Besides lying and breaking the law, how far will the National Government and our state forces go to please our US ally?
Will John Key and our military leaders condemn our Afghan interpreters and their families to certain death?
Will our courts without hearing the evidence against him, condemn Kim Dotcom to prison conditions which may well constitute torture under the UN conventions against torture?
Just last week Juan Mandez the UN Rapporteur on Torture came out with a statement against the extradition of suspected Islamist terrorists to the US because they will be subjected to a type of incarceration that risks being constituted as torture under the UN conventions against torture.
….. the solitary confinement they will be put in, the lack of communication they will be under, their ability to do anything there, may well constitute torture under the UN torture convention.
“People cannot be sent to the United States because they will be tortured in US custody.”
Michael Ratner President emeritus of the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in New York and chair of the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights in Berlin.
Should Dotcom be worried that these conditions will be imposed on him?
Going by the anti-terror tactics used in his arrest and the secret anti-terror organisations that have been deployed against him. The chances are more than even, that Kim Dotcom will find himself in an underground cell under 23 hour solitary confinement in ADX Florence.
this is just dreadful. there are “hells on earth indeed” -some people want their pound of flesh.
and these drones, 1000’s of associated civilian deaths from Drone Strikes. So sad that it has come to this.
The US now has laws which enable indefinite military detention without charges or trial of anyone deemed (either in secret or publically) to be a national security risk.
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Tucked into the U.S. Supreme Court’s busy agenda this fall is a little-known case that could upend your ability to resell everything from your grandmother’s antique furniture to your iPhone 4.
At issue in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons is the first-sale doctrine in copyright law, which allows you to buy and then sell things like electronics, books, artwork and furniture as well as CDs and DVDs, without getting permission from the copyright holder of those products.
Under the doctrine, which the Supreme Court has recognized since 1908, you can resell your stuff without worry because the copyright holder only had control over the first sale.
Its what PC game makers have been trying to do for years. Kill the second hand market for PC games with copy protection (e.g. limited numbers of licence activations) in order to force people to buy new copies of games at premium prices.
But wait. If we need to recycle more, as the worlds raw material run out, then we need to
regulate materials better. If, as I believe, producers need to take responsibility for the waste,
then it follows that ownership in a object isn’t just the holder. This idea then is more in tune with
our per-industrial forebears, sole ownership of any property was essentially theft.
The whole idea behind legislation, its preventative effect, requires a invasion not so invisible
hand into the market place in order to direct the effects of the market towards social goods.
Away from slavery, serfdom…monopolies, regulatory capture (obviously our current regimes
are in denial about that particular one).
Information should be free, ideas should never be patentable (including genes).
The case stems from Supap Kirtsaeng’s college experience. A native of Thailand, Kirtsaeng came to the U.S. in 1997 to study at Cornell University. When he discovered that his textbooks, produced by Wiley, were substantially cheaper to buy in Thailand than they were in Ithaca, N.Y., he rallied his Thai relatives to buy the books and ship them to him in the U.S.
He then sold them on eBay, making upwards of $1.2 million, according to court documents.
haha, that’s funny.
Of course, what we’re actually seeing here is the actions of capitalism to control the market clearly showing that we do not have a free-market. And the reason why we don’t have a free-market is because capitalism would never survive in one.
BTW, reports are that the TPPA will ban parallel imports.
Watching Nigel Latta’s Darklands program last night was sad and depressing. It was about the circumstances that led to Nia Glassie’s death at the hands of her family in 2007. It looked at the broken families and the cycle of violence.
A question occurred to me… When did these broken dyusfunctional families come into existence? I understand how such dysfunctionality can arise and how difficult it is to break, but I don’t understand when this started. Using the Nia Glassie example, she was effectively killed by the Curtis brothers who were raised in an incrediblty violent household, especially from their father Bill Curtis.
So Bill Curtis must also have been raised in similar circumstances, I assume, following the accepted logic and wisdom around this issue. Bill Curtis looks like he would be a baby boomer, meaning he was born around 1950-60. His parents would therefore probably have been born around 1930-40. Did Bill Curtis’s parents start the cycle? Or was it their parents again?
What I am trying to ascertain is when this destructive feature arose in these families. Was it in the 1950s? Or was it in the 1930s? Or was it the generation prior to that? Once that is established the next questions would seem to be around what circumstances existed in NZ at that particular time to ignite this destruction..? When and what circumstances?
Hi vto – my personal theory is that a large number of men came back to NZ from WW2, put everything behind them , married, raised a family, worked hard etc. Many were severely traumatised and the effect on children was sometimes extreme. Just a theory.
It is a great question VTO and would be a fascinating study.
I am not sure it is a 20th century problem. Discipline, was mistaken for violence for generations. Society as whole decided to break the cycle of violent discipline in the second half of last century.
The Curtis family was more violent that most others, but having a father that beat the shit out of his kids for them spilling some milk was not uncommon at all. It was not considered dysfunctional.
I don’t think it began during any period. I think it ended as a result of the left campaigning against domestic violence.
Essentially child abuse and neglect has always been with us. The ‘idyllic’ 50s and 60s were also a time of widespread ‘stranger’ child adoption, fostered out children and private and state run childrens/teens homes and borstals often with violent cultures. Mental health care was institutionalised with little public scrutiny with elctro shock therapy–ECT and ‘chemical straightjackets’ being worse than some disorders. Priests and others charged with looking after kids were often happily kid fiddling away.
Corporal punishment was the norm, can you imagine todays school kids being repeatedly whacked with leather straps and canes? Poorer kids were effected more as ever, the government used to run health camps where disadvantaged kids would go for 6 weeks and be properly fed up. Some is family bred, the abused as modern research show often go on to abuse. Spousal assault was viewed by the Police as a domestic until recent times, rape in marriage was not considered possible again until recent times. So New Zealand has definitely a dark sadistic past and some of us maintain it is still there in some with the bennie bashing etc.
So while today there is more reporting and social work around abuse and public campaigns that have made a difference there is also more of the factors that promote child abuse. It can be about power too, alienated men and women rendered useless by unemployment and poverty lash out at the vulnerable and feel good about themselves for a small while in obviously the most twisted way.
Yes I watched it as well, and of being that age myself I’m 57 I noticed the same thing when growing up in England. Alcoholism mixed with PTSD and god knows what other mental problems after WWII and there were NO psychologists and very few Psychiatrists and the favoured form of Torture treatment was the Electro shock therapy where they fried your synapses and screwed with your memory. So of course people kept away from the Doctor and also it’s not the image of a Man in the 50’s&60’s to have mental problems. And of course this attitude has just been handed down from Father to son and it’s a destructive cycle.
edit:Damn The word Torture should have a strike through, for some reason it didn’t work.
Hmm, all interesting points. There is surely an element of the old school “discipline” hangover from colonists and other immigrants carrying over to the different norms of today. But it is seemingly more prevalent in polynesian families so how would that have transferred to them so viciously? I can understand how it has come about in families of british background but not how it has come about in the others, and when it comes to that when and how did it arise? We are told that it didn’t exist in pre-european maori society yet it exists today – when did that happen? In the generation of Bill Curtis’ parents born around 1930’s? Or the generations prior to that? 1930’s, 1950’s, 1910’s, 1880’s? When did it start? And then, why?
For the upright will live in the land,
and the blameless will remain in it;
but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the unfaithful will be torn from it.
-Pr 3:21
God Bless Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers (“I Should Have Known”)
How to help bail out Australia with its refugee “problem” perhaps? ….and of course at the same time find a way of legitimising recent POINTLESS NZ legislation to do with those countless waves of “boat people/queue jumpers/illegals” we supposedly going to get.
Nearly missed this from yesterday. Hope Draco doesn’t mind but it seems important to me:
Draco T Bastard 26
9 October 2012 at 12:01 am
“Spin me a brain exchange”, said Dear Leader!
I offer this salient piece of advice to Dear Leader and the National Party; if we expect commitment from New Zealanders – then, as a nation, we must show commitment to our young folk, and to each other.
That involves old fashioned concepts and values such as pride in our country. Not just our flag or rugby team or latest successful movie by Peter Jackson – but pride in a nation that invests in each citizen with universal, free education; food in schools programmes; decent housing; comprehensive free healthcare for our young people; fair wages sufficient to raise a family on; everyone paying their taxes (no exceptions for capital gains, sorry), and ensuring that no one is left behind.
A simple clear statement of aspiration which would suit many, -I reckon.
In the last hour, Winston Peters has issued a press release saying he has evidence that the PM’s office knew about Dotcom earlier than previously stated. Key claims his staff didn’t pass the information on to him?
The Prime Minister confirmed in reply to a written question from New Zealand First that his office knew about Dotcom in July last year.
“In July 2011 one of my staff was advised by Hon Simon Power’s office by phone that Hon Power was declining an OIO [Overseas Investment Office] application from Kim Dotcom.
“This information was not conveyed to me as it was routine,” Mr Key said in his written reply.
It’s the headline story on TV3 6pm news, and Garner reckons it’s not good news for Key.
TV One News haven’t included it in it’s headline summary. It’s leading with the cuts to youth wage.
I’ve taken to recording the 6pm news on My freeview so I can switch between them, and stop and start – flick through the ads.
I would like to know what documentation Dotcom has got from Power in regard to OIO if any and what the documentation from OIO is to Power and Dotcom. As well if Key signed anything to do with the OIO regarding Dotcom.
Different story to what he said in Parliament,where he now has to make a personal statement.Which which will be the third statement ( 3 strikes).Winston if framed correctly can now call him a liar in parliament thanks to Lockwood’s ruling.
