Still bowing to the bullying of John “Possumhead” O’Neill
Radio New Zealand National: Doesn’t “Sound Like Us”
Radio New Zealand National, Wednesday 28 August 2013, 6.10 a.m.
The Essendon Football Club has been stripped of its points and heavily fined following a drug investigation. That’s important news, and rightly was the first thing on this morning’s National Radio sports bulletin. However, poor old Gary Ahern was clearly under some awkward riding instructions.
In 2004, an absurd directive was issued by the then Australian soccer CEO John O’Neill—Yes, THAT John O’Neill—that the game everyone in Australia and New Zealand calls “soccer” was henceforth to be called “football”, in spite of the fact that name was already taken by Australian football and Rugby football. Most news organisations, especially in the always compliant New Zealand, obeyed O’Neill’s spurious directive, but the general public of course continued to ignore it. Several years later, even the Herald has reverted to popular usage, but Radio New Zealand’s employees are clearly still obliged to persist with the practice. That’s obvious when you consider the absurdly convoluted wording of Ahern’s script this morning.
I sent those hapless slaves the following email….
It’s the Essendon FOOTBALL Club, not “Australian Rules” Club
Dear Simon and Geoff,
First item on your sports news this morning was about the “Essendon Australian Rules Club”. There is no such entity. Obviously the sports reporter meant the famous Essendon Football Club, but for some ridiculous reason, felt compelled to make up another name for the club.
That reason was made perfectly clear in the very next item, which was about “the Australian footballer Andrew Durante”. A quick check of the Australian Football League rosters reveals no such player, and there was no Australian footballer of that name playing against the All Blacks on Saturday evening. Turns out this Andrew Durante is an Australian soccer pkayer, but because of this absurd Radio New Zealand directive, he has to be called a “footballer”, in defiance of common practice in both Australia and New Zealand.
Your sports reporter Gary Ahern knows better, of course, but obviously felt compelled to follow this absurd directive.
Just another example of Radio New Zealand not sounding anything “like us.”
Yours in bemusement,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
yes what muppetts these morning RNZ jocks are, O’Neill would be pissing himslef as he left that post over 5 years ago as proof of what dweebs we are following 03 co hosting fiasco.
In Aussie AFL is mostly referred to as Footy or Rules, League is League, soccer is soccer and rugby rugby. You could just call them sportspeople given the way some swap codes.
I’m not sure why RNZ making it clear for the listeners that the Bombers are an Aussie Rules club is a problem. If they’d just said Essendon Football Club, most kiwis would have thought that meant football, not rules. btw, they haven’t been stripped of any points, but they aren’t allowed to play in the finals series despite qualifying in the top eight.
yes very lazy sloppy jonolism from RNZ they will officially finish the season in ninth place regardless of their points tally, and copped a $2m fine, lost draft picks etc
The poor obedient slaves couldn’t even get the name of the club right. It’s not that Gary Ahern doesn’t know how stupid he sounds by making up a name for the club, it’s that he is constrained by the foolish policy of Radio NZ National to disregard popular usage and obey a long-defunct directive issued by a discredited and malicious sports administrator.
Whether or not the Bombers lost all their points or not, the outcome is the same: they have been shamed and disgraced for their systematic abuse of drugs.
Our good friend Te Reo Putake has, not for the first time, pretended to be obtuse….
If they’d just said Essendon Football Club, most kiwis would have thought that meant football, not rules.
I don’t know anyone who is so ignorant as to imagine the Essendon Bombers play in the Super 15. So we know it’s not rugby football. It’s not association football. It’s Essendon Football Club. The name kind of clues you in, even if you know nothing about Melbourne, Australia or sport. Anyone who doesn’t know Essendon Football Club plays football should not be living unsupervised in the community.
Well, as you know, Moz, for most Kiwis, football is the round ball game. We also play rugby and league. So it makes sense for RNZ to clarify that the Bombers are an Auusie rules club. Otherwise, the listeners would have been left wondering how this affects the Nix’s chances in the upcoming season. Like it or not RNZ can’t tailor their sports bulletins to fit the anachronistic pedantry of one gripper in Northcote.
Well, as you know, Moz, for most Kiwis, football is the round ball game.
No it’s not, and you know it. Football is a generic name, of course, but it usually means rugby football. That’s why Gary Ahern and his colleagues not so subtly undermine the directibe by almost always saying “uh, football” when they dutifully read out their scripts, which until Possumhead’s mischievous joke directive in 2004, always used the word “soccer”. As I mentioned earlier, the print media have lapsed back to the popular usage, but Radio NZ National doggedly persists, just like they do with “1800s” instead of “nineteenth century” and “Fanganui” instead of the correct local pronunciation.
So it makes sense for RNZ to clarify that the Bombers are an Auusie rules club.
It’s the Essendon Football Club. The Bombers play football. There is no entity known as the Essendon Australian Rules Club.
Now who’s being willfully obtuse? Nobody said that there was such a thing as Essendon Australian Rules Club. But Radio NZ did mention Essendon, Aussie Rules club. Note the comma. It was by way of explanation, as I mentioned above. They never claimed that construction was the official name of the club, they were putting the club in context for their listeners. ie, Essendon (an) aussie rules club. Geddit now?
Tell ya what, howabout you take a clipboard and a pen and paper down to your local shops and ask 100 punters to name a famous footballer. After you get sick of writing down Messi, Rooney, Reidy et al pop back and let us know how it feels to be so out of touch.
And for God’s sake stop sending those pompous emails to RNZ; it’s not just the waste of taxpayers time before they hit delete, it’s an H&S issue. Eyeball OOS; repeated rolling of the eyes can be very harmful to the long term health of the producers.
Yes. Noticed that – or maybe he doesn’t want to be seen live on Skype first thing in the morning? Or busy polling for Natz about Labour leader contest?
You would think that at least some of them would feel obliged to keep an open mind, since the election is only a year away. So, it would be wise to consider which one is most likely to win it, or at least strengthen Labour’s hand, as well as trends among the members. If, for example, an overwhelming member vote in a particular direction was overridden by the caucus vote, the risk of continued discord would be high.
I think you will find Olwyn that some of those who fell in line with the ABC club’s wishes in Nov/Dec 2011 will be thinking a little more independently this time around. Its amazing what the close proximity of a general election can do to the thought processes of a politician. 🙂
Key’s response shows once again how inappropriate it is for commercially learned skills to be applied to the important matters in life. Key is way out of his depth. His approach is wrong on so many fronts.
One of the outcasts comments something like “it shows his true colours”, which sits perfectly alongside the fact that most New Zealanders think he is a liar (which he clearly is. Another commercially learned trait I would suggest).
It is completely and utterly appalling.
What a shameful Prime Minister and an arsehole of a person.
This Guy employs Kiwi’s, and the Nats want to chuck him out. something about a mild heart problem, and medical bills. Bills that he has offered to pay himself, What a great and caring government we have.
You are a moron BM. Your post shows a complete lack of comprehension of what was posted, let alone the wider issue of red zoning and government buyouts.
Tracey, I suspect you are wasting your time with braindead BM but lets examine his post, you know just for “fun”…
First; “Why should the TAXPAYER be forking out coin for uninsured properties?”
The taxpayer is not forking out for uninsured properties. That would imply the properties were insureable and bare land is not. The fact they had no insurance has absolutely nothing to do with the outcasts claims, which concern bare land. None, nada zip zero.
Second; “Fucking idiots, expecting the taxpayer to pick up the slack for their stupidity.”
See above. BM the fucking stupid idiot.
Third; “Feel a bit sorry for the bare land people though, but that’s just the way it goes at least they get some money back.”
Exposes BM’s lack of understanding as there are only bare land people involved in this. As for “just the way it goes”, what an ignoramus. It is not just the way it goes and that is what the Judge said. There are laws and processes to follow in these kinds of circumstances, Brownlee didn’t follow them and that is what the Judge said. It is never the case of “just the way it goes” in these circumstances.
“At least they get some money back”. Again exposes BM’s ignorance in thinking the money comes “back”. Back from where? Ffs.
And that’s it. BM’s post has zero value other than again showing the non-thinking nature of right wing parrots.
The problem many affected residential “red zone” home owners have is that not everyone is affected so badly by the quakes that they have to move. Many don’t wish to move.
The government devised a supposedly voluntary buyout offer aimed at moving residents out of the “red zone” based on a set of criteria that one has to be insured to receive an offer, and the offer price is proportionally based on the Rating Valuation and the insurance coverage.
The government also threatens that if one doesn’t accept the ‘voluntary’ offer, a compulsory buyout will be made at a lower price, and that essential services (power, water, sewer, etc) will be turned off to force you out.
1. Uninsured home owners have their homes condemned, without due process or just cause. [Total loss of home value]
Should of had insurance
2. Under-insured home owners are offered reduced buyout price, proportional to their insurance coverage. [Substantial loss of home value]
Should of had enough insurance
3. Fully-insured home owners cannot repair, or rebuild (if necessary) on their own land, and will lose insurance entitlements if choose to sell to the government. [Partial/substantial loss of home value]
The government/taxpayer is not going to spend millions and millions of dollars rebuilding a red zoned area just for you with all the infrastructure that goes along with it, just because you want to stay..
Face it, the land’s fucked, everyone else has excepted the situation and moved on,
stop being a pain in the arse.
That’s a “NO, I haven’t read the decision” then BM?
I can save you some trouble;
The Government drafted the earthquake legislation. They actually drafted two pieces, one after the first earthquake and another later. So they had two chances to get it right.
They also made lots of statements in public and private about the intention of their legislation.
The High Court decision is that they then dealt with these people contrary to the very legislation (and its purpose) that they (Govt) had prescribed.
vacant land owners could not get insurance. It is not a question of them not wanting it.
The bottom-line however is that this government made statutory promises through the ACT and its purpose and then acted contrary to it.
Put it this way, the majority of vacant and uninsured have already been fucked by the Govt acting outside its power (and this decision wont change that), so you can take some solace.
The total cost of to the country to top up the first unlawful offer by the government is
$12.54m
BTW there is no proof, and none was offered by the Crown in its case that people will not insure if the govt pays the uninsured 100%
Remember when the Govt paid out $20m to foreign investors in SCF? Wouldn’t a good kiwi bloke like the Pm think these Canterbury kiwis are more worthy of our support than the foreign folks taking a roll of the dice on investments? Investor beware and all that? AND this payout was done after English had a chance to cancel the govt guarantee scheme of Cullen… he knew the implications, he had advice it was going to fail, and he did it anyway.
You still missed the point. The court case concerned bare land. Wake up drongo
And the point of the post was the shameful response of the Prime Minister, which you have not addressed.
As for this…
“Face it, the land’s fucked, everyone else has excepted the situation and moved on,
stop being a pain in the arse.”
You see, yet again you show your ignorance. The knowledge around the traps is that the vast majority of government bought land can and will be remediated and inhabited again in the future.
Get some actual facts under your belt instead of being a waste of space.
I hope you are not intending to vote next year because your understanding of issues is woeful.
Can they actually turn off the power and kick people out? Moving onto water by way of a rain water tank and a septic tank take care of the other two services – and they are used by lots of more isolated homes all around the country. But the power – it isn’t expensive to supply that close to a main centre so how the hell would they get away with threatening to cut it off as the supply is already there and the houses have been legally built there?
What exactly is the difference between remaining in the red zone and living on a lifestyle block on the outskirts of town?
Yes being told ‘your wrong’ by the Court has certainly cracked the facade carefully constructed for the Slippery little Shyster for His role as Prime Minister,
Had a discussion this week about Christchurch matters with someone who has just come back from working among the ‘wreckage’ down there, none of it is pretty, nor f**king fun, for those who the Prime Minister would bankrupt with His mean spirited ‘offer’ on their un-insured red zoned properties to the tenants of the States housing in that city,
Caught out by the very Legislation that He enacted the Prime Minister has retreated into simpering like a spoiled child and i would hopefully see the Court of Appeal reflect this in a future judgement,
As far as ‘precedent’ goes the Court only need to, when it kicks Slippery’s appeal into touch, make reference to the fact that the High Court decision which has caused the spoiled little brat of a Prime Minister to react so poorly is based singularly on the CERA Legislation and so DOES NOT set a precedent in Law for any other disaster be it natural or otherwise,
Hopefully the ‘new’ leader of the Labour opposition gets down to that city quick smart, with a good opportunity to spend some time there being the upcoming by-election, and have a good look at all the issues surrounding the ‘reconstruction’,
There is a damn sight more ugly stuff going on down there than i am prepared to outline at the moment…
I have friends and family down there. My cousin’s home was completely destroyed in the first earthquake in kaiapoi. Fully insured. Had to get lawyers to deal with insurance company. Finally got a negotiated payout in October 2012 after 18 months of bullying by the insurance company. Taking money from people to cover certain contingencies and then actively pursuing a strategy to reduce your obligation is more than shameful, but hey, let’s attack the uninsured as unworthy. I shudder to think how much insurance companies have cost us as taxpayers in this Earthquake recovery.
If anything would make someone not bother to insure it is the behaviour of the insurance companies. God forbid the government criticise them.
The judge giving the ruling said the government has to be even-handed. Key obviously thinks that throwing both hands up in the air as he walks away is even-handed. He shows no empathy, as is the case with liars.
When challenged on this, our PM will say that he can find another judge who will give a different opinion- which is in essence what Brownlee is saying.
Good on Ruth Dyson for saying that the compensation should be for the full amount.
Compulsory home and section insurance in future and the problem becomes minimal. Insurance could be added onto the mortgage (as a last resort). A lot of money is tied up in land and the purchase/build of a home, that insurance is essential.
The government are not interested in lowering the level of alcohol when in charge of a motor vehicle and they are quite happy to pay out ACC and hospital costs.
I’d like to know what the cost of accidents involving the current level of alcohol to a reduced level is compared to being reasonable with the uninsured?
Probably cheaper than a fair payout for those who had differculty in organising or affording home and section insurance, bearing in mind the section owners who could not insure.
Anomalies are seen in everyday life and to have the wisdom to know this, is what is needed, not to further a person’s anguish which is so unproductive and cruel.
New SIS chief being sought. In an online news article they talk about it being similar to the move to appoint Fletcher to GCSB showing a move away from military based leadership.
On another note I saw that one outlet is reporting that support is waning for Robertson.
Given that the appointment of a Labour leader is determined by very specific groups in NZ, how can anyone accurately poll it unless they are polling labour members, labour caucus and union members and delegates? Would they be doing that?
