I quite like the BBC’s Democracy Live website. A search for “New Zealand” gives you mentions of the term spoken by various Lords, MPs, MEPs and links you to videos time-indexed to that instance of the term. Quite cool I think…
A couple of weeks ago I announced that Richard Gage AIA founder of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 truth was booked to present his evidence for the case that Nano-thermite was used to bring down the Twin towers and Building 7 on 9/11/2001.
This presentation will take place in the Soundings theatre (te Papa), Wellington on November 21 from 2-6 p.m.
I’m happy to announce that a 150 of the 328 seats are already pre-booked with a promising presence of many Architects, Engineers and Scientists.
The presentation will be facilitated by John Bursill, the most high profile 9/11 activist in Australia and the principal organiser of the Hard Evidence conference held in Sydney this weekend. John Bursill is a Qantas Engineer and a prominent member of the Architects and Engineers for 9/11 truth group
I once again urge those among you who either want to learn more about Richards and his 9/11 research or who want to debunk Richards presentation to come to the presentation. It’s free and you get the chance to meet with one of the most high profile 9/11 activists in the world.
Added to that we are in the process of organising added events with Richard in Auckland and Hamilton.
If you are interested let me know and I’ll put you through to the people in both cities involved in the organisation.
My sincerest thanks to the open mike post here for allowing me to announce these events.
I’ll try and round up a bunch of hard nosed skeptics in Wellington to give Mr Gage a good grilling over the huge number of inconsistencies and inaccuracies in his beliefs.
Anybody in Wellington who finds this whole 9/11 conspiracy nonsense abhorent is welcome to join me in going along. I don’t care what your politics are as this thing goes beyond whether you are left wing or right wing.
I could not agree more. This goes way beyond left or right.
Curious choice of words. What is abhorrent in wanting a new and independent investigation into what happened on that day?
I find it abhorrent that it was used to start two wars and take away a lot of the freedoms of Americans and New Zealanders in the wake of the attacks.
I find it equally abhorrent that the peoples of both Afghanistan and Iraq have been poisoned with Depleted Uranium for the next 45 billion years even though they had nothing to do with what happened on 9/11.
I find that it is easier to hate half the worlds population because they are Muslim rather than ask serious questions about 9/11 tres abhorrent.
And last but not least I find the fact that 70.000 people, the heroes of 9/11 the ones who worked on the “Pile” for months on end are sick and dying because the breathed in those buildings and who get next to no support from their government most abhorrent too.
What is more so do more than half of all the family members of those who died on that day.
So I say, bring it on Gosman. People like you I eat for breakfast.
See you next week in Wellington if you have the balls to show your face and actually listen to the presentation before you start pointing out your “inconsistencies”.
You’ll have to take it up with a lot of smart and educated people which I guess you are not.
travellerev – I find it equally abhorrent that the peoples of both Afghanistan and Iraq have been poisoned with Depleted Uranium for the next 45 billion years even though they had nothing to do with what happened on 9/11.
It’s unbelievable. These inconvenient facts should not be aired!
I find that it is easier to hate half the worlds population because they are Muslim rather than ask serious questions about 9/11 tres abhorrent.
Watch your sentence construction. There is always some malicioso (new word) waiting to misquote or take out of context phrases as in the start of your quote.
Just wondering what the position is of the regular Standard contributors to people promoting this kind of conspiracy theory nonsense on the blog open area?
Would you guy’s allow someone to post an open invitation to a ‘Birther’ get together or would that be beyond the pale?
I don’t think there’s a problem with it being promoted here, Gosman.
Most of us here seem to have a sense of humour and it promises to be a night chockfull of comedic delights. Funnily enough, I’d equate the stremgth of the theory that building 7 might have been blown up with the strength of the theory that Hone Harawira is not a racist. Both piss weak and promoted by naive, dissembling poseurs.
Ah remember VR it wasn’t just building 7 that was destroyed ina controlled demolition but the two big ones as well. The plane’s were just a diversion to cover the, (obviously badly thought out), plan.
I wasted an hour watching a doco on this bollocks on Discovery a month or so ago, Travellerev. I have two responses; one, it’s a bullshit theory, as obviously flawed as the fake moon landings hooha, and two: who cares? Not 80,000 firefighters etc.
The simple truth is that an enemy of the western world, and the USA in particular, devised a particularly breathtaking strategy to attack its foe, carried out that strategy in a devastingly efficient way and changed the world as we know it.
I’m no fan of the US military or secret service and my understanding is that there is no evidence that they could organise the proverbial brewery pissup, let alone a conspiracy this intricate. In this case, the correct answer is Bin Laden conceived, organised and executed the plan. There was a conspiracy, without doubt. But it had nothing to do with the yanks. It was all el Queda.
I doubt if I’m going to waste a summers afternoon attending this loonfest, but if I do, you should be able to find me easily enough. I’ll be the one wearing the tinfoil hat.
All I do is offer the opportunity to listen to an Architect specialised in the design of steel framed buildings who has problems with the official Conspiracy theory and who with almost a thousand other Architects and Engineer would like a proper Criminal investigation into what transpired on that day.
I do so politely and without the need for the bloggers of the Standard to agree with me on anything and I do so in an open post which is specifically meant to be used in this manner.
This presentation offers a possibility to inform yourself of what is happening outside of New Zealand and as such it might be of interest to readers of this very New Zealand blog.
As to what the bloggers of this site think of 9//11 I might enlighten you with the fact that most of them think I’m nuts but they also seem to have no problem with keeping an open mind.
Just to make something clear to people reading about 9/11 here for the first time; We have no theories, we have no perpetrators. All we want is a new and independent investigation into what happened that day.
Keep deluding yourself travellerev that you’re not a Conspiracy theory nut and are actually ‘open minded’. It won’t take away the fact that your views on September the 11th are abhorent to many many more than the 80,000 plus people that you have plucked out of your ar .I mean air.
Keep deluding yourself travellerev that you’re not a Conspiracy theory nut and are actually ‘open minded’. It won’t take away the fact that your views on September the 11th are abhorent to many many more than the 80,000 plus people that you have plucked out of your ar….I mean air.
I’m with Gosman on this one. The Architects and Engineers for 911 Truth group has argued that the WTC buildings were brought down by controlled explosions.
To believe that you also need to believe there is a massive conspiracy at multiple levels of government to hide this. You can’t believe the one without the other. Which is where things start to go wrong with this conspiracy theory.
I might also add that the fact hundreds of architects and enghineers belong to this group isn’t a big deal. Out of how many tens of thousands?
I wish I could be in Wellington to attend, but unfortunately I’ve got a meeting that day with other shadowy members of the New World Order Reptilian Elite.
Once again. We don’t claim anything. We don’t know what happened.
We do know that nano thermite was found in the dust and that a third building of 47 stories high collapsed on that day in a pyroclastic flow into its own footprint in no more than 6.8 seconds (freefall speed with no resistance at all, see previous link).
The building was twice reinforced to withstand a nuclear blast and contained Giuliani’s crisis headquarters, yet the official story claims that all this happened because office fires burned for 7 hours.
All we want is a new and independent investigation and let the chips fall were they may.
“Once again. We don’t claim anything. We don’t know what happened.”
