then you should probably not have sex with women (or anyone actually). Your comments are bizarre, and show you as probably not a safe person to be around.
Give me a break Weka, don’t try and make this about me by using BS character assassination – this is about Assange’s treatment by authorities and the potential that these allegations (but still no charges) will simply be used to have him end up in US hands.
Don’t get all up tight on me just because a sexual partner has never amorously woken you up from a deep sleep before. Which is just as well, since you couldn’t have possibly given consent for them to do so since you were like, asleep.
What you wrote had nothing to do with the Assange case though. You seemed to be expressing some dodgy ideas about consent and rape. If that’s not what you were doing, then simply clarify.
Don’t get all up tight on me just because a sexual partner has never amorously woken you up from a deep sleep before. Which is just as well, since you couldn’t have possibly given consent for them to do so since you were like, asleep.
How is my calling you out about your comments on rape ‘getting uptight’? That you then try and make this personal to my experiences of sex just reinforces the queries I raised about your posts.
I’ve never really been able to understand why some left wing, otherwise intelligent men have such trouble with understanding consent and rape. Your last statement either reinforces that you’re one of those men, or suggests that you are willing to use distortions of rape issues to make other political points. Either way, it’s not a good look.
Dodgy ideas? WTF. It is similar sometimes stomach churning detail and interpretation of evidence which lawyers in certain rape cases argue about in extremely graphic mind numbing hair-splitting nuance. Sorry its not to your tastes.
My example was not merely personal, it makes a point. Would you care to answer it, in the hypothetical. If you were amorously woken up in the morning by your sexual partner of the previous night, and by definition you were not awake to give consent for this to happen, were you raped?
And don’t complain about me getting personal, you bloody started it.
My example was not merely personal, it makes a point.
Would you mind explaining what the point is, specifically?
Would you care to answer it, in the hypothetical. If you were amorously woken up in the morning by your sexual partner of the previous night, and by definition you were not awake to give consent for this to happen, were you raped?
What do you mean by ‘amorously woken up’? Your questions doesn’t really make sense. Is the woman awake or not? And are you asking this in the context of the Assange case? If so please give me a link, or an explanation, so I can understand the context.
I asked you for your answer to the hypothetical. I think the question is relatively clear and can be answered.
Your sexual partner of the previous night (could be a long term partner or spouse even, but doesn’t need to be) wakes you from a deep sleep amorously the next morning. You can define “amorously” how you wish but certainly it involves intimate sexual contact.
You of course, being deeply asleep – at least at the start, can by definition give no consent to your partner’s course of action. Is it therefore rape.
Or put another way. To avoid a potential allegation of rape, should your partner of the previous night firstly and innocuously wake you up fully from your sleep (or wait until you are fully awake), wait until you are judged to be completely lucid, gain consent from you, and only then touch you in any sexual way.
The parallel to the Assange case is that one of the allegations centres on a woman being interfered with by Assange while asleep.
Here’s the thing CV. If you, or any man, doesn’t know if he has consent to have sex with a woman, then DON’T. Simply wait until you do know. The scenario you give is going to vary from couple to couple (and yes, how long they’ve known each other IS going to be a factor), and situation to situation, so there is no answer that will cover all sex. That means you (the man wanting to have sex with a woman) have to take responsibility for finding out if you don’t already know.
(not even going to get into why the concept of consent is lowest common denominator).
You still haven’t given any useful detail, so I’m still not sure what exactly you have running in your head. But I do know a man who had sex with his partner while she was asleep. If they didn’t have a relationship where that was agreed to be ok, then yes it is rape. It’s really not that hard to understand.
If you are talking about a man initiating sex with a woman who is asleep but waking up, then obviously at some point consent is going to be given or not. Why is that such a difficult thing to understand?
As for Assange, it’s been ages since I read any detail about that case, but looking that up now I don’t still don’t know what your point is.
…the blog you describe as “lunatic, dishonest and extremist”.
I had a good look at it, and there are indeed many well thought out pieces in it. So I’ll take your admonition on the chin and dispense with the claim that it’s a “lunatic” blog. So he’s several rungs higher on the intellectual food chain than the likes of Whaleoil, FrontPageMagazine and Leighton Smith.
And let’s throw away the “extremist” accusation, too. As you quite properly point out, that was way over the top on my part.
However, I stand by my statement that this fellow “Ben” is dishonest. He mimics a dispassionate and scholarly approach, but the whole of his article is nothing more than a partial and biased outlining of the prosecution’s absurd attempt to winkle him away from the protection of British justice. He slings off at any evidence that the U.S. regime is desperate to get its hooks on Assange as “conspiracy theory”.
Informed discussions require actual information.
They also require a commitment to honest and rigorous debate. This fellow “Ben” claims to support whistleblowing, but then wheels out a whole list of irrelevant and vague claims about Assange’s “style” and “political agenda”, which apparently invalidate Assange’s whistleblowing.
There are many places where you can find serious, informed and rigorous writing and speaking about this stupendously important case—unfortunately, the “Garrulous Law” blog is not one of those places.
So your argument about why Assange is avoiding rape allegations is that Sweden is a closer ally to the US in the “War on Terror” than the UK? Just to clarify.
I remember you saying how fair the Swedish justice system was and how there was no chance that Assange would suddenly end up on a flight to the US out of Sweden, to face charges of capital crimes like espionage.
If Assange could receive a cast iron guarantee that he would not be shipped out of Sweden posthaste at the behest of the US, I’d be all for him being questioned in Sweden.
The Whangarei police area controller retires and criticises aspects of his job. He thinks that police aren’t able to assist the public as they should, there are too few of them and often have to work on their own which is dangerous and all are overworked. Also paperwork, form filling is becoming more important than real police work. Then his managers group speaks up and dumps on him, and spiels the government line of being strapped for cash. That should be left for NACT apologists. What a tight inward looking, self-protecting bunch the police can be.
And I was struck by the judge’s criticism of the co pilot in the Queenstown flight being examined for dangerous manoeuvres. It seemed to me the co-pilot was very honest. He didn’t like the airport, flying there was a lot of stress, he didn’t feel he was trained for it and asked not to be rostered for it. The judge criticised him for being unprofessional or something. Apparently it’s not done to display dissatisfaction with one’s boss, or the company practices.
OMG, like, I’ve tried publishing comments a few times (with embedded links, funnily enough!) now and it totally, like, made me fill out a captcha! Why do you hate me, lprent? Why are you trying to silence me? You can’t handle the truth!!!!!
I am listening to Torchwood: Children of Earth, (having seen it twice before now) and hearing again, a group of highly privileged people decide to sacrifice 10% of the children of all countries.
They decide to cover it all up, by selecting children from ‘failing schools’ to be taken by bus to be ‘vaccinated’… The discussion was chilling. “We want to keep children from the better schools, the ones that will staff our hospitals” etc.. but the children from the failing schools will end up in prison or on benefits.
“If we can’t choose which children to sacrifice” says one woman “what else are (school) league tables for?”
Which is why I mention this. I don’t want to give any spoilers, in case anyone hasn’t seen Children of Earth and wants to. Suffice it so say – this is Torchwood, it’s grim! 🙂
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
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.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
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Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
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For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
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Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
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Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
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This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
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Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
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 Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Te Radar’s series about the Pacific goes from bad to worse, as he rewrites the histories of Kiribati and Samoa:
http://www.readingthemaps.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/te-radar-finds-goldfish-but-misses.html
New Zealand’s tenure as protector of Samoa is something of deep shame to me as a Kiwi and I am astounded at the good will shown by Samoans in being able to forgive NZ for the atrocities committed.
But talking about bloody goldfish. What was Te Radar thinking?
The Crown’s tenure as protector of Aotearoa is something of deep shame to me as a White Kiwi and I am astounded at the good will shown by Moari in being able to forgive us for the atrocities committed.
Watching Te Radar is somewhat disturbing for me: under the banner of humour what is really a squalid RWNJ has been allowed lose at our expense. He comes across to me as a rather heartless little bigot, the supposedly humorous result of bringing children up in an ethos that ignores anything other than the immediate that you cannot profit by. Hence his ignoring history in favour of making fun with goldfish as a prop.
So the Olympics – missiles on top of residential high rises with residents having no grounds to object, security officers not trained and soldiers coming back from Afganistan to fill the gaps at the same time as facing redundancy.
Oh and no chips around the place unless they’re sold as traditional ‘fish and chips’ because McDonalds doesn’t like it. And Olympic head Jacques Rogge having to backtrack on obesity comments because coca cola doesn’t like it.
Not to mention Dow Chemical, BP and Rio Tinto
Welcome to the corporate games, showcasing the efficiency of the private sector, with the taxpayer picking up the tab for whatever is required. Makes me wonder how much the Athens Olympics had to do with Greece’s runaway debt.
Yes, rosy, I have been remembering how the Athens Olympics was touted as being beneficial to Greece’s economy: Ditto for the UK. Yet the UK is still struggling to get things ready for the games:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10819279
Meanwhile Canadian TV bids to get coverage for the Russian 2014 Winter Olympics and 2016 Brazil summer Olympics has run into a roadblock. It seems the Canadian channels are unwilling to pay as much money as the IOC wants.
http://m.torontosun.com/2012/06/26/canadian-rights-for-future-games-still-up-in-air
BTW, the Olympic workers have won a small victory and can now buy chips from non-MacDonalds outlets.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jul/11/mcdonalds-olympics-chips
And furthermore, there’s a long list of banned stuff that cannot be taken into games’ venues:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2172430/Bottled-water-long-lens-cameras-Che-Guevara-t-shirts-banned-stadiums-London-Olympic-Games-crackdown.html
The games, and it doesn’t matter which ones, are now just advertising venues for the corporates.
+1
And PR distractions for Government Ministers.
like Israel commenting on how upset it is the US uniforms were made in china ? ? ?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10819337
And, thinking about it a bit more, government subsidised advertising venues.
Not just subsidised, but controlled using all the powers of the State – police, military and judicial among others – for those advertisers, not for citizens.
Rio Tinto made the medals didn’t they? Just one of the many corrupt “suppliers” to the games as had been pointed out already.