The Director is also accountable for:
• providing high quality advice to the Minister in Charge in respect to Government’s security and intelligence interests, and the means to achieve desired security system outcomes
• protecting, advancing and maximising New Zealand’s broader intelligence interests by developing and sustaining relationships with, and providing advice to, government departments and international counterparts
• maintaining sound relationships with ODESC, and effectively coordinating with those government agencies with roles in New Zealand’s security and intelligence community
• leading the effective management of the Service so that it contributes to the achievement of agreed outcomes now and in the future by developing the Service to fulfil its roles in a constantly changing environment
• modelling leadership and collegial behaviours within the Intelligence Community and wider State sector to achieve cross sector and whole of government outcomes.
[…]
Over the next two to three years the Director will be required to:
• Build trust and confidence in the intelligence and security sector
• With the Director of GCSB, identify and implement initiatives to achieve closer integration and alignment, where this makes sense, between the GCSB and the NZSIS, including establishing a joint workforce strategy across the NZIC
• Address findings of the GCSB compliance review that may apply to the wider intelligence community including ensuring a high level of compliance with systems and frameworks in the Service
[…]
• Contribute to Ministers and senior officials making better national security and foreign policy decisions
• Improve New Zealand’s cyber security through promoting good security practice as well as effective counter-intelligence and counter-espionage capability.
• experience managing organisational cultural change and strategic planning of an organisation
• ability to manage external stakeholders (including international partners) as well as those within the New Zealand Intelligence Community
At least it confirms foreign involvement with our secret services.
“stakeholder”
“Stakeholder may refer to:
Stakeholder (corporate), an accountant, group, organization, member or system who affects or can be affected by an organization’s actions
Stakeholder, an entity that can be affected by the results of that in which they are said to be stakeholders, i.e., that in which they have a stake. Project stakeholder, a person, group or organization with an interest in a project
Stakeholder theory, a theory that identifies and models the groups which are stakeholders of a corporation or project
Stakeholder analysis, the process of identifying those affected by a project or event
Stakeholder (law), a third party who temporarily holds money or property while its owner is still being determined
”
experience managing organisational cultural change? Is this in every job description these days I wonder. It would explain why we are always in a state of undress, messing about, uttering cries of rage and pain, which in the end leaves us with new people, and a new system, developed at great expense and the loss of dedicated workers, and the loss of institutional knowledge that should have been called on and incorporated into a revised system for maximum effectiveness for ongoing work.
Grand gestures is what we get from management. Installing new and expensive technology and showing bias against old systems is what we get.
Trying to employ less people, cutting people out of the workforce yet still expecting to trade with the others who are still working, that’s what we get.
And soon it will be machines interacting and building themselves and people behaving more like machines than they do now that’s what we’ll get. That is the modern man (and high flying woman) at their work today. What a bunch of prats at their core. And soulless and destructive. And anti-human.
“Build trust and confidence in the intelligence community” with whom one may ask? All the kiwi’s they are thinking of spying on or the off shore clients? Surprised they don’t have ” export led focus” as part of the scenario.
In the light of information that a new head of SIS is being sought and with due apologies to Arlo Guthrie for a slight re-casting of “The Last Guy”, I thought this might be appropriate.
…being an SIS man, you have to be over 40 years old.
And the reason is, that it takes at least 25 years with the
organization to be that much of a bastard. It’s true. You just
can’t join, you know. It needs an atmosphere where your
natural bastardness can grow and develop and take a
meaningful shape in today’s complex society…
So, this is where my PA has sloped off to instead of being present at the coal-face, your lucky i am illiterate or such behavior would have resulted in a written warning being issued…
“Day two of the Labour leadership race and the main contenders are already embroiled in an ugly Twitter row, on the back foot over their use of the taxpayer-funded travel perk to lobby for votes – and discovering that knocking Prime Minister John Key off his pedestal is not as easy it looks.”
Talking of gossip columnists: Have a look at what the ignorant bimbo Rachel Glucina of the Herald’s ‘The Diary’ fame had to say about the three candidates. I’ve printed in full to save wading through the mindless crap to get to it.
The three-way Labour race begins
Applications for the Labour leadership nomination have closed. The lights have gone up. The stage is set. The votes are to be cast. This is your Political Idol. So far, there’s no lack of hubris among the runners.
Shane Jones, remember him? Paid for hotel porn movies on his Crown credit card? He’s making a comeback and wants the top job.
Grant Robertson is running, too, and making headlines for his sexual orientation. He is getting credit for being an articulate, sharp-witted, gay MP. Robertson says his private life is not of interest; New Zealanders will look past it. He’s happy, however, to peddle his pastime of playing rugby.
David Cunliffe announced His ticket with His slogan while wearing His ceremonial leis at His electorate office under a portrait of Himself.
Critics say he is too Me, Me, Me. So blinkered, evidently, he obliviously posted His candidacy message on Facebook and duplicated the same template as rival Robertson. Oops. Witi Ihimaera may call that flattery, but voters will call that a turn off.
The new Labour leader is expected to be announced on September 15, in which we hope a thick waft of white smoke will declare there’s a winner.
No prizes for guessing which political party She votes for…
But the social-media side of the contest is already turning ugly. Mr Cunliffe publicly disowned a “Cunliffe leader” site and took to Twitter to call on supporters to “quit the troll spam page”.
Here’s what Cunliffe tweeted yesterday
David Cunliffe @DavidCunliffeMP 19h
Afternoon all. @CunliffeLeader is a troll and has nothing to do with our campaign. We’re keeping it positive. Thanks.
David Cunliffe @DavidCunliffeMP 19h
Afternoon all. @CunliffeLeader is a troll and has nothing to do with our campaign. We’re keeping it positive. Thanks.
David Cunliffe @DavidCunliffeMP 20h
@CunliffeLeader Quit the troll spam page – this page has nothing to do with me. – @DavidCunliffeMP
Hardly turning ugly, and hardly a ‘call to supporters’. Looks like normal use of twitter to me. If Watkins thinks that’s ugly she needs to spend more time on the standard 😉
Poor jono’s must be hard reporting on storms in teacups.
Late 2010 to late 2012 Christchurch suffered 2 years of 10,000 earthquakes. Dead people, busted communities, broken homes, heroism, community spirit, goodwill.
Late 2012 to late 2013 Christchurch begins its recovery and rebuild money begins to flow inwards. People’s eyes light up, money, greed, rudeness, shafting, mutual shitting on each other.
The yin and yang of humanity on display for all to see…..
So I’m guessing Keys’ “it’s been fun” comment does not fairly reflect the reality. What a disgrace this guy pretending to be PM is. I won’t be holding my breath waiting for Pathetic Growler (Patrick Gower) to harass Key over this comment.
Hi LPrent,
When I clicked on a comment a moment ago, I was taken to an interesting post from September last year (rather than today’s open-mike).
As always, I mention it just in case it is the kind of thing you need to know.
I reckon there is a whopping great number of Cunliffe supporters out there who are not part of the Facebook generation. My mother is a good example of old Labour, She thinks Facebook is for freaks who don’t know how to talk face to face….maybe we have a generation issue overlaying this election?
“how to guarantee yr male offspring will have a small penis..eat lots of chickens…”
I’m sure you think this is funny phillip, but the study doesn’t say that and you’re just contributing to the ongoing dumbing down of science in public sphere.
And good ole PETA, missing the point too… if eating chicken increases one’s intake of phthalates (which isn’t clear from the study), then the obvious question is how the phthalates are getting there. Phthalates are known endocrine disruptors, and the solution is to stop putting them into the environment at source. It’s also possible that any hormonal effect on unborn children comes from industrial, factory farmed chickens, which have all sorts of weird shit done to them, including hormone treatments.
weka..i don’t find any aspect of eating chickens ‘funny’..
..nor do i think the health-outcomes from eating meat/fish/dairy are at all ‘funny’..
..(i pass this on as more of a public-service announcement..’cos you sure as hell won’t read this in the mainstream media..eh..?
..and most in nz are so brainwashed on this..they express incredulity at any claim the consumption of what they have been spun/sold all their lives as ‘healthy’..’essential’..could have harmful outcomes..
..just one myth:..the ‘cows’ milk is essential for good bones’ bullshit..
..cows’ milk actually leaches calcium from bones..eh..?
..something else the mainstream media have no interest in telling you..)
..and are you denying all the science showing how harmful such dietary practices are..?
..why do you think there are the warnings to ‘only eat red meat three times a week’ etc..?
..and if you want the evidence on dairy..you cd do worse than key ‘dairy’ into my searchengine..
..having been vegan for about 15 yrs now..i have quite a trove of the stuff..
..and seriously weka..what most are doing to their longterm health prospects..from their diets..
..isn’t in the slightest bit ‘funny’..
..and of course..most wash down their charred/bbq-ed/carcinogen-enhanced meat with the nationally sanctioned drug…alcohol..
..i carried a story this morning reporting un figures..showing 4% of all deaths on the planet..are from alcohol..(and this is more than die from violence..
..the number of annual deaths due to cannabis consumption..
..nil/zero/nada/none..
..it would seem so many are holding the stick from the wrong end..eh..?
(i pass this on as more of a public-service announcement.
You are promoting misleading and incorrect interpretations of science.
..cows’ milk actually leaches calcium from bones..eh..?
[citation needed]
..and are you denying all the science showing how harmful such dietary practices are..?
No, I’m not. You are engaging your prejudices there, assuming that critical thinking on one factor equates to denial of other things. Please read what I said again, and point to where I am denying “all the science showing how harmful such dietary practices are”.
I’m well aware of the problems with mainstream nutritional advice. I’m also well aware of the bullshit within the vegan/vegetarian communities. And the paleo communities etc. For some reason, food attracts a high degree of dogma and extremism. The best way to deal with that is to engage critical thinking across the board, at both the science level and the philosophical/ethical level.
weka..re request for citation..i told you where to find the evidence against dairy..
..or else you could just google it..eh..?
..and while you are there..check out how good bbq-ed red meat is for you..
..and as incidental evidence..(ahem..!..aside from myself..being way past my best-used-by date..oozing bountiful health/wellbeing as i am at this mo’..)..i have a dog who has lived on a vegan diet for 15 yrs..
..and she looks about 3/4 yrs old..run/moves like a gazelle..coat so shiny you need shades..
..so..y’know..!
..then i look at the dogs younger than my lucy…and the humans all around me of my advanced years – having lived their diets of meat/dairy/booze…
..most dragging themselves around..
..and i go ‘y’know!’ again..
..i had a medical check-up recently..
..medical person..pen poised..asked for the list of meds i am on..
..and at first disbelieving i was on nothing/no meds….
..and double-checked/asked..’are you sure?’
..i then told her the only drugs i used were black tea and pot…
weka..re request for citation..i told you where to find the evidence against dairy..
Ok, please link to that, I must have missed it. If you don’t I will assume you are making shit up.
..or else you could just google it..eh..?
For every article on google saying meat is bad, there is another saying meat is good, and everything in between. Likewise pretty much every food you can think of. It’s up to you to provide the evidence for your argument, because I can’t mind read.
As for the rest, of course there are individuals who can do well on vegan diets. Duh. But you seem to be saying that because x individuals do well on vegan diets, than all people can. I’m also wondering if you are inferring that because you do well on a vegan diet, then eating animal products is bad. But that would just be daft wouldn’t it.
I see you have ignored the substance of my comments, which is that science is being badly misrepresented by PETA and now you. I have alot of sympathy for animal rights and will not eat factory chicken or eggs. But PETA’s position was just idiotic and illogical, and leads me to believe they’re not interested in the phthalate issues, let alone the wellbeing of unborn children, and just want everyone to convert to being vegan/vegetarian for moral reasons.
Quite agree Phil. People could watch Forks Over Knives which is online and also many libraries have it in stock. Nothing wrong with converting to veganism for moral reasons, in fact it is morally wrong not to unless you condone suffering of animals.
But vegans cause suffering to animals by their diet choices, so why are they more moral than someone who eats meat that has been ethically raised and slaughtered?
“Rrrright – how do vegans cause suffering to animals?”
Direct animal deaths from grain crop harvesting (there’s a bit in the wiki entry on veganism if you are interested). Indirect deaths and suffering from ecosystem degradation from industrial monocropping and the flow on effects from food miles.
This particular animal tho would ‘suffer’ if He didn’t get to munch on bacon’n’beef and other meaty treats which have been part of the diet for way too long to think about quitting the practice of devouring His fellow animals…
“..to convert to being vegan/vegetarian for moral reasons…”
of course there are ‘moral reasons’ to be vegan..
..every piece of meat/bye-product involves the (usually cruel life)/suffering/premature death of an animal..
..and i see you claim to ‘support animal rights’..?
..whoar..!
..do you put that ‘support’ for ‘animal rights’ on hold when you are eating yr non-factory’ (yeah right!) chooks and eggs..?
..and when you eat pigs raised in the (well-documented) horrors of their lives..?
..and when you eat veal (baby cows)..?
..when you eat yr cheese that has calf-guts as a binding agent..?
..when you eat fish..?
(didyaknow fish have a central nervous system similar to humans..?
…so..imagine if you can..a hook thru yr lip/in yr guts..fighting for yr life..
..and then if you are lucky ..bludgeoned to death..or just left to suffocate..?
..not a lot of those ‘animal rights’ that you support’ going on in any of those..eh..?
..and are you seriously arguing that the jury is still out on red meat..?..
“.. I’m also wondering if you are inferring that because you do well on a vegan diet, then eating animal products is bad. But that would just be daft wouldn’t it…”
..um..!..no…that isn’t ‘daft’..surely you must learn from examples..?
..i mean..it was only a decade ago that being vegetarian was regarded as ‘loopy’…
..and vegan is about in that space now..
..but that is fast changing..(there are now two vegan cafes within a couple of k’s from where i live..(unheard of only a few years ago..)
..and have you seen bill clinton since he went vegan..?
..whoar..!..so sharp he cuts..
..and of course tama iti..went vegan while in the slammer..
..and has never looked better..
..use yr eyes..and open yr mind..eh..?
..it’s your quality of life we’re talking about..eh..?
..and of course..all those ‘animals’ whose ‘rights’ you so ‘support’..eh..?
Animals die to provide vegan meals. Veganism currently contributes to industrial agriculture’s degradation of the environment. Lots of plant cruelty too. And lots of food miles that contribute to AGW.
I eat happy meat, not the meat you describe. It’s a failing of the vegan movement to not be able to tell the difference.
Red meat is a healthy food option for many people within a well balanced diet.
I followed your link to your blog. I searched back through a number of pages and see mostly political posts on dairy. Nothing even remotely close to a citation that demonstrates the milk leaches calcium from bones. Unless you link to some evidence I will assume you are repeating a science myth (one I happen to be familiar with btw, so will be interested to see what evidence you find).
I can provide evidence for everything I have just said, but won’t until you start doing so for your assertions.
I think your choosing to be vegan is absolutely fine, good on you. You are also entitled to your beliefs. But you are deluding yourself if you think that you are making more ethical eating choices than I am.
