Interesting to see where he chose to throw his cash – something deep and long lasting, something that directly helped people (front line services anyone)? The freaking cycleway? No. A giant, plastic altar to worshipping money and sport. Figures.
This is right now rapidly spinning through Chch emails…. it is long.
“What is going on in Christchurch??
Is this for real??
“The Hotel Grand Chancellor is a story that needs to be told. Maybe a book someday! It was finally announced on Wednesday but it is the story behind the delay that is interesting. This story also applies to the rebuilding and repair of Christchurch which Fletcher Building are overseeing.
The tender was to RCP (project managers for council) but was passed over to CERA once they arrived. CERA is staffed entirely by Fletchers employees.
CERA delayed the announcement for a month to enable Fletchers to study the other tenderers info & submit a late bid. The day it was submitted CERA awarded them the tender. Fletchers price was 3 million higher than anyone else’s!
Fletchers have no intention of doing the demolition, taking the risk, or putting up the bond to cover the risk. They are just appointing themselves as project managers to clip the ticket & then getting the original tender winners to do the work.
How did they get away with it? Do a companies search on Fletchers. (No – don’t bother we’ve done it for you below).
They just got bought by the Reserve bank! RBNZ owns 275 million Fletcher shares while Hugh Fletcher now only has 5000. Its a SOE. A Govt department!!
They bought themselves an income stream. They direct all the profits from the recovery straight into their own pockets instead of allowing the people of ChCh to make a bit each to help them recover.
You have to admit it is clever!!
But how on earth did they keep it out of the media?: NZ’s largest Co gets bought by Govt & it doesnt make even the tiniest news report? Really???
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark! (or in this case Canterbury!)
Meanwhile still no start to the demo & recovery after 3 months.
The books get fiddled while ChCh burns!
Here are a few questions for you to think about (oh, I’ll make it easy: I will give you the answers as well)
Q. Who appointed RCP (Resource Coordination Partnership Ltd) as Project Managers for the management of ‘critical buildings’ following the February
22nd earthquake?
A . Christchurch City Council under instructions of the NZ Government
Q . Who appointed CERA?
A . NZ Government.
Q . Who appointed Fletcher Building to manage the demolition works and then, reconstruction works?
A .. NZ Government firstly, then CERA
Q . Who is the main single shareholder of Fletcher Building?
A .. NZ Government.
Q . Who called for the tenders for the demolition of the Grand Chancellor?
A . RCP
Q .. Who is to be the Principle to the demolition Contract (i.e. the Payer)
A . The Crown (NZ Government).
Q . Who assessed the Tenders for the Demolition of the Grand Chancellor?
A . RCP
Q . Who has been awarded the Grand Chancellor job (at whatever price and/or conditions)?
A . Fletcher Building
Q . Who will make the profits?
A . Fletcher Building (and it’s Shareholders)
Q . Who is the main shareholder of Fletcher Building? (I know, I already asked this one, but it could be a trick question)
A . NZ Government as the Reserve Bank of New Zealand(no trick question, sorry)
Q . Who has been blind-sided?
A . Everyone involved in the (supposed) tender process firstly, but more importantly, the people of Christchurch and New Zealand who thought that
they lived in a first-world economy.
Q . What are the ramifications?
A . Immediate loss of confidence by all independent Consultants and Contractors in the tender process if CERA, RCP or Fletcher Building are
involved jointly or singularly in a government sanctioned role, for fear of a continued potential for a monopoly and huge profiteering there from.
Q . Who are the winners?
A . Fletcher Building and the NZ Government, along with the other Financial institutions that form the majority shareholders in Fletcher Building.
Q. Who are the losers?
A . The property owners, their tenants, clients and customers, along with everyone in New Zealand who believes in a ‘level playing field’, all the
people of Christchurch, and all the people of New Zealand that have supported, volunteered their time and/or donated their hard earned, tax-paid
monies to the recovery following the devastating events of February 22nd.”
end
I will just throw in a couple of my own further questions too…
Q. Who owns the Grand Chancellor?
A. Phillip Carter.
Q. Who is a Minister in the government?
A. Phillip Carter’s brother David Carter.
Q. Who is a new Councillor prominent in the rebuild?
A. Tim Carter, Phillip Carter’s son and David Carter’s nephew.
The thoughts and potential accusations that spring to mind are obvious. I would be immensely curious to hear other views of the above…
The thing about the Reserve Bank owning Fletchers is a mis-understanding. The Reserve Bank has a kind of nominee company for nominee companies. It owns billions of dollars of shares but the beneficial owners are the nominee companies and other large traders who, in turn, own the shares on behalf of investors like people in Kiwisaver. The Reserve Bank’s company, NZClear, owns the shares but only in a technical sense, not a beneficial sense. It’s something to do with liquidity.
Thats what I thought when I read the email. But the main question is, who (the writers) do they think was capable of doing the job, Bob the Builder and his ute and dog?. Even if a whole new standalone authority was setup it would be still interviewing for the first job.
The point of Tendering is give all those with the ability to bid for the job. To say that Fletchers get priority defeats the purpose of the tendering. And I believe an American firm which has a long history of expertise in building demolition was a tenderer. Hardly Bob the builder and his dog.
There are stacks of organisations capable of doing this job. If you see how it is to be tackled you will see that it is not that difficult. It is simply a build in reverse – clear some space for a big crane and dismantle and lower to the ground. There is plenty of such capablity here for that.
In fact, further, a knowledge of the process reveals what this anon email also states which is that the actual work is to be carried out by other firms anyway and not Fletchers.
I don’t know the truth of everything in this email but I do admit that my eyebrows went up when I heard Fletchers had the job. Cronyism. Favours for the friends. There is a huge amount of inside knowledge being passed around at the moment… for the purposes of self-enrichment.
Big huge sums involved. An election coming up. Conflicts of interest left right and centre. What do you expect?
Big huge sums involved. An election coming up. Conflicts of interest left right and centre. What do you expect?
I expect people to avoid the temptations of cronyism and disaster capitalism, for the sake of getting Christchurch rebuilt properly. I’m sick and tired of people who already have buckets of the stuff enriching themselves further by fucking my country over.
FTR I don’t mind people making money and profits, it’s when they use underhand tactics to do so that I get angry.
I don’t think it can be called cronyism but it is another strange happening from one of the Christchurch parallel worlds. Complaint was made this morning by a business owner kept away from his premises (probably on the grounds it isn’t safe, something that can’t be controverted without expert and informed reports that I haven’t heard being available to ‘stakeholders’). But gardeners have been allowed into the red zone to tend the plants which I suppose are needing attention and would otherwise be dying off. Put ‘businesses’ where ‘plants’ are in the above sentence!
The list of nominee companies make interesting reading, and the Carter link stinks to high heaven.
The holding company which owns the 275 million or so shares has itself only 100 shares – being the minimum legal requirement for an incorporated company.
From where I sit, this looks like yet another nail in the coffin of NZ democracy as Herr Key and his cronies sell the country down the river – but no matter who is in power, the panto of politics is just to distract the punters and every three years we get to exercise our prerogative – yeah right! Like it makes any difference already?
We are just the most far flung colony of an evil empire – our forebears invaded this place and have screwed the Tangata Whenua ever since – and people bitch about welfare and seashore issues – for God’s sake we stole the bloody country with broken promises. So why should it be any different now – the bloody Crown still rule, and those who think otherwise are their fools….
Not a single share held by the RBNZ.
Someone is benefiting from what is happening. A lot of tax dollars are going into the rebuild – as such the citizens need clarity on where these tax dollars are going. Preferably not in retrospect, either.
On a semi-related subject, discussed previously – perhaps the easiest way for a Ministry of Works to be recreated would be for the government to buy Fletchers.
