It’s no secret that I am a big fan of Puddles and last time I got into an exchange of views with her, I got my arse delivered in a sling. However……I have another view on ECAN.
I have had horrific experience of the “old” ECAN and the subversion of science by politicians both inside and outside the organisation. I have been in meetings where ECAN staff have stated that “no matter what the science showed, they would not budge”.
Series of restructuring robbed ECAN of a lot of it’s best technical staff to the extent that now most of the expertise on Canterbury groundwater resides in external consultancies.
During the Rakaia Selwyn hearing before commissioners, the commissioners took the unprecedented step of issuing a memo of concern to ECAN that they believed that ECAN may not follow the commissioner’s findings.
A few councillors with strong links to green causes and a few key activist staff had subverted a good organisation, driven out it’s top scientists and were waging a war against ratepayers, other councillors and the remaining competent technical staff.
I see that those making most noise currently fall into that camp.
Your description of your experiences of the claimed ‘unscientific’ arguments of some members of the ECan staff is a good example of one of the main points I was making: The idea that collective decisions (i.e., political decisions) should increasingly be seen as technical matters that can be made through objective, science-based, technical procedures.
So, thanks for demonstrating my point đ
The post, in any event, wasn’t about my views of how ECan was or is operating (at the operational level), so I’m not sure why you believe you have a different view from me on that.
My argument is a simple one: Any problems that may have existed with ECan – and that point itself has been debated (e.g., Kerry Burke’s letter to The Press in this morning’s paper) – should have been corrected through the democratic process.
There’s a value in democratic processes that goes far beyond the pragmatics of getting things done. It’s about how best to hold a group (e.g., society) together over the long-term by distributing power evenly (or as evenly as possible).
If you’re right that ECan was ‘hijacked’ by some greenies who scared off all the scientists, then let that be part of the debate during the next ECan elections. That way ‘we’, the people, will hear all sides of that particular argument and ‘we’ will decide who we believe or support.
Democracy, after all, is just a ‘free market’ in arguments aimed at persuading each other. And, there’s good reason to believe that, human reasoning evolved through, and in, argumentative contexts.
As the authors in that link argue, better decisions get made, on average, in groups than by the ‘best’ individuals who comprise the group, largely because our reasoning abilities are all about trying to promote our own argument and trying to find holes in the arguments of others, rather than to get at ‘the truth’. In fact, ‘the truth’ is better attained at the group/collective level.
That’s why humans evolved to do so much arguing:
“While there can hardly be any archaeological evidence for the claim that argumentation already played an important role in early human groups, we note that anthropologists have repeatedly observed people arguing in small-scale traditional societies (Boehm et al. 1996; Brown 1991; Mercier, in press a).”
At the group level these argumentative reasoning skills get used – by the collective – to come to better decisions than anyone could make alone.
That’s one reason I prefer democracy rather than rule by experts.
The interesting thing, grumpy, is that my preference is based on the relevant science – now you wouldn’t not be persuaded by the science, would you??
[And, if it’s any consolation to people who argue a lot on blogs, the authors conclude:
“we note that the argumentative theory of reasoning should be congenial to those of us who enjoy spending endless hours debating ideas â but this, of course, is not an argument for (or against) the theory.“]
The problem with the “democratic process” as regards ECAN is that there really isn’t one. The low voter turnout ( around 25%) threw up a disproportionate result, so that a minority political view was able, with management and staff collusion, to take over – or at least subvert the operations of the council.
The subsequent hounding out of those with different views, usually scientists, led to an organisation ruled by dogma.
ECAN started to lose every hearing on the science.
As you say, I would be persuaded by the science. As an engineer, I think quite a bit of science, that is why I hate to see it bastardised.
It was telling, that in my case, you got diametricaly opposed technical opinions depending on which scientist gave the opinion – and the management refused to allow peer review.
I guess the government just don’t feel enough has changed. Bear in mind that Labour almost got around to the same action but was saved by the election and that cleanout then fell to National.
Terrific writing. Great stuff. Loved that quote no technocratic rationality reigning righteous over democratic input when solving problems – had the same kind of suspicion as Heidegger’s The Question Concerning Technology. Lots of ways to use this article in the office here. Very helpful.
Yes great writing. Would it be presumptuous to ask for some paragraphs. Then can read and pause to take in the points then continue. At present it is a wall of words.
When people post a link, could people please say what it is to, and why we might be interested in reading it. My browsers have been loading very slowly for the last day or so. That link won’t load at all…. just keeps spinning & then times out.
[lprent: I am unsurprised. It is a RSS feed link. I have put a link to the actual post on a note. ]
Given the likely demographics of Herald online Poll of The Day “Which Party would get your vote in an election today?” The Nats must be bloody worried, although it looks like Colin Craig could have been busy on his VPN services.
Amongst the continuous bene bashing and the falling apart of the asset sales program a further issue has dodged the headlines but in the long term may be more important than any other issue.
The Governments Climate Change Response (rendering the ETS practically toothless) Amendment Bill is making its way through Parliament. Â The bill is 79 pages of highly technical law changes but essentially does a couple of things:
1. Â It postpones indefinitely Agriculture’s entry into the NZETS,
2. Â The price cap for carbon will be extended,
3. Â It further subsidizes polluters by extending the two credits for one scheme for a further three years.
The process is eye watering. Â The bill was introduced on August 20 and submissions closed on September 10, a short four weeks later. Â The select committee report is scheduled for October 17. Â The Government is smashing this through.
The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Jan Wright has in her typical blunt style said that the bill will render the ETS “almost toothless”.Â
In 50 years time what does the Government expect us to say to our children?
OECD says NZ spends greater proportion of govt spending on education than any other country. 21.2% vs OECD average of 13%.
Great that National proves it values education and disproves the ranting here.
[lprent: Fis, do you remember that you should link to support your assertions of fact? Or say why you are not. Not doing so is troll tactic to generate meaningless conversations. I get irritated because the resulting discussions are boring to read – and I don’t like being bored. In this case as Mickey points out the figures you were quoting were probably from the 2009 report and reported the Labour governments performance. So I suspect the omission of a link was deliberate.
One month ban for being a stupid troll again and not linking… You have actually doing pretty well about avoiding moderator attention this time, so we won’t play the full doubleup anti-troll response. See you on Oct 12 and we’ll see if you can resist your old habits then. ]
Federated Farmers ( the Farmere Trade Union) and Fonterra had very very well funded Lobby operation in Parliament that give then 1st dibs on any policy they choose. And that their members contributed heavily to the National Party election fund.
Our children will probably say that the
2012 generation were very easily fooled and bought by interest groups who wanted profit now, without any investment in the future. They will accuse us of massive inter generational theft, greed and stupidity.
I’m amazed that they didn’t just eliminate it but, then, I suppose they have to at least try and look like they’re doing something about climate change even though they’re not.
Free Trade Talks – Key on Morning Report this morning
Apparently the Japanese governement has the difficult position of having to placate its strong “agricultural lobby” – very influential apparently.
Strong agricultural lobby has never ever been a problem for countries like New Zealand in its free trade talks. Yeah Right.
In fact try to get any government policy change in any area (even social ) and the first port of call for cabinet is “what do the cow-cockies think …?
…Broad Band?
Water rights?
Driving license age?
ECAN?
About Japan’s agriculture. Remember that wee incident at Fukushima? Given that more radiation was released than at Chernobyl and given that radiation is still being released. And given that there are still areas in Europe where food production is prohibited (eg certain farms in Wales, areas in Germany etc) because of persistent radiation contamination from Chernobyl…What is this fucking government doing with regards monitoring imports of fish, monitoring of migratory fish catches, monitoring of Japanese food imports and the monitoring of non-food imports from Japan?
The process of monitoring and – where potential risks are identified â testing, is the same approach as that being taken by other countries. (Like the US policy of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’…ie, no possibility of identifying potential risk? -B) Our assessment and targeted testing activity will complement our work with international food safety agencies and importers to monitor the situation. To date no relevant food has arrived from the areas of interest and as such no testing has been required.
So the tuna and the mutton birds (migratory) and theseaweed, noodles, wasabi etc are all A-OK. Because no fucker is monitoring fuck all. That’s a relief. Pass the soy sauce will you….
What Japan is weighing up is whether to go West with the TPP or to hook into the Chinese Block, squabbling over islands suggests this may not happen, but Governments can be very pragmatic when it comes to their trade interests. Which don’t necessarily lie with Washington.
An interview with Anna Osborne, whose husband Milton was killed at Pike River, on the World Socialist Website. This interview gives a much fuller account from the perspective of one of the miners families than anything I’ve seen on the MSM.
We likes âthem cutsâ very much indeed thank you nice Mr Blue. We glow and warmly thank the poor stressed funders as we humbly look forward to expiring unattended from various hideous medical events.
Two points on that:
a 4% increase a year with 10-15% of current calls being “non-urgent” means that any benefit of cutting “non-urgent” services will be gone in 2 or three years;
   Â
Quite a few conditions that get worse over time can be prevented/treated at the start by going to a GP. Barriers to primary care include a lack of funds (both for the GP and for transport). So it gets left until it gets worse. At which time an ambulance is called if they can’t get to ED themselves. But of course now the ambulance most likely will be delayed until the call centre know it’s an emergency. Â So the poor who were denied primary care also get delayed secondary/tertiary treatment. But who cares how many of the poor drop off due to something that could have been treated with a GP script days or weeks before? They’re non-productive economic units.
  Â
Fucking Nats.Â
I am aware of a situation where a house was being burgled, while the occupants were inside, they called 111, and when spoke to the operator, was told they would have to make a complaint which would be responded to in 48 hours, or they could come to the station.
When it was explained again that there offenders inside the house, the message was repeated that they could go to a station, or wait 48 hours!
Can’t see why Ambulance would be any different if this is the response to peoples safety by the police.
Next up fire brigade – I’m sorry sir, only your lounge is on fire, we are unable to send an appliance until at least 3 major sections of the house are ablaze!
What do they actually consider urgent? I can see how all the things listed could be fatal. Will the NActoids be happy when they’ve finally got the situation that I remember in 2000 in SĂŁo Paulo? One of my students had the people who pick up corpses knock on his door to ask if he had any gladwrap. Someone had died in an adjacent flat and the body was so decomposed that they couldn’t get a decent grip on it. The City Council had cut their funding for gloves on some totally spurious basis and this was what it led to.