Ms Collins introduced the Electoral Amendment Bill yesterday which will require political parties to declare loans of more than $15,000 as well as donations, and outlaw supporters wearing rosettes and coloured ribbons on election day.
The loans provision is intended to close a loophole which could allow parties to hide donations as loans and later forgive them – delaying the need to disclose them until after the election.
While Dunne wants rule changes around registration and de-registration
Are the 3 candidates going to be at the rally today?
The Fairness at Work rally organisers said changes to the Employment Relations Act will allow employers to refuse to negotiate a collective agreement with employees, pay new workers less than the rate of the collective agreement, and be able to opt out of industry agreements to undercut wages.
Interesting that Steven Joyce is spinning against Wellington having an airport extension….for all sorts of reasons that don’t ring true.
However what is true is the multi- billion dollar motorway proposed up the Coast ….
(that no sane NZer wants because in recessionary times the money should be spent on: state schools, restoring adult continuing education, youth trades apprenticeships, employment opportunities for NZers, venture capital for high tech and scientific industries, affordable quality public health and dentistry, looking after the those at the bottom of the economic heap, Christchurch citizens and Christchurch, environment protection etc etc)
….this multi- billion dollar motorway road leads straight to an alternative site for Wellington airport near Raumati
Tell me if I am wrong. Tell me who owns shares in this area.Tell me who they bought them from ie who previously owned this site.Tell me who is great friends with the previous owner of this site.
Tell me …tell me …if there is not something fishy here…and why shouldnt Wellingon have an AIRPORT EXTENSION?!
Remind me to prostrate myself befor such an august body next time i am down that way, got a list by any chance of those who voted in favor of wrecking every poor person in Wellington’s favorite fishing spot???,
We will have to ‘see’ won’t we whether the newly elected Wellington City Council which is likely to be heavily Green ‘want’ an extended runway that if what at least one ‘expert’ believes because of the height of the Newlands Hills to the North will become as dangerous as the Queenstown one is to fly in and out of at certain times,
The fact that the present City Council is all a gush for extending the present runway befor any work has been done to study the effects of the surrounding hills on both safety and noise pollution of the surrounding suburbs just tells me that a number of them need replacing…
Perhaps the Boss needs to step in front of a few more of them, it certainly seemed to get the City Council scrambling over safety barriers last time He came in contact with one despite that august body having sat on it’s hands while a number of ‘other’s’ got totaled by the buses on their new routes…
Promising that you will show brilliant recipes that utilise stale bread is all very well. But poor people’s bread does not go stale, Jamie. It goes mouldy. And if you had ever been poor, you would know that.
“Promising that you will show brilliant recipes that utilise stale bread is all very well. But poor people’s bread does not go stale, Jamie. It goes mouldy. And if you had ever been poor, you would know that.”
It doesn’t stay around long enough to go stale, poor people get hungry too.
Good one Tim – a good take on Jamie and the foodie industry.
And if my bread gets a bit of mould I pick it out and check the rest of the slice, and then I toast what’s left. I don’t buy $1 white but $4 grain and each slice is good stuff and worth
say 20c. That’s how you manage if you’re on a budget, and want to save for the charm of takeaways.
WMD in Damascus? oops. When did we hear THAT before?
Do we follow the quack of uncle Donald into next quagmire behind the bonesman kerry?
“Ayssar Midani, a French Syrian citizen and political activist, joins us from Damascus to talk about the latest developments in Syria. We talk about the history of the terrorist jihadi insurgency in the country and their prior use of chemical weapons, the latest attack and claims of satellite evidence proving that the attack was not launched by government officials, and the likely consequences of a US-led strike on the country.”
For the Russians, who have a huge amount of foreign currency reserves already, a stable and intact ally in the region is by far the strategic priority.
It’s worth remembering that Russian political economic calculus is quite different to the highly American crony capitalist version of decision making that we are constantly exposed to. Solidarity, loyalty and the long game is second nature to the ruskies. Quick demonstrable gains, political expediency and the next two quarters’ financial results are key drivers for the US.
For the Russians, who have a huge amount of foreign currency reserves already
There are calls for Russia and China (central banks) to implement economic sanctions on the US/UK if they use military force against Syria.
Selling of US gvt securities will be a significant constraint as the US will only have around 50b in cash by OCT and will be unable to raise debt ( without congress approval) due to the debt ceiling.
Thing is, as long as foreign countries are willing to trade real goods and services in exchange for USD, the Federal Reserve can keep crediting (creating) as much currency as is required.
but the more they print, the less attractive the USD is as a benchmark.
Interestingly enough, China deliberately undervalued the RMB to help its manufacturing industry and it has a semi-fixed value (rather than a completely free floating value). Seemed to work okay for them.
but the more they print, the less attractive the USD is as a benchmark.
Oh, absolutely. The BRICs are starting to shift away from the dollar, and discussion of the USD losing its reserve currency status is no longer tin foil hat stuff. But as long as nations are willing to exchange real ite,s like beef, oil and heroin for USD, and to hold USD as a primary store of foreign reserves, the US has got free financial reign to keep pushing on.
Saudi Arabia has a horrific human rights/womens rights record, as well as a willingness to use violence against peaceful demonstrators and political opponents. How can the US justify selling billions in advanced arms to them?
…meanwhile….across the ditch Labour in Tasmania is being decimated through association with the Greens. A lesson for Labour here.
“Tasmanian federal Labor MPs told The Australian they in large part blamed the party’s relationship with the Greens at the state and federal levels for the potential slide back into oblivion.
Dick Adams, a stalwart of the party who the latest polling suggests will fail to defend a margin of 12.3 per cent in rural Lyons, said the party should review its power-sharing deal with the Greens in the state…
“The Liberals … are using it in their ads – ‘Green means Labor’ – and that sort of caper,” Mr Adams said. “The Greens have created an image in Tasmania that they oppose everything. And that’s the general feeling that 80 per cent of Tasmanians would have about the Greens.
“The majority of Tasmanians think that the Greens are a negative force to jobs, growth and economic activity.”…
The Labor MP for the marginal seat of Braddon, Sid Sidebottom, who faces a strong challenge from Liberal Brett Whiteley, agreed that Labor was being damaged by its association with the Greens. “There are people who view the Greens as anti-development,” he said. “
Good point grumpy. Greens need to stress they are wide thinkers, want better lives and opportunities now stretching into the future. No posthole ‘diggers’ like the right wing in Australia who want to tether everybody to now, going deeper in the same spot with old enterprise like mining until there is nothing left to mine. Ensuring that there will soon be failing and falling opportunities with no regard for the difficulties of the future and nothing to offer the country for the future except more golf courses and more land speculation that decimates the natural environment.
…and good point Greywarbler. The issue is Labour becoming so close to the Greens that they are seen as anti development and further left. That just drives the centre to the Coalition (National in NZ) and Labour get decimated.
A lesson for NZ and the LP leadership and future direction decisions.
grumpy and framu
I am thinking about the strength of misinformation and misperception. Greens have to fight this. It would be a shame to have it continue in Tasmania to the case of Labour being disadvantaged.
But the parties may have to pull apart, if Labour itself is the old dinosaur that can’t see how to change and can’t evolve. It is possible as I said before that the Oz ‘digger’ will be the logo for all their political attitudes. Digging themselves a hole, which will eventually get so deep they will find it hard to get out and change course in a measured way. Result – there will be upset people, scapegoating, more poverty, and both Oz and Kiwi battlers possibly uniting in anger and taking it out on each other.
I am interested in Charter schools and the decision that teachers there don’t have to be qualified teachers. Qualified teachers go through a police screening process before teaching our children.
Ms Bennett says she expects “partnership” schools to follow the new rules. Could someone get on her case to turn expectation into guarantee.
There is currently a surplus of qualified teachers in this country and they continue to train large numbers every year.
I would hazard a guess that many if not most who are eventually employed as teachers in charter schools will be qualified teachers. (at slightly above the minimum wage of course)
That’s aspirational: send your kid to a charter school, there might well be a 50:50 chance that their teacher is qualified. At a hazardous guess, of course…
don’t be so sure. People like Banks don’t care about unemployment rates. He believes the best person to teach maths is a financial advisor, with real world experience. Hell he might go for the job himself after serving on the Huljich Board and being temporary CEO.
Watch Mariana Mazzucato, a Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex, discuss the role of government in innovation and economic growth. In her latest book The Entrepreneurial State she argues that active state investment has been the secret behind most radical innovations, and that this requires economists to analyse the state as market ‘maker’ and market ‘shaper’ not just market ‘fixer’.
Sounds promising for clear headed thinking DTB. Thanks for the headsup. Cf to Joyce this morning giving his ideas on how Christchurch or somewhere can get enterprise, I think Wellington.
His idea for busin ess and enterprise growth is getting investment in a location which then makes jobs and so families can make lives. Ooh goody – he has been reading his Form 5 textbooks again on Theory of Domestic Economies. And what has he done – mostly make money out of playing other people’s music, advertisising, and talking about sports, and criticising others or making fun of people. Especially anybody who strives to do their job acceptably, advance the lives of others and provide essential services as opposed to providing wallpaper for the ears (as Peter Ustinov termed modern music) as is much of radio content.
Another Indian women’s murder has come into the news. She was training to be a teacher, ready to work in the world of intelligence and ideas and skills and wages. She went out but never came home, was found and the report says she has been raped, tortured and killed. Her family notified the police but after a few hours decided they were doing nothing to search for her whereabouts. I think five men have been arrested.
Is this how modern society will go? All our efforts as civilisations evolve for each person to be given respect and rights to be free from others with wants using and imposing on their lives? Pakistan, I have heard of a midwife being barked at implying she was a bitch on heat because she was seen out at night going to attend her mothers. In India, the fast-moving middle class is not spreading a more civilised attitude to women along with its higher development. A book that was featured on Radionz might interest – The Ivory Swing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janette_Turner_Hospital
Countries that impose strict rules on movement of women, then seem to excuse disgraceful behaviour of males, the excuse being possibly that the mistreated woman had looked at them. Often the most ‘religious’ carry out the most heinous crimes and yet still regard themselves as holy and righteous. Western women are seen as open to exploitation by Asian men in Britain, as they don’t have to answer to blood thirsty family members. The Lebanese? rioted with the Oz young men in Sydney over supposed treatment of the women of one side or the other. What will happen in China? Will they do what the Sicilians used to do and kidnap a girl and hold her until her honour was in doubt and then she had to marry the man as there was no other future for her.
Phillipa Gregory writes a lot of historical novels. This morning one was being discussed. In the conversation a reference to the leading women of the age was made – they seemed to be a mixture of breeding stock and political pawns. So it’s a fight to keep standards of behaviour from slipping right back, and I fear as we are overburdened with population, and divisions, we will see more confused attitudes to women, and those to men. Going into a convent in medieval times was not necessarily an incarceration to be feared. It could be a haven against men offering a settled life, regular meals, and safety.
An are you for real piece in today’s Herald online, the Anonymous Group, underground computer hackers, have said that Dunne, Banks, and, Key are now Targets to have their computers burgled and any dirty laundry found exposed to the public,
This, along with having ‘taken down’ the GCSB computer system for a day in what Anonymous describe as a feint to get the spooks scrambling while they half inched some juicy stuff elsewhere, is in response to the passing of the GCSB Legislation and the crucial part each of those named above played in the passage of that Legislation, the ‘lesson’ being apparently ‘you reap what you sow’,
Slippery the PM had no comment to make, other than a general tantrum over the stars having appeared to align to make His life a misery on too many fronts to allow a specific tantrum,
Laughably, Dunne was perplexed and couldn’t remember (a) if He had any secrets that were not already public knowledge,(believe me wee Petey you do), and (b), can’t remember where He might have hid said secrets,(try the file marked ‘s**t’ that would destroy the remnants of my tattered credibility Pete),
i of course cannot do anything but roundly abhor such behavior, after all it is illegal right, i am off now to have my Doc check out what the sound of that mad laughter emanating from up my sleeve is…
FARC! Just watched Question Time. Trevor Mallard just undid any gains we might have got yesterday by accusing Nick Smith of squatting in the Minister’s residence when he resigned as Minister whenever it was. Own goal Trevor. Smith said he needed that time to find somewhere else for his kids to live. Definitely own goal, Trev. FARC! FARC! FARC!
Mallard, when I read the paper this morning was one of those purported to be backing Robertson….which begs the question of which other idiots might remain on the front bench by backing Robertson..the paper speculated Goff as well…plus a gfew others who were the rump of the remaining MPs tainted by neo liberalism and the do nothing radical Clark years.
If the speculated names of those supporting Robertson are correct, they pretty much confirm theories from Trotter, Bradbury and others that they have, and are trading off with the “identity” groups to keep control of the party direction. This is a battle they might win, the price will be an election route. Conversely if they lose to Cunliffe the Left stands at least an even chance at the election. So either we select Robertson and gift National a victory OR….we do this all again and have to wait three more years.
In defence of Mallard does anybody in here think that Housing NZ would let a tenant occupy a property rent free (that they were no longer entitled to) for up to six weeks just so their kids could finish the school term?
You appear to be the only one who really gives a s**t, there will be plenty of opportunity to examine the Slippery little shyster after His latest overseas sojourn and by then Labour will have the new leader firmly ensconced on the front Bench,
Of course your wee worry is probably a constant nag in the back of the PM’s little empty cranial cavity as we all know it’s when the leader of the National rabble is ‘out of the country’ it is the prime opportunity when the challenger, in this case Judith Collins, likes to eviscerate the incumbent with a sharp object lesson in back stabbing…
Judith Collins openly and publicly said last week that She wants the PM’s job, Collins was careful to not say exactly when She expects to get that job,
Define anytime soon, for Collins to openly tout for the top job She must know that She has a reasonable amount of support in the Caucus to protect Her from an immediate holiday in Siberia,
If the numbers keep going South for National and Slippery keeps shoving His foot into His own mouth anything can happen,
There might just be a few people in National thinking that next year they can’t afford another strategic blunder like the teapot debacle in the middle of an election campaign. Key’s star is waning, plain and simple.
He usually goes to inordinate lengths not to apologize for anything yet today felt compelled to issue an apology for the dumbass comments about walking away from people in Christchurch.
@ TheContrarian….oh!!!!? …well blame it on my teenage son…he put it up ( ie Chooky’s young rooster)…always blame the roosters
….never-the- less I wouldn’t mind betting that the ‘rebels’ were the ones who did the gassing and not Bashir al -Assads forces….and there does seem to be scepticism and support for this possibility from other sources eg Checkpoint interview tonight with an expert on Syria who is no friend of Assads….
…time will tell ….as it did with spurious WMD arguments for bombing Iraq
…in any case it will be disgraceful if the West bombs Syria…no good can come of this!