Which completely blew my mind! I first heard about it on the BBC and was horrified when the residents lost their case.
It’s going to be horrible…
Once again, something I said above triggered the ‘harmful behavior’ screen. WTF???
Someone before mentioned it is the embedded link – I assume this time it’s “missiles on top of residential high rises”, which is blue and contains a link to the Guardian article.
Ah, so it appears that when I quote someone I should take out her link? It was QoT who accused me of link-whoring that you’re thinking of, which is still laughable, as I do put links – when I am quoting someone who put a link!
No matter what s/he thinks, I almost never out my own links… 😀
(I quote people because for the life of me I can’t figure out the number system that people refer to – because I can’t even see those numbers!)
I quote people by copying and pasting the quoted words and hand-typing the quote/italic codes. It turns out like this without the link in the original link. I don’t think such links are necessary anyway, because the quote refers back to who said it & their link up thread for anyone who wants it. Like so….
So the Olympics – missiles on top of residential high rises with residents having no grounds to object, security officers not trained and soldiers coming back from Afganistan to fill the gaps at the same time as facing redundancy.
I didn’t “accuse you of link-whoring”, Vicky. I just noted that you have always, to my knowledge, complained about being spam-filtered after embedding links, which are a pretty classic “warning sign” to filters. Another clear pattern is that you’re embedding links within quotes on all those occasions, which might add to the filter’s decision to moderate you.
Certainly you’re probably just copying-and-pasting in other people’s previous comments which you’re responding to, but the filter has no way of knowing that. And also is totally OUT TO CENSOR YOU!!!!!
In future, I invite you to actually use links when accusing me of harassment. I’m sure everyone would find it highly illuminating to compare what I’ve actually said with your version of reality. Like this.
Not always. I initially noticed that I got caught whenever I put in a link but since then I’ve put in links that didn’t cause to be trapped. I’ve also been caught in the trap without any links.
It’s something to do with the new system but I couldn’t say what yet.
Michael Woodhouse offered influence on his vote and Andrew White has responded with his opinion and suggestions on the Alcohol Reform Bill:
Full response: A 20 year old’s suggestions on the Alcohol Reform Bill
Petey boy,The only Jerk is you .You need Parental Guidance.
Latest research shows their has been a marked increase in foetal alcohol syndrome since alcohol laws have been laxed.
Under age drinking and the damage its doing is a direct result of 1999 reforms.
$ 6 billion a year problem and your at your Pathetic Grovaling best.
NZ,s second most dangerous drug and you are making excuses for your corrupt coalition
taking bribes from the booze pushers.
DNFTT
Which one ?
I’m not making excuses for anything, if you calmed down enough from troll duty to actually see what was posted you would see that it wasn’t me saying anything.
Why don’t you try and influence Michael Woodhouse’s vote yourself? He said he’s open to persuasion. I suggest you don’t try the abuse approach though, that rarely succeeds at anything.
I agree with the sentiment expressed by Andrew White.
The new laws are punitive, hypocritical, discriminatory, potentially racist and open to abuse and police profiling of young people.
The youth abuse of alcohol is directly linked to increased availability and cheapness of the sugary coloured mixed spirits drinks, like Codys, KGB and Woodstock.
When these drinks were heavily taxed in Australia, youth drinking dropped dramatically and Independent liquor which manufactures these products had to close their Australian bottling plant.
None of that is being addressed here. In fact IL who market campaigns are directed to children are protected and defended. While young people are being targeted with punitive laws when they respond to IL and their competitors marketing campaigns and obscenely cheap products.
The effect of raising the age, risks seeing a whole generation of young people earning criminal convictions which stays on their record for life. While we protect the real criminals.
No doubt as usual, it will be the Island and Maori youth of South Auckland and Porrirua who will be picked out by the police to appear in court on such charges. Initiating a relentless downward cycle for many.
Or “What I did in the holidays” by Pete George aged 14.
Wow, crappy pay the Ministry of Justice. I had to re read this as I thought $33.5K WAS the part time rate but in fact it goes on to say this rate will be pro rata for part timers
http://www.trademe.co.nz/a.aspx?id=493286632
CSR pay has been dropping a lot. When I was a CSR a few years ago I had an income close $50k. Now you’ll be lucky to find such a job that pays $40k. It’s the decreasing wages that is part and parcel of the capitalist dynamic.
Yep. Real inflation (taking into account actual price rises and wage deflation) has been eye watering.
“We also think infrastructure assets with monopoly characteristics are especially important to the functioning of the wider economy.
Labour published a closed list of assets that we believe ought to be run in the New Zealand interest because they have monopoly characteristics – assets such as electricity line networks, water and airports.
The list excludes telecommunications and electricity generation” (David Parker)
Surely electricity generation should be classed as an infrastructure asset with monopoly characteristics. (more so than an airport to my mind.)
Or is this a roundabout way of saying we won’t buy them back once sold without actually coming out and saying it?
And this is the point that Chris Trotter made yesterday:
All those hundreds of Labour and Green volunteers standing in the cold getting signatures for a petition,and Labour won’t even say electricity generation is a monopoly worth protecting.
Would be great if Parker grew a pair of nads.
Chris Trotter has made some more points today. He starts:
And closes:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/opinion/7272187/Labour-seeks-middle-ground-on-policies
The only uncompromising dogma here is National selling off our childrens’ country.
If Grant Robertson or anyone else currently in the Labour caucus thinks they can cower those in politics who have an ideological spine, they will have this site, and Bowalley Road, and Dimpost, and Ideologically impure, and Bomber, and indeed most of the activist base to contend with. That’s pretty much most of the progressive activists in New Zealand.
The activist base owns these sites, and they are the main political commons of New Zealand now. Increasingly Labour’s old political MP guard will buy a head-on fight with the activist base.
Just in case they learn’t nothing from the 1980s, that will consign them to more party splits, and staying out of power for a few more terms yet.
Members are walking to the Greens and they have no reason to make the walk back.
Labour’s a dead duck. Just look at the last 3 months, scandal, after incompetent scandal, and where’s shearer or any labour politician?????? No where. Just Missing in Action, AWOL no matter how you put it they arergiving a real good impersonation of a party with no ideas, and no trustworthy members. Just a bunch of bad jokes for Shonky to laugh at.
Might be overstating it a fraction – the polls are tracking pretty well for Labour, albeit slowly.
no no no
I’m not talking about the politically clueless centrist middle class who drift from one party to the other like its a flavour of jam answering polls
I’m talking about the politically attuned Labour activists and membership.
Parker’s speech rang alarm bells for me, on at least two counts: firstly, the exclusion of electricity generation from those things that should be run ‘in the NZ interest.’ Secondly the term “in NZ interests” rather than public ownership. Chris Trotter has written about his speech as well.
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/no-joke-why-im-not-laughing-at-labours.html
It is tragic comedy of the most putrid taste. The sooner Labour open up leadership to a vote for the party membership the better. Shearer and Parker might as well join National. Clowns.
If you want to have your say about how Labour chooses its next leader, you should write or call the members of Labour’s New Zealand Council in the next 24 hours, because on Sunday they will make the call on exactly how much say your voice will have.
Otherwise it’s back to Trevor Mallard and whomever he wants, which is what we have now.
Aye. I read Parker’s speech and I could not figure out if it was coming from a Labour politician or a National politician.
Give me Cunliffe any day. At least the guy is willing to talk about a Tobin tax to start decreasing inequalities and he realises that the world’s carrying capacity is limited.
Spot on Bored. Someone needs to bury Labour so that Labour can represent the interests of the ordinary people once more.
Is the service needed by everybody? Then it’s a monopoly.
Labour are working on the failed idea that having two or more suppliers is competition but having so few suppliers is an oligopoly which is just as bad as a private monopoly as the LIBOR scandal has just proved.
Re AUTHORITY
regretably, imo, everything i have learned about the human animal suggests the inevitability of authoritarian structures to comfort the majority.
Dominance is an essential human motive (that is, motives reduce discomforting arousal) just like the overarching motive of Security.
Interestingly, blogging has the potential for expression of other essential human motives too,
for example,
Curiosity Achievement Affiliation Autonomy Nurturance Exhibition Order Play
So remember, the three treasures COMPASSION MODERATION HUMILITY.
I drop these all the time but i remember where they are and i pick them up again.
ARE THERE MANY TINORANGITIRATANGA OR influential representative GREENS that visit this site?
How many individual user addresses visit a month?
Thankyou IPrent
I dont yet know how to pick up an emoticon so
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPoYQHDi1HI
Not always Sam
Ordinary men and women will sometimes go to extraordinary lengths to defy “AUTHORITY” sacrificing their comfort and security at risk to their very lives.
“This is our moment”
yes. been doin it all me friggin life. No use having a rock if you are not able to use it.
People be serving the machine
high-frequency algorithmic market trades and facebook
Be Master and Slave
The people may be made to follow a course of action, BUT they can not be made to understand it.
(Confucius : 550 BC )
Confucious was talking about leaders who were serving the comple needs of the country. At a time that 90% of the Chinese population were peasants with no formal education.
“…were peasants with no formal education.” What has changed?
Stuff.co.nz Lead story Friday July 13 2012. Black Friday.
‘Swift, dramatic’ threat to Antarctic environment
Will the Green Party take action against the ETS which is preventing parliament from being forced to take action on GHGs? Or will the Greens hold their tongues hoping to get more bums on seats in parliament by not being seen to be “to radical”?
Gerry Brownlee insists estimates for roads of national significance are sound (12 June 2012)
Green Party says the Wellington northern corridor has blown out by $300 million. Brownlee refuses to comment (28 June 2012)
The northernmost section of the Wellington northern corridor no longer to be a four lane expressway, saving $300 million (13 July 2012)
Interesting how these things work out.
And as usual neither the Transport Minister or his Associate Minister were prepared to go on Morning Report about this issue this morning.
There is an interesting dichotomy of thinking going on here….given that the financial justification argument is used by those for and against new road construction there must be a tacit acceptance that new road construction is to be debated on the parameter of cost justification.
