I have vacated, after spending an hour there this morning.
Their Facebook page shows the problems trying to maintain a semblance of decency when you have a bunch of radicals, anarchists and “anything that involves a stir”-ists.
It’s the fucking internet, what more do you want? Crumpets and whipped cream perhaps? A shrubbery with free delivery? The Second Coming of Raptor Jesus?
If you say something utterly stupid and/or factually wrong, expect people to get fucked off with you to various extents. And give thanks to Peter Dunnes hair-piece that not one’s yet rightfully pain-series’d you (or linked you to that page) due to your ever irritating middle class privilege pushing.
What are you on about? I didn’t say anything factually wrong. I’ve been on amicable terms and had interesting discussions with anyone I’ve talked to face to face at the Octagon. I was abused and defamed, it was an embarrassment to Occupy Dunedin so they deleted the abuse and the nong went ape about it – and threatened to go even more ape against them.
Shit you fail at reading comprehension. Re-read this, particularly the bit before the and/or while thinking about “perceptions”:
If you say something utterly stupid and/or factually wrong, expect people to get fucked off with you to various extents.
Go it yet, or do you also fail, at basic theory of mind as well?
And while you may have had polite conversations offline, online provides teh ability for people to be direct and blunt, instead of faking politeness to avoid conflict. And thus creating impressions that they’re on “amicable” terms with you, instead of regarding you as whatever they privately regard you as…
Which is pretty normal human behaviour as I and other members of the evil science brigade may have polite irl convo’s with people we regard as complete idiots (like Rick Giles).
You obviously have no idea what’s going on here. This is bringing out a few who genuinely think they can change the world, and many immature attention seekers.
A new study has investigated the relationships between the top 43,000 transnational corporations. It’s not a perfect investigation, but a good beginning to bringing to light the main networks of wealth and power:
The work, to be published in PLoS One, revealed a core of 1318
companies with interlocking ownerships (see image). Each of the 1318
had ties to two or more other companies, and on average they were
connected to 20. What’s more, although they represented 20 per cent of
global operating revenues, the 1318 appeared to collectively own
through their shares the majority of the world’s large blue chip and
manufacturing firms – the “real” economy – representing a further 60
per cent of global revenues.
When the team further untangled the web of ownership, it found much of
it tracked back to a “super-entity” of 147 even more tightly knit
companies – all of their ownership was held by other members of the
super-entity – that controlled 40 per cent of the total wealth in the
network. “In effect, less than 1 per cent of the companies were able
to control 40 per cent of the entire network,” says Glattfelder. Most
were financial institutions. The top 20 included Barclays Bank,
JPMorgan Chase & Co, and The Goldman Sachs Group.
It’s not the existence of such networks in themselves that are a threat to global economic stability, but the core of tight interconnections mean that if one company is struggling it has a negative impact on te rest.
The article tends to focus on what this means for the occupy movement, and assumes that all occupiers believe the 1% are part of a deliberate, planned conspiracy. The writers of the article say the study shows that it is more to do with the way self-organising systems can develop.
Driffill feels 147 is too many to sustain collusion.
Braha suspects they will compete in the market but act together on
common interests. Resisting changes to the network structure may be
one such common interest.
Well that explanation is more in keeping with how I see the wealth-power elite operating, and I suspect many occupiers would think so as well.
The article doesn’t seem to be concerned about the inequalities developed through such financial-wealth-power networks, but only with the stability/instability of the system.
With so many of the players (e.g. former Goldman Sachs execs) moving between private institutions to work in government (and vice versa) and being on many boards the average Joe assumes collusion and a plan.
It’s interesting that these people say it isn’t so. So the trap for the average punter would be when they see the collusion to resist “changes to the network structure may be one such common interest.” and interpret it as a 24/7 state of affairs.
They problem I have with that (and a point raised by OWS) is that in times when the structure is not threatened by change you still see an undue influence by the corporations to buy our democracy, write our legislation and influence our decision makers.
I don’t accept that there is no collusion/conspiracy. As someone once said about the changes in NZ in the 80s – for there to be a conspiracy all it takes is two people reaching an agreement over port and cigars in the Wellington Club.
I think the distinction is that conspiracies are to often seen as sophisticated, all encompassing and all powerful. For such a conspiracy to happen requires a lot of work and no loose ends.
What is often missed is that conspiracies don’t have to be big. As I said above “for there to be a conspiracy all it takes is two people reaching an agreement over port and cigars in the Wellington Club.”
That would make the CTU, OWS and the Business Roundtable conspiracies.
Perhaps the distinction is in the morality / legality of the conspirators’ goals. When charges of conspiracy are laid it is a conspiracy to XYZ. It is the ends and methods of the agreement that determine the pejorative conspiracy.
“The article doesn’t seem to be concerned about the inequalities developed through such financial-wealth-power networks, but only with the stability/instability of the system.”
Inequality being one of the symptoms of instability.
As always, it pays to read the actual paper – which indeed addresses the issues you raise. http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1107/1107.5728v2.pdf
‘One thing won’t chime with some of the protesters’ claims: the super-entity is unlikely to be the intentional result of a conspiracy to rule the world. “Such structures are common in nature,”‘ Truthers take note.
An online tool where you can map and visualize company board connections.
You can look up specific people or play around and click to see various connections.
I’ve no idea how up-to-date the site is but it’s interesting to play around with
“It may not have been but that doesn’t mean that it’s not being used for that now.”
What makes you think that the desire to “rule the world” equates to the capability? We (humans) have set up very complex structures to “rule the world” and they have a hard enough time of it. I doubt corporations have a magic wand that governments don’t. They are influential players, but the fact that these super entities arise by “natural” means implies that their are natural laws to follow, which may have far more to do with survival as a member of the group, for example.
I think you’ve failed to establish the premise – that “ruling the world” – in the sense you propose – is even possible.
They are influential players, but the fact that these super entities arise by “natural” means implies that their are natural laws to follow, which may have far more to do with survival as a member of the group, for example.
Someone needs to go do (history and) philosophy of science it seems…
Calling it “natural” ends up hiding the social and economic factors over history that created the environmental forces that lead to these companies emerging, but also the ability of social and economic forces to be altered by mass movements to remove these. So that to suppose “natural laws” are responsible treats these concentrations of influence as immutable natural outcomes and thus not to be messed with, when history shows otherwise. Of course, I’m going by laymans definitions here, but then you have failed to show any signs of actually thinking in depth beyond teh surface details here.
Also, in biology, the only hard laws are thermodynamics, everything else is context sensitive in reference to historical (biochem/genetics/population characters)* and ecological factors. Which is what makes ecology and evolutionary biology so wondrously neat and complex, but also means that trying to apply concepts to other areas without sanity checking becomes problematic really quickly.
That’s not to say that human society and all it’s tools aren’t natural though (which is what drives SETI nuts**), it’s just that trying to assign “natural laws” rapidly hits brickwalls with exceptions and the mutability and adaptability of human societies.
______________________________________
*I’m being a bit lazy here, because a full description is a whole fucking textbook on evolutionary biology + a couple of others on biochemistry, population genetics and ecology + key research papers.
**While not a text book, it’s a large essay with extensive referencing in itself on why “artificial” is not as easy to define away from natural phenomena, with humorous references to the failures of Intelligent Design “researchers” myriad failings.
I think you’ve failed to establish the premise – that “ruling the world” – in the sense you propose – is even possible.
And you’ve failed to realise that you don’t need to rule the world, all that’s needed is just enough influence to nudge things (even accidentally) in ways that benefit you that are emergent features of these networks 😛
It might not be world control, and it might be slow, but it does allow for indirect and direct nudging of nations if you can escape teh competition for a moment.
Says you. I hadn’t failed to realise it at all in fact – but if “ruling” is really “having influence” I fail to see what’s startling about it – you might as well get excited about the fact that the sky is blue.
The authors of the study have already made this explicit connection to natural systems, and since they are referring to mathematical similarities, I feel confident in quoting them.