Then why does the group continue to claim there is evidence the towers were brought down by controlled explosions?
Two planes hit the Twin Towers. If those planes didn’t cause the WTC buildings to fall, then the only thing you have left is a massive conspiracy by some shadowy organisation, involving people at various levels of government, huge amounts of explosives and a code of silence that remains unbroken. Which is where the whole thing becomes far-fetched.
No, we don’t claim there is Nano thermite in the Dust. That would unsubstantiated.
This is the conclusion of a group of scientists who had the chance to have some of the dust analysed in a series of independent laboratories worldwide.
Nanothermite can only be manufactured in one US army laboratory and funny enough the people who know most about the stuff work for…. NIST. The same NIST which refused to analyse the dust for explosives. Funny that.
I love the way travellerev posts links to You tube or Google video’s as if this is somehow ‘Scientific’ evidence backing up her claim.
Science actually has something which is acceptable as evidence by other scientists. It is called the peer reviewed study. It is what is used in debates such as those involving AGW.
Proper Scientists don’t rely on You tube or Google video’s to make their case.
To believe that you also need to believe there is a massive conspiracy at multiple levels of government to hide this. You can’t believe the one without the other. Which is where things start to go wrong with this conspiracy theory.
Actually with the use of available technology the inner working part of such a plot could have been accomplished with only a handful of people having complete and/or incriminating knowledge. Not saying it’s so, but it’s not as unlikely as you have been led to believe.
What does amuse me is that the same people who completely dismiss the possibility of a conspiracy at the heart of 9/11 are often the same people who insist that tens of thousands of climate scientists from hundreds of research institutions around the world are engaged in a secret conspiracy to hoax the world about AGW.
I guess folks will just believe what they want to believe.
What makes it so sad is that these people are totally willing to believe that because the official Conspiracy theory (no proof was ever offered) tells them that 19 Saudi Muslims lead by another Saudi Muslim living in a cave in BoraBora (with kidney dialysis machine no less) allegedly were able to run rings around the entire US air force for hours and managed to fly four planes with only the basest of knowledge which the hijacked with a few box cutters it is OK to kill more than a million Iraqis and hundreds of thousands of Afghanistanis and destroy and pollute their cultures and countries.
No proof was ever offered? How about the fact that planes crashed into the buildings. What about the fact that the Muslim in the Bora Bora caves actually claimed responsibility for the act. What about the fact that he had tried in 1993. The hijackers were identified by the connection that they were on the planes and it was proven that they had simulator training. The planes crashed in a planned manner, who did this if it wasn’t the hijackers. Your theories assume that the planes were definitely NOT the cause for the building collapse, this doesn’t wash. The planes were not in the air for hours, they took off from airports that were relatively near to the crash site.I agree that the death of as many Afghan and Iraqi citizens in response to 9/11 is repugnant but this occurred because George Bush framed the event as an act of war. This legitimized his response. He had a monopoly on the language used and the analysis presented to shape our memory of this event, but this does not mean that he did it himself. If we wanted to create an excuse to put the US into a state of war, he could have done so with just the use of propaganda without the conspiracy to destroy the towers.
Planes did indeed crash into the Twin towers we are not denying that but there were only two planes and three buildings collapsed.
No Arab names were on the passenger lists of the four planes.
Mohamed Atta and his marry band of Hijackers were definitely living in the US and they were taking flying lessons in simulators.
They were living close to US army bases and in houses rented by CIA operators.
There is some evidence that they were involved in US anti terrorist training games.
This is what fire fighters have to say about the evidence with regards to the hijackers.
Osama bin Laden denied any involvement with the events of 9/11 in the days following the attacks and is in fact not on the most wanted list of the FBI. According to the FBI this is because they have not enough evidence to link Osama bin Laden with the events of 9/11.
Osama bin Laden was not involved in the ’93 attack, has never claimed to be and was not wanted for the attack by the FBI.
The only “admission” of involvement is a disputed video made years later showing a man who looks somewhat like Osama.
The flying skills of the alleged hijackers (Hani Hanjour in this case) was such that they could not have performed the complex flying manoeuvre around the Pentagon.
The planes impacts were definitely pre planned and not accidental no one is denying that but we would like an investigation as to whom would have been able and had the motive to plan it.
We don’t have theories as to what caused the towers to collapse but if two aluminium lanes can collapse three steel framed buildings hours after they impacted with most of the Kerosene burned of in seconds after impact we have a whole lot of unsafe buildings around the planet. And that alone should warrant a new and independent investigation into the events and the collapses.
All the planes were in the air for at least an hour. The previous year the US airforce had scrambled over 165 times to get to a plane which deviated from it’s flight plan. their response time was between 6 and 10 minutes.
Four planes in the air for more than an hour means four plane hours at least and not a jot from the US air force. We are talking about the best defended airspace in the world here. Washington and New York.
In July the protocol which had served America well was changed. Were US fighters authorised to take to the air if air flight controllers noticed any deviation in flight plans they now had to ask permission from Rumsfeld. After 911 the previous protocol was reinstated.
There was a huge opposition to wage war in the US this changed after the events of 9/11.
The attack on Afghanistan was planned and authorised before 911. The patriot act was written <a href='’>before 911.
“there were only two planes and three buildings collapsed.”
The third one collapsed because a bunch of arseholes flew planes into two of its neighbours, bringing them crashing down on the third one. How hard is that to understand?
There are plenty of legitimate questions to be asked (most notably about Bush’s constant lying about Iraq being involved) without resorting to this sort of Wishartesque conspiracy bullshit.
“Actually with the use of available technology the inner working part of such a plot could have been accomplished with only a handful of people having complete and/or incriminating knowledge”
Quite untrue.
One of the core arguments of the 9/11 Conspiracy theorists is that the collapse of the WTC7 building was advised ahead of time i.e. before it actually fell, and was evacuated. Indeed I have read articles by Mr Gage himself stating this fact and implying that this was done because they KNEW that a controlled explosion was taking place.
This would implicate the actual people who advised the media, the media themselves, as well as the rescue workers who evacuated the building.
While the inner workings of a plot might very well be in the hands of a few people the actual ins and outs require the actual connivance of many hundreds and thousands more.
All I’ve ever advocated around 9/11 is to remain at least open-minded to the possibility that we have not been told the whole truth. Wouldn’t be the first time would it?
The thing that us ordinary civilians overlook is the enormous size, depth and reach of the US clandestine organisations. There are people who are literally born, live and die within the embrace of these organisations, completely off the radar of normal life. There are layers and compartments, off the book budgets and installations us ordinary people will never know the details of.
I have an industry contact whom I contracted to for a while some years ago; he held a highly responsible, exceedingly technical role in the US military, (I’m going to be deliberately extra vague here for good reasons) who in his career saw a thing or two that gave him the willies. I ask you to trust me that the small amount of information he shared with me gave me the willies too.
From that time on I realised that there are things that which seem impossible to us ordinary folk, are readily accomplished with the right people, equipment and protocols.
Very interesting, but the defence department in the US has had systemic problems with budget records and waste for a very long time. The fact that the 10th Sept 2001 was one of the many times this was brought up is mere coincidence. BTW, I’m not a conspiricy denier, but evidence needs to be better than what is presented here.
