Ten years after the invasion, occupation and widespread destruction of Iraq was set into motion the revisionist apologetics are flying fast and furious. These include the denial of culpability for crimes committed, the systematic undercounting of the innocents slaughtered and displaced and the conveniently forgotten hubris of empire in the high theater of technocratic carnage. They also wanly posit that the historical epic is behind ‘us,’ the 75 per cent of the populace reported in poll results to have supported the war before news began leaking that its murder and mayhem weren’t achieving their hypothesized results. So to this 75 per cent, AKA the American people, is the problem that we murdered too many or not enough? Put another way, what number of murdered Iraqis would be too many if today there were a Starbucks on every corner in Baghdad and Payday Lenders to bridge the cash flow shortfalls of the citizenry that remains?
And whither the good old days? Once upon a time the decomposing corpses of those responsible for destroying an entire nation, murdering a million or more of its citizens, causing the premature deaths of a wee chunk of the home folk and costing it a few trillion of its national ‘product’ would be on display for all to see—a cautionary exhibit against future hubristic incaution. This, if for no other reason than to assure that before another such adventure is undertaken, as the Nazis about to be hung at Nuremberg had it, we are sure to ‘win.’ And as gestures of contrition for these and other transgressions and magnanimity toward those slaughtered and their friends and family who remain, fair trials followed by swift executions of those found guilty at gallows set within public view on the White House lawn for Messrs. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle, Powell and Ms. Rice would place some distance between these architects of distant carnage and the other 75 per cent of this nation who at one point or another supported ‘their’ war.
The culture and political economy of impunity and immunity from prosecution for crimes high—war crimes under legally agreed upon terms, is matched only by the absolute immiseration, persecution, incarceration, torture and purposeful and negligent homicide of those on the other side of this imperial power. No war criminals have yet been charged in the bungled plunder of Iraq and the torch of aggressive war, murder, torture, illegal surveillance and robotic murder have been passed from war criminals past to war criminals present. Likewise, the methods of imperial economic extraction intended for America’s client nations now place much of the same 75 per cent that at one time supported the war on the wrong side of the imperial divide. The murder drones tested on distant battlefields now carry surveillance and murder technologies ‘at home’ to assure phone bills are paid and for-profit prisons filled as the ‘other’ political party divides our collective wealth amongst its new owners.
Three million Iraqis dead since 1991, but according to this genius it was all worth it, because “at least there’s no more Saddam in the world.”
Was that the catalyst for the Arab spring which may also see the downfall of Bashar?
No, it wasn’t. And, although you probably don’t know, the United States and Britain, AKA “The West”, continued to support Mubarak until the very last moment of his dictatorship.
That’s gotta be worth something in the long run…
You’re either a halfwit, or are just trying to be funny. Why are you here, exactly?
The arab spring? Dictators stopped inevitable progress, and was threatening food, water, energy outcomes for the populations, dictators held in place by cold war fears that no longer had merit.
People need to understand the NZ govt is working for other entities, who do not give a toss about NZ or the people in this country.
Perhaps once the bank accounts have been raided, people will begin to join the dots.
The debt is growing exponentially, global GDP cant keep up fast enough to pay the interest bill, we know thats not possible, so nect they’re coming for the banck accounts, after which time , private property is not going to tbe off the table, but likely that will be after whats left on NZs support systems, have been sold off!
+1, yes Granny and the MSM in general are assisting the NACT keep the sheeple in the dark as to their real inentions which is flogging anything of value and making us tenants in our own country.
Key’s desire to see wages drop is the tip of the iceberg NZ is being shafted with.
I had an interesting conversation around the ‘OBR’ and it’s implications with a couple of people yesterday . we ended up agreeing (surprise, surprise) that now that our politicians, on both sides of the house, are advocating the confiscation of our private property that they were no longer doing the job they had been elected to do ie represent the people and need to be removed. all of them
. but how do we do this?
we are going to gave to take the power back through fair means or foul if necessary.
As expected, the Cyprus parliament has been forced by the international banksters to directly “haircut” savers bank accounts. If you have over Euro 100K in Cyprus biggest bank, expect to lose 20% of it, instantaneously.
Many ATMs in the country now allow you to withdraw only Euro 100 a day. Capital controls. And this is just the start.
The party whose elected representatives refuse to participate in the current system. Each seat won becomes a non-starter and effectively cancels out a seat. It is not a final solution – it is a kick-starter.
Yep, everything not available. Aim is cancellation of the system. Use it against itself by voting it out of existence. You wont even be in Wellington, let alone gobbling on a Bellamys Fat Burger and Fries…
vote them out and replace them with whom? even the greens response isn’t satisfactory afaiac. it’s time to start regulating the banks and restricting the way they operate so that they can never be ‘too big to fail’. ‘too big to fail’ is simply too big, full stop.
there is going to be misery pain and suffering if we continue down the current path we are now clearly on to serfdom and virtual slavery to the moneyed elites. I’d prefer we go through the misery pain and suffering and destroy these barstards and ensure a fair and just world for future generations.
Well as I said clashman, it aint a final solution, it is a kick-starter to kicking the system.
And yep – this entire global financial crisis is the result of charging for the use of money – interest, or usury. Ban usury, like many other societies do. Usury turns the system into a ponzi scheme. The world banking system is one gigantic ponzi scheme – the planets biggest ever.
(ponzi scheme being one whereby further money needs to be brought into the system in order to pay for the costs of the system (the interest). This of course is completely unsustainable. Unfortunately the bozo right wingers and Nat party types refuse to see this)
Cancel out interest and the risk and danger dissipates to near nil.
I agree. In disparaging the charging of interest Aristotl and the church fathers may have been onto something. It would be useful to ban the charging of interest on fiat money but in today’s world it is difficult to distinguish between fiat money and real money backed by debt, though about 95% of our money supply seems to start out as fiat money. Perhaps we should also get rid of fractional reserve banking.
It would be useful to ban the charging of interest on fiat money but in today’s world it is difficult to distinguish between fiat money and real money backed by debt, though about 95% of our money supply seems to start out as fiat money.
All money today is fiat money and all of it is based upon debt. There’s nothing wrong with fiat money, the problems arise because it’s based upon debt and has interest charged upon it by the banks who created it meaning that the economy always needs to grow to cover the interest but it can still never be paid off.
Given that virtually all money is fiat money a ban on charging interest on fiat money would be tantamount to banning interest altogether. However, if I receive money as wages, say, and decide to lend that money out, I would probably want to receive interest on it.
You need to ban interest on it’s creation and the only way to do that is to have the government create the money rather than the banks. People loaning out their money would still be able to charge interest – except that I’d also have the government making loans at 0% interest which would probably put paid to that idea.
Charging interest results in an exponential increase in income. As savings accumulate interest income increases thus increasing the rate that savings accumulate. The end result is that all the money will inevitably end up in the hands of a few (very few people have an income above subsistence) which requires an ever increasing amount of money to be created which feeds the ever widening gap between the haves and the have nots.
Having the government creating the money and loaning it out at 0% stops that cycle of accumulation and ensures a more equal society with all the benefits that brings.
And like all ponzi schemes it results in a few people at the top with all the wealth and everyone else losing. That is a perfect description of capitalism though and it’s been that way throughout history.
This of course is completely unsustainable. Unfortunately the bozo right wingers and Nat party types refuse to see this
Some of them see it but they’re the ones at the top benefiting from it so they don’t want it to stop and everything they say about how great the system is is a lie.
Greens-“disabled facing tougher work requirements under govt. welfare reforms, yet, funding for a placement programme-Mainstream-has run out of funding despite being opened up to the private sector; Demands for placements have increased, yet, funding has not risen since 2010-2011 financial year.”
I think more weight should be given to referenda, even citizen initiated ones. While I don’t think a CIR should be binding on a government, I think that once the necessary number of signatures has been collected and a referendum has become mandatory it would seem pretty unseemly for a government to act ahead of the ‘people’s voice’ being heard, even if they intend ignoring the outcome as is the case with asset sales.
It may even be a constitutional matter since it affects the way democracy is conducted in this country.
If a referenda is not binding. THEN WE DO NOT HAVE DEMOCRACY.
All the arguments against BCIR and real democracy are the same ones that were made by those in power at the time against citizens, women, non-aristocracy or non-landowners having a vote, at all.
There is absolutely no moral, or justifiable arguments against democracy.
Just self serving bullshit from those who want their turn in Dictatorship.
As NRT says. ” Even if they are wrong they are still our decisions to make”.
Why should 160 odd marginally competent, power hungry, ill educated twits in Parliament rule the rest of us.
We still let them do it despite constant reminders of how incapable politicians, of all stripes, really are.
It’s the future generations who will do something about it.
There’s not even any need to foment unrest amongst the slackers. They’ll have their revolution cos we, of generation x, were to gutless and apathetic to.
I see these times and events as the last days and futile power grab of a generation looking to see out their days on the back of ill gotten gains.
It won’t take much to level the playing field. By wiping out debt/profit and cracking ‘free’ energy resets the game to start over again but with new rules.
+ 1 Only time before corporate sponsors come in to DOC I think – after all the capitalist exploiters are so much better at looking after everything – but only for them and their obscene profits.
Because it’s just another attempt to re-write history although the stupidity of people who swallow that sort of revisionist bullshit never ceases to amaze me.