In many ways, Brazil has improved since then. Our country hasn’t, and won’t until we change the way of doing things.
Back in good old NZ, a friend of mine was a doctor in the Nelson area. He told me how it was virtually impossible to get an ambulance to a rural address because all the despatching had been centralised in Auckland. Third house on the right after the bridge by the burnt out barn was not something the operators understood as an address.
The decision to wind down the heating grants was made after an Economic Development Ministry report found insulating houses provided much greater benefits than subsidising clean heating, particularly in low-income households.
The report found the $330 million cost of the scheme had delivered $1.2 billion in benefits, mostly in health savings from warmer, insulated houses.
It found no clear economic benefits associated with grants for clean heating, which it said might be because clean heating improved health only if people were able and willing to pay the ongoing energy bills.
Gee, what a surprise.
I actually suspect that people ran out to get a heat pump when they should have done the insulation and then found that it didn’t work because the house was inherently cold (but were, of course, blaming the heat pump).
Tuhoe have reached a settlement involving a form of governance over the Ureweras. Water rights issues are heading through the process. Wind rights have been glanced at. Rights over here and rights over there. It becomes all very confusing.
I propose settling all things once and for all by providing to Maori a consistent 10% ownership in everything in the land. Then we can be done with it. This can reflected in, say, a 10% slice of all taxation going to them for use rights by the wider population. A regular tithe, poll tax, call it what you will, but lets just pay it and be done. Then we can move on from the flaws of the treaty. A specific broad tax payable to people on the basis of their race, and the treaty. Sure, some detail would be lost and gained here and there but broadly the concept is consistent.
Alongside the pan tax there could be a separate set of laws and regulations, criminal justice system, etc. Even separate schools and welfare systems. I think this is good and appears to be what many have argued for.
Give Maori 100% and hope they’re nicer people than pakeha have been.
I was once asked how many seats Maori should have in parliament. My reply of “All of them” met with outraged shock. Personally, I wouldn’t be worried at all. I’m far more worried about carpetbagging pakeha in suits than I am about Maori in the Urewera.
Can a bad/useless/corrupt/putwhatyoulikehere government do good things? Can a bad person do good things?
Obviously this has been a point of discussion around other areas and putting value judgements of what ‘bad’ is aside I want to thank finlayson (I don’t think he’s ‘bad’), personally and as a representative of the government, for saying these things
“Ngai Tuhoe’s history shows clearly why it is so important to settle genuine historic Treaty grievances,” Finalyson said.
“The conditions in Te Urewera, which contains some of our most deprived and isolated communities, show the very real and continued effects of the Crown’s Treaty breaches on the daily lives of Ngai Tuhoe people in the present.”
Huge areas of Tuhoe land were wrongly confiscated and more purchased unjustly, Finlayson said.
“Military campaigns against Tuhoe prisoners and civilians were described even at the time as extermination and the Crown employed a scorched earth policy in Tuhoe settlements.”
This settlement is a strong step towards mana motuhake for NgÄi Tuhoe and I congratulate them.
It is not perfect but it is a step in the right direction and as Tuhoe negotiator Tamati Kruger has said, “he believed the tribe had ultimately won what it was seeking, which was control over the park.”
I wonder about the figure of 170M – is that figure used for relativity or do they calculate it some other way?
edit – snap vto, interesting to see our different perspectives…
On the one hand we have the treaty and colonisation which must be dealt with. On the other we have the settings required for a healthy society as we tootle into the future. As you know, I don’t think the two things lead to the same result. There must be a way that can be achieved but lordy it seems difficult.
A few odd things happening to the comments section on the top right of the screen – periodically disappearing, or turning into an overlaid mess, but only for a few seconds, then back to normal again.
Could well be my computer which is particularly sluggish today.
If that Herald poll was accurate, it surely says that the worse this Government behaves the better the voters like it! How many people who have protested the sale of assets, really been sincere?
If you look at polls of who is against the sale of assets, the age range and which people are active voters, its difficult to see how the referendum will end up backing the sale of assets.
Where do you get that idea from Mark?
Please don’t say the Herald
The herald poll was an on line poll how many working class and poor have access to time and computers or read the herald, how many repeat votes no limit on the number of times you can vote Its pure BS.
Opinions in the herald blogs have changed quite markedly as more and more are against govt.
@Dr Terry – I wish the herald would release some readership demographics, I suspect it would show a significant portion of reader are “likely” to be of the centre right persuasion, hence an artificially high support figure for the Nats.
You could be onto something a good farming friend of mine (National Voter) expressed the following
“I don’t want the assests sold but what are we going to do about the debt” Unfortunately Labour have not been doing a good job of articulating an economic alternative. Although the conservative policy is a no to assest sales.
1) You identify all the corporate income streaming out of NZ and you turn them back to NZ.
2) You sort out our exchange rates so that our manufacturers and exporters are not being crippled.
3) You increase tax rates on the wealthiest 5% of NZers so that we do not have to borrow that same money from China, Saudi Arabia and Singapore.
4) You put 50,000 people back to work building up the country so that they are not on benefits.
In response to Iprent calling my support for a new and independent investigation an obsession here is why: 50 different forms of cancer have been added to the list of ailments First responders (Some 70.000 of them) can claim compensation for. That has been an 11 year struggle. For them 911 never ended.
What is really baffling is that in the longs of first responders Nano Thermite residue has been found. Nano Thermite can only be produced in high security Military laboratories in the US. I wonder could the 19 young Muslims who after all were able to evade the US airforce and break the laws of physics also have gained access to those laboratories?
[lprent: You’re treating it as if it was a pejorative expression? Obsessions are what can eventually change the world. Ask any scientist or programmer or blogger or campaigner for any cause through any era. You have to be obsessed with something before you can achieve much beyond the norms. Of course the vast majority of obsessions don’t bear any fruit.
However supporting obsessional people is worth the effort – which is why many people are tolerated commenting here. But I can’t see much reason to be particularly nice about it. I’m afraid that testing an obsession to destruction is about the only effective way to find out if it has merit. ]
Nano-thermite should not be in those lungs for starters Weka and a lot of us have been trying to help first responders and support them in their battle so that sort of kept 911 alive as they were dying. You don’t have to be obsessive just concerned and puzzled by the total lack of support from the US government for these heroes will do.
What relationship does the Chch earthquake and the dust in the air on that day have to do with 70.000 First responders in New York on 911?
I haven’t given it much thought but with the authorities blatantly lying in New York I gave the dust in New York a lot of thought on that day.
It would be an interesting research project though and I would hope that Chch dust victims won’t have to fight for 11 years until they got medical help and compensation like the heroes of 911 had too.
“It would be an interesting research project though and I would hope that Chch dust victims wonât have to fight for 11 years until they got medical help and compensation like the heroes of 911 had too.”
Â
The statement above is untrue. The US Government has been funding medical help for First Responders from the start. All that has changed in yesterdays announcement is that a further 50 types of cancer are now also recognised as potential 9/11 related claims. In other words, the scheme that already exists has been widened in scope.
The statement above is untrue. The US Government has been funding medical help for First Responders from the start.
Yeah except your statement is too vague to be useful. It really means nothing in fact when monthly medical bills for one person can add up to tens of thousands of dollars, and the Federal Gov might pay for a pittance.
See here for an example of Republicans voting down health care funding for 9/11 responders:
A verbal flash-fire erupted on the House floor Thursday night over nine-year battle to pass a benefits bill for emergency workers who were first on the scene of the 9/11 attacks.
Frustrated with Republican votes against the $7.4 billion measure because Democrats suspended the rules to prevent them from offering unrelated amendments — and at the same time requiring a two-thirds majority to pass — Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner excoriated the minority party.
Facts aren’t vague, CV. They’re, um, facts. I wasn’t clarifying the quality of the US Government assistance, just confirming that it has existed all along. So it was a factual and, therefore, useful contribution dispelling some fact free and, therefore, useless hyperbole in the original comment.
For those of you who unlike TRP really want to know how the 911 First Responders fared after they outlived their sell by date as propaganda props to help the Bush administration use the events of 911 to invade and destroy the Arab world which to this day Obama and the other head of the dragon continue to do, here is a link to the Feal Good site. The Feal Good foundation is one of the most important Foundations to provide aid to the First Responders.
This link leads to the News page which gives a good chronological list of the history of the battle for free healthcare for the First Responders, many of whom have died along the way leaving their spouses and Children destitute and with debilitating healthcare bills to deal with.
John Feal who started the Foundation was a 911 First responder and lost half a foot while in the Pit (the name for what was left of the WTC complex) when a steel beam fell on it. He had no money but began to help his former colleagues and people started to give money and help as his project became more known.
Obsession=a persistent idea or impulse that continually forces its way into consciousness, often associated with anxiety and mental illness.
Commemorating an anniversary of what is arguable one of the most devastating and globally influential catastrophes (Mostly so for Afghanis and Iraqis who had nothing to do with the events) and asking questions about puzzling questions that remain does not constitute an obsession.
If it does thousands of Scientists, Architects, Engineers, Fire fighters Military personal etc would have to be classified as obsessed.
In Germany, most Arab countries, Russia and large areas of the US 80% of the population would be obsessive as those are the numbers which come back as either believing that the US government did no tell the truth or was involved in the events.
In New York 50% believe the official story is rubbish and more than a 100.000 signatures were collected to get a new and independent investigation.
In Italy Judge Ferdinando Imposimato who is the honorary President of the Supreme Court of Italy, and former Senior Investigative Judge, and who presided over several terrorism-related cases, including the kidnapping and ultimate assassination of President Aldo Moro, the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II, other political assassinations and kidnapping cases and several cases against the Mafia. He is a former Senator who served on the Anti-Mafia Commission in three administrations, stated that he would refer the case to the International court of Justice.
Italy has a long history with State Crimes against Democracy and both a former president and this judge have no problem accepting that we need a new and independent investigation.
You also remarked that: Even her science is well argued even if I personally think it is more hopeful than accurate.
I understand that to argue as a moderator with a commentator is a colossal waste of time but I would really like to hear your argument as to how you come to the hopeful bit. Are you arguing that I hope that the events of 911 were perpetrated by our own leaders?