Did you know that hani Hanjour could have pointed the plane straight down into Rumsfeld’s office but that he instead choose to circle around the Pentagon and fly into the book keeping department?
The plane/ guided missile controversy is another little thing that keeps people divided.
Again, there are hundreds of camera’s around the Pentagon but we have only seen six frames of very unclear material.
We don’t know what happened at the Pentagon but in a new and independent investigation we would like to see all the video’ that were confiscated by the “FBI” never to be seen again.
Ummm…. do you have a bit of trouble understanding things travellerev …..no wait don’t answer that, I keep forgetting you’re a 9/11 conspiracy theory nut.
Whether or not the BBC did report on the collapse of WTC7 before it happened, or if the building was ordered to be evacuated because it was due to collapse is in no way evidence one way or the other for a controlled demolition. Yet this is the implication people like you and Mr Gage would try and have us believe.
I did not fail to deal with the yellow cake issue at all. Apart from the fact that they probably didn’t give a flying f*&k as to what we thought about the yellow cake issue it is not my job to explain anything.
All we are saying is that if the official story does not add up than we should have a new and independent investigation.
We don’t know what happened other than that the official story is impossible.
We don’t know that the official story is ‘impossible’. It might have flaws in it but then again so do many officially accepted views and scientific theories.
The Theory of Evolution has flaws in it. It doesn’t make the alternative of Creationism more likely.
You argue like a Creationist does ‘Oh look I have found some weird unexplained flaw in the official picture. That must mean darker forces are a foot!’
The whole BBC thing is a red herring. In the chaos and uncertainty of 911 someone announced that a tower had fallen when it hadn’t.
If you recall, there were also reports of missing planes all over the place, and other false alarms during the day. I was in London at the time, and there were false reports of planes flying towards the city.
People make mistakes in the heat of the moment. Why attribute to a conspiracy what simple incompetence will adequately explain?
To suggest the BBC and CNN are part of a vast conspiracy is laughable. Who’s next? The Pope? The Freemasons?
For your conspiracy to fly (pardon the pun) you need to establish a large number of people (including now the BBC and CNN, apparently) have lied to us and deceived us all these years. It’s implausible.
You would also be crediting the intelligence services with more ability than they appear to have. It is far more plausible that incompetence, not some secret government plan, allowed 911 to occur.
What I find laughable is that the intelligence services are supposedly good enough to sneak in and rig up all the massive amounts of explosives necessary for a controlled demolition yet couold scrape together enough Yellow cake to plant in a bunker someplace in Iraq to justify the invasion.
The 9/11 conspiracy nuts completely avoid delaing with that question.
In the whole wide world only three buildings collapsed as the result of a fire. Not before and never after did buildings collapse that way. Not only that, those buildings fell in freefall speed. 6.8, 10 and 11 seconds.
This means there was no resistance from the floors underneath.
Up until then it would take a demolition company to achieve that kind of destruction in that particular way.
There was no reason for CNN and the BBC to be confused about a building collapsing simply because it wasn’t possible until that day as it is impossible today. If CNN reported it more then one hour before it happened and the BBC 20 minutes before it happened than someone somewhere made a booboo with the script.
What a surprise a Conspiracy Theory Nut fails to deal with the fact that the supposedly first class intelligence services behind blowing up the WTC buildings couldn’t arrange for some WMD to be smuggled into Iraq to justify the invasion.
Wow! You put a big word out there like ‘Compartmentalisation’ and expect that to explain away the huge holes in the theory.
How about you explain to us why these ‘Secret and shady’ intelligence operatives could get away with destroying a number of large buildings in one of the most heavily populated places on the Planet yet couldn’t manage to smuggle in some North African Uranium yellow cake to deposit in some convenient, (and deserted), location in the Iraqi desert to justify the invasion?
I was putting forward a theory on how such a thing could be done and have it not be known about by those who did it or by anyone else. I do note that you didn’t address that though as you seem to have got stuck on the first word.
I can’t speak for others, but I am generally happy to debunk any conspiracy theory that flies in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence. I’m sure the majority of people who think the 911 “truth” movement is a joke also feel the same way about client change denial.
LOL. You Google for five minutes and come up with that piece of shit.
I’ll get back to you on this one tomorrow as I’m of to enjoy life in the real world.
“LOL. You Google for five minutes and come up with that piece of shit.”
I wasn’t prepared to spend more than five minutes on this. But five minutes was more than enough.
“I’ll cream you on this one tomorrow. LOL.”
Feel free. Can’t promise I’ll read what you wrote. I’ve already wasted far too much time on this thread. I have accepted I’m not going to convince you.
I have often wondered why both towers fell straight down when the lower parts of the buildings hadn’t been compromised, certainly not to the extent of collapse. I have read many books and articles which raise this question – how could a plane hitting the top quarter of a building force the building to fall straight down? I have also read the claim that the only skyscrapers ever to have collapsed as a result of fire were the three in NY on 9/11. One of the towers had bombs go off in its basement in 1993 and it didn’t collapse then. There is something fishy there and I would like to know! Interestingly, none of the comments on here have enlightened me. Apparently I’m not even allowed to wonder because it makes me a big bad conspiracy theorist, even a “nut”. What’s the point in commenting if you are only going to attack people and not challenge what it is they’re actually saying?
Popular Mehanics (the US magazine) did a whole edition on many of the main September the 11th conspiracies and looked at a lot of them from an engineering background. They ‘debunked’ the idea that the buildings could not have collapsed just from the damage caused by two planes hitting them and the resulting fires.
The only debunking piece you can come up with is that thoroughly discredited piece of yellow trash.
The senior researcher on the piece Benjamin Chertoff was the cousin of Michael Chertoff, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
This means that Benjamin Chertoff was hired to write an article that would receive nationwide attention, about the veracity of the government’s explanation of an event that led directly to the creation of Homeland Security, a body that his own cousin now heads.
Here is some more background on your “debunking” crap.
And the way you attempt to discredit the article is to try and imply that one of it’s author’s is now part of the giant conspiracy because he is someone in Government’s COUSIN!!!
Do you not realise how ridiculous your B.S. accusations actually look Travellerev???
I don’t know about you but if I was involved in some sort of top secret conspiracy to fool hundreds of millions of people in the US, (not to mention the rest of the world as well), I wouldn’t go about it by employing family members to cover my tracks.
And I advise anyone of a sane disposition to think about the completely irrational implications of what people like Mr Gage, Griffin, and of course our very own travellerev are implying happened instead of the official 9/11 story.
if you are in to conspiracy theories , there is a new book out about the JFK assassination. It has just been released by Eloquent Books, New York, New York. The title of the book is, “A Kiss for the President”, by A. John Laine. It has an absobing plotline involving the mafia, the CIA, the Bay of Pigs, the murder of Marlyn Monroe, and the JFK assassination. Buy it today at the folling website:http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/AKissforthePresident.html
Thank you for the tip, I’m always game for a good book.
I would like to point out though that I’m not into conspiracy theories.
We, that is millions of people around the world, just have a problem with the official conspiracy story and the scientific impossibilities that theory brings with it.
