Fairfux media’s (no doubt unscientific) survey of the nation – no surprises really though: a tale of, not just 2 nations, but of several – with many people and families doing it tough (including middleclass people with permanent jobs). Many are still looking to that brighter future, but just as many see no improvement on the horizon – others reckon they are doing OK. They don’t seem to have interviewed any of the top 5%…. or even of the top 15-20% on the income/wealth scale:
The place where we speak in aphorism, cliche and well-worn metaphor. Where we are operating on a ”hand out mentality”, but have ”everything going for us”. Where the people are ”resilient” but retailers are ”fragile”. Where we say the average wage is not keeping up with the cost of living while declaring Winston Peters to be ”the only one honest enough to let people know what’s going on”.
…
Ask Donna Koveskali about suffering. After two years battling with Housing New Zealand she has finally moved out of a damp, mouldy state house in Titahi Bay and scored a drier home in Tawa. But it’s come with a cost. With her 23-year-old daughter Danielle fighting kidney failure and her 18-year-old son also sick, Donna says she has little to be optimistic about. Don’t get her started on Prime Minister John Key. ”He is useless.”
She knows nothing of the stock market and has no money to invest even if she did. Living day to day on a sickness benefit is enough without having to worry about asset sales.
Ask Hamilton stay at home mum Jazzman Nelson about worry. She has three young kids and a fourth on the way. Her husband’s wage as a school teacher is spreading thinner and thinner. ”We are making ends meet but we are a one income family and not able to get ahead.”
She isn’t complaining about New Zealand. Wouldn’t dream of it. Loves the place. But with paying food, electricity, telephone all the while living with her mother-in-law, it’s tough to be sunny. She and her husband want to save to buy their own place. ”There’s a future,” she says, ”but I am not sure if it’s bright.”
It’s worth clicking on the interactive map to get the brief run-down on the circumstances of each individual/family.
And of course, the Fairfux reporter is still keeping us all focused on the brighter future, highlighting the optimism, and ending on a hopeful note.
And of course, the Fairfux reporter is still keeping us all focused on the brighter future, highlighting the optimism, and ending on a hopeful note.
Of course, that is the role of the press, and those who are chosen to work inside that “busines”
They must be (not very bright), uninformed, and then unable to critically question the system that pays their wages!
One wonders how long the charade will continue to go on, before even those with serious bias, or limited capacity to observe, start to notice reality.
Hey what about those All Blacks, and how about Angelina and Brad, do you think they might marry, oh, and Kate, won’t she just make the best royal mum, also that naughty uncle Harrys a little bit of wild isn’t he…
Don’t overlook Sonny Bill Williams – quite often the newspapers have at least two glowing features (and pictures) on him on any given day! Thank God we have that to focus upon in the midst of our misery.
The question remains, John, John and co, if these schools work well, why aren’t they being set up within the existing education system, with guaranteed qualified teachers etc?
And why aren’t all schools and all children within the existing system getting the benefit of these small class sizes and individual attention?
Tamihere never misses an opportunity to suck up any available funds to increase his empire, as long as there are others to take the fall if it goes pear shaped.
What will a Tamahere school’s attitude be to the small group of children who deliberately dismantle school property, teacher resources and generally destroy classroom tone and climate, and sap the energy out of those erstwhile highly motivated and dedicated teachers?
(Perhaps they will simply be despatched back to the mainstream schools).
Nah, more likely, they will be screened out before enrollment.
In fact, these charter schools are supposed to address the issue of the “tail”. Perhaps they should be required to recruit only the children who are the tail.
It’s John Banks Trophy time again… DUM QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Award No. 3: for the week ending 01/09/2012
*******
Gosman
*******
Now, regular Standard readers will be aware that dear old Gosman has a role on this forum as a fall-guy, the bloke who sets himself up for a verbal caning, the sayer of things that sane people would never even have considered, the writer of things that honest people would not even imagine anyone would be depraved or stupid enough to write. His contributions are designed to provoke outrage and they usually do. He plays the same role on this forum that John Banks played in the 1990-99 parliament: good for a laugh occasionally, not often terribly witty but usually amusing because of the excesses his crazed mind sometimes takes him to.
Usually anything Gosman says is almost immediately firmly refuted by three or four other people. Not debated, mind you; Gosman seems incapable of sustaining a reasoned argument, and his outlandish contributions are so easily put down, like rabid dogs, there is just no room for civilized discussion ensuing from them.
Several regulars, including myself, soon pointed out the lack of credibility of his source as well as its hypocrisy. Tellingly, Gosman never formulated a response.
And here he is stridently defending the corner of global warming-deniers, like a low-rent version of (God help us all but especially Gosman) that addle-pated shock jock Leighton Smith…
“Organic farming takes far more land area to produce the same amount of food output as intensive non-organic farming. This is a fact.”
Note the deadly seriousness with which he delivers the line “This is a fact.” That’s simply unimprovable. Steve Coogan eat your heart out.
In a contribution to the thread “RIP Neil Armstrong”, he treats us to the following….
“I have more respect for Creationists than I do for Christian’s [sic!] who also accept the reality of Evolution. At least the Creationist is logically consistent.”
What nonsense. What a completely idiotic statement that was.
For these sterling (albeit unwitting) efforts in the service of surreal humor and black comedy, Gosman is a deserved winner of the third John Banks Trophy.
The Economist notes that about 90 percent of traffic accidents are caused by human error, meaning that if humans are taken out of the process, there’s a strong probably that accident rates will plummet.
Even so, the bill requires the cars to have a flesh-and-blood human being behind the wheel if something goes wrong.
“It sounds space age, but it’s almost here,” Padilla told the San Jose Mercury News. “If we can reduce the number of accidents, that alone is worth doing this bill.”
Translation:We will remove humans from various the processes slowly, so they won;t notice, machines are better, we don’t need/want all those useless eater/feeders
But wait….
Bay Area tech giant Google has been leading the way in self-driving cars. The team behind the project asserts that the technology is largely already there and their self-driving cars are ready to hit the road right now.
Earlier this year, Google took a number of state legislators on a test non-drive of their driverless cars.