Very few of those involved in the debate seem to be convinced that new road construction is entirely unnecessary and that cost does not come into it. Listening to most Labour speeches we constantly hear the refrains of “progress”, “development”, “expansion” and “growth”. From the Right these are all that their event horizon has in view. So we all back blindly at full speed toward the abyss we all know is really there.
To retain some positive sanity I have decided to take the a viewpoint that the roading projects are actually necessary infrastructural development for massed bicycle transit, using today’s resources to provision capital works today for tomorrows fuel starved future. Long live the Key Memorial Cycleway, delivered in another guise by the Law of Paradox.
In this morning’s NZ Herald…..”Prime Minister John Key has confirmed the Government is considering listing Mighty River Power on the Australian Stock Exchange, but denies it will result in more overseas shareholders. Mr Key said no decision had yet been made on whether to list Mighty River Power on the Australian Stock Exchange as well as the New Zealand Stock Exchange when the Government puts up to 49 per cent of the company up for sale this year……”
Haven’t we been told that Kiwi Mums and Dads will be given priority on the sale of these shares? Yeah right! Could this be just the start of the hidden agenda on this issue?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/newsarticle.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10819268
Maybe Key is just making sure all those Kiwis he has helped reside over in Australia to get their share?
ad, Kiwi mums and dads who live in Aussie are the only ones who have any spare cash.
Does this blow out the NZX bailout theory where they clip the ticket on all the sales and prop up that failing exchange?
Look out for the upcomoing ASX-NZX ‘merger’.
(in actual fact it’ll be a total takeover of the NZX for chump change).
With so many New Zealanders living there now, and so much of our business there, as well as our business ownership, it’s not really surprising to find New Zealand acting more and more like a state of Australia than its own sovereign state anymore.
Auckland is well on track to have 40% of the population and 40% of the economy (beyond its current third), dominating New Zealand’s commercial and social life (and increasingly its political life) just like Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth do to their respective states.
So the Stock Exchange takeover will be felt more with a whimper, in fact more just a part of our becoming another Australian state in all but constitution.
The CEO of the NZX is begging Bill English not to float the shares in Australia, guess he feels it’s his entitlement to have a major snout in the plunder trough.
Well, one thing it is is that this government holds no more trust in the NZX than most other NZers.
Hey now, smokeskreen, thanks to NACT’s complete failure to close the gap with Aussie and stop driving Kiwis there in search of decent jobs and pay, there could be plenty of Kiwi Mums and Dads to buy Mighty River Power shares over the ditch.
“Only machines and dicks do not change their minds”
John James Elijah.
Budget cuts cause failures
Having tens of thousands of people, many of them business owners not being provided an essential service is completely unacceptable!
“Only machines do not change their minds” John Elijah
Has anyone picked up the conflict Whale Oil has re the V8’s. He keeps going on about them and Len’s support for Pukekohe and that Hampton Downs is the track it should have gone to. Hampton Downs had advertising banners on WO site. Obvious he’s on someone’s payroll. Not into V8’s but if my rates money is being spent on it, better it is in our region and not Waikato.
Man! I visited Mr Slater for the first proper time today and he seems quite touchy, maybe parochial in his views. I thought what a waste. Mans gotta learn to harness his emotions better.
And heaps of anger on that site.
Sticking together because of the children is not necessarily the best way of managing an abusive relationship and the children will probably still suffer:
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/maori-party-in-abusive-relationship.html
I think whalegrease has a couple of v8’s going round and round in his head and they wont stop!
Must be the PHARMACEUTICAL GENERATION.
If you want to see what a real conservative right wing comment looks like:
What will probably come up in follow up comments:
8. Compulsory fundamental Christian indoctrination.
9. A ban on the words ‘Darwin’ and ‘evolution’.
10. A ban on all climate science.
And what?
These people are fundamentalists who’s ideal society is a fasc1st theocracy. And that’s not an exaggeration, that’s an accurate sober interpretation of their own statements.
Such views are so offensive that any reasonable person with any understanding of history ought to reject them out of hand as the insane ramblings of violent lunatics.
And yet here’s you, quoting them as if they were on the spectrum of views that deserved consideration as any part of a serious discussion about civil society because doing so might make your own views appear more reasonable by comparison.
That’s a disgrace, Pete George, and a pathetically transparent disgrace at that. Go sit in the corner and think about what you’ve done.
+1
That’s a disgrace felix, you’ve conclusion jumped again, this time right into the mud. Hard to believe that’s not deliberately way way over the top (like Lee), so I guess you’re trying to joke.
I responded to that post:
There’s about 0% chance of any of those things happening. Which is just as well. The logistics of doing it would be just about impossible and the outcomes would be not what you would like to see.
I didn’t respond any stronger because there’s no point. I’ve had a number of futile ‘debates’ with Lee, he’s as bad as the worst here, zero chance of him changing his views. He is regarded as an extreme nutter on Kiwiblog by 99%. Even you would be more accepted there.
“He is regarded as an extreme nutter on Kiwiblog by 99%.”
And yet you consider his views worth bringing up here. Disgraceful.
There’s about 0% chance of any of those things happening. Which is just as well.
I think we all need to stop and appreciate the glory of this comment. Hey now, PG is totes anti all these things … but still had to get in his Superior Political Knowledge 2c about their likelihood first.
Oh Pete has so much cute.
I like that part how even felix would be more accepted, there, by the 99% who are all quite reasonable chaps and are not right wing conservatives. Why, they’d find barking radical felix more acceptable than right wing conservatism.
The kiwi blog right, or 99% of it at least, isn’t really right at all.
It’s the sensible centre ackshully..
You can’t help making things up, can you. Do you really have to have things explained? No, you don’t, but I’ll explain for others who might think something of your nonsense.
Lee is a very conservative fundamental Christian rightie and few if any at KB agree with his usual views, like those I’ve given as an example here.
The only one as extreme as Lee is the now rare appearences of Redbaiter. Felix is correct on one thing (not much else) – their ideal society is a fasc1st theocracy
The rest on KB range across the spectrum. There’s a few vocal ones to the right of Act, quite a few centre to rightish, and a few around centre and to the left, and a few regular lefties, who, if they stand firm usually get given a reasonable hearing most of the time. The only leftie who continually gets a hard time is Philu, but KB is one of the few blogs he’s not banned from (at the moment).
If felix – or you – commented there and played it straight and strong without trying to be clever and dishonest like you are here at times you would get a reasonable go from most at KB.
I know from experience, when I started at KB I was labeled a leftie and attacked a lot, but that subsided after a few months. It’s not as bad there now as it was then, in part due to a few centre/lefties standing their ground and playing it straight.
There’s still shit flying at times, but it’s easier to have reasonable discussions than here. I still have some ding dongs, but can then agree with the same person in the next argument. Here it seems to be once an ‘enemy’, always an enemy, no matter what you say.
Okay okay, KB is so much nicer than TS.
And yet you still return.
pete – how about the truth? Why are you going on about that other blog and linking all the time – have you had a vision that you will bring the two opposed sides together in shared middleness. I hope it isn’t some sort of continuation of OccupyPete – you know how that worked out. I sense some plan in there somewhere – you know you might get more supporters for that plan if you were upfront rather than sneaky.
It’s not just about two blogs. I also comment on some other blogs and forums, I use Facebook and Twitter, I have my own two blogs, I use email a lot, I use the phone and I talk to people face to face. I’ve been learning stuff. learning about integrated multimedia. Learning about parties, learning how activists operate, developing a thick skin. Every different option has it’s strengths and things to learn.
I’ve been working on a strategy for three years now, I’m always looking for opportunities to try and fast track things. It will take another 3 years probably to know really if I’m going to achieve what I wanted to. I’ve got a couple of important meetings coming up that will give me a good idea of progress.
I think I’m more upfront about who I am and what I do than most people on blogs – I do politics differently and I’m not put off by the same old crap, repeated and repeated. I know that frustrates those trying to score some sort of victories but I don’t care about that, it’s their problem, not mine. The abusers reflect far more on themselves than their targets anyway, most people can see through their bullshit.
I think this blog’s got a lot of potential, but it wastes a lot of that by too much negativity. If 80% attack (most of it futile) was converted into 80% doing something positive and useful it would be a lot more successful. In my opinion.
I appreciate your reply.
Obviously all the experience you are gaining and planning is for something and I would assume it involves people – do you consider the comments that you get and how you could maybe improve your chances of getting people behind whatever you are up to, by taking on board the often positive and honestly given feedback? or do you feel that you already do that – and i hope you don’t think that because I haven’t seen any evidence of that and I remember when you first turned up. I remember you saying you were here to listen and learn – when did that change pete or is it still your goal.
When people get frustrated they insult – do you ever really consider why they are getting frustrated? – the thing is pete you could actually use the expertise and knowledge of commenters on this site to achieve your goals but you may have to shed some ego or something. Who knows – we all have our stuff.
I think quite a few here are frustated by a lot more than me, I’m just an available target to take it out on. If it wasn’t me it would be someone else. They’re useful to me but aren’t my target, I pick up my support quietly – not many are going to risk getting openly clobbered alongside me here, are they.
I do learn from and use the expertise and knowledge of commenters here, there is some good amongst the negative nonces. But activists here are not interested in learning from some naive inexperienced person like me who hasn’t done all the hard yards they’ve done.
Until one day they wake up to what’s going on in the wider population – who are sick of the old politicking, they want to be listened to and taken notice of. Things are happening outside the bubble, I’m just a small part of what’s going on. It’s a matter of tying it together and harnessing it. Just by being observant (this time in the local newspaper) I’ve made what could be a major breakthrough just today, nowhere near the blogs.
I’m targeting three main things (on one level, more on another level) – I’ve been active on one, others have independently been active on the other two. It’s happening and the time is right, it just needs these things to come together.
A number of times I’ve said here I’m happy to share what I’m doing with anyone who’s interested, the more that get on board the better.
I acknowledge I simply get dragged into the fray here a bit, it’s not strictly part of the plan but it’s a good learning experience in some ways – learning off my own mistakes and off others. I’m fallible – that’s one thing we have to learn to accept without major dramas, even the best politicians are fallible, but if there was a resignation for every mistake there would be only one left.