We have no theories but questions we would like answered in a new and independent investigation in which we (represented by the people we feel are competent and independent) enough have access to all the documents and witnesses pertaining to the crimes committed that day.
We want to know why no crime scene investigation has been done, what video’s there are of the attack on the Pentagon etc.
All we are saying is that we are not satisfied with the answers we have been given and we just don’t know what really happened that day.
If a new and independent investigation proves that 19 young Saudi Hijackers with only a couple of hours in a Simulator send by and old Saudi Muslim fanatic were able to stand down the most powerful army in the world to fly into three buildings in the two most air defended cities in the world and were somehow able to get passed all the laws of physics we have come to know as unbreakable than so be it.
I was raised on Dr. Dobson, and have just sent him a letter requesting his assistance to help me stop loosing faith in the Christian Church. My Mom respects Dr. Dobson as much or more than any other Christian leader, and she is interested to see his response. I only started learning the truth about the 9/11 attacks last fall. It took me an entire year to convince my own parents to listen to me, and begin reviewing the evidence for themselves. Now that they have thoroughly and objectively taken a fresh look into all the available evidence, they too are now aware of how badly we have been deceived. They now fully support my mission to find out what really happened to 2,993 of our fellow countrymen that fateful September morning. My mom is very interested to see if/how Dr. Dobson will respond. Please read my open letter to Dr. Dobson and share your thoughts at………
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One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...
Sparse offerings outside a Te Kauwhata church. Meanwhile, the Government is cutting spending in ways that make thousands of hungry children even hungrier, while also cutting funding for the charities that help them. It’s also doing that while winding back new building of affordable housing that would allow parents to ...
It is difficult to make sense of the Luxon Coalition Government’s economic management.This end-of-year review about the state of economic management – the state of the economy was last week – is not going to cover the National Party contribution. Frankly, like every other careful observer, I cannot make up ...
This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...
Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis seems intent on portraying herself as that damsel in distress. According to Willis, this country’s current economic problems have all been caused by the spending ...
Similar to the cuts and the austerity drive imposed by Ruth Richardson in the 1990’s, an era which to all intents and purposes we’ve largely fiddled around the edges with fixing in the time since – over, to be fair, several administrations – whilst trying our best it seems to ...
String-Pulling in the Dark: For the democratic process to be meaningful it must also be public. WITH TRUST AND CONFIDENCE in New Zealand’s politicians and journalists steadily declining, restoring those virtues poses a daunting challenge. Just how daunting is made clear by comparing the way politicians and journalists treated New Zealanders ...
Dear Nicola Willis, thank you for letting us know in so many words that the swingeing austerity hasn't worked.By in so many words I mean the bit where you said, Here is a sea of red ink in which we are drowning after twelve months of savage cost cutting and ...
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral organisation committed to advancing open government. Countries which join are supposed to co-create regular action plans with civil society, committing to making verifiable improvements in transparency, accountability, participation, or technology and innovation for the above. And they're held to account through an Independent ...
Today I tuned into something strange: a press conference that didn’t make my stomach churn or the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which was strange, because it was about the torture of children. It was the announcement by Erica Stanford — on her own, unusually ...
This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEOOur news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting Secretary Erin Polaczuk is welcoming the announcement from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden that she is opening consultation on engineered stone and is calling on her to listen to the evidence and implement a total ban of the product. “We need ...
The Government has announced a 1.5% increase in the minimum wage from 1 April 2025, well below forecast inflation of 2.5%. Unions have reacted strongly and denounced it as a real terms cut. PSA and the CTU are opposing a new round of staff cuts at WorkSafe, which they say ...
The decision to unilaterally repudiate the contract for new Cook Strait ferries is beginning to look like one of the stupidest decisions a New Zealand government ever made. While cancelling the ferries and their associated port infrastructure may have made this year's books look good, it means higher costs later, ...
Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts! Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.I think of ...
Today is a special member's morning, scheduled to make up for the government's theft of member's days throughout the year. First up was the first reading of Greg Fleming's Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill, which was passed unanimously. Currently the House is debating the third reading of ...
We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...
Willis blamed Treasury for changing its productivity assumptions and Labour’s spending increases since Covid for the worsening Budget outlook. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, December 18 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above ...
Today the Auckland Transport board meet for the last time this year. For those interested (and with time to spare), you can follow along via this MS Teams link from 10am. I’ve taken a quick look through the agenda items to see what I think the most interesting aspects are. ...
Hi,If you’re a New Zealander — you know who Mike King is. He is the face of New Zealand’s battle against mental health problems. He can be loud and brash. He raises, and is entrusted with, a lot of cash. Last year his “I Am Hope” charity reported a revenue ...
Probably about the only consolation available from yesterday’s unveiling of the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) is that it could have been worse. Though Finance Minister Nicola Willis has tightened the screws on future government spending, she has resisted the calls from hard-line academics, fiscal purists and fiscal hawks ...
The right have a stupid saying that is only occasionally true:When is democracy not democracy? When it hasn’t been voted on.While not true in regards to branches of government such as the judiciary, it’s a philosophy that probably should apply to recently-elected local government councillors. Nevertheless, this concept seemed to ...
Long story short: the Government’s austerity policy has driven the economy into a deeper and longer recession that means it will have to borrow $20 billion more over the next four years than it expected just six months ago. Treasury’s latest forecasts show the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s fiscal strategy of ...
Come and join myself and CTU Chief Economist for a pop-up ‘Hoon’ webinar on the Government’s Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) with paying subscribers to The Kākā for 30 minutes at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream to watch our chat. Don’t worry if ...
In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...
New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...
At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...
This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate.I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...
A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...
What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...
All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...
Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...
More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...
The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...
The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...
Legislation to enable new water service delivery models that will drive critical investment in infrastructure has passed its first reading in Parliament, marking a significant step towards the delivery of Local Water Done Well, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly say.“Councils and voters ...
New Zealand is one step closer to reaping the benefits of gene technology with the passing of the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins says. "This legislation will end New Zealand's near 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab and is ...
ByKoroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor New Zealand’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) says impending bad weather for Port Vila is now the most significant post-quake hazard. A tropical low in the Coral Sea is expected to move into Vanuatu waters, bringing heavy rainfall. Authorities have issued warnings to people ...
Cosmic CatastropheThe year draws to a close.King Luxon has grown tired of the long eveningsListening to the dreary squabbling of his Triumvirate.He strolls up to the top floor of the PalaceTo consult with his Astronomer Royal.The Royal Telescope scans the skies,And King Luxon stares up into the heavensFrom the terrestrial ...
Spinoff editor Mad Chapman and books editor Claire Mabey debate Carl Shuker’s new novel about… an editor. Claire: Hello Mad, you just finished The Royal Free – overall impressions? Mad: Hi Claire, I literally just put the book down and I would have to say my immediate impression is ...
Christmas and its buildup are often lonely, hard and full of unreasonable expectations. Here’s how to make it to Jesus’s birthday and find the little bit of joy we all deserve. Have you found this year relentless? Has the latest Apple update “fucked up your life”? Have you lost two ...
Despite overwhelming public and corporate support, the government has stalled progress on a modern day slavery law. That puts us behind other countries – and makes Christmas a time of tragedy rather than joy, argues Shanti Mathias. Picture the scene on Christmas Day. Everyone replete with nice things to eat, ...