I thought it was about reducing the number of road deaths…
No this is about restricting human movement, tracking every journey that you make (already done in reality), if you are “lucky” enough to either be “allowed” to drive (because thats what this is also about), but the article tells what these psychopaths think about human beings!
Good. Soon I’ll be able to send my car to work, it’ll then transform into a walking bot and do my job for me. Meanwhile I’ll spend my day I as I please, and make sure my pay still gets lodged in my bank.
A person can dream….
Don’t they realise cars are not going to be the main machines of the future?
I find plenty to do with my time; history, politics, social issues and research, popular culture and its relation to social context, visual arts (especially photography, screen fiction etc).
Despite the bill’s widespread political support, some quarters have voiced reservations, particularly over what happens if driverless cars crash and lawsuits are filed. “This does not protect adequately the manufacturers for liability concerns,” Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers spokesman Dan Gage told the Mercury News.
Interesting, obviously, if the car crashes while in autonomous mode the manufacturer of the car is at fault as, essentially, they’re the ones driving the car.
No this is about restricting human movement,
Don’t know how you get that.
tracking every journey that you make (already done in reality),
To be honest, I don’t have a problem with that either just so long as there’s strict rules about looking at the data and the use that it’s put to.
if you are “lucky” enough to either be “allowed” to drive (because thats what this is also about),
Nobody should be allowed to drive – cars are highly inefficient and should be banned outright with this self-drive capability then used in public transport.
but the article tells what these psychopaths think about human beings!
I didn’t see anything of that in the article which would indicate that your seeing things that aren’t there.
Technology is not democratic!
Technology is merely there, the use that it’s put to is up to us which is democratic.
The Con trains last 40to60 years cars 15 to 20 on average trains cost 1sixtieth the cost of a car to move that person from a to b that includes construction and running costs.
Fuel cells are ridiculously dear and will probably never be economical.
The primary source is H which is extracted from H2O. You’re right, the cell is the storage device. But the fuel comes from water….and the by-product is water.
My point here, which is what I’d like Draco to comment on, is does he dislike the idea of private vehicles because of the ecological/oil cost or because he doesnt think there should be a private vehicle class in the first place.
Get fucked Draco you fucking cunt. Being a prick for the sake of being prick makes you look like an asshole. A car with a fuel cell would solve your ‘inefficient’ problem but as the crazy ideologue you just dislike the idea of someone having private transportation. Luckily your strange ideas gain no traction.
Don’t know how you get that. Do some further reading then
tracking every journey that you make (already done in reality),
To be honest, I don’t have a problem with that either just so long as there’s strict rules about looking at the data and the use that it’s put to. Im a little surprised at your response to this one DTB. Strict rules, argh, yeah ok mate! Maybe google cars, google wallet, google earth, google st view, google search, google mail, google cloud & (TPPA), could well be an example of where the strict rules you refer could fall over!
if you are “lucky” enough to either be “allowed” to drive (because thats what this is also about),
Nobody should be allowed to drive – cars are highly inefficient and should be banned outright with this self-drive capability then used in public transport. They are inneficient, but thats about all I can find common ground with, the rest of it, you are talking nonsense, but helps me understand some other comments you put in the post, above and below
but the article tells what these psychopaths think about human beings!
I didn’t see anything of that in the article which would indicate that your seeing things that aren’t there. Or you are not seing what is, and I am not just referring to this article!
Technology is not democratic!
Technology is merely there, the use that it’s put to is up to us which is democratic. While true at the end user consumer market, outside of that is what I was actually referring
“the use that it’s put to is up to us which is democratic.”
Some years ago, the previous National govt wanted all cars to be trackable and for the state to be able to tell which cars were going where and when and tie that into registration and WOF data (amongst others), as well as road tolls and user pays.
Weka, yes this subject is something of a uptopian dream for these people, but don’t be fooled by thinking its just the national govt, or act etc, it has little if nothing to do with political ideology!
Its ideological, but not in the way most people want to believe it is.
There is no good reason for the govt to have a tracker in my car that outweighs the privacy concerns, or the wider political agenda (privatising roads).
I can’t believe you just argued for less privacy rights on the basis that ‘at least it’s the govt’ who holds the info. Again, hands up who trusts the the National Govt? I wouldn’t trust Labour with this one either btw.
Maybe google cars, google wallet, google earth, google st view, google search, google mail, google cloud & (TPPA), could well be an example of where the strict rules you refer could fall over!
Did you note the lack of rules and the fact that anybody can accumulate data if you give permission? By using Google you give permission. If you don’t want to be tracked by Google then don’t use them. Of course, that pretty much can’t happen as Google happens to be pretty much everywhere.
They are inneficient, but thats about all I can find common ground with, the rest of it, you are talking nonsense, but helps me understand some other comments you put in the post, above and below
In what way is getting rid of inefficiency, which we can’t afford, nonsense?
Or you are not seing what is, and I am not just referring to this article!
About the only thing they said that even came close to being negative about humans was that they stated the fact that most crashes are caused by human error.
While true at the end user consumer market, outside of that is what I was actually referring
Which makes no sense. The consumer doesn’t have any democratic say in anything but we could use technology to improve our democracy.
Google cars… that’d be a good one. Each week you get into the car on any given morning and they’ve moved where the indicators are, or the lights switch, or the gear stick 🙄 Plus the gear stick doesn’t really do what it used to, so you have to fiddle with all the other knobs to figure out how to drive the car. Some of the things you find useful have been taken out completely, but you can rest assured, because google are the Good Guys so you know that it’s all for the best.
charter skools are the febrile manifestation of the wannabee drongos in nz society who think they know everything but more to the point want a government salary without having any qualifications.
The EU is banning incandescent light bulbs. Gasp! I wonder if this loss of a fundamental civil and political right will have citizens out on the street protesting the challenge to their freedoms …
So we will see this forced change in NZ soon enough then, and won’t Phillips be pleased, what a boon for them its been, and will be eh!
I’m sure all the energy use reductions will be mirrored by the decreasing costs of energy bills accross EU nations….
Quite sure that people have more pressing issues which are/will get(ting) them onto the streets over the coming years, so will assume the comment was /sarc
Isn’t it the lightbulb banning issue that cost Helen Clark her last election? So the story goes. People were incensed at having their rights so badly denied. Incandescent even.