Not quite. While the email raises some interesting issues, the claim about Fletchers being an SOE was a key element in the conflict of interest suggestion. The fact that it might be incorrect (or a good example of teh interwebz not being an effective substitute for actual education in a particular area) makes me suspicious of everything else in it.
That, and the unheard of possibility that an email rumour might not be 100% true.
Yes, all fair enough commentary above.. It could also be that it is in the interests of other interests to cloud and disturb the process for their own counter-enrichment!
Onwards we go…
On the positive side there is some incredible and determined energy to seriously create a new and exciting city. And I suspect the traction will be gained.
… whistle while you work… diddly um de dum de dum…
Oh, I’m all for more accountability and would like to see far more transparency as far as anything the government does but I’m not in favour of spreading what appear to be untruths which the referenced email is doing.
The general manager of insurance company Vero’s new ventures, Nigel Edmiston, told Morning Report the message he’s getting from the Government is that it will look at other areas of ACC, like the motor vehicle account.
Mr Edmiston says they have not put a time frame on it, but he believes they will be up for discussion within the next 12 months.
If so, was it before or after the discussions that seem to have been held with Vero, and I assume, others.
Someone should ask Nick Smith what Edmiston is talking about.
Clearly Nick Smith issued the current privatisation plan as being sort of the gentle “don’t scare the horses” plan. Get the folk used to the idea that privatisation is OK but when/if the National get re-elected, they can say they have a MANDATE! This lets them widen it to include the motor vehicle account and….. Suckers we are!
Amen Ian – Key is a salesman/hatchet-man – he spent two years on the Forex Board of the New York Fed being groomed for his assignment – the smiling assassin – he will sell us all down the river folks – but then the Fed is the greatest privatisation rort in history up until now – it is amazing the number of numb nuts who do not even realise that it is a private institution, wholly unaccountable to the US Govt and a power unto itself. This is why the marriage of banking and business in NZ is so dangerous – this is Fascism by stealth, you may not vote for it per se, but you will fall for it when your next meal depends upon it. Just think prewar Nazi Germany. The mere fact that the media is so compliant and complicit with this should have you shitting your pants….Goebbels and Bernays would be impressed. But let’s just bash a few beneficiaries or cry crocodile tears over kiwi kids dying when our soldiers and mercs are shooting up Afghanistan and Iraq – who cries for them? You cannot be a part of a global crime syndicate without incurring some accountability – but as long as there is petrol for the car we can all dine out at MacDeathalds….
$180 million loss to Australian apple growers when NZ enters the market – announcement on the
radio. Then there is a comment that Chinese and USA apples are also going to be sold. So how much will NZ get out of this market after going to the WTO, and did those other countries pay some of the costs of the appeal to open the Australian market?
Prime Minister John Key has laid down the law to his ministers over accepting too many corporate box invitations during the Rugby World Cup.
His warning to be careful about the sort of hospitality ministers accept during the six-week tournament comes after the Greens questioned ministers and their staff accepting generous hospitality from Westpac Bank while the Government’s master banking contract is under review. Westpac holds the contract.
Further to a discussion with MS yesterday, I think the major parties need to develop and promote policies based on their ideologies, and so do some small parties.
But I see a niche for a small party or parties that develop and promote policies, independent of any particular ideology, based on the majority wishes of it’s constituents. This would give some people an alternative, and more voice. And it would be complementary to the traditional type of party policy development.
Nope, no misunderstanding, but it certainly is unfortunate that people support Dark Side Darth and our lying thief of a PM.
Single issue parties don’t usually do that well in the polls, because people rightfully expect a bit more than just one policy form those representing them. Which is why although I support the cause of ALCP I don’t vote for them, choosing instead to vote for the Greens who have a range of innovative and well considered policies backed up with a philosophy which also resonates with me.
from left field I dont know why thy national party is cutting benefits when there is a general inflation and price rise going flat out at the moment. if it continues then the dollar wont be worth peanuts and all the monkeys will be wearing sh*t eating grins.
A report from the Prime Minister’s chief science adviser says raising the drinking age to 21 and increasing alcohol prices are two of the most effective ways to address youth drinking problems.
Raising it further would adddress some adult drink problems (and probably create others). Is this a genuine target age for legislation change? Or a high suggestion so most will be happy to settle for 20 again?
I know we have huge drinking issues in our society, but I’m not sure if this is the right approach.
Can’t drag out supporting data now (I’d assume NMDS alcohol-related injury hospital admissions) , but the fact it comes from Gluckman (rather than a lobby group or whatever) suggests to me that he’s looking at the tail end of the risk-taking curve, rather than pulling a random number out of a focus group.
The world’s largest social networking website which is meant to connect people with friends has once again undertaken “upgrades” that are designed to remove what the administrators determine as groups without enough recent activity. But there’s something far more sinister going on.
Today’s Afternoons with Sir Bruce Slane and Stephen Franks.
The ever-so-measured-I-sound-so-reasonable-and-clever-Franks dropped his guard today. He showed his true colours when discussing sporting events being influenced by Governments and boycotts. Must piss him off that his beloved National Party are making a stand against Fiji. He says it is counter productive and he said it won’t work, it didn’t work in South Africa. Sir Bruce Slane countered immediately that it did, and for one second Franks embarked on a “yes it did/no it didn’t” discussion. Sir Bruce very cleverly knocked an old scab that Franks thought might have healed with time. A different Franks was suddenly exposed.
Previously in the programme Franks implied that his qualifications are far superior to any current graduates of our Universities. Franks claimed also that somehow students are taking out loans to finance their social life. What a bloody insult to middle income families whose children are working their butts off… families whose combined income puts them out of the student allowance eligibility. (Not like the impoverished farmers or even high powered business practices that can work the books so that their children’s education can be put down as expenses).
In my experience getting a student loan to cover anything other than fees is really difficult. I couldn’t get a cost of living loan for the last course I did in the 1st decade of this century, even though my student allowance didn’t cover my rent. I think cost of living loans are means tested.
Woman drinks with friends, “collapsed drunk into bed”.
“Soon after partygoer Jason (Paora) Ransfield went to her bedroom where he began to kiss her. When Horua went to the bedroom looking for a guest’s car keys, Ransfield left.
Horua then attacked his partner, inflicting blows to her head and face. ”
Killing her.
Partner pleads down to manslaughter.
So many wrongs there, both in the incident and the reporting thereof, that I don’t even know where one would start.
I was able to use information you helped to provide to counter an attack today from former Business Round Table heavyweight Lindsay Fergusson.
An interesting little ‘case study’?
“In response to Penny Bright | Thursday, June 2, 2011 – 4:14pm
Your comments are becoming repetitive and tiresome. It is time the NBR banned your posts. This last one borders on defamation. If you don’t have something intelligent to say why not just shut up?
Lindsay Fergusson | Thursday, June 2, 2011 – 9:21pm”
Treasury: drop all screening of foreign investment
Acting Secretary to the Treasury Gabriel Makhlouf has hit out at critics of foreign investment in New Zealand, saying Treasury has consistently recommended removing all screening.
The British civil servant who arrived in this country 15 months ago told the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs that lowering foreign investment would be counter-productive to growth ambitions.
……………….
_____________________________________________________________________________
MY COMMENT:
Where is the ‘Register of Interests’ for Treasury staff – including Acting Secretary to the Treasury Gabriel Makhlouf ?
What are his connections, and whose interests is he serving?
How can ‘conflicts of interest’ be avoided if interests are not declared ?
Declared in a form which makes them readily available for public scrutiny – given NZ’s lack of an ‘Independent Commission Against Corruption’ or the like – who’s tasked with PREVENTING corruption and educating the public about corruption?
(Unlike the Police or SFO whose focus is more upon investigation of corruption AFTER the event, rather than PREVENTION ?)
Your comments are becoming repetitive and tiresome. It is time the NBR banned your posts. This last one borders on defamation. If you don’t have something intelligent to say why not just shut up?