Prior to the National Rifle Association being organised in 1871, with the goal of improving American civilian marksmanship in preparation for war, the southern states instituted The Black Codes with severe restriction on black possession and ownership of firearms.
I’d have thought that a video bracketed by nut in chief Alex Jones clips and fronted by born again loon and world nut daily columnist Star Parker and would have given it away.
But then idiots will persist in swallowing the revisionist tripe that’s dished up.
I don’t like to admit my mistakes but I’ll man up and admit one here. I said yesterday gun deaths attributable to rifles in the USA was around 2% . I was wrong.
This guy looked at the stats, shows the web sites and has a higher number:
Also the UK is a lot more violent then the USA (3.5 times more!).
Sure. The Brits love their pub punch ups.
But the per capita kill rate in the US is 4x higher than the UK. The difference is that in the UK they use fists, bottles and knives. In the US they use firearms.
Not saying the USA doesn’t have problems but we know prohibition doesn’t work so banning weapons won’t work. Mexico has way stricter gun laws then most countries yet theres a few gun deaths there. Also note that the USA rates are dropping.
The recent ban was for military style semi-automatics which make up less than 3.5% of all deaths.
If you want to stop gun deaths why target a gun that is used in less than 3.5% of all deaths?
Also on a separate note check out Greenland, double the rate of the USA. That surprised me.
“There’s no civilian or sporting use for military style convertible to full-auto assault weapons”
– I agree but the 2nd amendment isn’t about sporting or hunting (as I understand it)
– Yes I concede prohibition wasn’t the right choice of words.
“In terms of banning these weapons, unfortunately for the US that horse has well and truly bolted.”
– I agree and thats why I think banning is just pointless, all it does it make a few people fell good about themselves because they’ve made a difference whereas the reality is they’ve made no difference at all except make previously law abiding citizens potential criminals.
Check this guy out, hes got quite reasonable views (if you can get past the semi-incoherent ramblings of Piers Morgan) and some ideas of what to do
Bear in mind that the modern equivalent of a standard infantry primary weapon is a fully automatic AR-15, M-16 or AKM/AK-74 with 30 round clip with anti-personnel or armour penetrating rounds.
Surely that’s the modern corollary Second Amendment would apply to today, right?
…. from a deeply stupid person who reckons people need assault rifles in case the gubmint decides to start rounding them up…with tanks, bombers, F-35 joint force fighters and drones armed with hellfire missiles…oh, and he’s a victim too…
Yeah. Because we should never have let the horse bolt in the first place.
We could have stopped it in NZ by continuing the strict registration and licensing of firearms, but of course the gun nuts want open slather.
Real sports people and pro hunters don’t need semi-auto’s or auto’s. You get into position and get it right, with the first shot.
I’ve always been against guns for “self defense”. The USA shows that it doesn’t work. The most common gun casualty is the family members of gun owners.
However with our police assaulting legal protesters with impunity, maybe the yanks have a point!
We could have stopped it in NZ by continuing the strict registration and licensing of firearms, but of course the gun nuts want open slather.
NZ firearms users tend to be highly responsible and serious about abiding by the law and good safety practices. There are almost 1M firearms in this country, with only very few non-suicide deaths resulting.
Actually, around 50% of reported family violence incidents where a firearm was involved are committed by gun license holders. That indicates that any legislative changes should target licensed and unlicensed gun owners.
1.1 million guns is an old estimate from around 2006… We simply don’t know how many guns there are in New Zealand because they aren’t registered. Also, around 79% of gun deaths are from suicide, with the remaining 21% from criminal endeavour, legal intervention or by accident.
As far as I’m aware, there is no proper database of recent statistics on firearms deaths, however between 1995 and 2004 there was a mean annual number of deaths by firearm of 79 (62 were suicide). This number has nearly halved whereby 38 of the 558 suicides in 2011 were committed using a gun or explosives.
Even with that reduction, casualties arising from firearm misuse in New Zealand are considered to be high.
As an aside, an in-depth government funded 1997 review of firearms control concluded that registering guns is required. However the government has ignored that recommendation, mainly because of pressure from the Police and gun lobbyists.
Personally I don’t see the point in undertaking costly studies if the government just does whatever they want to anyway.
We don’t need restrictive laws as the ones being proposed in the USA. We don’t have a problem with them now and we haven’t had a problem with them in the past.
The difference between the USA and NZ is that the laws in NZ are enforced. I personally will be buying certain military rifles and machine guns when I have the spare money to buy them (so a wee way off) and I’ll be following the laws to allow me to do that.
“I’ve always been against guns for “self defense”. The USA shows that it doesn’t work.”
– I’ve posted many examples of women using guns for self-defense successfully, I’d suggest that the people with the guns are trained properly to use them.
I’d say anyone owning a firearm should (as part of obtaining a license) be made to get proper training and be part of a gun club (so as to have regular practice)
Yep. There is some degree on the surface of biological plausibility for a decline in violence, but it still screams “texas sharpshooter”. There’s probably further work going into ot though.
chris73 ..
This is a good example of how to present stats in a confusing way that tends to reinforce one’s argument.
The murder and violent crime rate in the USA has decreased over 50% since 1992.
Also the UK is a lot more violent then the USA (3.5 times more!).
The first statement seems to be connected with the use of guns which was being discussed.
The second seems to be connected also but is not just related to guns.
How can we get a clear line of reasoning to comprehend the argument when the references are being shifted?
I have been rereading Chris Trotter’s “No Left Turn” recently and came across this wonderful comment by Bill Sutch about the first National Government. He described National’s approach to education as being founded on a conviction “that the main thing needed in education was to insult the Education Department …”
Is that Bill Sutch, NZ national hero? Who I think was not made a Sir William Sutch because he had a scenario for NZ’s progress that required intelligent judgment. So Sir Roger Douglas got the knighthood and Goodnight Nurse to NZs aspirations to a modern, well-balanced, well-run economy with stability, effective enterprise and innovation plus good living standards for all.
The whole book gives a really good oversight of how opportunity after opportunity for improvement of the country was missed because of the stupidity of the right. And New Zealand has often verged on doing the right thing but this has been frustrated by reactionary forces and stupidity.
It should be compulsory reading for the current cabinet not to mention the opposition front bench!
ms
I watched Sir Humphrey and PM Jim in Yes Minister on youtube recently. The one about only getting honours if they have been earned.
PM Jim trying to pierce Sir Humphrey’s rhetoric says something like ‘So you don’t want to do the right thing now, because it creates a precedent for the next time’.
I guess that explains National’s behaviour and why they stick to the status quo, which usually produces results that suit them and their supporters, ie ‘If it ain’t broke (for us NACTs) why fix it.’ I don’t like this idea, it is very depressing to me. We seem to be doomed to this downward slide.
I am very interested in this movement in the UK. I think that the only way we are going to get a return to anything resembling social justice is for people to unite, independently of political parties. I just had a chat on Skype with a friend in Athens, who is just staggered by the EU’s abandonment of democracy for the sake of the banks.
I thought it was because he was a part of some think tank on monetary reform during Norm Kirk’s time in office. Gerald O’Brien was also on that think tank and was later beaten up in a Courtenay Place public toilet. O’Brien was later arseholed out of the Labour Party by Bill Rowling, though perhaps justifiably since he had written a letter to Bruce Beatham, then leader of the Social Credit party, behind Rowling’s back. Sutch was later prosecuted, though unsuccessfully, for having contact with someone in the Russian embassy. He may well have been set up.
Yes Sutch was a bigger thinker than the little crackpots in and around government. He remained silent on the Russian clandestine meeting for which he was arrested in 1974. I thought he probably just was trying to keep up with his background knowledge of political thought and movement in that part of the world. But it appears that he may have been responding to a request for political asylum.
See stuff – http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/477347/Sutch-case-Russian-got-chance-to-defect
At the time of course we were strongly anti-communist. However we pragmatically managed to overlook that barrier by the 1980s to do some bartering with Soviet Russia by swopping our butter for their Lada cars and the NZ Dairy Board was distributor for them. (Australia was bartering with bauxite ore, so we of course weren’t trail-blazing.)
From Wikipedia –
Ladas were briefly popular in the 1980s. Meat, dairy and fertiliser exports to Russia were wholly or partly paid for with Belarus tractors, Stolichnaya vodka and Lada cars. The New Zealand Dairy Board were distributors for Lada vehicles.[10] Some Ladas, even those of the 1970s, can still be seen on New Zealand roads (especially in rural areas and offshore islands) but are increasingly rare.
Yep. Two leaders of progressive governments brought down in very unusual circumstances. I must admit harbouring a few conspiracy theories about what happened.
And once you read up on how Salvador Allende was dealt to and how Pinochet was installed, also the 2002 coup against Chavez, you realise that “conspiracy theory” doesn’t even begin to cover it.
My schoolboy recall of the time says Sutch was Secretary of Trade and Industry, or the equivalent, under the ’57-’60 Labour government. Phillip Holloway was the minister I think.
Sutch was booted and marginalised when Holyoake took power in 1960. He had no opportunity to lobby for anything meaningful until ’72 when Labour returned. By that time he was probably regarded as a bit old hat. Accordingly he spent years as a private consultant.
He was a remarkable individual whose influence commenced as early as 1935. He accompanied Walter Nash to Britain when Nash went there as finance minister to give comfort that the first Labour government was not about to nationalise all and sundry, inlcuding the interests of British bondholders.