The problem is that you’re not paying attention to teh definition of “natural” the authors use, which unless you’re feeling free to correct me fully, you’re not using in your prior post.
As for it being “surprising”, the novel thing about this research is actually shows the connections companies have than can drive influence on regional or global scales with a bit more rigour than norm. And for those who dislike corporate influence of democracies it provides valuable evidence, but for me, it’s just a massively neat use of network theory. And picking apart you analogy, it’s not that the sky is blue, it’s how it’s blue that’s of surprise here.
I agree with NickS (and thanks for putting the points so clearly, NickS).
This word ‘natural’ is very misleading. It is natural, for example, for humans to have five fingers on each hand. But, of course, (and in a different sense) it is also natural when someone is born with six fingers.
The important point is simply that, in a particular set of circumstances certain outcomes are likely (or even inevitable). In different circumstances, different outcomes are likely.
We could say, if you like, that capitalism has a certain internal logic which leads, generally, to particular macrolevel results, such as the concentration of wealth, while also generating more and more of it (i.e., ‘wealth’). Further, legal structures and laws have their own ‘logic’ which enables/encourages certain results in relation to the legal entities we call corporations.
Together, these two ‘logics’ naturally produce the kind of pattern in which 147 companies form a ‘super entity’.
Other circumstances (i.e., structures, systems and laws) may well not lead to such concentration. That is, the concentration is not ‘natural’ in the sense of ‘inevitable’ but ‘natural’ in the sense that it follows from a particular set of arrangements.
On another point, I don’t think that either intentionality or ‘naturalness’ should have anything to do with the question of whether or not such a state of corporate concentration of ownership is desirable.
Anyhow, one of the issues with this is that a lose of one of these nodes can have very large effects on the global economy, and more so, enough of them acting together can have wide-reaching impacts. However, they’re also in competition so any cartels that form are going to be small scale and otherwise narrowly focused, as well as being prone to information leaking.
So the main thing to watch for are mergers that concentrate power further and disrupt them, but also node sensitive legislation that adds social dimensions to the actions of nodes once they’re above a level that can cause significant national and international problems if things go wrong. Probably in the form of completely independent forensic auditors with far reaching powers to dig into any “issues” as they begin happen, rather than after the horse has bolted.
Not that the nodes would go down without a fight and legal action, despite topographical network theory being pretty well advanced (and fun to use in ecosystem foodweb studies) and capable of locating potential failure points.
Edit: Apparently reading it a bit more Obama is just sticking to a deadline which was agreed to by Bush in 2008 anyway (not that I think the Republicans would have stuck to it).
Yeah they won’t want 40,000 guys getting bored in the US.
On that note part of the reason they aren’t extending their stay is apparently the Iraqis wouldn’t agree to keep the US forces immunity from prosecution past that date.
Chris. That immunity was weird given that the USA are very righteous about pursuing every other criminal acts especially if committed by any foreigner. “We stand for freedom, the right to a fair trial, democracy, justice for all etc. Mmmm!
There’s a definite double standard on the part of the US. They want to prosecute and pursue foreigners who commit crime but they will not submit any of their people to the International Criminal Court.
You see this type of ethnocentric thinking when
– Americans are arrested overseas and it is automatically assumed they will not be treated fair in any other foreign jurisdiction
– Americans get sick overseas and it is automatically assumed they will not be treated professionally and with international best practice and have to be rushed back to the States.
Americans are arrested overseas and it is automatically assumed they will not be treated fair in any other foreign jurisdiction
Even if they are convicted, the automatic assumption is that they are sweet innocents, wrongly convicted. If they are later acquitted, they are welcomed home as if they are heroes who suffered torture and injustice in a 3rd world hellhole! Cf the evil Amanda Knox… I remain convinced that there’s something dodgy about this woman’s acquittal. Now, she’s not giving any interviews, as she has a book contract which precludes that. Her brother spoke proudly on the BBC about how the “free Amanda Knox” campaign he started had “brought her back to us”. I am sorry, it just makes me very angry. The African guy (one of the 3 charged) is, by Amanda, the “real” villain… not her sweetness, oh no! 🙁
Former marine pollution response manager Nick Quinn left Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) last year for a job as response manager at the Australian Marine Oil Spill centre.
Ian Niblock, who was national on-scene manager as well as the Northland regional harbour master, also left to take the harbourmaster’s position in Darwin.
Public Service Association acting national secretary Jeff Osborne said he understood MNZ had lost other key players.
It used to have a naval architect, a nautical analyst, an environmental analyst, a human factors analyst and a rules adviser.
“Those jobs are gone we believe, they don’t exist anymore. People have left and not been replaced or they have been laid off.”
Labour strategist Trevor Mallard said it would have been better if the country could have held on to good people without losing them to Australia.
“Then we wouldn’t have been five days behind.”
He pointed to comments by chairman David Ledson in Maritime NZ’s 2010 annual report that “MNZ was not immune from the effects of fiscal pressures … and that retention and recruitment of `the right people with the right skills’ and in the right numbers presented challenges.”
A decade ago, the Oil Pollution Fund contained about $12 million but now totals only $4m after a decision was made by then transport minister Mark Gosche to draw the account down. The purpose of the fund is to have sufficient cash rapidly available in case of an oil spill…….
However, it does make Labour look like absolute hypocrites given some of their attacks on National lately. National made an error of omission in not increasing the maximum liability. However, this was a deliberate, calculated decision on the part of Labour.
From the article:
Auckland University associate professor and maritime law expert Paul Myburgh said New Zealand had never faced such a serious oil pollution incident as the Rena.
“Given the reality of maritime limitation of liability, it is inevitable that governments will always have to cover a portion of the clean-up costs and consequential economic consequences of a spill. That is why we levy the industry in the first place.”
It had been “a foolish and shortsighted decision” to reduce the levy, he said.
Labour foolish and short-sighted? Who would have ever guessed? 🙂
Semantics. Really, it shows Labour as being short sighted some ten years ago but that doesn’t make them “little better than environmental vandals” no matter how much you want to spin it. As I said here, it’s not going to make any difference to the clean up.
The environmental vandals are NAct who are gutting the RMA and who also didn’t increase the resources needed to respond to a maritime accident as required.
Clearly – from that same article – the wound down fund is still sufficient for the Rena. Of course, it would be wise to have a bigger fund given that now we have to hope and pray another one doesn’t happen anytime soon.
So, no tsmithfield, it doesn’t look like Labour are ‘absolute hypocrites’ – since the fund was fine for the Rena – but unwise decision making, nevertheless.
It has been revealed that the Labour Government cut Maritime New Zealand’s oil spill response funding by two thirds.
And? It’s the government, I’m sure that they’ll be able to borrow a few mil extra. They shouldn’t have to but it won’t slow down the clean up.
See there’s a difference between having funds available for the clean up and being properly resourced to respond to an accident. National have held the critical funding (the resources MNZ has to operate) down by the simple expedient of not increasing funding by the rate of inflation and so MNZ was unable to respond. Of course, it’s possible that it wasn’t properly resourced before hand either but the latest report that said that they needed more resource came about under Nationals watch and they didn’t do anything to correct the lack of resources.
The facts are that since the funding cut many of the most experienced oil disaster response professionals at Maritime New Zealand were either made redundant or left.
The question to be answered is this:
Was the manning crisis which sprung from the underfunding of MNZ, one of the reasons that Maritime New Zealand stood around like hand wringing leaderless ninnies for a full four (4) days of fine weather, while a fatally wounded ship lay on a reef with 1700 tonnes of oil left leaking into the environment.
The facts are that since the funding cut many of the most experienced oil disaster response professionals at Maritime New Zealand were either made redundant or left.
When did they leave? Really important point that because the Labour led government were building up the public services. It’s this government that’s been cutting them to shreds (again).
What Labour did wasn’t a funding cut – it was a decrease in a slush fund. And, really, NAct had the report over a year ago saying that more resources were needed and yet they didn’t give those resources but instead mad no increase to the nominal amount.
I have a suggestion for improving the calibre of our MPs:
MP Bootcamp.