I don’t proclaim to know who originally fired the warheads but I certainly don’t believe any of the shit on beforeitsnews. Secondly, this situation is nothing like Iraq. There were no chemical weapons in Iraq at all. In this instance there are. Secondly the US were balls to the wall in readiness to hit Iraq. Here they seem to want nothing To do with the conflict and have been at pains to avoid it all together
Except that both countries were targeted by the US military.
“This is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.”
Says one person several years ago under a different government in the wrong order in light of a new government that could have long ago targeted Syria if they wanted to and even now are making no moves towards all out regime change.
Like I said elsewhere Ugly, you have created yourself an unsolvable problem. Everything can be explained as part of your grand conspiracy and if it doesn’t fit then it can be safety ignored. You sound like a creationist who says nothing that contradicts that bible can be valid. But in your case, anything that conflicts with your conspiracy is necessarily a lie or incorrect. No other position can be tolerated.
Given the choice of believing the words of a US General or the Contrarian anonymously commenting on a computer network, no surprises WHO we believe is there TC,
That’s a stunning interview with the General on so many levels, s**t i have 20 odd television channels streaming into my home 24 hours a day and not one of them has seen fit to broadcast this interview which in my opinion everyone should either view or read,
It would make a good center piece in a Post to discuss (a) whether or not there is any belief that this country’s soldiers should be involved in any further US ‘adventures’ and (b) is now the time when we on the left begin to mount open demonstrations against these US ‘adventures”…
@TheContrarian….sorry…just don’t believe your last point….many say they have been ready and waiting for a pretext …or incident…. or contrived incident …
…..and dont forget USA’s CIA role in supporting Saddam hussein carry out the chemical weapons attack on Iran in 1988…rather hypocritical don’t you think?
“From a nation founded on the extermination of hundreds of tribes of native peoples.”
So? Those tribes exterminated those before them also.
It’s a historical precept that nations have risen on the backs of the native population who, in many cases, rose on the backs of others. The USA is neither unique in this nor are they worse than any other in this historical precept.
The inspectors haven’t been able to inspect the second area they were going to look at. I don’t think they’ve reported back yet.
The main problem here is that even an evidential search of the areas attacked might not show exactly who used the chemical weapons.
While the US are claiming to categorically know who used the chemical weapons (presumably because they have intelligence on who supplied Syria with the chemical ingredients to make the sarin gas), it is still feasible that rebel fighters somehow attained the weapons and then used them on their own people to initiate NATO’s involvement.
It is also feasible that Asad ordered the attack because he doesn’t respect western forces or that a rogue element in his army disobeyed orders. At this stage we simply don’t know, which is a good breeding ground for the conspiracy theorist articles like the one you linked to Chooky.
Another issue is that even if it is found that the Syrian regime used the weapons, they are not going to be blamed. That is apparently one condition of the inspectors being allowed into the areas affected. It could be that NATO forces attack even if there is no evidence made known to the public. It could be that there is no evidence and Syria is attacked anyway.
If Barack Obama decides to attack the Syrian regime, he has ensured – for the very first time in history – that the United States will be on the same side as al-Qa’ida.
chooky..yeah..he was a cia-operative for many years..starting in afghanistan..
..the cia/americans armed and funded osama..and his warriors..(‘straw-enemies’..?..)
..when they enlisted him as an agent in their cold war proxy war with the (then) soviet union..
….and you know what really puzzled me at the time..?
..how so many on ‘the left’ supported the american-overthrow of gadaffi..
..( i guess they studiously ignored the facts that libya was the most secular of all the arab states..
..that women there had it better than any other country..
..free education for all..from pre-school to university..(consequently libya was the most ‘educated’ of all the arab states and amongst the most educated of all the countries in the world..
..everyone had free health care..from basic to operations..
..when couples married they got a wedding-grant of u.s.$50,000 from the govt..
..and a social welfare system to put the west to shame….
..it puzzled me how the left here either couldn’t be bothered find out the true facts..
..and just swallowed the cia/american manufactured-consent to overthrow ‘the evil’ gadaffi..
..(he wore sunglasses indoors..didn’tyaknow..)
..and were just mired in their own ignorances/prejudices..
Its a great way to keep your military industrial complex humming along. Help arm a whole lot of people who automatically become your enemies 10 years later, whom you then have to arm yourself against.
Same with Iraq. Iraqi women could wear jeans and high heels (you know, look like women — sorry QoT and Karol), and go to university, and become doctors and lawyer. Now they will probably have acid chucked in their faces by the Koran-bashers.
Same with Libya. Gaddafi ran a socialist, secular regime with free education and healthcare for all, women in senior positions in society, and now its fucked and given over to Islamist factions, including Al Qaeda. All the western corporates wanted were Libya’s gold reserves and oil reserves.
@ phillip ure….I also couldnt understand why seemingly liberal lefties supported the Gaddafi overthrow and killing either …I thought it was disgraceful
…..I would have long arguments with a friend about this ….and while admittedly Gaddafi was no saint.and was a horrible tyrant in many ways …he did make friendly overtures to the West ….and as Westerners ( eg teachers) who lived in Libya pointed out, they did have a very good social welfare system and standard of living….and the West has left many other tyrants elsewhere alone
….I guess it was the mix of African independence movement , which Gadaffi supported if not initiated, and issues of oil and water resources……
They sure weren’t friends. That was why the pretext of 9/11 to go to war with Iraq is so damn flimsy. Hussien was an arsehole. But not that particular brand of arsehole.
Going to war with Iraq appeared to be Bush Junior needing to do something politically for domestic political reasons, and deciding to pick a easy target. Amazing what a decade of sanctions after a devastating military loss does to the military strength of a country.
A lot of GW Bush’s senior advisors were very unhappy with Bush snr’s decision to not go all the way to Baghdad in 1991, seeing it as a lost opportunity to take control of a very important country in the ME, one with very important resources. These same advisors…Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz, et al had been kicking around in the senior levels of DC for a long time, pushing their agenda of “American exceptionalism” since the 70’s.
A lot of commentators suspect that an invasion of Iraq was therefore being examined from the early days of GW’s first term. The decision by GW to invade Iraq was strenuously opposed by many sections of the US military and intelligence community who not only knew that Saddam had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11, but also feared that Iraq would become a quagmire giving advantage to the another majority Shi’a nation in the region: Iran.
Saddam’s ba’athist regime was doggedly secular. He had no time whatsoever for the Taliban nor for Al’Qaeda.
TC, Phil et al – correct ,AQ has been used in various guises now for decades, the link is interesting given the mainstream-ness of it. I’ve posted many such previously, with not too many here looking to argue with them these days, such as it is.
TC, you don’t know what shill sites are bro, you have quoted that ridiculous shill site claiming to debunk chem trails, and while not seeking to enter a discussion about that topic, the site you have referenced is a blatant shill, yet you tried to call chooky out for a link above. Me thinks you need a re calibration my blinkard little flip flop,
Managed to catch only part of the 3rd Degree programme on the woman who got dragged for more than a kilometre by a car driven by her boyfriend.
In short she has more balls than the narcissistic polemicist Michael Laws could ever dream about. He the author of a piece in a Sunday paper the other week in which he chose unabashedly to expose the pathologoical racism, classism, and inhumanity by which he is possessed – title something about “Feral Love”.
Who’s the feral for Christ’s sake ? Who’s the human scum for Christ’s sake ? Karma karma karma Mad Michael !
Thanks for that, CV. Just the right note to end a long,busy day on.
These guys appeal to my weird sense of humour – i also enjoyed their rendition of Shearer’s resignation speech which I posted here on Saturday morning although I was of two minds about it. They have upped their dress standard for this latest one!
YOUNG people in NZ, you may not get this, but some “old” guys and girls actually “fought” for a lot you take for fucking granted, perhaps read, study, do another brain check and re-connect. This is not about some aged wanting you to march in line with them, this is about a NEW awareness, for a NEW generation, for younger ones ALSO, to understand that only some form of solidarity, community, some common efforts and standards make any society function.
It seems to be more important in some overseas places, but in NZ it has been abandoned by hateful, divisive, corrupt and manipulative policies.
Perhaps take a study trip online, and look up the Greens, Mana, Labour or whatever, it can only offer another perspective, and I tell you, it is a lot more promising than the shit we get!
«El pueblo unido jamás será vencido» es un himno chileno, cuya música fue compuesta por Sergio Ortega y el texto escrito por el conjunto Quilapayún. Conocida en el mundo entero, “El Pueblo Unido” es una de las más famosas canciones de protesta de la historia. El tema tiene una música pegajosa y enérgica, destacando su estribillo que es un grito o consigna sólo con percusión, lo que facilita adaptarla para cualquier idioma.
A bit strange in cow and sheep land Aotearoa, but perhaps reconsider your fortunes, as the commodity markets have been quite volatile by history. Never rely on Friedman economics!!!
Just looking at some extremist muslim videos, I claim for New Zealand, we MUST NOT allow ANY influence onto our system, our schools, our education, health or ANY OTHER influence onto it, that is religiously based. The same applies to South Auckland communities, and with the damned introduction of Charter Schools, the divisive government we have, deserves to be voted out. The biggest problem for modern societies is negligence and division. We certainly do not want more division. Nor do we want sick and disabled forced into work, as some idiot Principal Health Advisor Dr Bratt from MSD now thinks needs to happen. He seems bizarre, corrupt and destructive, and we have more on him, by the way.
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Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
One of the strongest narratives about "our" spy agencies is that they are basically institutional traitors, working for foreign powers (or just themselves), without any control or oversight by the elected government. And today, we have yet another report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security which explicitly confirms this. ...
“It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April to meet the Prime Minister’s ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
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Still bowing to the bullying of John “Possumhead” O’Neill
Radio New Zealand National: Doesn’t “Sound Like Us”
Radio New Zealand National, Wednesday 28 August 2013, 6.10 a.m.
The Essendon Football Club has been stripped of its points and heavily fined following a drug investigation. That’s important news, and rightly was the first thing on this morning’s National Radio sports bulletin. However, poor old Gary Ahern was clearly under some awkward riding instructions.
In 2004, an absurd directive was issued by the then Australian soccer CEO John O’Neill—Yes, THAT John O’Neill—that the game everyone in Australia and New Zealand calls “soccer” was henceforth to be called “football”, in spite of the fact that name was already taken by Australian football and Rugby football. Most news organisations, especially in the always compliant New Zealand, obeyed O’Neill’s spurious directive, but the general public of course continued to ignore it. Several years later, even the Herald has reverted to popular usage, but Radio New Zealand’s employees are clearly still obliged to persist with the practice. That’s obvious when you consider the absurdly convoluted wording of Ahern’s script this morning.
I sent those hapless slaves the following email….
It’s the Essendon FOOTBALL Club, not “Australian Rules” Club
Dear Simon and Geoff,
First item on your sports news this morning was about the “Essendon Australian Rules Club”. There is no such entity. Obviously the sports reporter meant the famous Essendon Football Club, but for some ridiculous reason, felt compelled to make up another name for the club.
That reason was made perfectly clear in the very next item, which was about “the Australian footballer Andrew Durante”. A quick check of the Australian Football League rosters reveals no such player, and there was no Australian footballer of that name playing against the All Blacks on Saturday evening. Turns out this Andrew Durante is an Australian soccer pkayer, but because of this absurd Radio New Zealand directive, he has to be called a “footballer”, in defiance of common practice in both Australia and New Zealand.
Your sports reporter Gary Ahern knows better, of course, but obviously felt compelled to follow this absurd directive.
Just another example of Radio New Zealand not sounding anything “like us.”
Yours in bemusement,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
yes what muppetts these morning RNZ jocks are, O’Neill would be pissing himslef as he left that post over 5 years ago as proof of what dweebs we are following 03 co hosting fiasco.
In Aussie AFL is mostly referred to as Footy or Rules, League is League, soccer is soccer and rugby rugby. You could just call them sportspeople given the way some swap codes.
I’m not sure why RNZ making it clear for the listeners that the Bombers are an Aussie Rules club is a problem. If they’d just said Essendon Football Club, most kiwis would have thought that meant football, not rules. btw, they haven’t been stripped of any points, but they aren’t allowed to play in the finals series despite qualifying in the top eight.
yes very lazy sloppy jonolism from RNZ they will officially finish the season in ninth place regardless of their points tally, and copped a $2m fine, lost draft picks etc
The sloppy jonolism was from Moz, not RNZ. They reported the sanctions correctly, Moz, reported their report incorrectly.
They reported the sanctions correctly…
The poor obedient slaves couldn’t even get the name of the club right. It’s not that Gary Ahern doesn’t know how stupid he sounds by making up a name for the club, it’s that he is constrained by the foolish policy of Radio NZ National to disregard popular usage and obey a long-defunct directive issued by a discredited and malicious sports administrator.
Whether or not the Bombers lost all their points or not, the outcome is the same: they have been shamed and disgraced for their systematic abuse of drugs.
Our good friend Te Reo Putake has, not for the first time, pretended to be obtuse….
If they’d just said Essendon Football Club, most kiwis would have thought that meant football, not rules.
I don’t know anyone who is so ignorant as to imagine the Essendon Bombers play in the Super 15. So we know it’s not rugby football. It’s not association football. It’s Essendon Football Club. The name kind of clues you in, even if you know nothing about Melbourne, Australia or sport. Anyone who doesn’t know Essendon Football Club plays football should not be living unsupervised in the community.
Well, as you know, Moz, for most Kiwis, football is the round ball game. We also play rugby and league. So it makes sense for RNZ to clarify that the Bombers are an Auusie rules club. Otherwise, the listeners would have been left wondering how this affects the Nix’s chances in the upcoming season. Like it or not RNZ can’t tailor their sports bulletins to fit the anachronistic pedantry of one gripper in Northcote.
Yours in football,
Te reonaldinho.
Well, as you know, Moz, for most Kiwis, football is the round ball game.
No it’s not, and you know it. Football is a generic name, of course, but it usually means rugby football. That’s why Gary Ahern and his colleagues not so subtly undermine the directibe by almost always saying “uh, football” when they dutifully read out their scripts, which until Possumhead’s mischievous joke directive in 2004, always used the word “soccer”. As I mentioned earlier, the print media have lapsed back to the popular usage, but Radio NZ National doggedly persists, just like they do with “1800s” instead of “nineteenth century” and “Fanganui” instead of the correct local pronunciation.
So it makes sense for RNZ to clarify that the Bombers are an Auusie rules club.
It’s the Essendon Football Club. The Bombers play football. There is no entity known as the Essendon Australian Rules Club.
Now who’s being willfully obtuse? Nobody said that there was such a thing as Essendon Australian Rules Club. But Radio NZ did mention Essendon, Aussie Rules club. Note the comma. It was by way of explanation, as I mentioned above. They never claimed that construction was the official name of the club, they were putting the club in context for their listeners. ie, Essendon (an) aussie rules club. Geddit now?