The talk around Wellington at the time of his trial an afterwards was that the Russian Embassy officer Razgovoroz whom Sutch met surreptitiously was indeed planning to defect.
It was a strange case with, it was privately said, the Sutch home having been entered and searched in the course of the trial. Tin foil liner in the base of a tea caddy of a morning was found in the evening on top of its contents, with remnants of those contents spilt on a kitchen bench. Nothing stolen.
One can see the SIS of the day (for which Rowling as PM after Kirk was minister) being much exercised by Sutch – Cold War, reds under the bed and all that. It was even said that at his funeral a matter of only months after his acquittal, people were observed in the upper floors of a building opposite the church in Taranaki Street, photographing those emerging.
Interesting times the real fabric of which will probably never emerge.
Having had pc trouble this past week, I’ve only just seen your comment North. Be assured that back in the 1970s… interest in NZ politics and related matters was not confined to the NZSIS. In 1992 a lengthy article appeared in the Australian Womens Weekly (I still have a copy in my possession) about a woman by the name of Wendi Holland who went public about her former job as an ASIS spy. She spent a large portion of her time in the late 1960s and 1970s in NZ spying on NZ politicians and certain organisations and individuals suspected of links to communist activity. She would certainly not have been their only spy in the country either.
There is no doubt in my mind that off-shore intelligence services were interfering in New Zealand’s affairs at that time and a lot of innocent people were being fingered for no other reason other than they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I had a close family member who was one of them, and the fallout even had an affect on my life and career opportunities.
In light of the above I agree with you mickysavage. It is unlikely to be coincidence that both Kirk and Whitlam were brought down in unusual circumstances.
Press Release – Housing Lobby Spokesperson Sue Henry ” Don’t fast-track the Auckland Unitary Plan!”
“The Unitary Plan should not be fast-tracked and signed off this side of the local body elections, with so much dissent from communities, who do not want unfettered property developers intensifying their suburbs beyond recognition,” says Housing Lobby Spokesperson Sue Henry.
“The ‘tiff’ between Mayor Len Brown and Housing Minister Nick Smith is a diversion from the fact that there is already an alignment set in concrete between Wellington and the Auckland Mayor. ”
“Three east Auckland suburbs, Panmure, Point England and Glen Innes, have already been signed off between the Mayor and the previous Housing Minister, Phil Heatley, into a company, implementing the ‘Tamaki Transformation Programme’, through a ‘Heads of Agreement’ which was signed off behind closed doors, excluding the residents.”
“Which suburbs will be next?
What other communities want to be turned into a ‘company’ without their consent?”
A tick for Winston. He has revealed the NACTs siphoning money that should be going direct to regional development initiatives in NZ, to an overseas oriented agency. He has found that the smarmy ones are paying it to some outfit called KEA that operates overseas to keep in touch with the people that are already doing well there and perhaps to entice them back. Now them being encouraged to come home is okay – let us have a register of interested ex-pats to be referred to.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport
08:23 Winston Peters says regional funding diverted to expat group
The New Zealand First leader, Winston Peters, says money from a Government fund aimed at boosting regional economic development has been given instead to the organisation Kiwi Expatriates Abroad, or Kea. (4′10″)
But the money being paid to KEA we need HERE to support the regions to find and support healthy and risk-free business initiatives that will provide employment for semi-skilled people in particular. The idea has grown that it is Bad and Lazy to be ‘semi-skilled’ ie not to be a lawyer, or a techology type etc. Trouble is when there is growth in employees in any of these specialist jobs, the pay will go down – so self-defeating for the upwardly mobile aspirants. There must be jobs for all so we are all enabled to have a good live and the respect of our country for each person, something the unemployed don’t receive.
And with the growth of computer generated physical objects this still leaves many people in a work-oriented society out of the loop. This is surprising in a country with such advanced education and understanding about everything. We must do better at balancing the economy and work opportunities.
Council chief executive Doug McKay said he saw no reason to change the arrangement, which he had decided under delegated authority, as did managers of five council-controlled organisations.
“From the Left and From the Right”: trivializing serious public debate
Radio NZ National, Monday 25 March 2013
Kathryn Ryan, Matthew Hooton, Mike Williams
The always on-message, relentless and very clever Matthew Hooton is clearly the Alpha-male in nearly all these Monday morning match-ups. Only Andrew Campbell and Laila Harre have had the presence of mind and integrity to consistently counter Hooton’s antics and consistently get the better of him. Mike Williams does occasionally get aroused and actually puts Hooton in his place, but all too often Williams is just like he was today: passive and over-eager to please. First part of this program was a run-of-the-mill discussion, mostly about David Shearer’s bank account, with Williams as usual bending over backwards to agree with everything Hooton said. Then it was time to face up to a very unpleasant elephant in the room….
KATHRYN RYAN: The other matter that took a PREPOSTEROUS amount of time in my humble opinion was the appointment of Dame Susan Devoy as Race Relations Commissioner.
MATTHEW HOOTON: Have we still got a Race Relations Commissioner? Ha ha ha! No, really, she is no worse than anyone else! I mean she’s a perfectly nice person. She belongs to the Climate Science Coalition….[He rambles on for a considerable time, simultaneously pouring scorn on the very idea of a Race Relations Commissioner and asserting, incredibly, that Susan Devoy has written and said nothing to disqualify her.]
KATHRYN RYAN: That all sounds reasonable to me. Mike, what’s your problem with her?
MIKE WILLIAMS:[carefully] She’s clearly not a rocket scientist, let’s put it like that.
KATHRYN RYAN:[suddenly not so congenial] I-I-I-I-I’m not going to put UP with that! What is your objection?
MIKE WILLIAMS: She lacks the capacity to do the job.
MATTHEW HOOTON: You need to be able to conciliate, and not just swallow everything from the Treaty grievance industry!
MIKE WILLIAMS: Actually there is quite a lot to the job. Joris De Bray— or De Brayze, is it?
MATTHEW HOOTON: Who cares?
MIKE WILLIAMS: Well, I was tangentially involved in the Cheeky Darky business and Joris did a very good job taking the heat out of that. He called off the Auckland University people who wanted to hang, draw and quarter Paul Holmes.
KATHRYN RYAN: I like the cartoon over the weekend which showed her whacking a squash ball at people and saying “You lot make up!” He he he he!
MIKE WILLIAMS: Ha ha ha ha ha! Let’s give her a chance!
More light-hearted and jocular comments on another topic, then it’s time to wrap it up…
KATHRYN RYAN: Hey thanks guys! That is Mike Williams and Matthew Hooton, our political commentators! Coming up: today’s recipe and wine match from John Hawkesby!
I listened to some of that while on the exercise machine. Williams managed to say “no problem” to Shearer’s UN bank account, and to say nothing when Hooton added in a smear to TS as a site of conspiracy theorists re-shearer being a plant for overseas wealthy interests.
I got fed up, and switched onto Maori TV for a Te Reo learning session – was much more useful way of engaging my mind while exercising.
The regular spots in Afternoons with Borer are so facile I’m now more or less dependent on Morrissey. Seems Mornings in that safe pair of hands Kathryn is going the same way.
In fact, everything seems to be relatively dumbed down now. Not surprising since that was always part of the modus operandi on the road to the nirvana of New Zealand as a playground for international money games.
Trivialise formerly trusted institutions as someone said. Have people give up and stop listening. Logistically, institutions and thinking which formerly defined us, is all the easier to throw away as inefficient and ultimately expendable froth on a body politic which is distinctive for its corruptness.
RNZ-“House Insurers shifting the onus (and cost) of maintaining up-to-date cost of rebuild figures on to home owners; do not expect market value payouts unless you keep (annually) up to date valuations (at your expense); Insurers slipping more risk back onto owners.”
Dom-
CHINESE SUCCESSFULLY TEST “CARRIER KILLER MISSILE”; (anti-ship DF21D)(yanks developing “highly classified defensive measures).China shifting ballistic missile batteries nearer Taiwan; Americans rushing Raptors and U-2 spy planes to Asia-Pacific region.
time for an end to “romantic pacifism” and to begin “full preparation” for war.
-Liberation Army Daily. (that is some fairly strong rhetoric, right there)
Nope. And they are up to date on my screen. Ummm. I did fiddle with the database query caching at the end of last week. I’ll have a look at what implications that has.
The problem doesn’t seem to last long though and then the links go back to normal if I try another page. But if I try and open links from the original page (the FP in this case, that I still have open), all the comments go to the Tizard thread, but different comments.
“Man has gained power over the world by turning it into symbols-by turning real men into matchstick men and so on. But he has often gained this mastery at the expense of losing touch with reality and spending far too much time in an unreal world of symbols. In effect modern man spends most of his time inside a sound-proof room inside his own head, staring at a computer screen ;). This enables him to handle reality with far more efficiency than a child or a savage, but it also means he tends to forget that there is a ‘real’ reality out there. And when he grows tired and bored with the computer, he thinks he has grown tired and bored with life…”
The psychologist J.Silverman found that for “convicts who had been in prison for a very long time that their perceptions became blurry and they tended to notice far less.Their consciousness had shifted from the ‘active’ mode to the ‘receptive’ mode (i.e.passive mode).”