Candidates are enrolled as cadets and then sent to areas around NZ which are culturally alternative to that with which they identify. The placement lasts for 3 years before the cadet can stand for office. While on placement their expenses and accomodation are arranged and paid for by their electorate/community.
A candidate from Dunedin, for example, could be sent to Manurewa in Auckland. And a candidate from Auckland Central might be sent to Nightcaps. Perspective and communication skills would improve dramatically, or the MP would likely drop out of the system. This would ensure new faces and a move away from career polticians.
“First, their motive for cooperating with F.B.I. investigators was not to clean up corruption but to increase Republican political fortunes by reducing African-American voter turnout. Second, they lack credibility because the record establishes their purposeful, racist intent,” Thompson wrote.
Wow, I didn’t know the Standard was all about trashing religion.. I thought it was all about politics, and now I am feeling as if I am rather naive! Don’t get your knickers in a knot, I am reading your links. But seriously, gentlemen I would go to American atheists or Professor Sir Lord Dawkins’ site if I wanted to read atheism.
Also, please take note. Not all women regard abortion on demand as the freedom they want most! (Or even at all.) For every “pro-choice” woman I have met or seen online there are 20 pro-abortion men. It’s obvious why really, whether the man is straight or gay..
Wow, I didn’t know the Standard was all about trashing religion.. I thought it was all about politics, and now I am feeling as if I am rather naive!
Could you possibly sound any more stupid? If you look at the description for teh open mike, it’s very clearly a free for all.
Don’t get your knickers in a knot, I am reading your links. But seriously, gentlemen I would go to American atheists or Professor Sir Lord Dawkins’ site if I wanted to read atheism.
Awww, snookums, poor you having to put up with others freedom of speech and well founded dislike of undue religious influence on secular society,
Also, please take note. Not all women regard abortion on demand as the freedom they want most! (Or even at all.) For every “pro-choice” woman I have met or seen online there are 20 pro-abortion men. It’s obvious why really, whether the man is straight or gay..
Sampling 101 mega-fail.
Or, there’s this things known as “surveys” which generally try to rigorously sample and so give us statistically sound indicators about what ever they’re sampling for. One of the things that they don’t do is pure convenience sampling via response, let alone use very dodgy human recall like your using. Which is doubly flawed, as female participation in online communities usually isn’t as high as males, and further more, participation is firmly dependent on a persons capability and willingness (aka teaspoons) to respond, thus creating major sampling problems.
In short, your little anecdote is only of use to highlight your own ignorance and biases.
And congrats on including a moronic sexist quip in there too /thumbs up
Could you possibly sound any more stupid? If you look at the description for teh open mike, it’s very clearly a free for all.
Awww, snookums, poor you having to put up with others freedom of speech and well founded dislike of undue religious influence on secular society
Thank you so much for confirming my view that atheists are all about hate. I can feel the loathing coming off you in waves…
Actually, I do have statistics confirming that males support abortion on demand twice as often as women do, but I thought, stupidly, that you’d be more open to my talking about my own observations.
And congrats on including a moronic sexist quip in there too /thumbs up
What sexist quip would that be then? You do have issues don’t you?
Thank you so much for confirming my view that atheists are all about hate. I can feel the loathing coming off you in waves…
Because annoyance at your stupidity and a tendency to bluntness = hate…
Logic, learn to use it.
Actually, I do have statistics confirming that males support abortion on demand twice as often as women do, but I thought, stupidly, that you’d be more open to my talking about my own observations.
lolwut?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_the_United_States#Public_opinion
It’s nearly equal in the USA, assume similar distro in NZ, but more support, also you’ll need to show the question asked + sampling methodologies for those stats you claim to have as these obviously impact on responses received and statistical rigour.
That if you actually have them that is.
What sexist quip would that be then? You do have issues don’t you?
…
It’s obvious why really, whether the man is straight or gay..
Sexist sentence is sexist as it assumes men’s support is down to them being male, reinforced by the “or gay” bit.
Sexist sentence is sexist as it assumes men’s support is down to them being male, reinforced by the “or gay” bit.
Hilarious! My somewhat cynical statement of fact as I have observed it, is sexist? Diddums. Are we anxiously clutching our scrotum are we? As for the “or gay” comment, that’s sexist? Surely the word is “hetero-normative”?
Why do you assume that NZ stats are similar? Because NZ is culturally American? (It is, but so what. There are still differences)
Hey, here’s an idea. If you know a woman, ask her then ask what her friends and family (sisters, aunts. mother, daughters) think.
And yes, I do have those statistics, but they’re from a newspaper article, and not in digital form.. so you’d have to believe me, which I gather you’d rather die than do.
Hi ! Want a break from looking at the printed word, black letters on a white background !
Have a view of this photo essay of the once in a half century floods affecting Thailand.
Thanks johnm. An extraordinary essay. Amazed that there is little evidence of fast flowing water that we associate with flooding; just a mass of waterlogged land and desperate people. (I wish my wife had seen those photos as she was flying into Thailand yesterday. The word reports don’t due justice to seriousness of the flooding.)
And yes climate changes probably account for the succession of changes around the world rather than just a one-off unlucky event.
Analysis: The military strongmen who oversaw Egypt’s political hierarchy for six decades hover ominously over the nation’s new democracy. Nivien Saleh argues the U.S. has the power to pry the generals’ fingers off the levers of power.
My apologies for the length of this post but here is collection of slogans from the Occupy Wall Street protests..
Put Your Money in a Credit Union, Now!
Peace, Love, Fairness, Common Sense.
We are here for our children!
Outflank the Banks.
We will not be LIQUIDATED.
Poverty Is Economic Slavery.
Survival of the richest.
Corporations aren’t people; they’re monsters.
Invest in the middle class-they need it.
Will work for evil corporation?
If you stop people from hearing what I am saying then you are proving what I am saying.
It takes an Occupation to raise a country.
Put an end to the Bankster Fraud.
Render unto Banksters – nothing.
Independent regulating of our finance market, NOW!
People BEFORE profits.
Render Not Unto Banksters!
People are the bottom line.
Harsher penalties for white collar crime!
No More Bailouts – Let Banksters Eat Losses!
Paychecks for the People!
Merrill should have been Lynched.
The Enemy of My Bank Is My Friend!
Where’s my bailout?
Democratize the Banks!
Banks for the 99%!
Banks for People not for Banksters!
Honest Community Banks, Not fraudster Big Banks!
End Welfare for the Rich!
Currency for a common good.
Paychecks not credit card bills.
Stimulus not corporate welfare.
End debt slavery.
Debt forgiveness, not debt peonage.
Those with golden parachutes should jump out of a plane.
Game over, insert coin!
More Anti-Trust Class-action.
The last thing wankers need, is more stimulus!
Global wanking sector is a mess!
My mother was right. Too much banking makes you go blind!
Middle Class – All pain No gain
I didn’t create the Global Financial Crisis.
Goldman Sucks.
Where are the prosecutions of financiers?
End trading on our currency!
Obama sold out to the finance sector.
Stop corporates writing our laws.
Make NZ about people again.
Make NZ green again.
We’re kick screwed more in the boardroom than the bed room.
You know things are messed up when librarians start marching.
When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
One day the poor will have nothing left to eat but the poor.
Hungry? Eat a banker.
I am a human being not a commodity.
Tear down this Wall St!
When the rich rob the poor it’s called business. When the poor fight back it’s called violence.
Education in personal finance should be required like math, history & science.
Give a damn.
I can’t afford a lobbyist. I am the 99%.
Fuck trickle down. They’re just pissing on you.
A better world is possible.
Too big to fail is too big to allow.
I won’t believe coporations are people until Texas executes one.
You can’t find a good left-wing military coup when you need one.
It is easier for me to buy a gun than an education.
It’s harder today to make a living, it’s easier to snatch one.
Democracy is hard but we’re doing it.
End corporate personhood.
Bakes sales for banks. Bailout for schools.
Never confuse Friedman for freedom.
Stop fucking up the future.