Tell ya what, howabout you take a clipboard and a pen and paper down to your local shops and ask 100 punters to name a famous footballer. After you get sick of writing down Messi, Rooney, Reidy et al pop back and let us know how it feels to be so out of touch.
And for God’s sake stop sending those pompous emails to RNZ; it’s not just the waste of taxpayers time before they hit delete, it’s an H&S issue. Eyeball OOS; repeated rolling of the eyes can be very harmful to the long term health of the producers.
Maybe the Al Jazeera slot on the GCSB is coming up at 7.30am NZ time? It’s still on the News.
But look at the line up of Kiwis they are planning to talk to???!!
lols, Farrar seems to have been dropped. Guess they figured out who he is.
Yes. Noticed that – or maybe he doesn’t want to be seen live on Skype first thing in the morning? Or busy polling for Natz about Labour leader contest?
Farrar has and continues to have a very influential role regarding NZ internet provision. You would have thought he was still worth talking to.
Guess they don’t believe he can wear one hat at a time.
Now going live online at the above link.
Interesting that, according to Vernon Small, the
ABCpro-Robertson caucus faction seems to be on the wane – reading the tea leaves?You would think that at least some of them would feel obliged to keep an open mind, since the election is only a year away. So, it would be wise to consider which one is most likely to win it, or at least strengthen Labour’s hand, as well as trends among the members. If, for example, an overwhelming member vote in a particular direction was overridden by the caucus vote, the risk of continued discord would be high.
I think you will find Olwyn that some of those who fell in line with the ABC club’s wishes in Nov/Dec 2011 will be thinking a little more independently this time around. Its amazing what the close proximity of a general election can do to the thought processes of a politician. 🙂
John Key has seriously showed his true colours to all of the Canterbury people this morning
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/9094360/Walk-away-threat-offends-Outcasts
Key’s response shows once again how inappropriate it is for commercially learned skills to be applied to the important matters in life. Key is way out of his depth. His approach is wrong on so many fronts.
One of the outcasts comments something like “it shows his true colours”, which sits perfectly alongside the fact that most New Zealanders think he is a liar (which he clearly is. Another commercially learned trait I would suggest).
It is completely and utterly appalling.
What a shameful Prime Minister and an arsehole of a person.
Labour and Greens, get some billboards up in CHCHCH?
Having fun yet? John Key is
The smiling assassin comes through.
Yep, the “fun” bit is the revealing bit.
What a despicable, greedy, dangerous and destructive piece of detritus.
And when I get over my horror at what he actually said to these suffering citizens, I might be able to say how I really feel.
And then there’s this.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9097118/Family-continues-deportation-fight
This Guy employs Kiwi’s, and the Nats want to chuck him out. something about a mild heart problem, and medical bills. Bills that he has offered to pay himself, What a great and caring government we have.
I bet he wishes he was Chinese…
Why should the TAXPAYER be forking out coin for uninsured properties?
Fucking idiots, expecting the taxpayer to pick up the slack for their stupidity.
Feel a bit sorry for the bare land people though, but that’s just the way it goes at least they get some money back.
You are a moron BM. Your post shows a complete lack of comprehension of what was posted, let alone the wider issue of red zoning and government buyouts.
fuckwit
$30m to Rio Tinto, why not to CHCH owners.
have you read the Court;s reasoning which actually answers your question?
http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1308/Fowler_Developments_Ltd_v_CE_CERA_and_Quake_Outcasts_v_Min_for_CER_and_O.pdf
Tracey, I suspect you are wasting your time with braindead BM but lets examine his post, you know just for “fun”…
First; “Why should the TAXPAYER be forking out coin for uninsured properties?”
The taxpayer is not forking out for uninsured properties. That would imply the properties were insureable and bare land is not. The fact they had no insurance has absolutely nothing to do with the outcasts claims, which concern bare land. None, nada zip zero.
Second; “Fucking idiots, expecting the taxpayer to pick up the slack for their stupidity.”
See above. BM the fucking stupid idiot.
Third; “Feel a bit sorry for the bare land people though, but that’s just the way it goes at least they get some money back.”
Exposes BM’s lack of understanding as there are only bare land people involved in this. As for “just the way it goes”, what an ignoramus. It is not just the way it goes and that is what the Judge said. There are laws and processes to follow in these kinds of circumstances, Brownlee didn’t follow them and that is what the Judge said. It is never the case of “just the way it goes” in these circumstances.
“At least they get some money back”. Again exposes BM’s ignorance in thinking the money comes “back”. Back from where? Ffs.
And that’s it. BM’s post has zero value other than again showing the non-thinking nature of right wing parrots.
From their website
http://www.savemyhomenz.org/
The problem many affected residential “red zone” home owners have is that not everyone is affected so badly by the quakes that they have to move. Many don’t wish to move.
The government devised a supposedly voluntary buyout offer aimed at moving residents out of the “red zone” based on a set of criteria that one has to be insured to receive an offer, and the offer price is proportionally based on the Rating Valuation and the insurance coverage.
The government also threatens that if one doesn’t accept the ‘voluntary’ offer, a compulsory buyout will be made at a lower price, and that essential services (power, water, sewer, etc) will be turned off to force you out.
Should of had insurance
Should of had enough insurance
The government/taxpayer is not going to spend millions and millions of dollars rebuilding a red zoned area just for you with all the infrastructure that goes along with it, just because you want to stay..
Face it, the land’s fucked, everyone else has excepted the situation and moved on,
stop being a pain in the arse.
Earth to BM. The problem is if you had a vacant section without a structure on it, it was and is IMPOSSIBLE to insure it.
These people are being punished for not attaining something that is impossible to attain.
That’s a “NO, I haven’t read the decision” then BM?
I can save you some trouble;
The Government drafted the earthquake legislation. They actually drafted two pieces, one after the first earthquake and another later. So they had two chances to get it right.
They also made lots of statements in public and private about the intention of their legislation.
The High Court decision is that they then dealt with these people contrary to the very legislation (and its purpose) that they (Govt) had prescribed.
vacant land owners could not get insurance. It is not a question of them not wanting it.
The bottom-line however is that this government made statutory promises through the ACT and its purpose and then acted contrary to it.
Put it this way, the majority of vacant and uninsured have already been fucked by the Govt acting outside its power (and this decision wont change that), so you can take some solace.
The total cost of to the country to top up the first unlawful offer by the government is
$12.54m
BTW there is no proof, and none was offered by the Crown in its case that people will not insure if the govt pays the uninsured 100%
Remember when the Govt paid out $20m to foreign investors in SCF? Wouldn’t a good kiwi bloke like the Pm think these Canterbury kiwis are more worthy of our support than the foreign folks taking a roll of the dice on investments? Investor beware and all that? AND this payout was done after English had a chance to cancel the govt guarantee scheme of Cullen… he knew the implications, he had advice it was going to fail, and he did it anyway.
How about that for a precedent?
You still missed the point. The court case concerned bare land. Wake up drongo
And the point of the post was the shameful response of the Prime Minister, which you have not addressed.
As for this…
“Face it, the land’s fucked, everyone else has excepted the situation and moved on,
stop being a pain in the arse.”
You see, yet again you show your ignorance. The knowledge around the traps is that the vast majority of government bought land can and will be remediated and inhabited again in the future.
Get some actual facts under your belt instead of being a waste of space.
I hope you are not intending to vote next year because your understanding of issues is woeful.
“The court case concerned bare land” AND some uninsured residential properties vto.
Can they actually turn off the power and kick people out? Moving onto water by way of a rain water tank and a septic tank take care of the other two services – and they are used by lots of more isolated homes all around the country. But the power – it isn’t expensive to supply that close to a main centre so how the hell would they get away with threatening to cut it off as the supply is already there and the houses have been legally built there?
What exactly is the difference between remaining in the red zone and living on a lifestyle block on the outskirts of town?
Yes being told ‘your wrong’ by the Court has certainly cracked the facade carefully constructed for the Slippery little Shyster for His role as Prime Minister,
Had a discussion this week about Christchurch matters with someone who has just come back from working among the ‘wreckage’ down there, none of it is pretty, nor f**king fun, for those who the Prime Minister would bankrupt with His mean spirited ‘offer’ on their un-insured red zoned properties to the tenants of the States housing in that city,
Caught out by the very Legislation that He enacted the Prime Minister has retreated into simpering like a spoiled child and i would hopefully see the Court of Appeal reflect this in a future judgement,
As far as ‘precedent’ goes the Court only need to, when it kicks Slippery’s appeal into touch, make reference to the fact that the High Court decision which has caused the spoiled little brat of a Prime Minister to react so poorly is based singularly on the CERA Legislation and so DOES NOT set a precedent in Law for any other disaster be it natural or otherwise,
Hopefully the ‘new’ leader of the Labour opposition gets down to that city quick smart, with a good opportunity to spend some time there being the upcoming by-election, and have a good look at all the issues surrounding the ‘reconstruction’,
There is a damn sight more ugly stuff going on down there than i am prepared to outline at the moment…
You’re right with the last line (and all the others too)
I concur.
I have friends and family down there. My cousin’s home was completely destroyed in the first earthquake in kaiapoi. Fully insured. Had to get lawyers to deal with insurance company. Finally got a negotiated payout in October 2012 after 18 months of bullying by the insurance company. Taking money from people to cover certain contingencies and then actively pursuing a strategy to reduce your obligation is more than shameful, but hey, let’s attack the uninsured as unworthy. I shudder to think how much insurance companies have cost us as taxpayers in this Earthquake recovery.
If anything would make someone not bother to insure it is the behaviour of the insurance companies. God forbid the government criticise them.
The judge giving the ruling said the government has to be even-handed. Key obviously thinks that throwing both hands up in the air as he walks away is even-handed. He shows no empathy, as is the case with liars.
When challenged on this, our PM will say that he can find another judge who will give a different opinion- which is in essence what Brownlee is saying.
Good on Ruth Dyson for saying that the compensation should be for the full amount.
Compulsory home and section insurance in future and the problem becomes minimal. Insurance could be added onto the mortgage (as a last resort). A lot of money is tied up in land and the purchase/build of a home, that insurance is essential.
The government are not interested in lowering the level of alcohol when in charge of a motor vehicle and they are quite happy to pay out ACC and hospital costs.
I’d like to know what the cost of accidents involving the current level of alcohol to a reduced level is compared to being reasonable with the uninsured?
Probably cheaper than a fair payout for those who had differculty in organising or affording home and section insurance, bearing in mind the section owners who could not insure.
Anomalies are seen in everyday life and to have the wisdom to know this, is what is needed, not to further a person’s anguish which is so unproductive and cruel.
New SIS chief being sought. In an online news article they talk about it being similar to the move to appoint Fletcher to GCSB showing a move away from military based leadership.
On another note I saw that one outlet is reporting that support is waning for Robertson.
Given that the appointment of a Labour leader is determined by very specific groups in NZ, how can anyone accurately poll it unless they are polling labour members, labour caucus and union members and delegates? Would they be doing that?
The article on Stuff (as above) is saying Robertson’s support in caucus is waning. Vernon Small must be talking to Labour MPs.
… or they want to stir up the ABC’s cos there’s not enough blood for the media yet?
SIS Chief vacancy:
Job description/duties includes:
And this bit about SIS required personal profile:
thanks karol
At least it confirms foreign involvement with our secret services.
“stakeholder”
“Stakeholder may refer to:
Stakeholder (corporate), an accountant, group, organization, member or system who affects or can be affected by an organization’s actions
Stakeholder, an entity that can be affected by the results of that in which they are said to be stakeholders, i.e., that in which they have a stake. Project stakeholder, a person, group or organization with an interest in a project
Stakeholder theory, a theory that identifies and models the groups which are stakeholders of a corporation or project
Stakeholder analysis, the process of identifying those affected by a project or event
Stakeholder (law), a third party who temporarily holds money or property while its owner is still being determined
”
Wikipedia
Job description could be edited a bit–“ability to suck up to US imperialism” might do.
Ability to understand a broad range of American accents and colloquialisms so as not to misunderstand orders?
maybe srylands will apply, now he’s been outted as an online liar.
experience managing organisational cultural change? Is this in every job description these days I wonder. It would explain why we are always in a state of undress, messing about, uttering cries of rage and pain, which in the end leaves us with new people, and a new system, developed at great expense and the loss of dedicated workers, and the loss of institutional knowledge that should have been called on and incorporated into a revised system for maximum effectiveness for ongoing work.
Grand gestures is what we get from management. Installing new and expensive technology and showing bias against old systems is what we get.
Trying to employ less people, cutting people out of the workforce yet still expecting to trade with the others who are still working, that’s what we get.
And soon it will be machines interacting and building themselves and people behaving more like machines than they do now that’s what we’ll get. That is the modern man (and high flying woman) at their work today. What a bunch of prats at their core. And soulless and destructive. And anti-human.
Frequently code for “firing people”. Or on occasion “we just fired people and screwed it up, you need to clean up the mess”.
“Build trust and confidence in the intelligence community” with whom one may ask? All the kiwi’s they are thinking of spying on or the off shore clients? Surprised they don’t have ” export led focus” as part of the scenario.
In the light of information that a new head of SIS is being sought and with due apologies to Arlo Guthrie for a slight re-casting of “The Last Guy”, I thought this might be appropriate.
…being an SIS man, you have to be over 40 years old.
And the reason is, that it takes at least 25 years with the
organization to be that much of a bastard. It’s true. You just
can’t join, you know. It needs an atmosphere where your
natural bastardness can grow and develop and take a
meaningful shape in today’s complex society…
So, this is where my PA has sloped off to instead of being present at the coal-face, your lucky i am illiterate or such behavior would have resulted in a written warning being issued…
Heh. I’m only a volunteer PA so can’t have my nose held to the grindstone..
i thought the least you could do would be to ‘volunteer’ to write your own written warning…
“Day two of the Labour leadership race and the main contenders are already embroiled in an ugly Twitter row, on the back foot over their use of the taxpayer-funded travel perk to lobby for votes – and discovering that knocking Prime Minister John Key off his pedestal is not as easy it looks.”
go and stand in the corner with patrick, tracey watkins
fucks sake – are there any political journalists who have the relevant mental skills to figure what being a reporter should entail?
They’re not journalists, just gossip columnists.
they even suck at that CV, they are the tools of their masters.
facts are just annoying coincidences some days and other days they come from the tree down the bottom of the garden or a mirror.
Talking of gossip columnists: Have a look at what the ignorant bimbo Rachel Glucina of the Herald’s ‘The Diary’ fame had to say about the three candidates. I’ve printed in full to save wading through the mindless crap to get to it.