“A Zen parable tells how a common man asked the Zen Master Ikkyu to write down for him some maxims of the highest wisdom. The Master wrote one word: ATTENTION.”Will you not write something more?” asked the man, whereupon Ikkyu wrote, ATTENTION.ATTENTION.The disgruntled man said he couldn’t see much wisdom in this, whereupon the Master wrote, ATTENTION. ATTENTION.ATTENTION.” What does attention mean?” asked the man, whereupon Ikkyu replied, “Attention means attention.” 🙂
interesting, yet i would suggest text implies it is; from my experience, the available vaccinations covers the national and international strains of concern per year of release.
Breakfast this morning covered it and it sounded like all the necessary evils are present and accounted for. (I think it was just before Toni Timefiller asked the PM about the DOC job losses then sat back as the PM spun a long line about National’s ongoing ever-growing world saving job creation programme whilst avoiding the question in its entirety. Did you know that according to the PM over a hundred thousand jobs a month are lost or created in NZ? Someone please tell me I heard it wrong)
folk have to understand many of the useful predominately safe vaccine programmes of thirty forty years ago are very different beasties than the pick’n’mix petridishes of today.
folk have to understand many of the useful predominately safe vaccine programmes of thirty forty years ago are very different beasties than the pick’n’mix petridishes of today.
Josie Pagani, shows why certain subject matter, are best left to those who have an ounce of understanding, Josie is not one of those, in this instance!
Some gems:
Does anyone really understand what the hell just happened in Cyprus?
Russian money in particular had flooded in, taking advantage of its tax-haven status. The financial system grew, and soon out-weighed other productive parts of the economy, like natural gas. The banks had to invest all that Russian money somewhere, so they brought up Greek bonds. Bad decision.
It’s a shame that the financial crisis hasn’t been used as an excuse to clean up tax havens across the world. If global leaders focused on that as much as they focused on multilateral trade deals, we’d go a long way to stop Cyprus type chaos happening again.
According to development economist Paul Collier, if you stopped corrupt African leader syphoning off the proceeds of oil and natural resources into Swiss bank accounts, developing countries would be better off by many millions of dollars.
The legacy of the Cyprus crisis is unknown. The Economist magazine has argued that the Cyprus crisis should be used as a excuse to introduce a united European banking system, which would create more confidence across the region, and therefore more investment
What is alarming for countries like New Zealand is the lack of a strategy from the EU to deal with situations like Cyprus.
Did Josie just miss the fact that the Eurozone is a key part of the problem, yet she wants even broader multinational banking systems???
And did she just equate Cyprus to some tin pot corrupt African country?
OMG.
Geeezus the international bankster and corporate cartel want their tax havens and infinitely unrestricted control over capital movement. She needs to get with the programme.
Josie is clueless on this subject, and a terrible writer by looks of it, the article is atrocious in all respects!
Of course she has no idea that the Russian money is long since removed from Cyprus, if it were ever actually there in the first place (the avergae cyprian will wear 100% of this, and what when they need another bailout, another round of account theft of course), and Josie seems to not understand that the people writing the compliance regulations, also use the *tax havens*, she muses about *being cleaned up*
Its no wonder Josie has no idea the Eurozone/EU/IMF/ECB at al, are tools used to reek havoc on the worlds populace! – NZ has been owned by the IMF since 1961, it started with our gold, and it will end with (who knows what),and we still owe, undisclosed amounts, to undisclosed creditors
Q&A. Guest argued that Australia laws are its own business, but then decried that Australia would return welfare rights to kiwis in OZ, and this would hurt Australia because so many kiwis over there are so hard working – what will they do? return to NZ. The guest was unnerved by the whole direction of the move. NZ just doesn’t deserve better highly motivated skilled kiwis working here.
But then, to cap his blather off, after missing the obvious disproportionate treatment (that is know to destabilizes a nation), he went on to demand that the same policy should be introduce here.
Now editors at Q&A may feel the dumb arse opinions of don’t-know-don’t-want-to-know-heres-my-definitive-conclusion types makes great television, but I don’t, its just lazy filler for the time slot.
Q&A is not quality current affairs when it can’t debunk such nonsense.
Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund — When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayers’ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund — and ...
Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. ...
Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blogIn 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
Citizen Science writes – Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
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 ...
You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
Karl du Fresne writes – There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
David Farrar writes – The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time.A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced ...
You're a fraud, and you know itBut it's too good to throw it all awayAnyone would do the sameYou've got 'em goingAnd you're careful not to show itSometimes you even fool yourself a bitIt's like magicBut it's always been a smoke and mirrors gameAnyone would do the sameForty six billion ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The June general election in Mexico could mark a turning point in ensuring that the country’s climate policies better reflect the desire of its citizens to address the climate crisis, with both leading presidential candidates expressing support for renewable energy. Mexico is the ...
2024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?When I say 2024 I really mean the state of humanity in 2024.Saturday night, we watched Civil War because that is one terrifying cliff we've ...
Buzz from the Beehive A pet project and governmental tunnel vision jump out from the latest batch of ministerial announcements. The government is keen to assure us of its concern for the wellbeing of our pets. It will be introducing pet bonds in a change to the Residential Tenancies Act ...
A recent report generated from a Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) survey of 1,224 rangatahi Māori aged 11-12 found: Cultural connectedness was associated with fewer depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms and better quality of life. That sounds cut and dry. But further into the report the following appears: Cultural connectedness is ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: From the gory details of job-cuts news, you’d think the public service was being eviscerated. While the media’s view of the cuts is incomplete, it’s also true that departments have been leaking the particulars faster than a Wellington ...
Remember the good old days, back when New Zealand had a PM who could think and speak calmly and intelligently in whole sentences without blustering? Even while Iran’s drones and missiles were still being launched, Helen Clark was live on TVNZ expertly summing up the latest crisis in the Middle ...
Costello did not pass on analysis of the benefits of the smokefree reforms to Cabinet, emphasising instead the extra tax revenues of repealing them. Photo: Hagen Hopkins, Getty Images TL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me at 7:26 am today are:The Lead: Casey Costello never passed on ...
True loveYou're the one I'm dreaming ofYour heart fits me like a gloveAnd I'm gonna be true blueBaby, I love youI’ve written about the job cuts in our news media last week. The impact on individuals, and the loss to Aotearoa of voices covering our news from different angles.That by ...
While commentators, including former Prime Minister Helen Clark, are noting a subtle shift in New Zealand’s foreign policy, which now places more emphasis on the United States, many have missed a key element of the shift. What National said before the election is not what the government is doing now. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
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America’s Willing Executioners
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/03/22/americas-willing-executioners/
by ROB URIE
Ten years after the invasion, occupation and widespread destruction of Iraq was set into motion the revisionist apologetics are flying fast and furious. These include the denial of culpability for crimes committed, the systematic undercounting of the innocents slaughtered and displaced and the conveniently forgotten hubris of empire in the high theater of technocratic carnage. They also wanly posit that the historical epic is behind ‘us,’ the 75 per cent of the populace reported in poll results to have supported the war before news began leaking that its murder and mayhem weren’t achieving their hypothesized results. So to this 75 per cent, AKA the American people, is the problem that we murdered too many or not enough? Put another way, what number of murdered Iraqis would be too many if today there were a Starbucks on every corner in Baghdad and Payday Lenders to bridge the cash flow shortfalls of the citizenry that remains?
And whither the good old days? Once upon a time the decomposing corpses of those responsible for destroying an entire nation, murdering a million or more of its citizens, causing the premature deaths of a wee chunk of the home folk and costing it a few trillion of its national ‘product’ would be on display for all to see—a cautionary exhibit against future hubristic incaution. This, if for no other reason than to assure that before another such adventure is undertaken, as the Nazis about to be hung at Nuremberg had it, we are sure to ‘win.’ And as gestures of contrition for these and other transgressions and magnanimity toward those slaughtered and their friends and family who remain, fair trials followed by swift executions of those found guilty at gallows set within public view on the White House lawn for Messrs. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle, Powell and Ms. Rice would place some distance between these architects of distant carnage and the other 75 per cent of this nation who at one point or another supported ‘their’ war.
The culture and political economy of impunity and immunity from prosecution for crimes high—war crimes under legally agreed upon terms, is matched only by the absolute immiseration, persecution, incarceration, torture and purposeful and negligent homicide of those on the other side of this imperial power. No war criminals have yet been charged in the bungled plunder of Iraq and the torch of aggressive war, murder, torture, illegal surveillance and robotic murder have been passed from war criminals past to war criminals present. Likewise, the methods of imperial economic extraction intended for America’s client nations now place much of the same 75 per cent that at one time supported the war on the wrong side of the imperial divide. The murder drones tested on distant battlefields now carry surveillance and murder technologies ‘at home’ to assure phone bills are paid and for-profit prisons filled as the ‘other’ political party divides our collective wealth amongst its new owners.
Read more….
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/03/22/americas-willing-executioners/
At least there’s no more Saddam in the world.
Was that the catalyst for the Arab spring which may also see the downfall of Bashar ?
That’s gotta be worth something in the long run…
At least there’s no more Saddam in the world.
Three million Iraqis dead since 1991, but according to this genius it was all worth it, because “at least there’s no more Saddam in the world.”
Was that the catalyst for the Arab spring which may also see the downfall of Bashar?
No, it wasn’t. And, although you probably don’t know, the United States and Britain, AKA “The West”, continued to support Mubarak until the very last moment of his dictatorship.
