Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike…
—Jim Mora, Radio NZ National, The Panel, Monday 14 October 2013
I am sorry to report that, far from responding to such nonsense, guest Panelists Matt Nippert and Josie Pagani maintained a silence closely resembling stupidity.
hogwash, n.1. Worthless, false, or ridiculous speech or writing; nonsense. 2. Garbage fed to hogs; swill. hypocrisy, n.1. the practice of professing standards, beliefs, etc., contrary to one’s real character or actual behaviour, esp. the pretence of virtue and piety 2. an act or instance of this
More hogwash….
No. 3 JOHN KERRY: “The best way to give these negotiations a chance is to keep them private.” http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Kerry-prolongs-trip-set-to-meet-Abbas-in-Ramallah-320386
No. 2 DAVID CAMERON: “We never support, in countries, the intervention by the military.”
No. 1 BARACK OBAMA: “Madiba’s moral courage…people standing up for what’s right….aaaahhhh, the yearning for justice and dignity…”
@ Morrissey Agreed …often ( but not always)find Jim Mora and his panel hard to listen to ..(.staus quo crap.)..without getting brain numbed, angry and switching off ….. or feeling I have been forced to swallow something non-nutritious, even at times, sickie sweet…(.toxic untruths or half truths)
I’m afraid I agree with Te Reo, Paul. I would love to think that those arch-criminals Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz et al. were involved but there is simply no evidence to support that. Like Norman Finkelstein, I accept that Dick Cheney is a criminal, a draft-dodger, a coward, a liar and a moral reprobate, but there is nothing to show he orchestrated or was involved in any way in the 9/11 attacks.
WT7 housed the financial evidence which was going to be needed when Rumsfeld at al had to explain where $2.3T disappeared to, along with the Pentagon, receiving its miraculous hit, directly to the accounts department.
Take a look at which agencies had presence in WT7, and what else was housed in there – “Pull it”!
The study by Stanford Law School and New York University’s School of Law calls for a re-evaluation of the practice, saying the number of “high-level” targets killed as a percentage of total casualties is extremely low — about 2%.
[…]
TBIJ reports that from June 2004 through mid-September 2012, available data indicate that drone strikes killed 2,562 – 3,325 people in Pakistan, of whom 474 – 881 were civilians, including 176 children. TBIJ reports that these strikes also injured an additional 1,228 – 1,362 individuals,” according to the Stanford/NYU study.
Tuesday 15 October 2013 – heading off shortly to Auckland airport to pick up Graham McCready for the adjourned hearing of oral evidence from Kim Dotcom, his bodyguard and lawyer, plus the CEO of Sky City, which should confirm that the DEFENDANT John Banks KNEW that donations from Kim Dotcom and Sky City’s CEO were NOT anonymous.
We should be at the Auckland District Court (Albert St) before 9.30am
‘Her Warship’ 😉
PS: on the 6th Anniversary of the Urewera ‘Terror’ Raids, Vince Siemer will be in the Auckland High Court, giving evidence which proves how he and his wife were subjected to alleged unlawful detention, search and seizure by Police…..
Can’t be in 2 places at once – but if anyone can go to the High Court to support Vince and Jane today – that would be GREAT!
“NEED BETTER WORK STORIES?
A 7-day trial in the Auckland High Court began Monday, 14 October, against 14 men in blue concerning the dawn 2008 raid on the offices of Spartan News Limited and home of Vince and Jane Siemer. A fifteenth defendant is the deputy registrar of the District Court who signed the undated police search warrant.
No one was charged as a result of the raid, which was postulated on Vince Siemer publishing the suppressed police affidavit used to hold, without bail, 18 New Zealand citizens in the infamous October 2007 Tuhoe raids (4 of the 18 were eventually convicted of various weapons charges; charges were dropped on the other 14).
Kim Dotcom has an extremely similar case against Police scheduled for trial in February 2014.
Defence Counsel Austin Powell, of the “Constitutional and Human Rights Team” within Crown Law, will first cross-examine Vince Siemer Tuesday on the events of 21 February 2008 before the 14 police defendants tell their work stories. Two weeks ago that was expected to concern the twelve pages of items Police seized but never accounted for on the day. However, the week before trial, the police conceded they have been withholding evidence of examination reports on the 5 cell phones they seized, had taken 183 photos inside the home not previously accounted for and cannot find the data the police cloned from three computers they seized.
Crown counsel Powell could only reply in a 7 October email, “I am not able to give priority to any more questions about discovery of documents. We are now a week out from the fixture and there is a great deal of preparation to do. I will attend to this and any other requests if time permits.”
Then-Solicitor General David Collins approved the raids on Tuhoe in 2007 and against the Siemers in 2008 but the Court of Appeal ruled in 2011 he could not be sued by Siemers and Spartan News. Mr Collins was appointed a High Court judge in 2012.
In addition to all phones and computers, the police seized tax and business accounts, cameras and even printers. The police claim their active investigation ceased three years ago but admit to still holding unspecified property. The biggest return of items to date was more than 4 years after the raid, on 21 September 2012.
The public are encouraged to attend to catch a rare glimpse of the work stories behind the badges. ”
If business wants convention centres, then business can pay for them. I find it incredibly rude that they even consider asking elderly ratepayers to pay for their business.
Rude, don’t care who foots the bill as long as it is not them. Rude. And out of line.
Arise Quidditch players prepare for the Game in the House. Represent and defend your constituents, the people and not just those in business. Look out for the Golden Snitcher.
phillip ure..(.on another topic) You are a Vegan?……what do Vegans eat to keep healthy?….my son is a vegetarian and now is considering Veganism!…request info
..congratulations on having such an evolved offspring/fruit of the loins..
..as far as his healthy-longevity/making a serious effort to both help the planet..and stop the wholesale suffering..(from both animals..and consumers of them.. is concerned..going vegan will be the best decision of/in his life..
..and having myself been vegan for about 15 yrs..and vegetarian for 15 before that..
..(and knowing people who have been vegan for 30 + yrs..)
..has all necessitated/evolved into the gathering of necessary information/data..
..there you will get all the recipies you will need..(mm!!..gourmet japanese/thai etc vegan..)
..plus the all-important nutritional information..
..it is pretty much a primer on the subject..(and the compilation of it some of the work i am most ‘proud of’..it is an agit=prop tool of some potency..
..i would (not so) humbly submit..
..and as an aside to current vegetarians..
.you get my utmost respect..for being where you are..
..especially if done for the ‘right’ reasons..(ie..animal-welfare/personal health/save the planet etc..
..but where you are..(and i was for 15 yrs..)..is a way-station on yr journey..
..a halfway house..
..and for the following reasons..
..personal health:..the fact is that eating animal bye-products is almost as bad for you as eating the actual animal flesh..(this increasingly confirmed by current/new research..u will find evidence-links to all my claims made here..in the archive..)
..animal welfare:..eating animal bye-products sustains/financially supports the wholesale horrors of the factory-farms/charnel-houses..so if vego for animal welfare reasons..?..
..mental-health:..it is common for vegetarians to feel better within themselves..when they stop eating animal-flesh..
..and personally..my/any expectation of ‘feeling netter’ from taking that vegan-step were minimal..
..silly me..!..i can testify to those long-time vegetarians that the feeling-better factor takes a giant leap..
..(in crude/blunt-terms..it is like ripping off another dietary-scab..(much as stopping meat was for you..eh..?..)
..saving the planet:..the well documented ‘costs’ of from humans farming/eating animals/animal bye-products..if you stop..you stop feeding that beast..
(and as a berm-aside:..never mind the berms..stop mowing yr fucken lawns..!..eh..!..
..kilo for kilo..the lawnmower is one of the dirtiest machines on the planet..
..and if you crunch the numbers..
you will see that if we all went vegan..and ended our anal-obsession with all lawns having a number-one cut..
..we could all drive s.u.v.’s ..
..with utter environmental-impunity..
..(sez it all really..eh..?..)
..and yes..my heart does sink a tad..
..when i see ‘green-leaders’..strutting around clad in the skins of butchered animals..
..and wiping the animal-grease/fat from their lips..
..with the backs of their hands..
..all the while claiming to be there ‘to save the planet’..eh..?
..eh..?
..but anyway chooky..the word-up to you wd be to join yr son on his journey..
..you too will share in all those benefits..
..that he has to look forward to..
..and if you actually nut it all out..with an open mind..
Thanks so much!!!!….you are convincing!!!!!…(sigh)…Will check out site and point son in the direction of it.
I know being a meat eater is a beastly habit and isn’t nice . ( If I had to kill it myself instead of picking up a little pack in the super market…soul already departed …I would be a vegetarian.).
Did try to be a vegetarian years ago myself but beans and rice all the time wound my energy levels down over 6 months…However just love Indian vegetarian food …so there is hope!!!!
@ tc…thanks for info….actually for lunch I had a wrap with chillie beans, brown rice ,salad and Indian mango chutney ..it was yuuummm!!!!!…yesterday we had lentil samosas…..so it isn’t so difficult to be a Vegan…(.but I have always put it off until the next incarnation)….we will see….maybe a semi Vegan? …cant see myself becoming a strict one. ha ha…but it is probably very good for one’s health…quite apart from the ethical considerations
Snacking throughout the day on live food (sprouts), seeds (sesame, pumpkin and sunflower) and nuts tend to help with the energy levels.
Also, you will tend to eat a lot more food (volume) so regular snacking helps to space it out.
Movements will be healthier and regular as clockwork.
Living as a vegetarian requires a bit of research, some thought and changes to your shopping habits but your body (and thus your mind) will thank you for it.
..the fact/nugget of information that five years ago made me foreswear the lawnmower/lawn-mowing..
..is that..depending on the vehicle you drive..
..one hours’ use of a lawnmower..
..is the same environmental footprint..
..as driving a vehicle between a low of 250 kms..to a high of 650 kms..
..fucken whoar..!
..eh..?
..something for those who are trying to heed the ever-more-urgent/compelling change-or-die!-messages..and those who urge others to ‘go green’..
..yet who still mow themselves..
..a question to ask themselves in front of the bathroom mirror/when overcome by that urge to give their lawns a number one..
..and they can reinforce that logical/rational decision..
..while walking past the flesh/dairy-sections @ the supermarket..
..and funny story..!..my walked-down lawns..after five years..have turned already good soil into super-soil..
..and my mini-eco system has recenttly sprouted swan-plants everywhere..and they have trunks like broom-handles..