No prizes for guessing which political party She votes for…
But the social-media side of the contest is already turning ugly. Mr Cunliffe publicly disowned a “Cunliffe leader” site and took to Twitter to call on supporters to “quit the troll spam page”.
Here’s what Cunliffe tweeted yesterday
David Cunliffe @DavidCunliffeMP 19h
Afternoon all. @CunliffeLeader is a troll and has nothing to do with our campaign. We’re keeping it positive. Thanks.
David Cunliffe @DavidCunliffeMP 19h
Afternoon all. @CunliffeLeader is a troll and has nothing to do with our campaign. We’re keeping it positive. Thanks.
David Cunliffe @DavidCunliffeMP 20h
@CunliffeLeader Quit the troll spam page – this page has nothing to do with me. – @DavidCunliffeMP
Hardly turning ugly, and hardly a ‘call to supporters’. Looks like normal use of twitter to me. If Watkins thinks that’s ugly she needs to spend more time on the standard 😉
Poor jono’s must be hard reporting on storms in teacups.
Late 2010 to late 2012 Christchurch suffered 2 years of 10,000 earthquakes. Dead people, busted communities, broken homes, heroism, community spirit, goodwill.
Late 2012 to late 2013 Christchurch begins its recovery and rebuild money begins to flow inwards. People’s eyes light up, money, greed, rudeness, shafting, mutual shitting on each other.
The yin and yang of humanity on display for all to see…..
oh for normality
This is the new normal I think.
So I’m guessing Keys’ “it’s been fun” comment does not fairly reflect the reality. What a disgrace this guy pretending to be PM is. I won’t be holding my breath waiting for Pathetic Growler (Patrick Gower) to harass Key over this comment.
Hi LPrent,
When I clicked on a comment a moment ago, I was taken to an interesting post from September last year (rather than today’s open-mike).
As always, I mention it just in case it is the kind of thing you need to know.
It is. The caching is getting excessive. Umm..
Grant Robertson’s Facebook page had a day’s head start, and is ahead of Cunliffe on Likes.
Cunliffe’s Likes are increasing, and catching up to Robertson.
Robertson – 1171
Cunliffe – 1004
Don’t worry about that. Grants got the stronger crew of Young Labour clicktivists at his disposal in central Auckland and Wellington.
Gotta have something to do while waiting for a latte-frappa-mocha-chino..
I reckon there is a whopping great number of Cunliffe supporters out there who are not part of the Facebook generation. My mother is a good example of old Labour, She thinks Facebook is for freaks who don’t know how to talk face to face….maybe we have a generation issue overlaying this election?
I find facebook to be so gossipy so will not join, even though I can be a judgemental bitch on the Standard.
“New Zealand made 106 requests for information on a total of 119 Facebook users in the first half of the year.
Facebook produced some data for 58 per cent of the requests, the company says”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/9095822/Facebook-reveals-NZ-official-requests
how to guarantee yr male offspring will have a small penis..eat lots of chickens…
http://whoar.co.nz/2013/pregnant-women-who-eat-chicken-will-guarantee-their-sons-will-have-a-small-penises-reason-number-53-to-go-vegan/
phillip ure..
That’s really poor taste, people don’t need to know why John Key has small-mans syndrome 🙂
Bloody hell Phil….if any pregnant women try and eat my chickens there will be trouble.
ennui..if you see mobs of pregnant women approaching yr chickens..forks in hand..
..you could try to fend them off with a falafel or two..?
..shouting as you do so ..’small dicks!’..’small dicks!’
..that might work..
(mmm!!!..’falafel’!!!..)
phillip ure..
Phil, bravery has its limits…..mobs of pregnant women would scare me s***less.
“how to guarantee yr male offspring will have a small penis..eat lots of chickens…”
I’m sure you think this is funny phillip, but the study doesn’t say that and you’re just contributing to the ongoing dumbing down of science in public sphere.
And good ole PETA, missing the point too… if eating chicken increases one’s intake of phthalates (which isn’t clear from the study), then the obvious question is how the phthalates are getting there. Phthalates are known endocrine disruptors, and the solution is to stop putting them into the environment at source. It’s also possible that any hormonal effect on unborn children comes from industrial, factory farmed chickens, which have all sorts of weird shit done to them, including hormone treatments.
weka..i don’t find any aspect of eating chickens ‘funny’..
..nor do i think the health-outcomes from eating meat/fish/dairy are at all ‘funny’..
..(i pass this on as more of a public-service announcement..’cos you sure as hell won’t read this in the mainstream media..eh..?
..and most in nz are so brainwashed on this..they express incredulity at any claim the consumption of what they have been spun/sold all their lives as ‘healthy’..’essential’..could have harmful outcomes..
..just one myth:..the ‘cows’ milk is essential for good bones’ bullshit..
..cows’ milk actually leaches calcium from bones..eh..?
..something else the mainstream media have no interest in telling you..)
..and are you denying all the science showing how harmful such dietary practices are..?
..why do you think there are the warnings to ‘only eat red meat three times a week’ etc..?
..and if you want the evidence on dairy..you cd do worse than key ‘dairy’ into my searchengine..
..having been vegan for about 15 yrs now..i have quite a trove of the stuff..
..and seriously weka..what most are doing to their longterm health prospects..from their diets..
..isn’t in the slightest bit ‘funny’..
..and of course..most wash down their charred/bbq-ed/carcinogen-enhanced meat with the nationally sanctioned drug…alcohol..
..i carried a story this morning reporting un figures..showing 4% of all deaths on the planet..are from alcohol..(and this is more than die from violence..
..the number of annual deaths due to cannabis consumption..
..nil/zero/nada/none..
..it would seem so many are holding the stick from the wrong end..eh..?
phillip ure..
(i pass this on as more of a public-service announcement.
You are promoting misleading and incorrect interpretations of science.
..cows’ milk actually leaches calcium from bones..eh..?
[citation needed]
..and are you denying all the science showing how harmful such dietary practices are..?
No, I’m not. You are engaging your prejudices there, assuming that critical thinking on one factor equates to denial of other things. Please read what I said again, and point to where I am denying “all the science showing how harmful such dietary practices are”.
I’m well aware of the problems with mainstream nutritional advice. I’m also well aware of the bullshit within the vegan/vegetarian communities. And the paleo communities etc. For some reason, food attracts a high degree of dogma and extremism. The best way to deal with that is to engage critical thinking across the board, at both the science level and the philosophical/ethical level.
weka..re request for citation..i told you where to find the evidence against dairy..
..or else you could just google it..eh..?
..and while you are there..check out how good bbq-ed red meat is for you..
..and as incidental evidence..(ahem..!..aside from myself..being way past my best-used-by date..oozing bountiful health/wellbeing as i am at this mo’..)..i have a dog who has lived on a vegan diet for 15 yrs..
..and she looks about 3/4 yrs old..run/moves like a gazelle..coat so shiny you need shades..
..so..y’know..!
..then i look at the dogs younger than my lucy…and the humans all around me of my advanced years – having lived their diets of meat/dairy/booze…
..most dragging themselves around..
..and i go ‘y’know!’ again..
..i had a medical check-up recently..
..medical person..pen poised..asked for the list of meds i am on..
..and at first disbelieving i was on nothing/no meds….
..and double-checked/asked..’are you sure?’
..i then told her the only drugs i used were black tea and pot…
..so..y’know..!
phillip ure..
weka..re request for citation..i told you where to find the evidence against dairy..
Ok, please link to that, I must have missed it. If you don’t I will assume you are making shit up.
..or else you could just google it..eh..?
For every article on google saying meat is bad, there is another saying meat is good, and everything in between. Likewise pretty much every food you can think of. It’s up to you to provide the evidence for your argument, because I can’t mind read.
As for the rest, of course there are individuals who can do well on vegan diets. Duh. But you seem to be saying that because x individuals do well on vegan diets, than all people can. I’m also wondering if you are inferring that because you do well on a vegan diet, then eating animal products is bad. But that would just be daft wouldn’t it.
I see you have ignored the substance of my comments, which is that science is being badly misrepresented by PETA and now you. I have alot of sympathy for animal rights and will not eat factory chicken or eggs. But PETA’s position was just idiotic and illogical, and leads me to believe they’re not interested in the phthalate issues, let alone the wellbeing of unborn children, and just want everyone to convert to being vegan/vegetarian for moral reasons.
Quite agree Phil. People could watch Forks Over Knives which is online and also many libraries have it in stock. Nothing wrong with converting to veganism for moral reasons, in fact it is morally wrong not to unless you condone suffering of animals.
But vegans cause suffering to animals by their diet choices, so why are they more moral than someone who eats meat that has been ethically raised and slaughtered?
Rrrright – how do vegans cause suffering to animals?
I’ve seen a few “vegan” cats. 😈
“Rrrright – how do vegans cause suffering to animals?”
Direct animal deaths from grain crop harvesting (there’s a bit in the wiki entry on veganism if you are interested). Indirect deaths and suffering from ecosystem degradation from industrial monocropping and the flow on effects from food miles.
I guess Forks Over Knives left those bits out.
This particular animal tho would ‘suffer’ if He didn’t get to munch on bacon’n’beef and other meaty treats which have been part of the diet for way too long to think about quitting the practice of devouring His fellow animals…
weka..you asked for the evidence-cache..
http://whoar.co.nz/?s=dairy
“..to convert to being vegan/vegetarian for moral reasons…”
of course there are ‘moral reasons’ to be vegan..
..every piece of meat/bye-product involves the (usually cruel life)/suffering/premature death of an animal..
..and i see you claim to ‘support animal rights’..?
..whoar..!
..do you put that ‘support’ for ‘animal rights’ on hold when you are eating yr non-factory’ (yeah right!) chooks and eggs..?
..and when you eat pigs raised in the (well-documented) horrors of their lives..?
..and when you eat veal (baby cows)..?
..when you eat yr cheese that has calf-guts as a binding agent..?
..when you eat fish..?
(didyaknow fish have a central nervous system similar to humans..?
…so..imagine if you can..a hook thru yr lip/in yr guts..fighting for yr life..
..and then if you are lucky ..bludgeoned to death..or just left to suffocate..?
..not a lot of those ‘animal rights’ that you support’ going on in any of those..eh..?
..and are you seriously arguing that the jury is still out on red meat..?..
“.. I’m also wondering if you are inferring that because you do well on a vegan diet, then eating animal products is bad. But that would just be daft wouldn’t it…”
..um..!..no…that isn’t ‘daft’..surely you must learn from examples..?
..i mean..it was only a decade ago that being vegetarian was regarded as ‘loopy’…
..and vegan is about in that space now..
..but that is fast changing..(there are now two vegan cafes within a couple of k’s from where i live..(unheard of only a few years ago..)
..and have you seen bill clinton since he went vegan..?
..whoar..!..so sharp he cuts..
..and of course tama iti..went vegan while in the slammer..
..and has never looked better..
..use yr eyes..and open yr mind..eh..?
..it’s your quality of life we’re talking about..eh..?
..and of course..all those ‘animals’ whose ‘rights’ you so ‘support’..eh..?
..phillip ure..
phi
Animals die to provide vegan meals. Veganism currently contributes to industrial agriculture’s degradation of the environment. Lots of plant cruelty too. And lots of food miles that contribute to AGW.
I eat happy meat, not the meat you describe. It’s a failing of the vegan movement to not be able to tell the difference.
Red meat is a healthy food option for many people within a well balanced diet.
I followed your link to your blog. I searched back through a number of pages and see mostly political posts on dairy. Nothing even remotely close to a citation that demonstrates the milk leaches calcium from bones. Unless you link to some evidence I will assume you are repeating a science myth (one I happen to be familiar with btw, so will be interested to see what evidence you find).
I can provide evidence for everything I have just said, but won’t until you start doing so for your assertions.
I think your choosing to be vegan is absolutely fine, good on you. You are also entitled to your beliefs. But you are deluding yourself if you think that you are making more ethical eating choices than I am.
“..Animals die to provide vegan meals..”
crikey..!..that one sounds like a serious groin-stretcher of an assertion..
..how/why..?
‘happy meat’..?..how can you tell..?..does it smile as you cut into it..?..does it say thank you..?
..does it tell you how ‘happy’ it is to have sacrificed its’ life..so you can have a chew..?
..or does it just have a smiley emoticon on the packaging..
..or did yr butcher tell you how ‘happy’ the animal was to lay down its’ (shortened) life for you..
..and re ‘red meat..?’..who told you that..?..the red meat industry..?..or yr mirror..?
..and re yr claim of finding no evidence..?..that cache is huge..so i suggest more specialised searches..
..namely..dairy/diabetes..dairy/obesity..dairy/high blood pressure..dairy/premature-death..?
..y’know..!..dig down..!..you know how to use a searchengine..don’t you..?..
..and i guess there isn’t much to say in response to yr claim that eating animals/enabling the lives of utter misery so many animals suffer..
..just so you can chew..
..is as ethical as spurning causing such miseries..
..that is just logically wrong..on so many levels..
..i guess readers can make their own calls on that..
(um..!..are you in ‘the industry’..?..
..by any chance..?..)
..and of course..what i speak is ‘economic-treason’..
..in the charnal house that is new zealand..eh..?
phillip ure..
You are entitled to your beliefs but unless you provide some evidence for them, then it’s just belief.
So, back to the start. You are supporting misrepresentation of science.
While Dunne wants rule changes around registration and de-registration
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11115358
So in the midst of all this hullabaloo JC is still doing the business…shes a fine woman
you’re half right. 😉
tracey 🙂
Drop the MMP threshold to 4% Ms Collins!
Are the 3 candidates going to be at the rally today?
The Fairness at Work rally organisers said changes to the Employment Relations Act will allow employers to refuse to negotiate a collective agreement with employees, pay new workers less than the rate of the collective agreement, and be able to opt out of industry agreements to undercut wages.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11115546
Re Morning Report:
Interesting that Steven Joyce is spinning against Wellington having an airport extension….for all sorts of reasons that don’t ring true.
However what is true is the multi- billion dollar motorway proposed up the Coast ….
(that no sane NZer wants because in recessionary times the money should be spent on: state schools, restoring adult continuing education, youth trades apprenticeships, employment opportunities for NZers, venture capital for high tech and scientific industries, affordable quality public health and dentistry, looking after the those at the bottom of the economic heap, Christchurch citizens and Christchurch, environment protection etc etc)
….this multi- billion dollar motorway road leads straight to an alternative site for Wellington airport near Raumati
Tell me if I am wrong. Tell me who owns shares in this area.Tell me who they bought them from ie who previously owned this site.Tell me who is great friends with the previous owner of this site.
Tell me …tell me …if there is not something fishy here…and why shouldnt Wellingon have an AIRPORT EXTENSION?!
Ah another state funded property developers windfall.