Lindsay Fergusson | Thursday, June 2, 2011 – 9:21pm
In response to Lindsay Fergusson | Thursday, June 2, 2011 – 9:21pm
Lindsay Fergusson | Thursday, June 2,
2011 – 9:21pm
Your comments are becoming repetitive and tiresome. It is time the NBR banned your posts. This last one borders on defamation. If you don’t have something intelligent to say why not just shut up? ”
______________________________
(grumpier) old man Lindsay?
Thought you (used to?) support ‘freedom of expression Lindsay?
Or – have you got something to hide perhaps?
Wanting to have my posts ‘banned’?
Goodness me – I MUST be on target to cop that sort of flak, from someone with your Business Round Table background.
You and your mates ever seen this?
Eight Traits of the Disinformationalist
by H. Michael Sweeney
copyright (c) 1997, 2000 All rights reserved
(Revised April 2000 – formerly SEVEN Traits)
……………………..
1) Avoidance. They never actually discuss issues head-on or provide constructive input, generally avoiding citation of references or credentials. Rather, they merely imply this, that, and the other. Virtually everything about their presentation implies their authority and expert knowledge in the matter without any further justification for credibility.
2) Selectivity. They tend to pick and choose opponents carefully, either applying the hit-and-run approach against mere commentators supportive of opponents, or focusing heavier attacks on key opponents who are known to directly address issues. Should a commentator become argumentative with any success, the focus will shift to include the commentator as well.
3) Coincidental. They tend to surface suddenly and somewhat coincidentally with a new controversial topic with no clear prior record of participation in general discussions in the particular public arena involved. They likewise tend to vanish once the topic is no longer of general concern. They were likely directed or elected to be there for a reason, and vanish with the reason.
4) Teamwork. They tend to operate in self-congratulatory and complementary packs or teams. Of course, this can happen naturally in any public forum, but there will likely be an ongoing pattern of frequent exchanges of this sort where professionals are involved. Sometimes one of the players will infiltrate the opponent camp to become a source for straw man or other tactics designed to dilute opponent presentation strength.
5) Anti-conspiratorial. They almost always have disdain for ‘conspiracy theorists’ and, usually, for those who in any way believe JFK was not killed by LHO. Ask yourself why, if they hold such disdain for conspiracy theorists, do they focus on defending a single topic discussed in a NG focusing on conspiracies? One might think they would either be trying to make fools of everyone on every topic, or simply ignore the group they hold in such disdain.Or, one might more rightly conclude they have an ulterior motive for their actions in going out of their way to focus as they do.
6) Artificial Emotions. An odd kind of ‘artificial’ emotionalism and an unusually thick skin — an ability to persevere and persist even in the face of overwhelming criticism and unacceptance. This likely stems from intelligence community training that, no matter how condemning the evidence, deny everything, and never become emotionally involved or reactive. The net result for a disinfo artist is that emotions can seem artificial. Most people, if responding in anger, for instance, will express their animosity throughout their rebuttal. But disinfo types usually have trouble maintaining the ‘image’ and are hot and cold with respect to pretended emotions and their usually more calm or unemotional communications style. It’s just a job, and they often seem unable to ‘act their role in character’ as well in a communications medium as they might be able in a real face-to-face conversation/confrontation. You might have outright rage and indignation one moment, ho-hum the next, and more anger later — an emotional yo-yo. With respect to being thick-skinned, no amount of criticism will deter them from doing their job, and they will generally continue their old disinfo patterns without any adjustments to criticisms of how obvious it is that they play that game — where a more rational individual who truly cares what others think might seek to improve their communications style, substance, and so forth, or simply give up.
7) Inconsistent. There is also a tendency to make mistakes which betray their true self/motives. This may stem from not really knowing their topic, or it may be somewhat ‘freudian’, so to speak, in that perhaps they really root for the side of truth deep within.
I have noted that often, they will simply cite contradictory information which neutralizes itself and the author. For instance, one such player claimed to be a Navy pilot, but blamed his poor communicating skills (spelling, grammar, incoherent style) on having only a grade-school education. I’m not aware of too many Navy pilots who don’t have a college degree. Another claimed no knowledge of a particular topic/situation but later claimed first-hand knowledge of it.
8) BONUS TRAIT: Time Constant. Recently discovered, with respect to News Groups, is the response time factor. There are three ways this can be seen to work, especially when the government or other empowered player is involved in a cover up operation:
1) ANY NG posting by a targeted proponent for truth can result in an IMMEDIATE response. The government and other empowered players can afford to pay people to sit there and watch for an opportunity to do some damage. SINCE DISINFO IN A NG ONLY WORKS IF THE READER SEES IT – FAST RESPONSE IS CALLED FOR, or the visitor may be swayed towards truth.
2) When dealing in more direct ways with a disinformationalist, such as email, DELAY IS CALLED FOR – there will usually be a minimum of a 48-72 hour delay. This allows a sit-down team discussion on response strategy for best effect, and even enough time to ‘get permission’ or instruction from a formal chain of command.
3) In the NG example 1) above, it will often ALSO be seen that bigger guns are drawn and fired after the same 48-72 hours delay – the team approach in play. This is especially true when the targeted truth seeker or their comments are considered more important with respect to potential to reveal truth. Thus, a serious truth sayer will be attacked twice for the same sin.
I close with the first paragraph of the introduction to my unpublished book, Fatal Rebirth:
Truth cannot live on a diet of secrets, withering within entangled lies. Freedom cannot live on a diet of lies, surrendering to the veil of oppression. The human spirit cannot live on a diet of oppression, becoming subservient in the end to the will of evil. God, as truth incarnate, will not long let stand a world devoted to such evil. Therefore, let us have the truth and freedom our spirits require… or let us die seeking these things, for without them, we shall surely and justly perish in an evil world.
Penny Bright | Thursday, June 2, 2011 – 11:30pm
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To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about today’s global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONAL’S Bill English who accurately described New Zealand’s prisons as “fiscal and moral failures”. On the same subject, Labour’s Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. We’d studied Shakespeare’s King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President respectively for the US 2020 Election, may have dispensed with the erstwhile nemesis, Trump the candidate – but there are numerous critical openings through which much, much worse many out there may yet see fit to ...
I don’t know Taupō well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, I’m always on the way to somewhere else. Usually Taupō means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the ...
Frances Williams, King’s College LondonFor most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all. But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection – this has been dubbed “long COVID”. Scientists are ...
Last night, a British court ruled that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US. Unfortunately, its not because all he is "guilty" of is journalism, or because the offence the US wants to charge him with - espionage - is of an inherently political nature; instead the judge accepted ...
Is the Gender Identity Movement a movement for human liberation, or is it a regressive movement which undermines women’s liberation and promotes sexist stereotypes? Should biological males be allowed to play in women’s sport, use women-only spaces (public toilets, changing rooms, other facilities), be able to have access to everything ...
Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University and Gareth Dorrian, University of BirminghamSpace exploration achieved several notable firsts in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including commercial human spaceflight and returning samples of an asteroid to Earth. The coming year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Here are some of ...
Michael Head, University of SouthamptonThe UK has become the first country to authorise the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for public use, with roll-out to start in the first week of 2021. This vaccine is the second to be authorised in the UK – following the Pfizer vaccine. The British government ...
So, Boris Johnson has been footering about in hospitals again. We should be grateful, perhaps, that on this occasion the Clown-in-Chief is only (probably) getting in the way and causing distractions, rather than taking up a bed, vital equipment and resources and adding more strain and danger to exhausted staff.Look at ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... SkS in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to ZeroThat’s one of several recent ...