It’s not a crisis – it’s a scam.
Loan sharks ate my world.
No bulls, no bears, only pigs.
Foreclose on the finance market.
We the people are pissed off.
There’s enough to go around.
The rich get bailed out the poor get sold out.
The CEO’s of Wall St belong behind bars.
Quit struggling and start fighting.
Main St not Wall St.
Can’t bear Wall St bull.
Get the money out of politics.
Fox News – rich people telling rich people to tell middle class people to blame poor people.
The only just war is class war.
They poison our air, water, land, bodies, mind.
I asked this on another, dying, thread, so I thought I’d repeat it here:
“Yes. I’ve been thinking Key’s (publicly known and undisputed) past should be an election issue, and should have been last time. The timing might be better now MSM is being forced to give at least some coverage to the issues behind OWS.
In the interests of being well-informed in my bad-mouthing him in the run-up to the election: I remember hearing about his involvement in betting against the NZ dollar and costing this country millions (quite legally) in a previous life. True?, partly true?, false?”
Justsaying you might want to read this. There is plenty more on my blog.
John Key is a bankster scumbag with a huge conflict of interest and should not be the PM of this country.
Actually this one is the one on his dealings with Andrew Krieger the guy attacking the NZ dollar in 1987. there might be a couple of dead links to the unauthorised biography because when I confronted Eugene Bingham the writer with his obviously fraudulent piece they removed five pages of the article. Funnily enough those were the ones with reference to his banking career. The pdf of the article I made of the original will be available in the next couple of days. I’ve had a massive crash of my computer and need to rebuild it from scratch. Thank God for back up files.
You’ve got to hand it to Key, he has to be the luckiest guy in the world.
By his testimony all the nefarious shit happened either before or after he left the various companies. Either he is the luckiest guy in the world or he is as guilty as sin. Trouble is, nobody with inside info is saying a thing.
We are reduced to calculating dates and speculating. I personally have no doubt that he was up to his lying lips in CDOs and in getting rich off speculating on the NZ dollar. The problem is proving it.
You’re right, it’s a good time to kick start this issue as he was definitely involved (even if he wasn’t there when the fit hit the shan) and doesn’t deserve the reputation of being a responsible money man and is therefore qualified to be our PM.
shady financier + economic failure in government = epic fail
Hi W,
I’ve had a massive crash on my computer and have lost my ability to convert the flyers pdf’s to a word file for the time being. If you download them from my blog they can be converted for editing and you have my permission to do so. I would really appreciate you helping me with the flyers because it is my impression people are more open to reading them than they were three years ago.
In an article called the unauthorised biography published in the NZ herald he says: “and than all hell broke loose and I said I’m out of here”
That was when the Bankers trust bank collapsed as a result of a derivatives scandal. John Key was then headhunted by Merrill Lynch to help them build up their Derivatives trade which made them one of the biggest banks by the end of 2000 when John Key left.
John Key was on an advisory committee to the Federal Reserve in New York when the Glass Steagall act was repealed (something every investment bankster dreamed off) and he said in another interview of Andrew Krieger’s attack on the NZ dollar in which he was the party in NZ that Andrew Krieger was the first to really understand the power of Options (one form of gambling with derivatives) which had been illegal from 1916 until 1982 and should never have been legalised in the first place as they also caused the “Great” depression.
John Key was there when it happened and knew all about it. He is quilty as sin.
There’s a world of difference between bad decisions on the maritime fund and deliberately increasing your personal fortune buy selling shit and speculating on your own country’s currency knowing you are getting rich and causing people to lose jobs, businesses, houses etc.
One is a moment of poor judgement and the other is an immoral position based on a lack of good character and if you support the later (as you appear to) then you obviously share the same failure of character.
Because that’s just soo much smarter and cheaper than actually doing network security properly and hiring a small army of grey and white hat hackers (complete with research botnets) to hunt for any holes + “deal with” any dumbass employees who violate basic security protocols. Basically, unless the new ‘net is utterly isolated from the rest of the net, and heavily encrypted, it’s going to be penetrated very quickly as it’ll be hacker catnip.
And so, you can’t escape the Red Queen by jumping on to a different track, because they’ll just follow you…
As a vegetarian for over 30 years I hope this story isn’t true, and it may not be, as there are no sources but…
“Meatless days in France are a thing of the past for 6 million children after the French government announced children will be forced to eat meat if they want lunch at school. The new move has left vegetarians crying foul and demand a change to the policy, but Paris seems unwilling to budge after the law was passed by decree by the country’s parliament this month.
It forbids serving vegetarian meals to school children and goes on to say that fish, dairy, meat or offal, “must be used in every meal.” Even bringing lunch to school is not an alternative as the government has also banned packed lunches. The ban will be implemented across kindergartens, hospitals, prisons, colleges and old people’s homes.”
I don’t care too much what people choose to do and if they choose to partake of flesh, that is their choice – for me the disgusting practices we use to ‘farm’ animals was more than I could tolerate and I couldn’t get out of my head – “If we don’t need to treat animals like this to live – why do it? Why put the animals through untold suffering? I couldn’t, I won’t.
I had a quick hunt online and it looks like the report you quote is a tad exaggerated, MM. The government agency responsible has banned dishes that are associated with obesity such as hot chips and fatty meats, but they have only made some brief suggestions about what the alternatives should be. Their list of alternatives does not include vegetarian options, but does not preclude them either. And it does suggest more vegetables be included in the meals.
Fox News has also gone off the deep end, reporting the change as being a ban on ketchup, implying that it’s anti-Americanism gone mad!
Your website hurts my eyes, and whatever message there is in dog-eat-dog politics is lost on me – just like I suspect it will be on 95% of people who see it.
Hey Ev I didnt know that John Keys was working at Bankers Trust when they wen tbust. They went bust because they were selling derivatives to Proctor and Gamble and the Orange County Pension Fund and then changing the rules so that those mentioned above lost colossal amounts of money and had to sue to get it back.
Hmmm. thats what New Zealand will have to do after John Keys slopes off.
Hi R,
Here is the timeline for the Bankers trust career of John Key. He claims he did not start at the Bankers trust until August 1988 but he also tells us that he did trade with Andrew Krieger and what’s more he and his than boss tell us that he was the trader appointed to deal with Andrew Krieger solely while he was trading many millions. That could only have happened on the Thursday after the 1987 black Monday as Krieger reckoned the NZ dollar was overrated and that is the only spike recorded in the Reserve bank annals.
Andrew Krieger left the Bankers trust in January 1988 and forex trading altogether in June of that year making it utterly impossible for John Key to have worked with him in August of 1988.
The Proctor and Gamble scandal broke in 1995 but this is what was the norm in 1993: ROF in Bankers trust lingo meant Rip off factor. John does not say:”the Bankers trust was a big disappoint because they turned out to be a fraudulent lot.”
Instead he takes a position with Merrill Lynch selling the same derivatives that collapsed the Bankers trust in the first place.
Thanks for the info on the Orange County Pension Fund!
This is the cost of destroying welfare systems, this is the “choice” the little L libertards want people to have and this is what could happen here if the right wing nutjobs in National ever get their way, cheered on by the likes of ACT supporters and that arsehat Lindsay Mitchell who declares welfare to be teh evils.
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
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 ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
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. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
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 ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
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. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
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The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
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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 A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
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Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
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I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
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I’m asking Occupy Dunedin to Please vacate the Octagon.
I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t you vacate the Octagon?
I have vacated, after spending an hour there this morning.
Their Facebook page shows the problems trying to maintain a semblance of decency when you have a bunch of radicals, anarchists and “anything that involves a stir”-ists.
It’s the fucking internet, what more do you want? Crumpets and whipped cream perhaps? A shrubbery with free delivery? The Second Coming of Raptor Jesus?
If you say something utterly stupid and/or factually wrong, expect people to get fucked off with you to various extents. And give thanks to Peter Dunnes hair-piece that not one’s yet rightfully pain-series’d you (or linked you to that page) due to your ever irritating middle class privilege pushing.