To say so means that you have absolutely no idea how painful it is to have to come to the conclusion that it wasn’t an outside enemy who attacked us but rather a shady group in our own midst. You can fight the enemy at the gate but an enemy in your midst is more devastating and hellish than anything I can think of. Not to be able to trust your own is a hideous thought. To go there is lonely, scary and dangerous and infinitely sad.
Maybe that is why it is so hard for you to actually have a look at the information on offer. Maybe if you did you would understand that to do so means to leave all hope behind.
Would you say that that Italian document is about as solid a presentation of the case as one can expect Eve?
Alternatively, do you think it is strong?
You say that you have reluctantly come to the conclusions you hold. Does that presentation of the case strike you as convincing? When you read it, do you quite often think, ‘well, that’s not quite the whole story there Judge, you are leaving out some very important deatails that go against your conclusion’? Things like that.
Because that’s what I found myself thinkng when reading it. Quite a bit.
And that’s leaving aside this little gem:
The authoritative theologian David Ray Griffin has described
very precisely why the hypothesis of controlled demolition should be taken into
consideration.
Honestly, what is one to make of that? Is it a typo?
If not, why should I listen to an authoratative theologian with regard to a hypothesis of controlled demolition?
The judge doesn’t tell me why I should, I wonder if you can.
Dear PB, Another shining example of taking things out of context!
First of all Judge Ferdinando Imposimato is the honorary president of the Italian Supreme Court. He was given this role after a career that saw him presiding over high profile court cases such as the murder of Aldo Moro a former (39th ) Prime Minister of Italy, the attempted murder of Pope John Paul II.
He is a specialist and investigative judge who knows all the ins and outs of the Mafia, International Drugs trading and State crimes against Democracy.
Italy which was on the receiving end of the Gladio operations while Judge Imposimato presided over these cases, is a country which is very aware of how the CIA and other secretive organisations operate in order to manipulate politics and entire populations through fear.
I hope that if not you readers who actually do believe you donât get to where the Judge is by being flimsy in your reasoning and that it requires intelligence, discipline, hard work, and personal integrity to achieve what he achieved.
To take one paragraph out of an excerpt of the letter the Judge wrote is careless and showing intellectual laziness in the most positive case but is misleading and dishonest in the worst.
For those of you who never heard of David Ray Griffin here is his wiki link. David Ray Griffin used his skills of reasoning as a Professor in Theology and 20th century Philosophy which taught from 1973 until April 2004 to analyse the events of 911.
On his Wiki page you will see that he has published a whole series of books on the subject and if you could actually be bothered to read any of them I can assure you you will find them to be solid scientific analysis. For those of you who canât be bothered but donât mind a lecture on video here is one example of DRGâs intellectual prowess.
To put this aside with a sneer is again dishonest and intellectually lazy because if you give credence to âAuthorityâ (as most do in the case of 911) and the powers that be merely because you ought to you should also give credence to judges with a long history of intellectual and personal integrity who, after studying material they have been given by other persons of authority in subjects and science connected to the events of 911, reach a conclusion not aligned with the Conspiracy theory the Political powers that be want us to accept without critical thinking.
He is a theologian who has written a number of books promoting trutherism. Fair enough, but he doesn’t sound unbiased to me. He takes a post modrn approach to reconciling beliefs with other beliefs. It’s not exactly the sort of thing criminal investigators rely on, for example. It is certainly not ‘scientific’.
RE: The Toronto hearings. Who was representing the other side of the debate? Was there cross examination of witnesses, or did they just present their own theories?
And I have no doubts about the Jufges credentials, it’s his argument as presented in that piece that I was talking about.
But apparently, the only thing we should look at is his credentials, and therefore conclude that his argument must be unquestionable.
This was not a long screed attacking you. This was a long screed giving a lot of links to people who actually do want to know about 911.
Big difference!
I know you won’t put in the hards slog but you know what? Other people do and it is those I aim for. I give them the information and they investigate and make up their own minds.
The Judge did and so did millions upon millions of people and idjits like you are an incredible help achieving that. I don’t want to attack you! You are merely a means to an end.
Have a nice day on your planet, wherever that is!
Sorry for the triple post. The site reported a failure to deliver and I tried again. It seems there was a bug at play. I prefer the last one to stay if you want to delete any of them.
There’s a peer reviewed article about something consistent with nanothermite being found in the dust:
The Open Chemical Physics Journal, 2009, 2, 7-31
This journal is open access and available to anyone for download of articles. Just google it.
I have absolutely no idea how rigorous the peer review process is for this journal, but I know one of the associate editors personally and might ask him if I can ever spare an hour or so for a quick answer. As soon as I get time, I’ll have a more critical look at the article itself. I can actually make a meaningful analysis of a published work much more easily than I can of a youtube video.
BTW nanothermite is even used in fireworks these days. It’s more available than it was in 2001, and appears to have been commercially available in applications since at least 2010: http://research.missouri.edu/otmir/mte2012/featuredtech/abstracts.html
Â
Capital gains are free of tax, which means there’s an incentive to finalize business endeavors
early and take the capital gain. An incentive to short change and cut corners. Oops, look at
our housing stock, cheap nasty, thrown up on unsuitable land… …our government is corrupt.
People don’t usually get criminal records just for smoking a joint anyway. In most cases the cops ignore it, and have done for years unless they’re after you for some other reason. He has less than a point.
Half a million is revealed as the cost for the chch eq blueprint launch (lunch??), and Gerry drops the mask and calls us names. Big time! Read the comments on the second link, couldn’t be hotter, 50 to 1 against Gerry. What a complete idiot.
DAVID SHEARER to the Minister of Education: Has she been informed whether the Prime Minister stands by all the statements he and his Ministers have made regarding the Reading Recovery Programme?
.
Shearer withdrew the question because he is now no longer able to hold the PM to account.
Peter’s has been protesting because it has impacted on his planned supplementaries.
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS to the Minister of Finance: What did he mean when he said that there is a “level of discomfort about the high level of the New Zealand dollar” in answer to Oral Question No 2 yesterday?
First Lockwood says Blinglish must answer, explain, clarify, or something. Then, Lockwood decided it wasn’t in the public interest to answer….. say what?
Wow, that’s a pretty random comment, Chris. Well up to your usual standard đ Funny how it’s almost interchangeable with this one. Were you and CV seperated at birth?
This summer I accompanied a team to the cascades wilderness in the pacific northwest to document the front line, boots on the ice field work that is revealing the emerging story of global climate change.
This is the first of a series of videos documenting what I learned, and what I saw.
Canada left the Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming  [CAGW] group-think last year after listening to their scientists;  now Germany is preparing to leave the sinking ship
UPDATE: reaction from Die Welt journalist Ulli Kulke here (in German), who says this is a welcome but not surprising conclusion.
*** Â Â **************************Â
So they will now persuade the rest of Europe that the hoax is coming to an end;
economics [aka Global Financial Crisis /unsustainable subsidies for wind/solar etc] always trump feel-good bullshit like socialists “saving the planet” from the nasty capitalists.
Â
Now – if we could just get the Global Warming to open the Desert Road, Rimutakas etc etc we could get on with enjoying the Spring.
You know something, if such a particularly significant even had occurred then you would be able to find it in the news but it just doesn’t seem to be there.
In the 1970’s the ‘hoax’ was Global Cooling – some of the same names from pushing that fraud [front page of Time Magazine etc.] even turn up as the early doom-sayers in the 1990’s proclaiming Global Warming.
As at 2012 we’re into 10+ years of flat lining global temperatures; while at the same time atmospheric CO2 has gone up from about 290ppm to 390ppm. Â Governments are beginning to see the disconnect between CO2 and world temperatures.Â
I read the article you link to; it is not really anything to do with why Governments are making these decisions now in 2012; it is more a wailing about the media [and me thinks the general population] loosing interest in CAGW as life continues on as normal, with the usual rise and fall in climate matters for now in excess of 20 years. Â It is hard to keep yelling doom for 20 years and expect people to still be listening.
And lets hope, also for the good people of Europe who are suffering high unemployment etc.  Good decisions by their Governments will have world-wide implications.
ACT Party leader John Banks says he welcomes changes to the local body laws governing donations, saying he was the victim of a law that is unclear and unfair.
Yeah, I don’t think too many people are going to see him as a victim.
“As Charles Dickens said in 1838 the law is an ass – and it’s important that the Government cleans it up. No candidate for public office should go through what I had to go through.”
Now that one actually gave me a laugh. The man is an utterly shameless piece of sh*t. First why throw in the exact year that Dickens said that? Showing off. Practiced that line in front of the mirror did we John? Second the only reason he got away with his blatant law-breaking is because of the technicality of the incident occuring more than 6 months ago. His second sentence should be “No candidate for public office should be able to get away scot free after fiddling the books like I did.” But he’s the victim here? He had to put up with a tough time because of this silly law? Tui ad?
To me Banks is an even bigger candidate for narcissistic personality disorder than Gerry Brownlee. (Google: narcissistic personality disorder arrogant “never wrong”.)
Ha Ignorance of the law now is the Banks (John that is) excuse! Good at passing them, bad at understanding what they mean these pollies. What we pay them for I don’t know. If we worked at Parliament in shifts ourselves we could make as big a mess at a quarter? of the cost, and our canteen would be Bellamys. We would still keep Bellamys, there have to be some perks.
Not long ago the new ACC board was announced. It will be headed by Paula Rebstock, who already heads the newly created Social Welfare Board as well. I wonder what else she is in charge now. One other board member is Dr Des Gorman, who has over many years been advising ACC on a wider range of claims cases, apparently making some questioned and disputed assessments.
Dr Des Gorman as one new board member of ACC, working alongside the new head of ACC, who is Paula Rebstock (former business operator, Commerce Commissioner, senior Welfare Working Group member), does send serious warning signals. It does show anything else but a supposed âchange of cultureâ at ACC.
Also does he already hold such a wide range of high ranking, key positions in the health and health related training sector, one must ask, can this be in the public interest?
http://healthworkforce.govt.nz/sites/all/files/Discussion Paper – Workforce Requirements for New Models of Service Delivery.pdf
(see especially the already commenced training program to enable GPs to complete some additional modules in training, equipping them with basic âmental healthâ qualification, to be used for treating and assessing mental health clients, also of course, for WINZ)
So Dr Gorman seems to have his hands into most of the health sector somehow. That does scare me, as his influence, combined with other peculiar new ACC board members, is likely to change little, and lead to more secrecy in the way they will operate. ’60 minutes’ last Sunday exposed what has already been going on.