That’s gotta be worth something in the long run…
You’re either a halfwit, or are just trying to be funny. Why are you here, exactly?
He was being sarcastic.
I thought he might have been—hence the “trying to be funny” bit. I apologize to our friend Pollywog for unleashing Throttler.
lol – tie the dog up again morrie
The arab spring? Dictators stopped inevitable progress, and was threatening food, water, energy outcomes for the populations, dictators held in place by cold war fears that no longer had merit.
The National Govt. are cutting more jobs from the Conservation Debt. Unbelievable.
Conservation is critical to our NZ lifestyle.
Conservation underpins our Tourism and Farming industry.
How the hell does this atrocious government maintain its support, it is completely beyond me?
Appropriate slip.
People need to understand the NZ govt is working for other entities, who do not give a toss about NZ or the people in this country.
Perhaps once the bank accounts have been raided, people will begin to join the dots.
The debt is growing exponentially, global GDP cant keep up fast enough to pay the interest bill, we know thats not possible, so nect they’re coming for the banck accounts, after which time , private property is not going to tbe off the table, but likely that will be after whats left on NZs support systems, have been sold off!
+1, yes Granny and the MSM in general are assisting the NACT keep the sheeple in the dark as to their real inentions which is flogging anything of value and making us tenants in our own country.
Key’s desire to see wages drop is the tip of the iceberg NZ is being shafted with.
I had an interesting conversation around the ‘OBR’ and it’s implications with a couple of people yesterday . we ended up agreeing (surprise, surprise) that now that our politicians, on both sides of the house, are advocating the confiscation of our private property that they were no longer doing the job they had been elected to do ie represent the people and need to be removed. all of them
. but how do we do this?
we are going to gave to take the power back through fair means or foul if necessary.
time to stock up on piano wire, people.
As expected, the Cyprus parliament has been forced by the international banksters to directly “haircut” savers bank accounts. If you have over Euro 100K in Cyprus biggest bank, expect to lose 20% of it, instantaneously.
Many ATMs in the country now allow you to withdraw only Euro 100 a day. Capital controls. And this is just the start.
How do we do this?
Vote Them Out
The party whose elected representatives refuse to participate in the current system. Each seat won becomes a non-starter and effectively cancels out a seat. It is not a final solution – it is a kick-starter.
Does refusing to participate in the system also mean refusing the $145K salary…?
Absolutely it does.
When is candidate selection?
Drawn from a hat at last possible minute. Keen?
Could be. Are the subsidised meals and drinks still available or do they have to be refused along with the salary?
Best to clear these things up front, wouldn’t want a Bellamys scandal 🙂
Yep, everything not available. Aim is cancellation of the system. Use it against itself by voting it out of existence. You wont even be in Wellington, let alone gobbling on a Bellamys Fat Burger and Fries…
What about those cleaning allowances? Could I get Bill’s cleaner to do my place too?
vote them out and replace them with whom? even the greens response isn’t satisfactory afaiac. it’s time to start regulating the banks and restricting the way they operate so that they can never be ‘too big to fail’. ‘too big to fail’ is simply too big, full stop.
there is going to be misery pain and suffering if we continue down the current path we are now clearly on to serfdom and virtual slavery to the moneyed elites. I’d prefer we go through the misery pain and suffering and destroy these barstards and ensure a fair and just world for future generations.
Well as I said clashman, it aint a final solution, it is a kick-starter to kicking the system.
And yep – this entire global financial crisis is the result of charging for the use of money – interest, or usury. Ban usury, like many other societies do. Usury turns the system into a ponzi scheme. The world banking system is one gigantic ponzi scheme – the planets biggest ever.
(ponzi scheme being one whereby further money needs to be brought into the system in order to pay for the costs of the system (the interest). This of course is completely unsustainable. Unfortunately the bozo right wingers and Nat party types refuse to see this)
Cancel out interest and the risk and danger dissipates to near nil.
Centrist parties like Labour also tend to completely avoid the issue in favour of the status quo.
+1
Which is why Labour is no longer a party for the workers or, even, for people and life.
None of the current listed MPs or Parties are addressing the monetary supply issue.
Which as I have said here many times, until its being address in a meanigful way, there is NO point in discussing anything else, forget it!
Monetary Supply is the most critical problem which needs to be sorted out, and currrently is hardly rating a mention!
I agree. In disparaging the charging of interest Aristotl and the church fathers may have been onto something. It would be useful to ban the charging of interest on fiat money but in today’s world it is difficult to distinguish between fiat money and real money backed by debt, though about 95% of our money supply seems to start out as fiat money. Perhaps we should also get rid of fractional reserve banking.
All money today is fiat money and all of it is based upon debt. There’s nothing wrong with fiat money, the problems arise because it’s based upon debt and has interest charged upon it by the banks who created it meaning that the economy always needs to grow to cover the interest but it can still never be paid off.
Given that virtually all money is fiat money a ban on charging interest on fiat money would be tantamount to banning interest altogether. However, if I receive money as wages, say, and decide to lend that money out, I would probably want to receive interest on it.
You need to ban interest on it’s creation and the only way to do that is to have the government create the money rather than the banks. People loaning out their money would still be able to charge interest – except that I’d also have the government making loans at 0% interest which would probably put paid to that idea.
Charging interest results in an exponential increase in income. As savings accumulate interest income increases thus increasing the rate that savings accumulate. The end result is that all the money will inevitably end up in the hands of a few (very few people have an income above subsistence) which requires an ever increasing amount of money to be created which feeds the ever widening gap between the haves and the have nots.
Having the government creating the money and loaning it out at 0% stops that cycle of accumulation and ensures a more equal society with all the benefits that brings.
QFT
And like all ponzi schemes it results in a few people at the top with all the wealth and everyone else losing. That is a perfect description of capitalism though and it’s been that way throughout history.
Some of them see it but they’re the ones at the top benefiting from it so they don’t want it to stop and everything they say about how great the system is is a lie.
Greens-“disabled facing tougher work requirements under govt. welfare reforms, yet, funding for a placement programme-Mainstream-has run out of funding despite being opened up to the private sector; Demands for placements have increased, yet, funding has not risen since 2010-2011 financial year.”
I think more weight should be given to referenda, even citizen initiated ones. While I don’t think a CIR should be binding on a government, I think that once the necessary number of signatures has been collected and a referendum has become mandatory it would seem pretty unseemly for a government to act ahead of the ‘people’s voice’ being heard, even if they intend ignoring the outcome as is the case with asset sales.
It may even be a constitutional matter since it affects the way democracy is conducted in this country.
If a referenda is not binding. THEN WE DO NOT HAVE DEMOCRACY.
All the arguments against BCIR and real democracy are the same ones that were made by those in power at the time against citizens, women, non-aristocracy or non-landowners having a vote, at all.
There is absolutely no moral, or justifiable arguments against democracy.
Just self serving bullshit from those who want their turn in Dictatorship.
As NRT says. ” Even if they are wrong they are still our decisions to make”.
Why should 160 odd marginally competent, power hungry, ill educated twits in Parliament rule the rest of us.
We still let them do it despite constant reminders of how incapable politicians, of all stripes, really are.
+1
There’s far more wisdom within all of us working together than a few people at the top telling us how we must live.
+1 Nice to see you blogging again KJT.
always worth reading KJT; no, we do not have “democracy”; just an illusion becoming a nightmare for an increasing number of people and children.
Link to KJT’s blogpost
#Freedom isn’t the choice you have down at the shop but having a say in your #governance.
It’s the future generations who will do something about it.
There’s not even any need to foment unrest amongst the slackers. They’ll have their revolution cos we, of generation x, were to gutless and apathetic to.
I see these times and events as the last days and futile power grab of a generation looking to see out their days on the back of ill gotten gains.
It won’t take much to level the playing field. By wiping out debt/profit and cracking ‘free’ energy resets the game to start over again but with new rules.
DoC Cuts Put Wildlife At Risk
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10873425
-laying off 100 front-line staff to be replaced with volunteers
-budget cut by 25M
-Fonterra becomes a corporate “sponsor” / funder of DoC; water quality conflicts you think?
+ 1 Only time before corporate sponsors come in to DOC I think – after all the capitalist exploiters are so much better at looking after everything – but only for them and their obscene profits.
I’ll admit I didn’t know this:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/9RABZq5IoaQ?feature=player_embedded
Because it’s just another attempt to re-write history although the stupidity of people who swallow that sort of revisionist bullshit never ceases to amaze me.
Prior to the National Rifle Association being organised in 1871, with the goal of improving American civilian marksmanship in preparation for war, the southern states instituted The Black Codes with severe restriction on black possession and ownership of firearms.
.http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112322/gun-control-racism-and-nra-history
This too.
http://guns.periscopic.com/?year=2013
Deaths since Sandy Hook.
You tell them they’ve got it wrong, I wouldn’t.
I’d have thought that a video bracketed by nut in chief Alex Jones clips and fronted by born again loon and world nut daily columnist Star Parker and would have given it away.
But then idiots will persist in swallowing the revisionist tripe that’s dished up.
I don’t like to admit my mistakes but I’ll man up and admit one here. I said yesterday gun deaths attributable to rifles in the USA was around 2% . I was wrong.
This guy looked at the stats, shows the web sites and has a higher number:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FWNOiw_XIV8
I haven’t checked the link out yet, but I presume that the majority of US gun deaths are ones where a handgun are used.