/sarc 😉
Personally I think banning incandescents is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It’s symbolic of a world that thinks that we have climate change because we bought the wrong toys.
Actually, it’s symbolic of the realisation that resources are limited which is exactly what is needed if we want to change to a better system. Unbanning them is the result of the idea that BaU will continue.
If we only take small steps we are stuffed mickey. One of the reasons we are only taking small steps is because we think that changing lightbulbs will make a difference. It won’t. It will just enable bean counters to tell us we have made x savings and therefore we are doing the right thing and so we can relax a bit.
I don’t see any evidence that societies are moving towards using less power or creating less emissions in any meaningful way.
If we only take small steps we are stuffed mickey.
A small step that people can come to understand and that will allow bigger steps later.
I don’t see any evidence that societies are moving towards using less power or creating less emissions in any meaningful way.
That’s because societies are still told that there are no limits. Inform them of the limits and people will stop using resources (i.e, water shortages in which people conserve water). Our socio-economic system can’t handle that though as it’s predicated on using as resources as possible so as to make a few people rich.
I appreciate that, my friend. I just think you should be careful about using Hillary Clinton as an exemplar for anything. As horrible as Key is, he doesn’t have blood on his hands like she does.
He was a Mormon missionary to France in the 1960s, studied at the almost-exclusively Mormon Brigham Young university and rose to become first bishop, then “Stake President” (diocesan leader) in his home state of Massachusetts.
He led Sunday services, ran Bible classes for children and looked after a 4,000-strong congregation in Boston for five years in the 1980s.
Like all Mormons, he is expected to give 10% of his annual income – no-one knows how much he is worth, but it is estimated at anywhere from $150 million to $1 billion – to the Church and not drink tea, coffee or alcohol.
Committed Mormons wear special under-garments, and Romney is believed to follow this tenet of his faith too.
After the death of Joseph Smith, Pratt and his family were among the Latter Day Saints who emigrated to Utah Territory and continued on as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) under the direction of Brigham Young. Pratt was involved in establishing the refugee settlements and fields at both Garden Grove and Mt. Pisgah, Iowa, and personally led a pioneer company along the Mormon Trail to the Salt Lake Valley. Sometime in the mid 1850s, working with George D. Watt, he helped develop the Deseret alphabet. In 1854, Pratt went to California to preside over the Pacific Mission of the LDS Church headquartered in San Francisco.
Any thoughts on Rodney Hide’s column in today’s Sunday Herald? I gain the impression that it might be out and out racist in tone, have I got it wrong?
I haven’t read it yet, but I’d be prepared to wager poor old Clint Eastwood’s Republican convention appearance fee that your suspicion is correct. I’ll come back with my analysis after I’ve seen it, but the following factors mean it’s highly likely….
1.) It’s an article by Rodney Hide, who has frequently made crude racist statements on the radio and television;
2.) It’s in the Herald on Sunday, which is a forum for some of the most bizarrely racist and deranged writing in the country.
He needs to learn to speak Maori, he’ll start to understand that they are a “Life” oriented culture at that point.
The article definitely has no respect for their beliefs. Nor does it recognise their growth as a people.
Which does not make it all that pertinent to NZ in 2012.
But the clincher is to recognise the river’s life force. Then it’s yours.
The likes of RH et al, have no concept what so ever of “life forces or energy”, which is why being able to exude such ignorance in this article, comes freely and naturally, the rac*sm unavoidable for him, because, like those who rule over this planet, that is what they are in their very core, and the Rodneys selected, because that too is what they are!
The types who permeate the “halls of power”, are the winners of a selection process, so can you imagine what those who pull the strings represent!
Because kiwis (those who do actually think, and even some who don’t), are easy to get on-board with things like maori rights and rac*sm etc, it means that the support which will be derived for traditional “rights” will stay in focus, which while I am not for “ownership” by any group, at this stage , has to be considered a good thing.
While I’m uneasy about the maori elite, or their ability to not be corrupted further by white men, at this point in time, they are about the only signifigant barrier to those same white men, stealing the lot, again!
I have now sacrificed a couple of minutes of my life and read it and, sure enough, it is as racist, and as ill informed as I feared.
Perhaps even worse than Hide’s moronic, ignorant views is the Herald website’s warning to anyone who might be thinking of posting a reply to the distinguished thinker: “We aim to have healthy debate. But we won’t publish comments that abuse others.”
Clearly no such limitations apply to their own columnists.
I only read the first couple of lines, and the last. Even that demonstrated hypocrisy of such epic proportions I couldn’t bring myself to read the rest.
I read Hide’s column. I see it as an attempt to stir up racism among ignorant pakeha in the interests of selling of our assets to greedy pakeha and foreign corporates. To my way of thinking, that makes it racist, which is about what I’ve come to expect from Rodney Hide.
After madly screeching himself into mass derision (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5FzCeV0ZFc) during his disastrous bid for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, Howard Dean has gone onto a career as a “pundit”, where he smiles like a nice guy and expresses his admiration for killing peasants in Asia and Africa by drone aircraft. Watch and cringe as he does his shallow schtick here… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Syn37vdtqt8&feature=g-vrec
At the start of the clip, you’ll see good-looking but dim Republican senator Marco Rubio saying something inane about the capture of Gaddafi. Also appearing on the clip is another of those glib Brits that infest American public commentary, Tina Brown.
Balancing out the display of horror is Jeremy Scahill, one of the outstanding journalists in America.
One of the YouTube commenters asks a very good question: “Why can’t Scahill be a senator instead of Rubio? Why can’t we have intelligent people in congress?”
“Can democracy exist without trust”?
Interesting TED talk from Ivan Krastev (transcript available). A small snippet:
….
And when you go to the brain sciences, what political consultants learned from the brain scientists is don’t talk to me about ideas anymore, don’t talk to me about policy programs. What really matters is basically to manipulate the emotions of the people. And you have this very strongly to the extent that, even if you see when we talk about revolutions these days, these revolutions are not named anymore around ideologies or ideas. Before, revolutions used to have ideological names. They could be communist, they could be liberal, they could be fascist or Islamic. Now the revolutions are called under the medium which is most used. You have Facebook revolutions, Twitter revolutions. The content doesn’t matter anymore, the problem is the media.
