Syrian did not consider a damn what would happen in Lebanon, the destruction of that society…
…so why would they sudden care if they did the same to their own country. I had been
wary of Israeli claims to self-defense, but seeing what Syria is, without remorse, killing
children… …time will tell, if Egypt goes right wing fanatical religious, we may yet be all
drawn into a war with at least half of Islam.
Oh fuck off Jenny. Your endless one-sided diatribe about Syria and lack of willingness to listen to anyone else presenting a balanced viewpoint that the Syrian situation isn’t as cut and dried as you make it out to be, has worn thin.
To misquote Les Miserables in this context would be laughable if it wasn’t so ill-informed.
Over the past ten years, the neo-liberal policies implemented by the Assad regime have collapsed the public sector and weakened the whole economy. Society has been impoverished, with 60 percent of Syria’s population below or just above the poverty line. The Assad clan, especially around the person of Rami Makhlouf, used the privatisation process to accumulate more than 60 percent of Syria’s economic wealth.
Syria Freedom Forever
The Syrian revolutionary process is a real popular and democratic movement that mobilises the exploited and oppressed classes against the capitalist elite linked to the global order.
Syria Freedom Forever
We say with full candour: those who deny popular revolutions like Syria’s thereby set themselves against emancipation from below by the people. They cannot be seen as being on the left.
lolz yes Syria was a neoliberal banksters paradise…dreaming mate, just dreaming. Western corporates are just sore that they were never allowed carte banche in Damascus. Which is the opposite of your claims.
In my latest essay in this space I mentioned two phenomena worth fighting for: the living planet and freedom based in anarchy. I surrender. I no longer believe the struggle matters on either front.
I no longer think we’ll save the remaining shards of the living planet beyond another human generation. We’ll destroy every — or nearly every — species on Earth when the positive feedbacks associated with climate change come seriously into play (and I’ve not previously considered the increasingly dire prospects of methane release from Antarctica or the wildfire-induced release of carbon from Siberian peat bogs).
The climate-change data, models, and assessments keep coming at us, like waves crashing on a rocky, indifferent beach. The worst drought in 800 years in the western United States is met by levels of societal ignorance and political silence I’ve come to expect. I would be stunned if this valley — or any other area in the interior of a northern-hemisphere continent — will provide habitat for humans five years from now. And climate change is only part of the story.
My trademark optimism vanishes when I realize that, in addition to climate chaos, we’re on the verge of tacking on ionizing radiation from the world’s 444 nuclear power plants. L
The worst drought in 800 years in the western United States is met by levels of societal ignorance and political silence I’ve come to expect. I would be stunned if this valley — or any other area in the interior of a northern-hemisphere continent — will provide habitat for humans five years from now.
I’m glad he has put a specific year prediction out. In five years we will be able to see if he is overstating things (I think he is). I’ve seen other intelligent eotwawki luminaries make this mistake (Sharon Astyk springs to mind), and I suspect it comes from getting tied up too closely up with their own circles of information and discussion.
As for his own part of the world… 800 years ago, there were people living there successfully in that worst drought. Why is that? How is that? From what I know, periodic drought is normal in that part of the world. Is it possible that the people who lived there farmed by taking that into account?
McPherson links to a MSM report about the worst drought in 800 years that mentions the midwest dust bowl, but that, and the current crop failures there, are due to bad farming practices. Yes, there is a drought, but that’s not the real problem here. The real problem here is that agribusiness is not adaptable to its environment, and by its very nature ignores nature and what is happening with things like climate and weather. It has no resiliency. Worse, agribusiness and even most modern traditional farming decreases soil fertility over time and lessens the land’s ability to adapt to drought.
Unlike other systems of food production. Here is a permaculture classic. It’s a small project done in Jordan in 2000. Jordan has a similar amount of rainfall as Arizona, but the place where this project happened has much lower rates than where McPherson lives. This ten minute video shows how food production was established quickly using polyculture techniques that are sustainable over time, that build soil fertility, make best use of water resources, and don’t make the mistakes of conventional agriculture like salinating the soil.
McPherson will be aware of all of this. So it begs the question of why he misuses information. I’m guessing he is trying to scare people into waking up.
Guy may be right, he may be wrong, he has certainly got our attention. I listened to him several times over the last few years, he tends toward the “precautionary” principle. Maybe Guy is involved countering misinformation in a “misinformation world war”.
On whether Guy is deliberately overstating things maybe this headline might make people think.. http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/ As the ice melts, and the jet stream moves south, and methane starts bubbling up maybe a precautionary approach should be recommended. I hope Guy keeps calling for that as much as I hope he is wrong. Polar bears might prefer we were not having this debate.
ooohh Robert. Always a pleasure to read your predicitions.
As the struggles no longer matter we may as well give up. I may as well be selfish, forget about society, climb over my mates on the work ladder, avoid paying all tax, vote for oil loving right wing parties, buy a V8, drive really fast, and then go whale hunting.
We are all doomed so lets have some fun in our final year on this earth…
Your messages of utter desolation and hopelessness are a hōhā. If Māori thought as you we would be extinct already. Quite frankly, if stuck on a waka with you heading into a perfect storm and you started opining ‘we are all doomed’ I would toss you overboard.
Rather than waste C02 spreading negativity, be more constructive, plant another native tree.
My focus is Indigenous
meaning natives not exotics
I am not shy just adverse
to populating the Southern
Hemisphere with Northern
Hemisphere plants.
Call me hemispherically challenged
if not biased but I have no affinity
to the Northern Hemisphere and
will continue to reinforce the
unique character of our lands
through native plantings
and spurn the exotics
.
I am an optimist generally. I am blind to the problems of the world but realistic to the problems that I am able to positively influence within my own whanau, community, and society in general. My focus is also confined to the environment of Aotearoa and its surrounding oceans.
The reality as I understand it is that life as we know it now may become extinct but life itself will continue – albeit most likely in a different form. The Earth has been witness to at least five extinction events. In the aftermath, new life forms have eventually emerged in all cases. Also, would the human species have emerged without the extinction of the dinosaur?
Humanity has the potential to prevent its own extinction – that it might become extinct speaks to a complete waste of evolutionary advantage found in human intelligence. Perhaps human intelligence is an evolutionary dead-end and in the next iteration we become as bacteria once more.
Humanity has the potential to prevent its own extinction – that it might become extinct speaks to a complete waste of evolutionary advantage found in human intelligence.
Perhaps, but it does suggest an answer to the Fermi Paradox 😈
I suppose this is really just whistling in the dark but the NZ Herald is running a poll on whether NZ should go GE or not….You could go vote against on the grounds that its just a couple of mouse clicks worth of effort and then go back to giving all your energy over to despair….
@ Adele. Your comment reminded me of the Ingham twins busy swimming with one other person ( a boyfriend of one I think) through shark infested seas to the far off coast of Western Oz after they somehow ended up in the water. One twin was constantly whining away that it was impossible etc so they cut the rope and let her drift off. When she promised to shut up and keep paddling (or they’d do it again presumably) they hooked her back up…and all made it ashore and got on with their (colourful) lives…..
Its good to see the GE discussion happening. Last week we talked about the govt funded biotech agri business meeting that went ahead in Akld. Later that week that Dominion Post published a pro GE article that was reasonbly flawed in its argument. I posted that article open mike last week. Then on Sunday (at least I think it was Sunday), TV3 News had a peice covering a meeting of scientist who were pro GE. It was a very one sided peice. Now we have a counter argument published in the Dom Post on line today. It’s a good solid argument against the push to introduce GE food crops to NZ
NZ had and still has a great opportunity to be a GE free exporter of goods to Europe. That was the vision of the organic industry back in the 90’s, included within the vision of Organic NZ 2020 but it got lost among the powerful influence that agri business has upon Government. With Tim Groser saying recently that we are focusing less on trade with Europe and more on trade with Asia theres not a snowflakes chance that we can achieve the trade of GE food that we are capable of with Europe. A tragic lost opportunity.
Evolution has had eternity to come up with the right answer: GE is a feeble attempt to specifically imitate without consideration of the whole. The sooner it is removed from commercial interests the better.
Yep and you can even speed evolution up by through cross pollination… The seed banks will be invaluable going forward. Modern breeding is focused on appearance vs yield if we went back to species and early cultivars it’s highly likely that much hardier cultivars can be developed.
GE is not required and will end in tears one way or another, the perils of monoculture have been long known…
New Zealand has been issued an ultimatum by GM heavyweights – change our tune on genetically modified food or watch our exporting lifeblood lag behind the rest of the world.
The warning was delivered yesterday by a high-powered panel including the US Government’s bio-tech trade envoy and the vice-president of US giant DuPont Agricultural Biotechnology
The panel pitched crop-enhancing bio-technology as the world’s best hope of feeding a population expected to double by 2050 – and said that if New Zealand failed to buy in, our crops could become quickly out-dated
What, the worlds population is going to double….Are they still peddling these blatant lies! Even the UN don’t make those claims anymore. The statement, along with what is a clear threat to our exports, should have alarm bells ringing, because that is blatant propaganda/threats of the highest order!
Du Pont – Argh, Monsanto are involved then of course. I wonder how they will ensure that their threats are answered favourably by “our decision makers”!
This is an issue which NZ MUST hold out on, that can’t be emphasised enough!
Couldn’t agree more that our GE feee status remains. You’re right, we must hold out on this issue. But you know, those bully boys aren’t known for backing down, they always get their way. I’m sure “their threats will be answered favourably by our decision makers”.
As we all know we have weak leadership in NZ and its a leadership that only listens to lobby groups that represent their ideology (short term profit at any cost). We know that the National govt doesn’t refer to evidence and research to create policy and shape legislation. So I’d say we’d pretty stuffed if the biotech groups keep up the bullying and pressure.
Even if we did have a change of govt in 2014 it may too late. The Nat govt doesn’t even listen to the authors of reports commissioned by them (eg addressing child poverty) or the industries it should be supporting (eg horticulture NZ as referred to in the Dom Post article posted above). I wouldn’t trust a Labour led govt to keep our land free of GE crops either.
Best case scenario may be that the introduction of GE was delayed and we got a new govt where the voices of the Greens, Mana and even NZ First where strong. Old war dog Winnie may make ones eyes roll but at least he is protective of NZ’s interests. Many years ago I was interested to see him at the book launch of “The poisoning of New Zealand” by Merial Watts. The book discussed the ways in which we are damging our natural environment due to the over use of toxic agricultural pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. You can’t have that conversation without reffering to Monsanto. So our natural environment may be of importance to him. Who knows.
I do know that Monsanto have influenced councils in NZ. Once again I’m referring to the 90’s. Akld council had introduced safe chemical free weed control in the form of the waipuna steam method. It was a win for everyone. Not one to be pushed aside Monsanto immediately cut their wholesale price of roundup, undercutting the waipuna system costs (the costs had previously been the same) and hey presto, back in business with the round up. Thats just a local example from a couple of decades ago. Imagine what they’re capable of now? Sadly, the spectre of GE coming to our shores has arisen again. I don’t think anyone can trust our govt from keeping NZ GE free.
There are a few key topics, where the rubber hits the road, and this is certainly one of the most important.
The GM issue is not about money, it is about gaining total control of the food supplies by way of patents and exclusions, the ramifications for humanity should this happen, are not the sales pitches peddled by these toxic, poisonous, polluting monstrosities!
Think of it this way, the control over food prices etc already happens via commodity exchanges and the like, and used as a weapon against nations around the world. Imagine what can be achieved once human beings are no longer able to grow their own food using natural resources.
NZ’s future well being relies on a number of factors, one of them is that being that we must not allow GM inside our shores, because once that happens, it will be a matter of time before it is used as a weapon against us too.
Food Safety/security Bills/Natural Health Products Bill (who actually writes these anyway?) etc, TPPA….Its about time people started seeing the links, and for that matter the links between industries, for what they are!
Totally hear you Muzza and I fully agree that that control of global food chains is a priority for biotech groups. If they can make a good tidy profit along the way, that will and they do. The ultimate prize is the endless source of profit in food production when all natural methods of cropping plant propagation have been made redundant by gene technology.
And yes, the food bill, no matter how much its implications are played down are a massive threat to our ability to retain personal and community autonomy over food production and seed collection. Over arching that, the TPPA and its consequences for industrial food production in NZ would mean we are rooted as an independant GE free food producing nation. We lose our sovereignty, our access to safe food and our trading advantages.
But we are asleep and the right wing in is the ascendant. So what are our chances to keep our GE status? Pretty slim I’d say.
But we are all Genetically Modified, whether Maori, Pacifica, Pakeha, or any other race in New Zealand.
We cannot stop human modfication.
Should we vote to stop it ?
I don’t think so Fortran. Not unless you’ve been to a laboratory, provided samples of your DNA, had your genetic material spliced with that of another species, lets say a toad, for arguments sake, and then had that new genetic material returned to your body. Thats genetic modification for ya, not the process of breeding.
The group called AntiSec, linked to the hacking collective known as Anonymous, posted one million Apple user identifiers on Monday purported to be part of a larger group of 12 million obtained from an FBI laptop.
In the posting, AntiSec said the original file “contained around 12,000,000 devices” and that “we decided a million would be enough to release”.
The group said it “trimmed out other personal data as, full names, cell numbers, addresses, zipcodes, etc”
Hackers will always be able to outsmart any govt agency or any private or public organisation or social media. Thats why I don’t use face palm or twatter or online banking. I try to minimise my online transactions as much as possible. I know my attempts to protect my privacy aren’t water tight in any way because the sheer amount of information on individuals can’t be contained by the individual themselves.
But still, I’d trust the smarts of hackers over the smarts of agencies, organisations and social media any day.
The main point that AntiSec is making is that warrantless eavesdropping and data collection by the US gov – a complete antithesis to the principles of the democratic republic – appears to be in full swing.
And we know from Wikileaks – and that bad man Julian Assange – that this information is also gathered and used against foreign states, foreign nationals and foreign companies.
Dont know how you read it Weka but here is what I read…(Klein) In the Assange case, the Swedish police supported the accusers in legally unprecedented ways – for example, by allowing them to tell their stories together and by allowing testimony from a boyfriend. But other alleged victims of gender-based abuse, sometimes in life-threatening circumstances, typically receive very different treatment.
I endorse Kleins writing because it is typically well researched, accurate and impartial. In this one she quite correctly points out that:
1. Rape is not taken seriously by the Swedish authorities, they fail to pass muster in any respect to the rights of victims.
2. For some reason the Swedish authorities stood this usual stance on its head for Assange.
3. There is a corrupted standard here (Klein) Let me be clear: I am not saying that Assange…..committed no crime against women. Rather, Assange’s case,… is being handled so differently from how the authorities handle all other rape cases that a corrupted standard of justice clearly is being applied.
So to summarise Klein rightly points out that the Swedish authorities are failing rape victims badly, and she points out that she is not convinced of his innocence nor guilt but suspects some other driver for the authorities interest.