Of course the Right Honourable Prime Minister John Key (Knighthood Pending), would be constantly thinking of high level Philosophical Aspirations for his Gated Planet Key, and therefore the trivial matters like Growing Unemployment, National Security Mega-upload, and unobtrusive constituents such as Kim Dotcom would not dare to be referred to him.
Beggars belief John Key. Either Dishonest, or Incompetent. Choose one.
It’s called Plausible Deniability, a term first coined by the CIA. What Key and the GCSB are doing is taken directly out of their handbook:
In politics and espionage, deniability refers to the ability of a “powerful player” or intelligence agency to avoid “blowback” by secretly arranging for an action to be taken on their behalf by a third party ostensibly unconnected with the major player.
Yes. I can imagine Powers phone clerk in PM’s office. The clerk tells a special person. The special person tells Key in a lift or somewhere private. Key nods and says “I did not hear what you just said. Get it?”
The trouble with that is that the clerk knows Key knows.
If the staffer was Phil de Joux (as rumoured) then he would know not to tell Key.
Plausible deniability is more than just “I didn’t hear”, it’s having staff who know the drill in the first place. Those who have worked with Brand Key since he was in opposition (as de Joux has) would know automatically that protecting the Brand is paramount.
Now it begins to work against Key however, as it looks like what it is: a pattern of deliberate ignorance brought about by a strategy of active avoidance.
there’s a reason one-trick ponies are not regarded highly.
Oh, I’ll grant them it was a good trick for a couple of elections, but they need to pull finger and find something else doubleplus fast.
“No-one tells John Key anything to do with Kim Dotcom! Could an instruction have been issued along the lines:
If its to do with that Dotcom guy, I don’t want to know?”
I’ve been thinking this for a while.
Key is very adamant he’d never heard of Dotcom before the raid. So I think there won’t be any evidence to contradict this claim, because he’ll have made sure there isn’t.
With 8 Countries involved and the number of NZ. Government agencies acknowledged by the FBI for their “substantial and critical assistance” it is difficult to believe that Mr Slip, Slide and walk away was oblivious to what was going on.
Yes Lanth. He has always been pretty smug about his denials. But if he was in total ignorance some one or people must have believed that it was wise for the PM to distance himself – at least on paper, records or any traceable means. Maybe a leak might appear eventually to explain the link that must have occurred?
Why. So that his office can decide if he needs to know. They are all paranoid gatekeepers of information. Same thing happened under Clark. Just cos Heather Simpson knew about things didn’t mean HC did.
Mickey I was comparing processes not people. I don’t think anyone would disagree that Clark was a micro manager and is a once in a generation event. but even she did not know everything her office knew at all times. Flunkies filter. That’s their job.
Perhaps. But once your boss is telling the country that he had never heard of Dotcom before the raid, then it’s certainly the flunky’s job to tell the boss: “Excuse me Sir, the office knew” – so the PM can stop giving hostages to fortune.
Unless, of course, the flunky has been told (directly or not) that such information should not be passed on, even after the fact.
I don’t think anyone would disagree that Clark was a micro manager and is a once in a generation event.
May have been a once in a generation event (I doubt it though as far too many people don’t get to sit in the spotlight to be able to tell) but I don’t think she was a micro-manager – she didn’t move into managing someone else’s responsibility unless that someone else fucked up. Just a manager that knew what she should have known.
Flunkies filter. That’s their job.
They filter it down to bite size pieces – they do not keep it from the person they work for.
No they also filter out stuff that they don’t consider important or relevant, and timing and context are important criteria in those decisions. You’re saying the boss gets to hear about absolutely everything the minions know, just in précis. Organisations don’t work that way, because i suspect we all know that huge amounts of information gets passed on between individuals for a range of reasons, but not all of it is useful. Can you say that every single email you’ve received this week contained something relevant to you?
No, but I can say that if my boss ever goes on TV and says he’s never heard of somebody, and I had previously had a phone call from a senior colleague about that somebody, then I would make damn sure I told my boss about it after he’d gone on telly. To save his blushes, or mine.
So … Did Key’s office tell him AFTER Dotcom became NZ’s Number One news story?. There is a gap of eight months between then and now – during which Key has said nothing about it … until today. Until he was forced to.
Your “hear about absolutely everything” line is classic evasion by hyperbole. It’s THE thing for Key, and has been since February. Why has he wanted not to know – or say?
If they thought that the Dotcom stuff was immaterial and Key did not have to know about it then it is difficult to know what he would have to know about.
I’ve called ministers offices plenty of times and passed on info I’ve had no expectation of them hearing at the time. I’m briefing the officials just in case something related comes up and they can use it if they see fit. In July 2011 kdc probably was irrelevant to the pm. I don’t disagree that since January something should have been said by one of his officials somewhere.
No they also filter out stuff that they don’t consider important or relevant, and timing and context are important criteria in those decisions.
Generally speaking, if it’s reaching the office of the PM then, at a guess, I’d say it was important enough for him to know about. He doesn’t need to know all the details but he does need to know about it. Sure, there’d be some that gets passed on to other ministers (wrong address) but stuff about intelligence operations would go to him.
There’s some confusion here- it was not an intelligence issue when either peters asked his question or powers office contacted keys. Your guess i think is wrong. Officials give each other heads ups all the time, just like peers in many organisations. That doesn’t mean the info is intended for the boss.
Bollocks insider. You’re not fooling anyone except yourself. When Simon Power contacted the PM’s office he was giving the PM a heads up on where things were at with Dotcom. That means he was given the information by a member of his staff.
John Key and his staff are indulging in “plausible deniability”. See Jackal @ 8.1.1.1
I wonder if the staff member was Captain Panic Pants?
They could have a the “Panic Pants Suit” on the wall for the next “Not John Key” meeting.
That way he’ll never forget 🙂
Diapers on the outside maybe M8!
The “Protocol” Grows M8!
Imagine the Bus ride to the Beehive!
Actualy I remember that, Wasn’t it John Key himself who allowed Dotcom to buy the mansion?
(i.e. Vetoed his minister)
Would’ve been a Herald Article of course.
If you are going to cry bollocks anne getting the facts right first would help your case. It was one of powers staff not power himself. That lowers the issue down the food chain quite significantly.
It came from Powers office, and went to the Prime Mincer’s office. Where is that picture of the monkey chiefs covering their eyes and ears when you need it.
That is probably the reason why he chose to inform the PM’s Office of his intention to deny Dotcom’s overseas investment application. And if that’s the case, then Key probably had some prior knowledge.
The fact is Power deliberated over Dotcom’s application for three months before making a decision. Is it believable that he didn’t discuss it with the PM at some point?
the US govt knows one thing for sure, having the growing middle east wars as a distraction allows all sorts of space for what you get up to at home. Remember, in the modern Amerika you are a suspected terrorist first and a citizen second.
“the extent that 1021(b)(2) purports to encompass protected First Amendment activities, it is unconstitutionally overbroad”
This ruling has been overturned, then an injunction was won, then a stay was put on the injunction, so now a whole bunch of other judges have been asked by the big boss man to secure the stay permanently and get his ‘lock em up then ask the questions’ law rolling nationwide. Sure it’s over in America so what does it matter right? Not like they are gonna start spying on kiwis, imprisoning people without charges, ask for troops on the ground or start flying Drone missions over here . . .
and business not looking too positive in the land of the long grey crowd either according to the daily fish and chip wrappings.
(sorry Prism, it was “Infidels” by Bob Dylan i keep forgetting to reference)
What a prophet dear Bob has been; The only international concert i have seen was Bob with Patti Smith at a stadium in Christchurch; Patti Smith, now she is as wonderful as Helen Kelly and Julie-Ann
(i am such a man)
-“The Minstrel In The Gallery….looked down upon the smiling faces…”
who read todays Dompost?
one story is about Annette King complaining to the speaker of the house about craig (hamburger) heatley giving incoherent mumbling replies to oral questions.
On the letters page one writer is complaining about Russell Norman getting too much time on teevee3.
Nashnil cant have it both ways.
If they put up up drawling bumblers on the floor of the house who cant make it in the world at large then tough luck.
From the foregoing survey of conspicuous leisure and consumption, it appears that the the utility of both alike for the purposes of reputability lies in the element of waste that is common to both.
In the one case it is a waste of time and effort, in the other it is a waste of goods.
“Theory of the Leisure Class”
-Thorstein Veblen; american economist and social scientist
Agreed, I’ve suspected this for some time now, hence all the belt tightening rhetoric.
2.34 years before some people will even start to rebuild their lives.
4.44 Years after the quake they start to rebuild.
And Brownlee is calling them ungrateful ……
What does this Gnat government actually do for us!.
There, sources report, Huawei readily admitted that it was undertaking such data interception and collection.
The ISS conference is an annual gathering of Middle East and African law enforcement, intelligence and homeland security telecom operators responsible for “lawful interception, electronic investigations and network intelligence gathering,” according to the ISS agenda. A similar event is scheduled from March 4-6, 2013, also in Dubai.
In its presentation, Huawei said that it had this capability using a particular technology called Deep Packet Inspection, or DPI.
DPI is the key technology in high capacity data interception and mining, according to the WND source who asked not to be named but attended the Huawei briefing.
WND has obtained a copy of Huawei’s DPI briefing.
While Huawei’s presentation of its DPI capability was meant to show how it protected Huawei-equipped networks by detecting malicious code, sources said that the very same technology “can be very effectively used to conduct widespread industrial espionage and breach national telecommunications security.”
While many of these techniques are not unique to Huawei, one only has to look at the CCP’s overtly totalitarian history vis a vis the internet (The Great Wall of China) to quickly conclude that they are wholly the authors of their own misfortune here.