I’m saying this because one of my major points is what went right is also what went wrong. And when we’re now trying to see how we can change the situation, when basically we’re trying to see what can be done about democracy, we should keep this ambiguity in mind. Because probably some of the things that we love most are going to be also the things that can hurt us most. These days it’s very popular to believe that this push for transparency, this kind of a combination between active citizens, new technologies and much more transparency-friendly legislation can restore trust in politics. You believe that when you have these new technologies and people who are ready to use this, it can make it much more difficult for the governments to lie, it’s going to be more difficult for them to steal and probably even going to be more difficult for them to kill. This is probably true. But I do believe that we should be also very clear that now when we put the transparency at the center of politics where the message is that transparency is stupid.
Transparency is not about restoring trust in institutions. Transparency is politics’ management of mistrust. We are assuming that our societies are going to be based on mistrust. And by the way, mistrust was always very important for democracy. This is why you have checks and balances. This is why basically you have all this creative mistrust between the representatives and those whom they represent. But when politics is only management of mistrust, then — I’m very glad that “1984” has been mentioned — now we’re going to have “1984” in reverse. It’s not going to be the Big Brother watching you, it’s going to be we being the Big Brother watching the political class.
This morning on Chris Laidlaw Radionz Jim Dier a very enthusiastic community builder who has found that he and his fellows have made a lot of difference. So he is not an armchair idealist but a thinking down-and-dirty-hands worker who has a good idea that works. Audio should be up by noon
(or so I thought but it isn’t – may be some pesky damn reason of copyright.)
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday
10:06 Ideas: Growing Communities
Epuni Primary School’s Common Unity Project aims to produce enough fruit and vegetables to feed not only the school’s 110 pupils but their families as well. It’s a classic example of what’s been called Asset Based Community Development – or ABC Development. Ideas visits Epuni Primary School in Lower Hutt and talks to the project’s volunteer coordinator Julia Milne; Jim Diers, a proponent of the ABCD movement, tells Jeremy Rose about Seattle’s Strong Communities Initiative; and Denise Bijoux of Inspiring Communities talks to Chris Laidlaw about the proliferation of asset-based community projects in New Zealand.
Presented by Chris Laidlaw
Produced by Jeremy Rose.
This is a copy of the one I put on open mike 30/8 but then thought it might get missed.
I wonder has anyone noticed that when trying to pull a comment from past days, if the number of them go beyond one page, the search device often won’t find the highlighted comment. Than have to go and scroll down for it.
In their wisdom, the producers at RNZ National have seen fit to resurrect one Karen Zelas who, along with Auckland University’s bloviating Professor John Read provided the main academic cover in the police’s hare-brained, fantastical sex abuse case against Peter Ellis.
In A City Possessed, Lynley Hood’s magisterial demolition of the hysteria, Zelas was comprehensively and irrefutably shown up to be a fraud and a charlatan. But if you imagined this horrid woman had been stewing in her own shame for the last decade and a half, you were wrong.
Apparently, she always wanted to be a writer. Maybe that helps to explain her sympathy for the outlandish fantasies drilled into those children’s brains by that crazed cadre of fundamentalist parents at the Christchurch Civic Creche.
Zelas reckons that forcing little children to repeat their parents’ wild and lurid fantasies has made her into quite the poet: “I suppose my former career has given me a depth of understanding of people, their emotions and relationships and how they behave, which I am able to draw upon in my writing.”
She was just following the latest crap coming from American psychologists at the time. In my experience, psychologists are some of the most dangerous people that exist. Psychology is demonstrably not a science, and follows fashions which change every few years, yet its practicioners can affect people’s lives to more of an extent than most pseudo-scientists except economists. The courts would do no worse if they relied on expert testimony from astrologers.
She was just following the latest crap coming from American psychologists at the time.
She was also validating the psychotic sexual fantasies of some fundamentalist Christian loons in Christchurch. She wasn’t the only one, either; the aforementioned Prof. John Read continues to taunt Ellis with cruel and unsubstantiated allegations, the Children’s Commissioner at the time (Laurie O’Reilly) gave the madness official backing by treating the allegations seriously, as did his successor Roger McClay (who was subsequently convicted for fraud and sent to prison). And the police in Christchurch still occasionally haul Ellis into the station to humiliate him further.
In my experience, psychologists are some of the most dangerous people that exist.
There are certainly some bad ones, all right. And Karen Zelas is one of the very worst.
A ‘March for Jobs’ is going to be held this Tuesday in Greymouth. How’s that brighter future looking Coasters?
From the West Coast miner fb page:
There will be a ‘March for Work’ rally in Greymouth on 4th September to commence at midday from the Skate Park. The march is in support of the coalminers of spring creek and the township of Greymouth. This is an open invitation to march through town to raise awareness that will effect us all if the mine was to close. Damien O’Connor MP, The Mayor and Bernie Monk have confirmed there support and will speak following the march. Please pass on and join the march to save jobs and our community.
wow.
carol zelas and march for jobs side by side.
anyway this is for carol.
I have read recently that the US Supreme court no longer represents the little man.
is this true?
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In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
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 ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
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Fairfux media’s (no doubt unscientific) survey of the nation – no surprises really though: a tale of, not just 2 nations, but of several – with many people and families doing it tough (including middleclass people with permanent jobs). Many are still looking to that brighter future, but just as many see no improvement on the horizon – others reckon they are doing OK. They don’t seem to have interviewed any of the top 5%…. or even of the top 15-20% on the income/wealth scale:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7595624/How-do-you-feel-New-Zealand
It’s worth clicking on the interactive map to get the brief run-down on the circumstances of each individual/family.
And of course, the Fairfux reporter is still keeping us all focused on the brighter future, highlighting the optimism, and ending on a hopeful note.
And of course, the Fairfux reporter is still keeping us all focused on the brighter future, highlighting the optimism, and ending on a hopeful note.
Of course, that is the role of the press, and those who are chosen to work inside that “busines”
They must be (not very bright), uninformed, and then unable to critically question the system that pays their wages!
One wonders how long the charade will continue to go on, before even those with serious bias, or limited capacity to observe, start to notice reality.