Also I noted new updates in an older thread of discussion they have. And to my surprise they indicate, that the Principal Health Advisor of MSD, who introduced and managed the training of “designated doctors” and also his own internal staff (Regional Health and Disability Advisors, Health and Disability Coordinators, all advising case managers at WINZ) in 2008, is now MOVING OVER TO A JOB AT ACC:
And although not finally confirmed, a WINZ client has informed me, that some informations he has obtained, do indicate, that at least for now, and already for some time, the involvement of “designated doctors” by MSD and Work and Income for medical examinations and assessments has been stopped!?
So some major changes are happening. Very, very interesting, but maybe also worrying, what will come next.
Religion in this case, TM. Poverty, ignorance and superstition led to the film being made and the same combination led to the riots in Egypt and Libya against the film. Time to outlaw god, for the good of humankind.
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that â…one of New Zealandâs COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the countryâ Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished âat least, we got rid of Muldoonâ, a response which tells us that then, and today, oneâs views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement:Â More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
âTheyâre here already! Youâre next! Youâre next! Youâre next!âWHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: âTheyâre here already! Youâre next! Youâre next! Youâre next!âOstensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dĂťr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhowerâs inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been âleaders of the free worldâ. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to âdrain the swampâ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, UniversitÊ de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
The hypocritical actions of political leaders throughout the global Covid pandemic have damaged public faith in institutions and governance. Liam Hehir chronicles the way in which contemporary politicians have let down the public, and explains how real leadership means walking the talk. During the Blitz, when German bombs were ...
Over the years, we've published many rebuttals, blog posts and graphics which came about due to direct interactions with the scientists actually carrying out the underlying research or being knowledgable about a topic in general. We'll highlight some of these interactions in this blog post. We'll start with two memorable ...
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation: Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the cityâs available rental housing: the power ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story â read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trumpâs behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. Itâs a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, UniversitĂŠ du QuĂŠbec Ă MontrĂŠal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about todayâs global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind â the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONALâS Bill English who accurately described New Zealandâs prisons as âfiscal and moral failuresâ. On the same subject, Labourâs Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. Weâd studied Shakespeareâs King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President respectively for the US 2020 Election, may have dispensed with the erstwhile nemesis, Trump the candidate – but there are numerous critical openings through which much, much worse many out there may yet see fit to ...
I donât know TaupĹ well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, Iâm always on the way to somewhere else. Usually TaupĹ means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the ...
Frances Williams, King’s College LondonFor most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 â the virus that causes COVID-19 â leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all. But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection â this has been dubbed âlong COVIDâ. Scientists are ...
Last night, a British court ruled that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US. Unfortunately, its not because all he is "guilty" of is journalism, or because the offence the US wants to charge him with - espionage - is of an inherently political nature; instead the judge accepted ...
Is the Gender Identity Movement a movement for human liberation, or is it a regressive movement which undermines women’s liberation and promotes sexist stereotypes? Should biological males be allowed to play in women’s sport, use women-only spaces (public toilets, changing rooms, other facilities), be able to have access to everything ...
Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University and Gareth Dorrian, University of BirminghamSpace exploration achieved several notable firsts in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including commercial human spaceflight and returning samples of an asteroid to Earth. The coming year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Here are some of ...
Michael Head, University of SouthamptonThe UK has become the first country to authorise the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for public use, with roll-out to start in the first week of 2021. This vaccine is the second to be authorised in the UK â following the Pfizer vaccine. The British government ...
So, Boris Johnson has been footering about in hospitals again. We should be grateful, perhaps, that on this occasion the Clown-in-Chief is only (probably) getting in the way and causing distractions, rather than taking up a bed, vital equipment and resources and adding more strain and danger to exhausted staff.Look at ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... SkS in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to ZeroThat’s one of several recent ...
The situation in the UK is looking catastrophic.Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day. It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start ...
by Don Franks For five days over New Year weekend, sixteen prisoners in the archaic pre WW1 block of Waikeria Prison defied authorities by setting fires and occupying the building’s roof. They eventually agreed to surrender after intervention from Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi.  A message from the protesting men had stated: ...
Lost Opportunity: The powerful political metaphor of the Maori Party leading the despised and marginalised from danger to safety, is one Labour could have pre-empted by taking the uprising at Waikeria Prison much more seriously. AS WORD OF Rawiri Waititiâs successful intervention in the Waikeria Prison stand-off spreads, the Maori ...
Dear friends, itâs been a covidious year,A testing time for all of us hereâCitizens of an island nationIn a state of managed isolation,A team (someone said) five million strong,Making it up as we went along:Somehow in typical Kiwi fashion,Without any wild excess ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Dec 27, 2020 through Sat, Jan 2, 2021Editor's Choice7 Graphics That Show Why the Arctic Is in Trouble Arctic Sea Ice: NSIDC It’s no secret that the Arctic is ...
One of the books I read in 2020 was She, by H. Rider Haggard (1887). I thoroughly enjoyed it, as being an exemplar of a good old-fashioned adventure story. I also noted with amusement ...
Scottish doctor Malcolm Kendrick looks at the pandemic and the responses to it 30th December 2020 I have not written much about COVID19 recently. What can be said? In my opinion the world has simply gone bonkers. The best description can be found in Danteâs Inferno, written many hundreds of ...
I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or the numbers seem very low please check this out. After correcting send me the URL for your ...
The deed is done, the doers undoneHad I been a Brit, I would have voted âRemainâ rather than Brexit (or âLeaveâ). Instead, I have been bemused by the comic theatre of British politics, fascinated by what the Brits actual think and professionally interested by the revelations of the complexity of ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. Thereâs a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, hereâs a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. âFollowing confirmation of the Cook Islandsâ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. âOur top priority continues ...
Todayâs deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. âThe deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. âABAC helps ensure that APECâs work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Governmentâs prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealandâs local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. âGiven the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, itâs clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. âThe Battle at Te Ruapekapeka PÄ, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. âThe new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. âThe past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Yearâs Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. âWe are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Yearâs Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Governmentâs investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. âCOVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
New virus variants and ongoing high rates of diseases in some countries prompt additional border protections Extra (day zero or day one) test to be in place this week New ways of reducing risk before people embark on travel being investigated, including pre-departure testing for people leaving the United Kingdom ...
Pacific Media Watch correspondent The pro-independence conflict in West Papua with a missionary plane reportedly being shot down at Intan Jaya has stirred contrasting responses from the TNI/POLRI state sources, church leaders and an independence leader. A shooting caused a plane to catch fire on 6 January 2021 in the ...
âLast year ACT warned that rewarding protestors at IhumÄtao with taxpayer money would promote further squatting. We just didnât think it would happen as quickly as it is in Shelly Bayâ says ACT Leader David Seymour. âThe prosperity of all ...
Our kindly PM registered her return to work as leader of the nation with yet another statement on the Beehive website, the second in two days (following her appointment of Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council on Wednesday). It’s great to know we don’t have to check with ...
A Pūhoi pub is refusing to remove a piece of memorabilia bearing the n-word from its walls. Dr Lachy Paterson looks at the history of the word here, and New Zealand’s complicity in Britain’s shameful slave trading past.Content warning: This article contains racist language and images.On a pub wall in ...
Supermarket shoppers looking for citrus are seeing a sour trend at the moment – some stores are entirely tapped out of lemons. But why? Batches of homemade lemonade will be taking a hit this summer, with life not giving New Zealand shoppers lemons. Prices are high at supermarkets and grocers that ...
You’re born either a cheery soul or a gloomy one, reckons Linda Burgess – but what happens when gene pools from opposite ends of the spectrum collide?In our shoeboxes of photos that we have to sort out before we die or get demented – because who IS that kid on ...
Summer reissue: Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue?First published September 1, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Hundreds more Cook Islanders are expected to begin criss-crossing the Pacific, Air NZ will triple the number of flights to Rarotonga next week, and about 300 managed isolation places will be freed up for Kiwis returning from other parts of the world. When Thomas Tarurongo Wynne took a job in Wellington at ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Ena Manuireva in Auckland It seems a long time ago â some 124 days â since MÄâohi Nui deplored its first covid-19 related deaths of an elderly woman on 11 September 2020 followed by her husband just hours later, both over the age of 80. The local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral research associate, UNSW A global coalition of more than 50 countries have this week pledged to protect over 30% of the planetâs lands and seas by the end of this decade. Their reasoning is clear: we need greater protection ...
The Reserve Bank Governorâs apology and claim he will âown the issueâ is laughable given the lack of answers and timing of its release. Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayersâ Union said: âItâs been five days since they came clean, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olga Kokshagina, Researcher – Innovation & Entrepreneurship, RMIT University Are too many online meetings and notifications getting you down? Online communication tools â from email to virtual chat and video-conferencing â have transformed the way we work. In many respects theyâve made ...
The Reserve Bank acknowledges information about some of its stakeholders may have been breached in a malicious data hack. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has commissioned an independent inquiry into how stakeholders' information was compromised when hackers breached a file sharing service used by the bank. âWe ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland This story contains spoilers for Ammonite Palaeontologist Mary Anning is known for discovering a multitude of Jurassic fossils from Lyme Regis on Englandâs Dorset Coast from the age of ten in 1809. ...
A tribute to the sitcoms of old? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Yup. Sam Brooks reviews the audacious WandaVision.Nothing sends a chill up my spine like the phrase “Marvel Cinematic Universe”. Since launching in 2008 with Iron Man, the MCU has become a shambling behemoth, with over 23 films (not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University The alt-right, QAnon, paramilitary and Donald Trump-supporting mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6 claimed they were only doing what the so-called âfounding fathersâ of the US had done in ...
The Point of Order Ministerial Workload Watchdog and our ever-vigilant Trough Monitor were both triggered yesterday by an item of news from the office of Conservation Minister Kititapu Allan. The minister was drawing attention to new opportunities to dip into the Jobs for Nature programme (and her statement was the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Kupz, Senior Research Fellow, James Cook University In July 1921, a French infant became the first person to receive an experimental vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), after the mother had died from the disease. The vaccine, known as Bacille Calmette-GuĂŠrin (BCG), is ...