..and so now i/we have monarch butterflies etc..fluttering around..
..(and the sound of/from those wings flapping..are far more pleasing on the ear/soul..than the discordant clatter of a wheezing/belching lawn-mower..eh..?..)
..the birds also love our yard/’lawn’…so we get lots of bird-action..
..and really..from this p.o.v…the action of cutting lawn/collecting the clippings..making a pile of them..
..turning them into compost..to then spread back on the soill..
..is an act of utter/pointless group-madness..
..it’s already programmed to do that itself..eh..
..if we just leave well alone..
..and in the process..
..both help the environment..
..and reclaim a large chunk of our lives that are currently wasted in this self-imposed sisyphian-task..
..of doing battle with/trying to tame/control nature..
And we could have become a true Banana republic complete with Russian weapons. If only Key had been in charge.
Now there’s a scary thought Key with a Russki Nuc (presumably with Missiles intact) sub tied up feeding Ak’s power.
David H
Tanks for the memory eh! Instead we got Lada cars, they got butter for their larders. Hah good one!
As for rubles, I think we would have preferred rubies.
But the flexible nature of trade allowed us to keep trading with this, then, pariah country. Perhaps we should keep the spirit of multi-lateralism or whatever, alive and not sign up to constraining TPPA with it’s flashy front billboard of free trade, and dirty little dealers behind the scenes selling their real agendas.
oh how times have changed. (had a wee bright yellow Lada when I was 20, and a bright orange VW) anyway, been fortunate today, cycled into town to do errands (food for the worms) and was able to be home before it fair poured down.
Tomorrow, in the Appeal Court in Wellington (pdf), Justices Harrison, French and Miller will hear argument in the case of the NZ Climate Science “Education” Trust (NZCSET) versus the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), in the continuing effort of the cranks to litigate away warming in New Zealand over the last 150 years. According to the man who kicked off the whole process, Richard Treadgold of the “Climate Conversation” web site, the NZCSET bases its appeal on two main points:
The focussed grounds are that all three NIWA temperature series resulted from serious mistakes of fact, which impugned the rationality of the Crown Entity’s decisions.
This seems somewhat surprising, given that the judge in the original case was so scathing of the NZCSET’s expertise in his judgement delivered a year ago. One wonders how the Appeal Court will react to any attempt to relitigate the original decision, given Justice Venning’s findings. But then perhaps the whole appeal has rather more to do with the second basis for appeal:
The Coalition is also seeking reversal of the High Court’s costs order.
Must have been edited Karol “leading” is missing in my current view. Armstrong’s position (tory supplicant) is well known and illustrated further by quoting Hollow Man Hooten in his ‘go easy on her’ Parata suckup.
And the bit I got out of hearing comment from the Minimum of Education was that they had planned a new ground-breaking experiment in Christchurch to test a new approach in schooling.
Their action was not to attend to the needs of children unsettled or traumatised by the loss of their normal daily life, the feeling of security and safety, the tipping over of many into the precariat, the loss of housing and local society, the loss of services even to having a toilet, the hardship for families without any fat to cushion the blows.
And on top of that the knowledge that the comfortably off didn’t really care, didn’t think kindly towards them, saw them as a problem to be dealt with some time at the convenience of the planners and finance holders. Left to themselves without annoying questions about action, the powers that be will proceed at their own pace with little empathy it seems.
I remember reading about how long it took Southern Italian authorities to provide for their poor people after a major earthquake destroyed their homes long established in an ancient slum area.
Originally a hard life, precarious but settled into a known culture that was livable, to totally miserable with whole families being poked into small hotel rooms for years. This was outlined in Thomas Belmonte’s great book of his time in Naples ‘The Broken Fountain’. http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gables/hiv/mem/belmonte.html
Yesterday I commented on Radionz item on this woman who has written a book that goes straight to the heart of NZ’s problems with poverty in its business thinking.
However, economist and professor Mariana Mazzucato argues that the state has a huge part to play in bringing new goods and services to market.
Peter Day discusses her thought-provoking thesis with her. Her latest book is The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking public vs. private sector myths. She tweets on @MazzucatoM
Today I want to highlight that she says that all countries that advance do so on the back of government involvement. The big innovations in the USA have been done on the back of government research and development. Left to the private sector, little new stuff happens.
It is too costly for private companies to spend much on research because so much comes to nothing! But new things are needed to advance into the future with useful stuff, and to develop new ways of coping with whatever is happening, likely to happen – think green technology for instance.
I’m reading the book ATM, it’s the one I’ve been quoting over the last few days. It is rather enlightening about where the actual innovation has come from, who supported it and who benefited.
DTB
Keep on quoting. There is so much to learn to get out of the mre we are in. I sometimes think that the only people doing any important learning and thinking are on TS. Silly really. But it’s just an impression I get.
And a bit of whimsy. Do keep dropping pieces of smart thinking from her and similar others onto TS from time to time. They may be like the crumbs from Hansel and Gretel which we can follow leading to a good destination.
It’s well known that Obama hates Charlotte for letting the Hornets franchise move to New Orleans. Never cross POTUS over Bball, the man is serious about his sport.
Auckland’s population has grown by 110,000 people to 1.42 million people since the last census seven years ago, data published this morning shows.
Census night data showed that all 21 local board areas in Auckland increased in population, and Waitemata, Upper Harbour, Rodney, Howick and Franklin were the fastest-growing areas.
The population of Christchurch has dropped by almost 7000 since the devastating 2010 and 2011 earthquake sequence – but the number of people living in the Canterbury region has jumped by 17,000.
New census figures out today provide the first snapshot into the population shift since the quakes.
The Christchurch city population has gone from 348,456 in 2006 to 341,469 this year – a drop of 2 per cent.
The Canterbury region numbers have gone from 521,0832 in 2006 to 539,433 this year.
Outlying areas experienced huge growths.
Selwyn District has experienced the largest population growth in the country, up nearly a third to 44,595 people.
Waimakariri is up 17 per cent to 49,989.
Will be watching how this info is processed by the media.
…Their sloppy cronyism approach ends up costing more than any anticipated benefits.
Why? Short-termism gone mad? Why would nearly 50% of voters affirm a party this dysfunction on its core issue? the economy! Shonkey is not a good manager, he’s a fly boy pant sniffer type.
yet still 50% of the voting public voted for inanity. How does the Herald do it? I mean its so right wing (the wrong kind) and so actively deranged in its appeals to poor managing solutions.
We need a tax system that targets the wealthy less we forget what happens when a few own and control the super majority of the nation.
Did you see Collins, her eyebrow was a shocker, like she was some deranged bag lady invited on Q&A to an opinion that no credible minister could.
So Len Brown allegedly had sex with no condom with someone that isnt his wife at the auckland town hall, he shouldnt lose his job over this. A written warning and a divorce lawyer for his wife. The media should report news, not sleaze.
So Len Brown allegedly had sex with no condom with someone that isnt his wife at the auckland town hall, he shouldnt lose his job over this. A written warning and a divorce lawyer for his wife. The media should report news, not sleaze.
Because my point wasnt the source, it was the fact that its a non story, and noones business
apart from his wife. Yet over on the TM boards, people are all up in arms.
I heard a rumour that Brett lives in a gingerbread house and masturbates while drowning kittens, but I don’t believe it so if any of you haters out there repeat it, I’d disapprove. /sarc
And you’re also saying the media shouldn’t be reporting it, but are real keen to talk about it yourself, adding your little bit to the hype, which is what makes them report things.
“and people here on the extreme left shouldnt be calling for his firing”
Who has called for his firing brett? A link to the comment from an extreme leftie would be good and luckily for you it isn’t six months down the track. Or is it more of the same made up bullshit that you so often spread.
If its such a non-story why are you spreading it so much, if it’s noones business why are you spreading it so much – does it make you feel good brett. imo those that break a story are one thing but those who spread it while trying to pretend to have the moral high-ground are worse, as in an animal poos and the flies spread it around – you brett are a fly.
You’re the one saying he’s right. I’d be pretty sceptical about the whole thing, and worried for his source. This guy makes Ian Wishart look principled.
Please, those on the left and right who dont like len, will be saying he should resign, my point is, I dont care what he does with his penis, he should keep his job, thats the point im trying to make.
Far out…all the Nats have anger problems…Nick Smith is spitting while doing his best Key/Bridges impersonation, his colleagues should have worn their raincoats…
These farmers should be forced to get their drinking water below their farms or from the stream they are putting the shit into – record fine lol put a zero on it I say.
Maybe the fine should be a % of the business’ turnover? And yep to the drinking water.
“Council’s investigation manager Patrick Lynch said it was “unbelievable” a farmer would choose to deliberately pump raw effluent straight into a waterway.”
Funny that Mr Bridges was far more subdued in answering in Question Time today, than he was during his hyperactive shouting display last night on Campbell Live. Perhaps he had taken his ritalin today?
The most well known political leaders from Eisenhower to Kennedy to Lange have had extra-marital affairs. Grow up and learn a little bit about real life.
It was hard to type that with a straight face true 🙂 but I bet if you replaced Len Brown with John Key you lefties would all over it like white on rice
Plus theres the small matter of the threatning text she got, that puts it into a completely different catergory…
Also shows how much of a typical leftie he really is: good at throwing around other peoples money but buys his mistress cheap knickers
Rooting on the job is bad form, especially if it’s a junior employee (almost like incest).
I see there’s a high ranking defence force guy up on Court Marshall for the same thing. Guess Banksie won’t get the firing squad though?
Mate, it’s regarded as “in the family”. Why do you think the Army guy in being charged? You can’t take advantage of employees – who knows what pressures have been placed on them?
If Len Brown had spent on his Council credit card entertaining this woman, took her on Council paid trips, got her promotions etc, then that’s definitely relevant to his conduct on the job.
The rest of this is BS. Two grown up consenting adults getting it on, yaaawn.
sure but when it is a superior who may or may not hold hiring and firing in his/her hands it can be different cv. NOT that that is suggested here.
Ah yes there may be a case to be answered in situations where coercive pressure was being applied through seniority and hiring firing power.
but so far there is no evidence of coersion, it appears the woman herself has spoken to someone about it but n suggestion f misuse of power by Brown I suppose it might yet be made.