But that can’t be real TRP, everyone knows cops are the best of the best doing the hardest most thankless job around for entirely altruistic reasons.
There’s no way the job would attract thugs and rapists and murderers, certainly not the kind of cowardly scum who would electrocute a man to death after they already had him in handcuffs.
+1
I remember when Julia Gillard became Prime Minister of Australia, she spoke of Helen Clark as “having been her role model.” Well, I could see Helen Clark standing there making exactly the same speech. Congratulations Julia.
I agree, but while Helen refused to engage with the vile misogyny that was directed at her (does anyone else recall the filth that was being email circulated in the months before the 2008 election?) … it’s remarkable to see Gillard name it and shame it so very directly.
Thanks for the link. My impression was that the Aussie house isn’t as shouty as the NZ one. Gillard delivers her ticking off emphatically – but it’s in the way it’s stated, and the body language.
The opposition front bench looks a glum ,rum, unimpressed and unimpressive lot.
And Gillard does something I don’t recall Helen Clark ever doing: she publicly and clearly calls out the leader of the opposition, opposition MPs and members of their party for some of the slurs they have directed at her personally. She calls them out for calling out to her in the House that she needs to be made “an honest woman”; she calls them out for the way they refer to her as a bitch and a witch.
That’s the way to do it – take them on in public. Clark tried to avoid giving such slurs oxygen by publicly ignoring them.
Clark tried to avoid giving such slurs oxygen by publicly ignoring them.
That’s true Karol but I don’t think Helen had much choice. Most of the vitriol was being spread in bars, sports clubs, work-places etc. With the exception of the ‘childless’ barb, very little of it came out in the House or by way of the MSM. The ‘Alan Jones slur’ on the other hand gave Julia the opportunity to get stuck into all of them.
Most of the nasty stuff against Helen began very soon after she was selected to be the new MP for Mt Albert. She was extremely hurt by them, but because she didn’t know who was spreading them there wasn’t much she could do about it.
She did come out in public over the disgusting stories about her husband, Peter Davis but it didn’t stop her opponents from continuing to spread those stories.
Thanks for that. It makes complete sense. All I can say is that the slurs, the jokes and nastiness while obviously less personal and pointed for us than it was for HC, it was still nonetheless felt by many of us on the left as a malign, shameful episode in this nation’s history.
What I can tell you RedLogix is: most of the individuals who started the rumours lived in the locality, and they all ended up in ACT. Are you surprised?
these Youth Wages; occupational trenching.into Agricultural Colleges.
Low Wages.What is the incentive? only the stick of benefit sanctions.
Low Wages.What is the incentive for productivity?
Low Wages.What will the displaced boomers live on?
Low Wages.Will keep young people domestically dependent.
Targeting Beneath Vote Majority. How Slippery Is That?
that Lovely Sister Wendy and her Art Illustrations.
Pay It Forward
Traditionally Modern
these “niche schools”. I enjoyed the exploration of the Sikh School from Birmingham.
“not counter-productive to their children” the Head suggested.
They Teach All Faiths; Teachers of All Ethnicities and Religions
Think Kura. (that John Tamihere, his mouth is less disciplined than Hone; arrogant! Wow!)
As useful as a bucket of Dog Slobber – That’s our memory impaired leader – He and his Partys latest edition on the Jobs front. = $10,80/hr Jobs rate. Wooo Hooo economic Genius or what!
He and his fool minions have just handed all Fast Food Corparates a 33% profit increase on the wage bill they currently pay their young workers.
It’s a gift to companies already rolling about in a sea of excess cash. At the expense of the NZ worker.
One has to ask how desparate are these eejit Tories. And what else are they not telling an increasingly impoverished NZ public.
Bernie Monk rips John Key a new one for weaseling out of the effort to retrieve the Pike River dead. It’s a new personal worst in a month of lows for Johnny Sparkles and National may as well stop standing candidates in the West Coast for a generation or two.
“Mr Monk says he got the impression that the Pike River mine was no longer a priority for the Prime Minister – but told Mr Key that if he thinks that the issue will go away, it won’t happen”.
Weirdly, Stuff’s front page are reporting Key’s latest bout of forgetfulness under the headline “Pike recovery revisted”, but. hey, who needs sub editors these days?
I found this article by putting in the search engine ‘john key and bank of america’
It says that shonkey was the head of global forex at meryll lynch as they
transfered enough debt into the irish economy to completely wipe it out
along with the middle us classes and their homes.
Key started borrowing $380 million a week here in nz and i can remember
he was borrowing more than needed, ‘his reply from memory was that it
was ‘cheap money’,what he didn’t tell the tax payers of nz is that he has
substantial shares in the bank of america where he got those ‘nz’ loans.
From observations it seems that our ‘dear leader’ is steering nz in the
same direction as those economies he has overseen in his bankster days,
i would bet that he is still ’employed’ with them as a pm’s job is not a long
one, just long enough to cause a country immeasurable damage,there is a
concerning pattern emerging in correlation with what i have read.
Some good reading on www. mediawhore.co.nz.
Also bank of america bankrolls bathurst,so that is why the front bench
of the nacts are pushing the enviromentalist to back off court action,key
is ‘shonkey’ deep in this as well, what a ‘slippery’ slope, when we try to
deceive’ eh shokey.
I don’t think that Greens and Labour should jump in unequivocally to the Chinese-USA techno dispute. Back doors have been mentioned in the Chinese programs well Microsoft was accused of doing this. And as the USA is trying to flex its muscles over China we should be wary and try to remain neutral.
Unfortunately Australia feels threatened by its closer Asian neighbours and welcomes USA defence, there is a contingent in Darwin I think now, and as it aligns with the USA and we tend to integrate with Oz and sign up for TPP (all done in secret), it will be hard to think for ourselves if we ever get round to that.
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Back in May, Destiny Church leaders Brian and Hannah Tamaki launched another political party. Despite consisting entirely of followers of their religion, they grandly called it "Coalition New Zealand", in a vain effort to suggest it was something broader. But when they applied for registration, submitters opposed the name, as ...
The following article is excerpted and translated from two articles in recent issues of Lutte de Classe (Class Struggle), the magazine of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle), the revolutionary workers group active in France. We don’t necessarily agree with everything in it – for instance, the 1956-62 war for independence involved rather more revolutionary forces than ...
The Pacific is on the front line of climate change, and if we don't cut emissions quickly, some countries are literally going to be underwater. Because of this, small Pacific states had tried to use this week's Pacific Islands Forum meeting to get Pacific countries to agree to ending coal ...
To Limit Another's Rights Is To Limit One's Own: Is it too much to expect senior members of our Government to be capable of explaining that we protect the rights of human-beings precisely because not even the most depraved act can cancel-out the fact that its perpetrator is also a ...
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...
This section builds on Part 1 of this series to provide a theoretical basis for the final instalment (part 3 – to come). Self-determination: law or resurgence — or both? International law promotes the principal of equal treatment and self-determination, which includes peoples’ rights to freely pursue their social, cultural and ...
Everyone was outraged yesterday to learn that the Christchurch shooting accused had been able to send mail from prison to his Nazi fans, apparently pushing more hate. "How could this possibly happen", people asked. Simple: because New Zealand is a civilised country, and so we let prisoners send and receive ...
If we are to avoid dangerous anthropogenic climate change, we need to rapidly decarbonise our transport fleet. The good news: its starting to happen:The number of electric vehicles on New Zealand's roads have nearly tripled in the past two years. There are currently 15,453 registered electric vehicles (EVs), up ...
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
AN OPEN LETTER FOR SIGN ON BY ORGANISATIONS AND MOVEMENTS ACROSS THE WORLD, ALLIED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST INEQUALITY. This letter was released at the UN Political Forum on 9 July, where the Sustainable Development Goal on inequality was reviewed. The purpose of the letter is to call out the ...
We asked a young gay science student and critic of trans ideology and the trans activists’ assault on women’s and gay rights to outline his views on Redline. Thanks to him for his article. by Cian Ó Catháin Gender identity ideology (Gender ID) is ripping through western society at full ...
The Environment Committee is currently hearing submissions on the Zero Carbon Bill, and Stuff is reporting on the submissions. Today, they're covering yesterday they heard from "NZ" Steel:NZ Steel has told MPs it may be forced to close with the loss of thousands of jobs if changes aren't made to ...
Students are striking against climate change on September 27. And this time, they're asking everyone to join them:Students are taking to the streets, beaches and parks on 27 September, and we're inviting everyone to join us. That's right, this is an intergenerational issue, and you're all invited to put pressure ...
Peter McKenzie has a piece on Newsroom this morning about how local body politics is awash with property developer cash. 70% of all the donations in the 2016 Wellington mayoral election came from property developers. And its pretty obvious what they want in exchange:That’s particularly important in local government, according ...
Source: Unknown, twitter user Recently, I wrote a (relatively) short paper titled as above, to explore what self-determination could like in a practical sense. Maybe I’m a bit of an international trade truther or something, but I absolutely believe trade is at the heart of achieving peace and self-determination. Since ...
In the 1960s, after I had graduated with a first-class Oxford postgraduate law degree, I joined the British Foreign Office as the top entrant of my year. There, I worked for a couple of years on European affairs and was eventually posted to the Embassy in Brussels. After this exposure ...
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...
I heard a 45 minute interview with Monica Lewinsky talking to TED’s Chris Anderson on BBC Radio 4 over the weekend, and have listened to it another two times out walking. I recommend it. Highly. Man, I am so impressed with how this woman has integrated her life experiences and ...
Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind: how good intentions and bad ideas are setting up a generation for failure, London, Penguin, 2019, 352pp; reviewed by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s book The Coddling of the American Mind is a timely book, whose ...