Probably correct. He gets stats from the FBIs website and the UKs website. 3.5% of deaths attributed to rifles .
If people don’t want to view it:
The murder and violent crime rate in the USA has decreased over 50% since 1992.
Also the UK is a lot more violent then the USA (3.5 times more!).
Its just when you go to metropolitan centers over 250 000 is when the violent crimes and murder rates jump up.
He does have some good ideas on how to solve the crime rates in those centers, you’d probably agree with it.
Sure. The Brits love their pub punch ups.
But the per capita kill rate in the US is 4x higher than the UK. The difference is that in the UK they use fists, bottles and knives. In the US they use firearms.
More guns = more people dead.
Global UNODC homicide data here.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/oct/10/world-murder-rate-unodc
added: NZ has a 15% higher murder rate than the UK. Something that I find quite curious.
Not saying the USA doesn’t have problems but we know prohibition doesn’t work so banning weapons won’t work. Mexico has way stricter gun laws then most countries yet theres a few gun deaths there. Also note that the USA rates are dropping.
The recent ban was for military style semi-automatics which make up less than 3.5% of all deaths.
If you want to stop gun deaths why target a gun that is used in less than 3.5% of all deaths?
Also on a separate note check out Greenland, double the rate of the USA. That surprised me.
There’s no civilian or sporting use for military style convertible to full-auto assault weapons. Greenland…those guys need to get more daylight hours.
Sorry mate you used the legal term for an alcohol ban which is what doesn’t work in this context.
In terms of banning these weapons, unfortunately for the US that horse has well and truly bolted.
Children should be taught in the use of machine guns and rpg’s at the pre-school stage so they can defend themselves.
This is the usa way.
I can’t believe that you would consider a ban on RPGs. I have my Constitutionally guaranteed Second Ammendment rights, damnit!
“There’s no civilian or sporting use for military style convertible to full-auto assault weapons”
– I agree but the 2nd amendment isn’t about sporting or hunting (as I understand it)
– Yes I concede prohibition wasn’t the right choice of words.
“In terms of banning these weapons, unfortunately for the US that horse has well and truly bolted.”
– I agree and thats why I think banning is just pointless, all it does it make a few people fell good about themselves because they’ve made a difference whereas the reality is they’ve made no difference at all except make previously law abiding citizens potential criminals.
Check this guy out, hes got quite reasonable views (if you can get past the semi-incoherent ramblings of Piers Morgan) and some ideas of what to do
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHIQtxLCgrM&feature=endscreen&NR=1
Sure, it was about the use of rifled muskets within the context of a well disciplined, well regulated state run citizens militia.
Muskets which was the technology of the day. Since its the United States of America not simply America it still holds true today.
The constitution was written with the thought of ,and applied to, the common military firearm of the day chris73.
Muskets and rifled muskets, usually with bayonets.
Bear in mind that the modern equivalent of a standard infantry primary weapon is a fully automatic AR-15, M-16 or AKM/AK-74 with 30 round clip with anti-personnel or armour penetrating rounds.
Surely that’s the modern corollary Second Amendment would apply to today, right?
…. from a deeply stupid person who reckons people need assault rifles in case the gubmint decides to start rounding them up…with tanks, bombers, F-35 joint force fighters and drones armed with hellfire missiles…oh, and he’s a victim too…
http://www.newshounds.us/breitbart_s_ben_shapiro_pretends_to_be_bullied_by_the_left_01092013
Yeah. Because we should never have let the horse bolt in the first place.
We could have stopped it in NZ by continuing the strict registration and licensing of firearms, but of course the gun nuts want open slather.
Real sports people and pro hunters don’t need semi-auto’s or auto’s. You get into position and get it right, with the first shot.
I’ve always been against guns for “self defense”. The USA shows that it doesn’t work. The most common gun casualty is the family members of gun owners.
However with our police assaulting legal protesters with impunity, maybe the yanks have a point!
NZ firearms users tend to be highly responsible and serious about abiding by the law and good safety practices. There are almost 1M firearms in this country, with only very few non-suicide deaths resulting.
Yes agreed. Mostly!
However it was not very responsible opposing gun registration.
Not to mention, the ‘so called hunters” who don’t identify their targets
And in NZ Mostly rifles. Which are a bit hard to routinely carry around, and keep in the bedside cabinet..
I suspect we would have a lot more gun deaths if we had more handguns, like the USA.
Actually, around 50% of reported family violence incidents where a firearm was involved are committed by gun license holders. That indicates that any legislative changes should target licensed and unlicensed gun owners.
1.1 million guns is an old estimate from around 2006… We simply don’t know how many guns there are in New Zealand because they aren’t registered. Also, around 79% of gun deaths are from suicide, with the remaining 21% from criminal endeavour, legal intervention or by accident.
As far as I’m aware, there is no proper database of recent statistics on firearms deaths, however between 1995 and 2004 there was a mean annual number of deaths by firearm of 79 (62 were suicide). This number has nearly halved whereby 38 of the 558 suicides in 2011 were committed using a gun or explosives.
Even with that reduction, casualties arising from firearm misuse in New Zealand are considered to be high.
As an aside, an in-depth government funded 1997 review of firearms control concluded that registering guns is required. However the government has ignored that recommendation, mainly because of pressure from the Police and gun lobbyists.
Personally I don’t see the point in undertaking costly studies if the government just does whatever they want to anyway.
We don’t need restrictive laws as the ones being proposed in the USA. We don’t have a problem with them now and we haven’t had a problem with them in the past.
The difference between the USA and NZ is that the laws in NZ are enforced. I personally will be buying certain military rifles and machine guns when I have the spare money to buy them (so a wee way off) and I’ll be following the laws to allow me to do that.
“I’ve always been against guns for “self defense”. The USA shows that it doesn’t work.”
– I’ve posted many examples of women using guns for self-defense successfully, I’d suggest that the people with the guns are trained properly to use them.
I’d say anyone owning a firearm should (as part of obtaining a license) be made to get proper training and be part of a gun club (so as to have regular practice)
Greenland… as well as sunlight issues it probably has a similar problem to NZ ie colonisation trauma.
The decrease in violence and murder has been convincingly attributed to the removal of lead based additives from petrol. This pattern is not confined to the USA.
Holy mackarel. That’s quite something.
Also heard it attributed to the rise of legal abortion. Take your pick?
Not only that, but since lead in the environment is closely related to stupidity, and stupidity is closely related to right wing politics, the reduction in lead-based petrol might even result in fewer wingnuts.
Yep. There is some degree on the surface of biological plausibility for a decline in violence, but it still screams “texas sharpshooter”. There’s probably further work going into ot though.
chris73 ..
This is a good example of how to present stats in a confusing way that tends to reinforce one’s argument.
The first statement seems to be connected with the use of guns which was being discussed.
The second seems to be connected also but is not just related to guns.
How can we get a clear line of reasoning to comprehend the argument when the references are being shifted?
Watch his youtube clip, he does it a lot better than me
I have been rereading Chris Trotter’s “No Left Turn” recently and came across this wonderful comment by Bill Sutch about the first National Government. He described National’s approach to education as being founded on a conviction “that the main thing needed in education was to insult the Education Department …”
How times (and the Nats) have not changed …
Is that Bill Sutch, NZ national hero? Who I think was not made a Sir William Sutch because he had a scenario for NZ’s progress that required intelligent judgment. So Sir Roger Douglas got the knighthood and Goodnight Nurse to NZs aspirations to a modern, well-balanced, well-run economy with stability, effective enterprise and innovation plus good living standards for all.
Yep prism one and the same.
The whole book gives a really good oversight of how opportunity after opportunity for improvement of the country was missed because of the stupidity of the right. And New Zealand has often verged on doing the right thing but this has been frustrated by reactionary forces and stupidity.
It should be compulsory reading for the current cabinet not to mention the opposition front bench!
And has that made either the Greens, Labour or National tack further to the left, in recognition? Nope. We’re as blind as ever.
ms
I watched Sir Humphrey and PM Jim in Yes Minister on youtube recently. The one about only getting honours if they have been earned.
PM Jim trying to pierce Sir Humphrey’s rhetoric says something like ‘So you don’t want to do the right thing now, because it creates a precedent for the next time’.
I guess that explains National’s behaviour and why they stick to the status quo, which usually produces results that suit them and their supporters, ie ‘If it ain’t broke (for us NACTs) why fix it.’ I don’t like this idea, it is very depressing to me. We seem to be doomed to this downward slide.
I am very interested in this movement in the UK. I think that the only way we are going to get a return to anything resembling social justice is for people to unite, independently of political parties. I just had a chat on Skype with a friend in Athens, who is just staggered by the EU’s abandonment of democracy for the sake of the banks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/feb/05/people-assembly-against-austerity
I’m not. It’s been obvious for awhile now that governments are only there for the rich, to keep the wealth pump from the poor to the rich going.
Sutch was booted to the sideline because he committed the heresy of scandalous interest in secondary industry
I thought it was because he was a part of some think tank on monetary reform during Norm Kirk’s time in office. Gerald O’Brien was also on that think tank and was later beaten up in a Courtenay Place public toilet. O’Brien was later arseholed out of the Labour Party by Bill Rowling, though perhaps justifiably since he had written a letter to Bruce Beatham, then leader of the Social Credit party, behind Rowling’s back. Sutch was later prosecuted, though unsuccessfully, for having contact with someone in the Russian embassy. He may well have been set up.