Asia Pacific Report “It looks like Hiroshima. It looks like Germany at the end of World War Two,” says an Israeli-American historian and professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University about the horrifying reality of Gaza. Professor Omer Bartov, has described Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as an ...
The New Zealand government coalition is tweaking university regulations to curb what it says is an increasingly “risk-averse approach” to free speech. The proposed changes will set clear expectations on how universities should approach freedom of speech issues. Each university will then have to adopt a “freedom of speech statement” ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone New York prosecutors have charged Luigi Mangione with “murder as an act of terrorism” in his alleged shooting of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month. This news comes out at the same time as ...
Pacific Media Watch The union for Australian journalists has welcomed the delivery by the federal government of more than $150 million to support the sustainability of public interest journalism over the next four years. Combined with the announcement of the revamped News Bargaining Initiative, this could result in up to ...
MONDAY“Merry Xmas, and praise the Lord,” said Sheriff Luxon, and smiled for the camera. There was a flash of smoke when the shutter pressed down on the magnesium powder. The sheriff had arranged for a photographer from the Dodge Gazette to attend a ceremony where he handed out food parcels to ...
It’s a little under two months since the White Ferns shocked the cricketing world, deservedly taking home the T20 World Cup. Since then the trophy has had a tour around the country, five of the squad have played in the WBBL in Australia while most others have returned to domestic ...
Comment: If we say the word ‘dementia’, many will picture an older person struggling to remember the names of their loved ones, maybe a grandparent living out their final years in an aged care facility. Dementia can also occur in people younger than 65, but it can take time before ...
Piracy is a reality of modern life – but copyright law has struggled to play catch-up for as long as the entertainment industry has existed. As far back as 1988, the House of Lords criticised copyright law’s conflict with the reality of human behaviour in the context of burning cassette ...
As he makes a surprise return to Shortland Street, actor Craig Parker takes us through his life in television. Craig Parker has been a fixture on television in Aotearoa for nearly four decades. He had starring roles in iconic local series like Gloss, Mercy Peak and Diplomatic Immunity, featured in ...
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A couple of weeks ago I announced that Richard Gage AIA founder of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 truth was booked to present his evidence for the case that Nano-thermite was used to bring down the Twin towers and Building 7 on 9/11/2001.
This presentation will take place in the Soundings theatre (te Papa), Wellington on November 21 from 2-6 p.m.
I’m happy to announce that a 150 of the 328 seats are already pre-booked with a promising presence of many Architects, Engineers and Scientists.
The presentation will be facilitated by John Bursill, the most high profile 9/11 activist in Australia and the principal organiser of the Hard Evidence conference held in Sydney this weekend. John Bursill is a Qantas Engineer and a prominent member of the Architects and Engineers for 9/11 truth group
I once again urge those among you who either want to learn more about Richards and his 9/11 research or who want to debunk Richards presentation to come to the presentation. It’s free and you get the chance to meet with one of the most high profile 9/11 activists in the world.
Added to that we are in the process of organising added events with Richard in Auckland and Hamilton.
If you are interested let me know and I’ll put you through to the people in both cities involved in the organisation.
My sincerest thanks to the open mike post here for allowing me to announce these events.
I’ll try and round up a bunch of hard nosed skeptics in Wellington to give Mr Gage a good grilling over the huge number of inconsistencies and inaccuracies in his beliefs.
I hope to meet you and your mates there, Gosman. I really do.
Anybody in Wellington who finds this whole 9/11 conspiracy nonsense abhorent is welcome to join me in going along. I don’t care what your politics are as this thing goes beyond whether you are left wing or right wing.
Gosman,
I could not agree more. This goes way beyond left or right.
Curious choice of words. What is abhorrent in wanting a new and independent investigation into what happened on that day?
I find it abhorrent that it was used to start two wars and take away a lot of the freedoms of Americans and New Zealanders in the wake of the attacks.
I find it equally abhorrent that the peoples of both Afghanistan and Iraq have been poisoned with Depleted Uranium for the next 45 billion years even though they had nothing to do with what happened on 9/11.
I find that it is easier to hate half the worlds population because they are Muslim rather than ask serious questions about 9/11 tres abhorrent.
And last but not least I find the fact that 70.000 people, the heroes of 9/11 the ones who worked on the “Pile” for months on end are sick and dying because the breathed in those buildings and who get next to no support from their government most abhorrent too.
What is more so do more than half of all the family members of those who died on that day.
So I say, bring it on Gosman. People like you I eat for breakfast.
See you next week in Wellington if you have the balls to show your face and actually listen to the presentation before you start pointing out your “inconsistencies”.
You’ll have to take it up with a lot of smart and educated people which I guess you are not.
travellerev – I find it equally abhorrent that the peoples of both Afghanistan and Iraq have been poisoned with Depleted Uranium for the next 45 billion years even though they had nothing to do with what happened on 9/11.
It’s unbelievable. These inconvenient facts should not be aired!
I find that it is easier to hate half the worlds population because they are Muslim rather than ask serious questions about 9/11 tres abhorrent.
Watch your sentence construction. There is always some malicioso (new word) waiting to misquote or take out of context phrases as in the start of your quote.
There’s no point in quoting travellerev out of context when what she says in context is so wacky and way out there.
Thanks for the advice
Just wondering what the position is of the regular Standard contributors to people promoting this kind of conspiracy theory nonsense on the blog open area?
Would you guy’s allow someone to post an open invitation to a ‘Birther’ get together or would that be beyond the pale?
I don’t think there’s a problem with it being promoted here, Gosman.
Most of us here seem to have a sense of humour and it promises to be a night chockfull of comedic delights. Funnily enough, I’d equate the stremgth of the theory that building 7 might have been blown up with the strength of the theory that Hone Harawira is not a racist. Both piss weak and promoted by naive, dissembling poseurs.
Ah remember VR it wasn’t just building 7 that was destroyed ina controlled demolition but the two big ones as well. The plane’s were just a diversion to cover the, (obviously badly thought out), plan.
See you too next week VR.
I can’t wait to meet you and see your face go pale when you here Richard’s presentation.
But my guess is that like Gossie you don’t have the balls to actually come and listen. No sirrie.
Captcha: convinces. LOL
I wasted an hour watching a doco on this bollocks on Discovery a month or so ago, Travellerev. I have two responses; one, it’s a bullshit theory, as obviously flawed as the fake moon landings hooha, and two: who cares? Not 80,000 firefighters etc.
The simple truth is that an enemy of the western world, and the USA in particular, devised a particularly breathtaking strategy to attack its foe, carried out that strategy in a devastingly efficient way and changed the world as we know it.
I’m no fan of the US military or secret service and my understanding is that there is no evidence that they could organise the proverbial brewery pissup, let alone a conspiracy this intricate. In this case, the correct answer is Bin Laden conceived, organised and executed the plan. There was a conspiracy, without doubt. But it had nothing to do with the yanks. It was all el Queda.
I doubt if I’m going to waste a summers afternoon attending this loonfest, but if I do, you should be able to find me easily enough. I’ll be the one wearing the tinfoil hat.
Tot seins.