When the Justice Committee reported back on the Administration of Justice (Reform of Contempt of Court) Bill, free speech advocates breathed a sigh of relief. As originally introduced, the Bill reitered the ancient offence of "scandalising the court" - basicly, a special sedition law protecting judges from criticism. The select ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. Since then - crickets. Which raises the obvious question: are they actually going to do this, ...
Back in March, the Ministry of Justice conducted a public consultation exercise on whether to hold a review of the Official Information Act. 285 people submitted on it. Now, Stuff has trawled through those submissions, and the case for reform is strong:The Justice Ministry asked Kiwis what they thought was ...
National's prisoner voting ban has gone down as one of the worst laws in New Zealand history. Passed after a farcical debate (including this farcial speech from ACT MP Hilary Calvert), it has subsequently been found to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act by the High Court, Court ...
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...
by Daphna Whitmore US social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt spoke on 1 August in Auckland to a crowd of around one thousand people. He is best known for his bookThe Coddling of the American Mind which examines the new climate of trigger warnings and acute sensitivity of Gen Z. ...
What an extraordinarily depressing experience it is to be compelled to watch, at 12,000 miles distance, the contortions and machinations of the British political class as they set about their determined attempt to overturn the decision taken by the British people that they wish to leave the European Union. The ...
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...
by Don Franks Way back when British guitar virtuoso Joe Brown was a beginning session guy he got to back a visiting American artist. Young Joe was an able technician but had yet to learn some points of professionalism. Part way through “Five foot high and rising” Joe tired of ...
Since scientists started studying climate change, they have warned that it will reduce food production. And now, its happening:The climate crisis is damaging the ability of the land to sustain humanity, with cascading risks becoming increasingly severe as global temperatures rise, according to a landmark UN report compiled by some ...
The Abortion Legislation Bill just passed its first reading, 94-23. Its a far bigger margin than I expected, even allowing for the Winston factor, and it reflects the overwhelming support there is in this country for reform. but that support isn't a new thing - it has existed for literally ...
The Justice Committee has called for submissions on the Referendums Framework Bill. The Bill does what it says on the label - establishes a framework for referenda. Things you may want to address in your submission: Whether the bill should apply only at the 2020 election, or whether it should ...
The Thompson and Clark / MBIE spying scandal continues to result in fallout, this time in the form of a report on the implementation of MBIE's "Operation Exploration", its internal operation to enforce the infamous Anadarko Amendment which criminalised protests against the oil industry. MBIE's enforcement operation was tainted by ...
So, Winston Peters is defending his last-minute demand for a referendum on abortion by claiming he was "blindsided" by the bill. Really? The bill is a government bill. It has been working through the cabinet approval process since December last year. As part of that process, NZ First was consulted, ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
Last week, the ongoing democracy protests in Hong Kong saw a pro-Hong Kong student assaulted at the University of Auckland. The Chinese consulate in Auckland followed this up with a press release "express[ing] its appreciation to the students for their spontaneous patriotism" - effectively condoning the assault and inciting further ...
Only those who close their eyes and minds to the evidence can still be in any doubt that we are facing a climate change crisis. The evidence is conclusive that the world is not only getting inexorably hotter, but also that the rising temperatures are creating a number of other ...
Rural communities are wailing about forestry conversions "taking land out of production" and putting it into locking up carbon. Its driven purely by economics: there's more money and lower costs in carbon than in sheep or beef, and if carbon prices rise, there'll be more net money than dairy even. ...
This week, the government introduced its (underwhelming) Abortion Legislation Bill. And despite having negotiated the text of the bill through the coalition process, Winston Peters is now suggesting that he will demand a referendum on it:NZ First leader Winston Peters has hinted that his party may only support the Government's ...
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...
Last night the police dramatically incresed their numbers at Ihumātao, shoving over protestors and threatening them with arrest. Despite police talk about the need to maintain "public order" and prevent a "breach of the peace", there appeared to be absolutely no justification for this: the protest camp is, was, and ...
A Cult, that many actors, politicians, and those with a low IQ are joining is sweeping across civilisation, with one main intention – ending humans reign on Earth. Starting as a well meaning though deeply flawed theory, that the Earth was warming due to mankind emitting greenhouse gasses, it was ...
Today's abortion reform announcement is just the latest in a long line of disappointing decisions or outright failures from the Labour government. The 90-day law. KiwiBuild. A capital gains tax. Climate change. Every time they make one of those decisions, we hope for better next time. No repeal of the ...
The Greens used their party conference over the weekend to push for a rent-to-own scheme, where people would be able to work towards home ownership by renting from the government. Its a sensible policy, and one which could make a real difference to home ownership rates. But its also basicly ...
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...
Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the report of the Small Business Council will help maintain the momentum for innovation and improvements in the sector. Mr Nash has thanked the members of the Small Business Council (SBC) who this week handed over their report, Empowering small businesses to aspire, succeed ...
Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance and its nationwide sister group the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is slamming Auckland Mayor Phil Goff for his comments today that John Tamihere would need the Government’s support to ...
A ‘one size fits all’, inflexible and punitive regulatory regime for water quality just gets backs - and costs - up and most importantly will not work, Federated Farmers says. ...
Mediation yesterday between secondary principals and the government has resulted in a deal that the principals' negotiating team is recommending to its members. ...
Clubs New Zealand welcomes the decision of Justice Minister Andrew Little to put forward a bill amending the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act to allow all licensed premises to remain open for Rugby World Cup matches. ...
The Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation has ordered a review looking at labelling of added sugars in food and drinks. An option under investigation is ‘a pictorial approach applied to sugary beverages / sugar-sweetened beverages’ ...
Labour market data released by Statistics New Zealand today indicates that a gender pay gap persists in New Zealand, despite improvement in some areas. ...
In the midst of the 6th Great Extinction Event the coalition, STOP Trashing Our Planet is urging voters to take full responsibility for the legacy we are leaving our children. ...
LGNZ will carefully consider the proposed National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) to assess if it meets the Government’s aim of enabling urban development or simply adds more red tape to the planning process. ...
Statistics out today from the Government show that the gender wage imbalance, or gap, in the average wage is 11.9%, a strong 2 percentage point improvement from 13.9% last year. The gender pay imbalance in the median wage is 9.3%. ...
Newstalk ZB Drive host and Herald on Sunday columnist Heather du Plessis-Allan is taking on the challenge of keeping 2019 Auckland Mayoral contenders Phil Goff and John Tamihere in line and on point in tonight’s live NZ Herald Newstalk ZB debate. ...
After twenty years Napier residents have endured heavy sleep and health disruptive noise and air pollution from freight trucks gridlock operations to and from the Napier port and other regions. ...
The EMA says much is riding on the board and chief executive of the new National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) announced by Infrastructure Minister Hon Shane Jones today, with a difficult task ahead to deliver on its purpose. ...
The Public Service Association welcomes the introduction of workplace standards by the State Services Commission that make it clear public services should expect positive and safe workplaces. ...
The Financial Services Federation (FSF) - the voice of responsible lenders and leasing companies - and FinCap - working with consumers facing financial hardship - are signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) this Thursday 22 August in Auckland. It will ...
Wellington, 20 August 2019 — Lawyers for Vulnerable New Zealanders (LVNZ) has lent its support to the amendments proposed by MP Chris Penk to better protect vulnerable people from being coerced to end their lives under the End of Life Choice Bill, currently ...
The Government’s decision to establish and independent Parliamentary Budget Office, outside of Treasury, is a taxpayer victory and will improve democracy, says the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union . Taxpayers' Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “It's ...
The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the cost-benefit analysis prepared by Ministry of Transport and used to advise Ministers on the Government’s Clean Car Standard and ‘Feebate’ policies has serious flaws which undermine justifications for the ...
The Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) welcomes new proposals for prison reform put forward by the Minister of Corrections and non-government organisations recently. ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has called on the nation to address all forms of racism and not to shy away from an honest conversation about where it’s taking hold. The call comes after the Nelson Club decided to keep a member after his comments became ...
Wellington (20 August 2019): The New Zealand Initiative enthusiastically welcomes the Coalition Government’s announcement of an Independent Parliamentary Budget Office. Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Associate Finance Minister James Shaw ...
Drs Say No agree with Chris Penk’s amendment to protect vulnerable patients from coercion, although the organisation still maintains that no safe euthanasia legislation can ever be drafted and continues to urge MPs to defeat the End of Life Choice Bill. ...
The Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier says the Northland Regional Corrections Facility is persisting with policies that are preventing it from achieving its full potential. ...
The second national hui in the Māori-led Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki concluded yesterday ahead of schedule after a capacity audience formally ratified the terms of reference that determines the scope and purpose of the independent investigation ...
Forest & Bird says WWF-NZ's plan for protecting Māui dolphins is based on testing unproven methods on a species that is almost extinct, and is urging the Government to reject the proposal. ...
Primary and intermediate school principals have voted to accept a new settlement from the Ministry of Education, which includes entrenched pay parity with secondary principals. ...
Police acknowledge the findings of the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) report into the 2014 search of a property belonging to Nicky Hager. ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that the Police's unlawful search of Nicky Hager's property in October 2014 resulted from an unwitting neglect of duty and did not amount to misconduct by any individual officer. Police policy at the ...
Tuesday, August 20: Greenpeace has labeled an overnight announcement by fishing company Sanford as a danger to Māui and Hector’s dolphins, and is calling on the Government to reject the ‘Sanford Plan’ immediately. ...
World Animal Protection describes an overnight announcement (19 August, embargoed until 6am 20 August), by fishing company Sanford as a cynical move to undermine growing support for full habitat protection for Māui and Hector’s dolphins. They called ...