What are you on about? I didn’t say anything factually wrong. I’ve been on amicable terms and had interesting discussions with anyone I’ve talked to face to face at the Octagon. I was abused and defamed, it was an embarrassment to Occupy Dunedin so they deleted the abuse and the nong went ape about it – and threatened to go even more ape against them.
lolwut?
Shit you fail at reading comprehension. Re-read this, particularly the bit before the and/or while thinking about “perceptions”:
Go it yet, or do you also fail, at basic theory of mind as well?
And while you may have had polite conversations offline, online provides teh ability for people to be direct and blunt, instead of faking politeness to avoid conflict. And thus creating impressions that they’re on “amicable” terms with you, instead of regarding you as whatever they privately regard you as…
Which is pretty normal human behaviour as I and other members of the evil science brigade may have polite irl convo’s with people we regard as complete idiots (like Rick Giles).
it’s personal then pete – the nong went ape – says it all really
What a complete and utter tool.
And so very sad, I almost feel sorry for you.
Do you almost feel sorry for all the others in Dunedin who have just about had enough of their Octagon being taken over?
Yeah sure. Those damn, dirty, directionless, dole-bludging dikes and do littles are spoiling their mid-afternoon lattes. Poor wee things.
Busy-bodies like you have often played a very different, and quite horrific, role throughout history. Once again, sorry if you fail to see this.
You obviously have no idea what’s going on here. This is bringing out a few who genuinely think they can change the world, and many immature attention seekers.
Pete G ’tis the derpist derp to have ever derped.
He’s the very living image of derp.
Sealed by his facebook page and actions on top of historical derp-ness on here.
A new study has investigated the relationships between the top 43,000 transnational corporations. It’s not a perfect investigation, but a good beginning to bringing to light the main networks of wealth and power:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228354.500-revealed–the-capitalist-network-that-runs-the-world.html
It’s not the existence of such networks in themselves that are a threat to global economic stability, but the core of tight interconnections mean that if one company is struggling it has a negative impact on te rest.
The article tends to focus on what this means for the occupy movement, and assumes that all occupiers believe the 1% are part of a deliberate, planned conspiracy. The writers of the article say the study shows that it is more to do with the way self-organising systems can develop.
Well that explanation is more in keeping with how I see the wealth-power elite operating, and I suspect many occupiers would think so as well.
The article doesn’t seem to be concerned about the inequalities developed through such financial-wealth-power networks, but only with the stability/instability of the system.
With so many of the players (e.g. former Goldman Sachs execs) moving between private institutions to work in government (and vice versa) and being on many boards the average Joe assumes collusion and a plan.
It’s interesting that these people say it isn’t so. So the trap for the average punter would be when they see the collusion to resist “changes to the network structure may be one such common interest.” and interpret it as a 24/7 state of affairs.
They problem I have with that (and a point raised by OWS) is that in times when the structure is not threatened by change you still see an undue influence by the corporations to buy our democracy, write our legislation and influence our decision makers.
I don’t accept that there is no collusion/conspiracy. As someone once said about the changes in NZ in the 80s – for there to be a conspiracy all it takes is two people reaching an agreement over port and cigars in the Wellington Club.
I do not believe in a conspiracy. These people are not that competent.
Just a constant natural push by the greedy to take more from society..
The ones with the most money have the most influence in our system. A natural spiral. More money = more power = more self serving facilitators..
The only way to take back the power, is real Government by the people.
Giving a small group power always leads to an authoritarian Government to benefit politicians and their cronies.
I think the distinction is that conspiracies are to often seen as sophisticated, all encompassing and all powerful. For such a conspiracy to happen requires a lot of work and no loose ends.
What is often missed is that conspiracies don’t have to be big. As I said above “for there to be a conspiracy all it takes is two people reaching an agreement over port and cigars in the Wellington Club.”
That would make the CTU, OWS and the Business Roundtable conspiracies.
Perhaps the distinction is in the morality / legality of the conspirators’ goals. When charges of conspiracy are laid it is a conspiracy to XYZ. It is the ends and methods of the agreement that determine the pejorative conspiracy.
“The article doesn’t seem to be concerned about the inequalities developed through such financial-wealth-power networks, but only with the stability/instability of the system.”
Inequality being one of the symptoms of instability.
As always, it pays to read the actual paper – which indeed addresses the issues you raise.
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1107/1107.5728v2.pdf
‘One thing won’t chime with some of the protesters’ claims: the super-entity is unlikely to be the intentional result of a conspiracy to rule the world. “Such structures are common in nature,”‘ Truthers take note.
theyrule.net
An online tool where you can map and visualize company board connections.
You can look up specific people or play around and click to see various connections.
I’ve no idea how up-to-date the site is but it’s interesting to play around with
This too.
http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
It may not have been but that doesn’t mean that it’s not being used for that now.
“It may not have been but that doesn’t mean that it’s not being used for that now.”
What makes you think that the desire to “rule the world” equates to the capability? We (humans) have set up very complex structures to “rule the world” and they have a hard enough time of it. I doubt corporations have a magic wand that governments don’t. They are influential players, but the fact that these super entities arise by “natural” means implies that their are natural laws to follow, which may have far more to do with survival as a member of the group, for example.
I think you’ve failed to establish the premise – that “ruling the world” – in the sense you propose – is even possible.
Someone needs to go do (history and) philosophy of science it seems…
Calling it “natural” ends up hiding the social and economic factors over history that created the environmental forces that lead to these companies emerging, but also the ability of social and economic forces to be altered by mass movements to remove these. So that to suppose “natural laws” are responsible treats these concentrations of influence as immutable natural outcomes and thus not to be messed with, when history shows otherwise. Of course, I’m going by laymans definitions here, but then you have failed to show any signs of actually thinking in depth beyond teh surface details here.
Also, in biology, the only hard laws are thermodynamics, everything else is context sensitive in reference to historical (biochem/genetics/population characters)* and ecological factors. Which is what makes ecology and evolutionary biology so wondrously neat and complex, but also means that trying to apply concepts to other areas without sanity checking becomes problematic really quickly.
That’s not to say that human society and all it’s tools aren’t natural though (which is what drives SETI nuts**), it’s just that trying to assign “natural laws” rapidly hits brickwalls with exceptions and the mutability and adaptability of human societies.
______________________________________
*I’m being a bit lazy here, because a full description is a whole fucking textbook on evolutionary biology + a couple of others on biochemistry, population genetics and ecology + key research papers.
**While not a text book, it’s a large essay with extensive referencing in itself on why “artificial” is not as easy to define away from natural phenomena, with humorous references to the failures of Intelligent Design “researchers” myriad failings.
And you’ve failed to realise that you don’t need to rule the world, all that’s needed is just enough influence to nudge things (even accidentally) in ways that benefit you that are emergent features of these networks 😛
It might not be world control, and it might be slow, but it does allow for indirect and direct nudging of nations if you can escape teh competition for a moment.
Says you. I hadn’t failed to realise it at all in fact – but if “ruling” is really “having influence” I fail to see what’s startling about it – you might as well get excited about the fact that the sky is blue.
The authors of the study have already made this explicit connection to natural systems, and since they are referring to mathematical similarities, I feel confident in quoting them.
lolwut?
The problem is that you’re not paying attention to teh definition of “natural” the authors use, which unless you’re feeling free to correct me fully, you’re not using in your prior post.
As for it being “surprising”, the novel thing about this research is actually shows the connections companies have than can drive influence on regional or global scales with a bit more rigour than norm. And for those who dislike corporate influence of democracies it provides valuable evidence, but for me, it’s just a massively neat use of network theory. And picking apart you analogy, it’s not that the sky is blue, it’s how it’s blue that’s of surprise here.
Hi One Anonymous Bloke,
I agree with NickS (and thanks for putting the points so clearly, NickS).
This word ‘natural’ is very misleading. It is natural, for example, for humans to have five fingers on each hand. But, of course, (and in a different sense) it is also natural when someone is born with six fingers.