Were do I propose a theory Gosman?
All I do is offer the opportunity to listen to an Architect specialised in the design of steel framed buildings who has problems with the official Conspiracy theory and who with almost a thousand other Architects and Engineer would like a proper Criminal investigation into what transpired on that day.
I do so politely and without the need for the bloggers of the Standard to agree with me on anything and I do so in an open post which is specifically meant to be used in this manner.
This presentation offers a possibility to inform yourself of what is happening outside of New Zealand and as such it might be of interest to readers of this very New Zealand blog.
As to what the bloggers of this site think of 9//11 I might enlighten you with the fact that most of them think I’m nuts but they also seem to have no problem with keeping an open mind.
Just to make something clear to people reading about 9/11 here for the first time; We have no theories, we have no perpetrators. All we want is a new and independent investigation into what happened that day.
We do so together with 80.000 New Yorkers fire fighters, politicians and scientists to name but a few.
Keep deluding yourself travellerev that you’re not a Conspiracy theory nut and are actually ‘open minded’. It won’t take away the fact that your views on September the 11th are abhorent to many many more than the 80,000 plus people that you have plucked out of your ar .I mean air.
See you next week in Wellington. Gos baby. See you next week. LOL.
Keep deluding yourself travellerev that you’re not a Conspiracy theory nut and are actually ‘open minded’. It won’t take away the fact that your views on September the 11th are abhorent to many many more than the 80,000 plus people that you have plucked out of your ar….I mean air.
I’m with Gosman on this one. The Architects and Engineers for 911 Truth group has argued that the WTC buildings were brought down by controlled explosions.
To believe that you also need to believe there is a massive conspiracy at multiple levels of government to hide this. You can’t believe the one without the other. Which is where things start to go wrong with this conspiracy theory.
I might also add that the fact hundreds of architects and enghineers belong to this group isn’t a big deal. Out of how many tens of thousands?
I wish I could be in Wellington to attend, but unfortunately I’ve got a meeting that day with other shadowy members of the New World Order Reptilian Elite.
Huh?
Reptilian elite?
Now that is wacky.
Once again. We don’t claim anything. We don’t know what happened.
We do know that nano thermite was found in the dust and that a third building of 47 stories high collapsed on that day in a pyroclastic flow into its own footprint in no more than 6.8 seconds (freefall speed with no resistance at all, see previous link).
The building was twice reinforced to withstand a nuclear blast and contained Giuliani’s crisis headquarters, yet the official story claims that all this happened because office fires burned for 7 hours.
All we want is a new and independent investigation and let the chips fall were they may.
“Once again. We don’t claim anything. We don’t know what happened.”
Then why does the group continue to claim there is evidence the towers were brought down by controlled explosions?
Two planes hit the Twin Towers. If those planes didn’t cause the WTC buildings to fall, then the only thing you have left is a massive conspiracy by some shadowy organisation, involving people at various levels of government, huge amounts of explosives and a code of silence that remains unbroken. Which is where the whole thing becomes far-fetched.
No, we don’t claim there is Nano thermite in the Dust. That would unsubstantiated.
This is the conclusion of a group of scientists who had the chance to have some of the dust analysed in a series of independent laboratories worldwide.
Nanothermite can only be manufactured in one US army laboratory and funny enough the people who know most about the stuff work for…. NIST. The same NIST which refused to analyse the dust for explosives. Funny that.
I love the way travellerev posts links to You tube or Google video’s as if this is somehow ‘Scientific’ evidence backing up her claim.
Science actually has something which is acceptable as evidence by other scientists. It is called the peer reviewed study. It is what is used in debates such as those involving AGW.
Proper Scientists don’t rely on You tube or Google video’s to make their case.
To believe that you also need to believe there is a massive conspiracy at multiple levels of government to hide this. You can’t believe the one without the other. Which is where things start to go wrong with this conspiracy theory.
Actually with the use of available technology the inner working part of such a plot could have been accomplished with only a handful of people having complete and/or incriminating knowledge. Not saying it’s so, but it’s not as unlikely as you have been led to believe.
What does amuse me is that the same people who completely dismiss the possibility of a conspiracy at the heart of 9/11 are often the same people who insist that tens of thousands of climate scientists from hundreds of research institutions around the world are engaged in a secret conspiracy to hoax the world about AGW.
I guess folks will just believe what they want to believe.
What makes it so sad is that these people are totally willing to believe that because the official Conspiracy theory (no proof was ever offered) tells them that 19 Saudi Muslims lead by another Saudi Muslim living in a cave in BoraBora (with kidney dialysis machine no less) allegedly were able to run rings around the entire US air force for hours and managed to fly four planes with only the basest of knowledge which the hijacked with a few box cutters it is OK to kill more than a million Iraqis and hundreds of thousands of Afghanistanis and destroy and pollute their cultures and countries.
No proof was ever offered? How about the fact that planes crashed into the buildings. What about the fact that the Muslim in the Bora Bora caves actually claimed responsibility for the act. What about the fact that he had tried in 1993. The hijackers were identified by the connection that they were on the planes and it was proven that they had simulator training. The planes crashed in a planned manner, who did this if it wasn’t the hijackers. Your theories assume that the planes were definitely NOT the cause for the building collapse, this doesn’t wash. The planes were not in the air for hours, they took off from airports that were relatively near to the crash site.I agree that the death of as many Afghan and Iraqi citizens in response to 9/11 is repugnant but this occurred because George Bush framed the event as an act of war. This legitimized his response. He had a monopoly on the language used and the analysis presented to shape our memory of this event, but this does not mean that he did it himself. If we wanted to create an excuse to put the US into a state of war, he could have done so with just the use of propaganda without the conspiracy to destroy the towers.
Hi Roger,
Planes did indeed crash into the Twin towers we are not denying that but there were only two planes and three buildings collapsed.
No Arab names were on the passenger lists of the four planes.
Mohamed Atta and his marry band of Hijackers were definitely living in the US and they were taking flying lessons in simulators.
They were living close to US army bases and in houses rented by CIA operators.
There is some evidence that they were involved in US anti terrorist training games.
This is what fire fighters have to say about the evidence with regards to the hijackers.
Osama bin Laden denied any involvement with the events of 9/11 in the days following the attacks and is in fact not on the most wanted list of the FBI. According to the FBI this is because they have not enough evidence to link Osama bin Laden with the events of 9/11.
Osama bin Laden was not involved in the ’93 attack, has never claimed to be and was not wanted for the attack by the FBI.
The only “admission” of involvement is a disputed video made years later showing a man who looks somewhat like Osama.
The flying skills of the alleged hijackers (Hani Hanjour in this case) was such that they could not have performed the complex flying manoeuvre around the Pentagon.
The planes impacts were definitely pre planned and not accidental no one is denying that but we would like an investigation as to whom would have been able and had the motive to plan it.
We don’t have theories as to what caused the towers to collapse but if two aluminium lanes can collapse three steel framed buildings hours after they impacted with most of the Kerosene burned of in seconds after impact we have a whole lot of unsafe buildings around the planet. And that alone should warrant a new and independent investigation into the events and the collapses.
All the planes were in the air for at least an hour. The previous year the US airforce had scrambled over 165 times to get to a plane which deviated from it’s flight plan. their response time was between 6 and 10 minutes.