IIRC the Navy guy is being charged for lying about it on security vetting forms and alleged abusing his authority to intimidate his subordinate when she tried to end it.
nothing like incest. assuming it was consensual there is no wrong doing other than people’s perception of orality.
incest is a crime. speaking of crimes. Slater knows no bounds to th depths he will stoop. I bet he knows of a number of dirty secrets of right wing MP’s and he will die before revealling them.
” A journalist sacked by the Herald on Sunday has been ordered to pay his former employer $7500 costs for an Employment Relations Authority hearing he lost.
The newspaper was justified in sacking assistant editor Stephen Cook, who was being investigated as part of a police inquiry into drug dealing, authority member Rosemary Monaghan ruled last December.
Cook was dismissed in December 2008 because he would not tell his newspaper bosses why he was under suspicion.
They responded by saying they had lost trust and confidence in him, which made his position untenable.
Cook’s work car had been seen outside an Auckland property under surveillance by the police drugs squad.
Ms Monaghan said that in failing to provide material which could have cleared his name, Cook fed the suspicion that he was not being open and honest about his activities.
She found Cook’s dismissal was justified, not because he was dishonest or had something to hide, but rather his reactions to his employer “reasonably” suggested that he did.
Today she released a cost determination ordering Cook to pay $7500 to Herald on Sunday proprietor APN New Zealand Limited as a contribution to its costs.
APN, in its memorandum of costs, pointed to the need to address Cook’s inclusion of irrelevant and prejudicial material. It also cited delay and disruptions resulting from unavailability of counsel for Cook, including two delays in starting and the scheduling of a further part-day to address matters Cook had raised at the last moment. “
“….nothing like incest. assuming it was consensual there is no wrong doing other than people’s perception of orality..”
I presume that was a typo????????
Actually, from what I saw on the news, the high ranking defense guy is up on fairly major charges to do with the defense of the realm as well as sexual abuse.
I see there’s a high ranking defence force guy up on Court Marshall for the same thing
Except it’s not, because in that case the accused was blackmailing her into sex and using his position to threaten her partners continued employment in the military.
Not at all, but you’d expect grown ups in positions of responsibility like this to behave with some decorum and not go around rooting all and sundry. Honestly what is it about men of a certain age acting in this way……. Clinton, Lange, Brash etc etc. pathetic really.
Not at all, but you’d expect grown ups in positions of responsibility like this to behave with some decorum and not go around rooting all and sundry. Honestly what is it about men of a certain age acting in this way……. Clinton, Lange, Brash etc. pathetic really.
you want an author to right about whether or not the mayor of auckland has been extra maritally screwing an employee? There’s a few things I’ve wanted them to write about, so I could comment, but they didn’t.
Why dont you write it and submit is as a guest post.
(Complaining about Herald staff anonymity, that is).
[lprent: Nope because…
1. They truly are anonymous on editorials and Staff Reporter. Just like our Notices and Features when we’re doing the routine OpenMikes except they put in news content and opinion.
2. The Gosman rule applies to assertions made here about people here. Just as I cannot police the Herald, I don’t police people making comments about the Herald either there or here (unless they cause legal issues or overstep the bounds of taste here).
3. The rules are there to make this site easier to use. I’m not an ideologue and I don’t presume to demand how people should act off this site. I may merely comment on it ]
“People using a pseudonym to comment who then claim that other people commenting/posting anonymously (or any words construed to mean that) will have their own comments treated as being anonymous. Since this site does not allow anonymous comments, they will receive an immediate long ban.”
You’re right – technically – as an anonymous outside article isn’t a “post” or a “comment”.
[lprent: “Since this site does not allow anonymous comments…” is also a dead giveaway. ]
wow you are onto it. First pointing out no one has posted an article about Brown and now a violation of the rules (possibility thereof). A fine eye for detail.
The bit that you missed was that the NZHerald has run articles that attacked the “anonymous” authors on The Standard while hypocritically publishing anonymous articles.
Hardly a hanging offence if true, but he should have been sacked by the voters for not supporting the wharfies, “Lenslide” may now be “Lenslider” and joins the boardroom bonker club of various other randy old goat politicians–Worth, insert other names here……. etc.
You are right CV. Mayor of Auckland “porks the payroll” is not something that any Aucklander, other than the prurient working class filth that read the Truth, should be interested in.
I haven’t followed all the comments on the Len Brown matter but he has just issued a statement confirming he had a two year affair with a woman who was working on some project linked to the Council. She was not a Council employee.
Since it’s come from the sleaziest blogger in the business, can someone locate the story which appeared a year or two ago detailing a story of an extra marital indulgence by the self same blogger who released this story. From memory he never denied it. Anyone else remember it? If it can be found lets give it another airing…
What ‘Truth’ is that, do you mean the one the ex Editor/Manager a true piece of filth in anyone’s books managed in a few short months to run into the ground,
Lolz Blubber-boi the dysfunctional head case with the un-functional newspaper what a f**king loser that waste of space really is in the real world…
Last November the body of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was exhumed for an autopsy to determine if he was poisoned. Sadly, it appears that he was:
“Swiss radiation experts have confirmed they found traces of the radioactive agent polonium on the clothing of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, supporting the possibility he was poisoned.”
Give me a break, just received my insurance bill for my property in CHCH 50% increase on top of last years 20% increase.
You just gotta love that free market at work, about all thats free in this market is there right to screw you when your down, can’t find another company to reinsure with so take it or leave it Jack, the people of CHCH are being walked all over by greedy insurance companies along with this government, roll on election day.
The Right are good at this stuff, and the MSM falls for it pavlovian like every time. Mind you, this is a good wee reminder of how dirty the NATs are going to fight next year.
I have political criticisms of Brown’s performance. I think his private behaviour probably has hurt others, especially the women involved. The sleazemongers don’t care about the latter.
Meanwhile, there’s some significant political issues that don’t get enough in-depth attention.
It looks like ‘the other woman’ went to sleazebag herself and has given him their text conversations. Seems Len Brown ended the affair month or two ago. She claims she received anonymous threatening messages.
Well, an intelligent and mature woman would go to the police if it is true, not spill the beans in what looks to me like a spiteful vendetta.
Yes the right are good at making lefties make tits on themselves, I can just see the RWNJ setting Len up with a two year sting operation timed to go off after the election
The timing is all. I thought Brown on Campbell Live tonight was suggesting that the timing of the release has been done to force him to stand down before he is inaugurated. Thus, I guess, the 2nd place candidate would be mayor without a new election?
Had Brown lost there would be no story. This is why it did not come out prior to the election. Who ever is now behind Brown’s demise feel confident enough that Brown being elected mayor will become untenable.
How hard are those who want Brown gone going to push?
Interesting. Just been looking at the real time analytics after getting a threshold CPU alert.
I normally only get those if the database jams or a Labour leader resigns or is elected or we are having an election…
What is going on with the Simon Bridges post? Way higher than anything else right now and a hell of a lot of people piling on at once. Looks like facebook.
We get those enough that the pattern is predictable. Just gives little bumps. This was a social media jump and started at ~1:30PM according to the CPU log rather than the 3:56PM start for bryce’s post. We just had a big spike in the last 15 minutes when it started going viral.
Maybe also because I put the link to the Youtube video of the interview in the post? the video’s gone from one or two views this morning to over 450 views this afternoon.
Consensual sex is not an issue for me. Having sex at the office during working hours is not in the job description, nor is using the credit card for personal use in a relationship appropriate.
I want to know:
1. Was the sex during office hours on council premises?
2. Was the mayoral credit card used for personal use as part of the relationship e.g gifts, dining?
3. Was the other willing party silenced, bullied or threatened?
that too. I often reflect on how “the old lady” became our term of reference at home; hardly respectful, but then, you know how it is -“the old man” (Down The Road)
Slater is pushing for a re-election Maybe he should be careful what he wishes for – a proper campaign just for Mayor, with high profile media attention encouraging people to vote?
Made that point five minutes ago CV. Gone into moderation. Second time in 24 hrs???
In essence I’ve suggested a vendetta by the ‘other woman’. An intelligent and mature person would go to the police… not spill the beans to a sleazebag!
I’m also in moderation, saying Brown has to go and what a let down he’s proven himself to be.
Don’t expect to be agreed with, but it’s not like it’s a momentary indiscretion, it’s a two year long deceit. In politics, once you lose trust, you have nothing.
Len Brown should resign.
He’s been exposed by his actions as a weak man, and if he tries to sit tight until the media storm blows itself out, it will only emphasise this further.
If he cries on Campbell live, says he’s sorry and begs forgiveness, it’s more bullsh*t weakness.
Gift horse to the tories when they were so under the cosh. No excuses, just get out.
Fu*k, I dislike weak politicians.
Len Brown should resign.
He’s been exposed by his actions as a weak man,
On that basis, we would hardly have any politicians left. Some might say that would be a good thing.
Btw, it’s been going on in high places since God made little apples. Secretaries and parliamentary bunnies are usually the primary sources.
I’m not expecting anyone to agree with me, just like I don’t expect politicians to be whiter than white and anything other than human like the rest of us, but when caught out, they have to do the decent thing and walk away and not wait for the polls or results of focus groups to see how much they can get away with.
But using your logic, it should be acceptable for all our elected representatives to be like Berlusconi.
Just remember that while no-one is clean this all started because of Len Brown, he instigated it, he continued it, its completely his fault so stop trying to spread the blame around
Oh. Yeah. Brown has not behaved well. He is the best of the standing candidates for Mayor. But I care more about democracy. And WO and co. and all thier supporters try to undermine it. That is far more despicable. I’m not spreading anything. SleazeOil does it all on his own.
I would stand down if it were me, though it wouldn’t be me because I can keep it in my pants and even as a dumb middle aged bloke, know these things rarely ever stay secret.
What on earth was he thinking? He’s old enough to be her dads older brother. :grrrross:
For goodness sake – Len made a mistake, or was a hu(man) , call it what you will – its personal. Its not a hanging matter. And its not something that will interfere with his ability to be Mayor or to be political or to be a manager – all qualities he needs as Mayor. And he fronted up to his wife before this became public, which is saying something positive about him, her, and their family.
No wrath or scorn here, nor judgement on his moral failing, but at the very least a rerun of the vote is needed. If he’s brazen enough to run again and wins, then fair fight fair result.