Hey what about those All Blacks, and how about Angelina and Brad, do you think they might marry, oh, and Kate, won’t she just make the best royal mum, also that naughty uncle Harrys a little bit of wild isn’t he…
Carry on!
Don’t overlook Sonny Bill Williams – quite often the newspapers have at least two glowing features (and pictures) on him on any given day! Thank God we have that to focus upon in the midst of our misery.
Great – John Tamihere leading the charter school charge.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7595641/An-alternative-charter
The question remains, John, John and co, if these schools work well, why aren’t they being set up within the existing education system, with guaranteed qualified teachers etc?
And why aren’t all schools and all children within the existing system getting the benefit of these small class sizes and individual attention?
Tamihere never misses an opportunity to suck up any available funds to increase his empire, as long as there are others to take the fall if it goes pear shaped.
He’s found his niche as a radio rant show host.
Exactly, tc. I’ve always thought of John Tamihere as Pita Sharples minus the ponytail and ethics.
larf. wotta u like
National are trying to break the teachers Union of course
What will a Tamahere school’s attitude be to the small group of children who deliberately dismantle school property, teacher resources and generally destroy classroom tone and climate, and sap the energy out of those erstwhile highly motivated and dedicated teachers?
(Perhaps they will simply be despatched back to the mainstream schools).
Nah, more likely, they will be screened out before enrollment.
In fact, these charter schools are supposed to address the issue of the “tail”. Perhaps they should be required to recruit only the children who are the tail.
It’s John Banks Trophy time again…
DUM QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Award No. 3: for the week ending 01/09/2012
*******
Gosman
*******
Now, regular Standard readers will be aware that dear old Gosman has a role on this forum as a fall-guy, the bloke who sets himself up for a verbal caning, the sayer of things that sane people would never even have considered, the writer of things that honest people would not even imagine anyone would be depraved or stupid enough to write. His contributions are designed to provoke outrage and they usually do. He plays the same role on this forum that John Banks played in the 1990-99 parliament: good for a laugh occasionally, not often terribly witty but usually amusing because of the excesses his crazed mind sometimes takes him to.
Usually anything Gosman says is almost immediately firmly refuted by three or four other people. Not debated, mind you; Gosman seems incapable of sustaining a reasoned argument, and his outlandish contributions are so easily put down, like rabid dogs, there is just no room for civilized discussion ensuing from them.
A good example of this could be seen last Thursday when the poor fellow supplied the following piece of black anti-democratic propaganda from an extremist site….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-30082012/comment-page-1/#comment-515179
Several regulars, including myself, soon pointed out the lack of credibility of his source as well as its hypocrisy. Tellingly, Gosman never formulated a response.
And here he is stridently defending the corner of global warming-deniers, like a low-rent version of (God help us all but especially Gosman) that addle-pated shock jock Leighton Smith…
“Organic farming takes far more land area to produce the same amount of food output as intensive non-organic farming. This is a fact.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/climate-models-fail-to-accurately-predict-arctic-ice-deniers-fail-to-notice/#comment-513693
Note the deadly seriousness with which he delivers the line “This is a fact.” That’s simply unimprovable. Steve Coogan eat your heart out.
In a contribution to the thread “RIP Neil Armstrong”, he treats us to the following….
“I have more respect for Creationists than I do for Christian’s [sic!] who also accept the reality of Evolution. At least the Creationist is logically consistent.”
What nonsense. What a completely idiotic statement that was.
For these sterling (albeit unwitting) efforts in the service of surreal humor and black comedy, Gosman is a deserved winner of the third John Banks Trophy.
Previous Banksy winners…
No. 1: Te Reo Putake (awarded 17/8/2012)
No. 2: Monique Watson (awarded 25/08/2012)
or
“i would go out tonight, but i havn’t got a stitch to wear…..?”
Ho ho ho. Nice one, buddy.
The California state legislature just moved that dream a little closer to reality by approving a bill paving the way for driverless cars to be allowed on Golden State freeways.
Translation:We will remove humans from various the processes slowly, so they won;t notice, machines are better, we don’t need/want all those useless eater/feeders
But wait….
I thought it was about reducing the number of road deaths…
No this is about restricting human movement, tracking every journey that you make (already done in reality), if you are “lucky” enough to either be “allowed” to drive (because thats what this is also about), but the article tells what these psychopaths think about human beings!
Technology is not democratic!
Good. Soon I’ll be able to send my car to work, it’ll then transform into a walking bot and do my job for me. Meanwhile I’ll spend my day I as I please, and make sure my pay still gets lodged in my bank.
A person can dream….
Don’t they realise cars are not going to be the main machines of the future?
So, what would you do with your time? Personally, I get into art, politics and trying to keep up with technological advances (which feeds back into my politics).
IMO, that’s what we should be aiming for because it would allow us to engage more, do more and be self-governing.
interesting. semi, quietism leads me there and here
I find plenty to do with my time; history, politics, social issues and research, popular culture and its relation to social context, visual arts (especially photography, screen fiction etc).
believed i was on the correct page
I was responding to DTB’s question about what I’d do with my time if I was working less.
Quoting article:
Interesting, obviously, if the car crashes while in autonomous mode the manufacturer of the car is at fault as, essentially, they’re the ones driving the car.
Don’t know how you get that.
To be honest, I don’t have a problem with that either just so long as there’s strict rules about looking at the data and the use that it’s put to.
Nobody should be allowed to drive – cars are highly inefficient and should be banned outright with this self-drive capability then used in public transport.
I didn’t see anything of that in the article which would indicate that your seeing things that aren’t there.
Technology is merely there, the use that it’s put to is up to us which is democratic.
slap that bit
“cars are highly inefficient and should be banned outright with this self-drive capability then used in public transport.”
Bahahahahahahaha. Do you drive a car, Draco?
No.
But you’re more than happy to ensure no one else does either?
Have you got a good reason to maintain the inefficiency?
Yes, I have a disability that makes me dependent on my car.
That’s an exception and not a good enough reason to keep cars.
So if cars were completely powered by hydrogen fuel cells would you still argue people should only use public transport?
The Con trains last 40to60 years cars 15 to 20 on average trains cost 1sixtieth the cost of a car to move that person from a to b that includes construction and running costs.