And hey, despite what some try to paint me as, I can and do work with people from any party. Part of the plan is to be able to express your own views and have your own affiliations while working with others with different connections – and often different ways they want to do things. The main aim is a neutral structure we can all work within, together more than at each other’s throats. And we all need to understand and accept that none of us can have it all our own way. Compromise and cooperation are essential parts of doing democracy better.
Remember – 80% positive. Too many do 20%.
The lurkers support Pete in email!
LOL QoT Classic
No pete that just isn’t true.
For me I’d much rather debate the issues than spend time correcting what you assert and i’d say most are the same – certainly that is what i’ve seen since you started posting.
And you must admit you deliberately stir it up and make pretty wild statements sometimes – that makes me think you are not really serious and don’t really care or believe what you write and then i wonder if it just a laugh for you. I can assure you it is not a joke to me. I, like many, make sacrifices to get online and participate in debate and I do it, like most, because i am passionate and care about the issues – it’s not a game, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun 🙂
Pete, your plan is based on negativity – it’s not a winner.
I acknowledge I’m sometimes negative and sometimes stir. But I’m nowhere near as negative as much of what goes on here, apart from being the target of negative frustration.
I’ve quite often tried positive approaches here. Most often it’s not me that turns them negative. But I will stand up for myself against it – and then get the blame for being disruptive. Nine times out of ten I don’t start it.
For fucks sake, even if people disagree with something I post, if it was that easy to argue against why don’t they do that instead of launch into attacks? Sometimes I am argued against and sometimes I’m wrong. But most of the time it’s just shit being thrown. Repeatedly and deliberately. And it pisses them off when I don’t hissy fit or bugger off like others do.
Often far more is attributed to me than what I say or what I intend. Look at felix’s and PB’s responses to this thread. Intelligent people being clever? Stupid? I still don’t know what they expect to achieve, but you’d think they’d have woken up to the fact that repeating the same games is not getting them anywhere. I play here (and look for opportinities, which come up from time to time) and keep doing most of what I want to do elsewhere. While they achieve what? Do they really keep getting thrills from fomenting the PG diss club?
Does anyone else here actually have any goals? Or is everyone just kicking shit out of anything that passes through until, they hope between despairs, the next election falls into their laps by default?
I still don’t know what they expect to achieve, but you’d think they’d have woken up to the fact that repeating the same games is not getting them anywhere.
Oh Jesus, there goes my irony meter! And it was just out of warranty!
I have goals, pete:
learn about issues and events from people who are clear, specific and provide links for their sources;
challenge those statements that should not remain unchallenged and thereby acceptable, e.g. rape minimisation;
where I can add some knowledge to a debate, add it; and
have fun and keep awake while waiting for other things not internet-connected to complete.
And the negative responses you get are possibly due to the fact that discussing anything with you is curiously similar to punching a bowl of jelly – it all displaces around one’s fist and the next thing you know it’s splashed and left a mess everywhere.
Pete it may surprise you to know, as QoT has wittily (prob not a real word) pointed out, that your complaints against others are what others complain about you. The difference is we are many, with widely different views and persuasions – surely that must sink in a little. You are complaining about that which you actively seek.
and that’s okay i’m not judging anyone, just, as I say, I would rather spend my time debating than correcting your deliberate provocations.
“the fact that discussing anything with you is curiously similar to punching a bowl of jelly – it all displaces around one’s fist and the next thing you know it’s splashed and left a mess everywhere.”
The best description. To add to that – when it’s all conclusively splashed out and left a mess everywhere, it then mysteriously disappears.
PG you’re a useful idiot like Obama. People like John Key do not operate in good faith and they will screw you every time. That’s why politics has to be rough and tumble, and expose the sordid nature of the current government.
I’ve seen good faith work much better than shitting on everything. Sure, politics can have some rough and tumble, but that’s no excuse for being perpetually destructive arseholes.
This is the 21st century. Politics can work better, but only if we look at how to do it better. Last party standing is a pretty stupid aim. Far too much resource goes into futile negatives. Many in the fray don’t see it and make excuses for more stupidity. But people on the outside have had a gutsful of it.
I stood in the last election for a purpose. I get dissed for the small number of votes I got but I don’t care about that, those who criticise me got no votes at all. I tried a few experiments (as well as built contacts). By far the best responses I got were when I talked about less crap in politics, and listening to the people more and better.
The anti asset sales campaign, Save TVNZ 7, all that stuff is part of a bigger mood. Labour think they are winning with their campaigns, but they aren’t achieving anything tangible. And are unlikely to. Unless they step back and recognise the bigger picture. The old ways are history.
We are moving into an age of people power democracy – as long as we have the will and make sure build a sound neutral system. We don’t need to change much – except recognise we can do it if we want to, we can make sure politicians know what we want rather than sit back and expect them to do it all but also expect them to do it poorly.
It’s up to us.
It’s up to us.
Height of comedy: when a person whose commenting history on this blog consists of:
– weasel words in abundance
– never clearly stating his own opinion
– consistently finding excuses for his Glorious Leader and why we shouldn’t take Peter Dunne’s words at face value
– trying to draw attention to his own blog without being upfront about his purpose
… includes himself in the group of people who are going to Save Politics From This Horrible Meanness And Spite.
Pete, if you’re going to accuse me of making things up, please quote and say what you think I’ve got wrong.
You said “even felix”. That puts felix as some sort of extremist on a par with what goes on at kb. Or maybe not. But what else could you mean?
You constantly complain about how nasty people here are, and yet you have little digs in nearly every comment you make. You don’t make those digs over at kb. Your commenting style here is oppositional in ways that it is not at kb. You come here looking for fights, and go to kb and report the fights you have here. No wonder you don’t get as much shit.
And the rest of what I said also stands. kb is right wing conservative. Read that thread on saudi. Or the one from a while back on Breivik. There were a few people saying flat out that that mass killing in Norway was justifiable, and might happen here. It’s not just lee and RB. There’s Thor for one, and there are others just as extreme, and many more not far off. There are a number who would happily sign up to many of the points on that list.
What is the general position on feminism over there?
Or religious freedom?
And i’m not saying they all believ the same thing, or that their aren’t debates. But look at what you can comforatbly say there and know you will get support.
The reason those extremists comment there is because they are accepted there. They are comfortable there. Why? because people are nice to them. They can say things that identify them as proto-fasc1sts, and after a few testy words, turn around and have nice chats with people about something they agree on, like the Treaty, or welfare bludgers, or cultural marxism, or how everyone at the standard is a big old poopy pants and mean and we don’t even look at the standard anymore because blah blah they’re so extreme.
I’m glad proto-fasc1sts don’t feel comfortable here.
This started when you said that extremist’s comment (which you now call fasc1sm) was real right wing conservatism.
That makes the 99% of kb what? center right? That would be why Key is considered a ‘quisling’?
the average kb commenter, or thereabouts, is a real right wing conservative.
Take your blinkers off and have a close read of the place. Look who is comfortable there. Look at the racism people feel comfortable spouting for goodness sake.
You say that people here have you labelled as an enemy, and that we never change our minds.
Have a look at how you actually respond to questions. You do not come across as someone playing with a straight bat here.
If you never meant to say that the 99% of kb commenters aren’t right wing conservatives, then it’s not the reader’s fault for interpreting your words that way.
This sort of thing happens with your comments a lot. You say something that seems to imply something, and then call people dishonest when they take the implication. And then you gte on your high horse about poeple making things up, but never get around to explaiing what it is you initially meant.
You don’t make those digs over at kb.
Youn obviously have no idea of most of what I have done at KB over the years. I’ve scaled back what I say there, the topics you mention have been done that many times there – with the same old players, that there’s no point in being involved. So I mostly only dabble there now.
Have a look in General Debate tomorrow. There is likely to be a debate on climate change in the morning. And later, soon after the topic of marriage equality comes up, (unless it has already started prior to that) give it an hour based on averages, there will be several people who will repeat the same things with the same sort of quotes and links that they always do. Some will argue against them, most won’t bother, again. I could name now the most likely participants in both those debates. Same as three years ago when I first started there. I had major debates on both then, now I just keep out of it most of the time. I steer clear of some debates here too, futile exercise.
I do sometimes speak up against the crap there – I did that last weekend and some expressed their displeasure at me, they like it to be a free for all and don’t like me being a do-gooder. But it does make a difference. If someone doesn’t speak up against it then it just deteriorates over time. But I’m not a full time baby sitter.
I’m finished for the day, I’ll have a go at your other queries tomorrow, depending on time.
PB:
From your first response:
the 99% who are all quite reasonable chaps and are not right wing conservatives.
I didn’t claim that, and I haven’t seen anyone else claim that. Did you make it up?
Why, they’d find barking radical felix more acceptable than right wing conservatism.
Did you make up the description of felix? I said to felix “Even you would be more accepted there”, meaning a leftie who can at times argue and even sometimes concede points would be more accepted than an extreme Christian conservative would be more accepted there. For example RRM, mikenmild, alex (a Green who also comments here) are accepted more than Lee is.
The kiwi blog right, or 99% of it at least, isn’t really right at all.
Did you make that up? The only people I can think of who claim that are Lee01 and Redbaiter.
It’s the sensible centre ackshully.
Did you make that up? I haven’t seen anyone claim that.
Pete those statements are things reasonably that follow from your statement that lee is a RWC.
If your statement was true, and if lee is far to the right and far more conservative thann others at kb, then it follows that others at kb are not right wing conservatives.
This is exactly what i mean when I said that you say something loaded with implications, and then call us dishonesty for stating the implications of what you said.
I didn’t make them up, they are the implications of what you said.
If you don’t want to be misconstrued, be more careful about what you write.
To be clear, do you think Lee is what a right wing conservative looks like, or do you think he is quite a bit more extreme than that?
I didn’t make them up, they are the implications of what you said.
Take a look at that statement. They are not “the implications”, they your claimed implications, which are so obviously off the mark as to be ridiculous. Presumably you’re not totally ignorant of what KB is actually like, so it’s hard to see it as anything other than making things up.
Maybe you could prove me wrong by substantiating your ‘implications’.