When the combined tax on fuel hits over 50 percent in some parts of the country, it is hypocritical for the Government to blame corporates, says the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union . ...
A leading expert in suicide prevention has urged MPs not to confuse suicide with assisted dying as they consider the second reading of the End of Life Choice Bill. ...
Over the weekend Māoridom arrived in the Waikato for the annual Koroneihana Celebrations. Yesterday almost 300 attended a Hui in Hamilton to continue the Oranga Tamariki Review led by an independent Māori panel to coincide with the Koroneihana. The Hui confirmed ...
The Council of Licenced Firearm Owners (COLFO) says the newly issued ‘price list’ for compensation of banned firearms reveals that haste in preparing the ban has led to an underestimation of the number of affected firearms and their value. ...
Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis has admitted parts of the prison system are “extremely racist” and says that’s why the Government is asking Māori to work with it to make changes. ...
Ongoing drug-test sanctions contradicts Government’s rhetoric on drugs Reports that two-thirds of beneficiaries who fail drug tests are still having their benefit sanctioned contradicts the Government’s so-called health approach to drugs. Auckland ...
An Auckland Homelessness Collective is optimistic extra government support for sustaining tenancies signals a commitment to a multi-pronged approach to tackling homelessness. ...
Wanaka-based trust ONE New Zealand will be hosting six days of talks, workshops and hands-on activities with local and national experts to educate, inspire and enable grassroots action towards a sustainable future. ...
In last week’s episode of Politics in Full Sentences, David, Brooke and Ruwan discussed why Jacinda Ardern has been lecturing our friends overseas, why Andrew Little called ACT's three strikes law “fascism”, whether he will give prisoners the right to ...
“Community safety must be the paramount consideration when releasing an offender, and the only way for that to be achieved is for the offender to acknowledge their crimes.” ...
“District Health Boards are failing to foster a culture of distributed clinical leadership, despite its demonstrated benefits to the sector,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). ...
Ratepayers around Auckland were spitting out their morning coffees listening to Phil Goff’s incredible claims on breakfast radio today that this election is about ‘honesty’ and that Aucklanders can trust him on his promises. Auckland Ratepayers’ ...
By Michael Andrew Journalists across Papua New Guinea have spoken out in support of EMTV news director Neville Choi after his “unacceptable” termination from a role he had held for six years. A public statement released on Monday listed the reasons for his termination, one of which was his ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Camellia Webb-Gannon, Lecturer, University of Wollongong Last weekend, the Indonesian police took 43 West Papuan students into custody for allegedly disrespecting the Indonesian flag during an independence day celebration (an allegation the students deny). Police stormed the students’ dorm and used teargas ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Natalie Klein, Professor, UNSW Prime Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed that Australia will lend military support to protect shipping in the Middle East. The commitment has been long expected, with Australia sending a frigate, an aircraft and some headquarters staff as part ...
By Johnny Blades of RNZ Pacific Protests are spreading in Indonesia-ruled West Papua in response to harassment of Papuans during explosive incidents in Javanese cities last week. Indonesia’s president has urged calm after some of the protests turned violent, but he’s been criticised for not directly addressing a festering ...
This year marks the 15th anniversary of the karaoke game that introduced an entire generation to the horrors of ‘Downtown’ by Petula Clark. Jordan Hamel ranks all 30 songs from SingStar v1, from worst to best.Before my generation was old enough to get smashed on reasonably priced Merlot and wander ...
After a decade of making music, Sons of Zion are still refusing to settle into a genre. They sit down to talk about the joys of pop music and te reo Māori, and why a “reggae” band can do both.In 2009 Sons of Zion released their debut album, a self-titled ...
The government is directing councils to loosen up their planning rules, allowing cities to grow both up and out, in a bid to solve the housing crisis. ...
New Zealand’s largest construction company and controversial owner of the disputed Ihumātao land near Auckland airport has made a $164m profit, a big turnaround from its losses last year. Business editor Maria Slade analyses what it all means.What has Fletcher Building announced?The construction and building products company with operations on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Australia will commit a frigate, an aircraft and some headquarters staff to an American-led freedom of navigation operation in the Middle East. Scott Morrison, announcing the long-expected commitment at a Canberra news conference on Wednesday, ...
The local sharemarket has taken an unexpected beating this morning driven by investor disappointment about the performance of the top stock - A2 Milk. ...
Sometimes, less is more. Even when it comes to Quentin Tarantino (Warning: Contains mild spoilers).Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is an impressive film. It’s got great acting, stunning visuals, and a twist ending, all laced with the sort of attention to detail you’d expect from the nuttiest of film ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Beeson, Professor of International Politics, University of Western Australia Populism and environmentalism are words seldom seen in the same sentence. One is associated predominantly with nationalists and charismatic leaders of “real people”, the other with broadly-based collective action to address the ...
Who makes up the royal ‘we’? Lana Lopesi reviews a massive show at ST PAUL St Gallery in Auckland that investigates questions of community, culture and conflict.How to Live Together at ST PAUL St Gallery could hardly have been better timed, opening just days before the protection of Ihumātao in ...
The first week of Celebrity Treasure Island had it all – mud, vomit and coconut brassieres. Alex Casey ranks the celebrity contestants vying to win $100,000 for their chosen charity. It’s 2019 and mostly everything is bad, so I am choosing to focus on the positives of Celebrity Treasure Island NZ. ...
The government is directing councils to loosen up their planning rules, allowing cities to grow both up and out, in a bid to solve the housing crisis. ...
Australia's big banks may have to make do with less money from their New Zealand operations, as Australia's banking regulator moves to improve their financial strength. ...
The anti-1080 lobby has made a martyr out of kea, but that ignores another salient fact: kea survival in large part depends on pest control. Dave Hansford explores on the challenge to balance pest control with conservation.In April this year, Zero Invasive Predators (ZIP) announced that two kea had died ...
Fletcher Building has posted a solid full year profit but continues to be dogged by a weak Australian housing market and underperformance in some of its businesses there. ...
Work obsessed drone Alex Braae assesses whether shutting himself up in a dark room will allow some semblance of normality on a day off.It is a sad fact of life that many of us spend alarmingly large chunks of it working. The relationship is like quicksand: as we spend more ...
Inspired by the ethos of food-rescue organisation Kaibosh, chef Kelda Hains looked to the past to champion unloved ingredients and showcase clever waste-minimising techniques at her All Taste, No Waste dinner during Visa Wellington On a Plate. Ever glanced at those supermarket bags of pre-cut broccoli florets and wondered what happens ...
Dr Bryce EdwardsCould the most interesting aspect of the current local government elections turn out to be generational change? At the moment, there is a surge of media and activist focus on younger candidates standing for office. It suddenly seems to be “cool” again to want to be a ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Petrol prices Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Don’t be surprised if petrol study ends in a deal, ...
Jacinda Ardern’s election campaign was high on hope but this Government should remember that those who encourage what cannot be achieved are quickly found out. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Professor Tim Bentley, Director of Research, professor of Work and Organisation, Massey University According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the workplace can be a positive force for improving mental health. But many workers are exposed to work environments that are damaging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne Alan Jones’s political power is to a large extent based on a self-fulfilling prophecy: politicians believe he can shift votes, so they pay homage to him, which adds ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rosemary Stanton, Visiting Fellow, School of Medical Sciences, UNSW Research Checks interrogate newly published studies and how they’re reported in the media. The analysis is undertaken by one or more academics not involved with the study, and reviewed by another, to make ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Associate Professor Ralph Brougham Chapman, Director, Environmental Studies, Victoria University of Wellington CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Salvatore Babones, Associate Professor, University of Sydney Australia’s leading universities are now looking to India in search of new sources of international students. This comes amid worries they may have reached a “China max” – no more room for growth in Chinese ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Couch, Senior Lecturer – Youth Work and International Development, Australian Catholic University One of the biggest challenges young people of refugee background face in their new country is finding safe, affordable and appropriate housing. Yet this is central to social inclusion ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Sheil, Visiting Senior Fellow in History, UNSW The results of the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics biennial survey of income and wealth met have met with an uneven response, perhaps in part due to a slipshod press release. Released with the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christina Lee, Senior Lecturer in Literary and Cultural Studies, Curtin University This story contains spoilers for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. While promoting Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at the Cannes Film Festival, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino was asked why Margot ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: National cries foul over parliamentary costing unit idea, Ngawha Prison heavily criticised in report, and fuel market study confirms prices are high.The government have announced a recommendation to create an official, independent parliamentary costing unit, reports the NZ Herald.The aim is to ...
Phil Goff and John Tamihere are into round 10 of 23 debates planned before the mayoral election in October, and they're punching hard, not resting on the ropes or pulling eachother into dull political clinches. ...
Open mike 09/10/2012 
That's the only way to describe the government's plans for a Parliamentary Budget Office to allow opposition parties to get an independent costing of their policies. When the idea was first floated back in 2016 as an office within Treasury, I thought that wasn't independent enough and argued that it ...12 hours ago
Television advertising has a huge impact on our lives. Even if we don’t recognise that, we know it has to be true, since otherwise why would advertisers spend so much on it? Its significance, however, is greater than simply the influence it has on what we purchase and consume. It ...18 hours ago
by Jan Rivers More than 30 years ago a Commission of Inquiry was held in New Zealand to investigate, amongst other things, whether women with cervical cancer were aware that they had been part of a research project and whether they were properly informed of the treatment options ...1 day ago
Everyone Wants To Be Fuhrer: When fascist groups are discussed, the image conjured-up in the minds of most New Zealanders is one of pathetic misfits. This negative impression is reinforced by the latter’s idiotic embrace of the swastika. Even in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the baleful legacy ...2 days ago
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...3 days ago
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...4 days ago
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...5 days ago
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Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...6 days ago
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...1 week ago
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Besides lying and breaking the law, how far will the National Government and our state forces go to please our US ally?