The worshipful mayor of Auckland is a complete and utter skeevy idiot who has played into the hands of gleeful rightwingers. Did he think he wouldn’t be found out with the blubbery whale sniffing around for any kind of scandal? It shouldn’t matter what people get up to in their private lives, but to most people it will look very bad. Especially shagging in his office. I am intrigued by the timing of this though, wouldn’t it have been more effective for the blubbery one to go public before the election?
Brown’s behaviour is not commendable. But repeating my comment from above, given WO had the info about a month ago.
The timing is all. I thought Brown on Campbell Live tonight was suggesting that the timing of the release has been done to force him to stand down before he is inaugurated. Thus, I guess, the 2nd place candidate would be mayor without a new election?
I am fascinated that WO has been sitting on this story for some time. I remember a story way back of a High commissioner or someone similar of some country bonking his secretary on the table of the High commission. It wasn’t Clinton. Can someone please refresh my memory.
The story sure takes the heat off the “young pup” from Tauranga!
success breeds success (being a Towns van Zandt sorta’ guy)
I’d give up my Bad Habits , yet, then I would not be the man you see before you. (everyone is better off if I’m out of it).
I passed on my Red and Glo Butane, and now I dodge the Hammer of dawn.
No synths and everyone is better off if I’m not out of it (except poor old Al1).
@ Dan1…it was the guy who held up the sausages in parliament wasn’t it ? ( no not Shearer…he held up the fish) ….McClay?…I could be wrong
…everyone in NZ was gobsmacked at both sausages and table incidents …..didnt know whether to laugh or howl….but then he rapidly took off to Britain to be High Commissioner ( the perfect Nat solution)… .overseas and respectability ….the mirth was all over …all forgotten…almost…..not quite
The allegations were about John Collinge High commissioner in London and past National party president. I believe the next High commissioner replaced the table.
Story is at bottom of this link
Jim Mora calls U.S. “a bulwark against totalitarianism”
Another very bad day for The Panel
Radio NZ National, Monday 14 October 2013
Jim Mora, Matt Nippert, Josie Pagani
JIM MORA: Jessica Maddock is here, with what the WOOOOOORLD is talking about! JESSICA MADDOCK: Well first up is Richard Branson! He’s living permanently in the British Virgin Islands now, and he denies it has anything to do with a tax dodge! MORA: Hurr, hurr, hurr, hurr! JOSIE PAGANI: He’s a tax dodger. JESSICA MADDOCK: Well, since he gives all the money he makes now to charity I guess he thinks it probably all balances out. JOSIE PAGANI: He’s a tax dodger! MORA: Ahhhh, he would say that he can use the money BETTER, wouldn’t he. JOSIE PAGANI: He’s a TAX DODGER!!
[Awkward silence for several seconds.]
MORA: Okay, what else have you got? JESSICA MADDOCK: Well this is an unusual one! A man has died from guzzling mince! MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! He died from guzzling mince? JESSICA MADDOCK:[voice betraying a slight edge of irritation] Y-y-y-yes.
[A short discussion about the dangers of guzzling mince, then on to the next topic: self drive cars….]
JESSICA MADDOCK: Not only the big car companies, but also Google is getting in on the act! But a British survey shows that only 29 per cent of people would buy one and a mere 21 per cent would feel safe in one. MORA: Ah yeah, watch that change though. I’d like the NSA to be in charge of it! Ha ha ha ha ha! Okay, what else? JESSICA MADDOCK: Prince William and Princess Kate are breaking with tradition and choosing their friends from university for the christening of Prince George. MORA: Oh really? JESSICA MADDOCK: Yes, the godparents will be chosen from their closest friends, who include Emilia d’Erlanger, Fergus Boyd, Hugh van Cutsem, Alasdair Coutts-Wood, and Alicia Fox-Pitt.
[Lengthy silence]
MORA: Hmmmmm…. JOSIE PAGANI: Those are not really names of ordinary people, are they? MORA: No they’re aristocratic names! All right, anything else? JESSICA MADDOCK: Yes, a feminist has accused Lorde of racism in her song “Royals”. MORA: W-w-what??!!??!? JOSIE PAGANI: Surely not. JESSICA MADDOCK: Veronica Bayetti Flores says that Lorde lambasts things like gold teeth, Maybach cars and diamonds—all accoutrements of black rappers. She asks why Lorde doesn’t attack golf or polo or Central Park East. JOSIE PAGANI: Good Lord! It’s SILLY, isn’t it! MORA: It’s a questionable thesis that gold teeth and Maybach cars are the preserve of rappers, surely. All right, anything else? JESSICA MADDOCK: Plasma televisions will soon be a thing of the past. MORA: So plasma TV will soon be a thing of the past? JESSICA MADDOCK:[voice betraying real irritation] Y-y-yeah…
1.) Penny Hulse skillfully deals with a series of bumptious and ridiculous questions from Mora. Somehow she maintains her equanimity throughout.
2.) Josie Pagani launches into a wandery, poorly informed potted history of the Rwandan genocide, during which she makes the highly contentious statement that “Rwandans absolutely HATE Kofi Annan”.
3.) A professor of dentistry scolds Jim Mora for approvingly quoting Kevin Milne’s braindead suggestion that people defraud dentists.
[After the 4:30 news and weather, a welcome blast from the past, Neil Diamond’s “They’re coming to America”. This is by way of introducing the next once-over-lightly….]
MORA: China’s official news agency has called for the creation of a “de-Americanised world”, saying the destinies of people should not be left in the hands of a hypocritical nation with a dysfunctional government.
[Long pause….]
MATT NIPPERT Huh! MORA: Heaping criticism and caustic ridicule on Washington, the Xinhua news agency called the US a civilian slayer, prisoner torturer and meddler in others’ affairs, and said the ‘Pax Americana’ was a failure on all fronts. JOSIE PAGANI:[snorting] What on EARTH—- MORA: So what are we to MAKE of this? America has always been a bulwark against totalitarianism….
It has to be noted that neither Josie Pagani nor Matt Nippert challenged this foolish propaganda statement, nor uttered even a murmur of dissent.
faaaaaaaaaaark! now that’s out of the system, gr8t piece Morrissey, especially the bit from the you-know-what news agency. Ha! (Maybachs, now, if I were still a petroleum-head, yet an old , mid-80’s SL500 would be about all I could afford). Did I ever tell you about the Merc diesel ambulance imported by a German dental technician that I remedied after it was erroneously filled with petrol…and the wonderful gig with a live band we enjoyed (Christina and I) held in his consulting rooms, just off Taranaki Street). no, guess not. 😀
If we’re going to have a “Resign-athon”, with much sound and fury, then I suggest we start with those who have betrayed the public. Not their private partners.
If Brown goes, and Banks remains, we all lose.
If Key is faithful to his wife, but unfaithful to his country, does he keep his job, while half the mayors and MPs must lose theirs, because of their private lives?
I don’t defend Brown, or like him much, but I sure as hell don’t want to live in a country where sex is a bigger crime than fraud and treason.
I think he’s a more competent person for the job than John Palino, who I trust to give ratepayers’ money to his best mates, oops, business contacts.
Am I disappointed in Brown? Yes, it’s all so cliched and sordid. Does it affect his ability to run the city? It may do – it all depends on who (if anyone) he’s compromised to keep the affair quiet.
Otherwise, this is something for his family to work through. If it has affected relationships that reduce his ability to do his job, then the public should be concerned. Otherwise, outside of his personal relationships, it’s just info that Brown and the consenting adult he slept with, are two more flawed human beings.
I’ll add this to the other info I know about him when I do the compare and contrasts with other politicians looking to impress.
Don’t think much of that woman sticking herself into Len Brown’s marriage. So many women seem to just go and do this type of thing? Do they not think of their fellow women and the misery they cause?
silly eggs. just trying to balance up the comments which so typically and heavily imbalancedly point the naughty finger at the guy rather than the girl, who usually comes across as squeaky clean and pressed against her will into the arms of the typically despicable man. rolly eyes..
+1vto….except that maybe she thought it was just a fling and would never come out….certainly not come out this way
I feel sorry for his wife….but then again who knows….maybe she has had flings before also…and if not she may certainly be contemplating them for the future
so then one feels sorry for the kids….but it is life and sometimes it is best to be prepared rather than kept in a cocoon
Maybe everyone needs an overseas holiday until it all blows over !!!
ooops ….the plot thickens……on more information ……seems like the girlfriend may have let it out of the bag herself! ..and to Whaleoil!..in which case Len definitely should Not resign!….but take an overseas holiday with wifee and kids….
There seems to be a few regular commenters, whose recent comments have gone into auto-moderation. I’m reluctant to release them, before Lynn can check why it’s happening.
Edit: ah, there they are.
[lprent: Just have a lock on the Len Brown against flooding coming in from some of the usual trolls. Releases are pretty fast (except when I’m travelling home of course). ]
he hooked up with a young Asian women probably fulfilling some fantasy of his (especially if you read her account of the affair) and treats her pretty shabbily, she breaks it off and she then gets sent threatening texts
Yeah I’m sure Len Brown had nothing to do with it, him being a paragon of virtue and all
As opposed to John Palino and his Chinese girlfriend, 20 years younger? (yes, she is)
Her age and ethnicity are irrelevant to me, but obviously it matters to you, so I guess Palino’s ruled out too. Who’s next for your vote, Minto or Penny?
I was referring to the bit about Brown being a cliche, middle age white man scoring a young Asian women is a cliche but its only a cliche because it happens so often
The problem for Len is that she wasn’t his girlfriend (like John Palino) but she was his mistress
Yeah I know its difficult to defend the indefensible but remember he bought it all on himself
and it is OK with you that Slater and his mates roll out the whole affair in front of the Nation without caring one iota for his wife and children…as I said what goes around…
You mean as much care that Len had for his own family?
Heres the thing, 4/10 Len is a very public figure and he knows it, he knows hes being watched and yet he still decided to carry own with his mistress, the guy even had the balls to introduce her to movers and shakers (surely people who knew he was married to someone else) hes the person that brought his own family into this
Unfortunately Dirty Lens family is caught in the crossfire but again thats because of Lens own actions, if Len didn’tt wanted this to happen he shouldn’t have pursued the women
As I said before, if it is proven that it was Brown that sent the threatening texts, then that would be serious misconduct, and he should step down, but so far there is no proof that he sent the txts.
There’s a problem with the threatening texts so we probably find out who sent them rather than assume that it was Len Brown.
I bet that if this happened to a right wing politician you lot (all you lefties I mean) would be baying for blood
Nope and you can check my comments here about the Labour MP that watched porn.