The first Friday Poem for 2021 is by Wellington poet Rebecca Hawkes.While you were partying I studied the bladeI your ever-loving edgelord God-emperorof the bot army & bitcoin mine subsistingon an IV drip of gamer girl bathwaterfinally my lonelinessis your responsibility………. you seeI need a girlfriend assigned to me by the ...
The arming of police officers in Canterbury was inevitable with the growing numbers and brazenness of the gangs across the country â this should be a permanent step, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. âIt is unfortunate that we have come to the point ...
Celebrations in Aotearoa New Zealand to mark the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will begin on Thursday 21 January with ICAN Aotearoa New Zealandâs Wellington and online event, and continue on Friday ...
Hardly anyone is using their Covid Tracer app. Something needs to change.As the mercury approaches 30°C in Aotearoa, there is a good deal of slipping and slopping, but, let’s face it, piss-all scanning. As few as around 500,000 QR codes are being scanned by users of the NZ Covid Tracer ...
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WOW !!
http://www.thepoliticalscientist.org/?feed=rss2
[lprent: probably this post on ECan and the pretty obvious intent by the government to remove democracy from Christchurch and cantabury ]
Freaking outstanding. A must-read.
Thanks for linking.
+1. Frightening and should be a call to arms! đ
It’s no secret that I am a big fan of Puddles and last time I got into an exchange of views with her, I got my arse delivered in a sling. However……I have another view on ECAN.
I have had horrific experience of the “old” ECAN and the subversion of science by politicians both inside and outside the organisation. I have been in meetings where ECAN staff have stated that “no matter what the science showed, they would not budge”.
Series of restructuring robbed ECAN of a lot of it’s best technical staff to the extent that now most of the expertise on Canterbury groundwater resides in external consultancies.
During the Rakaia Selwyn hearing before commissioners, the commissioners took the unprecedented step of issuing a memo of concern to ECAN that they believed that ECAN may not follow the commissioner’s findings.
A few councillors with strong links to green causes and a few key activist staff had subverted a good organisation, driven out it’s top scientists and were waging a war against ratepayers, other councillors and the remaining competent technical staff.
I see that those making most noise currently fall into that camp.
Hi grumpy,
Your description of your experiences of the claimed ‘unscientific’ arguments of some members of the ECan staff is a good example of one of the main points I was making: The idea that collective decisions (i.e., political decisions) should increasingly be seen as technical matters that can be made through objective, science-based, technical procedures.
So, thanks for demonstrating my point đ
The post, in any event, wasn’t about my views of how ECan was or is operating (at the operational level), so I’m not sure why you believe you have a different view from me on that.
My argument is a simple one: Any problems that may have existed with ECan – and that point itself has been debated (e.g., Kerry Burke’s letter to The Press in this morning’s paper) – should have been corrected through the democratic process.
There’s a value in democratic processes that goes far beyond the pragmatics of getting things done. It’s about how best to hold a group (e.g., society) together over the long-term by distributing power evenly (or as evenly as possible).
If you’re right that ECan was ‘hijacked’ by some greenies who scared off all the scientists, then let that be part of the debate during the next ECan elections. That way ‘we’, the people, will hear all sides of that particular argument and ‘we’ will decide who we believe or support.
Democracy, after all, is just a ‘free market’ in arguments aimed at persuading each other. And, there’s good reason to believe that, human reasoning evolved through, and in, argumentative contexts.
As the authors in that link argue, better decisions get made, on average, in groups than by the ‘best’ individuals who comprise the group, largely because our reasoning abilities are all about trying to promote our own argument and trying to find holes in the arguments of others, rather than to get at ‘the truth’. In fact, ‘the truth’ is better attained at the group/collective level.
That’s why humans evolved to do so much arguing:
“While there can hardly be any archaeological evidence for the claim that argumentation already played an important role in early human groups, we note that anthropologists have repeatedly observed people arguing in small-scale traditional societies (Boehm et al. 1996; Brown 1991; Mercier, in press a).”
At the group level these argumentative reasoning skills get used – by the collective – to come to better decisions than anyone could make alone.
That’s one reason I prefer democracy rather than rule by experts.
The interesting thing, grumpy, is that my preference is based on the relevant science – now you wouldn’t not be persuaded by the science, would you??
[And, if it’s any consolation to people who argue a lot on blogs, the authors conclude:
“we note that the argumentative theory of reasoning should be congenial to those of us who enjoy spending endless hours debating ideas â but this, of course, is not an argument for (or against) the theory.“]
BTW, I appreciate your comments here.Â
The problem with the “democratic process” as regards ECAN is that there really isn’t one. The low voter turnout ( around 25%) threw up a disproportionate result, so that a minority political view was able, with management and staff collusion, to take over – or at least subvert the operations of the council.
The subsequent hounding out of those with different views, usually scientists, led to an organisation ruled by dogma.
ECAN started to lose every hearing on the science.
As you say, I would be persuaded by the science. As an engineer, I think quite a bit of science, that is why I hate to see it bastardised.
It was telling, that in my case, you got diametricaly opposed technical opinions depending on which scientist gave the opinion – and the management refused to allow peer review.
I guess the government just don’t feel enough has changed. Bear in mind that Labour almost got around to the same action but was saved by the election and that cleanout then fell to National.
Terrific writing. Great stuff. Loved that quote no technocratic rationality reigning righteous over democratic input when solving problems – had the same kind of suspicion as Heidegger’s The Question Concerning Technology. Lots of ways to use this article in the office here. Very helpful.
Yes great writing. Would it be presumptuous to ask for some paragraphs. Then can read and pause to take in the points then continue. At present it is a wall of words.
When people post a link, could people please say what it is to, and why we might be interested in reading it. My browsers have been loading very slowly for the last day or so. That link won’t load at all…. just keeps spinning & then times out.
[lprent: I am unsurprised. It is a RSS feed link. I have put a link to the actual post on a note. ]
Ah, thanks. That loads much more easily.
Given the likely demographics of Herald online Poll of The Day “Which Party would get your vote in an election today?” The Nats must be bloody worried, although it looks like Colin Craig could have been busy on his VPN services.
Amongst the continuous bene bashing and the falling apart of the asset sales program a further issue has dodged the headlines but in the long term may be more important than any other issue.
The Governments Climate Change Response (rendering the ETS practically toothless) Amendment Bill is making its way through Parliament. Â The bill is 79 pages of highly technical law changes but essentially does a couple of things:
1. Â It postpones indefinitely Agriculture’s entry into the NZETS,
2. Â The price cap for carbon will be extended,
3. Â It further subsidizes polluters by extending the two credits for one scheme for a further three years.
The process is eye watering. Â The bill was introduced on August 20 and submissions closed on September 10, a short four weeks later. Â The select committee report is scheduled for October 17. Â The Government is smashing this through.
The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Jan Wright has in her typical blunt style said that the bill will render the ETS “almost toothless”.Â
In 50 years time what does the Government expect us to say to our children?
What will our children say about this Government and the many who support it?
Our children will probably say that the
OECD says NZ spends greater proportion of govt spending on education than any other country. 21.2% vs OECD average of 13%.
Great that National proves it values education and disproves the ranting here.
[lprent: Fis, do you remember that you should link to support your assertions of fact? Or say why you are not. Not doing so is troll tactic to generate meaningless conversations. I get irritated because the resulting discussions are boring to read – and I don’t like being bored. In this case as Mickey points out the figures you were quoting were probably from the 2009 report and reported the Labour governments performance. So I suspect the omission of a link was deliberate.
One month ban for being a stupid troll again and not linking… You have actually doing pretty well about avoiding moderator attention this time, so we won’t play the full doubleup anti-troll response. See you on Oct 12 and we’ll see if you can resist your old habits then. ]
Oh Fisi it was for 2009 which is directly related to the 2008 budget. You should be thanking Helen Clark. I am sure the figures are now worse …
Fisani
Our children will probably say that the
Federated Farmers ( the Farmere Trade Union) and Fonterra had very very well funded Lobby operation in Parliament that give then 1st dibs on any policy they choose. And that their members contributed heavily to the National Party election fund.
Our children will probably say that the
2012 generation were very easily fooled and bought by interest groups who wanted profit now, without any investment in the future. They will accuse us of massive inter generational theft, greed and stupidity.
Don’t let the date get in the way of your cool story though.
I’m amazed that they didn’t just eliminate it but, then, I suppose they have to at least try and look like they’re doing something about climate change even though they’re not.
Free Trade Talks – Key on Morning Report this morning
Apparently the Japanese governement has the difficult position of having to placate its strong “agricultural lobby” – very influential apparently.
Strong agricultural lobby has never ever been a problem for countries like New Zealand in its free trade talks. Yeah Right.
In fact try to get any government policy change in any area (even social ) and the first port of call for cabinet is “what do the cow-cockies think …?
…Broad Band?
Water rights?
Driving license age?
ECAN?
About Japan’s agriculture. Remember that wee incident at Fukushima? Given that more radiation was released than at Chernobyl and given that radiation is still being released. And given that there are still areas in Europe where food production is prohibited (eg certain farms in Wales, areas in Germany etc) because of persistent radiation contamination from Chernobyl…What is this fucking government doing with regards monitoring imports of fish, monitoring of migratory fish catches, monitoring of Japanese food imports and the monitoring of non-food imports from Japan?
So the tuna and the mutton birds (migratory) and theseaweed, noodles, wasabi etc are all A-OK. Because no fucker is monitoring fuck all. That’s a relief. Pass the soy sauce will you….
http://www.foodsafety.govt.nz/elibrary/industry/japanese-earthquake/maf-monitoring-japanese-imports.htm
What Japan is weighing up is whether to go West with the TPP or to hook into the Chinese Block, squabbling over islands suggests this may not happen, but Governments can be very pragmatic when it comes to their trade interests. Which don’t necessarily lie with Washington.
An interview with Anna Osborne, whose husband Milton was killed at Pike River, on the World Socialist Website. This interview gives a much fuller account from the perspective of one of the miners families than anything I’ve seen on the MSM.
How do we like them cuts eh?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10833423
Ambulances will not be sent to 111 calls deemed ‘non-urgent’ such as:
“abdominal pain, allergies, animal bites, assaults, back pain, falls, headaches, exposure to cold, lacerations, and feeling sick.”