So to what you call “Assange Fanboys” (a term pregnant with implications)….does that include those of us who think that Assange should be considered innocent until proven guilty? Does that include us who say if there if a case to answer Assange should definitely face trial? Does it include us who say beware the real motives of the Swedish authorities?
Bored, I don’t know if you are a Fanboy or not, that’s up to you to say.
What I meant was that Wolf was able to talk about the issue without saying that the women are lying.
She was able to point out that there is something wrong with the investigation into Assange without accusing the women of anything. She is able to do this without engaging in rape myths like consent given once is consent for all time. Or that sex with a sleeping woman without her consent is ok. She doesn’t have to deny the possibility of rape in order to point out that there is something highly unusual with how the authorities are handling this case.
That was my point in the previous discussion on this. I wasn’t saying that Assange is guilty, I was saying that you don’t have to sacrifice the women complainants nor the larger issues around rape in order to talk about the Assange case.
“does that include those of us who think that Assange should be considered innocent until proven guilty?”
I have no idea if Assange is guilty or not. I don’t feel under any obligation to assume either way. The only people who have to assume innocence until proven guilty are the judge and jury and Assange’s lawyers. The media too I guess, but I think it’s more a case of not assuming guilt unless proven, than assuming innocence.
I find the whole innocent until proven guilty thing interesting because people speculate about guilt in public cases all the time. What’s so different about this one?
Fraudian on Klein and Wulf, both brilliant women. Maybe I react harshly to tags like Fanboys….they provoke a reaction, you got one.
I thoroughly agree with you that “you don’t have to sacrifice the women complainants”, and I respect you have no opinion on Assange guilt. What drives my reaction on this case is that regardless of the crime I always believe in “innocence before proven otherwise”. A recent classic was the recent Scott Guy murder case where the accused was found not guilty despite being overwhelmingly convicted in the court of public opinion. (For the record I think Ewen did it but the jury got it right….there was doubt).
To address what I think might be the major gripe on the Assange case with women is that their complaints are not being taken seriously. That is manifestly obvious. We quite correctly throw everything at murder cases, I cannot see why we don’t do the same with rape, domestic violence, common assault. My belief is that they should attract a zero tolerance reaction, and I don’t believe they do. And in all cases the process also brutalises the complainant (that’s another nasty issue).
Bored 9 1 1
Thank you for the good excerpt from Naomi Wolf. It seems to be very measured and reasoned. An excellent comment in the sticky tar patch of emotion aroused from fundamentalists..
ShonKey’s divide and rule strategy of five meetings with specific Iwi on water may be looking a bit sick by end of next week. Interesting how the piece is lurking in business section online rather than front page given the significance.
Not enough on the real elephant in the room being Rio Tinto’s threatened closure of Tiwai point if they don’t get even more heavily subsidied power.
The party of big business is getting screwed by one while trying to flog off the silverware , but blaming the Maori’s for the delay is a PR gift from above.
It might save the environment: it is blatantly obvious that capitalism requires growth, and that means that it is at odds with the environment. Land guardianship as opposed to ownership is the only solution I can think of. Interestingly medieval land tenure was based upon sustained productivity and output: the job of the farmers was to retain soil fertility as well as produce, otherwise everybody suffered. Maybe we should nationalise all land and base the rental on retained soil fertility.
Josh, you have to realise that Maori have been trying for over 150 years to have their treaty rights honoured. If that had happened, and Maori had had access to their land and resources for all those years, been able to rebuild wealth for their people from that, they wouldn’t need to be going after money now (they might still choose to, but that’s a different argument).
European society force Maori to drop their own model of resource management and adopt the capitalist one. They’re just playing pakeha at their own game now. To paraphrase Bill, the easiest way to fix this mess is for pakeha to change how resources are understood, valued and managed. At the moment we use an exploitation model, is there any reason why Maori should not use that too?
Exactly weka. Good on Maori for shoving the game into John Key’s smug mug. They are entirely justified in playing the capitalist game of greed and self and maximising and bugger the rest back at Key. I guess though in playing that game they should realise that if they do what capitalists do they will end up like capitalists – and do they really want to be like that?
As vto illustrates, this is a fishing expedition from Josh the, concerned-for-us-all, racist fisherman. A couple of things should alert the cautious reader:
It’s a press release.
The name and history of the person making the release.
The potential for contentious framing of the claim.
Lack of verifiable facts (see: press release)
Motivation for claim (see: name and history of person making release)
Right now, Josh is sitting back chuckling to himself saying: I knew it, maori are just as bad as capitalists, which means their claims are baseless and we are totally justified in oppressing and dismissing all further concerns.
Russel Norman on the government’s cosy relationship with Westpac, and the failure to fulfill it’s promise to put the government’s banking contract up for tender:
“Ideally, our Government’s banking should eventually be done by our New Zealand bank, Kiwibank,” Dr Norman said.
“Australian-owned banks control 95 per cent of our banking industry and this Government has done nothing to stop the massive capital drain that results from these banks repatriating their record profits offshore each year.
“The inclusion of a national interest test in the tender process will ensure that New Zealand banks like Kiwibank can get at least some of the Government contract in the short term.”
On the Labour website, Clare Curran has a good piece on the lack of FTA TV coverage of the paralympics, something that a public service broadcaster would provide. I heartily agree.
Andrew Little provides some good info on the makeup of the ACC board as announced yesterday, and says it is hardly going to oversee a positive culture change:
“Paula Rebstock’s track record demonstrates no empathy or understanding of the social insurance model ACC represents. It is interesting to note – given Ms Collins said former chair John Judge was stepping down as he would be too busy with his new role as chair of ANZ – that Ms Rebstock currently holds 12 positions.
“Professor Gorman has been a senior medical adviser to ACC for many years and has given some of the most retrograde advice on claimants’ files I’ve known. He was the subject of many complaints over his advice about occupational overuse syndrome in the 1990s.
“While publicity material doesn’t mention it, ‘new’ board member Trevor Janes was a director of the Corporation at the time it was being lined up for privatisation by National in the late 90s
Mana doesn’t have any new posts up, but Hone’s piece on asset sales, from a couple of days ago, is worth a read if you haven’t already seen it:
weka, thanks for the link which features the bit on Key’s latest speech. I watched the interview on TV News, and I have perfectly adequate hearing. What I heard, in spite of his adenoidal tones, was “we welcome the opportunity to co-operate with the US in the next conflicts”, which made me recoil in horror. Thank God, then, for convenient rewrites, now I know what I am “supposed” to believe!
Lol times. Wonder when its all over for Key if someone will produce a little book like “Bad President”? Its a book of bushisms. We could have “Bad P.M”. It would be a laugh a minute.
Yep Rosie, perfect. Would be like Bob Jones’ book called, I think, “The achievements of the Third Labour Government” which was a couple of hundred blank pages ha ha ha – think it sold out.
Great news from Paula Bennett
Benefits stopped for those with arrest warrants
by Paula Bennett on Wednesday, 5 September 2012 at 12:03 ·
People with outstanding arrest warrants will no longer receive a benefit while evading Police says Social Development Minister Paula Bennett.
“Of the approximately 15,000 people with a current arrest warrant, around 8,200 are on benefits,” says Mrs Bennett.
“If someone has an unresolved arrest warrant we will stop their benefit until they do the right thing and come forward to the authorities.”
“In exceptional circumstances where someone poses a danger to the public, their benefit can be stopped immediately at the request of the Police Commissioner,” says Mrs Bennett.
Around 58 per cent of people clear their arrest warrants within 28 days. Those who don’t will be given 10 days to clear or challenge the warrant before their benefit is stopped, or reduced by fifty per cent if they have dependent children.
People will still be able to apply for hardship assistance for themselves and their children.
“Most people clear their warrants within a month, so 38 days is a reasonable amount of time to step forward and straighten things out,” says Mrs Bennett.
“Once someone has come forward their benefit can be reinstated but there will be clear consequences for people who continually refuse to acknowledge or resolve arrest warrants.”
Yeah, I’m with you fisiani. In fact we should just stop all benefits. Let the useless fuckers shrivel up and die. After all, if they can’t get a job then they shouldn’t be on the dole smoking drugs, boozing up and getting pregnant. Bloody useless no hopers. I think I’m coming around to your way of thinking. If I have to pay them my hard-earned taxes then they can bloody well wash my undies. Usless pricks.
Or if thats a bit beyond even you fisiani then the dole should be cut when the following occurs. After all, it’s my bloody money they’re spending. If they have got the time or money for any of these things then they don’t deserve the dole.
1. smoking drugs.
2. arrest warrant.
3. speeding ticket.
4. parking ticket.
5. drinking beer.
6. drinking rtds.
7. swearing.
8. being maori or pacific island.
9. wearing hoodies.
10. voting labour.
11. downloading porn.
12. being a gamer.
13. not washing my undies.
14. eating kfc.
like tax doging Act supporters ponzi schemers who are locked up at our expense while still having a luxury life style.
The likes of banks and brash who are on the board of a ponzi scheming company and get off scott free
Man this is dumb. I can just see Paula jerking off on this as much as Fis obviously does.
Most people with arrest warrants against them have no idea that the police had even laid a charge against them. They don’t exactly exert effort finding people with traffic violations (the most common reason). The address on the court paperwork is whatever was on their file at the time the charge sheet was made out and is never changed. That has been the case with most of the people I’m run across who have been arrested with an outstanding warrant. Mostly for speed cameras.
And of course the Paula Bennett appears to be too stupid to do the obvious. With the exception of people on superannuation, other people receiving benefits are required to talk to WINZ periodically at pre-arranged meetings otherwise they lose their benefits. If they are going to do the data matching, then why don’t they simply tell them that the police are looking for them rather than turning off the benefits. After all they’re going to have to do that anyway when a person trying to find out why the benefit has been stopped calls them.
But nope. Being Paula Bennett, they will do it the STUPID and inefficient way that just increases the costs to all concerned.
Except that once their benefit has been stopped and there is no income they might get hungry fisiani. You better hope that you don’t live next door to a criminally inclined hungry person. They might just want to come and bust your door down and raid your fridge and pantry.
So tell us, this new development helps society how?
Here we have the fisiani in his natural habitat demonstrating the tendency of all fisiani to defer to the dominant male. Without the inducements of the head male, no single fisiani dare act alone and the group is helpless to understand even the basics needs of life. This often leads to an almost fascist state of organisation among the rodent-like fisiani, where the young and vulnerable of these burrow dwelling creatures are often left to die and are then eaten by others.
True vto. I usally don’t get invloved with folks like fisiani but I was weak and responded to a trolly type. I think folks like fisiani who get all excited about outmoded authoritarian measures being metred out to those they believe are beneath them don’t get past the smug glee part to the ‘what are the consequences of these measures?” part. They just get stuck at smug glee.
Speaking of trolls, where’s PG these days, did he get a ban? Or did the new approach of non responsiveness of other posters discourage his commenting?
[lprent: Permanent ban. He was doing an circumlocutory attempt to try to tell us how we should run our site yet again. He obviously hasn’t figured out that I (in particular) and the other moderators look at people’s intent rather than the “wording of the law”. Sneaking intending to skirt the intent of our rules just irritates us. Because we’ve all seen how those discussions go in the past and rehashing the usual silly conversation about what the letter of the policy says that follows is too boring to be bothered with. We only give indications of what we’d look for and why we do so. It isn’t a rulebook.
It is actually a lot lot safer to just come out and say “I know that this is probably going to get me banned but I’m going to say it anyway… “. Much of the time when we see that people have thought about and accepted the risk we will leave it up. But of course like all of our policies this is merely a guideline. We like people to assess their own levels of risk. After all they may meet Irishbill who is generally agreed to have the shortest moderating fuse in his sweeps…. ]
Yes David. And about 25 years ago there were plans to also make the Levin Area a major Commercial/Industrial Zone. Rail a key element. Flat ground. Main Highway. Water. Improved commuter access and freight access.
Instead of crowding more and more “stuff” into hilly Wellington why not decetralise?
OH I agree whole heartedly with you as someone who actually lives in Levin. and the article in the local paper has some good ideas. but as usual Nathan Guy is deaf as usual.
Mystery benefactor funds the crafar bid.
Chinese bid to go all the way to the suprime court.
This headline is on the herald site.
Headaches not over for jk and his friends.
cha noe?
-moderation
-noisy apparently
-might get in to trouble….again
imo, RNZ not helpful at times. net helpful.(though i will never forget Kim Hill introducing a musical tribute to a particularly Wonderful New Zealand poet
nothing learns ya like a little bitter experience
now, back to that stoning, could be anywhere These Days (Unknown Pleasures, Closer, Still)
cos u noe wat?…Love will certainly Tear Us Apart
Spread the Love (i confess a fondness for breaking fast every morning with vegemite on wholegrain Burgen)
….o sinner man, where ya gonna run to, o sinner man, where ya gonna run to…..
….When the Stars begin to fall…
Good article in The Guardian explaining the monetary system:
Why, then, are liberals and conservatives alike so fervent in their pursuit of growth?
The reason is that our present money system can only function in a growing economy. Money is created as interest-bearing debt: it only comes into being when someone promises to pay back even more of it. Therefore, there is always more debt than there is money. In a growth economy that is not a problem, because new money (and new debt) is constantly lent into existence so that existing debt can be repaid. But when growth slows, good lending opportunities become scarce. Indebtedness rises faster than income, debt service becomes more difficult, bankruptcies and layoffs rise.
Reckon Jesus had one thing right when he got rid of the money-lenders, even though they got the ultimate revenge.
I believe that many immigrant families finance each other into business virtually interest free but always to mutual benefit.
But hey! What would they know!
they very wise and we trade with by preference where possible
the history of “yellow peril” in this country is shocking
lovely people, go with the flow
At least bankruptcies would destroy debt. Banks are being bailed out at tax payer expense instead of being allowed to go bankrupt. And in the US, declaring bankruptcy does not remove student debt, private or public. You can never escape the debt, in other words = debt servitude.
And in the US, declaring bankruptcy does not remove student debt, private or public.
Doesn’t in NZ either.
You can never escape the debt, in other words = debt servitude.
That’s the way that the financial system has been set up. Even if you don’t have any debt yourself you’re still in debt because the government will be and you’ll be paying the interest of everyone else’s debt as well and all that interest just goes to the few who get to make the loans.
Up again.
Maybe the server had an attack of conscience and killed itself, so they replaced it with one that has a floating morality processor that accepts null values.
Apparently they forgot to renew their familyfirst.co.nz url, so someone else bought it. Now people going to that url are being redirected to a marriage equality site. FF, still own the site that ends in .org.nz
Judith Collins (ACC Minister) has just yesterday announced that Rebstock, former head of the Welfare Working Group, “specialist” trouble shooter in many matters for the Key led government, is going to head the board of ACC for 3 years.