The important point is simply that, in a particular set of circumstances certain outcomes are likely (or even inevitable). In different circumstances, different outcomes are likely.
We could say, if you like, that capitalism has a certain internal logic which leads, generally, to particular macrolevel results, such as the concentration of wealth, while also generating more and more of it (i.e., ‘wealth’). Further, legal structures and laws have their own ‘logic’ which enables/encourages certain results in relation to the legal entities we call corporations.
Together, these two ‘logics’ naturally produce the kind of pattern in which 147 companies form a ‘super entity’.
Other circumstances (i.e., structures, systems and laws) may well not lead to such concentration. That is, the concentration is not ‘natural’ in the sense of ‘inevitable’ but ‘natural’ in the sense that it follows from a particular set of arrangements.
On another point, I don’t think that either intentionality or ‘naturalness’ should have anything to do with the question of whether or not such a state of corporate concentration of ownership is desirable.
Heh, that pretty much made my day, as my brain’s felt fogged up for the last couple of months thanks to a depressive episode.
“that pretty much made my day”
Then it was worth my getting up this morning.
😀
Beat me to it I see 😛
Anyhow, one of the issues with this is that a lose of one of these nodes can have very large effects on the global economy, and more so, enough of them acting together can have wide-reaching impacts. However, they’re also in competition so any cartels that form are going to be small scale and otherwise narrowly focused, as well as being prone to information leaking.
So the main thing to watch for are mergers that concentrate power further and disrupt them, but also node sensitive legislation that adds social dimensions to the actions of nodes once they’re above a level that can cause significant national and international problems if things go wrong. Probably in the form of completely independent forensic auditors with far reaching powers to dig into any “issues” as they begin happen, rather than after the horse has bolted.
Not that the nodes would go down without a fight and legal action, despite topographical network theory being pretty well advanced (and fun to use in ecosystem foodweb studies) and capable of locating potential failure points.
National billboard 2005 and 2008
“Brashional will stem the flow of our youngest and brightest to Aussie.”
Yeah Right!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/5832586/Big-jump-in-migration-to-Australia-reported
Pretty good news:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10760919
Although I’ll believe it when I see it.
Edit: Apparently reading it a bit more Obama is just sticking to a deadline which was agreed to by Bush in 2008 anyway (not that I think the Republicans would have stuck to it).
Amazing if it happens. The immense size of the USA fortress in Iraq will now be used as umm ….
Yeah they won’t want 40,000 guys getting bored in the US.
On that note part of the reason they aren’t extending their stay is apparently the Iraqis wouldn’t agree to keep the US forces immunity from prosecution past that date.
Chris. That immunity was weird given that the USA are very righteous about pursuing every other criminal acts especially if committed by any foreigner. “We stand for freedom, the right to a fair trial, democracy, justice for all etc. Mmmm!
There’s a definite double standard on the part of the US. They want to prosecute and pursue foreigners who commit crime but they will not submit any of their people to the International Criminal Court.
You see this type of ethnocentric thinking when
– Americans are arrested overseas and it is automatically assumed they will not be treated fair in any other foreign jurisdiction
– Americans get sick overseas and it is automatically assumed they will not be treated professionally and with international best practice and have to be rushed back to the States.
Even if they are convicted, the automatic assumption is that they are sweet innocents, wrongly convicted. If they are later acquitted, they are welcomed home as if they are heroes who suffered torture and injustice in a 3rd world hellhole! Cf the evil Amanda Knox… I remain convinced that there’s something dodgy about this woman’s acquittal. Now, she’s not giving any interviews, as she has a book contract which precludes that. Her brother spoke proudly on the BBC about how the “free Amanda Knox” campaign he started had “brought her back to us”. I am sorry, it just makes me very angry. The African guy (one of the 3 charged) is, by Amanda, the “real” villain… not her sweetness, oh no! 🙁
It has been revealed that the Labour Government cut Maritime New Zealand’s oil spill response funding by two thirds.
Could this be one of the reasons Maritime New Zealand was so slow to react to the Rena grounding?
“MNZ was not immune from the effects of fiscal pressure”
Maritime New Zealand oil response “fund” gutted by Labour
‘Labour’ Government cut?
Would’ve thought National have had enough time to reinstate that funding if they wanted to.
I mean I generally support National but please at some point they need to stop blaming the prior government.
However, it does make Labour look like absolute hypocrites given some of their attacks on National lately. National made an error of omission in not increasing the maximum liability. However, this was a deliberate, calculated decision on the part of Labour.
From the article:
Labour foolish and short-sighted? Who would have ever guessed? 🙂
Great Tsmith, let’s talk leaky building regulation shall we…
I am sure you would love to divert attention from the facts in this article that prove Labour to have been little better than environmental vandals.
But it doesn’t prove that does it? Short sighted? Yes. Environmental vandals? No.
I didn’t say they were environmental vandals. Just that they were little better than environmental vandals.
Semantics. Really, it shows Labour as being short sighted some ten years ago but that doesn’t make them “little better than environmental vandals” no matter how much you want to spin it. As I said here, it’s not going to make any difference to the clean up.
The environmental vandals are NAct who are gutting the RMA and who also didn’t increase the resources needed to respond to a maritime accident as required.
I thought right wingers were all for lowering taxes?
I can only repeat what I said here.
Clearly – from that same article – the wound down fund is still sufficient for the Rena. Of course, it would be wise to have a bigger fund given that now we have to hope and pray another one doesn’t happen anytime soon.
So, no tsmithfield, it doesn’t look like Labour are ‘absolute hypocrites’ – since the fund was fine for the Rena – but unwise decision making, nevertheless.
And? It’s the government, I’m sure that they’ll be able to borrow a few mil extra. They shouldn’t have to but it won’t slow down the clean up.
See there’s a difference between having funds available for the clean up and being properly resourced to respond to an accident. National have held the critical funding (the resources MNZ has to operate) down by the simple expedient of not increasing funding by the rate of inflation and so MNZ was unable to respond. Of course, it’s possible that it wasn’t properly resourced before hand either but the latest report that said that they needed more resource came about under Nationals watch and they didn’t do anything to correct the lack of resources.
The facts are that since the funding cut many of the most experienced oil disaster response professionals at Maritime New Zealand were either made redundant or left.
The question to be answered is this:
Was the manning crisis which sprung from the underfunding of MNZ, one of the reasons that Maritime New Zealand stood around like hand wringing leaderless ninnies for a full four (4) days of fine weather, while a fatally wounded ship lay on a reef with 1700 tonnes of oil left leaking into the environment.
When did they leave? Really important point that because the Labour led government were building up the public services. It’s this government that’s been cutting them to shreds (again).
What Labour did wasn’t a funding cut – it was a decrease in a slush fund. And, really, NAct had the report over a year ago saying that more resources were needed and yet they didn’t give those resources but instead mad no increase to the nominal amount.
I have a suggestion for improving the calibre of our MPs:
MP Bootcamp.
Candidates are enrolled as cadets and then sent to areas around NZ which are culturally alternative to that with which they identify. The placement lasts for 3 years before the cadet can stand for office. While on placement their expenses and accomodation are arranged and paid for by their electorate/community.
A candidate from Dunedin, for example, could be sent to Manurewa in Auckland. And a candidate from Auckland Central might be sent to Nightcaps. Perspective and communication skills would improve dramatically, or the MP would likely drop out of the system. This would ensure new faces and a move away from career polticians.
Mother Jones: Climate Skeptics Take Another Hit
More efforts to disenfranchise the poor.
“First, their motive for cooperating with F.B.I. investigators was not to clean up corruption but to increase Republican political fortunes by reducing African-American voter turnout. Second, they lack credibility because the record establishes their purposeful, racist intent,” Thompson wrote.
Two more reasons to despise religion.