I’m not a doctor, but it strikes me that some of those can be pretty damn urgent.
The Ministry’s response?
“no significant funding increases were planned, the spokesman said.
“St John is making excellent progress with introducing new ways of working that will enable it to manage demand growth within existing resources.””
St John’s Ambulance scare. I have very recently joined their emergency alarm scheme and already I am getting worried!
We likes âthem cutsâ very much indeed thank you nice Mr Blue. We glow and warmly thank the poor stressed funders as we humbly look forward to expiring unattended from various hideous medical events.
Two points on that:
a 4% increase a year with 10-15% of current calls being “non-urgent” means that any benefit of cutting “non-urgent” services will be gone in 2 or three years;
   Â
Quite a few conditions that get worse over time can be prevented/treated at the start by going to a GP. Barriers to primary care include a lack of funds (both for the GP and for transport). So it gets left until it gets worse. At which time an ambulance is called if they can’t get to ED themselves. But of course now the ambulance most likely will be delayed until the call centre know it’s an emergency. Â So the poor who were denied primary care also get delayed secondary/tertiary treatment. But who cares how many of the poor drop off due to something that could have been treated with a GP script days or weeks before? They’re non-productive economic units.
  Â
Fucking Nats.Â
This is no surprise.
I am aware of a situation where a house was being burgled, while the occupants were inside, they called 111, and when spoke to the operator, was told they would have to make a complaint which would be responded to in 48 hours, or they could come to the station.
When it was explained again that there offenders inside the house, the message was repeated that they could go to a station, or wait 48 hours!
Can’t see why Ambulance would be any different if this is the response to peoples safety by the police.
Next up fire brigade – I’m sorry sir, only your lounge is on fire, we are unable to send an appliance until at least 3 major sections of the house are ablaze!
I guess the response is to lie and say the intruders have gun.
Or better still, you have a gun and have shot them!,
What do they actually consider urgent? I can see how all the things listed could be fatal. Will the NActoids be happy when they’ve finally got the situation that I remember in 2000 in SĂŁo Paulo? One of my students had the people who pick up corpses knock on his door to ask if he had any gladwrap. Someone had died in an adjacent flat and the body was so decomposed that they couldn’t get a decent grip on it. The City Council had cut their funding for gloves on some totally spurious basis and this was what it led to.
In many ways, Brazil has improved since then. Our country hasn’t, and won’t until we change the way of doing things.
Back in good old NZ, a friend of mine was a doctor in the Nelson area. He told me how it was virtually impossible to get an ambulance to a rural address because all the despatching had been centralised in Auckland. Third house on the right after the bridge by the burnt out barn was not something the operators understood as an address.
No ‘economic benefits’ from heat pumps so they scrap the grants.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/7658669/Clean-heat-grants-quietly-scrapped
Glad to hear it. Heat pumps are evil on so many levels.Â
Gee, what a surprise.
I actually suspect that people ran out to get a heat pump when they should have done the insulation and then found that it didn’t work because the house was inherently cold (but were, of course, blaming the heat pump).
…or, someone actually read this and then wondered why no-one in organisations like EECA had a frigging clue…..
http://www.theglobalmail.org/investigations/in/power-bill-surge/
Great article thanks.
Don,t thank me, ad mentioned it in another thread. I agree, perfect.
What?! There were subsidies available for oversized fan heaters????
Tuhoe have reached a settlement involving a form of governance over the Ureweras. Water rights issues are heading through the process. Wind rights have been glanced at. Rights over here and rights over there. It becomes all very confusing.
I propose settling all things once and for all by providing to Maori a consistent 10% ownership in everything in the land. Then we can be done with it. This can reflected in, say, a 10% slice of all taxation going to them for use rights by the wider population. A regular tithe, poll tax, call it what you will, but lets just pay it and be done. Then we can move on from the flaws of the treaty. A specific broad tax payable to people on the basis of their race, and the treaty. Sure, some detail would be lost and gained here and there but broadly the concept is consistent.
Alongside the pan tax there could be a separate set of laws and regulations, criminal justice system, etc. Even separate schools and welfare systems. I think this is good and appears to be what many have argued for.
Let’s do it.
Why 10%?
Give Maori 100% and hope they’re nicer people than pakeha have been.
I was once asked how many seats Maori should have in parliament. My reply of “All of them” met with outraged shock. Personally, I wouldn’t be worried at all. I’m far more worried about carpetbagging pakeha in suits than I am about Maori in the Urewera.
Can a bad/useless/corrupt/putwhatyoulikehere government do good things? Can a bad person do good things?
Obviously this has been a point of discussion around other areas and putting value judgements of what ‘bad’ is aside I want to thank finlayson (I don’t think he’s ‘bad’), personally and as a representative of the government, for saying these things
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7653374/Historic-Treaty-settlement-for-Tuhoe
This settlement is a strong step towards mana motuhake for NgÄi Tuhoe and I congratulate them.
It is not perfect but it is a step in the right direction and as Tuhoe negotiator Tamati Kruger has said, “he believed the tribe had ultimately won what it was seeking, which was control over the park.”
I wonder about the figure of 170M – is that figure used for relativity or do they calculate it some other way?
edit – snap vto, interesting to see our different perspectives…
snap true mr marty.
On the one hand we have the treaty and colonisation which must be dealt with. On the other we have the settings required for a healthy society as we tootle into the future. As you know, I don’t think the two things lead to the same result. There must be a way that can be achieved but lordy it seems difficult.
we must walk backwards into the future – holding hands as we step
A few odd things happening to the comments section on the top right of the screen – periodically disappearing, or turning into an overlaid mess, but only for a few seconds, then back to normal again.
Could well be my computer which is particularly sluggish today.
I’m having to press F5 fairly often to reload The Standard, as it seems reluctant to load correctly the first time around.
If that Herald poll was accurate, it surely says that the worse this Government behaves the better the voters like it! How many people who have protested the sale of assets, really been sincere?
Read it and weep losers. You will be smashed in any referendum.
đ
Well then you better get out and get more signatures for the petition. Have to ensure that the referendum goes ahead so that we’ll be trashed.
If you look at polls of who is against the sale of assets, the age range and which people are active voters, its difficult to see how the referendum will end up backing the sale of assets.
Where do you get that idea from Mark?
Please don’t say the Herald
Where do you get that idea from Mark?
It comes out of is head fatty. What goes in and what comes out are two totally different things.
The herald poll was an on line poll how many working class and poor have access to time and computers or read the herald, how many repeat votes no limit on the number of times you can vote Its pure BS.
Opinions in the herald blogs have changed quite markedly as more and more are against govt.
@Dr Terry – I wish the herald would release some readership demographics, I suspect it would show a significant portion of reader are “likely” to be of the centre right persuasion, hence an artificially high support figure for the Nats.
You could be onto something a good farming friend of mine (National Voter) expressed the following
“I don’t want the assests sold but what are we going to do about the debt” Unfortunately Labour have not been doing a good job of articulating an economic alternative. Although the conservative policy is a no to assest sales.
What do we do about the debt?
1) You identify all the corporate income streaming out of NZ and you turn them back to NZ.
2) You sort out our exchange rates so that our manufacturers and exporters are not being crippled.
3) You increase tax rates on the wealthiest 5% of NZers so that we do not have to borrow that same money from China, Saudi Arabia and Singapore.
4) You put 50,000 people back to work building up the country so that they are not on benefits.
In response to Iprent calling my support for a new and independent investigation an obsession here is why: 50 different forms of cancer have been added to the list of ailments First responders (Some 70.000 of them) can claim compensation for. That has been an 11 year struggle. For them 911 never ended.
What is really baffling is that in the longs of first responders Nano Thermite residue has been found. Nano Thermite can only be produced in high security Military laboratories in the US. I wonder could the 19 young Muslims who after all were able to evade the US airforce and break the laws of physics also have gained access to those laboratories?
[lprent: You’re treating it as if it was a pejorative expression? Obsessions are what can eventually change the world. Ask any scientist or programmer or blogger or campaigner for any cause through any era. You have to be obsessed with something before you can achieve much beyond the norms. Of course the vast majority of obsessions don’t bear any fruit.
However supporting obsessional people is worth the effort – which is why many people are tolerated commenting here. But I can’t see much reason to be particularly nice about it. I’m afraid that testing an obsession to destruction is about the only effective way to find out if it has merit. ]
That link doesn’t really explain your obsession though.Â
btw, what do you think is going to happen in Chch once the long term effects of toxic dust become evident?Â
Nano-thermite should not be in those lungs for starters Weka and a lot of us have been trying to help first responders and support them in their battle so that sort of kept 911 alive as they were dying. You don’t have to be obsessive just concerned and puzzled by the total lack of support from the US government for these heroes will do.
What relationship does the Chch earthquake and the dust in the air on that day have to do with 70.000 First responders in New York on 911?
I haven’t given it much thought but with the authorities blatantly lying in New York I gave the dust in New York a lot of thought on that day.
It would be an interesting research project though and I would hope that Chch dust victims won’t have to fight for 11 years until they got medical help and compensation like the heroes of 911 had too.
“It would be an interesting research project though and I would hope that Chch dust victims wonât have to fight for 11 years until they got medical help and compensation like the heroes of 911 had too.”
Â
The statement above is untrue. The US Government has been funding medical help for First Responders from the start. All that has changed in yesterdays announcement is that a further 50 types of cancer are now also recognised as potential 9/11 related claims. In other words, the scheme that already exists has been widened in scope.
TRP said:
Yeah except your statement is too vague to be useful. It really means nothing in fact when monthly medical bills for one person can add up to tens of thousands of dollars, and the Federal Gov might pay for a pittance.
See here for an example of Republicans voting down health care funding for 9/11 responders:
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-07-30/politics/9.11.responders.bill_1_simple-majority-vote-majority-rule-benefits-bill?_s=PM:POLITICS
Facts aren’t vague, CV. They’re, um, facts. I wasn’t clarifying the quality of the US Government assistance, just confirming that it has existed all along. So it was a factual and, therefore, useful contribution dispelling some fact free and, therefore, useless hyperbole in the original comment.
Facts aren’t just facts mate. Are they complete? Are they accurate? Are they contextualised?
Regardless, you do accept that the US Congress stalled for years a multibillion dollar health package for 9/11 responders?