That is very interesting, and one wonders, how that will improve the “culture” that went wrong over recent years, leading to many claimants being presented bizarre decisions and having to rather end up on WiNZ benefits than getting ACC. The mainstream media and government want to pretend to us it was all just an issue re “privacy” of information and NOTHING else. That is total distraction and humbug, as the biggest breach of rights was that ACC relies on biased, not acceptable consultants and assessors, thus breaching natural justice and even statutory law!
There are also other “interesting” persons on that ACC board now. A Dr Des Gorman, also a staunch advocate to enforce a tight regime and to ensure that people do all to try and get back into work, he is also now member of the board of ACC. Once he was in some cases a “consultant” or similar for ACC. He also is a leader of Health Workforce NZ, an organisation within the Ministry of Health, tasked with applying a more “business like” and efficiency driven approach in health care.
Health Workforce also works with the Medical Council and the Royal NZ College of General Practitioners, as I heard. Des Gorman has heaps of influence- this man, being a supposed “professor”, but putting his weight behind what this government wants to force through: Getting sick and disabled to WORK! Not just “roof painting” by the way, real “OPEN employment” (market type jobs on minimum wage or so forth).
A brief documentary screened by TV3 some time ago presented him as a rather unsympathetic medical expert, who apparently wrongly assessed a person with serious disability. Well, he later said, his assessment was not wrong, only ACC interpreted it somewhat incorrectly.
It is worth having a look at this short video on YouTube, and in it also features another “advisor” or “spokesperson” for ACC, who once also worked for MSD or WINZ – alongside Principal Health Advisor Dr Bratt. Both were involved in the “training” of the “designated doctors” that WINZ uses to re-examine and assess sick and disabled applying for benefits.
It’s quite strange, how these familiar faces pop up again and again. With Rebstock at the helm things do not look that great for future claimants to ACC. I would be quite worried.
If there’s one thing that’s holding this country back, it’s that the people who can’t afford to pay the fines they got because they couldn’t afford to pay their car rego because they don’t have a job are missing their court appearances.
Yep that’s the big issue, it just takes a special kind of moron like you to get it all in the right order so it makes sense.
YEAH, WE are all CRIMINALS, ARE WE NOT? WE CANNOT ANY LONGER afford the extortion, so we will ALL one day or later end up at Court, for failing to pay our slavery dues.
That is the ultimate goal of this fucked up society we live in!!!
Typical nat policy: nice bumper sticker, shame the real world is different.
Basically, the bumper sticker is if someone is one the run taunting the cops, then they’re going to miss $200p.w..
Problem: if they do want the money, they’ll access it via eftpos or ATM. Kind’ve tells people exactly where you are. If they don’t want the money, it will have no effect (except for their dependents who are not on the run).
Problem 2: what if the ability to data-match and cut off benefits is greater than the ability or effort to tell a poor person to come in to face some accusations? E.g. tickets, fines or petty complaints, and the person doesn’t have a phone and wasn’t home when someone came knocking? Or can’t read the letters that were sent?
Problem 3: What about their dependents who do not have warrants but do have bills, and the subject has gone bush? Positive effect = zero, negative “collateral” effect = significant.
Stupid policy. But a good bumper sticker for the easily impressed.
Ridiculous
It’s madness to build a system on exceptions. It’s your type of thinking that has this country as benefit dependent as we are.
This is good policy.
Instead of sticking the knife in just because it has a National signature on it – lets applaud it as a step in the right direction, and then look to propose constructive ideas on how the savings this will generate can be used to help those that ACTUALLY need it.
It’s your type of thinking that has this country as benefit dependent as we are.
No, that’s the result of the capitalist free market. Unemployment is, quite literally, used to keep wages down. ~6% is the amount supposedly needed to prevent wage driven inflation.
This is good policy.
No it’s not as what it will do is increase poverty and crime.
…and then look to propose constructive ideas on how the savings this will generate can be used to help those that ACTUALLY need it.
It won’t produce any. In fact, just like all NACT policies, it will cost a tremendous amount and achieve nothing of any good.
Ahh – so we continue to pay criminals to prevent further crime. – Nice one Draco!
The problem with looking at unemployment numbers is that it is a completely different statistic to what is actually available. It constantly frustrates me that there is a belief amongst some that they should earn more from a job than they get on a benefit. I have a family member that I constantly argue with over this.
Ahh – so we continue to pay criminals to prevent further crime.
Yep. You don’t reform criminals if you continue kicking them when they’re down – you hardened criminals instead.
It constantly frustrates me that there is a belief amongst some that they should earn more from a job than they get on a benefit.
That wouldn’t surprise me in the least. You’re obviously the type that thinks people should go to work despite the fact that the job is paying less than what it costs to go to work.
“You’re obviously the type that thinks people should go to work despite the fact that the job is paying less than what it costs to go to work.”
Yep. Tell me what the future prospects are for somebody on the benefit? Surely it would be better to take a job, learn skills, and then perhaps get a raise or promotion? 11 years ago I took a job earning $23k pa that was essential to me improving my position today.
” It constantly frustrates me that there is a belief amongst some that they should earn more from a job than they get on a benefit. ”
vs
” 11 years ago I took a job earning $23k pa that was essential to me improving my position today. ”
More dissonance.
Check out the StatsNZ table builders.
In 2001 the median weekly income was $353, or $18k a year.
For employed people it was $566, or $29k.
The median income for unemployed people was $118 p.w., or $6100p.a.
You took employment in the lower half of the payscales, but it was hardly close to the same rate as being unemployed. You could talk with experience if you worked for $6k a year, not 4 times that.
For a start my two comments that you pasted together below were completely independent to each other. I never suggested I earned less than the benefit – I was merely suggesting that I worked hard in a low paying role to give myself the opportunity to earn a higher wage later on.
Secondly – the unemployment benefit in 2001 was $151 per week – and this was excluding supplements like the accommodation supplement. So your cute little $6k pa comment is completely misleading.
Take it up with stats NZ. Maybe their table builder income stats are wrong. God forbid that maybe people weren’t getting their full entitlement from WINZ.
The point was that you ask more of people today than you were prepared to do yourself. Your anecdote of personal hardship is irrelevant, because it isn’t anywhere near the hardship you would inflict on people who are unemployed today.
In other words you took a job that paid far more than unemployment both then and now, and 11 years later you are still moaning about it. Have you ever looked at what you can actually get from WINZ? Calculate it as a single person in Auckland renting. Maybe 10-11k pa with the best housing tops. Usually more like 8k.
I tell people with serious problems getting employed to move out of Auckland and find a provincial city with seasonal labour. They will halve their costs and can wait for the economy to turn (ie for National to get the boot). I used to tell them to train. But the shutting down of the support for night classes, lack of support from WINZ and the eventual costs of student loans makes that too difficult and risky.
Perhaps your ‘balance’ should involve doing some work – research something perhaps.
I’m may be out of date. But I suspect it is mostly because the last person I helped with with this was under 18. And was that before or after tax – chopping even the lowest rate of tax tends to eat into it.
But in any case it is a bloody far cry from the wealth of 23k 11 years ago – which was the point of my homily….
Quite simply you just have no frigging idea of what people live on. Nor do I particularly. But I do wind up dealing with it periodically with family and friends of friends.
However I try not to make half arsed assertions – the net is always there to do some quick lookups. In fact about the only time I do make assertions is when I am needling someone who is. They always seem to love it when I mix in some educational sarcasm.
And working does lead to opportunity. However you have to be able to get work first. With about 300k effectively unemployed or underemployed there are usually 200 applicants for any kind of unskilled work. It is not quite double what it was in 2001. And proportionally it is something like 3 times the level it wa then amongst 15-25 yo. If you have experience around then why pay for inexperience.
Um – the proposed policy is being built on exceptions: beneficiaries who have outstanding arrest warrants for more than 30 or 40 days.
15,000 warrants.
8k are beneficiaries.
58% of warrants are sorted before the deadline.
So around a quarter to a third of warrants will be affected. Warrants that fit very narrow criteria. Exceptions.
Stupid policy with minimal positive impact but definite negative impact on dependents. Doesn’t seem to “balanced” to call it a step in the right direction.
Nice work in fudging numbers to suit.
The policy is very specific in targeting the beneficiaries that have outstanding warrants. I’m suggesting that the exceptions are those that fall within this group that may have a genuine case as you’ve outlined in your problem 2 and 3 above.
The numbers were in the article linked to in comment 29. If you weren’t easily pleased by bumper stickers, you might have looked at them.
Those “specific” targets are a minority of warrants. Exceptions.
Funnily enough, the article did not have any numbers on e.g. how many warrants were intentionally evaded for more than long enough, vs how many simply went to the wrong address, were not in a form that the subject could understand, or otherwise never reached the attention of the subject. That would have been useful to know, how many people living hand to mouth are suddenly going to lose their income because the system is incompetent at telling them they had a warrant outstanding.
I’m not suggesting the numbers were wrong – just your use of them was misleading.
Why stop there?
Total beneficiaries in NZ at 320k – the 3k targeted are truly the exception.
or
Total population in NZ of 4.5m – the 3k targeted are truly the exception.
The fact is that this policy will target those beneficiaries that have outstanding warrants. The few that have genuinely been unable to present themselves through lack of notice or physical impediment will soon have their situation resolved.
You’re the one who said that “It’s madness to build a system on exceptions”.
Now you’re saying “The few that have genuinely been unable to present themselves through lack of notice or physical impediment will soon have their situation resolved”. Do you have any basis for assuming that? Was it outlined in the article? Have national demonstrated brilliance at forestalling or quickly resolving unexpected policy problems?
Nope. You have blind faith and a love of bumper stickers to reassure yourself that families won’t experience severe hardship as a result of basic administrative failures.
Although digressing do you think that the 1% at the “bottom” echelon of society that this supposedly targets are any more culpable or worse members of society than the “top” 1% that pay next to no tax due to trusts, businesses et al?
Sorta makes for an interesting scenario when looked at through a slightly different lens no?
“Do you have any basis to suggest its the other way like you have?”
Yes.
National have a track record of fucking up implementation of policy, e.g. asset sales, mining, roads, rail.
Bennett is one of their biggest idiots.
WINZ used to (no idea if they do now) not differentiate between bureaucratic errors that resulted in accidental overpayments, and fraud by beneficiaries. To the point of charging people even though the beneficiary had repeatedly tried to give the money back.
There is no differentiation in the bumper sticker between evading fugitives and bureaucratic error / failed to serve or notify of bench warrant.
All of that together does not to me seem to bode well for a collateral-free policy implementation process.
Hi Thatguy – to answer your question – yes I do believe that anybody that has an arrest warrant on them is a worse member of society than someone that is law abiding.
And my answer here in no way suggests that the current laws allowing for the loopholes the rich use are correct.
We should ABSOLUTELY be targeting every NZer and NZ businesses to pay their fair share of tax – especially the top 1% of earners.
But just because the rich are still getting away with it doesn’t mean that this policy doesn’t have merit.
I am happy for there to be a reasonable amount of short term collateral to clear out those abusing the system.
Yep, that’s the difference between us.
Because that collateral damage is food for kids, homes for people who did nothing to bring homelessness upon themselves, and failure to attain the essentials of life.
All to get 3,000 people.
And you know what? If any of those 3,000 had actually done anything serious (more serious than speeding tickets), great effort would have been made by police to arrest them and they would have been snapped up inside a week.
The policy you support, and the collateral damage you accept, is to abuse children in the hope of catching a few people who, even if guilty, didn’t do anything particularly bad.
“A further 1397 people were wanted for failing to appear on violence charges, including various assaults and other acts intended to cause injury, and 152 were wanted on sexual assault charges.”
1: how many of those 1400 have been on the run for 30 days? Oh, the information wasn’t in your link? So the link wasn’t relevant then.
2: how many of those are beneficiaries? Oh, the information wasn’t in your link? So the link wasn’t relevant then.
3: wouldn’t it be cool if the police got an update on the fugitives’ or their aiders and abetters’ locations every benefit pay day? It would give them somewhere to look, down to the ATM. Oh, that would be too sensible? We probably wouldn’t want to let effective criminal pursuit get in the way of poorly-considered vindictiveness.
It’s late, fair enough. But that was a stupidly irrelevant link. You’re grasping or delusional. See you tomorrow.
Usually the ones who have been unable to present themselves are the ones who get screwed over the most. Typically they seem to get picked up on a Friday, sometimes get stashed in cells over the whole weekend, and get absolutely no useful documentation before they hit court on the first sitting day. Most of the time they find out who made the accusation minutes before going into court.
Frequently they will get remanded at the court because they don’t return to court (because someone had their address that was current when they dealt with them but they moved). They will often be lucky to get bail unless someone is willing to organize it for them. That often depends simply on who they can get hold of (which is where I usually get called).
Most of the time the evidence and detail of the charge is in another city. More often than not whatever the issue is, it turns out to be a screwup in the charge. And of course the worst organisation for doing this is WINZ. They routinely overpay, refuse to fix it (or forget that they have been repaid), discover it when they audit years later, and then lay charges.
So by the time it gets “cleared up”, they have probably spent more than a few days in jail, quite a few days in court in status hearings while the file regarding the warrants is resurrected and dusted off and someone found who is prepared to say that the picture of the person in the car was male while the person charged was female… Or that while the warrant has been out for 5 years, but in fact it was a cockup in accounting by WINZ because the money was paid back 6 years ago.
Don’t believe me. Ask any duty lawyers at a busy district court. They see them all of the time. Or talk to police. They do the arresting for the court because they are required to do it even when they know that the warrant is likely to be bogus, but they certainly don’t like it. Or just ask here. There are many who have dealt with this stuff before professionally…
But do some research rather than pulling fairy tales out of your arse – it really just makes you look like a bit of a dork to be so far out of touch with the way society actually operates. At least it does to me and several others I have noted starting to try to educate you.
I’d suggest doing a expedition to your local social work office – the local MP’s electorate office staff. They see the ones that aren’t easy and are snafu’ed to classic proportions. But i’d suggest a Labour MP. The National ones usually aren’t that interested at tht end of the job from what I see from pople migrating across electorates.
The most effective thing that could be done is to force the person making the charge to have to reapply every 6 months to stop the arrest warrant going stale. At present the damn things are never reviewed by the people making the accusations or by the police or court. Frequently you could have things happen like paying a fine but having the warrant still valid. Then be arrested for not paying the fine on a extant warrant. They badly need expiry dates.
“Felix – Surely you’re not against these changes?”
Why yes I am! Do you know why? Because it will achieve nothing apart from the following:
1) Causing further hardship to the vast majority of those with warrants i.e. people with outstanding traffic fines, many of whom will have no idea there has been a warrant issued.
2) Driving the handful of serious offenders with warrants further underground and potentially making them more dangerous, none of whom are going to turn themselves in anyway.
3) Giving idiots like you a tickle.
4) Getting John Key’s massive fail out of the headlines for a few days.