As a proven liar yourself, Pete, you are in no position to be questioning the bona fides of others. PB is right; he’s accurately deconstructed your rant and your response is more pathetic whining. The only reason you won’t restrict yourself to posting over at KB is that you are seen as a joke there too.
You’re the liar, you’ve proven nothing except your own obsession with dishonest stalking. What have you achieved in a year? Nothing but self discrediting. As you have amply shown here. Te Reo Puthetic. Why don’t you put your time and efforts towards something useful? Like openly supporting your leader? No, you’ll probably carry on discrediting Labour. Like here.
Pete. I’ll trya nd explain.
Consider these statements:
1) lee is a right wing conservative
2) lee is not accepted by 99% of kb commenters on account of his radicalism.
Let’s accept those statements as being true
now heI’ll just introduce another premiss, that I don’t think is controversial. ie I think it is true, therfore we can’t exclude the truth right?
3) Right wing conservatism is within the bounds of reasonable politics in nz. We have mps that would self describe as RW and Conservative. The governing national party is regularly described as having a right wing conservtive faction
Those are the premises. 1, and 2, are what you have said, and 3 is a description of how RWC is used as a term in NZ.
From those 3 premises, we can legitimatly draw some conclusions.These are called implications. Drawing implications from premisses what logic is.
So here we go, conclusions, and the premisses that imply them:
4) Right wing conservatism is considered extreme and not acceptable by 99% of the kb commentariat. (1,2)
5) the kb commentariat is centrist in terms of NZ politics because they find right wing conservatism to be extremist (3,4)
All that flows quite naturally from your defining of Lee as what RW Conservatism looks like. Conservatism isn’t an extremist philisophy pete. Lee is an extremist, he is radical. What is the opposite of radical? That’s right, conservative.
Your positioning of Lee as a RWC defines him as having a place on the spectrum. You put him at a point, that means we can work out where other poeple are on the spectrum, incuding the kb crowd who disagree with him, (but not so much that they won’t joke around with him about lefties and the like).
The point is that I disagree with you that Lee is a RWC, because if he was, then it it would make kb a centrists sort of place, which it clearly is not.
“Te Reo Puthetic”
That is unacceptable pete – I am angry that you have mangled and insulted the language. Please apologise immediately – you don’t need to abuse Māori to make your points or rather if you, you confirm vile, racist, scum attitudes and the consequences of that will not be pleasant for you i promise.
The truth hurts, eh Pete? Have you considered a career in mining? I hear Gina Rinehart loves a whining bore.
‘marty mars’ is mangling English.
TRP , using a Māori name as he does, repeatedly discredits Māori. Why don’t you try addressing that? Or is continual abuse ok from one side?
I suggest you sort your own shit out before you accuse and threaten others.
wrong place
PB used to comment there a lot when I started looking around the local blogs, as did many others here. But from the last few times I have looked over there, it looks like the most of the regulars from 2007/8 have disappeared (which was when I read there every day). I am unsurprised as it got very tedious after the 2008 election campaign..
Oh really. Got to the nub now haven’t we.
“I’m fallible – that’s one thing we have to learn to accept without major dramas, even the best politicians are fallible, but if there was a resignation for every mistake there would be only one left.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13072012/comment-page-1/#comment-493066
You can’t even withdraw and apologise when your racism is pointed out. You are twisted and a racist with no integrity or honesty and don’t worry i won’t forget your whinging, pathetic, intoxicated bleatings from last night.
You’re the one being racist.
I wasn’t intoxicated last night, I don’t get intoxicated. That’s a dirty accusation to make.
You get TRP to apologise for his continual attacks and portrayal of the worst of Māori, then I’ll apologise.
In that case Pete perhaps it’s time to be the bigger person, rise above these petty squabbles, and return to the relatively civil discussion you were having with P’s b.
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13072012/comment-page-1/#comment-493139
felix, if you review your reaction to my original comment on this thread, do you still stand by that as stated?
PB’s reply reminds me of some of my responses – a bit waffly when trying to justify himself.
He had made things up by reading all sorts of things from my comment that simply weren’t there and are nonsense. I really don’t think there’s much more that can be debated on it.
Absolutely I do, and I see that Pascal’s bookie has done an excellent job of explaining why my interpretation was accurate using logic.
If you can see a flaw in the logic, point it out.
If you can’t, then you accept the logic as it stands. That’s how it works.
Off you go.
I’ve already pointed out the flaws, I think you both overreacted somewhat, and we obviously still disagree. I don’t see what else there is to say. I thought it was a trivial post in the first place so I’m bemused it has created so much attention.
Time to move on – I have other things to do this morning anyway, in the real world.
I don’t see anywhere that you’ve addressed Pascal’s logic at all.
If you really have and I’ve missed it, please point it out.
Specifically.
Pete, I’ve explained it a number of times, and each time you claim not to understand. That’s why in the latest attempt I waffled. And I apologise for the typos.
So I won’t waffle, but ask a simple question.
If Lee is what a conservative right winger looks like, what does that make the others? If Lee is what a CRW is, and the others are not as extreme as him, then what are they?
I was not arguing that the 99% are centrists. I agree with you that that is nonsense.
But it is a nonsense that follows directly from the claim that Lee is what a RWC looks like. That’s a claim that I think is nonsense. And lo and behold, nonsense directly implies other nonsense.
I’ve explained that at least three times, and you’ve not responded to that point in any way. You just accuse me of being dishonest.
This is a classic example of why people get pissed off at you. you demand explanations, and when given them multiple times, you refuse to respond. It’s frustrating as fuck, and is what leads people to think you are just trolling. If you are not trolling, why refuse to engage with people’s explanations?
PB, I think Lee is an extreme example, even for KB.
PB and felix, I’ll probably be out for the rest of the day, but a question: how much have either of you commented at Kiwiblog?
ffs Pete just answer the question. You’ve had about 20 hours to think about it.
ffs felix, pull your head in. I’ve had other priorities today. And I notice that while you’re demanding an answer you haven’t bothered to answer a simple question yourself. What gives?
Lee is one type of radical conservative Christian. A handful of others tend that way.
What do you want me to do, give you a description of everyone? There’s a wide range of regulars and occcasional visitors, from right to left. And they have many and variable views. Like here.
There’s a core of regular conservative Christians who are like bees to honey on topics like homosexuality, marriage equality, sex outside marriage etc.
There are moderate Christians who don’t discuss religion much.
There are a few regular lefties. I’m sometimes included in that group – I was labeled as left from the start and had some major battles (and some debates) but now they realise I address individual issues as I see them.
There’s a few regular lawyers who provide excellent input on legal and criminal matters.
There are some Act (or ex-Act) supporters.
And there are many in between all of those. Some very reasonable, some can be abusive and obnoxious, and more in somewhere in between.
DPF himself is not staunchly right, he is quite liberal on some social issues – he strongly supports marraige equality and non draconian alcohol legilislation, he states support and compliments for Labour and Greens parties and people at times. He is pro-republic (so am I) but there’s probably more pro-monarchy on KB.
I have quite similar views to DPF on many things, but disagree on some, and have had a few strong disagreements.
And like here, I’ve always been a bit of an outsider at KB. Many don’t like their views challenged, especialy when those views are longstanding and fixed.
Kiwiblog is probably more active than here, and is tolerant of more variety. It has far less of the activist agendas and targeted harassment that goes on here.
It’s far more complex than you seem to understand. Or than you want to acknowledge because it doesn’t suit what you are trying to do.
Right versus left only remains in the minds of a few who cling to the past and get ever more frustrated that things keep moving on.
You’re not getting away with that, Pete. You said Lee was a “real” right wing conservative.
The question was, what does that make the others (who are generally referred to as right wing conservatives, but who you’ve excluded from being “real” ones by reserving that description for nutters like Lee)?
You said Lee was a “real” right wing conservative.
You’re not getting away with that, felix. You seem to jump to too many incorrect conclusions, unless you are deliberately playing games.Where did I say that?
Just playing games now are we Pete?
Ok I’ll play. My mistake, what you actually said was that that was an example of a “real” right wing conservative comment.
Close enough? Can we carry on as if you were a fucking adult now?
That makes a pretty big difference. If you hadn’t jumped to conclusions based on not understanding what I said then this futility would never have wasted so much time.
Bullshit. The essence of the questions remain.
If that is a “real” right wing conservative view, then what does that make the vast majority of what we commonly understand to be “right wing conservative” views?
The only serious interpretation I can see is that if Lee’s comment represents “real” right wing conservative thought, then all the stuff we usually consider to be right wing conservative thought must be more like “middle-or-the-road” thought.
And that’s exactly what I think you were trying to say all along, without actually saying it of course.
If you weren’t trying to say that, you need to provide an alternate interpretation what you said. So far you haven’t done that at all.
So is that it, Pete? All down the memory hole?
And next time you’re confronted about the statements you’ve made here you’ll accuse others of making things up?
Despite never once challenging the logic of the interpretations of what you’ve said.
And despite never once offering an alternate interpretation that squares with the language you used.
All gone. Never happened.
He is regarded as an extreme nutter on Kiwiblog by 99%.
And, as PG is so fond of asking of others here, where is PG’s EVIDENCE for this statement and percentage?
A survey of commentors and/or readers of KB? A Curia poll perhaps? …….
Or is this just PG’s opinion ….?
Actually just for once I agree with PG … well at least in his intent.
I really don’t see that he was quoting them as if they were on the spectrum of views that deserved consideration .
Maybe PG should have made this clearer.
He described it as “real conservative right wing comment.”
The conservative right wing would generally be thought of as people like Bill English, or Judith Collins.
So either Pete is saying that they are middle of the road conservative right wingers, or that they are fake conservatives, or something else. Who knows.
I thought he was saying it was a Real RWNJ as a way of proving he himself isn’t so bad.
He’s on that thread with what he thinks is an equivalent list from someone here, shocking stuff; some price regualtion. Oh the humanity.
interestingly, there is some debate about the real conservtives views, but pretty much from the local lefties.
The righties are in full flight on this post though:
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2012/07/a_small_step_forward.html#comments
defending the concept of gender equity, nah, wanking about Islam. Again, the only dissent from the 99% is from the lefties. But honest, that real conservaitive guy is the only nut on KB.