Yes Sutch was a bigger thinker than the little crackpots in and around government. He remained silent on the Russian clandestine meeting for which he was arrested in 1974. I thought he probably just was trying to keep up with his background knowledge of political thought and movement in that part of the world. But it appears that he may have been responding to a request for political asylum.
See stuff – http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/477347/Sutch-case-Russian-got-chance-to-defect
At the time of course we were strongly anti-communist. However we pragmatically managed to overlook that barrier by the 1980s to do some bartering with Soviet Russia by swopping our butter for their Lada cars and the NZ Dairy Board was distributor for them. (Australia was bartering with bauxite ore, so we of course weren’t trail-blazing.)
From Wikipedia –
Ladas were briefly popular in the 1980s. Meat, dairy and fertiliser exports to Russia were wholly or partly paid for with Belarus tractors, Stolichnaya vodka and Lada cars. The New Zealand Dairy Board were distributors for Lada vehicles.[10] Some Ladas, even those of the 1970s, can still be seen on New Zealand roads (especially in rural areas and offshore islands) but are increasingly rare.
It was a funny time.
Kirk’s death was thought by some, including Bob Harvey, to be a case of poisoning.
Certainly Sutch’s treatment was strange and had the feeling of hatchet job about it.
Gough Whitlam.
Yep. Two leaders of progressive governments brought down in very unusual circumstances. I must admit harbouring a few conspiracy theories about what happened.
And once you read up on how Salvador Allende was dealt to and how Pinochet was installed, also the 2002 coup against Chavez, you realise that “conspiracy theory” doesn’t even begin to cover it.
My schoolboy recall of the time says Sutch was Secretary of Trade and Industry, or the equivalent, under the ’57-’60 Labour government. Phillip Holloway was the minister I think.
Sutch was booted and marginalised when Holyoake took power in 1960. He had no opportunity to lobby for anything meaningful until ’72 when Labour returned. By that time he was probably regarded as a bit old hat. Accordingly he spent years as a private consultant.
He was a remarkable individual whose influence commenced as early as 1935. He accompanied Walter Nash to Britain when Nash went there as finance minister to give comfort that the first Labour government was not about to nationalise all and sundry, inlcuding the interests of British bondholders.
The talk around Wellington at the time of his trial an afterwards was that the Russian Embassy officer Razgovoroz whom Sutch met surreptitiously was indeed planning to defect.
It was a strange case with, it was privately said, the Sutch home having been entered and searched in the course of the trial. Tin foil liner in the base of a tea caddy of a morning was found in the evening on top of its contents, with remnants of those contents spilt on a kitchen bench. Nothing stolen.
One can see the SIS of the day (for which Rowling as PM after Kirk was minister) being much exercised by Sutch – Cold War, reds under the bed and all that. It was even said that at his funeral a matter of only months after his acquittal, people were observed in the upper floors of a building opposite the church in Taranaki Street, photographing those emerging.
Interesting times the real fabric of which will probably never emerge.
Having had pc trouble this past week, I’ve only just seen your comment North. Be assured that back in the 1970s… interest in NZ politics and related matters was not confined to the NZSIS. In 1992 a lengthy article appeared in the Australian Womens Weekly (I still have a copy in my possession) about a woman by the name of Wendi Holland who went public about her former job as an ASIS spy. She spent a large portion of her time in the late 1960s and 1970s in NZ spying on NZ politicians and certain organisations and individuals suspected of links to communist activity. She would certainly not have been their only spy in the country either.
There is no doubt in my mind that off-shore intelligence services were interfering in New Zealand’s affairs at that time and a lot of innocent people were being fingered for no other reason other than they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I had a close family member who was one of them, and the fallout even had an affect on my life and career opportunities.
In light of the above I agree with you mickysavage. It is unlikely to be coincidence that both Kirk and Whitlam were brought down in unusual circumstances.
FYI.
25 March 2013
Press Release – Housing Lobby Spokesperson Sue Henry ” Don’t fast-track the Auckland Unitary Plan!”
“The Unitary Plan should not be fast-tracked and signed off this side of the local body elections, with so much dissent from communities, who do not want unfettered property developers intensifying their suburbs beyond recognition,” says Housing Lobby Spokesperson Sue Henry.
“The ‘tiff’ between Mayor Len Brown and Housing Minister Nick Smith is a diversion from the fact that there is already an alignment set in concrete between Wellington and the Auckland Mayor. ”
“Three east Auckland suburbs, Panmure, Point England and Glen Innes, have already been signed off between the Mayor and the previous Housing Minister, Phil Heatley, into a company, implementing the ‘Tamaki Transformation Programme’, through a ‘Heads of Agreement’ which was signed off behind closed doors, excluding the residents.”
“Which suburbs will be next?
What other communities want to be turned into a ‘company’ without their consent?”
Sue Henry
Housing Lobby Spokesperson
A tick for Winston. He has revealed the NACTs siphoning money that should be going direct to regional development initiatives in NZ, to an overseas oriented agency. He has found that the smarmy ones are paying it to some outfit called KEA that operates overseas to keep in touch with the people that are already doing well there and perhaps to entice them back. Now them being encouraged to come home is okay – let us have a register of interested ex-pats to be referred to.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport
08:23 Winston Peters says regional funding diverted to expat group
The New Zealand First leader, Winston Peters, says money from a Government fund aimed at boosting regional economic development has been given instead to the organisation Kiwi Expatriates Abroad, or Kea. (4′10″)
But the money being paid to KEA we need HERE to support the regions to find and support healthy and risk-free business initiatives that will provide employment for semi-skilled people in particular. The idea has grown that it is Bad and Lazy to be ‘semi-skilled’ ie not to be a lawyer, or a techology type etc. Trouble is when there is growth in employees in any of these specialist jobs, the pay will go down – so self-defeating for the upwardly mobile aspirants. There must be jobs for all so we are all enabled to have a good live and the respect of our country for each person, something the unemployed don’t receive.
And with the growth of computer generated physical objects this still leaves many people in a work-oriented society out of the loop. This is surprising in a country with such advanced education and understanding about everything. We must do better at balancing the economy and work opportunities.
Good to see someone in the opposition sticking to the basics and focusing on the money trail.
Looks like the pricks were using the RDI fund to pay blood money too.
http://www.odt.co.nz/156763/govt-give-35m-mine-memorial-centre
http://business.scoop.co.nz/2013/03/25/regional-development-fund-slashed-and-squandered/
‘DEMOCRACY FOR DEVELOPERS’?
WHO EXACTLY IS RUNNING AUCKLAND COUNCIL AND IN WHOSE INTERESTS???
Council sees no conflict in belonging to property body – Property – NZ Herald News
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/news/article.cfm?c_id=8&objectid=10873340
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption campaigner’
2013 Auckland Mayoral Candidate
Tells you who the puppets are eh!
The same people as always – the businessmen.
“From the Left and From the Right”: trivializing serious public debate
Radio NZ National, Monday 25 March 2013
Kathryn Ryan, Matthew Hooton, Mike Williams
The always on-message, relentless and very clever Matthew Hooton is clearly the Alpha-male in nearly all these Monday morning match-ups. Only Andrew Campbell and Laila Harre have had the presence of mind and integrity to consistently counter Hooton’s antics and consistently get the better of him. Mike Williams does occasionally get aroused and actually puts Hooton in his place, but all too often Williams is just like he was today: passive and over-eager to please. First part of this program was a run-of-the-mill discussion, mostly about David Shearer’s bank account, with Williams as usual bending over backwards to agree with everything Hooton said. Then it was time to face up to a very unpleasant elephant in the room….
KATHRYN RYAN: The other matter that took a PREPOSTEROUS amount of time in my humble opinion was the appointment of Dame Susan Devoy as Race Relations Commissioner.
MATTHEW HOOTON: Have we still got a Race Relations Commissioner? Ha ha ha! No, really, she is no worse than anyone else! I mean she’s a perfectly nice person. She belongs to the Climate Science Coalition….[He rambles on for a considerable time, simultaneously pouring scorn on the very idea of a Race Relations Commissioner and asserting, incredibly, that Susan Devoy has written and said nothing to disqualify her.]
KATHRYN RYAN: That all sounds reasonable to me. Mike, what’s your problem with her?
MIKE WILLIAMS: [carefully] She’s clearly not a rocket scientist, let’s put it like that.
KATHRYN RYAN: [suddenly not so congenial] I-I-I-I-I’m not going to put UP with that! What is your objection?
MIKE WILLIAMS: She lacks the capacity to do the job.
MATTHEW HOOTON: You need to be able to conciliate, and not just swallow everything from the Treaty grievance industry!
MIKE WILLIAMS: Actually there is quite a lot to the job. Joris De Bray— or De Brayze, is it?
MATTHEW HOOTON: Who cares?
MIKE WILLIAMS: Well, I was tangentially involved in the Cheeky Darky business and Joris did a very good job taking the heat out of that. He called off the Auckland University people who wanted to hang, draw and quarter Paul Holmes.
KATHRYN RYAN: I like the cartoon over the weekend which showed her whacking a squash ball at people and saying “You lot make up!” He he he he!
MIKE WILLIAMS: Ha ha ha ha ha! Let’s give her a chance!