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/atheologies/5035/the_other%2C_forgotten_apocalypse_of_2011/
http://domemagazine.com/features/cov101711
And to add to that on the colonising other people’s bodies front:
http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2011/10/21/santorum-goes-after-contraception/
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2011/10/19/347993/jim-demint-prohibit-internet-abortion-discussion/ (via Little Green Footballs)
Wow, I didn’t know the Standard was all about trashing religion.. I thought it was all about politics, and now I am feeling as if I am rather naive! Don’t get your knickers in a knot, I am reading your links. But seriously, gentlemen I would go to American atheists or Professor Sir Lord Dawkins’ site if I wanted to read atheism.
Also, please take note. Not all women regard abortion on demand as the freedom they want most! (Or even at all.) For every “pro-choice” woman I have met or seen online there are 20 pro-abortion men. It’s obvious why really, whether the man is straight or gay..
Bait taken.
Could you possibly sound any more stupid? If you look at the description for teh open mike, it’s very clearly a free for all.
Awww, snookums, poor you having to put up with others freedom of speech and well founded dislike of undue religious influence on secular society,
Sampling 101 mega-fail.
Or, there’s this things known as “surveys” which generally try to rigorously sample and so give us statistically sound indicators about what ever they’re sampling for. One of the things that they don’t do is pure convenience sampling via response, let alone use very dodgy human recall like your using. Which is doubly flawed, as female participation in online communities usually isn’t as high as males, and further more, participation is firmly dependent on a persons capability and willingness (aka teaspoons) to respond, thus creating major sampling problems.
In short, your little anecdote is only of use to highlight your own ignorance and biases.
And congrats on including a moronic sexist quip in there too /thumbs up
Thank you so much for confirming my view that atheists are all about hate. I can feel the loathing coming off you in waves…
Actually, I do have statistics confirming that males support abortion on demand twice as often as women do, but I thought, stupidly, that you’d be more open to my talking about my own observations.
What sexist quip would that be then? You do have issues don’t you?
/facepalm
Because annoyance at your stupidity and a tendency to bluntness = hate…
Logic, learn to use it.
lolwut?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_the_United_States#Public_opinion
It’s nearly equal in the USA, assume similar distro in NZ, but more support, also you’ll need to show the question asked + sampling methodologies for those stats you claim to have as these obviously impact on responses received and statistical rigour.
That if you actually have them that is.
Hilarious! My somewhat cynical statement of fact as I have observed it, is sexist? Diddums. Are we anxiously clutching our scrotum are we? As for the “or gay” comment, that’s sexist? Surely the word is “hetero-normative”?
Why do you assume that NZ stats are similar? Because NZ is culturally American? (It is, but so what. There are still differences)
Hey, here’s an idea. If you know a woman, ask her then ask what her friends and family (sisters, aunts. mother, daughters) think.
And yes, I do have those statistics, but they’re from a newspaper article, and not in digital form.. so you’d have to believe me, which I gather you’d rather die than do.
So your reply is word salad that’s up there with RWNJ word salad, and instead of citing any stats you tell me to look at anecdotal evidence…
Yay.
It’s like dealing with braindead young earth creationists all over again.
Obama’s the man!
Dirty Environmentalist
The study also found that the main source of micro-plastic appears to be through sewage contaminated by fibres from washing clothes…
Hi ! Want a break from looking at the printed word, black letters on a white background !
Have a view of this photo essay of the once in a half century floods affecting Thailand.
Link: http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2011/10/14/worst-floods-in-a-half-century-in-thailand/5029/
The serious point of course is climate change has made the monsoon heavier, disastrously so. Remember the incredible flooding in Pakistan.
Thanks johnm. An extraordinary essay. Amazed that there is little evidence of fast flowing water that we associate with flooding; just a mass of waterlogged land and desperate people. (I wish my wife had seen those photos as she was flying into Thailand yesterday. The word reports don’t due justice to seriousness of the flooding.)
And yes climate changes probably account for the succession of changes around the world rather than just a one-off unlucky event.
The New Egypt: A Return to Dictatorship?
Analysis: The military strongmen who oversaw Egypt’s political hierarchy for six decades hover ominously over the nation’s new democracy. Nivien Saleh argues the U.S. has the power to pry the generals’ fingers off the levers of power.
Meet the new boss,
Same as the old boss.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10760816
What an amazing write up. If only he was leading WW1 instead of Haig how many lives would have been saved, and all we have is a little world finance issue for him to manage !!!
My apologies for the length of this post but here is collection of slogans from the Occupy Wall Street protests..
Put Your Money in a Credit Union, Now!
Peace, Love, Fairness, Common Sense.
We are here for our children!
Outflank the Banks.
We will not be LIQUIDATED.
Poverty Is Economic Slavery.
Survival of the richest.
Corporations aren’t people; they’re monsters.
Invest in the middle class-they need it.
Will work for evil corporation?
If you stop people from hearing what I am saying then you are proving what I am saying.
It takes an Occupation to raise a country.
Put an end to the Bankster Fraud.
Render unto Banksters – nothing.
Independent regulating of our finance market, NOW!
People BEFORE profits.
Render Not Unto Banksters!
People are the bottom line.
Harsher penalties for white collar crime!
No More Bailouts – Let Banksters Eat Losses!
Paychecks for the People!
Merrill should have been Lynched.
The Enemy of My Bank Is My Friend!
Where’s my bailout?
Democratize the Banks!
Banks for the 99%!
Banks for People not for Banksters!
Honest Community Banks, Not fraudster Big Banks!
End Welfare for the Rich!
Currency for a common good.
Paychecks not credit card bills.
Stimulus not corporate welfare.
End debt slavery.
Debt forgiveness, not debt peonage.
Those with golden parachutes should jump out of a plane.
Game over, insert coin!
More Anti-Trust Class-action.
The last thing wankers need, is more stimulus!
Global wanking sector is a mess!
My mother was right. Too much banking makes you go blind!
Middle Class – All pain No gain
I didn’t create the Global Financial Crisis.
Goldman Sucks.
Where are the prosecutions of financiers?
End trading on our currency!
Obama sold out to the finance sector.
Stop corporates writing our laws.
Make NZ about people again.
Make NZ green again.
We’re kick screwed more in the boardroom than the bed room.
You know things are messed up when librarians start marching.
When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
One day the poor will have nothing left to eat but the poor.
Hungry? Eat a banker.
I am a human being not a commodity.
Tear down this Wall St!
When the rich rob the poor it’s called business. When the poor fight back it’s called violence.
Education in personal finance should be required like math, history & science.
Give a damn.
I can’t afford a lobbyist. I am the 99%.
Fuck trickle down. They’re just pissing on you.
A better world is possible.
Too big to fail is too big to allow.
I won’t believe coporations are people until Texas executes one.
You can’t find a good left-wing military coup when you need one.
It is easier for me to buy a gun than an education.
It’s harder today to make a living, it’s easier to snatch one.
Democracy is hard but we’re doing it.
End corporate personhood.
Bakes sales for banks. Bailout for schools.
Never confuse Friedman for freedom.
Stop fucking up the future.
It’s not a crisis – it’s a scam.
Loan sharks ate my world.
No bulls, no bears, only pigs.
Foreclose on the finance market.
We the people are pissed off.
There’s enough to go around.
The rich get bailed out the poor get sold out.
The CEO’s of Wall St belong behind bars.
Quit struggling and start fighting.
Main St not Wall St.
Can’t bear Wall St bull.
Get the money out of politics.
Fox News – rich people telling rich people to tell middle class people to blame poor people.
The only just war is class war.
They poison our air, water, land, bodies, mind.
Looks like some worthwhile Wikipedia entries to me 🙂
I asked this on another, dying, thread, so I thought I’d repeat it here:
“Yes. I’ve been thinking Key’s (publicly known and undisputed) past should be an election issue, and should have been last time. The timing might be better now MSM is being forced to give at least some coverage to the issues behind OWS.
In the interests of being well-informed in my bad-mouthing him in the run-up to the election: I remember hearing about his involvement in betting against the NZ dollar and costing this country millions (quite legally) in a previous life. True?, partly true?, false?”
Anybody??
You want Travellerev’s site.
Thanks DTB,
Justsaying you might want to read this. There is plenty more on my blog.