All counterproductive to a better society. Nothing positive achieved. An entirely cynical move by Bennett for the entertainment of fools and bastards.
1) So lets fix the “problem” you believe there is of warrant issuing – rather than being defined by it.
2) So you want to pay the criminals to stop them committing more crime. Terrible idea.
3) I like to be tickled
4) Good point – let’s not do anything productive so we can concentrate on something negative
And I love how everyone has to be defined as left or right and neither side will ever admit that the other does anything positive – no matter how much sense it makes
Yes McF that is a good thing. But it’s not much of a slogan so the slow kids will never get it.
And notice how no-one wants to answer the question of what the policy will actually achieve?
Even BV isn’t quite stupid enough to say that these dangerous violent crims (who tend to be pretty good at making money) are going to volunteer for a long prison sentence for the sake of the pittance of the dole.
I’m pretty sure the line “1981 – Everyone knew what side they were on” is a subtle dig at the PM. Good on them.
Nowadays as a business owner, I tend to lean to the right. But as a 10 year old in ’81 I knew which side I was on. As the child of mixed-race parents I was definitely against the tour. Key’s nonchalant responses to questions about his views on the tour (when he was 20) is something that sticks in my craw.
An NZ Herald ad making a subtle dig at Key like that? Hmmmm. I think, unlikely. NZ Herald top management have had one long JK love-fest.
More likely that the NZ Herald promo people didn’t realise the irony in their construction of NZ identity for the Herald bosses. And the bosses must have OKed the ad.
Sorry to bother, but this (with subtitles) seems to be the hottest hits of the emerging markets, somehow. Really bizarrre, but a bloody good alternative to Hollywoood and Bollywood dumb down wood, I suppose:
as much as Michel Telo as a genious Brasilian musician excites and convinces me, there is a “deficiency” of sorts. And that appears to be beyond repair, he may get young kids sing his songs, but he has to answer, where is YOUR loyalty? That is in a social and collective sense:
So I will stick with the Andean revolution down in South America, to be more faithful of sorts. Nevertheless, never neglect the good music from all quarters!
Obrigador only lost the last Mexican elections to mass media manipulation and fraud!
Mexico could well be another socialist country setting an example against the imperial dominator up north by now, had it not been for media manipulation. We have the same shit in NZ by the way!
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This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
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The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. We’d studied Shakespeare’s King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President respectively for the US 2020 Election, may have dispensed with the erstwhile nemesis, Trump the candidate – but there are numerous critical openings through which much, much worse many out there may yet see fit to ...
I don’t know Taupō well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, I’m always on the way to somewhere else. Usually Taupō means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the ...
Frances Williams, King’s College LondonFor most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all. But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection – this has been dubbed “long COVID”. Scientists are ...
Last night, a British court ruled that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US. Unfortunately, its not because all he is "guilty" of is journalism, or because the offence the US wants to charge him with - espionage - is of an inherently political nature; instead the judge accepted ...
Is the Gender Identity Movement a movement for human liberation, or is it a regressive movement which undermines women’s liberation and promotes sexist stereotypes? Should biological males be allowed to play in women’s sport, use women-only spaces (public toilets, changing rooms, other facilities), be able to have access to everything ...
Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University and Gareth Dorrian, University of BirminghamSpace exploration achieved several notable firsts in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including commercial human spaceflight and returning samples of an asteroid to Earth. The coming year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Here are some of ...
Michael Head, University of SouthamptonThe UK has become the first country to authorise the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for public use, with roll-out to start in the first week of 2021. This vaccine is the second to be authorised in the UK – following the Pfizer vaccine. The British government ...
So, Boris Johnson has been footering about in hospitals again. We should be grateful, perhaps, that on this occasion the Clown-in-Chief is only (probably) getting in the way and causing distractions, rather than taking up a bed, vital equipment and resources and adding more strain and danger to exhausted staff.Look at ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... SkS in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to ZeroThat’s one of several recent ...
The situation in the UK is looking catastrophic.Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day. It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start ...
by Don Franks For five days over New Year weekend, sixteen prisoners in the archaic pre WW1 block of Waikeria Prison defied authorities by setting fires and occupying the building’s roof. They eventually agreed to surrender after intervention from Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi. A message from the protesting men had stated: ...
Lost Opportunity: The powerful political metaphor of the Maori Party leading the despised and marginalised from danger to safety, is one Labour could have pre-empted by taking the uprising at Waikeria Prison much more seriously. AS WORD OF Rawiri Waititi’s successful intervention in the Waikeria Prison stand-off spreads, the Maori ...
Dear friends, it’s been a covidious year,A testing time for all of us here—Citizens of an island nationIn a state of managed isolation,A team (someone said) five million strong,Making it up as we went along:Somehow in typical Kiwi fashion,Without any wild excess ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Dec 27, 2020 through Sat, Jan 2, 2021Editor's Choice7 Graphics That Show Why the Arctic Is in Trouble Arctic Sea Ice: NSIDC It’s no secret that the Arctic is ...
One of the books I read in 2020 was She, by H. Rider Haggard (1887). I thoroughly enjoyed it, as being an exemplar of a good old-fashioned adventure story. I also noted with amusement ...
Scottish doctor Malcolm Kendrick looks at the pandemic and the responses to it 30th December 2020 I have not written much about COVID19 recently. What can be said? In my opinion the world has simply gone bonkers. The best description can be found in Dante’s Inferno, written many hundreds of ...
I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or the numbers seem very low please check this out. After correcting send me the URL for your ...
The deed is done, the doers undoneHad I been a Brit, I would have voted ‘Remain’ rather than Brexit (or ‘Leave’). Instead, I have been bemused by the comic theatre of British politics, fascinated by what the Brits actual think and professionally interested by the revelations of the complexity of ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. There’s a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, here’s a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. “The past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Year’s Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. “We are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Year’s Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Government’s investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. “COVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
New virus variants and ongoing high rates of diseases in some countries prompt additional border protections Extra (day zero or day one) test to be in place this week New ways of reducing risk before people embark on travel being investigated, including pre-departure testing for people leaving the United Kingdom ...
Pacific Media Watch correspondent The pro-independence conflict in West Papua with a missionary plane reportedly being shot down at Intan Jaya has stirred contrasting responses from the TNI/POLRI state sources, church leaders and an independence leader. A shooting caused a plane to catch fire on 6 January 2021 in the ...
“Last year ACT warned that rewarding protestors at Ihumātao with taxpayer money would promote further squatting. We just didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it is in Shelly Bay” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “The prosperity of all ...
Our kindly PM registered her return to work as leader of the nation with yet another statement on the Beehive website, the second in two days (following her appointment of Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council on Wednesday). It’s great to know we don’t have to check with ...
A Pūhoi pub is refusing to remove a piece of memorabilia bearing the n-word from its walls. Dr Lachy Paterson looks at the history of the word here, and New Zealand’s complicity in Britain’s shameful slave trading past.Content warning: This article contains racist language and images.On a pub wall in ...
Supermarket shoppers looking for citrus are seeing a sour trend at the moment – some stores are entirely tapped out of lemons. But why? Batches of homemade lemonade will be taking a hit this summer, with life not giving New Zealand shoppers lemons. Prices are high at supermarkets and grocers that ...
You’re born either a cheery soul or a gloomy one, reckons Linda Burgess – but what happens when gene pools from opposite ends of the spectrum collide?In our shoeboxes of photos that we have to sort out before we die or get demented – because who IS that kid on ...
Summer reissue: Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue?First published September 1, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Hundreds more Cook Islanders are expected to begin criss-crossing the Pacific, Air NZ will triple the number of flights to Rarotonga next week, and about 300 managed isolation places will be freed up for Kiwis returning from other parts of the world. When Thomas Tarurongo Wynne took a job in Wellington at ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Ena Manuireva in Auckland It seems a long time ago – some 124 days – since Mā’ohi Nui deplored its first covid-19 related deaths of an elderly woman on 11 September 2020 followed by her husband just hours later, both over the age of 80. The local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral research associate, UNSW A global coalition of more than 50 countries have this week pledged to protect over 30% of the planet’s lands and seas by the end of this decade. Their reasoning is clear: we need greater protection ...
The Reserve Bank Governor’s apology and claim he will ‘own the issue’ is laughable given the lack of answers and timing of its release. Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union said: “It’s been five days since they came clean, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olga Kokshagina, Researcher – Innovation & Entrepreneurship, RMIT University Are too many online meetings and notifications getting you down? Online communication tools – from email to virtual chat and video-conferencing – have transformed the way we work. In many respects they’ve made ...
The Reserve Bank acknowledges information about some of its stakeholders may have been breached in a malicious data hack. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has commissioned an independent inquiry into how stakeholders' information was compromised when hackers breached a file sharing service used by the bank. “We ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland This story contains spoilers for Ammonite Palaeontologist Mary Anning is known for discovering a multitude of Jurassic fossils from Lyme Regis on England’s Dorset Coast from the age of ten in 1809. ...
A tribute to the sitcoms of old? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Yup. Sam Brooks reviews the audacious WandaVision.Nothing sends a chill up my spine like the phrase “Marvel Cinematic Universe”. Since launching in 2008 with Iron Man, the MCU has become a shambling behemoth, with over 23 films (not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University The alt-right, QAnon, paramilitary and Donald Trump-supporting mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6 claimed they were only doing what the so-called “founding fathers” of the US had done in ...
The Point of Order Ministerial Workload Watchdog and our ever-vigilant Trough Monitor were both triggered yesterday by an item of news from the office of Conservation Minister Kititapu Allan. The minister was drawing attention to new opportunities to dip into the Jobs for Nature programme (and her statement was the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Kupz, Senior Research Fellow, James Cook University In July 1921, a French infant became the first person to receive an experimental vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), after the mother had died from the disease. The vaccine, known as Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), is ...
The first Friday Poem for 2021 is by Wellington poet Rebecca Hawkes.While you were partying I studied the bladeI your ever-loving edgelord God-emperorof the bot army & bitcoin mine subsistingon an IV drip of gamer girl bathwaterfinally my lonelinessis your responsibility………. you seeI need a girlfriend assigned to me by the ...
The arming of police officers in Canterbury was inevitable with the growing numbers and brazenness of the gangs across the country – this should be a permanent step, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is unfortunate that we have come to the point ...
Celebrations in Aotearoa New Zealand to mark the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will begin on Thursday 21 January with ICAN Aotearoa New Zealand’s Wellington and online event, and continue on Friday ...
Hardly anyone is using their Covid Tracer app. Something needs to change.As the mercury approaches 30°C in Aotearoa, there is a good deal of slipping and slopping, but, let’s face it, piss-all scanning. As few as around 500,000 QR codes are being scanned by users of the NZ Covid Tracer ...
On the East Coast, a group of Māori-owned enterprises is innovating to create new revenue streams while doing what they love.New Zealand’s remote and sparsely populated regions are typically not the best places to create thriving brick-and-mortar businesses. In small communities miles away from any major centres, there are so ...
As we reach the height of summer, it’s not too late to do a safety check on your gas bottle. The Environmental Protection Authority’s Safer Homes programme has some tips and tricks to keep in mind before you fire up the grill. "If you’ve ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1Troy: The Siege of Troy Retold by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37)If you’re in any way unsure about ...
“We may as well knock on the gang headquarters around this country and tell them we all give up," says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is simply outrageous that violent offender, James Tuwhangai, has been released from ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Ireland, Israel, and Lebanon. Chart by Keith Rankin. The countries with the most recent large outbreaks of Covid19 are those with large numbers of recent recorded cases, but yet to record the deaths that most likely will result. In this camp, this time, are Ireland, Israel ...
RuPaul is in Aotearoa, kicking back in managed isolation to await the filming of an Australasian version of her hugely popular reality show Drag Race. But not everyone is happy about, explains Eli Matthewson. The world’s most famous drag queen, RuPaul, is in New Zealand, the government confirmed earlier this week ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Melleuish, Professor, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong What can we make of Clive Palmer? This week, he announced his United Australia Party (UAP) would not contest the upcoming West Australian state election on March 13. After a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gisela Kaplan, Emeritus Professor in Animal Behaviour, University of New England Have you ever seenmagpies play-fighting with one another, or rolling around in high spirits? Or an apostlebird running at full speed with a stick in its beak, chased by a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Jackson, Program Director, Centre for Policy Development, and Associate Professor of Education, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University Childcare centres across Australia are suffering staff shortages, which have been exacerbated by the COVID crisis. Many childcare workers across Australia left when parents started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Barrett, Senior Lecturer in Taxation, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Rhetoric plays an important role in tax debate and therefore tax policy. If your side manages to gain traction in the public imagination with labels such as “death ...
*This article was first published on The Conversation and is republished with permission* Whoever leads the Republican Party post-Trump will need to consider how they will maintain the rabid support of his “base”, while working to regain more moderate voters who defected from the party in the 2020 election. In a historic ...
Covid-19 fears accelerated banks’ moves towards cashless transactions. But the Reserve Bank is fighting to protect cash, and those who still use it. ...
Good morning and welcome to this one-off edition of The Bulletin, covering major stories from the last few weeks.A quick preamble to this: Today’s special edition of The Bulletin is all about filling you in on some of the stories you might have missed over the summer period. Perhaps you had ...
Summer reissue: In this episode of Bad News, Alice Snedden is forced to confront her own mortality before hosting a very special dinner party to get to grips with the euthanasia debate.First published August 27, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
The contrast between the words of John F Kennedy and today’s anti-democratic demagogue is inescapable, writes Dolores Janiewski I still remember three eloquent speeches by an American president. One happened in January 1961 and spoke about a “torch being passed to a new generation”. Two years later and one day apart, ...
The debate over cutting down a large macrocarpa to make way for a new residential development has highlighted a wider agreement between developers and protesters: that we also need to be planting far more trees. At the corner of Great North Road and Ash Street in Avondale, a 150-year-old macrocarpa stands its ground ...
More infectious variants of Covid-19 are increasingly being intercepted at the country’s borders, but the minister running New Zealand’s response is resisting pressure to accelerate vaccination plans despite demands from health experts as well as political friends and foes, Justin Giovannetti reports.New Zealand’s first Covid-19 jabs will be administered in ...
As CEO of her iwi rūnanga, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer was on the frontline protecting her community during the first outbreak of Covid-19. Now that more virulent strains threaten to breach our borders, the Māori Party co-leader calls on the government to introduce much stricter measures.As we enter the New Year I ...
The Prada Cup challenger series starts today. Suzanne McFadden goes behind the scenes of the world's only live yachting regatta to see what's in store for the next five weeks. At 6am on race days, Iain Murray wakes up and immediately checks the weather outside his Auckland window. “It’s all ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Raquel Peel, Lecturer, University of Southern Queensland This story contains spoilers for Bridgerton The first season of Bridgerton, Netflix’s new hit show based on Julia Quinn’s novels, premiered on December 25 last year. The show is set in London, during the ...