More light-hearted and jocular comments on another topic, then it’s time to wrap it up…
KATHRYN RYAN: Hey thanks guys! That is Mike Williams and Matthew Hooton, our political commentators! Coming up: today’s recipe and wine match from John Hawkesby!
I listened to some of that while on the exercise machine. Williams managed to say “no problem” to Shearer’s UN bank account, and to say nothing when Hooton added in a smear to TS as a site of conspiracy theorists re-shearer being a plant for overseas wealthy interests.
I got fed up, and switched onto Maori TV for a Te Reo learning session – was much more useful way of engaging my mind while exercising.
Hooton added in a smear to TS as a site of conspiracy theorists
Amusing – as he’s tried to influence opinion here and found himself the object of ridicule instead. I suppose that’s “Plan B”.
Ha!
i thought an interesting bit was during the shearer-discussion..
..when williams called those unhappy with shearer ‘the far left’..
..and that ‘there is only about three of them’..
..(i reckon ryan/nine-to-noon should be done for false-advertising..
..for describing that neo-lib apologist/enabler/promoter/defender mike williams..
..as being speaking for ‘the left’..)
..the only time williams turns/does anything ‘left’ – is when he goes out of his driveway..
..and then only because he has to..
..as he lives in a right/one-way street..
phillip ure..
The regular spots in Afternoons with Borer are so facile I’m now more or less dependent on Morrissey. Seems Mornings in that safe pair of hands Kathryn is going the same way.
In fact, everything seems to be relatively dumbed down now. Not surprising since that was always part of the modus operandi on the road to the nirvana of New Zealand as a playground for international money games.
Trivialise formerly trusted institutions as someone said. Have people give up and stop listening. Logistically, institutions and thinking which formerly defined us, is all the easier to throw away as inefficient and ultimately expendable froth on a body politic which is distinctive for its corruptness.
North
I hope you complain to Radionz with definite examples. It is important to try and keep a crisp coverage of our daily serial news.
RNZ-“House Insurers shifting the onus (and cost) of maintaining up-to-date cost of rebuild figures on to home owners; do not expect market value payouts unless you keep (annually) up to date valuations (at your expense); Insurers slipping more risk back onto owners.”
Dom-
CHINESE SUCCESSFULLY TEST “CARRIER KILLER MISSILE”; (anti-ship DF21D)(yanks developing “highly classified defensive measures).China shifting ballistic missile batteries nearer Taiwan; Americans rushing Raptors and U-2 spy planes to Asia-Pacific region.
time for an end to “romantic pacifism” and to begin “full preparation” for war.
-Liberation Army Daily. (that is some fairly strong rhetoric, right there)
http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.nz/2012/10/how-it-could-happen-part-one-hubris.html
Is Lynn fiddling with the pipes again? Comments list links are in a bit of a time warp.
Nope. And they are up to date on my screen. Ummm. I did fiddle with the database query caching at the end of last week. I’ll have a look at what implications that has.
Just had it happen again. Tried opening a new tab on Pascal’s Bookie’s comment in the Labour’s Three Factions thread and went here instead
http://thestandard.org.nz/tizard-not-coming-back/#comment-609446
The problem doesn’t seem to last long though and then the links go back to normal if I try another page. But if I try and open links from the original page (the FP in this case, that I still have open), all the comments go to the Tizard thread, but different comments.
“Man has gained power over the world by turning it into symbols-by turning real men into matchstick men and so on. But he has often gained this mastery at the expense of losing touch with reality and spending far too much time in an unreal world of symbols. In effect modern man spends most of his time inside a sound-proof room inside his own head, staring at a computer screen ;). This enables him to handle reality with far more efficiency than a child or a savage, but it also means he tends to forget that there is a ‘real’ reality out there. And when he grows tired and bored with the computer, he thinks he has grown tired and bored with life…”
The psychologist J.Silverman found that for “convicts who had been in prison for a very long time that their perceptions became blurry and they tended to notice far less.Their consciousness had shifted from the ‘active’ mode to the ‘receptive’ mode (i.e.passive mode).”
“A Zen parable tells how a common man asked the Zen Master Ikkyu to write down for him some maxims of the highest wisdom. The Master wrote one word: ATTENTION.”Will you not write something more?” asked the man, whereupon Ikkyu wrote, ATTENTION.ATTENTION.The disgruntled man said he couldn’t see much wisdom in this, whereupon the Master wrote, ATTENTION. ATTENTION.ATTENTION.” What does attention mean?” asked the man, whereupon Ikkyu replied, “Attention means attention.” 🙂
“There is a big
A big hard sun
Beating on the big people
In the big hard world…”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4uTEhDqa_s
(Living Stone Seagull)
The Only Sound That Matters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObRY1ZA8hfY
(Planted) 😉
btw, “viruses circulating at epidemic levels.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/8463021/Doctors-urge-vaccination-as-killer-virus-looms
Odd, it didn’t say that the US killer flu strain that they reported on is included in the 2013 Kiwi vaccination formula.
Is it in the NZ vaccine formulation or is it not in the NZ vaccine formulation?
interesting, yet i would suggest text implies it is; from my experience, the available vaccinations covers the national and international strains of concern per year of release.
Possibly, but I’d be far more comfortable with a piece containing that factual statement rather than a between the lines implication.
Breakfast this morning covered it and it sounded like all the necessary evils are present and accounted for. (I think it was just before Toni Timefiller asked the PM about the DOC job losses then sat back as the PM spun a long line about National’s ongoing ever-growing world saving job creation programme whilst avoiding the question in its entirety. Did you know that according to the PM over a hundred thousand jobs a month are lost or created in NZ? Someone please tell me I heard it wrong)
folk have to understand many of the useful predominately safe vaccine programmes of thirty forty years ago are very different beasties than the pick’n’mix petridishes of today.
It’s the old risks vs benefits balance.
or motive and opportunity 😎
freedom
Oh come on. we have super bugs etc now, things decades old aren’t up to the present strains and possibly some weren’t reliable then.
http://tvnz.co.nz/breakfast-news/highly-debatable-job-creation-fast-enough-video-5382005
in the interests of accurate reporting (hint hint daily papers)
the PM actually said in any three month period around a hunndred thousand jobs are lost or created
still seems high
Must be commission payments time again!
What a load of utter DROS!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/rebuilding-christchurch/8469811/EQC-leak-much-larger-than-realised
Gee, I wonder how King Gerry and Queen Shonkey are going to spin this one ???
its been removed and edited already, here is the new link
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/rebuilding-christchurch/8469811/EQC-leak-much-larger-than-realised
+ the herald’s
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10873522
http://www.pundit.co.nz/content/could-cyprus-happen-here
Josie Pagani, shows why certain subject matter, are best left to those who have an ounce of understanding, Josie is not one of those, in this instance!
Some gems:
More awful writing, on pundit!
“should be used as a excuse to introduce a united European banking system”
Quelle surprise!
http://unhypnotize.com/attachments/nwo-new-world-order-globalization/465d1247255964-sample-coin-new-world-currency-unity-diversity-coin-00021ace.jpg
they don’t just make these things for fun
Did Josie just miss the fact that the Eurozone is a key part of the problem, yet she wants even broader multinational banking systems???
And did she just equate Cyprus to some tin pot corrupt African country?
OMG.
Geeezus the international bankster and corporate cartel want their tax havens and infinitely unrestricted control over capital movement. She needs to get with the programme.
Maybe start with watching some Max Keiser.
Josie is clueless on this subject, and a terrible writer by looks of it, the article is atrocious in all respects!
Of course she has no idea that the Russian money is long since removed from Cyprus, if it were ever actually there in the first place (the avergae cyprian will wear 100% of this, and what when they need another bailout, another round of account theft of course), and Josie seems to not understand that the people writing the compliance regulations, also use the *tax havens*, she muses about *being cleaned up*
Its no wonder Josie has no idea the Eurozone/EU/IMF/ECB at al, are tools used to reek havoc on the worlds populace! – NZ has been owned by the IMF since 1961, it started with our gold, and it will end with (who knows what),and we still owe, undisclosed amounts, to undisclosed creditors
Josie exposes herself again!
Date Returned From Overseas.
Night John-Boy…Night Mary-Ellen… 🙂
i see shearer was on the telly reassuring the swinging-voters that ‘no..!..don’t worry..!..i also won’t do anything about poverty’..
..he has ditched the no gst on food..and the first five grand tax-free policies..
..saying we ‘can’t afford them’..
..and that labour ‘must focus on job creation-policies’..
..isn’t that the same pile of stinking bullshit key has been shovelling our way for so long now..?
..(is farrar advising shearer now..?..’can’t afford it/job-creation’ has been what he has been pushing since before national came to power..)
..phillip ure..
Q&A. Guest argued that Australia laws are its own business, but then decried that Australia would return welfare rights to kiwis in OZ, and this would hurt Australia because so many kiwis over there are so hard working – what will they do? return to NZ. The guest was unnerved by the whole direction of the move. NZ just doesn’t deserve better highly motivated skilled kiwis working here.
But then, to cap his blather off, after missing the obvious disproportionate treatment (that is know to destabilizes a nation), he went on to demand that the same policy should be introduce here.
Now editors at Q&A may feel the dumb arse opinions of don’t-know-don’t-want-to-know-heres-my-definitive-conclusion types makes great television, but I don’t, its just lazy filler for the time slot.
Q&A is not quality current affairs when it can’t debunk such nonsense.