Fuel cells are ridiculously dear and will probably never be economical.
Doesn’t matter what they’re powered by they’re still inefficient.
“Doesn’t matter what they’re powered by they’re still inefficient.”
Errr, what?
A hydrogen fuel cell is inefficient?
Bearing in mind that a hydrogen fuel cell is not a primary source of energy, merely a store of energy.
The primary source is H which is extracted from H2O. You’re right, the cell is the storage device. But the fuel comes from water….and the by-product is water.
My point here, which is what I’d like Draco to comment on, is does he dislike the idea of private vehicles because of the ecological/oil cost or because he doesnt think there should be a private vehicle class in the first place.
I think you’ve missed a step in the energy equation. Which is: where does the energy come from to extract H from water.
Whatever powers your extraction process is the primary energy source. Not the hydrogen.
There is an anode and a cathode. O reacts with one a H reacts with the other.
Like a battery. There is no extraction.
No you moron, cars are inefficient.
“No you moron, cars are inefficient.”
Get fucked Draco you fucking cunt. Being a prick for the sake of being prick makes you look like an asshole. A car with a fuel cell would solve your ‘inefficient’ problem but as the crazy ideologue you just dislike the idea of someone having private transportation. Luckily your strange ideas gain no traction.
This is not likely to ever happen, I’m afraid.
It’s a hypothetical question.
No this is about restricting human movement,
Don’t know how you get that.
Do some further reading then
tracking every journey that you make (already done in reality),
To be honest, I don’t have a problem with that either just so long as there’s strict rules about looking at the data and the use that it’s put to.
Im a little surprised at your response to this one DTB. Strict rules, argh, yeah ok mate! Maybe google cars, google wallet, google earth, google st view, google search, google mail, google cloud & (TPPA), could well be an example of where the strict rules you refer could fall over!
if you are “lucky” enough to either be “allowed” to drive (because thats what this is also about),
Nobody should be allowed to drive – cars are highly inefficient and should be banned outright with this self-drive capability then used in public transport.
They are inneficient, but thats about all I can find common ground with, the rest of it, you are talking nonsense, but helps me understand some other comments you put in the post, above and below
but the article tells what these psychopaths think about human beings!
I didn’t see anything of that in the article which would indicate that your seeing things that aren’t there.
Or you are not seing what is, and I am not just referring to this article!
Technology is not democratic!
Technology is merely there, the use that it’s put to is up to us which is democratic.
While true at the end user consumer market, outside of that is what I was actually referring
“the use that it’s put to is up to us which is democratic.”
Some years ago, the previous National govt wanted all cars to be trackable and for the state to be able to tell which cars were going where and when and tie that into registration and WOF data (amongst others), as well as road tolls and user pays.
Hands up who trusts the National govt?
Weka, yes this subject is something of a uptopian dream for these people, but don’t be fooled by thinking its just the national govt, or act etc, it has little if nothing to do with political ideology!
Its ideological, but not in the way most people want to believe it is.
on to it
I’d prefer the government getting the data than a private firm:
a) The government can use the data to actually improve our lives
b) The government can be held to account
Neither of these things is true of private companies.
There is no good reason for the govt to have a tracker in my car that outweighs the privacy concerns, or the wider political agenda (privatising roads).
I can’t believe you just argued for less privacy rights on the basis that ‘at least it’s the govt’ who holds the info. Again, hands up who trusts the the National Govt? I wouldn’t trust Labour with this one either btw.
Did you note the lack of rules and the fact that anybody can accumulate data if you give permission? By using Google you give permission. If you don’t want to be tracked by Google then don’t use them. Of course, that pretty much can’t happen as Google happens to be pretty much everywhere.
In what way is getting rid of inefficiency, which we can’t afford, nonsense?
About the only thing they said that even came close to being negative about humans was that they stated the fact that most crashes are caused by human error.
Which makes no sense. The consumer doesn’t have any democratic say in anything but we could use technology to improve our democracy.
Google cars… that’d be a good one. Each week you get into the car on any given morning and they’ve moved where the indicators are, or the lights switch, or the gear stick 🙄 Plus the gear stick doesn’t really do what it used to, so you have to fiddle with all the other knobs to figure out how to drive the car. Some of the things you find useful have been taken out completely, but you can rest assured, because google are the Good Guys so you know that it’s all for the best.
charter skools are the febrile manifestation of the wannabee drongos in nz society who think they know everything but more to the point want a government salary without having any qualifications.
Nope, charter schools is all about a few rich people getting government handouts in the millions of dollars per year.
The EU is banning incandescent light bulbs. Gasp! I wonder if this loss of a fundamental civil and political right will have citizens out on the street protesting the challenge to their freedoms …
So we will see this forced change in NZ soon enough then, and won’t Phillips be pleased, what a boon for them its been, and will be eh!
I’m sure all the energy use reductions will be mirrored by the decreasing costs of energy bills accross EU nations….
Quite sure that people have more pressing issues which are/will get(ting) them onto the streets over the coming years, so will assume the comment was /sarc
Isn’t it the lightbulb banning issue that cost Helen Clark her last election? So the story goes. People were incensed at having their rights so badly denied. Incandescent even.
/sarc 😉
Personally I think banning incandescents is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It’s symbolic of a world that thinks that we have climate change because we bought the wrong toys.
Actually, it’s symbolic of the realisation that resources are limited which is exactly what is needed if we want to change to a better system. Unbanning them is the result of the idea that BaU will continue.
Small steps weka but if we do not even take these small steps we are irreversibly stuffed.
The trick is to try and remember that no configuration of the deck chairs, no matter how clever, will stop the Titanic from going under.
If we only take small steps we are stuffed mickey. One of the reasons we are only taking small steps is because we think that changing lightbulbs will make a difference. It won’t. It will just enable bean counters to tell us we have made x savings and therefore we are doing the right thing and so we can relax a bit.
I don’t see any evidence that societies are moving towards using less power or creating less emissions in any meaningful way.
A small step that people can come to understand and that will allow bigger steps later.
That’s because societies are still told that there are no limits. Inform them of the limits and people will stop using resources (i.e, water shortages in which people conserve water). Our socio-economic system can’t handle that though as it’s predicated on using as resources as possible so as to make a few people rich.