The situation in the UK is looking catastrophic.Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day. It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start ...
by Don Franks For five days over New Year weekend, sixteen prisoners in the archaic pre WW1 block of Waikeria Prison defied authorities by setting fires and occupying the building’s roof. They eventually agreed to surrender after intervention from Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi. A message from the protesting men had stated: ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. There’s a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, here’s a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. “The past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Year’s Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. “We are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Year’s Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Government’s investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. “COVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nathan Bartlett, Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle Reports of about 30 deaths among elderly nursing home residents who received the Pfizer vaccine have made international headlines. With Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) expected to approve the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Culum Brown, Professor, Macquarie University How do gills work? Tully, aged 7 Great question, Tully! Animals on land breathe air, which is made up of different gasses. Oxygen is one of these gases, and is made by plants (hug ...
Dairy prices increased by 3.9% across the board at the latest Fonterra global auction. The lift followed rises of 1.3% and 4.3% in the December auctions which took dairy prices to their highest level in 11 months, defying those analysts who believed Covid-19 had disrupted dairy markets. In the latest ...
America's Cup team American Magic has spoken publicly after their boat Patriot capsized when on its way to their first win of the Challenger Selection Series yesterday. Patriot dramatically capsized yesterday, becoming temporarily airborne before crashing back into the water and tipping. The boat, helmed by New Zealander Dean Barker, could not be ...
It’s a seemingly age old question: why do Auckland’s beaches become unswimmable after every single downpour? Stewart Sowman-Lund investigates.Ah, the beach. A staple of the New Zealand summer. Unless, of course, you’re based in Auckland and it’s raining. The start of 2021 has been a lot like every other New ...
We have opened a book, among members of the Point of Order team, on how long it will be before the PM offers to sort out the land dispute at Wellington’s Shelly Bay and (to win the double) how much the settlement will cost taxpayers. Just a few weeks ago ...
Breakfast TV news is back for 2021, and Tara Ward got up early to watch. “Thank god it’s almost Christmas,” John Campbell said during the opening minutes of Breakfast’s premiere episode of the year. “2021’s been rough so far. I’m buggered”. We’re all buggered, to be fair, but I’m worried that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Pearson, Professor of Journalism and Social Media, Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University, Griffith University The blame for the recent assault on the US Capitol and President Donald Trump’s broader dismantling of democratic institutions and norms can be ...
Despite a popular and unifying leader of the governing party, divisions both in policy and culture will test the progressive movement, writes Peter McKenzie.‘I think we’re confused.” Marlon Drake is an organiser for the Living Wage Movement. His job takes him all over Wellington, trying to convince businesses to increase ...
Covid-19 Recovery Minister Chris Hipkins says vaccinations should be available to the public by the middle of the year, but other countries are prioritised. ...
It’s as true now as it ever has been: nowhere else offers an education experience like that of Dunedin. But rather than resting on their laurels, the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic have plans to make the city an even more inspiring place for students.From high in the summit ...
Haggis, neeps and tatties and whisky may not be a traditional spread for a summer gathering in NZ, but trust Auckland city councillor and Kiwi-Scot Cathy Casey on this one. Gie it laldy! Rule one: Hold it on (or near) January 25Robert Burns was born on January 25, 1759. Since the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University It could be argued artificial intelligence (AI) is already the indispensable tool of the 21st century. From helping doctors diagnose and treat patients to rapidly advancing new drug discoveries, it’s our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Kenny, Professor, Australian Studies Institute, Australian National University Through recent natural disasters, global upheavals and a pandemic, Australia’s political centre has largely held. Australians may have disagreed at times, but they have also kept faith with governmental norms, eschewing the false ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Holly Seale, Associate professor, UNSW Health workers are at higher risk of COVID infection and illness. They can also act as extremely efficient transmitters of viruses to others in medical and aged care facilities. That’s why health workers have been prioritised to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jim Orchard, Adjunct Lecturer, Monash University Last week, somewhat overshadowed by the events in Washington, the Democrats took control of the US Senate. The Democrats now hold a small majority in both the House and the Senate until 2022, giving President-elect Joe ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mittul Vahanvati, Lecturer, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University Heatwaves, floods, bushfires: disaster season is upon us again. We can’t prevent hazards or climate change-related extreme weather events but we can prepare for them — not just as individuals ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mandie Shean, Lecturer, School of Education, Edith Cowan University Starting school is an important event for children and a positive experience can set the tone for the rest of their school experience. Some children are excited to attend school for the first ...
Some families in emergency housing are reporting their children are becoming emotionally distressed because of their living conditions. Demand for emergency accommodation has escalated this past year with the number of emergency housing grants increasing by half. Data showed nearly 10,000 people were given an Emergency Housing Special Needs Grant between ...
Summer reissue: Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden are back for a second season of On the Rag, and where better to start than with the mysterious, exhausting world of wellness?First published June 23, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
With few Covid-19 infections and negiligible natural immunity, New Zealand faces being a victim of its own success when it is left till last to get the vaccines, argues Dr Parmjeet Parmar. ...
Steve Braunias reports on a literary cancelling. The Corrections department has refused to allow Jared Savage's best-selling book Gangland inside prison on the grounds that it "promotes violence and drug use". An inmate at Otago Corrections Facility in Dunedin was sent a copy of the book – but it was ...
New data from the CTU’s annual work life survey shows a snapshot of working people’s experiences and outlook heading out of 2020 and into the new year. Concerningly 42% of respondents cite workplace bullying as an issue in their workplace - a number ...
An international player, selector and self-confessed cricket stats nerd, Penny Kinsella has now played a hand in recording the rich history of the women's game in New Zealand. Penny Kinsella’s cricketing career was perched on the cusp of change for the White Ferns. “My first tour to Australia, we ...
The dramatic capsize of American Magic brought out the best in the America's Cup sailing fraternity. But, Suzanne McFadden asks, what does it mean to the crippled New York Yacht Club campaign and to the Prada Cup? It was a scene as unreal as it was calamitous. Right at the moment the ...
The current number of members of parliament is starting to get too low for the job we expect them to do, argues Alex Braae. As a general rule, with the possible exception of their families, nobody likes backbench MPs. But it’s nevertheless time we accepted that parliament should have more of ...
The experience in the Brazilian city of Manaus reveals how mistaken, and dangerous, the herd-immunity-by-infection theory really is. As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop ...
As New Zealand gears up to fight climate change, experts warn that we need to actually reduce emissions, not just plant trees to offset our greenhouse gases. ...
A nationwide poll has found majority support for the government to continue to closely monitor abortions in New Zealand and the reasons for it, despite the Ministry of Health recently suggesting that there is not a use for collecting much of this information. ...
The out-of-control growth in gangs, gun crime, and violent gang activity is exposing our communities to dangerous levels of violence that will inevitably end in tragedy, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “The recent incidents of people being shot and ...
Successive governments have paid lip service to our productivity challenge but have failed to deliver. It's time to establish a Productivity Council charged with prioritising efforts. ...
Understanding the connection between chronic fatigue syndrome and ‘long Covid’ might be helpful in treating symptoms that doctors will find all too easy to dismiss.When people began to report signs of “long Covid”, characterised by a lack of full recovery from the virus and debilitating fatigue, I recognised their stories. ...
Nadine Anne Hura, who never considered herself an artist, reflects on what art and making has taught her.I couldn’t clean or cook or wash the clothes, but I could sew. That’s a lie, I’m a terrible sewer, but I left work early to fossick around in the $1 bin of ...
Summer reissue: In the final episode of this season of Bad News, Alice is joined by Billy T award winner Kura Forrester to look at how well we’re honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 2020.First published September 3, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The ...
Lucy Revill’s The Residents is a blog about daily life in Wellington that has morphed into a stylish, low-key coffee-table book featuring interviews and photographic portraits of 38 Wellingtonians. In this extract, Revill profiles Eboni Waitere, owner and executive director of Huia Publishers. The Residents features names like Monique Fiso ...