Rural NZ is full of old school conservative Tories. And in general, they are great people. Often more dependable and helpful in a scrape than flaky impractical over-intellectual liberal lefties.
Unfortunately, most of these ‘wet’ Tories aren’t really aware that National has long been run behind the scenes by sociopathic neoliberal banksters.
Very good C.V. I agree.
Most of the items listed in Post #17 (1-7) have been a way of life at some time in the past. History repeats itself.
60 years ago all male youths had to do 3 months “National Service” (CMT) and it is remarkable how much they matured in 3 months (even me?). Three months away from Mum, learning to get up at 06.30 hrs every morning, washing their own clothes, making their bed every day, setting out to do something and achieving it. Accepting discipline. Learninig to live as a group, NOT “what is in it for me”. The same standard of bed, meals, entertainment etc. as everyone else you were working with. No one pandering to you. The surprise is that the individual liked himself more afterwards.
It was not a holiday camp, desperate to attract more supporters. It was to prepare you for a different way of life. Something where “Life is Difficult”.
The most vocal critics of CMT are afaid of it. They are young or have not experienced it so they are not qualified to pass judgement.
There used to be a tonne of forestry, rail and telco jobs for our young NZers to build up their practical skills and work ethic too. All long gone sadly.
CMT is not what young people need now. They need the discipline of having a 7am to 3:30pm job to turn up to, Mon to Fri. One which lets them learn practical skills and interact with workmates and customers. As well as learning the basics of business and management over time, if they are inclined.
Having discipline forced upon you is not the same as being taught self-discipline. The former leads to authoritarian states (see any military coup over the last century) and the latter leads to democratic freedom.
“….The most vocal critics of CMT are afaid of it. They are young or have not experienced it so they are not qualified to pass judgement.”
And that tells me nothing nor does it address what I said.
Bill English? This is what Pete George thinks of English – quote below a comment from PG on Kiwiblog General Debate on 1 July 2012:
July 1st, 2012 at 9:24 am
Bill English is an excellent deputy PM. Steady, dependable, straight talker, consistent aims, careful management of a difficult economy. A good balance to Key’s leadership.
Hang on, PB, I’ve just eureka’d another interpretation: Petey had a brainfart and used an adjective instead of an adverb, and thus meant a “really conservative right wing comment.”
He’s just so gosh-darned embarrassed at such an elementary grammatical slip-up he can’t admit it.
hmmmm, might take my peripatetic self off to your whare from time to time. may i?
Cameron did not fancy my anarchic ways.
Didn’t take long:
Sounds like the basis of a novel about a community such as the Hobbits’. Tolkien has already done it PG you’re wasting your time. Even Harry potter and his friends and supporters would be a good role model for your basic attributes.
Unfortunately PG your KB pal isn’t actually propounding the values of Christ, he’s got some kind of old testament hodgepodge with a large serving of bigotry.
Are you a Labour Party Member? Do you support the membership having a genuine and effective role in when and how we select the Leader? Are you concerned that ” senior sources” wants the Caucus to have a block vote? And that they can over-ride the process if their preferred candidate is not selected? Do you want to influence those on the NZ Council shaping the decision? They want to hear from you. Here is the contact info that you require.
David Shearer david.shearer@parliament.govt.nz
Grant Robertson, grant.robertson@parliament.govt.nz,
Moira Coatsworth
Chris Flatt, gensec@labour.org.nz
Maori Senior VP, Parekura Horomia parekura.horomia@parliament.govt.nz
Women’s VP, Kate Sutton
Senior VP, Robert Gallagher
Affiliates VP, Angus McConnell,
Policy Council, Jordan Carter,
Young Labour VP, Glenn Riddell,
Te Kaunihere, Rudy Taylor,
Te Kaunihere, Deborah Mahuta-Coyle,
Pacific Island Vice President,
Area 1, Tanja Bristow,
Area 1, Paul Chalmers,
Area 2, Sonya Church,
Area 3, Shane Stieller,
Area 4, Paul Tolich,
Area 5, Tony Milne,
Area 6, Glenda Alexander,
Rainbow Sector, Simon Randall,
Moderators – is this a privacy breach? Seems iffy to display these here publicly.
[At first glance most, if not all, of these look like they would already be in the public domain…RL]
[Thanks – agree with RL on most, but I’m going to err on the side of caution and delete all non parliamentary addresses. THese people are easy to find if you want them… r0b]
I’m not now a Labour party member. But I like thinking NZs have an interest in Labour aspiring to have a leader and policies that stand tall. Something to turn to away from NACTs craven crap.
NZs who are for good economics that are fair to all, and have positive effects on our trading figures, and policies that first pilot new approaches to chronic social problems and then incorporate them in the most effective way into long-term action. These should seek to be respect-building so people are self-supporting with true alternatives to welfare. Then we won’t have a lot of weakened and addicted people relying on an alcohol buzz to gloss over their pathetic lives.
Latest Roy Morgan is out.
National is down 2 to 45%. Labour up to 32.5% and Greens up to 13%.
LabGrn now ahead.
Key must be getting that sinking feeling …
Presumably he first got the sinking feeling around Sunday night, from National’s internal polling. Explains everything.
He’ll now get a temporary rebound in the next one, but that’s just a (brown) sugar-high.
Oops Nats 45.5% so dead heat.
Roy Morgan,(as usual),is being nice to the National Party, even Slippery knows this as National’s own polling has, (so the Wellington rumor has it),it hovering round the 41-42%,
It’s why the vacant smile has been wiped off of Slippery’s dial for the last couple of months,Morgan, (again as usual) has NZFirst below the 5% which is a joke,
The education war which for a few weeks has been mainly waged off the radar broke out again yesterday with Education Minister Hekia Parata telling School Principles not to get ‘political’ in newsletters sent home to parents,
The reply from the school principles didn’t exactly say ”Hekia go f**k yourself”, but, the intent was there…
Labour are beginning to look consistent.
Greens still good, but bouncy – you’d expect that, though, at those levels. National are beginning to hit the area of “no longer able to delude oneself”.
I have been imagining a Perfect Storm brewing for the LAW AND ORDER MOB.
Police Budget Restraints
Low Police Morale
Low Defense Force Morale
Diminished Border Security
A Property Crime “Gaze”
Bandidos
Organised Crime
Income Reductions and Losses
Bath Salts etc
Increased Theft
Increased Domestic Violence
Increased Child Abuse and Neglect
Immigration
Migration
Ethnic Tension
Government at a Distance
Asset Sales
Treaty Settlements
Mental Health
Drug Use on the Road
Rise of the Far Right
Rise of the Revolutionary Left
Anti-Capitalism
Anti-Corporate Sentiment
better go,
If we could have a pragmatic look at Laura Norder one thing we would introduce is permanent containment in prison for serial rapists etc. Murray Wilson is being let out with extraordinarily expensive security checking regimes. And the women and children of NZ are the guinea pigs to test if his attitudes have unexpectedly turned to the decent. Then we will know if he can manage to be good, or perhaps just seems to be by nefarious means. He can go out and sweet talk or bribe or stupeify or threaten some female or child into serving him and debasing themselves and ruining their ability to trust, have self-respect and cope with sexuality.
Now if a man was bent on attacking lawyers and judges, the story would be different. He would be too dangerous to be released.
Foetal alcohol syndrome. I am disgusted. Why should women be responsible for controlling their alcohol intake? It’s a woman’s right to have what she wants and the fact that the female body reacts faster to alcohol is so unfair! Women can be drunk after drinking less than men, and no way should anybody have to control their binge drinking if that is what they enjoy.
Drinking is one of the advantages of being grown up. To show we are adult and Free, to go out, load up and spew all over. It’s so much fun, that’s why we do it as often as we can. And it makes a lot of money for wealth creators. So it’s good for the economy. What can be wrong with that. (Sarcasm for people who can’t filter anything in their brain cells.)
Works out great if you’re a beer baron. Keep the population boozed and ignorant, preferably from the age of 13 onwards. Minimal tax, maximum profit, and more addicts on the turps. Sweet!
NZ Maori Council 1,
Slippery led National Government 0, zip,zero, zilch, nada, nothing,
Counsel for the Crown at the Waitangi Tribunal hearing today admitted that the Crown believes that Maori have ‘rights’ to water,
Another slap in the face for Slippery the Prime Minister who is outta touch, soon to be outta office,and, hopefully outta the Country…
I’m not sure what this bit about not being affected by asset sales means:
http://www.3news.co.nz/Crown-lawyers-at-Waitangi-Tribunal-say-Maori-have-water-rights/tabid/1607/articleID/261261/Default.aspx
I tend to agree that in the end the Maori rights over the likes of the Waikato river are hardly likely to be affected by having parts of ,in this case, Mighty River Power sold off,
The reverse though is that Mighty River Power has no guarantee into the future that Maori will allow them the continued use of their river, both via the water and the small fact that Mighty river have for a considerable amount of time had dams sitting in the middle of said river while not having paid the ‘owners’ the rent,
I would well imagine that as the Crown via its Counsel at the Tribunal hearings today all but conceded Maori ‘rights’ in the matter the Maori Council who have taken the lead so far in instigating the urgent hearing will now be in discussion with it’s Counsel with regards to a High Court injunction which would halt the sales process until such time as the Crown,Maori Council, and, the Tribes can reach agreement upon the full ramifications of Maori ‘water rights’…
3 News has a guy who thinks he’s Steven Seagal banging on about the 50% chance of “terrorists” getting into the games. What gives? Faux News would love this story, and heaven knows where 3 News gets its non-American stories from, but this one is quite mad.
I commented to Firstline about it this morning, seems very irresponsible publicising a security breach opportunity like that regardless of whether it’s credible or not.
How Julian Assange’s private life helped conceal the real triumph of WikiLeaks
by PATRICK COCKBURN, The Independent, July 1, 2012
As Julian Assange evades arrest by taking refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in Knightsbridge to escape extradition to Sweden, and possibly the US, British commentators have targeted him with shrill abuse. They almost froth with rage as they cite petty examples of his supposed gaucheness, egotism and appearance, as if these were criminal faults.