Will John Key and our military leaders condemn our Afghan interpreters and their families to certain death?
Will our courts without hearing the evidence against him, condemn Kim Dotcom to prison conditions which may well constitute torture under the UN conventions against torture?
Just last week Juan Mandez the UN Rapporteur on Torture came out with a statement against the extradition of suspected Islamist terrorists to the US because they will be subjected to a type of incarceration that risks being constituted as torture under the UN conventions against torture.
US state no longer upholds legal rights: “Violates the law”, lawyer
At 7:20 on the tape
Should Dotcom be worried that these conditions will be imposed on him?
Going by the anti-terror tactics used in his arrest and the secret anti-terror organisations that have been deployed against him. The chances are more than even, that Kim Dotcom will find himself in an underground cell under 23 hour solitary confinement in ADX Florence.
“A cleaner version of hell”
this is just dreadful. there are “hells on earth indeed” -some people want their pound of flesh.
this is just dreadful. there are “hells on earth indeed” -some people want their pound of flesh.
and these drones, 1000’s of associated civilian deaths from Drone Strikes. So sad that it has come to this.
The US now has laws which enable indefinite military detention without charges or trial of anyone deemed (either in secret or publically) to be a national security risk.
Say bye bye to democracy.
Why not, they have laws in their own country prohibiting food being given away in public to the needy, good old uncle sam eh.
US dumpster diving resource. Forget being “vegan”, in this economic climate its about being “freegan”.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-great-online-resources-support-dumpster-diving-lifestyle-si/
Cv
That can’t be good USA sounds more like bad Russia. That wouldn’t be’baseball’ would it.
Day by day the USA is becoming the great enemy and oppressor of citizens that it worked so hard and so long to defeat.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/feb/29/ndaa-danger-american-liberty
Your right to resell your own stuff is in peril
Interesting….
Madness. Pure and simple madness. But what can you expect from the land of the Paranoid and Insane?
Its what PC game makers have been trying to do for years. Kill the second hand market for PC games with copy protection (e.g. limited numbers of licence activations) in order to force people to buy new copies of games at premium prices.
But wait. If we need to recycle more, as the worlds raw material run out, then we need to
regulate materials better. If, as I believe, producers need to take responsibility for the waste,
then it follows that ownership in a object isn’t just the holder. This idea then is more in tune with
our per-industrial forebears, sole ownership of any property was essentially theft.
The whole idea behind legislation, its preventative effect, requires a invasion not so invisible
hand into the market place in order to direct the effects of the market towards social goods.
Away from slavery, serfdom…monopolies, regulatory capture (obviously our current regimes
are in denial about that particular one).
Information should be free, ideas should never be patentable (including genes).
QFT
haha, that’s funny.
Of course, what we’re actually seeing here is the actions of capitalism to control the market clearly showing that we do not have a free-market. And the reason why we don’t have a free-market is because capitalism would never survive in one.
BTW, reports are that the TPPA will ban parallel imports.
Watching Nigel Latta’s Darklands program last night was sad and depressing. It was about the circumstances that led to Nia Glassie’s death at the hands of her family in 2007. It looked at the broken families and the cycle of violence.
A question occurred to me… When did these broken dyusfunctional families come into existence? I understand how such dysfunctionality can arise and how difficult it is to break, but I don’t understand when this started. Using the Nia Glassie example, she was effectively killed by the Curtis brothers who were raised in an incrediblty violent household, especially from their father Bill Curtis.
So Bill Curtis must also have been raised in similar circumstances, I assume, following the accepted logic and wisdom around this issue. Bill Curtis looks like he would be a baby boomer, meaning he was born around 1950-60. His parents would therefore probably have been born around 1930-40. Did Bill Curtis’s parents start the cycle? Or was it their parents again?
What I am trying to ascertain is when this destructive feature arose in these families. Was it in the 1950s? Or was it in the 1930s? Or was it the generation prior to that? Once that is established the next questions would seem to be around what circumstances existed in NZ at that particular time to ignite this destruction..? When and what circumstances?
Hi vto – my personal theory is that a large number of men came back to NZ from WW2, put everything behind them , married, raised a family, worked hard etc. Many were severely traumatised and the effect on children was sometimes extreme. Just a theory.
It is a great question VTO and would be a fascinating study.
I am not sure it is a 20th century problem. Discipline, was mistaken for violence for generations. Society as whole decided to break the cycle of violent discipline in the second half of last century.
The Curtis family was more violent that most others, but having a father that beat the shit out of his kids for them spilling some milk was not uncommon at all. It was not considered dysfunctional.
I don’t think it began during any period. I think it ended as a result of the left campaigning against domestic violence.
There are studies of this on the net. Once over lightly intro here at Te Ara http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/child-abuse/5
Essentially child abuse and neglect has always been with us. The ‘idyllic’ 50s and 60s were also a time of widespread ‘stranger’ child adoption, fostered out children and private and state run childrens/teens homes and borstals often with violent cultures. Mental health care was institutionalised with little public scrutiny with elctro shock therapy–ECT and ‘chemical straightjackets’ being worse than some disorders. Priests and others charged with looking after kids were often happily kid fiddling away.
Corporal punishment was the norm, can you imagine todays school kids being repeatedly whacked with leather straps and canes? Poorer kids were effected more as ever, the government used to run health camps where disadvantaged kids would go for 6 weeks and be properly fed up. Some is family bred, the abused as modern research show often go on to abuse. Spousal assault was viewed by the Police as a domestic until recent times, rape in marriage was not considered possible again until recent times. So New Zealand has definitely a dark sadistic past and some of us maintain it is still there in some with the bennie bashing etc.
So while today there is more reporting and social work around abuse and public campaigns that have made a difference there is also more of the factors that promote child abuse. It can be about power too, alienated men and women rendered useless by unemployment and poverty lash out at the vulnerable and feel good about themselves for a small while in obviously the most twisted way.
Yes I watched it as well, and of being that age myself I’m 57 I noticed the same thing when growing up in England. Alcoholism mixed with PTSD and god knows what other mental problems after WWII and there were NO psychologists and very few Psychiatrists and the favoured form of Torture treatment was the Electro shock therapy where they fried your synapses and screwed with your memory. So of course people kept away from the Doctor and also it’s not the image of a Man in the 50’s&60’s to have mental problems. And of course this attitude has just been handed down from Father to son and it’s a destructive cycle.
edit:Damn The word Torture should have a strike through, for some reason it didn’t work.
Truth in All The Above.
This can be one dark freakin country unfortunately. It is It is Extremely Necessary and Sufficient that
We Seek The Light
🙂
Very true Jokerman, very true!
IMO, When the nuclear family started to become the norm and extended families and community integration were shut down.
As far as NZ goes, I’ve heard that it was imported from Britain in the 19th century.
Labour was in power so it must be their fault, just like everything happening now is Key’s 🙂
Hmm, all interesting points. There is surely an element of the old school “discipline” hangover from colonists and other immigrants carrying over to the different norms of today. But it is seemingly more prevalent in polynesian families so how would that have transferred to them so viciously? I can understand how it has come about in families of british background but not how it has come about in the others, and when it comes to that when and how did it arise? We are told that it didn’t exist in pre-european maori society yet it exists today – when did that happen? In the generation of Bill Curtis’ parents born around 1930’s? Or the generations prior to that? 1930’s, 1950’s, 1910’s, 1880’s? When did it start? And then, why?
oh well, shall have to go elsewhere to find the answer …….
The Poor
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/08/new-delhi-westminster-cavalier-poor?
Monbiot on The Poison of Colonisation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/08/empire-torture-kenya-catastrophe-europe?
Chavez The Faithful
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/08/venezuela-election-hugo-chavez?
Commodus
http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/stocks-commodities-weaker-on-world-outlook-20121009-279v8.html?
The Olive Pit
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article36907.html?
For the upright will live in the land,
and the blameless will remain in it;
but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the unfaithful will be torn from it.
-Pr 3:21
God Bless Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers (“I Should Have Known”)
Thanks Jokerman.
The Manibot link was particularly powerful, and is very pertinent to the discussion at 3, above.
Muff McGillicuddy to visit Malaysia, Indonesia
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1210/S00137/mccully-to-visit-malaysia-indonesia.htm
What do you reckon might be on his agenda?
How to help bail out Australia with its refugee “problem” perhaps? ….and of course at the same time find a way of legitimising recent POINTLESS NZ legislation to do with those countless waves of “boat people/queue jumpers/illegals” we supposedly going to get.
Nearly missed this from yesterday. Hope Draco doesn’t mind but it seems important to me:
A simple clear statement of aspiration which would suit many, -I reckon.
Why would I mind? I didn’t write it.
BTW, it’s polite to include the link to the article.
Oops. The link as in “Spin me a brain exchange” did not survive the copy. Sorry. Anyway a great post.
Excellent article….. and advice. Thanks for the link. I absolutely agree with this clear statement of aspiration. We pass this way but once…..
In the last hour, Winston Peters has issued a press release saying he has evidence that the PM’s office knew about Dotcom earlier than previously stated. Key claims his staff didn’t pass the information on to him?
Simple question:
“Does the PM hold any concerns that he has been kept isolated from other important information by his staff?”
Love it.
Just listened to the news and it was all bad for key, real bad – Winston ripping key. I’m starting to believe that he might go down for this.
It’s the headline story on TV3 6pm news, and Garner reckons it’s not good news for Key.