Pacific Media Watch correspondent The pro-independence conflict in West Papua with a missionary plane reportedly being shot down at Intan Jaya has stirred contrasting responses from the TNI/POLRI state sources, church leaders and an independence leader. A shooting caused a plane to catch fire on 6 January 2021 in the ...
“Last year ACT warned that rewarding protestors at Ihumātao with taxpayer money would promote further squatting. We just didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it is in Shelly Bay” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “The prosperity of all ...
Our kindly PM registered her return to work as leader of the nation with yet another statement on the Beehive website, the second in two days (following her appointment of Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council on Wednesday). It’s great to know we don’t have to check with ...
A Pūhoi pub is refusing to remove a piece of memorabilia bearing the n-word from its walls. Dr Lachy Paterson looks at the history of the word here, and New Zealand’s complicity in Britain’s shameful slave trading past.Content warning: This article contains racist language and images.On a pub wall in ...
Supermarket shoppers looking for citrus are seeing a sour trend at the moment – some stores are entirely tapped out of lemons. But why? Batches of homemade lemonade will be taking a hit this summer, with life not giving New Zealand shoppers lemons. Prices are high at supermarkets and grocers that ...
You’re born either a cheery soul or a gloomy one, reckons Linda Burgess – but what happens when gene pools from opposite ends of the spectrum collide?In our shoeboxes of photos that we have to sort out before we die or get demented – because who IS that kid on ...
Summer reissue: Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue?First published September 1, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Hundreds more Cook Islanders are expected to begin criss-crossing the Pacific, Air NZ will triple the number of flights to Rarotonga next week, and about 300 managed isolation places will be freed up for Kiwis returning from other parts of the world. When Thomas Tarurongo Wynne took a job in Wellington at ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Ena Manuireva in Auckland It seems a long time ago – some 124 days – since Mā’ohi Nui deplored its first covid-19 related deaths of an elderly woman on 11 September 2020 followed by her husband just hours later, both over the age of 80. The local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral research associate, UNSW A global coalition of more than 50 countries have this week pledged to protect over 30% of the planet’s lands and seas by the end of this decade. Their reasoning is clear: we need greater protection ...
The Reserve Bank Governor’s apology and claim he will ‘own the issue’ is laughable given the lack of answers and timing of its release. Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union said: “It’s been five days since they came clean, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olga Kokshagina, Researcher – Innovation & Entrepreneurship, RMIT University Are too many online meetings and notifications getting you down? Online communication tools – from email to virtual chat and video-conferencing – have transformed the way we work. In many respects they’ve made ...
The Reserve Bank acknowledges information about some of its stakeholders may have been breached in a malicious data hack. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has commissioned an independent inquiry into how stakeholders' information was compromised when hackers breached a file sharing service used by the bank. “We ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland This story contains spoilers for Ammonite Palaeontologist Mary Anning is known for discovering a multitude of Jurassic fossils from Lyme Regis on England’s Dorset Coast from the age of ten in 1809. ...
A tribute to the sitcoms of old? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Yup. Sam Brooks reviews the audacious WandaVision.Nothing sends a chill up my spine like the phrase “Marvel Cinematic Universe”. Since launching in 2008 with Iron Man, the MCU has become a shambling behemoth, with over 23 films (not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University The alt-right, QAnon, paramilitary and Donald Trump-supporting mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6 claimed they were only doing what the so-called “founding fathers” of the US had done in ...
The Point of Order Ministerial Workload Watchdog and our ever-vigilant Trough Monitor were both triggered yesterday by an item of news from the office of Conservation Minister Kititapu Allan. The minister was drawing attention to new opportunities to dip into the Jobs for Nature programme (and her statement was the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Kupz, Senior Research Fellow, James Cook University In July 1921, a French infant became the first person to receive an experimental vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), after the mother had died from the disease. The vaccine, known as Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), is ...
The first Friday Poem for 2021 is by Wellington poet Rebecca Hawkes.While you were partying I studied the bladeI your ever-loving edgelord God-emperorof the bot army & bitcoin mine subsistingon an IV drip of gamer girl bathwaterfinally my lonelinessis your responsibility………. you seeI need a girlfriend assigned to me by the ...
The arming of police officers in Canterbury was inevitable with the growing numbers and brazenness of the gangs across the country – this should be a permanent step, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is unfortunate that we have come to the point ...
Celebrations in Aotearoa New Zealand to mark the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will begin on Thursday 21 January with ICAN Aotearoa New Zealand’s Wellington and online event, and continue on Friday ...
Hardly anyone is using their Covid Tracer app. Something needs to change.As the mercury approaches 30°C in Aotearoa, there is a good deal of slipping and slopping, but, let’s face it, piss-all scanning. As few as around 500,000 QR codes are being scanned by users of the NZ Covid Tracer ...
On the East Coast, a group of Māori-owned enterprises is innovating to create new revenue streams while doing what they love.New Zealand’s remote and sparsely populated regions are typically not the best places to create thriving brick-and-mortar businesses. In small communities miles away from any major centres, there are so ...
As we reach the height of summer, it’s not too late to do a safety check on your gas bottle. The Environmental Protection Authority’s Safer Homes programme has some tips and tricks to keep in mind before you fire up the grill. "If you’ve ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1Troy: The Siege of Troy Retold by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37)If you’re in any way unsure about ...
“We may as well knock on the gang headquarters around this country and tell them we all give up," says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is simply outrageous that violent offender, James Tuwhangai, has been released from ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Ireland, Israel, and Lebanon. Chart by Keith Rankin. The countries with the most recent large outbreaks of Covid19 are those with large numbers of recent recorded cases, but yet to record the deaths that most likely will result. In this camp, this time, are Ireland, Israel ...
RuPaul is in Aotearoa, kicking back in managed isolation to await the filming of an Australasian version of her hugely popular reality show Drag Race. But not everyone is happy about, explains Eli Matthewson. The world’s most famous drag queen, RuPaul, is in New Zealand, the government confirmed earlier this week ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Melleuish, Professor, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong What can we make of Clive Palmer? This week, he announced his United Australia Party (UAP) would not contest the upcoming West Australian state election on March 13. After a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gisela Kaplan, Emeritus Professor in Animal Behaviour, University of New England Have you ever seenmagpies play-fighting with one another, or rolling around in high spirits? Or an apostlebird running at full speed with a stick in its beak, chased by a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Jackson, Program Director, Centre for Policy Development, and Associate Professor of Education, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University Childcare centres across Australia are suffering staff shortages, which have been exacerbated by the COVID crisis. Many childcare workers across Australia left when parents started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Barrett, Senior Lecturer in Taxation, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Rhetoric plays an important role in tax debate and therefore tax policy. If your side manages to gain traction in the public imagination with labels such as “death ...
Key paying $300K for the Tupperwaka?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10729608
Interesting to see where he chose to throw his cash – something deep and long lasting, something that directly helped people (front line services anyone)? The freaking cycleway? No. A giant, plastic altar to worshipping money and sport. Figures.
Is shonkey turning DPMC into a slush fund to raid for his personal pet projects?
“Key paying $300K for the Tupperwaka?” What! Oh I see. Not Key really. He is spending taxpayers money on this strange homeless waka.
This is right now rapidly spinning through Chch emails…. it is long.
“What is going on in Christchurch??
Is this for real??
“The Hotel Grand Chancellor is a story that needs to be told. Maybe a book someday! It was finally announced on Wednesday but it is the story behind the delay that is interesting. This story also applies to the rebuilding and repair of Christchurch which Fletcher Building are overseeing.
The tender was to RCP (project managers for council) but was passed over to CERA once they arrived. CERA is staffed entirely by Fletchers employees.
CERA delayed the announcement for a month to enable Fletchers to study the other tenderers info & submit a late bid. The day it was submitted CERA awarded them the tender. Fletchers price was 3 million higher than anyone else’s!