The New Zealand government believes its own negotiations with Rio Tinto will be resolved "fairly quickly" now there is certainty about the future of the Tiwai Point smelter. ...
Amanda Thompson and her family are attempting to cut back on the meat, so they gave all the vego sausies the local supermarket had to offer a hoon on the barbie. Here are the results.I was a vegetarian once. Even the best of us take a well-meaning wrong turn on ...
The Taxpayers’ Union welcomes the call by Wellington City Councillor Fleur Fitzsimons for a shift to land value based rates charges. Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, "Local government leaders across the country should join in Fitzsimons’s call ...
It’s been described as ‘pointless revenge’, but impeaching the president has a firm moral purpose, argues Michael Blake – setting a limit to what sorts of action a society will accept.A House majority, including 10 Republicans, voted today to impeach President Trump for “incitement of insurrection”. The vote will initiate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bryan Cranston, Lead Academic Teacher – Politics & Social Science (Swinburne Online), Swinburne University of Technology In a historic vote today, Donald Trump became the only US president to be impeached twice. By a margin of 232–197, the Democrat-controlled US House of ...
Hurrah. The PM is back to posting her announcements on the government’s official website, her deputy is back in the business of self-congratulation, Rio Tinto is back in the business of sucking up cheap electricity to produce aluminium at Tiwai Point, near Bluff. And overseas students (some, anyway) can come ...
The electricity sector, Government and people of Southland are rejoicing after Tiwai Point aluminium smelter owner Rio Tinto announced the major industrial would be open until the end of 2024, Marc Daalder reports Stakeholders in the electricity sector and across Southland are celebrating the extension of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter's ...
If you’ve been on social media this week, you may well have come across a surge in interest in sea shanties. We asked a veteran of the style why. In case you missed it, soon may the Wellerman come, to bring us sugar and tea and rum. If that sentence is even ...
“It is basic human decency to speak up and protect any vulnerable child from harm, so withholding information in child abuse cases and allowing the abuse to happen by not speaking up is, put simply, a cowardly move,” says Jess McVicar Co-Leader ...
Allowing 1,000 returning international students back to New Zealand is the right move by the Government, and hopefully we will be able to welcome more, says ExportNZ Executive Director Catherine Beard. "International education has contributed ...
A majority of the House of Representatives have voted to make Donald Trump the first US president ever to be impeached twice, formally charging him in his waning days in power with inciting an insurrection just a week after a violent mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol. Follow the ...
The Youth of NZ will be standing up for climate action once again on January 26th outside of Parliament for School Strike 4 Climate NZ’s 100 Days 4 Action campaign rally. “We believe it is vital to hold our new Labour-led government to account ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is calling on Rotorua Lakes District Council to urgently release the engineering report on the public safety and structural integrity of the visible foundation-misalignment and lean of the City’s Hemo Gorge monument to government ...
Changes in income and movement in and out of poverty over time are only weakly associated with higher rates of child hospitalisation in New Zealand, according to a new University of Auckland study. Published today in PLOS ONE, the collaborative study led by Dr ...
With a long, hot summer upon us, pet owners are urged to be extra mindful of their pet’s health and safety. Unusually warm weather can quickly take its toll on furry family members, who aren’t well equipped for dealing with blazing heat. The National ...
The Council for Civil Liberties is challenging a claim by former National Party leader Simon Bridges that people should have total freedom of expression on Twitter. ...
A century of sexual abuse of women in New Zealand is analysed in a University of Auckland study. The newly-published research looks back as far as 1922 by analysing interviews with thousands of women about their lifetime experiences. The study indicates ...
62,686 more native trees will be planted in New Zealand in 2021 thanks to generous Kiwis who chose to go green for Christmas gifting. <img src="https://img.scoop.co.nz/stories/images/2101/cf409712f141732a8543.jpeg" width="720" height="540"> Trees That Count, a programme ...
Source: Council on Hemispheric Affairs – Analysis-Reportage By Arturo López-LevyOakland, CaliforniaUnfortunately, the attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters, encouraged by the Inciter-in-Chief, will not be the last act of mischief. Trump is insisting on causing as much damage as possible to the interests and values ...
The threatened Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will keep operating through to the end of December 2024, in a new deal just announced to the New Zealand stock exchange. Mining conglomerate Rio Tinto announced last year it was closing Tiwai due to high energy and transmission costs. Meridian Energy said that ...
The lack of Māori language or symbolism on the SuperGold Card isn’t just a design issue – it’s emblematic of the overwhelming whiteness of Aotearoa’s superannuant population, writes former race relations commissioner Joris de Bres.I’ve enjoyed the SuperGold Card since I retired eight years ago. I appreciate the free public ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Brumm, Professor, Griffith University The dating of an exceptionally old cave painting of animals that was found recently on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is reported in our paper out today. The painting portrays images of the Sulawesi warty pig (Sus ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Garrick, University Fellow in Law, Charles Darwin University Just over a year has gone by since the novel coronavirus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan and the world still has many questions about where and how it originated. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Helen Young, Lecturer, Deakin University Medievalist references littered the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6th. Rudy Giuliani called for a “trial by combat”; the “Q Shaman”, Jacob Chansley (also known as Jake Angeli), was covered in Norse tattoos; rioters brandished ...
A Whakatāne therapist says the Whakaari eruption and Christchurch mosque shooting reveal a health system unable to deal with mass casualty events. Whakaari after its eruption in 2019. Photo: Supplied/Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust This comes amid calls for millions of dollars of promised mental health funding to be urgently re-routed to Canterbury ...
The spirit of Syria has his throat cut and his vocal cords ripped out but his song lives on
Time for you to go Bashar
It is the song of a people who will not be slaves again.
Syrian did not consider a damn what would happen in Lebanon, the destruction of that society…
…so why would they sudden care if they did the same to their own country. I had been
wary of Israeli claims to self-defense, but seeing what Syria is, without remorse, killing
children… …time will tell, if Egypt goes right wing fanatical religious, we may yet be all
drawn into a war with at least half of Islam.
Oh fuck off Jenny. Your endless one-sided diatribe about Syria and lack of willingness to listen to anyone else presenting a balanced viewpoint that the Syrian situation isn’t as cut and dried as you make it out to be, has worn thin.
To misquote Les Miserables in this context would be laughable if it wasn’t so ill-informed.
lolz yes Syria was a neoliberal banksters paradise…dreaming mate, just dreaming. Western corporates are just sore that they were never allowed carte banche in Damascus. Which is the opposite of your claims.
Exhibit B….
,
Yala erhal ya Bashar! (Aotea Square)
Amandla Ngawethu! Matla Ke A Rona!
Yawn.
Guy McPhersons latest …. he told ya so as well )
What are we fighting for?
Thu, Aug 30, 2012
http://guymcpherson.com/2012/08/what-are-we-fighting-for/
In my latest essay in this space I mentioned two phenomena worth fighting for: the living planet and freedom based in anarchy. I surrender. I no longer believe the struggle matters on either front.
I no longer think we’ll save the remaining shards of the living planet beyond another human generation. We’ll destroy every — or nearly every — species on Earth when the positive feedbacks associated with climate change come seriously into play (and I’ve not previously considered the increasingly dire prospects of methane release from Antarctica or the wildfire-induced release of carbon from Siberian peat bogs).
The climate-change data, models, and assessments keep coming at us, like waves crashing on a rocky, indifferent beach. The worst drought in 800 years in the western United States is met by levels of societal ignorance and political silence I’ve come to expect. I would be stunned if this valley — or any other area in the interior of a northern-hemisphere continent — will provide habitat for humans five years from now. And climate change is only part of the story.
My trademark optimism vanishes when I realize that, in addition to climate chaos, we’re on the verge of tacking on ionizing radiation from the world’s 444 nuclear power plants. L
The worst drought in 800 years in the western United States is met by levels of societal ignorance and political silence I’ve come to expect. I would be stunned if this valley — or any other area in the interior of a northern-hemisphere continent — will provide habitat for humans five years from now.
I’m glad he has put a specific year prediction out. In five years we will be able to see if he is overstating things (I think he is). I’ve seen other intelligent eotwawki luminaries make this mistake (Sharon Astyk springs to mind), and I suspect it comes from getting tied up too closely up with their own circles of information and discussion.
As for his own part of the world… 800 years ago, there were people living there successfully in that worst drought. Why is that? How is that? From what I know, periodic drought is normal in that part of the world. Is it possible that the people who lived there farmed by taking that into account?
McPherson links to a MSM report about the worst drought in 800 years that mentions the midwest dust bowl, but that, and the current crop failures there, are due to bad farming practices. Yes, there is a drought, but that’s not the real problem here. The real problem here is that agribusiness is not adaptable to its environment, and by its very nature ignores nature and what is happening with things like climate and weather. It has no resiliency. Worse, agribusiness and even most modern traditional farming decreases soil fertility over time and lessens the land’s ability to adapt to drought.
Unlike other systems of food production. Here is a permaculture classic. It’s a small project done in Jordan in 2000. Jordan has a similar amount of rainfall as Arizona, but the place where this project happened has much lower rates than where McPherson lives. This ten minute video shows how food production was established quickly using polyculture techniques that are sustainable over time, that build soil fertility, make best use of water resources, and don’t make the mistakes of conventional agriculture like salinating the soil.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzTHjlueqFI
McPherson will be aware of all of this. So it begs the question of why he misuses information. I’m guessing he is trying to scare people into waking up.
Guy may be right, he may be wrong, he has certainly got our attention. I listened to him several times over the last few years, he tends toward the “precautionary” principle. Maybe Guy is involved countering misinformation in a “misinformation world war”.
On whether Guy is deliberately overstating things maybe this headline might make people think.. http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/ As the ice melts, and the jet stream moves south, and methane starts bubbling up maybe a precautionary approach should be recommended. I hope Guy keeps calling for that as much as I hope he is wrong. Polar bears might prefer we were not having this debate.
ooohh Robert. Always a pleasure to read your predicitions.
As the struggles no longer matter we may as well give up. I may as well be selfish, forget about society, climb over my mates on the work ladder, avoid paying all tax, vote for oil loving right wing parties, buy a V8, drive really fast, and then go whale hunting.
We are all doomed so lets have some fun in our final year on this earth…
Robert
Your messages of utter desolation and hopelessness are a hōhā. If Māori thought as you we would be extinct already. Quite frankly, if stuck on a waka with you heading into a perfect storm and you started opining ‘we are all doomed’ I would toss you overboard.
Rather than waste C02 spreading negativity, be more constructive, plant another native tree.
Thank you and well said.
(PS what’s a hoha ?)
The Māori dictionary is your friend.
thanks for that
Yeah, Adele.
Never give up, never surrender…..
after all, we may be facing extinction,
but in that case,
what have we got to lose by continuing to try to do something?
That dire individual that was Martin Luther stated “if I knew the world would finish tomorrow I would still plant this sapling today”.
adele.
plant any tree.
pecans.
chestnuts.
oaks.
hickory.
don’t be shy!
Captain
My focus is Indigenous
meaning natives not exotics
I am not shy just adverse
to populating the Southern
Hemisphere with Northern
Hemisphere plants.
Call me hemispherically challenged
if not biased but I have no affinity
to the Northern Hemisphere and
will continue to reinforce the
unique character of our lands
through native plantings
and spurn the exotics
.
Adele
There is realistic optimism and then there is blind optimism.
One looks at the reality, understands the challenge, assesses your resources and cautiously devises some plans to respond.
The other simply attempts to wriggle one’s head a little further up one’s arse.
Looking about the world and the response to the facts Guy is presenting … which one of these two modes do you see dominating?
I try for realistic optimism – I think NZ will be OK if we put in the necessary changes. I think the rest of the world is fucked.
Tēnā koe, Redlogix
I am an optimist generally. I am blind to the problems of the world but realistic to the problems that I am able to positively influence within my own whanau, community, and society in general. My focus is also confined to the environment of Aotearoa and its surrounding oceans.
The reality as I understand it is that life as we know it now may become extinct but life itself will continue – albeit most likely in a different form. The Earth has been witness to at least five extinction events. In the aftermath, new life forms have eventually emerged in all cases. Also, would the human species have emerged without the extinction of the dinosaur?
Humanity has the potential to prevent its own extinction – that it might become extinct speaks to a complete waste of evolutionary advantage found in human intelligence. Perhaps human intelligence is an evolutionary dead-end and in the next iteration we become as bacteria once more.
Ye gods, we all become colonisers.
Perhaps, but it does suggest an answer to the Fermi Paradox 😈
Aye: that technology tends to advance more quickly than a species’ ability to accurately identify the dangers of that technology.
Heh
excellent reference D. drop that bomb on a few more posts
I suppose this is really just whistling in the dark but the NZ Herald is running a poll on whether NZ should go GE or not….You could go vote against on the grounds that its just a couple of mouse clicks worth of effort and then go back to giving all your energy over to despair….
@ Adele. Your comment reminded me of the Ingham twins busy swimming with one other person ( a boyfriend of one I think) through shark infested seas to the far off coast of Western Oz after they somehow ended up in the water. One twin was constantly whining away that it was impossible etc so they cut the rope and let her drift off. When she promised to shut up and keep paddling (or they’d do it again presumably) they hooked her back up…and all made it ashore and got on with their (colourful) lives…..
Poll is here –
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10831507
57% against GE, 32% for, 11% don’t know, so far…
Its good to see the GE discussion happening. Last week we talked about the govt funded biotech agri business meeting that went ahead in Akld. Later that week that Dominion Post published a pro GE article that was reasonbly flawed in its argument. I posted that article open mike last week. Then on Sunday (at least I think it was Sunday), TV3 News had a peice covering a meeting of scientist who were pro GE. It was a very one sided peice. Now we have a counter argument published in the Dom Post on line today. It’s a good solid argument against the push to introduce GE food crops to NZ
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/7612107/GM-free-means-good-sales-for-NZ
NZ had and still has a great opportunity to be a GE free exporter of goods to Europe. That was the vision of the organic industry back in the 90’s, included within the vision of Organic NZ 2020 but it got lost among the powerful influence that agri business has upon Government. With Tim Groser saying recently that we are focusing less on trade with Europe and more on trade with Asia theres not a snowflakes chance that we can achieve the trade of GE food that we are capable of with Europe. A tragic lost opportunity.
Evolution has had eternity to come up with the right answer: GE is a feeble attempt to specifically imitate without consideration of the whole. The sooner it is removed from commercial interests the better.
+1
Yep and you can even speed evolution up by through cross pollination… The seed banks will be invaluable going forward. Modern breeding is focused on appearance vs yield if we went back to species and early cultivars it’s highly likely that much hardier cultivars can be developed.
GE is not required and will end in tears one way or another, the perils of monoculture have been long known…
32% for !!!