In fact, the only people I know that get really upset about people having sex is the RWNJs. It’s the politics of envy – their not getting laid and they’re jealous.
Seven Sharp (no never watch it but they signalled it in advance) had a poll. Overwhelmingly in favour of Len Brown resigning. Metro editor said he wasn’t surprised. I wasn’t surprised either but for a different reason. Slater, Lusk and co. would have set their bush telegraph on high alert and lined up the moral Right in large numbers.
Maybe, but I think this is just as much a “sink John Campbell” exercise. The super soft interview by Campbell would have been predicted. Just wait for tomorrow and more info on the “threats” will emerge. An embarrassment to Campbell (who ignored that issue) as much as Brown (who is dead meat anyway).
Aha. Thanks for that gobsmacked. Like father like son. Remember hearing about Slater senior back in the 80s. I think he was the chairman of the Auckland branch of the National Party at the time. Rather a nasty piece of work from all accounts. Didn’t he and Slater junior try to smear the current Nat. Party Chairman, Goodfellow after he ousted Slater senior?
Edit: Yes they did and it’s always to do with sex. Couple of slimeballs both of them. And how about Palino? He must have known about it and approved their actions!
Slater What a sleazy loser..Loved Len Brown’s performance on Campbell…Masterful.I was moved to tears of compassion.
Much better than Shagger Brash’s performance. Even better than Lange’s misedemeanours.
Mine pale by comparison but who cares? Watch Len Brown’s popularity polls rocket like Clinton’s.
Hey why do people get so exited about sex…Its the economy stupid!
God I love the dramas that TV celebrities and slime bloggers can drag up.Campbell’s pietism was a bit overdone though.
I can’t wait for Slater’s mosquito (I mean slug) attacks on Cunliffe.Should be worth a lot of votes.
Yep those cunning righties, the way they tricked Brown into instigating the affair and then how they manipulated him into continuing it for two years…will they stoop to nothing?
Blurred boundaries and dirty tricks. The woman Brown had the affair with is the meat in the sandwhich and she may end up being fodder and she has to be so careful.
Or maybe they should just have revealed the affair during/before the elction campaign, then people could have had the choice to vote for Brown or someone else?
Timing smells of a cynical ploy.
Nats just seem to hate democracy.
And Bevan Chaung was standing on the Cits & Rats ticket – politically aligned to the Nats and Palino.
from Bevan Chuang of the Chinese Community Centre but without letting the audience know Bevan is a National Ltd™-linked candidate in the up-coming local board elections.
Would it have been brown that instigated the affair?
Bevan Chuang – Google+
plus.google.com
Bevan Chuang – The Burlesque Dancing Superwoman – Member of Ethnic People’s Advisory Panel, Auckland Council – Auckland Council – Hong Kong – Auckland
Communities and Residents – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org
The Auckland Communities and Residents Incorporated, known as Communities and Residents (C&R), is an established right-leaning local bodyticket in Auckland, New Zealand. It formed in 1937 as Citizens & Ratepayers with a view to control the Auckland City Council and prevent the left-leaning Labour Pa…
Yes, that affair is wrong and the Auckland people can decide for themselves, but BlubberOil bringing down a whole family publically is no laughing matter either. What goes around Cameron.
I suspect that there was no change in his actions towards his family and thus the consequences to his family are the result of the affair being made public which it wasn’t by him or his family.
+1 …and some have been blackmailed into sticking with or marrying the ‘ honey trap’ in all probability…or suffered the consequences of not doing so……..
The source and content of the txts will be crucial to the case.
It is not acceptable to intimidate or harass a person.
There needs to be some sort of investigation to determine whether or not the txts are genuine. Hell we may never get to see them, recall the emails between Dunne and Vance.
Will Key get involved in a city council matter, recall what he has said about Banks when he was mayor and how Key says he is not Banks leader.
OK, I know people have busy lives and can’t always check out the background details, but for those trying to follow this grubby business, here are the basic facts:
1) The Right wanted to defeat Brown (not sure why they’d bother, but never mind, that’s what they wanted)
2) Various candidates were canvassed, none were credible, Nobody could win at the ballot box.
3) Palino stood as a token Rightie. But obviously couldn’t win.
4) Slater (father, son, who cares?) got dirt on Brown. BUT their problem was … Palino’s private history is even more “colourful”. So they couldn’t run with “Saint versus Sinner”.
5) So their best option (in their warped thinking) was to wait until Brown had won, and then hit him.
Therefore, the choice NOW (see all media parrots) is not “Who do you vote for Mayor?’ but “Should the Mayor resign”?. That’s a crucial difference. It’s not Brown versus fallible alternative, its Brown versus nobody.
The aim is to change to a narrative they think they can win (i.e. Dump Brown), not one they would lose (i.e. Vote Palino).
And – this is classic SOP for these guys – they try to win a dirt-fight in the media, not a straight fight at the ballot box. Hence the references to ‘online polls”, instead of real ones. The problem with real votes is that they can be counted. Whereas astroturf and noise can’t be.
We’ve got to get wise to their Rove tactics, and not take them at face value ever. It’s gonna be a lot worse next year.
There’s a lot that is very strange about this. When it all goes tits up, Slater and a few others are not going to enjoy finding out how expendable they are.
Basic Facts
Well maybe Len should have shagged the help if he didn’t want it out in the open.
And that covers points 1 to 5
Next please, but try harder
Surely set ups, schemes and political machination are totally a different matter as to whether LB can ever be a trustworthy sort of guy again, let alone trusted mayor of our biggest city.
It is all about trust, and as a politico, if you lie you lose it. Hard to see how outside the walls of a one eyed blogosphere he can maintain credibility, whether ultimately it’s a private matter (which of course it’s not, he’s the mayor) or just an ego flattering sex thing. If he can lie to his missus for two years, then what’s he prepared to do to us? And so it will go, etc…
Anyway, I’ve said my bit now, so no need to fall out with anyone, especially over a guy that can’t keep to his vows.
“I’m leavin’ it up to you who who…” (fast, maybe you have fibre; I despaired and finally connected up a gifted computer, as anybody who is interested can tell).
Knock yourself out, (figuratively speaking of course).
Brett didn’t mention deny masturbatory kitten-drowning. However, anyone who spreads the rumour that he partakes in it is being grossly irresponsible, as we don’t know the truth of the matter.
Brett didn’t mention deny masturbatory kitten-drowning. However, anyone who spreads the rumour that he partakes in it is being grossly irresponsible, as we don’t know the truth of the matter.
Help Wanted Column:
Long-term Green Party member, likes the cut of DC’s jib and the direction the party seems headed, seeks advice on how to decide between GP and LP for party vote. Any well-researched thoughts on the key policy differentiators?
But previously, House Republicans had made a small but hugely consequential move to block them from doing it.
Here’s the rule in question:
When the stage of disagreement has been reached on a bill or resolution with House or Senate amendments, a motion to dispose of any amendment shall be privileged.
In other words, if the House and Senate are gridlocked as they were on the eve of the shutdown, any motion from any member to end that gridlock should be allowed to proceed. Like, for example, a motion to vote on the Senate bill. That’s how House Democrats read it.
But the House Rules Committee voted the night of Sept. 30 to change that rule for this specific bill. They added language dictating that any motion “may be offered only by the majority Leader or his designee.”
So unless House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) wanted the Senate spending bill to come to the floor, it wasn’t going to happen. And it didn’t.
ooh, whose ‘insane’ now. oh dear, how sad, Nevermind (‘cept for all the folks back home missing out on the American Dream).What would Ralph Waite’s character say.
ps, only 18 more # comments to go, but I gotta go watch a movie
and kill some Slugs
The truth comes out “First home buyers, shut out of the market by new restrictions to lending rules, are better off not owning a home at all rather than purchasing one to find it’s no longer worth what they’ve paid, Prime Minister John Key says.”
So those wanting to buy a house are better of renting are they Key?
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Over the years, we've published many rebuttals, blog posts and graphics which came about due to direct interactions with the scientists actually carrying out the underlying research or being knowledgable about a topic in general. We'll highlight some of these interactions in this blog post. We'll start with two memorable ...
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation: Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the city’s available rental housing: the power ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about today’s global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONAL’S Bill English who accurately described New Zealand’s prisons as “fiscal and moral failures”. On the same subject, Labour’s Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. We’d studied Shakespeare’s King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President respectively for the US 2020 Election, may have dispensed with the erstwhile nemesis, Trump the candidate – but there are numerous critical openings through which much, much worse many out there may yet see fit to ...
I don’t know Taupō well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, I’m always on the way to somewhere else. Usually Taupō means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the ...
Frances Williams, King’s College LondonFor most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all. But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection – this has been dubbed “long COVID”. Scientists are ...
Last night, a British court ruled that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US. Unfortunately, its not because all he is "guilty" of is journalism, or because the offence the US wants to charge him with - espionage - is of an inherently political nature; instead the judge accepted ...
Is the Gender Identity Movement a movement for human liberation, or is it a regressive movement which undermines women’s liberation and promotes sexist stereotypes? Should biological males be allowed to play in women’s sport, use women-only spaces (public toilets, changing rooms, other facilities), be able to have access to everything ...
Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University and Gareth Dorrian, University of BirminghamSpace exploration achieved several notable firsts in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including commercial human spaceflight and returning samples of an asteroid to Earth. The coming year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Here are some of ...
Michael Head, University of SouthamptonThe UK has become the first country to authorise the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for public use, with roll-out to start in the first week of 2021. This vaccine is the second to be authorised in the UK – following the Pfizer vaccine. The British government ...
So, Boris Johnson has been footering about in hospitals again. We should be grateful, perhaps, that on this occasion the Clown-in-Chief is only (probably) getting in the way and causing distractions, rather than taking up a bed, vital equipment and resources and adding more strain and danger to exhausted staff.Look at ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... SkS in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to ZeroThat’s one of several recent ...
The situation in the UK is looking catastrophic.Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day. It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start ...
by Don Franks For five days over New Year weekend, sixteen prisoners in the archaic pre WW1 block of Waikeria Prison defied authorities by setting fires and occupying the building’s roof. They eventually agreed to surrender after intervention from Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi. A message from the protesting men had stated: ...