These criticisms tell one more about the conventionality and herd instinct of British opinion-makers than they do about Assange. Ignored, in all this, is his achievement as founder of WikiLeaks in publishing US government cables giving people across the world insight into how their governments really behave. Such public knowledge is the core of democracy because voters must be accurately informed if they are to be able to chose representatives to carry out their wishes.
Thanks to WikiLeaks, more information has become available about what the US and allied states are doing and thinking than ever before. The only competing revelations that come to mind were the publication by the victorious Bolsheviks in 1917 of secret treaties, including plans to carve up the Middle East by Britain and France. A more obvious parallel was the publication of the Pentagon Papers thanks to Daniel Ellsberg in 1971, revealing systematic lying by the Johnson administration about Vietnam. In similar fashion to Assange, Ellsberg was reviled by the US government and threatened with the severest punishment.
An extraordinary aspect of the campaign against Assange is that op-ed writers feel free to pump out thousands of words about his alleged faults, with never a mention of far more serious state crimes revealed by WikiLeaks. All these critics, and readers who agree them, should first switch on YouTube and watch a 17-minute video film taken by the crew of an Apache helicopter over east Baghdad on 12 July 2007. It shows the helicopter crew machine-gunning to death people on the ground in the belief that they are all armed insurgents. In fact, I cannot see any arms and what in one case was identified as a gun turned out to be the camera of a young Reuters’ photographer, Namir Noor-Eldeen, who was killed along with his driver, Saeed Chmagh. The video shows the helicopter coming in for a second attack on a van that had stopped to pick up the dead and wounded. The driver was killed and two children wounded. “Ha! Ha! I hit ’em,” shouts one of the US crewmen triumphantly. “Look at those dead bastards.”
I was in Baghdad when the shooting took place and I remember at the time disbelieving, along with other journalists, the Pentagon’s claim that the dead were all armed insurgents, but we could not prove it. Rebel gunmen did not amble about the streets in plain view when a US helicopter was nearby. The existence of a video of the killings became known, but the US Defense Department adamantly refused to release it under the Freedom of Information Act. The official story of what had happened would not have been effectively challenged if a US soldier, Bradley Manning, had not turned over the video to WikiLeaks, which released it in 2010.
The cables obtained by Wiki–Leaks were…
Read more….
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/patrick-cockburn-how-julian-assanges-private-life-helped-conceal-the-real-triumph-of-wikileaks-7901737.html
Yes indeed, he did a good thing.
He still evades rape charges, though. Those “faults” really might be criminal behaviour rather than embarrassing social peccadillos – and we’ll never even have a shot at knowing unless he faces trial.
Fuck yes / +1 / upvoted / IAWTC on that. Seriously people, how hard is it to recognise that “defences” of Assange like this are the absolute epitome of “hush your little women problems, The Cause Is More Important than holding people accountable!” apologism?
Bonus points for specifying that it’s “shrill” abuse, by the way. Haven’t seen that card played since Hilary had a shot at the US Presidency.
Something called “QoT” tried, unwisely, to be clever…
Bonus points for specifying that it’s “shrill” abuse, by the way.
You obviously haven’t read much about Assange.
… what the fuck?
I pointed out the obvious, i.e., that you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.
Your baffled response confirms that.
My baffled response was because your comment made no fucking sense. I’d link to the multiple well-referenced posts I’ve made about the Assange case, but no doubt they’re just “shrill”.
It’s some fantastic circular logic you’re operating on. If critical of Assange => has not “read enough” about Assange case. If pro-Assange => obviously well-informed. Have fun with that, I’ll just be over here watching you continuously show your misogynist ass.
“It’s some fantastic circular logic you’re operating on. If critical of Assange => has not “read enough” about Assange case. If pro-Assange => obviously well-informed.”
Yep. This fits the devil or angel concept rather than the flawed human being concept where someone can do really good things like expose governments who are complicit in war, torture, murder and the like and at the same time be involved in some really dubious events that requires examination of personal morals and behaviours. In this case the person is not brave enough, when his own personal safety is on the line, to front up to it.
It’s not an either/or situation to be supportive of wikileaks AND expect Assange to front up to the consequences of his personal behaviour.
My baffled response was because your comment made no fucking sense.
No, your baffled response was because you could offer no coherent response.
I’d link to the multiple well-referenced posts I’ve made about the Assange case, but no doubt they’re just “shrill”.
Going by what you’ve written in your last couple of attempts I suspect that your “multiple” posts on this subject are neither well referenced nor well intentioned.
As s/he usually does!
Assange didn’t rape anyone.
And he’s eager to have that demonstrate in court, obviously
And he’s eager to have that demonstrate [sic] in court, obviously
There is no case to answer. The allegations are fraudulent.
What Assange does fear, and what anyone who cares for democracy fears, is that the notoriously weak-kneed and complaisant Swedish regime will be bullied into rendering him to face state vengeance in the U.S.
You know that as well, of course, but you haven’t got the integrity to admit it.
Demonstrated in court McFlock? WTF? Has Sweden suddenly decided to man up and lay actual criminal charges against Assange? Please let me know.
As far as I am concerned, Sweden’s co-operation with US authorities in an extraordinary rendition in 2001 which led to two Egyptian men being tortured and interrogated is enough of a reason for Assange NOT to allow himself to enter the control of Swedish authorities. Since his next stop would be to the US to face capital espionage charges.
Because the UK has been adamantly opposed to rendition itself? Don’t make me laugh.
He still evades rape charges, though.
No he doesn’t. No charges for rape have been laid against him. He is wanted for questioning, which is something else entirely.
Perhaps some further reading wouldn’t go amiss, my friend. Serious reading, that is.
Sorry, yes, you are correct.
He still evades a warrant for his arrest with probable cause on suspicion of rape, sexual molestation and illegal coercion.
Goodness knows I would hate to misrepresent the case, like spreading rumours about “sex by surprise” and other ways to minimise the concept of sex without consent..
‘Sex by surprise’ was the original charge, I am surprised that you don’t know that.
Sex without consent? Both women consented, and seemed perfectly happy until they found out about each other. The time to withdraw consent is before getting your kit off and having at it, and the way to withdraw consent is to get up and leave, not whine about it days later!
Really, women like these 2 run the risk of making all women look like nutmegs, and minimising the problems of those genuinely raped. Not, it seems, that they’d be the type to care!
Source for that first statement, v?
Actually, that entire comment is the sort of shit “team assange” has done – lying like a bunch of tobacco reps all the way.
Vicky, I have previously provided you with plenty of evidence that the “sex by surprise” claims are bullshit, and that Assange, by his own lawyer’s statements, is someone who has sex with people without prior consent. That’s called “rape” in most places.
Here’s some more. Maybe you’ll read it this time, if you’re not too busy laughing at how clever it is to misgender me.
Okay, I am reading the blog you linked to, and I am rather unimpressed so far, as he starts by stating how much he doesn’t like Assange.
He also (weirdly) defends the IDF..
“alleging that IDF soldiers harvested the organs of Palestinian teenagers” against an allegation that afaik has never actually been made!
For the rest, the link doesn’t say what you wish it did. Fail!
Yes, well I can easily understand why a person being upfront and honest about their biases might be confusing to you.
Wow, not just losing your grip on reality, but you’ve lost it already! Are you trying to say I am not open about my biases? Dear child, this guy you link to is a paranoid who is bound to be deeply hostile and suspicious to anyone similar to Assange. After all, if the existence of Israel/USA is threatened we’re all in trouble, right?
I’m personally quite impressed that if Vicky hasn’t heard of it before, it doesn’t exist even when the author provides links to their basis for claiming it.
But more seriously, your wee link also nicely said why the “can’t we do a phone interview” thing is such tripe: the warrant was issued because he skipped on an arranged interview. Fool me once, and all that.
So he’s being charged with skipping an interview? And subsequently breaking bail conditions? I thought he was charged with sexual offences.
What gives McFlock?
It’s the difference between cooperative and non-cooperative. The warrant is for the allegations. The warrant is necessary because he skipped the interview (and the country).
To claim that now ‘he’s willing to be interviewed why won’t they listen’ neglects the fact that he claimed he was willing to be interviewed right up until he skipped the country.
So the warrant is for the allegations. Is that because no sexual assault charges have been laid, after all these many months?
Its nice to know that in the EU you can be forceably extradited because of allegations.
see this comment.
Actually, QoT’s link was also pretty evenhanded in dealing with that issue, too.
Yes, well I can easily understand why a person being upfront and honest about their [sic] biases might be confusing to you.
“Upfront and honest”? You’ve been caught out quoting a lunatic, extremist, dishonest website and that is your only response?
I was a little surprised that anyone on this forum, which is known for its informed and intelligent discussions, could have written such nonsense as you did in your original response to my initial post.
It’s hard to know whether to despise you for your nastiness or pity you for your abject ignorance.
Morrissey, your responses are way over the top. The following is a description from the site, of Garrlous Law; the blog you describe as “lunatic, dishonest and extemist”. Did you actually follow the link before you (over)reacted?
This blog is written by a pupil barrister and seeks to explore in detail developments in English law. It does this with a view to making the law more accessible to people outside the legal profession. Matters of public interest and legal developments are dissected and assessed, with a view to understanding what is going on in the legal world.
This blog is written for both a professional and a lay audience. It aims to be accessible to people outside the legal profession. If at any time you feel it isn’t, please say so.
Informed discussions require actual information.
The time to withdraw Vicky, is anytime anyone wants to. It is disgusting for you to suggest otherwise. Are you seriously suggesting that it is legal or moral to force a partner after they ask for it to stop? Do you really see all men as being monsters once aroused?
And you are again wilfully spreading misinformation about this case. You have had the evidence presented to you in numerous previous discussions. And yet you continue. What’s your problem Vicky?
As far as I know, the woman who claims she was raped, claims that on the basis of deciding during the second bout, that she wasn’t happy about it after all. That is not the time to suddenly withdraw consent!
Ah, fuggediboudit. The right wing have got some eager converts here! Amazing what they can use…
So, yes then?
The time to withdraw consent is anytime a person wants to. End Of.
Yes fully agree. Just wondering about the technicalities because they worry me.