What, the worlds population is going to double….Are they still peddling these blatant lies! Even the UN don’t make those claims anymore. The statement, along with what is a clear threat to our exports, should have alarm bells ringing, because that is blatant propaganda/threats of the highest order!
Du Pont – Argh, Monsanto are involved then of course. I wonder how they will ensure that their threats are answered favourably by “our decision makers”!
This is an issue which NZ MUST hold out on, that can’t be emphasised enough!
Hey Muzza,
Couldn’t agree more that our GE feee status remains. You’re right, we must hold out on this issue. But you know, those bully boys aren’t known for backing down, they always get their way. I’m sure “their threats will be answered favourably by our decision makers”.
As we all know we have weak leadership in NZ and its a leadership that only listens to lobby groups that represent their ideology (short term profit at any cost). We know that the National govt doesn’t refer to evidence and research to create policy and shape legislation. So I’d say we’d pretty stuffed if the biotech groups keep up the bullying and pressure.
Even if we did have a change of govt in 2014 it may too late. The Nat govt doesn’t even listen to the authors of reports commissioned by them (eg addressing child poverty) or the industries it should be supporting (eg horticulture NZ as referred to in the Dom Post article posted above). I wouldn’t trust a Labour led govt to keep our land free of GE crops either.
Best case scenario may be that the introduction of GE was delayed and we got a new govt where the voices of the Greens, Mana and even NZ First where strong. Old war dog Winnie may make ones eyes roll but at least he is protective of NZ’s interests. Many years ago I was interested to see him at the book launch of “The poisoning of New Zealand” by Merial Watts. The book discussed the ways in which we are damging our natural environment due to the over use of toxic agricultural pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. You can’t have that conversation without reffering to Monsanto. So our natural environment may be of importance to him. Who knows.
I do know that Monsanto have influenced councils in NZ. Once again I’m referring to the 90’s. Akld council had introduced safe chemical free weed control in the form of the waipuna steam method. It was a win for everyone. Not one to be pushed aside Monsanto immediately cut their wholesale price of roundup, undercutting the waipuna system costs (the costs had previously been the same) and hey presto, back in business with the round up. Thats just a local example from a couple of decades ago. Imagine what they’re capable of now? Sadly, the spectre of GE coming to our shores has arisen again. I don’t think anyone can trust our govt from keeping NZ GE free.
Hi Rosie,
There are a few key topics, where the rubber hits the road, and this is certainly one of the most important.
The GM issue is not about money, it is about gaining total control of the food supplies by way of patents and exclusions, the ramifications for humanity should this happen, are not the sales pitches peddled by these toxic, poisonous, polluting monstrosities!
Think of it this way, the control over food prices etc already happens via commodity exchanges and the like, and used as a weapon against nations around the world. Imagine what can be achieved once human beings are no longer able to grow their own food using natural resources.
NZ’s future well being relies on a number of factors, one of them is that being that we must not allow GM inside our shores, because once that happens, it will be a matter of time before it is used as a weapon against us too.
Food Safety/security Bills/Natural Health Products Bill (who actually writes these anyway?) etc, TPPA….Its about time people started seeing the links, and for that matter the links between industries, for what they are!
Totally hear you Muzza and I fully agree that that control of global food chains is a priority for biotech groups. If they can make a good tidy profit along the way, that will and they do. The ultimate prize is the endless source of profit in food production when all natural methods of cropping plant propagation have been made redundant by gene technology.
And yes, the food bill, no matter how much its implications are played down are a massive threat to our ability to retain personal and community autonomy over food production and seed collection. Over arching that, the TPPA and its consequences for industrial food production in NZ would mean we are rooted as an independant GE free food producing nation. We lose our sovereignty, our access to safe food and our trading advantages.
But we are asleep and the right wing in is the ascendant. So what are our chances to keep our GE status? Pretty slim I’d say.
Monsanto- a bit of greed in every seed.
Excellent
(Terminator seeds-they wont be back and Skynet checking out IP addresses)
u could make this up
Sunny
But we are all Genetically Modified, whether Maori, Pacifica, Pakeha, or any other race in New Zealand.
We cannot stop human modfication.
Should we vote to stop it ?
I don’t think so Fortran. Not unless you’ve been to a laboratory, provided samples of your DNA, had your genetic material spliced with that of another species, lets say a toad, for arguments sake, and then had that new genetic material returned to your body. Thats genetic modification for ya, not the process of breeding.
Technology will set you free….. or not. Is big brother watching you?
Hackers claim to have accessed I-gadget ID’s from FBI computers:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/09/201294155021237214.html
Feds can find me, i am an open book now
Hackers will always be able to outsmart any govt agency or any private or public organisation or social media. Thats why I don’t use face palm or twatter or online banking. I try to minimise my online transactions as much as possible. I know my attempts to protect my privacy aren’t water tight in any way because the sheer amount of information on individuals can’t be contained by the individual themselves.
But still, I’d trust the smarts of hackers over the smarts of agencies, organisations and social media any day.
The main point that AntiSec is making is that warrantless eavesdropping and data collection by the US gov – a complete antithesis to the principles of the democratic republic – appears to be in full swing.
And we know from Wikileaks – and that bad man Julian Assange – that this information is also gathered and used against foreign states, foreign nationals and foreign companies.
Sorry Northern Oz. When they got ashore it wasn’t all roses either….
Naomi Wolf on Assange
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Commentary/2012/Sep-04/186637-assange-aside-swedens-rape-suspects-are-often-left-untouched.ashx#axzz25Stb7LWw
[lprent: Banned for 3 weeks for idiotic link-whoring across posts. ]
Take note Assange Fanboys… that’s how you write about the issue without sacrificing the concerns of women or supporting rape culture.
Dont know how you read it Weka but here is what I read…(Klein) In the Assange case, the Swedish police supported the accusers in legally unprecedented ways – for example, by allowing them to tell their stories together and by allowing testimony from a boyfriend. But other alleged victims of gender-based abuse, sometimes in life-threatening circumstances, typically receive very different treatment.
I endorse Kleins writing because it is typically well researched, accurate and impartial. In this one she quite correctly points out that:
1. Rape is not taken seriously by the Swedish authorities, they fail to pass muster in any respect to the rights of victims.
2. For some reason the Swedish authorities stood this usual stance on its head for Assange.
3. There is a corrupted standard here (Klein) Let me be clear: I am not saying that Assange…..committed no crime against women. Rather, Assange’s case,… is being handled so differently from how the authorities handle all other rape cases that a corrupted standard of justice clearly is being applied.
So to summarise Klein rightly points out that the Swedish authorities are failing rape victims badly, and she points out that she is not convinced of his innocence nor guilt but suspects some other driver for the authorities interest.
So to what you call “Assange Fanboys” (a term pregnant with implications)….does that include those of us who think that Assange should be considered innocent until proven guilty? Does that include us who say if there if a case to answer Assange should definitely face trial? Does it include us who say beware the real motives of the Swedish authorities?
(It’s Wolf not Klein 😉 ).
Bored, I don’t know if you are a Fanboy or not, that’s up to you to say.
What I meant was that Wolf was able to talk about the issue without saying that the women are lying.
She was able to point out that there is something wrong with the investigation into Assange without accusing the women of anything. She is able to do this without engaging in rape myths like consent given once is consent for all time. Or that sex with a sleeping woman without her consent is ok. She doesn’t have to deny the possibility of rape in order to point out that there is something highly unusual with how the authorities are handling this case.
That was my point in the previous discussion on this. I wasn’t saying that Assange is guilty, I was saying that you don’t have to sacrifice the women complainants nor the larger issues around rape in order to talk about the Assange case.
“does that include those of us who think that Assange should be considered innocent until proven guilty?”
I have no idea if Assange is guilty or not. I don’t feel under any obligation to assume either way. The only people who have to assume innocence until proven guilty are the judge and jury and Assange’s lawyers. The media too I guess, but I think it’s more a case of not assuming guilt unless proven, than assuming innocence.
I find the whole innocent until proven guilty thing interesting because people speculate about guilt in public cases all the time. What’s so different about this one?
Very good article and one that explains the issue in a way that makes sense to me.
Hi Weka, Where is the link to John Key’s support the next conflict gaffe?
Fraudian on Klein and Wulf, both brilliant women. Maybe I react harshly to tags like Fanboys….they provoke a reaction, you got one.
I thoroughly agree with you that “you don’t have to sacrifice the women complainants”, and I respect you have no opinion on Assange guilt. What drives my reaction on this case is that regardless of the crime I always believe in “innocence before proven otherwise”. A recent classic was the recent Scott Guy murder case where the accused was found not guilty despite being overwhelmingly convicted in the court of public opinion. (For the record I think Ewen did it but the jury got it right….there was doubt).
To address what I think might be the major gripe on the Assange case with women is that their complaints are not being taken seriously. That is manifestly obvious. We quite correctly throw everything at murder cases, I cannot see why we don’t do the same with rape, domestic violence, common assault. My belief is that they should attract a zero tolerance reaction, and I don’t believe they do. And in all cases the process also brutalises the complainant (that’s another nasty issue).
“Maybe I react harshly to tags like Fanboys….they provoke a reaction, you got one.”
Sorry about that, I was in a hurry and the phrase just jumped out at me. You could always choose to not associate yourself with the term 😉
Bored 9 1 1
Thank you for the good excerpt from Naomi Wolf. It seems to be very measured and reasoned. An excellent comment in the sticky tar patch of emotion aroused from fundamentalists..
thoughts come thoughts go
-Brer Rabbit
And what is it which remains? That’s wisdom.
wikiped Susan Faludi
coded elitist language
Ipso facto has an entry as well
Yeah, pity she didn’t think to try it back in 2010 when she wrote this. I guess the silver lining is that online feminist backlash sometimes works?
ouch
thorny.
That’s fucking bad. I see she even links to the Daily Mail as her source of information about what happened.
In the article Tom linked you can still see the vestiges of the Huffington Post one – she uses the terms ‘accusers’ instead of ‘complainants’.
It casts new light on the Assange situation as a number of posters agree.
ShonKey’s divide and rule strategy of five meetings with specific Iwi on water may be looking a bit sick by end of next week. Interesting how the piece is lurking in business section online rather than front page given the significance.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10831805
Not enough on the real elephant in the room being Rio Tinto’s threatened closure of Tiwai point if they don’t get even more heavily subsidied power.
The party of big business is getting screwed by one while trying to flog off the silverware , but blaming the Maori’s for the delay is a PR gift from above.
That’s John Key telling business owners that Maori concerns will be ignored.
I know a lot of people on here were supportive of maori claiming their water rights, but was it just the beginning? When does it go too far?
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1209/S00042/wind-to-be-subject-of-next-treaty-claim.htm
When all resources have been returned to the commons, then that will be far enough.
Wow! it sure is Windy here in Hawkes Bay Aotearoa New Zealand
(“tents”-natural falls regretably)
That’s what needs to happen. The capitalists won’t like it though as it means that they will lose control of the people.
It might save the environment: it is blatantly obvious that capitalism requires growth, and that means that it is at odds with the environment. Land guardianship as opposed to ownership is the only solution I can think of. Interestingly medieval land tenure was based upon sustained productivity and output: the job of the farmers was to retain soil fertility as well as produce, otherwise everybody suffered. Maybe we should nationalise all land and base the rental on retained soil fertility.
they have their own gates
Josh, you have to realise that Maori have been trying for over 150 years to have their treaty rights honoured. If that had happened, and Maori had had access to their land and resources for all those years, been able to rebuild wealth for their people from that, they wouldn’t need to be going after money now (they might still choose to, but that’s a different argument).
European society force Maori to drop their own model of resource management and adopt the capitalist one. They’re just playing pakeha at their own game now. To paraphrase Bill, the easiest way to fix this mess is for pakeha to change how resources are understood, valued and managed. At the moment we use an exploitation model, is there any reason why Maori should not use that too?
Exactly weka. Good on Maori for shoving the game into John Key’s smug mug. They are entirely justified in playing the capitalist game of greed and self and maximising and bugger the rest back at Key. I guess though in playing that game they should realise that if they do what capitalists do they will end up like capitalists – and do they really want to be like that?
+1 100%
As vto illustrates, this is a fishing expedition from Josh the, concerned-for-us-all, racist fisherman. A couple of things should alert the cautious reader:
It’s a press release.
The name and history of the person making the release.
The potential for contentious framing of the claim.
Lack of verifiable facts (see: press release)
Motivation for claim (see: name and history of person making release)
Right now, Josh is sitting back chuckling to himself saying: I knew it, maori are just as bad as capitalists, which means their claims are baseless and we are totally justified in oppressing and dismissing all further concerns.
larf? larf i did. wotta u like, aye, aye?
Rankin couldn’t keep a straight face on Radiolive this morning, pretty funny. Said John Key has let the genie out, it’s all on.
Wow, good on you Uturn, read me like an open book, must know my whole life story by the sounds of it.
Great way to engage with new posters.
“lookin for a hard-headed woman”?
I just did my morning round of the opposition parties’ website news (most articles posted yesterday). The following are of interest to me:
NZ First on the government’s problems with asset sales, saying now is the time for NZers to apply more pressure:
http://nzfirst.org.nz/news/complete-government-back-down-asset-sales-still-possible
Russel Norman on the government’s cosy relationship with Westpac, and the failure to fulfill it’s promise to put the government’s banking contract up for tender:
http://www.greens.org.nz/press-releases/national-s-cosy-relationship-westpac-needs-end
On the Labour website, Clare Curran has a good piece on the lack of FTA TV coverage of the paralympics, something that a public service broadcaster would provide. I heartily agree.
http://www.labour.org.nz/news
David Shearer has a post on asset sales.
Andrew Little provides some good info on the makeup of the ACC board as announced yesterday, and says it is hardly going to oversee a positive culture change:
Mana doesn’t have any new posts up, but Hone’s piece on asset sales, from a couple of days ago, is worth a read if you haven’t already seen it:
http://mana.net.nz/2012/09/govt-backdown-a-victory-for-the-people/
And if you had followed the links to the Written questions that were put to the govt, the answers make interesting reading.
http://www.greens.org.nz/misc-documents/transcript-westpac-questions-written-answer
Well, Simon Power certainly made use of his time as a Minister, cronying up to those Westpac folks!
weka, thanks for the link which features the bit on Key’s latest speech. I watched the interview on TV News, and I have perfectly adequate hearing. What I heard, in spite of his adenoidal tones, was “we welcome the opportunity to co-operate with the US in the next conflicts”, which made me recoil in horror. Thank God, then, for convenient rewrites, now I know what I am “supposed” to believe!
Interesting. Must check out the vid later.
Help link please?
Yeah, I don’t think that was posted by me.
Bugger just found a youtube NZ herald posting with a clearly audible cut in the audio track after “we welcome….
yes, KEYISMS like Bushisms (george dubya is into cycle-ways as well)
Lol times. Wonder when its all over for Key if someone will produce a little book like “Bad President”? Its a book of bushisms. We could have “Bad P.M”. It would be a laugh a minute.