I’d love to know when this “later” you are referring to might be. If its after about 2016 or 2018 we’re shit out of luck.
Yeah, well, we took the step and then we voted this government in and took several dozen backwards. Thems the breaks.
After 2016 I suspect people will be clamouring to take that step and several others.
What’s next? Their sacred showerheads?
“Eureka”
“now, i see”
“I Believe”
(btw, numerous microethnomethodological studies strongly suggest, science conducted by faith)
RONS just wrong
wow! what a start to His day; R.Smalley (in black) followed by J-A G (au natural) and some very considerate discourse. we live and pray
thought for today? am i my brother/s keeper
plus, the channel 3 news last pm was just one deleterious social impacting event after another;
at least there is always the anasthetic of alcohol….
not sure if this has been shared here in the last few days as i have been doing other things
but i think we have a new caption contest candidate
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/photo/2012-08/29/131815695_21n.jpg
Photoshop?
No, it’s real:
http://www.3news.co.nz/John-Key-welcomed-in-Rarotonga/tabid/417/articleID/267255/Default.aspx
Might put it up as a caption comp some time…
Hopefully they’re carting him off to the tip, or the out-house where his shite belongs…
Anyone get a pic of the armed guards standing off frame who ordered this to happen? /sarc
I really enjoyed the emerson cartoon, with key being carried on the litter by the alcohol lobby.
Hillary Clinton’s a bit more important than John Key. She walked.
(you can imagine the conversation –
Staffer: “Madam Secretary, the Cook Islands protocol involves you being carried on the backs of the natives, like a colonial master, and … ”
Hillary: “You’ve got to be kidding! Are we trying to lose the election? Ain’t gonna happen.”)
Hillary Clinton’s a bit more important than John Key. She walked.
Yes, Hillary Clinton’s an outstanding champion of human rights. Ask any person living in Iraq, Afghanistan or the Occupied Territories.
Here she is with another really humane leader, re-affirming to the world just how committed to human rights they both are….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtzUvH8U6iI
There is no connection whatsoever between what I said and your “Yes”.
(But you knew that already).
I appreciate that, my friend. I just think you should be careful about using Hillary Clinton as an exemplar for anything. As horrible as Key is, he doesn’t have blood on his hands like she does.
I took gs’s comment to be about Clinton having more PR nous than Key (and probably self respect). Nothing to do with her credibility or ethics.
Yes, yes, weka, I understood too. I just couldn’t resist having a go at her, though.
“I have repeatedly warned the Tsar…”
Unbelievable! 😀
This picture of Romney’s family paints a couple of thousand words.
On the stump Mitt Romney, 65, has avoided mentioning Mormonism, instead talking generally about his faith, but he has been an active lifelong member of the church.
Then there is his great-great grandfather
This picture of Romney’s family paints a couple of thousand words.
No, it paints one. And the word is “Photoshop”.
It’s almost as funny as the “Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan” rearrangement “My ultimate Ayn Rand porn” (hat tip TheContrarian)
Burning Man gallery, scroll down for the live feed.
Direct stream here.
In a time of austerity, we are asking for some to pay for their job interview process.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/30/us-usa-campaign-spending-idUSTRE77T3ZX20110830
Any thoughts on Rodney Hide’s column in today’s Sunday Herald? I gain the impression that it might be out and out racist in tone, have I got it wrong?
Any thoughts on Rodney Hide’s column in today’s Sunday Herald? I gain the impression that it might be out and out racist in tone, have I got it wrong?
I haven’t read it yet, but I’d be prepared to wager poor old Clint Eastwood’s Republican convention appearance fee that your suspicion is correct. I’ll come back with my analysis after I’ve seen it, but the following factors mean it’s highly likely….
1.) It’s an article by Rodney Hide, who has frequently made crude racist statements on the radio and television;
2.) It’s in the Herald on Sunday, which is a forum for some of the most bizarrely racist and deranged writing in the country.
He needs to learn to speak Maori, he’ll start to understand that they are a “Life” oriented culture at that point.
The article definitely has no respect for their beliefs. Nor does it recognise their growth as a people.
Which does not make it all that pertinent to NZ in 2012.
He needs to learn to speak Maori, he’ll start to understand that they are a “Life” oriented culture
Life is very important in Maori culture, because if something’s not alive you can’t kill it and eat it. Plants… animals… other people… very important.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the racist right wing.
Look out, fellas—it’s a moron.
The consumption of life and “life force” is at the heart of all animistic cultures, of which the NZ Maori is just one.
But the clincher is to recognise the river’s life force. Then it’s yours.
The likes of RH et al, have no concept what so ever of “life forces or energy”, which is why being able to exude such ignorance in this article, comes freely and naturally, the rac*sm unavoidable for him, because, like those who rule over this planet, that is what they are in their very core, and the Rodneys selected, because that too is what they are!
The types who permeate the “halls of power”, are the winners of a selection process, so can you imagine what those who pull the strings represent!
Because kiwis (those who do actually think, and even some who don’t), are easy to get on-board with things like maori rights and rac*sm etc, it means that the support which will be derived for traditional “rights” will stay in focus, which while I am not for “ownership” by any group, at this stage , has to be considered a good thing.
While I’m uneasy about the maori elite, or their ability to not be corrupted further by white men, at this point in time, they are about the only signifigant barrier to those same white men, stealing the lot, again!
It’s online. Read at your own risk.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/religion-and-beliefs/news/article.cfm?c_id=301&objectid=10831075
I have now sacrificed a couple of minutes of my life and read it and, sure enough, it is as racist, and as ill informed as I feared.
Perhaps even worse than Hide’s moronic, ignorant views is the Herald website’s warning to anyone who might be thinking of posting a reply to the distinguished thinker: “We aim to have healthy debate. But we won’t publish comments that abuse others.”
Clearly no such limitations apply to their own columnists.
I only read the first couple of lines, and the last. Even that demonstrated hypocrisy of such epic proportions I couldn’t bring myself to read the rest.
I read a bit (yuk!) then started to read the comments…. so many, too many, people congratulating RH on his article and endorsing it.