Ummm, because an airport runway extension isn’t really necessary…
@bad12 ….well actually the Wellington City Council thinks it is necessary
Remind me to prostrate myself befor such an august body next time i am down that way, got a list by any chance of those who voted in favor of wrecking every poor person in Wellington’s favorite fishing spot???,
We will have to ‘see’ won’t we whether the newly elected Wellington City Council which is likely to be heavily Green ‘want’ an extended runway that if what at least one ‘expert’ believes because of the height of the Newlands Hills to the North will become as dangerous as the Queenstown one is to fly in and out of at certain times,
The fact that the present City Council is all a gush for extending the present runway befor any work has been done to study the effects of the surrounding hills on both safety and noise pollution of the surrounding suburbs just tells me that a number of them need replacing…
Infratil cannot not even provide safe public transport , there should be penalties from the regional council subsidy, as they have failed again.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/9096027/Nine-buses-ordered-off-roads
Perhaps the Boss needs to step in front of a few more of them, it certainly seemed to get the City Council scrambling over safety barriers last time He came in contact with one despite that august body having sat on it’s hands while a number of ‘other’s’ got totaled by the buses on their new routes…
An good lesson for the yikes of Pulla Bent, Bette Lynch and all the other ‘punish the beneficiary’ cheerleaders (not just Jamie Oliver):
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/27/jamie-oliver-poverty-ready-meals-tv
Sums it up, really.
“Promising that you will show brilliant recipes that utilise stale bread is all very well. But poor people’s bread does not go stale, Jamie. It goes mouldy. And if you had ever been poor, you would know that.”
It doesn’t stay around long enough to go stale, poor people get hungry too.
Good one Tim – a good take on Jamie and the foodie industry.
And if my bread gets a bit of mould I pick it out and check the rest of the slice, and then I toast what’s left. I don’t buy $1 white but $4 grain and each slice is good stuff and worth
say 20c. That’s how you manage if you’re on a budget, and want to save for the charm of takeaways.
WMD in Damascus? oops. When did we hear THAT before?
Do we follow the quack of uncle Donald into next quagmire behind the bonesman kerry?
“Ayssar Midani, a French Syrian citizen and political activist, joins us from Damascus to talk about the latest developments in Syria. We talk about the history of the terrorist jihadi insurgency in the country and their prior use of chemical weapons, the latest attack and claims of satellite evidence proving that the attack was not launched by government officials, and the likely consequences of a US-led strike on the country.”
http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2013/08/27/bfp-syria-report-satellite-imagery-proves-syrian-chemical-weapons-attack-staged-by-rebels/
War is a great opportunity for Bechtel, Haliburton, Academi, etc. to earn a few more billion tax payer provided dollars.
Am surprised the Russians are anti a strike on the airforce… they will make heaps selling the replacements…
For the Russians, who have a huge amount of foreign currency reserves already, a stable and intact ally in the region is by far the strategic priority.
It’s worth remembering that Russian political economic calculus is quite different to the highly American crony capitalist version of decision making that we are constantly exposed to. Solidarity, loyalty and the long game is second nature to the ruskies. Quick demonstrable gains, political expediency and the next two quarters’ financial results are key drivers for the US.
For the Russians, who have a huge amount of foreign currency reserves already
There are calls for Russia and China (central banks) to implement economic sanctions on the US/UK if they use military force against Syria.
Selling of US gvt securities will be a significant constraint as the US will only have around 50b in cash by OCT and will be unable to raise debt ( without congress approval) due to the debt ceiling.
Thing is, as long as foreign countries are willing to trade real goods and services in exchange for USD, the Federal Reserve can keep crediting (creating) as much currency as is required.
but the more they print, the less attractive the USD is as a benchmark.
Interestingly enough, China deliberately undervalued the RMB to help its manufacturing industry and it has a semi-fixed value (rather than a completely free floating value). Seemed to work okay for them.
Oh, absolutely. The BRICs are starting to shift away from the dollar, and discussion of the USD losing its reserve currency status is no longer tin foil hat stuff. But as long as nations are willing to exchange real ite,s like beef, oil and heroin for USD, and to hold USD as a primary store of foreign reserves, the US has got free financial reign to keep pushing on.
Opportunity is forever.
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20130826/DEFREG04/308260013/Pentagon-Poised-13-Billion-Mideast-Arms-Sales?odyssey=mod_sectionstories
Saudi Arabia has a horrific human rights/womens rights record, as well as a willingness to use violence against peaceful demonstrators and political opponents. How can the US justify selling billions in advanced arms to them?
Uh, on second thoughts, no answer required.
yes, never tried to take democracy to that country have they
Again, it’s the cartoonist conveying political realities with pictures.
More.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Farzat
Nice find. This one applies to both the USA and UK.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2013/aug/19/ali-ferzat-cartoons-in-pictures#/?picture=415368264&index=0
…meanwhile….across the ditch Labour in Tasmania is being decimated through association with the Greens. A lesson for Labour here.
“Tasmanian federal Labor MPs told The Australian they in large part blamed the party’s relationship with the Greens at the state and federal levels for the potential slide back into oblivion.
Dick Adams, a stalwart of the party who the latest polling suggests will fail to defend a margin of 12.3 per cent in rural Lyons, said the party should review its power-sharing deal with the Greens in the state…
“The Liberals … are using it in their ads – ‘Green means Labor’ – and that sort of caper,” Mr Adams said. “The Greens have created an image in Tasmania that they oppose everything. And that’s the general feeling that 80 per cent of Tasmanians would have about the Greens.
“The majority of Tasmanians think that the Greens are a negative force to jobs, growth and economic activity.”…
The Labor MP for the marginal seat of Braddon, Sid Sidebottom, who faces a strong challenge from Liberal Brett Whiteley, agreed that Labor was being damaged by its association with the Greens. “There are people who view the Greens as anti-development,” he said. “
Good point grumpy. Greens need to stress they are wide thinkers, want better lives and opportunities now stretching into the future. No posthole ‘diggers’ like the right wing in Australia who want to tether everybody to now, going deeper in the same spot with old enterprise like mining until there is nothing left to mine. Ensuring that there will soon be failing and falling opportunities with no regard for the difficulties of the future and nothing to offer the country for the future except more golf courses and more land speculation that decimates the natural environment.
…and good point Greywarbler. The issue is Labour becoming so close to the Greens that they are seen as anti development and further left. That just drives the centre to the Coalition (National in NZ) and Labour get decimated.
A lesson for NZ and the LP leadership and future direction decisions.
“that they are seen as anti development”
are the greens anti development?
No
grumpy and framu
I am thinking about the strength of misinformation and misperception. Greens have to fight this. It would be a shame to have it continue in Tasmania to the case of Labour being disadvantaged.
But the parties may have to pull apart, if Labour itself is the old dinosaur that can’t see how to change and can’t evolve. It is possible as I said before that the Oz ‘digger’ will be the logo for all their political attitudes. Digging themselves a hole, which will eventually get so deep they will find it hard to get out and change course in a measured way. Result – there will be upset people, scapegoating, more poverty, and both Oz and Kiwi battlers possibly uniting in anger and taking it out on each other.
The Greens arent anti mining, they just dont want it done on conservation land or our beautiful national parks.
Plus, they are the only party who wants to stick the royalties in an investment fund and not piss it all against a wall like Bridges wants to.
@millsy +1 It is hard to fault the Greens….once Labour is sorted out the Left will be a force to be reckoned with….
I am interested in Charter schools and the decision that teachers there don’t have to be qualified teachers. Qualified teachers go through a police screening process before teaching our children.
Ms Bennett says she expects “partnership” schools to follow the new rules. Could someone get on her case to turn expectation into guarantee.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11115226
There is currently a surplus of qualified teachers in this country and they continue to train large numbers every year.
I would hazard a guess that many if not most who are eventually employed as teachers in charter schools will be qualified teachers. (at slightly above the minimum wage of course)
That’s aspirational: send your kid to a charter school, there might well be a 50:50 chance that their teacher is qualified. At a hazardous guess, of course…
don’t be so sure. People like Banks don’t care about unemployment rates. He believes the best person to teach maths is a financial advisor, with real world experience. Hell he might go for the job himself after serving on the Huljich Board and being temporary CEO.
The Entrepreneurial State
My bold.
Dammit, stuffed up the link 😳
The Entrepreneurial State
Sounds promising for clear headed thinking DTB. Thanks for the headsup. Cf to Joyce this morning giving his ideas on how Christchurch or somewhere can get enterprise, I think Wellington.
His idea for busin ess and enterprise growth is getting investment in a location which then makes jobs and so families can make lives. Ooh goody – he has been reading his Form 5 textbooks again on Theory of Domestic Economies. And what has he done – mostly make money out of playing other people’s music, advertisising, and talking about sports, and criticising others or making fun of people. Especially anybody who strives to do their job acceptably, advance the lives of others and provide essential services as opposed to providing wallpaper for the ears (as Peter Ustinov termed modern music) as is much of radio content.
http://www.thebaffler.com/past/practical_utopians_guide
Another Indian women’s murder has come into the news. She was training to be a teacher, ready to work in the world of intelligence and ideas and skills and wages. She went out but never came home, was found and the report says she has been raped, tortured and killed. Her family notified the police but after a few hours decided they were doing nothing to search for her whereabouts. I think five men have been arrested.
Is this how modern society will go? All our efforts as civilisations evolve for each person to be given respect and rights to be free from others with wants using and imposing on their lives? Pakistan, I have heard of a midwife being barked at implying she was a bitch on heat because she was seen out at night going to attend her mothers. In India, the fast-moving middle class is not spreading a more civilised attitude to women along with its higher development. A book that was featured on Radionz might interest – The Ivory Swing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janette_Turner_Hospital
Countries that impose strict rules on movement of women, then seem to excuse disgraceful behaviour of males, the excuse being possibly that the mistreated woman had looked at them. Often the most ‘religious’ carry out the most heinous crimes and yet still regard themselves as holy and righteous. Western women are seen as open to exploitation by Asian men in Britain, as they don’t have to answer to blood thirsty family members. The Lebanese? rioted with the Oz young men in Sydney over supposed treatment of the women of one side or the other. What will happen in China? Will they do what the Sicilians used to do and kidnap a girl and hold her until her honour was in doubt and then she had to marry the man as there was no other future for her.
Phillipa Gregory writes a lot of historical novels. This morning one was being discussed. In the conversation a reference to the leading women of the age was made – they seemed to be a mixture of breeding stock and political pawns. So it’s a fight to keep standards of behaviour from slipping right back, and I fear as we are overburdened with population, and divisions, we will see more confused attitudes to women, and those to men. Going into a convent in medieval times was not necessarily an incarceration to be feared. It could be a haven against men offering a settled life, regular meals, and safety.
Wars preplanned: “We’re going to take out 7 countries in 5 years”
Worthwhile remembering what is happening now in the ME.
General Clark (ret.) is former Supreme Commander NATO Allied Forces (Europe).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RC1Mepk_Sw
An are you for real piece in today’s Herald online, the Anonymous Group, underground computer hackers, have said that Dunne, Banks, and, Key are now Targets to have their computers burgled and any dirty laundry found exposed to the public,
This, along with having ‘taken down’ the GCSB computer system for a day in what Anonymous describe as a feint to get the spooks scrambling while they half inched some juicy stuff elsewhere, is in response to the passing of the GCSB Legislation and the crucial part each of those named above played in the passage of that Legislation, the ‘lesson’ being apparently ‘you reap what you sow’,
Slippery the PM had no comment to make, other than a general tantrum over the stars having appeared to align to make His life a misery on too many fronts to allow a specific tantrum,
Laughably, Dunne was perplexed and couldn’t remember (a) if He had any secrets that were not already public knowledge,(believe me wee Petey you do), and (b), can’t remember where He might have hid said secrets,(try the file marked ‘s**t’ that would destroy the remnants of my tattered credibility Pete),
i of course cannot do anything but roundly abhor such behavior, after all it is illegal right, i am off now to have my Doc check out what the sound of that mad laughter emanating from up my sleeve is…
How about Cunliffe, Robertson and Jones sitting down for a cup of tea and inviting the media?
One condition, they are not allowed to discuss politics.
This would show Key how to have a cup of tea.
FARC! Just watched Question Time. Trevor Mallard just undid any gains we might have got yesterday by accusing Nick Smith of squatting in the Minister’s residence when he resigned as Minister whenever it was. Own goal Trevor. Smith said he needed that time to find somewhere else for his kids to live. Definitely own goal, Trev. FARC! FARC! FARC!
Someone on here suggested gagging Mallard and putting in a bag…the idea has merits
Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia sounds good.
What have they done to deserve that?
Robertson should throw a hot latte on his head.
That’s…imaginative…
@millsy +1
Mallard, when I read the paper this morning was one of those purported to be backing Robertson….which begs the question of which other idiots might remain on the front bench by backing Robertson..the paper speculated Goff as well…plus a gfew others who were the rump of the remaining MPs tainted by neo liberalism and the do nothing radical Clark years.
If the speculated names of those supporting Robertson are correct, they pretty much confirm theories from Trotter, Bradbury and others that they have, and are trading off with the “identity” groups to keep control of the party direction. This is a battle they might win, the price will be an election route. Conversely if they lose to Cunliffe the Left stands at least an even chance at the election. So either we select Robertson and gift National a victory OR….we do this all again and have to wait three more years.
In defence of Mallard does anybody in here think that Housing NZ would let a tenant occupy a property rent free (that they were no longer entitled to) for up to six weeks just so their kids could finish the school term?
So why arn’t Cunliffe, Robertson and Jones asking questions in the house?
Wait 5 while i consult the crystal balls for an answer…
Being JKs away for 3 weeks you’d think they’d want to question JK while they have the chance, not a good look by the candidates
You appear to be the only one who really gives a s**t, there will be plenty of opportunity to examine the Slippery little shyster after His latest overseas sojourn and by then Labour will have the new leader firmly ensconced on the front Bench,
Of course your wee worry is probably a constant nag in the back of the PM’s little empty cranial cavity as we all know it’s when the leader of the National rabble is ‘out of the country’ it is the prime opportunity when the challenger, in this case Judith Collins, likes to eviscerate the incumbent with a sharp object lesson in back stabbing…
Do you really think JK will be rolled anytime soon or just wishful thinking?
Judith Collins openly and publicly said last week that She wants the PM’s job, Collins was careful to not say exactly when She expects to get that job,
Define anytime soon, for Collins to openly tout for the top job She must know that She has a reasonable amount of support in the Caucus to protect Her from an immediate holiday in Siberia,
If the numbers keep going South for National and Slippery keeps shoving His foot into His own mouth anything can happen,
Ask Jim Bolger and Jenni Shiply about that…
There might just be a few people in National thinking that next year they can’t afford another strategic blunder like the teapot debacle in the middle of an election campaign. Key’s star is waning, plain and simple.