Yep Rosie, perfect. Would be like Bob Jones’ book called, I think, “The achievements of the Third Labour Government” which was a couple of hundred blank pages ha ha ha – think it sold out.
‘Bad Santa’ claws/clause
Sounds like “in that context” to me…. unless the vid’s been doctored.
http://www.3news.co.nz/John-Key-misquoted-by-US-State-Department/tabid/370/articleID/268018/Default.aspx
Get your hearing checked then
Great news from Paula Bennett
Benefits stopped for those with arrest warrants
by Paula Bennett on Wednesday, 5 September 2012 at 12:03 ·
People with outstanding arrest warrants will no longer receive a benefit while evading Police says Social Development Minister Paula Bennett.
“Of the approximately 15,000 people with a current arrest warrant, around 8,200 are on benefits,” says Mrs Bennett.
“If someone has an unresolved arrest warrant we will stop their benefit until they do the right thing and come forward to the authorities.”
“In exceptional circumstances where someone poses a danger to the public, their benefit can be stopped immediately at the request of the Police Commissioner,” says Mrs Bennett.
Around 58 per cent of people clear their arrest warrants within 28 days. Those who don’t will be given 10 days to clear or challenge the warrant before their benefit is stopped, or reduced by fifty per cent if they have dependent children.
People will still be able to apply for hardship assistance for themselves and their children.
“Most people clear their warrants within a month, so 38 days is a reasonable amount of time to step forward and straighten things out,” says Mrs Bennett.
“Once someone has come forward their benefit can be reinstated but there will be clear consequences for people who continually refuse to acknowledge or resolve arrest warrants.”
Yeah, I’m with you fisiani. In fact we should just stop all benefits. Let the useless fuckers shrivel up and die. After all, if they can’t get a job then they shouldn’t be on the dole smoking drugs, boozing up and getting pregnant. Bloody useless no hopers. I think I’m coming around to your way of thinking. If I have to pay them my hard-earned taxes then they can bloody well wash my undies. Usless pricks.
Oh I feel so enlightened now
Or if thats a bit beyond even you fisiani then the dole should be cut when the following occurs. After all, it’s my bloody money they’re spending. If they have got the time or money for any of these things then they don’t deserve the dole.
1. smoking drugs.
2. arrest warrant.
3. speeding ticket.
4. parking ticket.
5. drinking beer.
6. drinking rtds.
7. swearing.
8. being maori or pacific island.
9. wearing hoodies.
10. voting labour.
11. downloading porn.
12. being a gamer.
13. not washing my undies.
14. eating kfc.
you’re a wanker fisiani
So vto you support the state supporting those who break our laws?
So TightyRighty, you support the extreme opposite of implied meaning to avoid understanding?
name people who don’t get state support
like tax doging Act supporters ponzi schemers who are locked up at our expense while still having a luxury life style.
The likes of banks and brash who are on the board of a ponzi scheming company and get off scott free
Insider trading PMs as well Fisanal
Double dipping dipstick finance minister who gets the tax payer to fund his dairy farm expansion
Who was it yesterday that predicted that Key’s announcement of the delay with asset sales would be closely followed by a dog whistle from Bennett?
Man this is dumb. I can just see Paula jerking off on this as much as Fis obviously does.
Most people with arrest warrants against them have no idea that the police had even laid a charge against them. They don’t exactly exert effort finding people with traffic violations (the most common reason). The address on the court paperwork is whatever was on their file at the time the charge sheet was made out and is never changed. That has been the case with most of the people I’m run across who have been arrested with an outstanding warrant. Mostly for speed cameras.
And of course the Paula Bennett appears to be too stupid to do the obvious. With the exception of people on superannuation, other people receiving benefits are required to talk to WINZ periodically at pre-arranged meetings otherwise they lose their benefits. If they are going to do the data matching, then why don’t they simply tell them that the police are looking for them rather than turning off the benefits. After all they’re going to have to do that anyway when a person trying to find out why the benefit has been stopped calls them.
But nope. Being Paula Bennett, they will do it the STUPID and inefficient way that just increases the costs to all concerned.
Except that once their benefit has been stopped and there is no income they might get hungry fisiani. You better hope that you don’t live next door to a criminally inclined hungry person. They might just want to come and bust your door down and raid your fridge and pantry.
So tell us, this new development helps society how?
Shearer and Robertson are not opposed to the new plan.
(0) tear along now
And Shearer and Robertson are paragons of rationality.. Really?
Did you not tune in to Shearer’s recently espoused views of beneficiaries?
*best Attenborough voice*
Here we have the fisiani in his natural habitat demonstrating the tendency of all fisiani to defer to the dominant male. Without the inducements of the head male, no single fisiani dare act alone and the group is helpless to understand even the basics needs of life. This often leads to an almost fascist state of organisation among the rodent-like fisiani, where the young and vulnerable of these burrow dwelling creatures are often left to die and are then eaten by others.
Excellence, naturally
(hows that recursion coming along)
sorry for butting in again, me and my big mouth But
U-Turn: imo, just may be Very Excelllent,i dont want to appear shouting so Very Excellllent
Wow! sister may be too kind
me freakin heart is just gonna leap out one of these days
now i better do something else……Wow……..wow………..
see. is not Time Wonderful-space-time and all that jazz
appeeared to be One hour exactly
Wow! Time
-The White Rabbit
And like I said Fisiani, “this new development helps society how?”
I couldn’t care less what Shearer and Robertson say. They’ve shown their true colours.
Rosie, it is impossible to discuss things with people like fisiani.
They are only capable of shouting useless one-liners from the sideline. And then running away.
They really are pathetic little creatures.
True vto. I usally don’t get invloved with folks like fisiani but I was weak and responded to a trolly type. I think folks like fisiani who get all excited about outmoded authoritarian measures being metred out to those they believe are beneath them don’t get past the smug glee part to the ‘what are the consequences of these measures?” part. They just get stuck at smug glee.
Speaking of trolls, where’s PG these days, did he get a ban? Or did the new approach of non responsiveness of other posters discourage his commenting?
[lprent: Permanent ban. He was doing an circumlocutory attempt to try to tell us how we should run our site yet again. He obviously hasn’t figured out that I (in particular) and the other moderators look at people’s intent rather than the “wording of the law”. Sneaking intending to skirt the intent of our rules just irritates us. Because we’ve all seen how those discussions go in the past and rehashing the usual silly conversation about what the letter of the policy says that follows is too boring to be bothered with. We only give indications of what we’d look for and why we do so. It isn’t a rulebook.
It is actually a lot lot safer to just come out and say “I know that this is probably going to get me banned but I’m going to say it anyway… “. Much of the time when we see that people have thought about and accepted the risk we will leave it up. But of course like all of our policies this is merely a guideline. We like people to assess their own levels of risk. After all they may meet Irishbill who is generally agreed to have the shortest moderating fuse in his sweeps…. ]
Thanks for the explaination Lprent……..
Cool fis you’ll be voting for them then
speak for yourself.
tick-tock. Time for stoning
Bill tries to take credit where it definitely isn’t due…
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/09/bill-gets-d-for-science-technology.html
Levin for a rail hub??? Not such a silly idea..
http://horowhenuachronicle.apn.co.nz/
Yes David. And about 25 years ago there were plans to also make the Levin Area a major Commercial/Industrial Zone. Rail a key element. Flat ground. Main Highway. Water. Improved commuter access and freight access.
Instead of crowding more and more “stuff” into hilly Wellington why not decetralise?
OH I agree whole heartedly with you as someone who actually lives in Levin. and the article in the local paper has some good ideas. but as usual Nathan Guy is deaf as usual.
Also good for that inevitable magnitude 7
Mystery benefactor funds the crafar bid.
Chinese bid to go all the way to the suprime court.
This headline is on the herald site.
Headaches not over for jk and his friends.
newsflash: Jim Mora,” pet shop boys bigger than simon and garfunkel”.
I dont think so Jim.
Play some music whydoncha?
cha noe?
-moderation
-noisy apparently
-might get in to trouble….again
imo, RNZ not helpful at times. net helpful.(though i will never forget Kim Hill introducing a musical tribute to a particularly Wonderful New Zealand poet
nothing learns ya like a little bitter experience
now, back to that stoning, could be anywhere These Days (Unknown Pleasures, Closer, Still)
cos u noe wat?…Love will certainly Tear Us Apart
Spread the Love (i confess a fondness for breaking fast every morning with vegemite on wholegrain Burgen)
….o sinner man, where ya gonna run to, o sinner man, where ya gonna run to…..
….When the Stars begin to fall…
Good article in The Guardian explaining the monetary system:
Reckon Jesus had one thing right when he got rid of the money-lenders, even though they got the ultimate revenge.
I believe that many immigrant families finance each other into business virtually interest free but always to mutual benefit.
But hey! What would they know!
therein lis the answer.
tis why usury is banned in so much of the world. it is a system that leads directly to poverty and failure.
they very wise and we trade with by preference where possible
the history of “yellow peril” in this country is shocking
lovely people, go with the flow
At least bankruptcies would destroy debt. Banks are being bailed out at tax payer expense instead of being allowed to go bankrupt. And in the US, declaring bankruptcy does not remove student debt, private or public. You can never escape the debt, in other words = debt servitude.
Doesn’t in NZ either.
That’s the way that the financial system has been set up. Even if you don’t have any debt yourself you’re still in debt because the government will be and you’ll be paying the interest of everyone else’s debt as well and all that interest just goes to the few who get to make the loans.
Any idea why the National Party site is down?
Up again.
Maybe the server had an attack of conscience and killed itself, so they replaced it with one that has a floating morality processor that accepts null values.
It had a worm Peter dunne was using it.
More like his insidious offsider PG, recently banned form Red Alert, I think.
Family_first…. not that vigilant, it seems.
Apparently they forgot to renew their familyfirst.co.nz url, so someone else bought it. Now people going to that url are being redirected to a marriage equality site. FF, still own the site that ends in .org.nz
http://www.gaynz.com/articles/publish/2/article_12242.php
haha…that’s awesome
Kweewee didn’t look all that gay on the news tonight either.
hey macflok.
whats the theme music for the Null values party this year.
FREEFALLING?
Oh dear.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/rnc-primetime-speaker-gave-extensive-powerpoint-on
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/new-zealand-delays-plans-to-sell-stakes-in-energy-companies-after-maori-threaten-legal-action/2012/09/03/c5dbee80-f593-11e1-863c-fe85c95ce4ed_story.html
I was just send this url
Semmes Key has been caught lying again
Talk about conniving and being a liar
I am shocked > NOT
What are you shocked by?
HAS ANYBODY NOTICED what is going on at ACC?
For your information:
Judith Collins (ACC Minister) has just yesterday announced that Rebstock, former head of the Welfare Working Group, “specialist” trouble shooter in many matters for the Key led government, is going to head the board of ACC for 3 years.
That is very interesting, and one wonders, how that will improve the “culture” that went wrong over recent years, leading to many claimants being presented bizarre decisions and having to rather end up on WiNZ benefits than getting ACC. The mainstream media and government want to pretend to us it was all just an issue re “privacy” of information and NOTHING else. That is total distraction and humbug, as the biggest breach of rights was that ACC relies on biased, not acceptable consultants and assessors, thus breaching natural justice and even statutory law!
There are also other “interesting” persons on that ACC board now. A Dr Des Gorman, also a staunch advocate to enforce a tight regime and to ensure that people do all to try and get back into work, he is also now member of the board of ACC. Once he was in some cases a “consultant” or similar for ACC. He also is a leader of Health Workforce NZ, an organisation within the Ministry of Health, tasked with applying a more “business like” and efficiency driven approach in health care.
Health Workforce also works with the Medical Council and the Royal NZ College of General Practitioners, as I heard. Des Gorman has heaps of influence- this man, being a supposed “professor”, but putting his weight behind what this government wants to force through: Getting sick and disabled to WORK! Not just “roof painting” by the way, real “OPEN employment” (market type jobs on minimum wage or so forth).
A brief documentary screened by TV3 some time ago presented him as a rather unsympathetic medical expert, who apparently wrongly assessed a person with serious disability. Well, he later said, his assessment was not wrong, only ACC interpreted it somewhat incorrectly.
It is worth having a look at this short video on YouTube, and in it also features another “advisor” or “spokesperson” for ACC, who once also worked for MSD or WINZ – alongside Principal Health Advisor Dr Bratt. Both were involved in the “training” of the “designated doctors” that WINZ uses to re-examine and assess sick and disabled applying for benefits.
It’s quite strange, how these familiar faces pop up again and again. With Rebstock at the helm things do not look that great for future claimants to ACC. I would be quite worried.
You Tube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCecwuwCHb4
Now are you supposedly “sick” and “disabled” not just FAKING IT, or “imagining it”, he and his mates David Bratt, same as Rankin would ask?
Get a wake up call, media and public, this is very, very serious stuff, which is a matter that should be dealt with by a court!
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/benefits-stopped-those-arrest-warrants
About time
If there’s one thing that’s holding this country back, it’s that the people who can’t afford to pay the fines they got because they couldn’t afford to pay their car rego because they don’t have a job are missing their court appearances.
Yep that’s the big issue, it just takes a special kind of moron like you to get it all in the right order so it makes sense.
YEAH, WE are all CRIMINALS, ARE WE NOT? WE CANNOT ANY LONGER afford the extortion, so we will ALL one day or later end up at Court, for failing to pay our slavery dues.
That is the ultimate goal of this fucked up society we live in!!!
Hatred is bloody well growing by the day!!!
Felix – Surely you’re not against these changes?
Typical nat policy: nice bumper sticker, shame the real world is different.
Basically, the bumper sticker is if someone is one the run taunting the cops, then they’re going to miss $200p.w..
Problem: if they do want the money, they’ll access it via eftpos or ATM. Kind’ve tells people exactly where you are. If they don’t want the money, it will have no effect (except for their dependents who are not on the run).
Problem 2: what if the ability to data-match and cut off benefits is greater than the ability or effort to tell a poor person to come in to face some accusations? E.g. tickets, fines or petty complaints, and the person doesn’t have a phone and wasn’t home when someone came knocking? Or can’t read the letters that were sent?
Problem 3: What about their dependents who do not have warrants but do have bills, and the subject has gone bush? Positive effect = zero, negative “collateral” effect = significant.
Stupid policy. But a good bumper sticker for the easily impressed.
Ridiculous
It’s madness to build a system on exceptions. It’s your type of thinking that has this country as benefit dependent as we are.
This is good policy.
Instead of sticking the knife in just because it has a National signature on it – lets applaud it as a step in the right direction, and then look to propose constructive ideas on how the savings this will generate can be used to help those that ACTUALLY need it.
“It’s madness to build a system on exceptions.”
Well said. Its madness to build our welfare system on exceptions. So you must be against this policy and the drug testing policy too?
Completely agree with this policy.