Reading the comments in that is rather sickening. The racism and ignorance is much worse in the comments than what was in RH’s spiel.
Dunno why but your link doesn’t work for some reason. This one does.
The racism and ignorance is much worse in the comments than what was in RH’s spiel.
Really? Hide is about as extreme as they come.
I read Hide’s column. I see it as an attempt to stir up racism among ignorant pakeha in the interests of selling of our assets to greedy pakeha and foreign corporates. To my way of thinking, that makes it racist, which is about what I’ve come to expect from Rodney Hide.
Sunday Funnies
Whatever happened to Howard Dean?
After madly screeching himself into mass derision (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5FzCeV0ZFc) during his disastrous bid for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, Howard Dean has gone onto a career as a “pundit”, where he smiles like a nice guy and expresses his admiration for killing peasants in Asia and Africa by drone aircraft. Watch and cringe as he does his shallow schtick here…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Syn37vdtqt8&feature=g-vrec
At the start of the clip, you’ll see good-looking but dim Republican senator Marco Rubio saying something inane about the capture of Gaddafi. Also appearing on the clip is another of those glib Brits that infest American public commentary, Tina Brown.
Balancing out the display of horror is Jeremy Scahill, one of the outstanding journalists in America.
One of the YouTube commenters asks a very good question: “Why can’t Scahill be a senator instead of Rubio? Why can’t we have intelligent people in congress?”
http://www.ted.com/talks/ivan_krastev_can_democracy_exist_without_trust.html
“Can democracy exist without trust”?
Interesting TED talk from Ivan Krastev (transcript available). A small snippet:
….
Ta JS, something to think about.
whoever designed john banks should have another look at the plans!
This morning on Chris Laidlaw Radionz Jim Dier a very enthusiastic community builder who has found that he and his fellows have made a lot of difference. So he is not an armchair idealist but a thinking down-and-dirty-hands worker who has a good idea that works. Audio should be up by noon
(or so I thought but it isn’t – may be some pesky damn reason of copyright.)
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday
10:06 Ideas: Growing Communities
Epuni Primary School’s Common Unity Project aims to produce enough fruit and vegetables to feed not only the school’s 110 pupils but their families as well. It’s a classic example of what’s been called Asset Based Community Development – or ABC Development. Ideas visits Epuni Primary School in Lower Hutt and talks to the project’s volunteer coordinator Julia Milne; Jim Diers, a proponent of the ABCD movement, tells Jeremy Rose about Seattle’s Strong Communities Initiative; and Denise Bijoux of Inspiring Communities talks to Chris Laidlaw about the proliferation of asset-based community projects in New Zealand.
Presented by Chris Laidlaw
Produced by Jeremy Rose.
This is a copy of the one I put on open mike 30/8 but then thought it might get missed.
Further to 16
It is on line now if you want to listen to it.
plenty of inspirational roots-level community development building here in HB
I wonder has anyone noticed that when trying to pull a comment from past days, if the number of them go beyond one page, the search device often won’t find the highlighted comment. Than have to go and scroll down for it.
LUNATIC POET ALERT!
Expect an unpleasant blast of foul air from Christchurch to burst from your radio at 2:35 this afternoon at 2:35 p.m….
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/artsonsunday
In their wisdom, the producers at RNZ National have seen fit to resurrect one Karen Zelas who, along with Auckland University’s bloviating Professor John Read provided the main academic cover in the police’s hare-brained, fantastical sex abuse case against Peter Ellis.
In A City Possessed, Lynley Hood’s magisterial demolition of the hysteria, Zelas was comprehensively and irrefutably shown up to be a fraud and a charlatan. But if you imagined this horrid woman had been stewing in her own shame for the last decade and a half, you were wrong.
Apparently, she always wanted to be a writer. Maybe that helps to explain her sympathy for the outlandish fantasies drilled into those children’s brains by that crazed cadre of fundamentalist parents at the Christchurch Civic Creche.
Zelas reckons that forcing little children to repeat their parents’ wild and lurid fantasies has made her into quite the poet: “I suppose my former career has given me a depth of understanding of people, their emotions and relationships and how they behave, which I am able to draw upon in my writing.”
http://www.peterellis.org.nz/LawReform/Evidence/2003-0831_SST_AreCourtsOverZelas.htm
She was just following the latest crap coming from American psychologists at the time. In my experience, psychologists are some of the most dangerous people that exist. Psychology is demonstrably not a science, and follows fashions which change every few years, yet its practicioners can affect people’s lives to more of an extent than most pseudo-scientists except economists. The courts would do no worse if they relied on expert testimony from astrologers.
She was just following the latest crap coming from American psychologists at the time.
She was also validating the psychotic sexual fantasies of some fundamentalist Christian loons in Christchurch. She wasn’t the only one, either; the aforementioned Prof. John Read continues to taunt Ellis with cruel and unsubstantiated allegations, the Children’s Commissioner at the time (Laurie O’Reilly) gave the madness official backing by treating the allegations seriously, as did his successor Roger McClay (who was subsequently convicted for fraud and sent to prison). And the police in Christchurch still occasionally haul Ellis into the station to humiliate him further.
In my experience, psychologists are some of the most dangerous people that exist.
There are certainly some bad ones, all right. And Karen Zelas is one of the very worst.
A ‘March for Jobs’ is going to be held this Tuesday in Greymouth. How’s that brighter future looking Coasters?
From the West Coast miner fb page:
There will be a ‘March for Work’ rally in Greymouth on 4th September to commence at midday from the Skate Park. The march is in support of the coalminers of spring creek and the township of Greymouth. This is an open invitation to march through town to raise awareness that will effect us all if the mine was to close. Damien O’Connor MP, The Mayor and Bernie Monk have confirmed there support and will speak following the march. Please pass on and join the march to save jobs and our community.
I dunno but maybe they could allow some more mining to happen on the coast.
wow.
carol zelas and march for jobs side by side.
anyway this is for carol.
I have read recently that the US Supreme court no longer represents the little man.
is this true?
Karl Popper
anyway, at the community meals there are just rows and rows of tangata whenua tamariki and moko’
every week
after week
(middle class-daydream)
there is no forgiveness in NZ? reminds me of “There is no depression in NZ….”
who loves James K. Baxter? Wow!