For those of you who unlike TRP really want to know how the 911 First Responders fared after they outlived their sell by date as propaganda props to help the Bush administration use the events of 911 to invade and destroy the Arab world which to this day Obama and the other head of the dragon continue to do, here is a link to the Feal Good site. The Feal Good foundation is one of the most important Foundations to provide aid to the First Responders.
This link leads to the News page which gives a good chronological list of the history of the battle for free healthcare for the First Responders, many of whom have died along the way leaving their spouses and Children destitute and with debilitating healthcare bills to deal with.
John Feal who started the Foundation was a 911 First responder and lost half a foot while in the Pit (the name for what was left of the WTC complex) when a steel beam fell on it. He had no money but began to help his former colleagues and people started to give money and help as his project became more known.
Under TRP’s criteria, 9/11 emergency workers being given free boxes of sticky plasters would be counted as “government assistance”.
You’re being a dick, CV. I have no such criteria, I was just pointing out one of Trav’s many mistakes.
There wurrn”t and isn’t none asbestos in Ch/ch. Nones I tell’s ye!
Iprent,
Obsession=a persistent idea or impulse that continually forces its way into consciousness, often associated with anxiety and mental illness.
Commemorating an anniversary of what is arguable one of the most devastating and globally influential catastrophes (Mostly so for Afghanis and Iraqis who had nothing to do with the events) and asking questions about puzzling questions that remain does not constitute an obsession.
If it does thousands of Scientists, Architects, Engineers, Fire fighters Military personal etc would have to be classified as obsessed.
In Germany, most Arab countries, Russia and large areas of the US 80% of the population would be obsessive as those are the numbers which come back as either believing that the US government did no tell the truth or was involved in the events.
In New York 50% believe the official story is rubbish and more than a 100.000 signatures were collected to get a new and independent investigation.
In Italy Judge Ferdinando Imposimato who is the honorary President of the Supreme Court of Italy, and former Senior Investigative Judge, and who presided over several terrorism-related cases, including the kidnapping and ultimate assassination of President Aldo Moro, the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II, other political assassinations and kidnapping cases and several cases against the Mafia. He is a former Senator who served on the Anti-Mafia Commission in three administrations, stated that he would refer the case to the International court of Justice.
Italy has a long history with State Crimes against Democracy and both a former president and this judge have no problem accepting that we need a new and independent investigation.
You also remarked that: Even her science is well argued even if I personally think it is more hopeful than accurate.
I understand that to argue as a moderator with a commentator is a colossal waste of time but I would really like to hear your argument as to how you come to the hopeful bit. Are you arguing that I hope that the events of 911 were perpetrated by our own leaders?
To say so means that you have absolutely no idea how painful it is to have to come to the conclusion that it wasn’t an outside enemy who attacked us but rather a shady group in our own midst. You can fight the enemy at the gate but an enemy in your midst is more devastating and hellish than anything I can think of. Not to be able to trust your own is a hideous thought. To go there is lonely, scary and dangerous and infinitely sad.
Maybe that is why it is so hard for you to actually have a look at the information on offer. Maybe if you did you would understand that to do so means to leave all hope behind.
Attacked “us”? Didnae attack me.
Would you say that that Italian document is about as solid a presentation of the case as one can expect Eve?
Alternatively, do you think it is strong?
You say that you have reluctantly come to the conclusions you hold. Does that presentation of the case strike you as convincing? When you read it, do you quite often think, ‘well, that’s not quite the whole story there Judge, you are leaving out some very important deatails that go against your conclusion’? Things like that.
Because that’s what I found myself thinkng when reading it. Quite a bit.
And that’s leaving aside this little gem:
The authoritative theologian David Ray Griffin has described
very precisely why the hypothesis of controlled demolition should be taken into
consideration.
Honestly, what is one to make of that? Is it a typo?
If not, why should I listen to an authoratative theologian with regard to a hypothesis of controlled demolition?
The judge doesn’t tell me why I should, I wonder if you can.
Dear PB, Another shining example of taking things out of context!
First of all Judge Ferdinando Imposimato is the honorary president of the Italian Supreme Court. He was given this role after a career that saw him presiding over high profile court cases such as the murder of Aldo Moro a former (39th ) Prime Minister of Italy, the attempted murder of Pope John Paul II.
He is a specialist and investigative judge who knows all the ins and outs of the Mafia, International Drugs trading and State crimes against Democracy.
Italy which was on the receiving end of the Gladio operations while Judge Imposimato presided over these cases, is a country which is very aware of how the CIA and other secretive organisations operate in order to manipulate politics and entire populations through fear.
Here is a BBC documentary on the Gladio operations also known as State Sponsored Crime.
I hope that if not you readers who actually do believe you donât get to where the Judge is by being flimsy in your reasoning and that it requires intelligence, discipline, hard work, and personal integrity to achieve what he achieved.
To take one paragraph out of an excerpt of the letter the Judge wrote is careless and showing intellectual laziness in the most positive case but is misleading and dishonest in the worst.
For those of you who never heard of David Ray Griffin here is his wiki link. David Ray Griffin used his skills of reasoning as a Professor in Theology and 20th century Philosophy which taught from 1973 until April 2004 to analyse the events of 911.
On his Wiki page you will see that he has published a whole series of books on the subject and if you could actually be bothered to read any of them I can assure you you will find them to be solid scientific analysis. For those of you who canât be bothered but donât mind a lecture on video here is one example of DRGâs intellectual prowess.
What PBâs simplistic and dishonest comment does not convey either is that the letter from Judge Imposimanto is a verdict in reaction to the Toronto hearings which heard the testimonies and scientific analysis of the many scientists and professionals who put their cases before a very erudite panel chaired by the judge.
To put this aside with a sneer is again dishonest and intellectually lazy because if you give credence to âAuthorityâ (as most do in the case of 911) and the powers that be merely because you ought to you should also give credence to judges with a long history of intellectual and personal integrity who, after studying material they have been given by other persons of authority in subjects and science connected to the events of 911, reach a conclusion not aligned with the Conspiracy theory the Political powers that be want us to accept without critical thinking.
Another long screed attacking me for asking questions.
Here is the wiki link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ray_Griffin
He is a theologian who has written a number of books promoting trutherism. Fair enough, but he doesn’t sound unbiased to me. He takes a post modrn approach to reconciling beliefs with other beliefs. It’s not exactly the sort of thing criminal investigators rely on, for example. It is certainly not ‘scientific’.
RE: The Toronto hearings. Who was representing the other side of the debate? Was there cross examination of witnesses, or did they just present their own theories?
And I have no doubts about the Jufges credentials, it’s his argument as presented in that piece that I was talking about.
But apparently, the only thing we should look at is his credentials, and therefore conclude that his argument must be unquestionable.
No PB,
This was not a long screed attacking you. This was a long screed giving a lot of links to people who actually do want to know about 911.
Big difference!
I know you won’t put in the hards slog but you know what? Other people do and it is those I aim for. I give them the information and they investigate and make up their own minds.
The Judge did and so did millions upon millions of people and idjits like you are an incredible help achieving that. I don’t want to attack you! You are merely a means to an end.
Have a nice day on your planet, wherever that is!
Appears to be a blog version of palilalia.
Perhaps with a hint of Aspergers on the side ?
“You are merely a means to an end.”
No Eve, I am a person.
And Yes, your screed was an attck on me. you called me dishonest and balh blah blah, but never even attemted to answer my questions.
I did not quote out of context, so that was a false accusation. A lie.
I quoted the Judge’s report, and asked what the quote was supposed to mean. That is asking for context
That is not attacking you, it is pointing out the fact of what you did.
Sorry for the triple post. The site reported a failure to deliver and I tried again. It seems there was a bug at play. I prefer the last one to stay if you want to delete any of them.
Oh, you object to being objectified and portrayed as a 2 dimensional character. Funny that!
There’s a peer reviewed article about something consistent with nanothermite being found in the dust:
The Open Chemical Physics Journal, 2009, 2, 7-31
This journal is open access and available to anyone for download of articles. Just google it.
I have absolutely no idea how rigorous the peer review process is for this journal, but I know one of the associate editors personally and might ask him if I can ever spare an hour or so for a quick answer. As soon as I get time, I’ll have a more critical look at the article itself. I can actually make a meaningful analysis of a published work much more easily than I can of a youtube video.
BTW nanothermite is even used in fireworks these days. It’s more available than it was in 2001, and appears to have been commercially available in applications since at least 2010:
http://research.missouri.edu/otmir/mte2012/featuredtech/abstracts.html
Â
That’s very interesting.
The government has a costly group of business beneficiaries who they encourage to continue acting irresponsibly, while parent beneficiaries get bashed again by Bennett with a draconian form of social engineering: http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/09/polluters-benefit-beneficiaries-bashed.html
I note that Eddie has said similar things to me.
Capital gains are free of tax, which means there’s an incentive to finalize business endeavors
early and take the capital gain. An incentive to short change and cut corners. Oops, look at
our housing stock, cheap nasty, thrown up on unsuitable land… …our government is corrupt.
Seen on Shearer live a few minutes ago:
Yep, it seems that he’s still trying the confuse and misdirection method of hiding the fact that he doesn’t have a point.
People don’t usually get criminal records just for smoking a joint anyway. In most cases the cops ignore it, and have done for years unless they’re after you for some other reason. He has less than a point.
Newsflash: Brownlee says what he thinks!
On the day we find what our equake $$$ are being spent on, Gerry tells us what he really thinks about equake people.
Half a million is revealed as the cost for the chch eq blueprint launch (lunch??), and Gerry drops the mask and calls us names. Big time! Read the comments on the second link, couldn’t be hotter, 50 to 1 against Gerry. What a complete idiot.
Shameful goings on in the House today, on the part of the PM and Speaker!
Shearer’s question 1 was originally to the PM and was changed to be to the Minister of Ed:
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Business/QOA/2/f/3/00HOH_OralQuestions-List-of-questions-for-oral-answer.htm
.
Shearer withdrew the question because he is now no longer able to hold the PM to account.
Peter’s has been protesting because it has impacted on his planned supplementaries.
And now English says he can’t/won’t explain what he means by “discomfort” in this context:
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Business/QOA/2/f/3/00HOH_OralQuestions-List-of-questions-for-oral-answer.htm
First Lockwood says Blinglish must answer, explain, clarify, or something. Then, Lockwood decided it wasn’t in the public interest to answer….. say what?