He usually goes to inordinate lengths not to apologize for anything yet today felt compelled to issue an apology for the dumbass comments about walking away from people in Christchurch.
UN Says Rebels Used Chemical Weapons – Not Assad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPtGJbrvpjQ#t=81
http://beforeitsnews.com/middle-east/2013/08/video-shows-fsa-rebels-launch-chemical-attacks-in-syria-2453742.html
A) beforeitsnews is a shill site and not a valid source for anything
B) their link for the “evidence” is from WND which is a far right, birther, tea party site
C) the UN says no such a thing. A person associated with the UN has her suspicions.
Use your brain.
@ TheContrarian….oh!!!!? …well blame it on my teenage son…he put it up ( ie Chooky’s young rooster)…always blame the roosters
….never-the- less I wouldn’t mind betting that the ‘rebels’ were the ones who did the gassing and not Bashir al -Assads forces….and there does seem to be scepticism and support for this possibility from other sources eg Checkpoint interview tonight with an expert on Syria who is no friend of Assads….
…time will tell ….as it did with spurious WMD arguments for bombing Iraq
…in any case it will be disgraceful if the West bombs Syria…no good can come of this!
I don’t proclaim to know who originally fired the warheads but I certainly don’t believe any of the shit on beforeitsnews. Secondly, this situation is nothing like Iraq. There were no chemical weapons in Iraq at all. In this instance there are. Secondly the US were balls to the wall in readiness to hit Iraq. Here they seem to want nothing To do with the conflict and have been at pains to avoid it all together
“this situation is nothing like Iraq”
Except that both countries were targeted by the US military.
“This is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/we-re-going-to-take-out-7-countries-in-5-years-iraq-syria-lebanon-libya-somalia-sudan-iran/5166
Says one person several years ago under a different government in the wrong order in light of a new government that could have long ago targeted Syria if they wanted to and even now are making no moves towards all out regime change.
Like I said elsewhere Ugly, you have created yourself an unsolvable problem. Everything can be explained as part of your grand conspiracy and if it doesn’t fit then it can be safety ignored. You sound like a creationist who says nothing that contradicts that bible can be valid. But in your case, anything that conflicts with your conspiracy is necessarily a lie or incorrect. No other position can be tolerated.
Given the choice of believing the words of a US General or the Contrarian anonymously commenting on a computer network, no surprises WHO we believe is there TC,
It sure as hell aint you…
“Like I said elsewhere Ugly, you have created yourself an unsolvable problem.”
You don’t know what you are talking about, Contrarian.
That’s a stunning interview with the General on so many levels, s**t i have 20 odd television channels streaming into my home 24 hours a day and not one of them has seen fit to broadcast this interview which in my opinion everyone should either view or read,
It would make a good center piece in a Post to discuss (a) whether or not there is any belief that this country’s soldiers should be involved in any further US ‘adventures’ and (b) is now the time when we on the left begin to mount open demonstrations against these US ‘adventures”…
@TheContrarian….sorry…just don’t believe your last point….many say they have been ready and waiting for a pretext …or incident…. or contrived incident …
…..and dont forget USA’s CIA role in supporting Saddam hussein carry out the chemical weapons attack on Iran in 1988…rather hypocritical don’t you think?
From a nation founded on the extermination of hundreds of tribes of native peoples.
“From a nation founded on the extermination of hundreds of tribes of native peoples.”
So? Those tribes exterminated those before them also.
It’s a historical precept that nations have risen on the backs of the native population who, in many cases, rose on the backs of others. The USA is neither unique in this nor are they worse than any other in this historical precept.
“Those tribes exterminated those before them also.”
[citation needed]
Well Contrarian, which of these other countries you refer to trumpeted themselves as guardians of freedom, opportunity and humans rights for all?
“nor are they worse than any other in this historical precept.”
[citation needed]
Then they had there opportunity a long time ago. There has been a pretext for over a year now.
The inspectors haven’t been able to inspect the second area they were going to look at. I don’t think they’ve reported back yet.
The main problem here is that even an evidential search of the areas attacked might not show exactly who used the chemical weapons.
While the US are claiming to categorically know who used the chemical weapons (presumably because they have intelligence on who supplied Syria with the chemical ingredients to make the sarin gas), it is still feasible that rebel fighters somehow attained the weapons and then used them on their own people to initiate NATO’s involvement.
It is also feasible that Asad ordered the attack because he doesn’t respect western forces or that a rogue element in his army disobeyed orders. At this stage we simply don’t know, which is a good breeding ground for the conspiracy theorist articles like the one you linked to Chooky.
Another issue is that even if it is found that the Syrian regime used the weapons, they are not going to be blamed. That is apparently one condition of the inspectors being allowed into the areas affected. It could be that NATO forces attack even if there is no evidence made known to the public. It could be that there is no evidence and Syria is attacked anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipXi3WeqSuU#t=20
Who exactly is T. Mallard trying to damage, National or Labour or himself? Well hes taken over from S. Jones as parliaments biggest wanker…
i thought that was more an example of smith troughing…than mallard wanking..
..(and i gave smith a special award for his piss-poor excuse for scamming six weeks of two grand a week rent..+ servants/guards..etc..
..his excuse is that his ‘children were going to the local school’…(now we are talking wellington here..somewhere where everything is ‘local’..
..(maybe anyone caught squartting in a vacant hnz house cd use the same reasoning/excuse..?
..’im just doing what nick smith did..my kids go to the local school’..
..i’m sure that will work for them..eh..?
phillip ure..
is it true the media will only be allowed into these meetings for the opening speeches..?..
..if so..that sucks..
..phillip ure..
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/does-president-obama-know-hes-fighting-on-alqaidas-side-8786680.html
If Barack Obama decides to attack the Syrian regime, he has ensured – for the very first time in history – that the United States will be on the same side as al-Qa’ida.
Alrighty then….
No not for the very first time. Al Quada were no friends of Saddam as well as being no friends of the Soviets.
al-qa’ida also worked for the americans in their overthrow of gaddaffi..
..this is just iraq..libya..redux..
..and the corporate-media whores are playing their part in manufacturing consent..
..yapping along like feral dogs of war..
..unthinking fools that they are…
phillip ure..
@ phillip ure…..+1
….and didn’t Osama bin Laden once work for the USA in ousting the Russians from Afghanistan?….irony upon irony
chooky..yeah..he was a cia-operative for many years..starting in afghanistan..
..the cia/americans armed and funded osama..and his warriors..(‘straw-enemies’..?..)
..when they enlisted him as an agent in their cold war proxy war with the (then) soviet union..
….and you know what really puzzled me at the time..?
..how so many on ‘the left’ supported the american-overthrow of gadaffi..
..( i guess they studiously ignored the facts that libya was the most secular of all the arab states..
..that women there had it better than any other country..
..free education for all..from pre-school to university..(consequently libya was the most ‘educated’ of all the arab states and amongst the most educated of all the countries in the world..
..everyone had free health care..from basic to operations..
..when couples married they got a wedding-grant of u.s.$50,000 from the govt..
..and a social welfare system to put the west to shame….
..it puzzled me how the left here either couldn’t be bothered find out the true facts..
..and just swallowed the cia/american manufactured-consent to overthrow ‘the evil’ gadaffi..
..(he wore sunglasses indoors..didn’tyaknow..)
..and were just mired in their own ignorances/prejudices..
phillip ure..
Its a great way to keep your military industrial complex humming along. Help arm a whole lot of people who automatically become your enemies 10 years later, whom you then have to arm yourself against.
Awesome closed loop awesomeness.
Same with Iraq. Iraqi women could wear jeans and high heels (you know, look like women — sorry QoT and Karol), and go to university, and become doctors and lawyer. Now they will probably have acid chucked in their faces by the Koran-bashers.
Same with Libya. Gaddafi ran a socialist, secular regime with free education and healthcare for all, women in senior positions in society, and now its fucked and given over to Islamist factions, including Al Qaeda. All the western corporates wanted were Libya’s gold reserves and oil reserves.
@ millsy …+100….what happens to the rights and quality of life of women and children is the most important!…they should be the ones who decide on war
@ phillip ure….I also couldnt understand why seemingly liberal lefties supported the Gaddafi overthrow and killing either …I thought it was disgraceful
…..I would have long arguments with a friend about this ….and while admittedly Gaddafi was no saint.and was a horrible tyrant in many ways …he did make friendly overtures to the West ….and as Westerners ( eg teachers) who lived in Libya pointed out, they did have a very good social welfare system and standard of living….and the West has left many other tyrants elsewhere alone
….I guess it was the mix of African independence movement , which Gadaffi supported if not initiated, and issues of oil and water resources……
chooky..
..some feel the tipping-point was gadaffi setting up/funding a separate arab banking system..
..he intended to totally bye-pass the western banksters..
..to take/keep much of the arab countries oil-money..
..that was his death-sentence..
..(asseems to happen so often..follow the money..eh..?..)
phillip ure.
@phillip ure….that is interesting…!!!
They sure weren’t friends. That was why the pretext of 9/11 to go to war with Iraq is so damn flimsy. Hussien was an arsehole. But not that particular brand of arsehole.
Going to war with Iraq appeared to be Bush Junior needing to do something politically for domestic political reasons, and deciding to pick a easy target. Amazing what a decade of sanctions after a devastating military loss does to the military strength of a country.
A lot of GW Bush’s senior advisors were very unhappy with Bush snr’s decision to not go all the way to Baghdad in 1991, seeing it as a lost opportunity to take control of a very important country in the ME, one with very important resources. These same advisors…Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz, et al had been kicking around in the senior levels of DC for a long time, pushing their agenda of “American exceptionalism” since the 70’s.
A lot of commentators suspect that an invasion of Iraq was therefore being examined from the early days of GW’s first term. The decision by GW to invade Iraq was strenuously opposed by many sections of the US military and intelligence community who not only knew that Saddam had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11, but also feared that Iraq would become a quagmire giving advantage to the another majority Shi’a nation in the region: Iran.
Saddam’s ba’athist regime was doggedly secular. He had no time whatsoever for the Taliban nor for Al’Qaeda.
TC, Phil et al – correct ,AQ has been used in various guises now for decades, the link is interesting given the mainstream-ness of it. I’ve posted many such previously, with not too many here looking to argue with them these days, such as it is.
TC, you don’t know what shill sites are bro, you have quoted that ridiculous shill site claiming to debunk chem trails, and while not seeking to enter a discussion about that topic, the site you have referenced is a blatant shill, yet you tried to call chooky out for a link above. Me thinks you need a re calibration my blinkard little flip flop,
Managed to catch only part of the 3rd Degree programme on the woman who got dragged for more than a kilometre by a car driven by her boyfriend.
In short she has more balls than the narcissistic polemicist Michael Laws could ever dream about. He the author of a piece in a Sunday paper the other week in which he chose unabashedly to expose the pathologoical racism, classism, and inhumanity by which he is possessed – title something about “Feral Love”.
Who’s the feral for Christ’s sake ? Who’s the human scum for Christ’s sake ? Karma karma karma Mad Michael !
It was “Love Among Ferals”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/blogs/opinion/9083148/Laws-Love-among-ferals-its-a-weird-world
Cunliffe announcement – Operatic Edition
No doubt someone has already posted, but here goes again…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwKIFwCWFMI
Thanks for that, CV. Just the right note to end a long,busy day on.
These guys appeal to my weird sense of humour – i also enjoyed their rendition of Shearer’s resignation speech which I posted here on Saturday morning although I was of two minds about it. They have upped their dress standard for this latest one!
http://t.co/rc77OzUxQc
All welcome
We are a talented nation, for sure. Let’s give every NZer a chance to shine!
@ CV ….thankyou!….most enjoyable….much applause
Inti-Illimani Quilapayún – El Aparecido
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Doqe4fDgI8
YOUNG people in NZ, you may not get this, but some “old” guys and girls actually “fought” for a lot you take for fucking granted, perhaps read, study, do another brain check and re-connect. This is not about some aged wanting you to march in line with them, this is about a NEW awareness, for a NEW generation, for younger ones ALSO, to understand that only some form of solidarity, community, some common efforts and standards make any society function.
It seems to be more important in some overseas places, but in NZ it has been abandoned by hateful, divisive, corrupt and manipulative policies.
Perhaps take a study trip online, and look up the Greens, Mana, Labour or whatever, it can only offer another perspective, and I tell you, it is a lot more promising than the shit we get!
Ileana Cabra PG 13 – Calle 13 – Pal Norte (vivo en Buenos Aires, di….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5rXsSsEfuY
musica de rap de buenos aires, Argentina
For a bit of variety, de Latin America, Viva!
Inti-Illimani – El pueblo unido jamás será vencido, de 1974, subtitula
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhpSwSBbdxM
«El pueblo unido jamás será vencido» es un himno chileno, cuya música fue compuesta por Sergio Ortega y el texto escrito por el conjunto Quilapayún. Conocida en el mundo entero, “El Pueblo Unido” es una de las más famosas canciones de protesta de la historia. El tema tiene una música pegajosa y enérgica, destacando su estribillo que es un grito o consigna sólo con percusión, lo que facilita adaptarla para cualquier idioma.
A bit strange in cow and sheep land Aotearoa, but perhaps reconsider your fortunes, as the commodity markets have been quite volatile by history. Never rely on Friedman economics!!!
Oaxaca de Mexico – por favor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uCC-venMtU
Aotearoa NZ, do NOT forget, where you stand are standing to LOSE!
El pueblo unido jamas cera vencido!!!
Victor Chara, cantar –
“Yo no canto por cantar – Victor Jara”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xRJ6jbCv1o
So this man was by Pinochet and his troops declared a bloody “terrorist’, who do you bloody think is NEXT?? I t may bloody be you!!
Beware of the crap that goes down, and do NOT fall into the consumerist slumber and advertising brain washing please, that is NOT freedom, it is BS!
Just looking at some extremist muslim videos, I claim for New Zealand, we MUST NOT allow ANY influence onto our system, our schools, our education, health or ANY OTHER influence onto it, that is religiously based. The same applies to South Auckland communities, and with the damned introduction of Charter Schools, the divisive government we have, deserves to be voted out. The biggest problem for modern societies is negligence and division. We certainly do not want more division. Nor do we want sick and disabled forced into work, as some idiot Principal Health Advisor Dr Bratt from MSD now thinks needs to happen. He seems bizarre, corrupt and destructive, and we have more on him, by the way.
Problem, reaction, solution, xtasy. Google “Gladio-B”
There is no compulsion in religion.
The Quran, Suah 2:256
http://www.actsinjunction.info/nwo.html
Didnt blair say he had proof of wmd before going into iraq…. but didnt.
I see the pm is waiting to be called by the usa and for some polling before he decides his stance on syria.