Fletchers have no intention of doing the demolition, taking the risk, or putting up the bond to cover the risk. They are just appointing themselves as project managers to clip the ticket & then getting the original tender winners to do the work.
How did they get away with it? Do a companies search on Fletchers. (No – don’t bother we’ve done it for you below).
They just got bought by the Reserve bank! RBNZ owns 275 million Fletcher shares while Hugh Fletcher now only has 5000. Its a SOE. A Govt department!!
They bought themselves an income stream. They direct all the profits from the recovery straight into their own pockets instead of allowing the people of ChCh to make a bit each to help them recover.
You have to admit it is clever!!
But how on earth did they keep it out of the media?: NZ’s largest Co gets bought by Govt & it doesnt make even the tiniest news report? Really???
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark! (or in this case Canterbury!)
Meanwhile still no start to the demo & recovery after 3 months.
The books get fiddled while ChCh burns!
Here are a few questions for you to think about (oh, I’ll make it easy: I will give you the answers as well)
Q. Who appointed RCP (Resource Coordination Partnership Ltd) as Project Managers for the management of ‘critical buildings’ following the February
22nd earthquake?
A . Christchurch City Council under instructions of the NZ Government
Q . Who appointed CERA?
A . NZ Government.
Q . Who appointed Fletcher Building to manage the demolition works and then, reconstruction works?
A .. NZ Government firstly, then CERA
Q . Who is the main single shareholder of Fletcher Building?
A .. NZ Government.
Q . Who called for the tenders for the demolition of the Grand Chancellor?
A . RCP
Q .. Who is to be the Principle to the demolition Contract (i.e. the Payer)
A . The Crown (NZ Government).
Q . Who assessed the Tenders for the Demolition of the Grand Chancellor?
A . RCP
Q . Who has been awarded the Grand Chancellor job (at whatever price and/or conditions)?
A . Fletcher Building
Q . Who will make the profits?
A . Fletcher Building (and it’s Shareholders)
Q . Who is the main shareholder of Fletcher Building? (I know, I already asked this one, but it could be a trick question)
A . NZ Government as the Reserve Bank of New Zealand(no trick question, sorry)
Q . Who has been blind-sided?
A . Everyone involved in the (supposed) tender process firstly, but more importantly, the people of Christchurch and New Zealand who thought that
they lived in a first-world economy.
Q . What are the ramifications?
A . Immediate loss of confidence by all independent Consultants and Contractors in the tender process if CERA, RCP or Fletcher Building are
involved jointly or singularly in a government sanctioned role, for fear of a continued potential for a monopoly and huge profiteering there from.
Q . Who are the winners?
A . Fletcher Building and the NZ Government, along with the other Financial institutions that form the majority shareholders in Fletcher Building.
Q. Who are the losers?
A . The property owners, their tenants, clients and customers, along with everyone in New Zealand who believes in a ‘level playing field’, all the
people of Christchurch, and all the people of New Zealand that have supported, volunteered their time and/or donated their hard earned, tax-paid
monies to the recovery following the devastating events of February 22nd.”
end
I will just throw in a couple of my own further questions too…
Q. Who owns the Grand Chancellor?
A. Phillip Carter.
Q. Who is a Minister in the government?
A. Phillip Carter’s brother David Carter.
Q. Who is a new Councillor prominent in the rebuild?
A. Tim Carter, Phillip Carter’s son and David Carter’s nephew.
The thoughts and potential accusations that spring to mind are obvious. I would be immensely curious to hear other views of the above…
The Carter link is interesting.
The thing about the Reserve Bank owning Fletchers is a mis-understanding. The Reserve Bank has a kind of nominee company for nominee companies. It owns billions of dollars of shares but the beneficial owners are the nominee companies and other large traders who, in turn, own the shares on behalf of investors like people in Kiwisaver. The Reserve Bank’s company, NZClear, owns the shares but only in a technical sense, not a beneficial sense. It’s something to do with liquidity.
Thats what I thought when I read the email. But the main question is, who (the writers) do they think was capable of doing the job, Bob the Builder and his ute and dog?. Even if a whole new standalone authority was setup it would be still interviewing for the first job.
The point of Tendering is give all those with the ability to bid for the job. To say that Fletchers get priority defeats the purpose of the tendering. And I believe an American firm which has a long history of expertise in building demolition was a tenderer. Hardly Bob the builder and his dog.
Bob the builder… for heavens sake.
There are stacks of organisations capable of doing this job. If you see how it is to be tackled you will see that it is not that difficult. It is simply a build in reverse – clear some space for a big crane and dismantle and lower to the ground. There is plenty of such capablity here for that.
In fact, further, a knowledge of the process reveals what this anon email also states which is that the actual work is to be carried out by other firms anyway and not Fletchers.
I don’t know the truth of everything in this email but I do admit that my eyebrows went up when I heard Fletchers had the job. Cronyism. Favours for the friends. There is a huge amount of inside knowledge being passed around at the moment… for the purposes of self-enrichment.
Big huge sums involved. An election coming up. Conflicts of interest left right and centre. What do you expect?
Big huge sums involved. An election coming up. Conflicts of interest left right and centre. What do you expect?
I expect people to avoid the temptations of cronyism and disaster capitalism, for the sake of getting Christchurch rebuilt properly. I’m sick and tired of people who already have buckets of the stuff enriching themselves further by fucking my country over.
FTR I don’t mind people making money and profits, it’s when they use underhand tactics to do so that I get angry.
I don’t think it can be called cronyism but it is another strange happening from one of the Christchurch parallel worlds. Complaint was made this morning by a business owner kept away from his premises (probably on the grounds it isn’t safe, something that can’t be controverted without expert and informed reports that I haven’t heard being available to ‘stakeholders’). But gardeners have been allowed into the red zone to tend the plants which I suppose are needing attention and would otherwise be dying off. Put ‘businesses’ where ‘plants’ are in the above sentence!
The list of nominee companies make interesting reading, and the Carter link stinks to high heaven.
The holding company which owns the 275 million or so shares has itself only 100 shares – being the minimum legal requirement for an incorporated company.
From where I sit, this looks like yet another nail in the coffin of NZ democracy as Herr Key and his cronies sell the country down the river – but no matter who is in power, the panto of politics is just to distract the punters and every three years we get to exercise our prerogative – yeah right! Like it makes any difference already?
We are just the most far flung colony of an evil empire – our forebears invaded this place and have screwed the Tangata Whenua ever since – and people bitch about welfare and seashore issues – for God’s sake we stole the bloody country with broken promises. So why should it be any different now – the bloody Crown still rule, and those who think otherwise are their fools….
http://www.business.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/1104175/shareholdings
Not a single share held by the RBNZ.
Not a single share held by the RBNZ.
Someone is benefiting from what is happening. A lot of tax dollars are going into the rebuild – as such the citizens need clarity on where these tax dollars are going. Preferably not in retrospect, either.
On a semi-related subject, discussed previously – perhaps the easiest way for a Ministry of Works to be recreated would be for the government to buy Fletchers.
Not quite. While the email raises some interesting issues, the claim about Fletchers being an SOE was a key element in the conflict of interest suggestion. The fact that it might be incorrect (or a good example of teh interwebz not being an effective substitute for actual education in a particular area) makes me suspicious of everything else in it.
That, and the unheard of possibility that an email rumour might not be 100% true.
Yes, all fair enough commentary above.. It could also be that it is in the interests of other interests to cloud and disturb the process for their own counter-enrichment!
Onwards we go…
On the positive side there is some incredible and determined energy to seriously create a new and exciting city. And I suspect the traction will be gained.