John Key is a bankster scumbag with a huge conflict of interest and should not be the PM of this country.
Actually this one is the one on his dealings with Andrew Krieger the guy attacking the NZ dollar in 1987. there might be a couple of dead links to the unauthorised biography because when I confronted Eugene Bingham the writer with his obviously fraudulent piece they removed five pages of the article. Funnily enough those were the ones with reference to his banking career. The pdf of the article I made of the original will be available in the next couple of days. I’ve had a massive crash of my computer and need to rebuild it from scratch. Thank God for back up files.
what about its the rich whats get the prunes but its the poor thats get the shits!
if the shits land on your head it’s called the trickle down
Like this:
http://www.golfrepublic.org/t2285-organisation-chart
In all likelihood this could be an old picture everyone has seen but I only just saw it recently and thought it was apt.
You’ve got to hand it to Key, he has to be the luckiest guy in the world.
By his testimony all the nefarious shit happened either before or after he left the various companies. Either he is the luckiest guy in the world or he is as guilty as sin. Trouble is, nobody with inside info is saying a thing.
We are reduced to calculating dates and speculating. I personally have no doubt that he was up to his lying lips in CDOs and in getting rich off speculating on the NZ dollar. The problem is proving it.
You’re right, it’s a good time to kick start this issue as he was definitely involved (even if he wasn’t there when the fit hit the shan) and doesn’t deserve the reputation of being a responsible money man and is therefore qualified to be our PM.
shady financier + economic failure in government = epic fail
“it’s a good time to kick start this issue”
because that worked so well at the last election.
Truth can always be hidden by a good PR campaign.
Hi W,
I’ve had a massive crash on my computer and have lost my ability to convert the flyers pdf’s to a word file for the time being. If you download them from my blog they can be converted for editing and you have my permission to do so. I would really appreciate you helping me with the flyers because it is my impression people are more open to reading them than they were three years ago.
Will do, thanks.
In an article called the unauthorised biography published in the NZ herald he says: “and than all hell broke loose and I said I’m out of here”
That was when the Bankers trust bank collapsed as a result of a derivatives scandal. John Key was then headhunted by Merrill Lynch to help them build up their Derivatives trade which made them one of the biggest banks by the end of 2000 when John Key left.
John Key was on an advisory committee to the Federal Reserve in New York when the Glass Steagall act was repealed (something every investment bankster dreamed off) and he said in another interview of Andrew Krieger’s attack on the NZ dollar in which he was the party in NZ that Andrew Krieger was the first to really understand the power of Options (one form of gambling with derivatives) which had been illegal from 1916 until 1982 and should never have been legalised in the first place as they also caused the “Great” depression.
John Key was there when it happened and knew all about it. He is quilty as sin.
Options trading, which according to you was illegal from 1916, caused the great depression of 1929?
Did the evil options have access to a time machine?
Do you even understand what an option is, Eve?
http://american_almanac.tripod.com/derivs.htm
http://aotearoaawiderperspective.wordpress.com/the-financial-tsunami-the-preeminent-role-of-new-york-banks-and-wall-street-investment-banks/
And here is a very interesting 4 part series called “the meltdown” by a Canadian company.
1936
William Joyce
Timing is everything in life. Even when you draw down the Government’s Maritime disaster fund, and shut up about it until you are outed – bad timing ?
There’s a world of difference between bad decisions on the maritime fund and deliberately increasing your personal fortune buy selling shit and speculating on your own country’s currency knowing you are getting rich and causing people to lose jobs, businesses, houses etc.
One is a moment of poor judgement and the other is an immoral position based on a lack of good character and if you support the later (as you appear to) then you obviously share the same failure of character.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/5832353/FBI-wants-new-secure-internet
/facepalm
Because that’s just soo much smarter and cheaper than actually doing network security properly and hiring a small army of grey and white hat hackers (complete with research botnets) to hunt for any holes + “deal with” any dumbass employees who violate basic security protocols. Basically, unless the new ‘net is utterly isolated from the rest of the net, and heavily encrypted, it’s going to be penetrated very quickly as it’ll be hacker catnip.
And so, you can’t escape the Red Queen by jumping on to a different track, because they’ll just follow you…
As a vegetarian for over 30 years I hope this story isn’t true, and it may not be, as there are no sources but…
“Meatless days in France are a thing of the past for 6 million children after the French government announced children will be forced to eat meat if they want lunch at school. The new move has left vegetarians crying foul and demand a change to the policy, but Paris seems unwilling to budge after the law was passed by decree by the country’s parliament this month.
It forbids serving vegetarian meals to school children and goes on to say that fish, dairy, meat or offal, “must be used in every meal.” Even bringing lunch to school is not an alternative as the government has also banned packed lunches. The ban will be implemented across kindergartens, hospitals, prisons, colleges and old people’s homes.”
http://bikyamasr.com/46124/first-france-bans-niqab-now-veggies/
I don’t care too much what people choose to do and if they choose to partake of flesh, that is their choice – for me the disgusting practices we use to ‘farm’ animals was more than I could tolerate and I couldn’t get out of my head – “If we don’t need to treat animals like this to live – why do it? Why put the animals through untold suffering? I couldn’t, I won’t.
I had a quick hunt online and it looks like the report you quote is a tad exaggerated, MM. The government agency responsible has banned dishes that are associated with obesity such as hot chips and fatty meats, but they have only made some brief suggestions about what the alternatives should be. Their list of alternatives does not include vegetarian options, but does not preclude them either. And it does suggest more vegetables be included in the meals.
Fox News has also gone off the deep end, reporting the change as being a ban on ketchup, implying that it’s anti-Americanism gone mad!
thanks VoR
Dog eat dog politics
Your website hurts my eyes, and whatever message there is in dog-eat-dog politics is lost on me – just like I suspect it will be on 95% of people who see it.
Fail E – must try harder.
Hey Ev I didnt know that John Keys was working at Bankers Trust when they wen tbust. They went bust because they were selling derivatives to Proctor and Gamble and the Orange County Pension Fund and then changing the rules so that those mentioned above lost colossal amounts of money and had to sue to get it back.
Hmmm. thats what New Zealand will have to do after John Keys slopes off.
Hi R,
Here is the timeline for the Bankers trust career of John Key. He claims he did not start at the Bankers trust until August 1988 but he also tells us that he did trade with Andrew Krieger and what’s more he and his than boss tell us that he was the trader appointed to deal with Andrew Krieger solely while he was trading many millions. That could only have happened on the Thursday after the 1987 black Monday as Krieger reckoned the NZ dollar was overrated and that is the only spike recorded in the Reserve bank annals.
Andrew Krieger left the Bankers trust in January 1988 and forex trading altogether in June of that year making it utterly impossible for John Key to have worked with him in August of 1988.
The Proctor and Gamble scandal broke in 1995 but this is what was the norm in 1993: ROF in Bankers trust lingo meant Rip off factor. John does not say:”the Bankers trust was a big disappoint because they turned out to be a fraudulent lot.”
Instead he takes a position with Merrill Lynch selling the same derivatives that collapsed the Bankers trust in the first place.
Thanks for the info on the Orange County Pension Fund!
Some useful research for the paranoid: http://berkeley.intel-research.net/arahimi/helmet/
America’s child death shame
…
This is the cost of destroying welfare systems, this is the “choice” the little L libertards want people to have and this is what could happen here if the right wing nutjobs in National ever get their way, cheered on by the likes of ACT supporters and that arsehat Lindsay Mitchell who declares welfare to be teh evils.
Fuck. This. Shit.
Hey this is nice and keep it up
/sniff
It’s spam, pointless comment used to post in order to put in a name with a link to pseudoscience weight-loss bullshit.
Kill it with FIRE please.
allright then.
fire at will.
up against the wall muthaf*ckah!
(lprent is gunna kcik my ass for this but hey I just couldn’t resist)
The latest Horizon Poll.
Many thanks Travellerev (and others)
Much material there. Will pass it on.
edit: This was meant to be a reply to Travellerev above.