Lost Opportunity: The powerful political metaphor of the Maori Party leading the despised and marginalised from danger to safety, is one Labour could have pre-empted by taking the uprising at Waikeria Prison much more seriously. AS WORD OF Rawiri Waititi’s successful intervention in the Waikeria Prison stand-off spreads, the Maori ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. There’s a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, here’s a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. “The past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Year’s Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. “We are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Year’s Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Government’s investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. “COVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
Dairy prices increased by 3.9% across the board at the latest Fonterra global auction. The lift followed rises of 1.3% and 4.3% in the December auctions which took dairy prices to their highest level in 11 months, defying those analysts who believed Covid-19 had disrupted dairy markets. In the latest ...
America's Cup team American Magic has spoken publicly after their boat Patriot capsized when on its way to their first win of the Challenger Selection Series yesterday. Patriot dramatically capsized yesterday, becoming temporarily airborne before crashing back into the water and tipping. The boat, helmed by New Zealander Dean Barker, could not be ...
It’s a seemingly age old question: why do Auckland’s beaches become unswimmable after every single downpour? Stewart Sowman-Lund investigates.Ah, the beach. A staple of the New Zealand summer. Unless, of course, you’re based in Auckland and it’s raining. The start of 2021 has been a lot like every other New ...
We have opened a book, among members of the Point of Order team, on how long it will be before the PM offers to sort out the land dispute at Wellington’s Shelly Bay and (to win the double) how much the settlement will cost taxpayers. Just a few weeks ago ...
Breakfast TV news is back for 2021, and Tara Ward got up early to watch. “Thank god it’s almost Christmas,” John Campbell said during the opening minutes of Breakfast’s premiere episode of the year. “2021’s been rough so far. I’m buggered”. We’re all buggered, to be fair, but I’m worried that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Pearson, Professor of Journalism and Social Media, Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University, Griffith University The blame for the recent assault on the US Capitol and President Donald Trump’s broader dismantling of democratic institutions and norms can be ...
Despite a popular and unifying leader of the governing party, divisions both in policy and culture will test the progressive movement, writes Peter McKenzie.‘I think we’re confused.” Marlon Drake is an organiser for the Living Wage Movement. His job takes him all over Wellington, trying to convince businesses to increase ...
Covid-19 Recovery Minister Chris Hipkins says vaccinations should be available to the public by the middle of the year, but other countries are prioritised. ...
It’s as true now as it ever has been: nowhere else offers an education experience like that of Dunedin. But rather than resting on their laurels, the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic have plans to make the city an even more inspiring place for students.From high in the summit ...
Haggis, neeps and tatties and whisky may not be a traditional spread for a summer gathering in NZ, but trust Auckland city councillor and Kiwi-Scot Cathy Casey on this one. Gie it laldy! Rule one: Hold it on (or near) January 25Robert Burns was born on January 25, 1759. Since the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University It could be argued artificial intelligence (AI) is already the indispensable tool of the 21st century. From helping doctors diagnose and treat patients to rapidly advancing new drug discoveries, it’s our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Kenny, Professor, Australian Studies Institute, Australian National University Through recent natural disasters, global upheavals and a pandemic, Australia’s political centre has largely held. Australians may have disagreed at times, but they have also kept faith with governmental norms, eschewing the false ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Holly Seale, Associate professor, UNSW Health workers are at higher risk of COVID infection and illness. They can also act as extremely efficient transmitters of viruses to others in medical and aged care facilities. That’s why health workers have been prioritised to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jim Orchard, Adjunct Lecturer, Monash University Last week, somewhat overshadowed by the events in Washington, the Democrats took control of the US Senate. The Democrats now hold a small majority in both the House and the Senate until 2022, giving President-elect Joe ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mittul Vahanvati, Lecturer, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University Heatwaves, floods, bushfires: disaster season is upon us again. We can’t prevent hazards or climate change-related extreme weather events but we can prepare for them — not just as individuals ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mandie Shean, Lecturer, School of Education, Edith Cowan University Starting school is an important event for children and a positive experience can set the tone for the rest of their school experience. Some children are excited to attend school for the first ...
Some families in emergency housing are reporting their children are becoming emotionally distressed because of their living conditions. Demand for emergency accommodation has escalated this past year with the number of emergency housing grants increasing by half. Data showed nearly 10,000 people were given an Emergency Housing Special Needs Grant between ...
Summer reissue: Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden are back for a second season of On the Rag, and where better to start than with the mysterious, exhausting world of wellness?First published June 23, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
With few Covid-19 infections and negiligible natural immunity, New Zealand faces being a victim of its own success when it is left till last to get the vaccines, argues Dr Parmjeet Parmar. ...
Steve Braunias reports on a literary cancelling. The Corrections department has refused to allow Jared Savage's best-selling book Gangland inside prison on the grounds that it "promotes violence and drug use". An inmate at Otago Corrections Facility in Dunedin was sent a copy of the book – but it was ...
New data from the CTU’s annual work life survey shows a snapshot of working people’s experiences and outlook heading out of 2020 and into the new year. Concerningly 42% of respondents cite workplace bullying as an issue in their workplace - a number ...
An international player, selector and self-confessed cricket stats nerd, Penny Kinsella has now played a hand in recording the rich history of the women's game in New Zealand. Penny Kinsella’s cricketing career was perched on the cusp of change for the White Ferns. “My first tour to Australia, we ...
The dramatic capsize of American Magic brought out the best in the America's Cup sailing fraternity. But, Suzanne McFadden asks, what does it mean to the crippled New York Yacht Club campaign and to the Prada Cup? It was a scene as unreal as it was calamitous. Right at the moment the ...
The current number of members of parliament is starting to get too low for the job we expect them to do, argues Alex Braae. As a general rule, with the possible exception of their families, nobody likes backbench MPs. But it’s nevertheless time we accepted that parliament should have more of ...
The experience in the Brazilian city of Manaus reveals how mistaken, and dangerous, the herd-immunity-by-infection theory really is. As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop ...
As New Zealand gears up to fight climate change, experts warn that we need to actually reduce emissions, not just plant trees to offset our greenhouse gases. ...
A nationwide poll has found majority support for the government to continue to closely monitor abortions in New Zealand and the reasons for it, despite the Ministry of Health recently suggesting that there is not a use for collecting much of this information. ...
The out-of-control growth in gangs, gun crime, and violent gang activity is exposing our communities to dangerous levels of violence that will inevitably end in tragedy, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “The recent incidents of people being shot and ...
Successive governments have paid lip service to our productivity challenge but have failed to deliver. It's time to establish a Productivity Council charged with prioritising efforts. ...
Understanding the connection between chronic fatigue syndrome and ‘long Covid’ might be helpful in treating symptoms that doctors will find all too easy to dismiss.When people began to report signs of “long Covid”, characterised by a lack of full recovery from the virus and debilitating fatigue, I recognised their stories. ...
Nadine Anne Hura, who never considered herself an artist, reflects on what art and making has taught her.I couldn’t clean or cook or wash the clothes, but I could sew. That’s a lie, I’m a terrible sewer, but I left work early to fossick around in the $1 bin of ...
Summer reissue: In the final episode of this season of Bad News, Alice is joined by Billy T award winner Kura Forrester to look at how well we’re honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 2020.First published September 3, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The ...
Lucy Revill’s The Residents is a blog about daily life in Wellington that has morphed into a stylish, low-key coffee-table book featuring interviews and photographic portraits of 38 Wellingtonians. In this extract, Revill profiles Eboni Waitere, owner and executive director of Huia Publishers. The Residents features names like Monique Fiso ...
Pacific Media Watch correspondent The pro-independence conflict in West Papua with a missionary plane reportedly being shot down at Intan Jaya has stirred contrasting responses from the TNI/POLRI state sources, church leaders and an independence leader. A shooting caused a plane to catch fire on 6 January 2021 in the ...
“Last year ACT warned that rewarding protestors at Ihumātao with taxpayer money would promote further squatting. We just didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it is in Shelly Bay” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “The prosperity of all ...
Our kindly PM registered her return to work as leader of the nation with yet another statement on the Beehive website, the second in two days (following her appointment of Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council on Wednesday). It’s great to know we don’t have to check with ...
A Pūhoi pub is refusing to remove a piece of memorabilia bearing the n-word from its walls. Dr Lachy Paterson looks at the history of the word here, and New Zealand’s complicity in Britain’s shameful slave trading past.Content warning: This article contains racist language and images.On a pub wall in ...
Supermarket shoppers looking for citrus are seeing a sour trend at the moment – some stores are entirely tapped out of lemons. But why? Batches of homemade lemonade will be taking a hit this summer, with life not giving New Zealand shoppers lemons. Prices are high at supermarkets and grocers that ...
You’re born either a cheery soul or a gloomy one, reckons Linda Burgess – but what happens when gene pools from opposite ends of the spectrum collide?In our shoeboxes of photos that we have to sort out before we die or get demented – because who IS that kid on ...
Summer reissue: Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue?First published September 1, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Hundreds more Cook Islanders are expected to begin criss-crossing the Pacific, Air NZ will triple the number of flights to Rarotonga next week, and about 300 managed isolation places will be freed up for Kiwis returning from other parts of the world. When Thomas Tarurongo Wynne took a job in Wellington at ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Ena Manuireva in Auckland It seems a long time ago – some 124 days – since Mā’ohi Nui deplored its first covid-19 related deaths of an elderly woman on 11 September 2020 followed by her husband just hours later, both over the age of 80. The local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral research associate, UNSW A global coalition of more than 50 countries have this week pledged to protect over 30% of the planet’s lands and seas by the end of this decade. Their reasoning is clear: we need greater protection ...
The Reserve Bank Governor’s apology and claim he will ‘own the issue’ is laughable given the lack of answers and timing of its release. Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union said: “It’s been five days since they came clean, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olga Kokshagina, Researcher – Innovation & Entrepreneurship, RMIT University Are too many online meetings and notifications getting you down? Online communication tools – from email to virtual chat and video-conferencing – have transformed the way we work. In many respects they’ve made ...
The Reserve Bank acknowledges information about some of its stakeholders may have been breached in a malicious data hack. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has commissioned an independent inquiry into how stakeholders' information was compromised when hackers breached a file sharing service used by the bank. “We ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland This story contains spoilers for Ammonite Palaeontologist Mary Anning is known for discovering a multitude of Jurassic fossils from Lyme Regis on England’s Dorset Coast from the age of ten in 1809. ...