… whistle while you work… diddly um de dum de dum…
Oh, I’m all for more accountability and would like to see far more transparency as far as anything the government does but I’m not in favour of spreading what appear to be untruths which the referenced email is doing.
http://www.business.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/644859/detail?backurl=%2Fcompanies%2Fapp%2Fui%2Fpages%2Fcompanies%2F644859
Solely owned by the Reserve Bank – you did not look closely enough.
Has this ‘message’ been made in public?
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/76756/company-believes-acc-competition-may-be-extended
If so, was it before or after the discussions that seem to have been held with Vero, and I assume, others.
Someone should ask Nick Smith what Edmiston is talking about.
Clearly Nick Smith issued the current privatisation plan as being sort of the gentle “don’t scare the horses” plan. Get the folk used to the idea that privatisation is OK but when/if the National get re-elected, they can say they have a MANDATE! This lets them widen it to include the motor vehicle account and….. Suckers we are!
Amen Ian – Key is a salesman/hatchet-man – he spent two years on the Forex Board of the New York Fed being groomed for his assignment – the smiling assassin – he will sell us all down the river folks – but then the Fed is the greatest privatisation rort in history up until now – it is amazing the number of numb nuts who do not even realise that it is a private institution, wholly unaccountable to the US Govt and a power unto itself. This is why the marriage of banking and business in NZ is so dangerous – this is Fascism by stealth, you may not vote for it per se, but you will fall for it when your next meal depends upon it. Just think prewar Nazi Germany. The mere fact that the media is so compliant and complicit with this should have you shitting your pants….Goebbels and Bernays would be impressed. But let’s just bash a few beneficiaries or cry crocodile tears over kiwi kids dying when our soldiers and mercs are shooting up Afghanistan and Iraq – who cries for them? You cannot be a part of a global crime syndicate without incurring some accountability – but as long as there is petrol for the car we can all dine out at MacDeathalds….
$180 million loss to Australian apple growers when NZ enters the market – announcement on the
radio. Then there is a comment that Chinese and USA apples are also going to be sold. So how much will NZ get out of this market after going to the WTO, and did those other countries pay some of the costs of the appeal to open the Australian market?
So John Key says there’s nothing wrong with his ministers accepting Westpac hospitality:
http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/key-says-nothing-wrong-westpac-hospitality-4202382
But yet, immediately following the media coverage given to this issue, he is warning Ministers & MPs not to accept too much RWC hospitality:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5088675/MPs-told-cup-must-not-runneth-over
Not a good look for you, John!
Labour & Greens: Public Interest
National: Conflict of Interests
Further to a discussion with MS yesterday, I think the major parties need to develop and promote policies based on their ideologies, and so do some small parties.
But I see a niche for a small party or parties that develop and promote policies, independent of any particular ideology, based on the majority wishes of it’s constituents. This would give some people an alternative, and more voice. And it would be complementary to the traditional type of party policy development.
You mean lobby groups dressed up in drag?
This could led to some unfortunate outcomes:
The MP for Benson and Hedges
The MP for summary execution Darth McVicar
The PM for foreign banks Shon-key, oh wait that has already happened
Associate Minister for Whoring: Hillary Calvert.
Leader of Trash: Brash
You seem to have an unfortunate misunderstanding – I doubt you would find the majority of any electorate would support Benson and Hedges.
Edit: or Calvert. And maybe not Brash but that one will be interesting.
Nope, no misunderstanding, but it certainly is unfortunate that people support Dark Side Darth and our lying thief of a PM.
Single issue parties don’t usually do that well in the polls, because people rightfully expect a bit more than just one policy form those representing them. Which is why although I support the cause of ALCP I don’t vote for them, choosing instead to vote for the Greens who have a range of innovative and well considered policies backed up with a philosophy which also resonates with me.
Don’t you mean “further to a discussion with MS who just doesn’t get it”?
Good luck with your “Your NZ” party, PeteG
from left field I dont know why thy national party is cutting benefits when there is a general inflation and price rise going flat out at the moment. if it continues then the dollar wont be worth peanuts and all the monkeys will be wearing sh*t eating grins.
Raising it further would adddress some adult drink problems (and probably create others). Is this a genuine target age for legislation change? Or a high suggestion so most will be happy to settle for 20 again?
I know we have huge drinking issues in our society, but I’m not sure if this is the right approach.
Can’t drag out supporting data now (I’d assume NMDS alcohol-related injury hospital admissions) , but the fact it comes from Gluckman (rather than a lobby group or whatever) suggests to me that he’s looking at the tail end of the risk-taking curve, rather than pulling a random number out of a focus group.
Dear Kiwis
The time is nigh
to kiss your assets goodbye
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/5090908/No-guarantees-for-Kiwis-in-SOE-sell-off
Oh please they are not going to do anything that will cost them an election.
The thing is they are so confident of winning that they don’t think anything they do will cost them the election.
He already said it Brett.
I bet Lord Ashcroft will soon be having lunch with Key , Goodbye ACC,
note the open ended – ‘…if our assets are sold off’.
Not ‘partially sold’, sold off.
The softening up has begun.
Will Labour announce their intention to re-nationalize without compensation any of our assets lost by the Nats?
If not, why not?
To show we are not playing, lets get 50% of Contact and of Telecom back as well. Serious.
Get 100% of Conact and Telecom back. Serious.
yeah, outa shakytown for the long w.e.
hasta mananas bananas
brett dale …I’m beginning to think they have already bought and paid for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is Facebook Biased?
http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2011/06/is-facebook-biased.html
The world’s largest social networking website which is meant to connect people with friends has once again undertaken “upgrades” that are designed to remove what the administrators determine as groups without enough recent activity. But there’s something far more sinister going on.
Today’s Afternoons with Sir Bruce Slane and Stephen Franks.
The ever-so-measured-I-sound-so-reasonable-and-clever-Franks dropped his guard today. He showed his true colours when discussing sporting events being influenced by Governments and boycotts. Must piss him off that his beloved National Party are making a stand against Fiji. He says it is counter productive and he said it won’t work, it didn’t work in South Africa. Sir Bruce Slane countered immediately that it did, and for one second Franks embarked on a “yes it did/no it didn’t” discussion. Sir Bruce very cleverly knocked an old scab that Franks thought might have healed with time. A different Franks was suddenly exposed.
Previously in the programme Franks implied that his qualifications are far superior to any current graduates of our Universities. Franks claimed also that somehow students are taking out loans to finance their social life. What a bloody insult to middle income families whose children are working their butts off… families whose combined income puts them out of the student allowance eligibility. (Not like the impoverished farmers or even high powered business practices that can work the books so that their children’s education can be put down as expenses).
In my experience getting a student loan to cover anything other than fees is really difficult. I couldn’t get a cost of living loan for the last course I did in the 1st decade of this century, even though my student allowance didn’t cover my rent. I think cost of living loans are means tested.
Student Allowance or cost of living loan – you don’t get both (which is really quite stupid considering that you have to pay it back).
Sigh.
Woman drinks with friends, “collapsed drunk into bed”.
“Soon after partygoer Jason (Paora) Ransfield went to her bedroom where he began to kiss her. When Horua went to the bedroom looking for a guest’s car keys, Ransfield left.
Horua then attacked his partner, inflicting blows to her head and face. ”
Killing her.
Partner pleads down to manslaughter.
So many wrongs there, both in the incident and the reporting thereof, that I don’t even know where one would start.
Thanks ‘Jackal’ and others!
I was able to use information you helped to provide to counter an attack today from former Business Round Table heavyweight Lindsay Fergusson.
An interesting little ‘case study’?
“In response to Penny Bright | Thursday, June 2, 2011 – 4:14pm
Your comments are becoming repetitive and tiresome. It is time the NBR banned your posts. This last one borders on defamation. If you don’t have something intelligent to say why not just shut up?
Lindsay Fergusson | Thursday, June 2, 2011 – 9:21pm”
THE NBR ARTICLE THAT KICKED THIS OFF!