Four planes in the air for more than an hour means four plane hours at least and not a jot from the US air force. We are talking about the best defended airspace in the world here. Washington and New York.
In July the protocol which had served America well was changed. Were US fighters authorised to take to the air if air flight controllers noticed any deviation in flight plans they now had to ask permission from Rumsfeld. After 911 the previous protocol was reinstated.
There was a huge opposition to wage war in the US this changed after the events of 9/11.
The attack on Afghanistan was planned and authorised before 911. The patriot act was written <a href='’>before 911.
“there were only two planes and three buildings collapsed.”
The third one collapsed because a bunch of arseholes flew planes into two of its neighbours, bringing them crashing down on the third one. How hard is that to understand?
There are plenty of legitimate questions to be asked (most notably about Bush’s constant lying about Iraq being involved) without resorting to this sort of Wishartesque conspiracy bullshit.
“Actually with the use of available technology the inner working part of such a plot could have been accomplished with only a handful of people having complete and/or incriminating knowledge”
Quite untrue.
One of the core arguments of the 9/11 Conspiracy theorists is that the collapse of the WTC7 building was advised ahead of time i.e. before it actually fell, and was evacuated. Indeed I have read articles by Mr Gage himself stating this fact and implying that this was done because they KNEW that a controlled explosion was taking place.
This would implicate the actual people who advised the media, the media themselves, as well as the rescue workers who evacuated the building.
While the inner workings of a plot might very well be in the hands of a few people the actual ins and outs require the actual connivance of many hundreds and thousands more.
All I’ve ever advocated around 9/11 is to remain at least open-minded to the possibility that we have not been told the whole truth. Wouldn’t be the first time would it?
The thing that us ordinary civilians overlook is the enormous size, depth and reach of the US clandestine organisations. There are people who are literally born, live and die within the embrace of these organisations, completely off the radar of normal life. There are layers and compartments, off the book budgets and installations us ordinary people will never know the details of.
I have an industry contact whom I contracted to for a while some years ago; he held a highly responsible, exceedingly technical role in the US military, (I’m going to be deliberately extra vague here for good reasons) who in his career saw a thing or two that gave him the willies. I ask you to trust me that the small amount of information he shared with me gave me the willies too.
From that time on I realised that there are things that which seem impossible to us ordinary folk, are readily accomplished with the right people, equipment and protocols.
Hia RL,
This is another interesting clip. The day before 9/11 Rumsfeld is confronted about some missing loose change at the Pentagon.
Very interesting, but the defence department in the US has had systemic problems with budget records and waste for a very long time. The fact that the 10th Sept 2001 was one of the many times this was brought up is mere coincidence. BTW, I’m not a conspiricy denier, but evidence needs to be better than what is presented here.
Did you know that hani Hanjour could have pointed the plane straight down into Rumsfeld’s office but that he instead choose to circle around the Pentagon and fly into the book keeping department?
Roger,
We’re talking a $ 2.3 trillion glitch here.
Wait a minute travellerev…. it wan’t a plane that flew into the Pentagon but a guided missile.
Don’t you keep up with the latest in 9/11 Consiracy theory nutology?
Oh Jep Gossie, you spend a lot of time on this.
The plane/ guided missile controversy is another little thing that keeps people divided.
Again, there are hundreds of camera’s around the Pentagon but we have only seen six frames of very unclear material.
We don’t know what happened at the Pentagon but in a new and independent investigation we would like to see all the video’ that were confiscated by the “FBI” never to be seen again.
Actually it was the BBC itself which announced the collapse 20 minutes before it actually happened. Here is the clip (and yes it is on Youtube).
In fact WTC7 is visible still standing behind the lady doing the announcing.
No need to claim anything. It happened. Both the BBC (20 minutes) and CNN (over an hour) announced it before it actually happened.
Were they in cahoots or just reading their TelePrompTers? I don’t know but I presume the latter. The are just talking heads after all.
Keep em coming Gossie, I love this shit.
By the way you’ve spend an aweful lot of time finding all the debunking arguments, what’s your angle?
Ummm…. do you have a bit of trouble understanding things travellerev …..no wait don’t answer that, I keep forgetting you’re a 9/11 conspiracy theory nut.
Whether or not the BBC did report on the collapse of WTC7 before it happened, or if the building was ordered to be evacuated because it was due to collapse is in no way evidence one way or the other for a controlled demolition. Yet this is the implication people like you and Mr Gage would try and have us believe.
You are truly truly sad and deluded Travellerev.
For people who want to see another video of the exact moment WTC 7 starts to collapse this is a documentary from an Italian TV sender.
Be sure to watch it until the end.
Gossie,
I did not fail to deal with the yellow cake issue at all. Apart from the fact that they probably didn’t give a flying f*&k as to what we thought about the yellow cake issue it is not my job to explain anything.
All we are saying is that if the official story does not add up than we should have a new and independent investigation.
We don’t know what happened other than that the official story is impossible.
We don’t know that the official story is ‘impossible’. It might have flaws in it but then again so do many officially accepted views and scientific theories.
The Theory of Evolution has flaws in it. It doesn’t make the alternative of Creationism more likely.
You argue like a Creationist does ‘Oh look I have found some weird unexplained flaw in the official picture. That must mean darker forces are a foot!’
Or the standard discussion techniques of the CCD’s like Wishart
The whole BBC thing is a red herring. In the chaos and uncertainty of 911 someone announced that a tower had fallen when it hadn’t.
If you recall, there were also reports of missing planes all over the place, and other false alarms during the day. I was in London at the time, and there were false reports of planes flying towards the city.
People make mistakes in the heat of the moment. Why attribute to a conspiracy what simple incompetence will adequately explain?
To suggest the BBC and CNN are part of a vast conspiracy is laughable. Who’s next? The Pope? The Freemasons?
For your conspiracy to fly (pardon the pun) you need to establish a large number of people (including now the BBC and CNN, apparently) have lied to us and deceived us all these years. It’s implausible.
You would also be crediting the intelligence services with more ability than they appear to have. It is far more plausible that incompetence, not some secret government plan, allowed 911 to occur.
What I find laughable is that the intelligence services are supposedly good enough to sneak in and rig up all the massive amounts of explosives necessary for a controlled demolition yet couold scrape together enough Yellow cake to plant in a bunker someplace in Iraq to justify the invasion.
The 9/11 conspiracy nuts completely avoid delaing with that question.
In the whole wide world only three buildings collapsed as the result of a fire. Not before and never after did buildings collapse that way. Not only that, those buildings fell in freefall speed. 6.8, 10 and 11 seconds.
This means there was no resistance from the floors underneath.
Up until then it would take a demolition company to achieve that kind of destruction in that particular way.
There was no reason for CNN and the BBC to be confused about a building collapsing simply because it wasn’t possible until that day as it is impossible today. If CNN reported it more then one hour before it happened and the BBC 20 minutes before it happened than someone somewhere made a booboo with the script.
What a surprise a Conspiracy Theory Nut fails to deal with the fact that the supposedly first class intelligence services behind blowing up the WTC buildings couldn’t arrange for some WMD to be smuggled into Iraq to justify the invasion.