TV One News haven’t included it in it’s headline summary. It’s leading with the cuts to youth wage.
I’ve taken to recording the 6pm news on My freeview so I can switch between them, and stop and start – flick through the ads.
I would like to know what documentation Dotcom has got from Power in regard to OIO if any and what the documentation from OIO is to Power and Dotcom. As well if Key signed anything to do with the OIO regarding Dotcom.
Different story to what he said in Parliament,where he now has to make a personal statement.Which which will be the third statement ( 3 strikes).Winston if framed correctly can now call him a liar in parliament thanks to Lockwood’s ruling.
Seriously:
There’s a pattern developing here and its been going on for a long time.
No-one tells John Key anything to do with Kim Dotcom! Could an instruction have been issued along the lines:
If its to do with that Dotcom guy, I don’t want to know?
Of course the Right Honourable Prime Minister John Key (Knighthood Pending), would be constantly thinking of high level Philosophical Aspirations for his Gated Planet Key, and therefore the trivial matters like Growing Unemployment, National Security Mega-upload, and unobtrusive constituents such as Kim Dotcom would not dare to be referred to him.
Beggars belief John Key. Either Dishonest, or Incompetent. Choose one.
Dishonest
It’s called Plausible Deniability, a term first coined by the CIA. What Key and the GCSB are doing is taken directly out of their handbook:
Yes. I can imagine Powers phone clerk in PM’s office. The clerk tells a special person. The special person tells Key in a lift or somewhere private. Key nods and says “I did not hear what you just said. Get it?”
The trouble with that is that the clerk knows Key knows.
If the staffer was Phil de Joux (as rumoured) then he would know not to tell Key.
Plausible deniability is more than just “I didn’t hear”, it’s having staff who know the drill in the first place. Those who have worked with Brand Key since he was in opposition (as de Joux has) would know automatically that protecting the Brand is paramount.
Now it begins to work against Key however, as it looks like what it is: a pattern of deliberate ignorance brought about by a strategy of active avoidance.
there’s a reason one-trick ponies are not regarded highly.
Oh, I’ll grant them it was a good trick for a couple of elections, but they need to pull finger and find something else doubleplus fast.
I agree – active avoidance + deliberate ignorance = shifty. And once that sticks down he goes.
“No-one tells John Key anything to do with Kim Dotcom! Could an instruction have been issued along the lines:
If its to do with that Dotcom guy, I don’t want to know?”
I’ve been thinking this for a while.
Key is very adamant he’d never heard of Dotcom before the raid. So I think there won’t be any evidence to contradict this claim, because he’ll have made sure there isn’t.
This FBI press release makes interesting reading, given that it was issued on the same day of the Dotcom Raid.
http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/justice-department-charges-leaders-of-megaupload-with-widespread-online-copyright-infringement
With 8 Countries involved and the number of NZ. Government agencies acknowledged by the FBI for their “substantial and critical assistance” it is difficult to believe that Mr Slip, Slide and walk away was oblivious to what was going on.
Yes Lanth. He has always been pretty smug about his denials. But if he was in total ignorance some one or people must have believed that it was wise for the PM to distance himself – at least on paper, records or any traceable means. Maybe a leak might appear eventually to explain the link that must have occurred?
Why. So that his office can decide if he needs to know. They are all paranoid gatekeepers of information. Same thing happened under Clark. Just cos Heather Simpson knew about things didn’t mean HC did.
BS on that insider.
Helen Clark had this amazing really scary ability to know what was happening around her. She knew most ministers’ portfolios better than they did.
Key is the opposite. It seems that all sorts of carnage can happen around him and he has no idea, and he never sees it coming.
To compare him to Clark is to compare chalk and cheese.
Mickey I was comparing processes not people. I don’t think anyone would disagree that Clark was a micro manager and is a once in a generation event. but even she did not know everything her office knew at all times. Flunkies filter. That’s their job.
Flunkies filter. That’s their job.
Perhaps. But once your boss is telling the country that he had never heard of Dotcom before the raid, then it’s certainly the flunky’s job to tell the boss: “Excuse me Sir, the office knew” – so the PM can stop giving hostages to fortune.
Unless, of course, the flunky has been told (directly or not) that such information should not be passed on, even after the fact.
May have been a once in a generation event (I doubt it though as far too many people don’t get to sit in the spotlight to be able to tell) but I don’t think she was a micro-manager – she didn’t move into managing someone else’s responsibility unless that someone else fucked up. Just a manager that knew what she should have known.
They filter it down to bite size pieces – they do not keep it from the person they work for.
No they also filter out stuff that they don’t consider important or relevant, and timing and context are important criteria in those decisions. You’re saying the boss gets to hear about absolutely everything the minions know, just in précis. Organisations don’t work that way, because i suspect we all know that huge amounts of information gets passed on between individuals for a range of reasons, but not all of it is useful. Can you say that every single email you’ve received this week contained something relevant to you?
No, but I can say that if my boss ever goes on TV and says he’s never heard of somebody, and I had previously had a phone call from a senior colleague about that somebody, then I would make damn sure I told my boss about it after he’d gone on telly. To save his blushes, or mine.
So … Did Key’s office tell him AFTER Dotcom became NZ’s Number One news story?. There is a gap of eight months between then and now – during which Key has said nothing about it … until today. Until he was forced to.
Your “hear about absolutely everything” line is classic evasion by hyperbole. It’s THE thing for Key, and has been since February. Why has he wanted not to know – or say?
If they thought that the Dotcom stuff was immaterial and Key did not have to know about it then it is difficult to know what he would have to know about.
Is that what you really mean insider?
I’ve called ministers offices plenty of times and passed on info I’ve had no expectation of them hearing at the time. I’m briefing the officials just in case something related comes up and they can use it if they see fit. In July 2011 kdc probably was irrelevant to the pm. I don’t disagree that since January something should have been said by one of his officials somewhere.
Generally speaking, if it’s reaching the office of the PM then, at a guess, I’d say it was important enough for him to know about. He doesn’t need to know all the details but he does need to know about it. Sure, there’d be some that gets passed on to other ministers (wrong address) but stuff about intelligence operations would go to him.
There’s some confusion here- it was not an intelligence issue when either peters asked his question or powers office contacted keys. Your guess i think is wrong. Officials give each other heads ups all the time, just like peers in many organisations. That doesn’t mean the info is intended for the boss.
Bollocks insider. You’re not fooling anyone except yourself. When Simon Power contacted the PM’s office he was giving the PM a heads up on where things were at with Dotcom. That means he was given the information by a member of his staff.
John Key and his staff are indulging in “plausible deniability”. See Jackal @ 8.1.1.1
I wonder if the staff member was Captain Panic Pants?
Awesome idea Anne ….
They could have a the “Panic Pants Suit” on the wall for the next “Not John Key” meeting.
That way he’ll never forget 🙂
Diapers on the outside maybe M8!
The “Protocol” Grows M8!
Imagine the Bus ride to the Beehive!
Sorry, it wasn’t Panic Pants – Deputy Chief of Staff. Still, that’s a very senior staff member and he didn’t tell Key? Pull the other one.
Here’s the TV3 news item – pretty damming of JK in my view.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Documents-show-police-knew-Dotcom-a-resident/tabid/370/articleID/272091/Default.aspx
Actualy I remember that, Wasn’t it John Key himself who allowed Dotcom to buy the mansion?
(i.e. Vetoed his minister)
Would’ve been a Herald Article of course.
If you are going to cry bollocks anne getting the facts right first would help your case. It was one of powers staff not power himself. That lowers the issue down the food chain quite significantly.
It came from Powers office, and went to the Prime Mincer’s office. Where is that picture of the monkey chiefs covering their eyes and ears when you need it.
“..the Magical Mystery Tour…they coming to take you away…take you away….take you away.”
The difference here is that in July 2011, Simon Power knew that the FBI was interested in Dotcom. Recall: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10816772
That is probably the reason why he chose to inform the PM’s Office of his intention to deny Dotcom’s overseas investment application. And if that’s the case, then Key probably had some prior knowledge.
The fact is Power deliberated over Dotcom’s application for three months before making a decision. Is it believable that he didn’t discuss it with the PM at some point?
the US govt knows one thing for sure, having the growing middle east wars as a distraction allows all sorts of space for what you get up to at home. Remember, in the modern Amerika you are a suspected terrorist first and a citizen second.
“the extent that 1021(b)(2) purports to encompass protected First Amendment activities, it is unconstitutionally overbroad”
This ruling has been overturned, then an injunction was won, then a stay was put on the injunction, so now a whole bunch of other judges have been asked by the big boss man to secure the stay permanently and get his ‘lock em up then ask the questions’ law rolling nationwide. Sure it’s over in America so what does it matter right? Not like they are gonna start spying on kiwis, imprisoning people without charges, ask for troops on the ground or start flying Drone missions over here . . .
THE CHILDREN OF WAR
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/208063_313184525455648_1734282819_n.jpg
night
“The Gold War”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10839360
and business not looking too positive in the land of the long grey crowd either according to the daily fish and chip wrappings.
(sorry Prism, it was “Infidels” by Bob Dylan i keep forgetting to reference)
What a prophet dear Bob has been; The only international concert i have seen was Bob with Patti Smith at a stadium in Christchurch; Patti Smith, now she is as wonderful as Helen Kelly and Julie-Ann
(i am such a man)
-“The Minstrel In The Gallery….looked down upon the smiling faces…”
who read todays Dompost?
one story is about Annette King complaining to the speaker of the house about craig (hamburger) heatley giving incoherent mumbling replies to oral questions.
On the letters page one writer is complaining about Russell Norman getting too much time on teevee3.