A tribute to the sitcoms of old? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Yup. Sam Brooks reviews the audacious WandaVision.Nothing sends a chill up my spine like the phrase “Marvel Cinematic Universe”. Since launching in 2008 with Iron Man, the MCU has become a shambling behemoth, with over 23 films (not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University The alt-right, QAnon, paramilitary and Donald Trump-supporting mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6 claimed they were only doing what the so-called “founding fathers” of the US had done in ...
The Point of Order Ministerial Workload Watchdog and our ever-vigilant Trough Monitor were both triggered yesterday by an item of news from the office of Conservation Minister Kititapu Allan. The minister was drawing attention to new opportunities to dip into the Jobs for Nature programme (and her statement was the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Kupz, Senior Research Fellow, James Cook University In July 1921, a French infant became the first person to receive an experimental vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), after the mother had died from the disease. The vaccine, known as Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), is ...
The first Friday Poem for 2021 is by Wellington poet Rebecca Hawkes.While you were partying I studied the bladeI your ever-loving edgelord God-emperorof the bot army & bitcoin mine subsistingon an IV drip of gamer girl bathwaterfinally my lonelinessis your responsibility………. you seeI need a girlfriend assigned to me by the ...
The arming of police officers in Canterbury was inevitable with the growing numbers and brazenness of the gangs across the country – this should be a permanent step, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is unfortunate that we have come to the point ...
Celebrations in Aotearoa New Zealand to mark the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will begin on Thursday 21 January with ICAN Aotearoa New Zealand’s Wellington and online event, and continue on Friday ...
Hardly anyone is using their Covid Tracer app. Something needs to change.As the mercury approaches 30°C in Aotearoa, there is a good deal of slipping and slopping, but, let’s face it, piss-all scanning. As few as around 500,000 QR codes are being scanned by users of the NZ Covid Tracer ...
On the East Coast, a group of Māori-owned enterprises is innovating to create new revenue streams while doing what they love.New Zealand’s remote and sparsely populated regions are typically not the best places to create thriving brick-and-mortar businesses. In small communities miles away from any major centres, there are so ...
As we reach the height of summer, it’s not too late to do a safety check on your gas bottle. The Environmental Protection Authority’s Safer Homes programme has some tips and tricks to keep in mind before you fire up the grill. "If you’ve ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1Troy: The Siege of Troy Retold by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37)If you’re in any way unsure about ...
“We may as well knock on the gang headquarters around this country and tell them we all give up," says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is simply outrageous that violent offender, James Tuwhangai, has been released from ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Ireland, Israel, and Lebanon. Chart by Keith Rankin. The countries with the most recent large outbreaks of Covid19 are those with large numbers of recent recorded cases, but yet to record the deaths that most likely will result. In this camp, this time, are Ireland, Israel ...
RuPaul is in Aotearoa, kicking back in managed isolation to await the filming of an Australasian version of her hugely popular reality show Drag Race. But not everyone is happy about, explains Eli Matthewson. The world’s most famous drag queen, RuPaul, is in New Zealand, the government confirmed earlier this week ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Melleuish, Professor, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong What can we make of Clive Palmer? This week, he announced his United Australia Party (UAP) would not contest the upcoming West Australian state election on March 13. After a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gisela Kaplan, Emeritus Professor in Animal Behaviour, University of New England Have you ever seenmagpies play-fighting with one another, or rolling around in high spirits? Or an apostlebird running at full speed with a stick in its beak, chased by a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Jackson, Program Director, Centre for Policy Development, and Associate Professor of Education, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University Childcare centres across Australia are suffering staff shortages, which have been exacerbated by the COVID crisis. Many childcare workers across Australia left when parents started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Barrett, Senior Lecturer in Taxation, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Rhetoric plays an important role in tax debate and therefore tax policy. If your side manages to gain traction in the public imagination with labels such as “death ...
*This article was first published on The Conversation and is republished with permission* Whoever leads the Republican Party post-Trump will need to consider how they will maintain the rabid support of his “base”, while working to regain more moderate voters who defected from the party in the 2020 election. In a historic ...
The Hall of Hogwash
Exhibit No. 4: JIM MORA
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“The United States has been a bulwark against totalitarianism, hasn’t it.”
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—Jim Mora, Radio NZ National, The Panel, Monday 14 October 2013
I am sorry to report that, far from responding to such nonsense, guest Panelists Matt Nippert and Josie Pagani maintained a silence closely resembling stupidity.
hogwash, n. 1. Worthless, false, or ridiculous speech or writing; nonsense. 2. Garbage fed to hogs; swill.
hypocrisy, n. 1. the practice of professing standards, beliefs, etc., contrary to one’s real character or actual behaviour, esp. the pretence of virtue and piety 2. an act or instance of this
More hogwash….
No. 3 JOHN KERRY: “The best way to give these negotiations a chance is to keep them private.”
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Kerry-prolongs-trip-set-to-meet-Abbas-in-Ramallah-320386
No. 2 DAVID CAMERON: “We never support, in countries, the intervention by the military.”
No. 1 BARACK OBAMA: “Madiba’s moral courage…people standing up for what’s right….aaaahhhh, the yearning for justice and dignity…”
on nipperts’ last appearance on that show..
..he derided any ideas about there being anything wrong/untoward with the new zealand justice system..
..does he not claim to be a ‘journalist’..?
..that nippert..?
..if so..w.t.f..!
..eh..?
..need i reel off the litany of current/past names..?
..from thomas to pora..?
..that comment from nippert is on my shortlist for brain-fart-of-the-year..(award-winning journalist sub-section..)
..and no..of course nippert was not ‘called’ on it..
..the stench was allowed to just float out on the airwaves..
..unquestioned/un-whiffed at..
..by anyone involved..
..phillip ure..
@ Morrissey Agreed …often ( but not always)find Jim Mora and his panel hard to listen to ..(.staus quo crap.)..without getting brain numbed, angry and switching off ….. or feeling I have been forced to swallow something non-nutritious, even at times, sickie sweet…(.toxic untruths or half truths)
I didn’t know that Jim Mora went in for irony or being devil’s advocate! Way to go Jimmy boy.
Interesting things they keep off the News
No. 2: U.S. drones have killed more than 2,500 Pakistanis
Half of those killed in U.S. drone strikes are women and children.
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10870
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2336905/Ex-drone-operator-says-hes-haunted-carnage-caused-cover-screen.html
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/28/life-us-drone-operator-artist
See also….
No. 1: Guantanamo Bay captives
John Lennon…Just Gimme Some Truth!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlzrNKN3rZI
Do you want suggestions for this series or are you loaded with ideas already?
I have lots of ideas lined up, but I appreciate any suggestions, Paul.
WTC7 something very interesting not in the news
Right wing fantasies aren’t always news, Paul. Thankfully.
I’m afraid I agree with Te Reo, Paul. I would love to think that those arch-criminals Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz et al. were involved but there is simply no evidence to support that. Like Norman Finkelstein, I accept that Dick Cheney is a criminal, a draft-dodger, a coward, a liar and a moral reprobate, but there is nothing to show he orchestrated or was involved in any way in the 9/11 attacks.
Here’s Noam Chomsky on the subject….
Good Man!
Voice, showing your inner weakness again bro!
Don’t conflate the discussion points.
WT7 housed the financial evidence which was going to be needed when Rumsfeld at al had to explain where $2.3T disappeared to, along with the Pentagon, receiving its miraculous hit, directly to the accounts department.
Take a look at which agencies had presence in WT7, and what else was housed in there – “Pull it”!
Hey, you’re a coincidence theorist!
From an earlier post.
Tuesday 15 October 2013 – heading off shortly to Auckland airport to pick up Graham McCready for the adjourned hearing of oral evidence from Kim Dotcom, his bodyguard and lawyer, plus the CEO of Sky City, which should confirm that the DEFENDANT John Banks KNEW that donations from Kim Dotcom and Sky City’s CEO were NOT anonymous.
We should be at the Auckland District Court (Albert St) before 9.30am
‘Her Warship’ 😉
PS: on the 6th Anniversary of the Urewera ‘Terror’ Raids, Vince Siemer will be in the Auckland High Court, giving evidence which proves how he and his wife were subjected to alleged unlawful detention, search and seizure by Police…..
Can’t be in 2 places at once – but if anyone can go to the High Court to support Vince and Jane today – that would be GREAT!
“NEED BETTER WORK STORIES?
A 7-day trial in the Auckland High Court began Monday, 14 October, against 14 men in blue concerning the dawn 2008 raid on the offices of Spartan News Limited and home of Vince and Jane Siemer. A fifteenth defendant is the deputy registrar of the District Court who signed the undated police search warrant.
No one was charged as a result of the raid, which was postulated on Vince Siemer publishing the suppressed police affidavit used to hold, without bail, 18 New Zealand citizens in the infamous October 2007 Tuhoe raids (4 of the 18 were eventually convicted of various weapons charges; charges were dropped on the other 14).
Kim Dotcom has an extremely similar case against Police scheduled for trial in February 2014.
Defence Counsel Austin Powell, of the “Constitutional and Human Rights Team” within Crown Law, will first cross-examine Vince Siemer Tuesday on the events of 21 February 2008 before the 14 police defendants tell their work stories. Two weeks ago that was expected to concern the twelve pages of items Police seized but never accounted for on the day. However, the week before trial, the police conceded they have been withholding evidence of examination reports on the 5 cell phones they seized, had taken 183 photos inside the home not previously accounted for and cannot find the data the police cloned from three computers they seized.
Crown counsel Powell could only reply in a 7 October email, “I am not able to give priority to any more questions about discovery of documents. We are now a week out from the fixture and there is a great deal of preparation to do. I will attend to this and any other requests if time permits.”
Then-Solicitor General David Collins approved the raids on Tuhoe in 2007 and against the Siemers in 2008 but the Court of Appeal ruled in 2011 he could not be sued by Siemers and Spartan News. Mr Collins was appointed a High Court judge in 2012.
In addition to all phones and computers, the police seized tax and business accounts, cameras and even printers. The police claim their active investigation ceased three years ago but admit to still holding unspecified property. The biggest return of items to date was more than 4 years after the raid, on 21 September 2012.
The public are encouraged to attend to catch a rare glimpse of the work stories behind the badges. ”
Vince Siemer
It is about time that business paid its way.
If business wants convention centres, then business can pay for them. I find it incredibly rude that they even consider asking elderly ratepayers to pay for their business.
Rude, don’t care who foots the bill as long as it is not them. Rude. And out of line.