🙂
Compartmentalisation. One cell doesn’t know any other cell are doing in such a way that when something like this happens they can’t join the dots.
Wow! You put a big word out there like ‘Compartmentalisation’ and expect that to explain away the huge holes in the theory.
How about you explain to us why these ‘Secret and shady’ intelligence operatives could get away with destroying a number of large buildings in one of the most heavily populated places on the Planet yet couldn’t manage to smuggle in some North African Uranium yellow cake to deposit in some convenient, (and deserted), location in the Iraqi desert to justify the invasion?
I was putting forward a theory on how such a thing could be done and have it not be known about by those who did it or by anyone else. I do note that you didn’t address that though as you seem to have got stuck on the first word.
I can’t speak for others, but I am generally happy to debunk any conspiracy theory that flies in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence. I’m sure the majority of people who think the 911 “truth” movement is a joke also feel the same way about client change denial.
Overwhelming scientific evidence? Such as what? Be specific.
You want evidence? Read this. It refers to some peer reviewed journals on the matter.
Can I also suggest you read this.
Took me about two minutes to find. So the theories don’t stand up to scrutiny.
LOL. You Google for five minutes and come up with that piece of shit.
I’ll get back to you on this one tomorrow as I’m of to enjoy life in the real world.
LOL
I’ll cream you on this one tomorrow. LOL.
Contemplate this, you spend five minutes. You don’t read the shit on that site critically and you tell me I’m silly?
LOL
“LOL. You Google for five minutes and come up with that piece of shit.”
I wasn’t prepared to spend more than five minutes on this. But five minutes was more than enough.
“I’ll cream you on this one tomorrow. LOL.”
Feel free. Can’t promise I’ll read what you wrote. I’ve already wasted far too much time on this thread. I have accepted I’m not going to convince you.
Admit it you can’t leave it alone.LOL.
Captcha: Choose. LOL.
I’m reminded of our similarities by these stories
how fragile we are http://mars2earth.blogspot.com/2009/11/our-world.html
how funny we are http://mars2earth.blogspot.com/2009/11/doc-heavy-duty-tramping-nappies.html
So much for the CCD’s theory that no one would notice the govt’s commitments to emission reduction were piss poor.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2009/nov/12/new-zealand-greenwash
Who wants to be first to say “It’s only The Guardian, no one reads it anyway”?
Prescient comment Armchair – there’s one born every minute it seems 🙂
I have often wondered why both towers fell straight down when the lower parts of the buildings hadn’t been compromised, certainly not to the extent of collapse. I have read many books and articles which raise this question – how could a plane hitting the top quarter of a building force the building to fall straight down? I have also read the claim that the only skyscrapers ever to have collapsed as a result of fire were the three in NY on 9/11. One of the towers had bombs go off in its basement in 1993 and it didn’t collapse then. There is something fishy there and I would like to know! Interestingly, none of the comments on here have enlightened me. Apparently I’m not even allowed to wonder because it makes me a big bad conspiracy theorist, even a “nut”. What’s the point in commenting if you are only going to attack people and not challenge what it is they’re actually saying?
Popular Mehanics (the US magazine) did a whole edition on many of the main September the 11th conspiracies and looked at a lot of them from an engineering background. They ‘debunked’ the idea that the buildings could not have collapsed just from the damage caused by two planes hitting them and the resulting fires.
LOL, Fucking hell Gossie,
The only debunking piece you can come up with is that thoroughly discredited piece of yellow trash.
The senior researcher on the piece Benjamin Chertoff was the cousin of Michael Chertoff, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
This means that Benjamin Chertoff was hired to write an article that would receive nationwide attention, about the veracity of the government’s explanation of an event that led directly to the creation of Homeland Security, a body that his own cousin now heads.
Here is some more background on your “debunking” crap.
LOL.
And the way you attempt to discredit the article is to try and imply that one of it’s author’s is now part of the giant conspiracy because he is someone in Government’s COUSIN!!!
Do you not realise how ridiculous your B.S. accusations actually look Travellerev???
I don’t know about you but if I was involved in some sort of top secret conspiracy to fool hundreds of millions of people in the US, (not to mention the rest of the world as well), I wouldn’t go about it by employing family members to cover my tracks.
I advise everyone who is interested in the matter to read the link I provided and to make up their own mind.
Added to that David Ray Griffin has written a thoroughly researched point by point rebuttal of the Article.
And I advise anyone of a sane disposition to think about the completely irrational implications of what people like Mr Gage, Griffin, and of course our very own travellerev are implying happened instead of the official 9/11 story.
I see Frank Lowy and his Westfield mates have won the bid to build the new shopping mall at Ground Zero.
Frank owned the building that mysteriously also collapsed, near the twin towers, even tho nothing had hit it.
It all ties together in the end….
Standard conspiracy theorist tactic. Anyone who criticises the conspiracy theory becomes part of the conspiracy.
Sigh…
I must not only be blind, but dumb to read this tabloid site, would that be the advice I receive from the ex (government) or from our government now?
‘captcha’ -ran.
Good advice.
if you are in to conspiracy theories , there is a new book out about the JFK assassination. It has just been released by Eloquent Books, New York, New York. The title of the book is, “A Kiss for the President”, by A. John Laine. It has an absobing plotline involving the mafia, the CIA, the Bay of Pigs, the murder of Marlyn Monroe, and the JFK assassination. Buy it today at the folling website:http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/AKissforthePresident.html
Hi Albert,
Thank you for the tip, I’m always game for a good book.
I would like to point out though that I’m not into conspiracy theories.
We, that is millions of people around the world, just have a problem with the official conspiracy story and the scientific impossibilities that theory brings with it.
We have no theories but questions we would like answered in a new and independent investigation in which we (represented by the people we feel are competent and independent) enough have access to all the documents and witnesses pertaining to the crimes committed that day.
We want to know why no crime scene investigation has been done, what video’s there are of the attack on the Pentagon etc.
All we are saying is that we are not satisfied with the answers we have been given and we just don’t know what really happened that day.
If a new and independent investigation proves that 19 young Saudi Hijackers with only a couple of hours in a Simulator send by and old Saudi Muslim fanatic were able to stand down the most powerful army in the world to fly into three buildings in the two most air defended cities in the world and were somehow able to get passed all the laws of physics we have come to know as unbreakable than so be it.
I was raised on Dr. Dobson, and have just sent him a letter requesting his assistance to help me stop loosing faith in the Christian Church. My Mom respects Dr. Dobson as much or more than any other Christian leader, and she is interested to see his response. I only started learning the truth about the 9/11 attacks last fall. It took me an entire year to convince my own parents to listen to me, and begin reviewing the evidence for themselves. Now that they have thoroughly and objectively taken a fresh look into all the available evidence, they too are now aware of how badly we have been deceived. They now fully support my mission to find out what really happened to 2,993 of our fellow countrymen that fateful September morning. My mom is very interested to see if/how Dr. Dobson will respond. Please read my open letter to Dr. Dobson and share your thoughts at………
http://blandyland.com/?p=459
Does Christ’s Church really stand for TRUTH & JUSTICE? That is the question!
Daniel Edd Bland III
http://www.BlandyLand.com