Nashnil cant have it both ways.
If they put up up drawling bumblers on the floor of the house who cant make it in the world at large then tough luck.
not craig heatley .. phil heatley
National determined to increase exodus
Be ready to wave goodbye to more of your loved ones, especially if they’re just trying to start out in the workforce…
From the foregoing survey of conspicuous leisure and consumption, it appears that the the utility of both alike for the purposes of reputability lies in the element of waste that is common to both.
In the one case it is a waste of time and effort, in the other it is a waste of goods.
“Theory of the Leisure Class”
-Thorstein Veblen; american economist and social scientist
Believe It, Or Not
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/c0.0.403.403/p403x403/383437_506700752673514_1752747703_n.jpg
6090 people have decided to sell their red zone properties to the Govt.
The Govt is processing them a 50 per week ….
That’s 121.8 weeks before they’re all paid (2.34 years)
Ha yep, doesn’t pay to add up timeframes in Chch, they are too frightening.
Also, see my post at Mr Wrong re the government’s current smoke and fire around not being able to pay its bills. Perhaps the two are linked …….
Agreed, I’ve suspected this for some time now, hence all the belt tightening rhetoric.
2.34 years before some people will even start to rebuild their lives.
4.44 Years after the quake they start to rebuild.
And Brownlee is calling them ungrateful ……
What does this Gnat government actually do for us!.
Investigative Report on the U.S. National Security Issues Posed by Chinese Telecommunications Companies Huawei and ZTE
Those Americans are seriously paranoid, more than a little hypocrytical, and not willing to investigate the hardware properly for themselves.
I’m sure a good Engineer could suss those switches out in short order.
Hence the UK response.
and not willing to investigate the hardware properly for themselves.
Maybe they don’t need to.
While many of these techniques are not unique to Huawei, one only has to look at the CCP’s overtly totalitarian history vis a vis the internet (The Great Wall of China) to quickly conclude that they are wholly the authors of their own misfortune here.
Or maybe not so paranoid after all.
I feel we should give due recognition to the the benefits that this National led Government is delivering to many….(or perhaps I should say some):
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/10/national-govt-brings-much-happiness-to.html
Video of Sydney cops tasering a student to death. Warning, contains nudity and police brutality.
But that can’t be real TRP, everyone knows cops are the best of the best doing the hardest most thankless job around for entirely altruistic reasons.
There’s no way the job would attract thugs and rapists and murderers, certainly not the kind of cowardly scum who would electrocute a man to death after they already had him in handcuffs.
If you haven’t seen the video of Gillard dealing to the, for now, leader of the opposition, it is soooooo well worth the 15 minutes.
http://t.co/YbGgkwcL
That’s a hiding.
Bloody hell. That’s a thrashing.
Spectacular!
Makes Helen look downright meek and mild. Impassioned and intelligently coherent at the same time … bloody impressive.
Unequivocal
+1
I remember when Julia Gillard became Prime Minister of Australia, she spoke of Helen Clark as “having been her role model.” Well, I could see Helen Clark standing there making exactly the same speech. Congratulations Julia.
I agree, but while Helen refused to engage with the vile misogyny that was directed at her (does anyone else recall the filth that was being email circulated in the months before the 2008 election?) … it’s remarkable to see Gillard name it and shame it so very directly.
it’s remarkable to see Gillard name it and shame it so very directly.
Snap, RL. I just said something similar.
‘kin A.
Thanks for the link. My impression was that the Aussie house isn’t as shouty as the NZ one. Gillard delivers her ticking off emphatically – but it’s in the way it’s stated, and the body language.
The opposition front bench looks a glum ,rum, unimpressed and unimpressive lot.
And Gillard does something I don’t recall Helen Clark ever doing: she publicly and clearly calls out the leader of the opposition, opposition MPs and members of their party for some of the slurs they have directed at her personally. She calls them out for calling out to her in the House that she needs to be made “an honest woman”; she calls them out for the way they refer to her as a bitch and a witch.
That’s the way to do it – take them on in public. Clark tried to avoid giving such slurs oxygen by publicly ignoring them.
Clark tried to avoid giving such slurs oxygen by publicly ignoring them.
That’s true Karol but I don’t think Helen had much choice. Most of the vitriol was being spread in bars, sports clubs, work-places etc. With the exception of the ‘childless’ barb, very little of it came out in the House or by way of the MSM. The ‘Alan Jones slur’ on the other hand gave Julia the opportunity to get stuck into all of them.
Most of the nasty stuff against Helen began very soon after she was selected to be the new MP for Mt Albert. She was extremely hurt by them, but because she didn’t know who was spreading them there wasn’t much she could do about it.
She did come out in public over the disgusting stories about her husband, Peter Davis but it didn’t stop her opponents from continuing to spread those stories.
Thanks for that. It makes complete sense. All I can say is that the slurs, the jokes and nastiness while obviously less personal and pointed for us than it was for HC, it was still nonetheless felt by many of us on the left as a malign, shameful episode in this nation’s history.
Collectively we owe her an apology.
Aye
New Zealand’s loss was the United Nation’s gain.
I saw Helen speak in NZ recently and I thought “why do we have this buffoon as a leader when we could still have Helen” …
What I can tell you RedLogix is: most of the individuals who started the rumours lived in the locality, and they all ended up in ACT. Are you surprised?
these Youth Wages; occupational trenching.into Agricultural Colleges.
Low Wages.What is the incentive? only the stick of benefit sanctions.
Low Wages.What is the incentive for productivity?
Low Wages.What will the displaced boomers live on?
Low Wages.Will keep young people domestically dependent.
Targeting Beneath Vote Majority. How Slippery Is That?
that Lovely Sister Wendy and her Art Illustrations.
Pay It Forward
Traditionally Modern
these “niche schools”. I enjoyed the exploration of the Sikh School from Birmingham.
“not counter-productive to their children” the Head suggested.
They Teach All Faiths; Teachers of All Ethnicities and Religions
Think Kura. (that John Tamihere, his mouth is less disciplined than Hone; arrogant! Wow!)
Key’s Sunset Boulevard:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset_Boulevard_(film)
what I want to see is David shearer giving kweewee his beans.
that will be fun!
When spiritually successful men go bankrupt
http://gcxweb.org/Misc/LarryPile-OtherSideOfDiscipleship.aspx
As useful as a bucket of Dog Slobber – That’s our memory impaired leader – He and his Partys latest edition on the Jobs front. = $10,80/hr Jobs rate. Wooo Hooo economic Genius or what!
He and his fool minions have just handed all Fast Food Corparates a 33% profit increase on the wage bill they currently pay their young workers.
It’s a gift to companies already rolling about in a sea of excess cash. At the expense of the NZ worker.
One has to ask how desparate are these eejit Tories. And what else are they not telling an increasingly impoverished NZ public.
Bernie Monk rips John Key a new one for weaseling out of the effort to retrieve the Pike River dead. It’s a new personal worst in a month of lows for Johnny Sparkles and National may as well stop standing candidates in the West Coast for a generation or two.
“Mr Monk says he got the impression that the Pike River mine was no longer a priority for the Prime Minister – but told Mr Key that if he thinks that the issue will go away, it won’t happen”.
Weirdly, Stuff’s front page are reporting Key’s latest bout of forgetfulness under the headline “Pike recovery revisted”, but. hey, who needs sub editors these days?
The interview on Radio Live is even more devastating – one of the most passionate, furious denunciations of Key you will ever hear.
(audio on website from 4.45 pm … perhaps somebody with a fast connection could embed a link? I listened on ye olde radio …).
http://www.radiolive.co.nz/John-Key-not-supporting-Pike-River-families-proposal/tabid/506/articleID/31213/Default.aspx
Here ’tis.
“He showed no emotion”.
nada
Headless Chickens
http://gcxweb.org/Misc/LarryPile-OtherSideOfDiscipleship.aspx
oops,
Headless Chickens
(very distorted)
tempting Destiny.
other than those abominations, increased gestation of ethnic sectarianism may successfully parasite WASP capitalism
critical reflection
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foucault%E2%80%93Habermas_debate
“Verlaine…verlaine….verlaine….verlaine…”
I found this article by putting in the search engine ‘john key and bank of america’
It says that shonkey was the head of global forex at meryll lynch as they
transfered enough debt into the irish economy to completely wipe it out
along with the middle us classes and their homes.
Key started borrowing $380 million a week here in nz and i can remember
he was borrowing more than needed, ‘his reply from memory was that it
was ‘cheap money’,what he didn’t tell the tax payers of nz is that he has
substantial shares in the bank of america where he got those ‘nz’ loans.
From observations it seems that our ‘dear leader’ is steering nz in the
same direction as those economies he has overseen in his bankster days,
i would bet that he is still ’employed’ with them as a pm’s job is not a long
one, just long enough to cause a country immeasurable damage,there is a
concerning pattern emerging in correlation with what i have read.
Some good reading on www. mediawhore.co.nz.
Also bank of america bankrolls bathurst,so that is why the front bench
of the nacts are pushing the enviromentalist to back off court action,key
is ‘shonkey’ deep in this as well, what a ‘slippery’ slope, when we try to
deceive’ eh shokey.
I don’t think that Greens and Labour should jump in unequivocally to the Chinese-USA techno dispute. Back doors have been mentioned in the Chinese programs well Microsoft was accused of doing this. And as the USA is trying to flex its muscles over China we should be wary and try to remain neutral.
Unfortunately Australia feels threatened by its closer Asian neighbours and welcomes USA defence, there is a contingent in Darwin I think now, and as it aligns with the USA and we tend to integrate with Oz and sign up for TPP (all done in secret), it will be hard to think for ourselves if we ever get round to that.