In an attempt to energize the base, National releases new ad campaign
Nice work, William, probably a bit intellectual for National Party activists though. Iwi/Kiwi is about as challenging as they can handle.
Lovely! I printed it out and put it on the front door of the office.
oooo…. but, sir, that’s pure godw1n!
So Nationals throwing down the gauntlet to Labour already, how will Labour respond?
Wow, that’s a pretty random comment, Chris. Well up to your usual standard đ Funny how it’s almost interchangeable with this one. Were you and CV seperated at birth?
Not really, Labour came out swinging with the food for selected students and now N ational have counter-attacked with welfare.
Will Labour be able to withstand the onslaught or will it be up to the Greens to tag in and make some headway
When you say “counter attacked with welfare” you mean counter attacked with “smashing” welfare, right?
lol – one might say they broke welfare over labour’s head. To early to see if labour was hurt by it…
Smashed ’em bro!
Glaciers and Climate Change: Mauri Pelto Interview
This summer I accompanied a team to the cascades wilderness in the pacific northwest to document the front line, boots on the ice field work that is revealing the emerging story of global climate change.
This is the first of a series of videos documenting what I learned, and what I saw.
more at
http://www.nichols.edu/departments/glacier/
http://glacierchange.wordpress.com/
http://glacierchange.wordpress.com/2012/07/14/easton-glacier-assessment-washington/
http://www.nichols.edu/departments/glacier/easton.htm
Canada left the Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming  [CAGW] group-think last year after listening to their scientists;  now Germany is preparing to leave the sinking ship
http://notrickszone.com/2012/09/10/german-academy-of-sciences-and-engineering-calls-off-climate-ctatstrophe-coping-will-not-be-a-problem/Â
German Academy Of Sciences And Engineering Calls Off Climate Catastrophe â Coping Will Not Be A Problem
By P Gosselin on 10. September 2012
*** Â Â **************************Â
Â
FFS
No surprise that coping will not be a problem for the richest countries in the world…at least for a little while.
You know something, if such a particularly significant even had occurred then you would be able to find it in the news but it just doesn’t seem to be there.
A link was provided – but don’t sweat it;
there is plenty more reversals being put into action.
Here is another one to reverse the trend of bio-fuels;
some are saying ‘why should we starve, while the rich fill their SUV’s with biofuels”?
So bio-fuels are getting close scrutiny; and failing the exposure……
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/10/us-eu-biofuels-idUSBRE8890SJ20120910Â Â
No there wasn’t. Well, not to a credible source – just a couple of blogs.
BTW, I’ve never been a fan of bio-fuels. I’d rather just get rid of the cars and turn trains, buses and trucks electric.
The U-turns from the fear of the  CAGW hoax continue:
Europe are now trying to back-track on their Aviation tax
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-09-11/europe-mulls-suspending-airline-emissions-chargeÂ
France is moving to lift its ban on Fracking
http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2012/09/12/french-government-open-to-explore-shale-gas-extraction-report/Â
Italy is aiming to double its oil and gas production – resulting in 25,000 real [not green subsidized] jobs and $Billions saved in oil imports.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/09/11/uk-italy-energy-idUKBRE88A0JZ20120911Â Â
 Tis a good day for future prosperity.
Nice try, but that’s not evidence of a “hoax” just of governments’ stupidity:
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/09/10/820871/abcs-blakemore-climate-coverage-drop-due-to-disinformation-and-intimidation-campaign-plus-immensity-of-crisis/?mobile=nc
In the 1970’s the ‘hoax’ was Global Cooling – some of the same names from pushing that fraud [front page of Time Magazine etc.] even turn up as the early doom-sayers in the 1990’s proclaiming Global Warming.
As at 2012 we’re into 10+ years of flat lining global temperatures; while at the same time atmospheric CO2 has gone up from about 290ppm to 390ppm. Â Governments are beginning to see the disconnect between CO2 and world temperatures.Â
I read the article you link to; it is not really anything to do with why Governments are making these decisions now in 2012; it is more a wailing about the media [and me thinks the general population] loosing interest in CAGW as life continues on as normal, with the usual rise and fall in climate matters for now in excess of 20 years. Â It is hard to keep yelling doom for 20 years and expect people to still be listening.
FIFY
And lets hope, also for the good people of Europe who are suffering high unemployment etc.  Good decisions by their Governments will have world-wide implications.
And Banks has come out with his excuse for being corrupt – it was the law’s fault.
Yeah, I don’t think too many people are going to see him as a victim.
“As Charles Dickens said in 1838 the law is an ass – and it’s important that the Government cleans it up. No candidate for public office should go through what I had to go through.”
Now that one actually gave me a laugh. The man is an utterly shameless piece of sh*t. First why throw in the exact year that Dickens said that? Showing off. Practiced that line in front of the mirror did we John? Second the only reason he got away with his blatant law-breaking is because of the technicality of the incident occuring more than 6 months ago. His second sentence should be “No candidate for public office should be able to get away scot free after fiddling the books like I did.” But he’s the victim here? He had to put up with a tough time because of this silly law? Tui ad?
To me Banks is an even bigger candidate for narcissistic personality disorder than Gerry Brownlee. (Google: narcissistic personality disorder arrogant “never wrong”.)
Agree.
That guy is political poison
Ha Ignorance of the law now is the Banks (John that is) excuse! Good at passing them, bad at understanding what they mean these pollies. What we pay them for I don’t know. If we worked at Parliament in shifts ourselves we could make as big a mess at a quarter? of the cost, and our canteen would be Bellamys. We would still keep Bellamys, there have to be some perks.
A bit on the new ACC Board:
Not long ago the new ACC board was announced. It will be headed by Paula Rebstock, who already heads the newly created Social Welfare Board as well. I wonder what else she is in charge now. One other board member is Dr Des Gorman, who has over many years been advising ACC on a wider range of claims cases, apparently making some questioned and disputed assessments.
Dr Des Gorman as one new board member of ACC, working alongside the new head of ACC, who is Paula Rebstock (former business operator, Commerce Commissioner, senior Welfare Working Group member), does send serious warning signals. It does show anything else but a supposed âchange of cultureâ at ACC.
Also does he already hold such a wide range of high ranking, key positions in the health and health related training sector, one must ask, can this be in the public interest?
His involvements can be viewed in the following:
Dr Des Gormanâs appointment to the ACC Board, announcement National Party website:
http://www.national.org.nz/Article.aspx?articleId=39319
Dr Gormanâs qualifications, summarised background and reference to his senior position at the Medical School of the University of Auckland:
https://www.alumni.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/af-des-gorman
Dr Des Gormanâs controversial assessments and recommendations:
Dr Des Gormanâs involvement in the appointment of the Health and Disability Commissioner:
http://accforum.org/forums/index.php?/topic/11451-des-gorman-involved-in-appointment-of-health-and-disability-commissioner/
Dr Des Gorman as Executive Chair of Health Workforce New Zealand (a new business focused organisation set up within the Ministry of Health in 2009, by Tony Ryall):
http://www.healthworkforce.govt.nz/about-us/board-members
Health Workforce NZâs Annual Plan for 2011-2012:
http://www.healthworkforce.govt.nz/sites/all/files/HWNZ%20Annual%20Plan%202011-12.pdf
http://www.healthworkforce.govt.nz/sites/all/files/HWNZ Annual Plan 2011-12.pdf
Health Worforce NZâs influence on GP training by the Royal NZ College of GPs:
http://www.healthworkforce.govt.nz/our-work/gp-training-review
http://healthworkforce.govt.nz/our-work/gp-training-review/discussion-paper-and-feedback
http://healthworkforce.govt.nz/sites/all/files/Discussion Paper – Workforce Requirements for New Models of Service Delivery.pdf
(see especially the already commenced training program to enable GPs to complete some additional modules in training, equipping them with basic âmental healthâ qualification, to be used for treating and assessing mental health clients, also of course, for WINZ)
Dr Gormanâs involvement with the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners:
http://www.rnzcgp.org.nz/home/SearchForm?Search=Des+Gorman
Dr Des Gorman as member of the National Health Board:
http://www.nationalhealthboard.govt.nz/who-we-are/our-members
Dr Gormanâs attendance NZ Healthcare Congress 2012:
http://www.healthcarecongress.org.nz/page.php?ref=programme
He is not popular on the ACC Forum website, not surprisingly. There is some interesting info to be found on assessors:
http://accforum.org/forums/index.php?/forum/58-acc-asessorscontractors/
So Dr Gorman seems to have his hands into most of the health sector somehow. That does scare me, as his influence, combined with other peculiar new ACC board members, is likely to change little, and lead to more secrecy in the way they will operate. ’60 minutes’ last Sunday exposed what has already been going on.
http://www.tv3.co.nz/September-9th—Exit-Strategy/tabid/1343/articleID/79380/Default.aspx
Also I noted new updates in an older thread of discussion they have. And to my surprise they indicate, that the Principal Health Advisor of MSD, who introduced and managed the training of “designated doctors” and also his own internal staff (Regional Health and Disability Advisors, Health and Disability Coordinators, all advising case managers at WINZ) in 2008, is now MOVING OVER TO A JOB AT ACC:
http://accforum.org/forums/index.php?/topic/7309-drs-anthony-djurkov-david-bratt-peter-jansen/
(see post or page # 12 and so)
And although not finally confirmed, a WINZ client has informed me, that some informations he has obtained, do indicate, that at least for now, and already for some time, the involvement of “designated doctors” by MSD and Work and Income for medical examinations and assessments has been stopped!?
So some major changes are happening. Very, very interesting, but maybe also worrying, what will come next.
The US ambassador to Libya has just been killed. A rocket attack on his vehicle, apparently.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/09/the-movie-so-offensive-that-egyptians-just-stormed-the-us-embassy-over/262225/
edit: Google translation of this post
Why is it that so many ungrateful wretches still fail to feel the love for the yankee devils?
Religion in this case, TM. Poverty, ignorance and superstition led to the film being made and the same combination led to the riots in Egypt and Libya against the film. Time to outlaw god, for the good of humankind.
As an atheist I agree! The damage done to human progression by theists of various persuasions over the last few thousands of years is immense.
Steve Keen’s NZ lecture.
Alan Bollard: goodbye and good riddance. What a dodgepot.