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/treasury-drop-all-screening-foreign-investment-ck-94649#comment-134613
Treasury: drop all screening of foreign investment
Acting Secretary to the Treasury Gabriel Makhlouf has hit out at critics of foreign investment in New Zealand, saying Treasury has consistently recommended removing all screening.
The British civil servant who arrived in this country 15 months ago told the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs that lowering foreign investment would be counter-productive to growth ambitions.
……………….
_____________________________________________________________________________
MY COMMENT:
Where is the ‘Register of Interests’ for Treasury staff – including Acting Secretary to the Treasury Gabriel Makhlouf ?
What are his connections, and whose interests is he serving?
How can ‘conflicts of interest’ be avoided if interests are not declared ?
Declared in a form which makes them readily available for public scrutiny – given NZ’s lack of an ‘Independent Commission Against Corruption’ or the like – who’s tasked with PREVENTING corruption and educating the public about corruption?
(Unlike the Police or SFO whose focus is more upon investigation of corruption AFTER the event, rather than PREVENTION ?)
Penny Bright
http://waterpressure.wordpress.com
________________________________________________________________________________
MY NEXT COMMENT WHICH APPEARS TO HAVE JAMMED LINDSAY FERGUSSON’S BUTTONS ON FULL?
In response to Ross1
T2 | Thursday, June 2, 2011 – 4:26pm
errr…. no.
I have been raising the need for ‘disclosure’ of the interests of those responsible for property and procurement for some time.
This is a continuation of the same theme…
Where is the genuine ‘transparency’ if ‘interests’ are not publicly disclosed and available for public scrutiny?
Penny Bright
http://waterpressure.wordpress.com
Penny Bright | Thursday, June 2, 2011 – 4:42pm
______________________________________________________________________________
LINDSAY FERGUSSON’S LITTLE ‘HISSY FIT’:
Your comments are becoming repetitive and tiresome. It is time the NBR banned your posts. This last one borders on defamation. If you don’t have something intelligent to say why not just shut up?
Lindsay Fergusson | Thursday, June 2, 2011 – 9:21pm
______________________________________________________________________________
In response to Lindsay Fergusson | Thursday, June 2, 2011 – 9:21pm
Lindsay Fergusson | Thursday, June 2,
2011 – 9:21pm
Your comments are becoming repetitive and tiresome. It is time the NBR banned your posts. This last one borders on defamation. If you don’t have something intelligent to say why not just shut up? ”
______________________________
(grumpier) old man Lindsay?
Thought you (used to?) support ‘freedom of expression Lindsay?
Or – have you got something to hide perhaps?
Wanting to have my posts ‘banned’?
Goodness me – I MUST be on target to cop that sort of flak, from someone with your Business Round Table background.
You and your mates ever seen this?
Eight Traits of the Disinformationalist
by H. Michael Sweeney
copyright (c) 1997, 2000 All rights reserved
(Revised April 2000 – formerly SEVEN Traits)
……………………..
1) Avoidance. They never actually discuss issues head-on or provide constructive input, generally avoiding citation of references or credentials. Rather, they merely imply this, that, and the other. Virtually everything about their presentation implies their authority and expert knowledge in the matter without any further justification for credibility.
2) Selectivity. They tend to pick and choose opponents carefully, either applying the hit-and-run approach against mere commentators supportive of opponents, or focusing heavier attacks on key opponents who are known to directly address issues. Should a commentator become argumentative with any success, the focus will shift to include the commentator as well.
3) Coincidental. They tend to surface suddenly and somewhat coincidentally with a new controversial topic with no clear prior record of participation in general discussions in the particular public arena involved. They likewise tend to vanish once the topic is no longer of general concern. They were likely directed or elected to be there for a reason, and vanish with the reason.
4) Teamwork. They tend to operate in self-congratulatory and complementary packs or teams. Of course, this can happen naturally in any public forum, but there will likely be an ongoing pattern of frequent exchanges of this sort where professionals are involved. Sometimes one of the players will infiltrate the opponent camp to become a source for straw man or other tactics designed to dilute opponent presentation strength.
5) Anti-conspiratorial. They almost always have disdain for ‘conspiracy theorists’ and, usually, for those who in any way believe JFK was not killed by LHO. Ask yourself why, if they hold such disdain for conspiracy theorists, do they focus on defending a single topic discussed in a NG focusing on conspiracies? One might think they would either be trying to make fools of everyone on every topic, or simply ignore the group they hold in such disdain.Or, one might more rightly conclude they have an ulterior motive for their actions in going out of their way to focus as they do.
6) Artificial Emotions. An odd kind of ‘artificial’ emotionalism and an unusually thick skin — an ability to persevere and persist even in the face of overwhelming criticism and unacceptance. This likely stems from intelligence community training that, no matter how condemning the evidence, deny everything, and never become emotionally involved or reactive. The net result for a disinfo artist is that emotions can seem artificial. Most people, if responding in anger, for instance, will express their animosity throughout their rebuttal. But disinfo types usually have trouble maintaining the ‘image’ and are hot and cold with respect to pretended emotions and their usually more calm or unemotional communications style. It’s just a job, and they often seem unable to ‘act their role in character’ as well in a communications medium as they might be able in a real face-to-face conversation/confrontation. You might have outright rage and indignation one moment, ho-hum the next, and more anger later — an emotional yo-yo. With respect to being thick-skinned, no amount of criticism will deter them from doing their job, and they will generally continue their old disinfo patterns without any adjustments to criticisms of how obvious it is that they play that game — where a more rational individual who truly cares what others think might seek to improve their communications style, substance, and so forth, or simply give up.
7) Inconsistent. There is also a tendency to make mistakes which betray their true self/motives. This may stem from not really knowing their topic, or it may be somewhat ‘freudian’, so to speak, in that perhaps they really root for the side of truth deep within.
I have noted that often, they will simply cite contradictory information which neutralizes itself and the author. For instance, one such player claimed to be a Navy pilot, but blamed his poor communicating skills (spelling, grammar, incoherent style) on having only a grade-school education. I’m not aware of too many Navy pilots who don’t have a college degree. Another claimed no knowledge of a particular topic/situation but later claimed first-hand knowledge of it.
8) BONUS TRAIT: Time Constant. Recently discovered, with respect to News Groups, is the response time factor. There are three ways this can be seen to work, especially when the government or other empowered player is involved in a cover up operation:
1) ANY NG posting by a targeted proponent for truth can result in an IMMEDIATE response. The government and other empowered players can afford to pay people to sit there and watch for an opportunity to do some damage. SINCE DISINFO IN A NG ONLY WORKS IF THE READER SEES IT – FAST RESPONSE IS CALLED FOR, or the visitor may be swayed towards truth.
2) When dealing in more direct ways with a disinformationalist, such as email, DELAY IS CALLED FOR – there will usually be a minimum of a 48-72 hour delay. This allows a sit-down team discussion on response strategy for best effect, and even enough time to ‘get permission’ or instruction from a formal chain of command.
3) In the NG example 1) above, it will often ALSO be seen that bigger guns are drawn and fired after the same 48-72 hours delay – the team approach in play. This is especially true when the targeted truth seeker or their comments are considered more important with respect to potential to reveal truth. Thus, a serious truth sayer will be attacked twice for the same sin.
I close with the first paragraph of the introduction to my unpublished book, Fatal Rebirth:
Truth cannot live on a diet of secrets, withering within entangled lies. Freedom cannot live on a diet of lies, surrendering to the veil of oppression. The human spirit cannot live on a diet of oppression, becoming subservient in the end to the will of evil. God, as truth incarnate, will not long let stand a world devoted to such evil. Therefore, let us have the truth and freedom our spirits require… or let us die seeking these things, for without them, we shall surely and justly perish in an evil world.
Penny Bright | Thursday, June 2, 2011 – 11:30pm