Is there a grace period after a woman changes her mind mid-intercourse where a man has time to pull out so that he can avoid committing rape? Even a few seconds grace would be helpful. Or is he considered to be instantaneously raping her from the moment she changes her mind if penetration is still occurring?
And if a woman does change her mind during intercourse and withdraws consent, is she even obligated to tell or signal the male her decision in a timely manner?
For instance, she could save herself the risk of an unpleasant or embarrassing confrontation there and then, and charges could still be laid against the man at some later date.
I’m glad you show such interest in how to not commit rape, CV.
A beginner’s tip is to make sure your partner is awake.
So is there a grace period, or is the rape instantaneous from the withdrawal of consent?
Your “awake” comment is cute but irrelevant, since its clear cut that someone who is unconscious by definition cannot have given consent.
Oh I see.
Best not to arouse the missus in that way huh? And no early wake up calls for you McFlock!
aAs far as I’m aware, assangegroupies aren’t alleging avaliant effort to pull out at light speed following the woman ‘changing her mind’.
But one of the complaints does involve him allegedly penetrating a sleeping woman.
CV, if you are really this confused about what rape is, and what consent is, then you should probably not have sex with women (or anyone actually). Your comments are bizarre, and show you as probably not a safe person to be around.
Give me a break Weka, don’t try and make this about me by using BS character assassination – this is about Assange’s treatment by authorities and the potential that these allegations (but still no charges) will simply be used to have him end up in US hands.
Don’t get all up tight on me just because a sexual partner has never amorously woken you up from a deep sleep before. Which is just as well, since you couldn’t have possibly given consent for them to do so since you were like, asleep.
What you wrote had nothing to do with the Assange case though. You seemed to be expressing some dodgy ideas about consent and rape. If that’s not what you were doing, then simply clarify.
How is my calling you out about your comments on rape ‘getting uptight’? That you then try and make this personal to my experiences of sex just reinforces the queries I raised about your posts.
I’ve never really been able to understand why some left wing, otherwise intelligent men have such trouble with understanding consent and rape. Your last statement either reinforces that you’re one of those men, or suggests that you are willing to use distortions of rape issues to make other political points. Either way, it’s not a good look.
Dodgy ideas? WTF. It is similar sometimes stomach churning detail and interpretation of evidence which lawyers in certain rape cases argue about in extremely graphic mind numbing hair-splitting nuance. Sorry its not to your tastes.
My example was not merely personal, it makes a point. Would you care to answer it, in the hypothetical. If you were amorously woken up in the morning by your sexual partner of the previous night, and by definition you were not awake to give consent for this to happen, were you raped?
And don’t complain about me getting personal, you bloody started it.
Would you mind explaining what the point is, specifically?
What do you mean by ‘amorously woken up’? Your questions doesn’t really make sense. Is the woman awake or not? And are you asking this in the context of the Assange case? If so please give me a link, or an explanation, so I can understand the context.
I asked you for your answer to the hypothetical. I think the question is relatively clear and can be answered.
Your sexual partner of the previous night (could be a long term partner or spouse even, but doesn’t need to be) wakes you from a deep sleep amorously the next morning. You can define “amorously” how you wish but certainly it involves intimate sexual contact.
You of course, being deeply asleep – at least at the start, can by definition give no consent to your partner’s course of action. Is it therefore rape.
Or put another way. To avoid a potential allegation of rape, should your partner of the previous night firstly and innocuously wake you up fully from your sleep (or wait until you are fully awake), wait until you are judged to be completely lucid, gain consent from you, and only then touch you in any sexual way.
The parallel to the Assange case is that one of the allegations centres on a woman being interfered with by Assange while asleep.
Here’s the thing CV. If you, or any man, doesn’t know if he has consent to have sex with a woman, then DON’T. Simply wait until you do know. The scenario you give is going to vary from couple to couple (and yes, how long they’ve known each other IS going to be a factor), and situation to situation, so there is no answer that will cover all sex. That means you (the man wanting to have sex with a woman) have to take responsibility for finding out if you don’t already know.
(not even going to get into why the concept of consent is lowest common denominator).
You still haven’t given any useful detail, so I’m still not sure what exactly you have running in your head. But I do know a man who had sex with his partner while she was asleep. If they didn’t have a relationship where that was agreed to be ok, then yes it is rape. It’s really not that hard to understand.
If you are talking about a man initiating sex with a woman who is asleep but waking up, then obviously at some point consent is going to be given or not. Why is that such a difficult thing to understand?
As for Assange, it’s been ages since I read any detail about that case, but looking that up now I don’t still don’t know what your point is.
Just saying, why do I get the feeling that you think I am some kind of mini Pete George? Someone you, McFlick and Queer Old Tart love to hate! 😀
hate? Nah.
But for someone who teaches English you have some pretty severe comprehension fails.
I find your comments in this thread very offensive, to both women and men.
+ 1 I agree
+2
I find the lack of tacit understanding on life in these debtates to be offensive.
Do not speak on behalf of anyone other than yourslf…
Thats the only entity you can represent!
…the blog you describe as “lunatic, dishonest and extremist”.
I had a good look at it, and there are indeed many well thought out pieces in it. So I’ll take your admonition on the chin and dispense with the claim that it’s a “lunatic” blog. So he’s several rungs higher on the intellectual food chain than the likes of Whaleoil, FrontPageMagazine and Leighton Smith.
And let’s throw away the “extremist” accusation, too. As you quite properly point out, that was way over the top on my part.
However, I stand by my statement that this fellow “Ben” is dishonest. He mimics a dispassionate and scholarly approach, but the whole of his article is nothing more than a partial and biased outlining of the prosecution’s absurd attempt to winkle him away from the protection of British justice. He slings off at any evidence that the U.S. regime is desperate to get its hooks on Assange as “conspiracy theory”.
Informed discussions require actual information.
They also require a commitment to honest and rigorous debate. This fellow “Ben” claims to support whistleblowing, but then wheels out a whole list of irrelevant and vague claims about Assange’s “style” and “political agenda”, which apparently invalidate Assange’s whistleblowing.
There are many places where you can find serious, informed and rigorous writing and speaking about this stupendously important case—unfortunately, the “Garrulous Law” blog is not one of those places.
Well, if it’s just questioning, perhaps they should just phone him.
Of course. It’s only rape. The cops should just ‘phone it in’.
You didn’t pick up on the sarcasm did you?
You seriously think that people aren’t extradited for questioning?
Of course they are McFlock. Just look at the Swedish helping the US out with extraditing people wanted for “questioning” in 2001.
http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/11/09/sweden-violated-torture-ban-cia-rendition
Because the UK is so clean?
And extradition is routine without actual charges laid yet:
Police appeal to Chinese to extradite runaway millionaires and
He is wanted by Australian police for questioning over the stabbing death of Josef Maskiewicz, 60, in Sydney last month. and
Police look to extradite husband of burnt woman
Oh don’t worry I know. Those Egyptians were shipped off by the Swedish to be tortured without charges being laid.
So your argument about why Assange is avoiding rape allegations is that Sweden is a closer ally to the US in the “War on Terror” than the UK? Just to clarify.
I remember you saying how fair the Swedish justice system was and how there was no chance that Assange would suddenly end up on a flight to the US out of Sweden, to face charges of capital crimes like espionage.
I knew I’d had this argument recently.
Frankly, I think he was at worse risk of rendition from the uk than from sweden.
If Assange could receive a cast iron guarantee that he would not be shipped out of Sweden posthaste at the behest of the US, I’d be all for him being questioned in Sweden.
His celebrity status is as good as.
He’s not a poor unkown Egyptian, you know.
Um, look at the comment I was being sarcastic to.
Swiss politician: “Maybe we need another Kristallnacht.”
Imagine our alarm if nearly half the UK population said they believed that ‘there are too many Jews’.
Read more here….
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/owen-jones-islamophobia–for-muslims-read-jews-and-be-shocked-7939392.html
I’m reading that now, Morrissey. Brilliant!
The Whangarei police area controller retires and criticises aspects of his job. He thinks that police aren’t able to assist the public as they should, there are too few of them and often have to work on their own which is dangerous and all are overworked. Also paperwork, form filling is becoming more important than real police work. Then his managers group speaks up and dumps on him, and spiels the government line of being strapped for cash. That should be left for NACT apologists. What a tight inward looking, self-protecting bunch the police can be.
And I was struck by the judge’s criticism of the co pilot in the Queenstown flight being examined for dangerous manoeuvres. It seemed to me the co-pilot was very honest. He didn’t like the airport, flying there was a lot of stress, he didn’t feel he was trained for it and asked not to be rostered for it. The judge criticised him for being unprofessional or something. Apparently it’s not done to display dissatisfaction with one’s boss, or the company practices.
Where can I find more information on the airline operation from Queenstown?
john72 in case you haven’t followed up, this is about co pilot who I was talking about.
http://www.scene.co.nz/loathe-flying-into-queenstown–pacific-blue-copilot/301311a1.page
How come there has been nothing reported on the resignation of Area Commander Northland?
It was covered by Radio New Zealand some time during the past week…
Chris
Further to the Whangarei police manager resignation.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/7260849/Top-cop-quits-over-force-being-run-like-a-business
OMG, like, I’ve tried publishing comments a few times (with embedded links, funnily enough!) now and it totally, like, made me fill out a captcha! Why do you hate me, lprent? Why are you trying to silence me? You can’t handle the truth!!!!!
/Fridaynightfun
are you one of them hackers on the innertubes?
You’re onto me! Also, really a man.
I am listening to Torchwood: Children of Earth, (having seen it twice before now) and hearing again, a group of highly privileged people decide to sacrifice 10% of the children of all countries.
They decide to cover it all up, by selecting children from ‘failing schools’ to be taken by bus to be ‘vaccinated’… The discussion was chilling. “We want to keep children from the better schools, the ones that will staff our hospitals” etc.. but the children from the failing schools will end up in prison or on benefits.
“If we can’t choose which children to sacrifice” says one woman “what else are (school) league tables for?”
Which is why I mention this. I don’t want to give any spoilers, in case anyone hasn’t seen Children of Earth and wants to. Suffice it so say – this is Torchwood, it’s grim! 🙂