Completely disagree with the drug testing policy.
No, that’s the result of the capitalist free market. Unemployment is, quite literally, used to keep wages down. ~6% is the amount supposedly needed to prevent wage driven inflation.
No it’s not as what it will do is increase poverty and crime.
It won’t produce any. In fact, just like all NACT policies, it will cost a tremendous amount and achieve nothing of any good.
Ahh – so we continue to pay criminals to prevent further crime. – Nice one Draco!
The problem with looking at unemployment numbers is that it is a completely different statistic to what is actually available. It constantly frustrates me that there is a belief amongst some that they should earn more from a job than they get on a benefit. I have a family member that I constantly argue with over this.
Yep. You don’t reform criminals if you continue kicking them when they’re down – you hardened criminals instead.
That wouldn’t surprise me in the least. You’re obviously the type that thinks people should go to work despite the fact that the job is paying less than what it costs to go to work.
“You’re obviously the type that thinks people should go to work despite the fact that the job is paying less than what it costs to go to work.”
Yep. Tell me what the future prospects are for somebody on the benefit? Surely it would be better to take a job, learn skills, and then perhaps get a raise or promotion? 11 years ago I took a job earning $23k pa that was essential to me improving my position today.
” It constantly frustrates me that there is a belief amongst some that they should earn more from a job than they get on a benefit. ”
vs
” 11 years ago I took a job earning $23k pa that was essential to me improving my position today. ”
More dissonance.
Check out the StatsNZ table builders.
In 2001 the median weekly income was $353, or $18k a year.
For employed people it was $566, or $29k.
The median income for unemployed people was $118 p.w., or $6100p.a.
You took employment in the lower half of the payscales, but it was hardly close to the same rate as being unemployed. You could talk with experience if you worked for $6k a year, not 4 times that.
Misleading with numbers again Flockie.
For a start my two comments that you pasted together below were completely independent to each other. I never suggested I earned less than the benefit – I was merely suggesting that I worked hard in a low paying role to give myself the opportunity to earn a higher wage later on.
Secondly – the unemployment benefit in 2001 was $151 per week – and this was excluding supplements like the accommodation supplement. So your cute little $6k pa comment is completely misleading.
Nice try though.
Take it up with stats NZ. Maybe their table builder income stats are wrong. God forbid that maybe people weren’t getting their full entitlement from WINZ.
The point was that you ask more of people today than you were prepared to do yourself. Your anecdote of personal hardship is irrelevant, because it isn’t anywhere near the hardship you would inflict on people who are unemployed today.
In other words you took a job that paid far more than unemployment both then and now, and 11 years later you are still moaning about it. Have you ever looked at what you can actually get from WINZ? Calculate it as a single person in Auckland renting. Maybe 10-11k pa with the best housing tops. Usually more like 8k.
I tell people with serious problems getting employed to move out of Auckland and find a provincial city with seasonal labour. They will halve their costs and can wait for the economy to turn (ie for National to get the boot). I used to tell them to train. But the shutting down of the support for night classes, lack of support from WINZ and the eventual costs of student loans makes that too difficult and risky.
Perhaps your ‘balance’ should involve doing some work – research something perhaps.
lprent
I’m not moaning about it at all.
I have correctly made the point that working leads to opportunity.
And BTW – the WINZ site states that the unemployment benefit would be $10k per year – without any supplements which are also available.
Perhaps you could do some research?
I’m may be out of date. But I suspect it is mostly because the last person I helped with with this was under 18. And was that before or after tax – chopping even the lowest rate of tax tends to eat into it.
But in any case it is a bloody far cry from the wealth of 23k 11 years ago – which was the point of my homily….
Quite simply you just have no frigging idea of what people live on. Nor do I particularly. But I do wind up dealing with it periodically with family and friends of friends.
However I try not to make half arsed assertions – the net is always there to do some quick lookups. In fact about the only time I do make assertions is when I am needling someone who is. They always seem to love it when I mix in some educational sarcasm.
And working does lead to opportunity. However you have to be able to get work first. With about 300k effectively unemployed or underemployed there are usually 200 applicants for any kind of unskilled work. It is not quite double what it was in 2001. And proportionally it is something like 3 times the level it wa then amongst 15-25 yo. If you have experience around then why pay for inexperience.
A damn site better better than paying to go to work which is what you’re demanding of them.
Um – the proposed policy is being built on exceptions: beneficiaries who have outstanding arrest warrants for more than 30 or 40 days.
15,000 warrants.
8k are beneficiaries.
58% of warrants are sorted before the deadline.
So around a quarter to a third of warrants will be affected. Warrants that fit very narrow criteria. Exceptions.
Stupid policy with minimal positive impact but definite negative impact on dependents. Doesn’t seem to “balanced” to call it a step in the right direction.
Nice work in fudging numbers to suit.
The policy is very specific in targeting the beneficiaries that have outstanding warrants. I’m suggesting that the exceptions are those that fall within this group that may have a genuine case as you’ve outlined in your problem 2 and 3 above.
The numbers were in the article linked to in comment 29. If you weren’t easily pleased by bumper stickers, you might have looked at them.
Those “specific” targets are a minority of warrants. Exceptions.
Funnily enough, the article did not have any numbers on e.g. how many warrants were intentionally evaded for more than long enough, vs how many simply went to the wrong address, were not in a form that the subject could understand, or otherwise never reached the attention of the subject. That would have been useful to know, how many people living hand to mouth are suddenly going to lose their income because the system is incompetent at telling them they had a warrant outstanding.
I’m not suggesting the numbers were wrong – just your use of them was misleading.
Why stop there?
Total beneficiaries in NZ at 320k – the 3k targeted are truly the exception.
or
Total population in NZ of 4.5m – the 3k targeted are truly the exception.
The fact is that this policy will target those beneficiaries that have outstanding warrants. The few that have genuinely been unable to present themselves through lack of notice or physical impediment will soon have their situation resolved.
The bad apples however will get what is deserved.
You’re the one who said that “It’s madness to build a system on exceptions”.
Now you’re saying “The few that have genuinely been unable to present themselves through lack of notice or physical impediment will soon have their situation resolved”. Do you have any basis for assuming that? Was it outlined in the article? Have national demonstrated brilliance at forestalling or quickly resolving unexpected policy problems?
Nope. You have blind faith and a love of bumper stickers to reassure yourself that families won’t experience severe hardship as a result of basic administrative failures.
Do you have any basis to suggest its the other way like you have?
Stop being an apologist for poor citizens that fail to comply with societies rules but expect hand outs regardless.
Although digressing do you think that the 1% at the “bottom” echelon of society that this supposedly targets are any more culpable or worse members of society than the “top” 1% that pay next to no tax due to trusts, businesses et al?
Sorta makes for an interesting scenario when looked at through a slightly different lens no?
“Do you have any basis to suggest its the other way like you have?”
Yes.
National have a track record of fucking up implementation of policy, e.g. asset sales, mining, roads, rail.
Bennett is one of their biggest idiots.
WINZ used to (no idea if they do now) not differentiate between bureaucratic errors that resulted in accidental overpayments, and fraud by beneficiaries. To the point of charging people even though the beneficiary had repeatedly tried to give the money back.
There is no differentiation in the bumper sticker between evading fugitives and bureaucratic error / failed to serve or notify of bench warrant.
All of that together does not to me seem to bode well for a collateral-free policy implementation process.
Hi Thatguy – to answer your question – yes I do believe that anybody that has an arrest warrant on them is a worse member of society than someone that is law abiding.
And my answer here in no way suggests that the current laws allowing for the loopholes the rich use are correct.
We should ABSOLUTELY be targeting every NZer and NZ businesses to pay their fair share of tax – especially the top 1% of earners.
But just because the rich are still getting away with it doesn’t mean that this policy doesn’t have merit.
McFlock – I guess your last comment probably sums up nicely the difference between our opinions.
“All of that together does not to me seem to bode well for a collateral-free policy implementation process.”
I am happy for there to be a reasonable amount of short term collateral to clear out those abusing the system.
Yep, that’s the difference between us.
Because that collateral damage is food for kids, homes for people who did nothing to bring homelessness upon themselves, and failure to attain the essentials of life.
All to get 3,000 people.
And you know what? If any of those 3,000 had actually done anything serious (more serious than speeding tickets), great effort would have been made by police to arrest them and they would have been snapped up inside a week.
The policy you support, and the collateral damage you accept, is to abuse children in the hope of catching a few people who, even if guilty, didn’t do anything particularly bad.
Stupid policy.
“A further 1397 people were wanted for failing to appear on violence charges, including various assaults and other acts intended to cause injury, and 152 were wanted on sexual assault charges.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10828060
Flockie – I’m surprised that you are happy to continue paying these offenders each week to be on the run inflicting more pain on society.
lolz.
1: how many of those 1400 have been on the run for 30 days? Oh, the information wasn’t in your link? So the link wasn’t relevant then.
2: how many of those are beneficiaries? Oh, the information wasn’t in your link? So the link wasn’t relevant then.
3: wouldn’t it be cool if the police got an update on the fugitives’ or their aiders and abetters’ locations every benefit pay day? It would give them somewhere to look, down to the ATM. Oh, that would be too sensible? We probably wouldn’t want to let effective criminal pursuit get in the way of poorly-considered vindictiveness.
It’s late, fair enough. But that was a stupidly irrelevant link. You’re grasping or delusional. See you tomorrow.
Ah. Your ignorance and dumb innocence is showing.
Usually the ones who have been unable to present themselves are the ones who get screwed over the most. Typically they seem to get picked up on a Friday, sometimes get stashed in cells over the whole weekend, and get absolutely no useful documentation before they hit court on the first sitting day. Most of the time they find out who made the accusation minutes before going into court.
Frequently they will get remanded at the court because they don’t return to court (because someone had their address that was current when they dealt with them but they moved). They will often be lucky to get bail unless someone is willing to organize it for them. That often depends simply on who they can get hold of (which is where I usually get called).
Most of the time the evidence and detail of the charge is in another city. More often than not whatever the issue is, it turns out to be a screwup in the charge. And of course the worst organisation for doing this is WINZ. They routinely overpay, refuse to fix it (or forget that they have been repaid), discover it when they audit years later, and then lay charges.
So by the time it gets “cleared up”, they have probably spent more than a few days in jail, quite a few days in court in status hearings while the file regarding the warrants is resurrected and dusted off and someone found who is prepared to say that the picture of the person in the car was male while the person charged was female… Or that while the warrant has been out for 5 years, but in fact it was a cockup in accounting by WINZ because the money was paid back 6 years ago.
Don’t believe me. Ask any duty lawyers at a busy district court. They see them all of the time. Or talk to police. They do the arresting for the court because they are required to do it even when they know that the warrant is likely to be bogus, but they certainly don’t like it. Or just ask here. There are many who have dealt with this stuff before professionally…
But do some research rather than pulling fairy tales out of your arse – it really just makes you look like a bit of a dork to be so far out of touch with the way society actually operates. At least it does to me and several others I have noted starting to try to educate you.
I’d suggest doing a expedition to your local social work office – the local MP’s electorate office staff. They see the ones that aren’t easy and are snafu’ed to classic proportions. But i’d suggest a Labour MP. The National ones usually aren’t that interested at tht end of the job from what I see from pople migrating across electorates.
The most effective thing that could be done is to force the person making the charge to have to reapply every 6 months to stop the arrest warrant going stale. At present the damn things are never reviewed by the people making the accusations or by the police or court. Frequently you could have things happen like paying a fine but having the warrant still valid. Then be arrested for not paying the fine on a extant warrant. They badly need expiry dates.
“Felix – Surely you’re not against these changes?”
Why yes I am! Do you know why? Because it will achieve nothing apart from the following:
1) Causing further hardship to the vast majority of those with warrants i.e. people with outstanding traffic fines, many of whom will have no idea there has been a warrant issued.
2) Driving the handful of serious offenders with warrants further underground and potentially making them more dangerous, none of whom are going to turn themselves in anyway.
3) Giving idiots like you a tickle.
4) Getting John Key’s massive fail out of the headlines for a few days.
All counterproductive to a better society. Nothing positive achieved. An entirely cynical move by Bennett for the entertainment of fools and bastards.
1) So lets fix the “problem” you believe there is of warrant issuing – rather than being defined by it.
2) So you want to pay the criminals to stop them committing more crime. Terrible idea.
3) I like to be tickled
4) Good point – let’s not do anything productive so we can concentrate on something negative
I love how the right wing focuses all its time distracting attention on to a few hundred people tops.
And I love how everyone has to be defined as left or right and neither side will ever admit that the other does anything positive – no matter how much sense it makes
As I said, you’re just distracting attention on to a tiny group of people.
A tiny group of violent and sexual offenders that you want the state to continue paying money towards every week.
Of course, paying money into their bank account makes it easier to catch members of that tiny group. Which is a good thing.
Yes McF that is a good thing. But it’s not much of a slogan so the slow kids will never get it.
And notice how no-one wants to answer the question of what the policy will actually achieve?
Even BV isn’t quite stupid enough to say that these dangerous violent crims (who tend to be pretty good at making money) are going to volunteer for a long prison sentence for the sake of the pittance of the dole.
Wow, C73 just proved he’s as intelligent as Fisiani, i.e, as thick two short planks.
Science is awesome.
http://engineering.stanford.edu/news/stanford-biologist-computer-scientist-discover-anternet
Have a watch of this… http://goo.gl/BDLwT
I’m pretty sure the line “1981 – Everyone knew what side they were on” is a subtle dig at the PM. Good on them.
Nowadays as a business owner, I tend to lean to the right. But as a 10 year old in ’81 I knew which side I was on. As the child of mixed-race parents I was definitely against the tour. Key’s nonchalant responses to questions about his views on the tour (when he was 20) is something that sticks in my craw.
Thanks for the link, Beryl.
An NZ Herald ad making a subtle dig at Key like that? Hmmmm. I think, unlikely. NZ Herald top management have had one long JK love-fest.
More likely that the NZ Herald promo people didn’t realise the irony in their construction of NZ identity for the Herald bosses. And the bosses must have OKed the ad.
Sorry to bother, but this (with subtitles) seems to be the hottest hits of the emerging markets, somehow. Really bizarrre, but a bloody good alternative to Hollywoood and Bollywood dumb down wood, I suppose:
as much as Michel Telo as a genious Brasilian musician excites and convinces me, there is a “deficiency” of sorts. And that appears to be beyond repair, he may get young kids sing his songs, but he has to answer, where is YOUR loyalty? That is in a social and collective sense:
So I will stick with the Andean revolution down in South America, to be more faithful of sorts. Nevertheless, never neglect the good music from all quarters!
Obrigador only lost the last Mexican elections to mass media manipulation and fraud!
Mexico could well be another socialist country setting an example against the imperial dominator up north by now, had it not been for media manipulation. We have the same shit in NZ by the way!
Like new work.