What part of the country is this?
Queenstown? Where business does want to buit a convention centre, but the council don’t want them to, they want to use ratepayer funds instead.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/queenstown-lakes/273674/convention-centre-backed-rival-developer-firm
Seems to be happening all over the bloody country. Probably ignorant councils following the governments lead.
And how much councils are ‘representing’ business too.
Arise Quidditch players prepare for the Game in the House. Represent and defend your constituents, the people and not just those in business. Look out for the Golden Snitcher.
Tory council with a Tory mayor in Queenstown. To be expected.
mmm!!!..it’s cunnliffe vs. key day…
..let combat commence..!
..(i’m sharpening quills..as we speak..)
..phillip ure..
phillip ure..(.on another topic) You are a Vegan?……what do Vegans eat to keep healthy?….my son is a vegetarian and now is considering Veganism!…request info
(from shocked meat eater and dairy consumer)
hi chooky..
..congratulations on having such an evolved offspring/fruit of the loins..
..as far as his healthy-longevity/making a serious effort to both help the planet..and stop the wholesale suffering..(from both animals..and consumers of them.. is concerned..going vegan will be the best decision of/in his life..
..and having myself been vegan for about 15 yrs..and vegetarian for 15 before that..
..(and knowing people who have been vegan for 30 + yrs..)
..has all necessitated/evolved into the gathering of necessary information/data..
..this archive can be all found @ http://whoar.co.nz/?s=vegan
..there you will get all the recipies you will need..(mm!!..gourmet japanese/thai etc vegan..)
..plus the all-important nutritional information..
..it is pretty much a primer on the subject..(and the compilation of it some of the work i am most ‘proud of’..it is an agit=prop tool of some potency..
..i would (not so) humbly submit..
..and as an aside to current vegetarians..
.you get my utmost respect..for being where you are..
..especially if done for the ‘right’ reasons..(ie..animal-welfare/personal health/save the planet etc..
..but where you are..(and i was for 15 yrs..)..is a way-station on yr journey..
..a halfway house..
..and for the following reasons..
..personal health:..the fact is that eating animal bye-products is almost as bad for you as eating the actual animal flesh..(this increasingly confirmed by current/new research..u will find evidence-links to all my claims made here..in the archive..)
..animal welfare:..eating animal bye-products sustains/financially supports the wholesale horrors of the factory-farms/charnel-houses..so if vego for animal welfare reasons..?..
..mental-health:..it is common for vegetarians to feel better within themselves..when they stop eating animal-flesh..
..and personally..my/any expectation of ‘feeling netter’ from taking that vegan-step were minimal..
..silly me..!..i can testify to those long-time vegetarians that the feeling-better factor takes a giant leap..
..(in crude/blunt-terms..it is like ripping off another dietary-scab..(much as stopping meat was for you..eh..?..)
..saving the planet:..the well documented ‘costs’ of from humans farming/eating animals/animal bye-products..if you stop..you stop feeding that beast..
(and as a berm-aside:..never mind the berms..stop mowing yr fucken lawns..!..eh..!..
..kilo for kilo..the lawnmower is one of the dirtiest machines on the planet..
..and if you crunch the numbers..
you will see that if we all went vegan..and ended our anal-obsession with all lawns having a number-one cut..
..we could all drive s.u.v.’s ..
..with utter environmental-impunity..
..(sez it all really..eh..?..)
..and yes..my heart does sink a tad..
..when i see ‘green-leaders’..strutting around clad in the skins of butchered animals..
..and wiping the animal-grease/fat from their lips..
..with the backs of their hands..
..all the while claiming to be there ‘to save the planet’..eh..?
..eh..?
..but anyway chooky..the word-up to you wd be to join yr son on his journey..
..you too will share in all those benefits..
..that he has to look forward to..
..and if you actually nut it all out..with an open mind..
..save for desiring to eat flesh/fats..
..there are very few reasons not to go vegan.
..’tis the way of the future..
..eh..?
phillip ure..
Thanks so much!!!!….you are convincing!!!!!…(sigh)…Will check out site and point son in the direction of it.
I know being a meat eater is a beastly habit and isn’t nice . ( If I had to kill it myself instead of picking up a little pack in the super market…soul already departed …I would be a vegetarian.).
Did try to be a vegetarian years ago myself but beans and rice all the time wound my energy levels down over 6 months…However just love Indian vegetarian food …so there is hope!!!!
many fantastic vegan cookbooks like ‘veganomicon’ that go beyond beans/rice.
Personally enjoy Tempeh V Tofu and using ingredients like Tamarind with other spices to layer the flavour.
Consider the oils like coconut, hemp and avacado also. we’re blessed down here with all the necessaries.
yes, coconut oil. Handy.
@ tc…thanks for info….actually for lunch I had a wrap with chillie beans, brown rice ,salad and Indian mango chutney ..it was yuuummm!!!!!…yesterday we had lentil samosas…..so it isn’t so difficult to be a Vegan…(.but I have always put it off until the next incarnation)….we will see….maybe a semi Vegan? …cant see myself becoming a strict one. ha ha…but it is probably very good for one’s health…quite apart from the ethical considerations
Snacking throughout the day on live food (sprouts), seeds (sesame, pumpkin and sunflower) and nuts tend to help with the energy levels.
Also, you will tend to eat a lot more food (volume) so regular snacking helps to space it out.
Movements will be healthier and regular as clockwork.
Living as a vegetarian requires a bit of research, some thought and changes to your shopping habits but your body (and thus your mind) will thank you for it.
on the Way
thanx Naturesong…..will try to do
Cheers, Phillip. I’ve been contemplating switching to a more vegan based diet and you’ve given me some, um, food for thought.
chrs to all above..
..and as a berm-footnote..
..the fact/nugget of information that five years ago made me foreswear the lawnmower/lawn-mowing..
..is that..depending on the vehicle you drive..
..one hours’ use of a lawnmower..
..is the same environmental footprint..
..as driving a vehicle between a low of 250 kms..to a high of 650 kms..
..fucken whoar..!
..eh..?
..something for those who are trying to heed the ever-more-urgent/compelling change-or-die!-messages..and those who urge others to ‘go green’..
..yet who still mow themselves..
..a question to ask themselves in front of the bathroom mirror/when overcome by that urge to give their lawns a number one..
..and they can reinforce that logical/rational decision..
..while walking past the flesh/dairy-sections @ the supermarket..
..and funny story..!..my walked-down lawns..after five years..have turned already good soil into super-soil..
..and my mini-eco system has recenttly sprouted swan-plants everywhere..and they have trunks like broom-handles..
..and so now i/we have monarch butterflies etc..fluttering around..
..(and the sound of/from those wings flapping..are far more pleasing on the ear/soul..than the discordant clatter of a wheezing/belching lawn-mower..eh..?..)
..the birds also love our yard/’lawn’…so we get lots of bird-action..
..and really..from this p.o.v…the action of cutting lawn/collecting the clippings..making a pile of them..
..turning them into compost..to then spread back on the soill..
..is an act of utter/pointless group-madness..
..it’s already programmed to do that itself..eh..
..if we just leave well alone..
..and in the process..
..both help the environment..
..and reclaim a large chunk of our lives that are currently wasted in this self-imposed sisyphian-task..
..of doing battle with/trying to tame/control nature..
..just let it go..!..people..!
..phillip ure..
And we could have become a true Banana republic complete with Russian weapons. If only Key had been in charge.
Now there’s a scary thought Key with a Russki Nuc (presumably with Missiles intact) sub tied up feeding Ak’s power.
They must have owed us a Lot of Rubles
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9282669/Russia-offered-MiGs-tanks-to-settle-NZ-debt
Damn, should have taken the MiGs and a couple of diesel subs.
David H
Tanks for the memory eh! Instead we got Lada cars, they got butter for their larders. Hah good one!
As for rubles, I think we would have preferred rubies.
But the flexible nature of trade allowed us to keep trading with this, then, pariah country. Perhaps we should keep the spirit of multi-lateralism or whatever, alive and not sign up to constraining TPPA with it’s flashy front billboard of free trade, and dirty little dealers behind the scenes selling their real agendas.
oh how times have changed. (had a wee bright yellow Lada when I was 20, and a bright orange VW) anyway, been fortunate today, cycled into town to do errands (food for the worms) and was able to be home before it fair poured down.
In case you missed it on the Feeds:
http://hot-topic.co.nz/the-last-refuge-of-scoundrels/ (Or how to waste government money)
Tomorrow, in the Appeal Court in Wellington (pdf), Justices Harrison, French and Miller will hear argument in the case of the NZ Climate Science “Education” Trust (NZCSET) versus the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), in the continuing effort of the cranks to litigate away warming in New Zealand over the last 150 years. According to the man who kicked off the whole process, Richard Treadgold of the “Climate Conversation” web site, the NZCSET bases its appeal on two main points:
The focussed grounds are that all three NIWA temperature series resulted from serious mistakes of fact, which impugned the rationality of the Crown Entity’s decisions.
This seems somewhat surprising, given that the judge in the original case was so scathing of the NZCSET’s expertise in his judgement delivered a year ago. One wonders how the Appeal Court will react to any attempt to relitigate the original decision, given Justice Venning’s findings. But then perhaps the whole appeal has rather more to do with the second basis for appeal:
The Coalition is also seeking reversal of the High Court’s costs order.
What God of coincidence leads to people having names like Treadgold (climate denial),
Richwhite (for you guess)? Just pondering.
smile.
How low can you go? Not much lower in John Armstrong’s case. A truly rancid piece.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11140059
Interesting how Armstrong quotes NZ “leading political commentator” in support of his views.
Must have been edited Karol “leading” is missing in my current view. Armstrong’s position (tory supplicant) is well known and illustrated further by quoting Hollow Man Hooten in his ‘go easy on her’ Parata suckup.
It was my sarc reference to this on Hooton’s company page.
And the bit I got out of hearing comment from the Minimum of Education was that they had planned a new ground-breaking experiment in Christchurch to test a new approach in schooling.
Their action was not to attend to the needs of children unsettled or traumatised by the loss of their normal daily life, the feeling of security and safety, the tipping over of many into the precariat, the loss of housing and local society, the loss of services even to having a toilet, the hardship for families without any fat to cushion the blows.
And on top of that the knowledge that the comfortably off didn’t really care, didn’t think kindly towards them, saw them as a problem to be dealt with some time at the convenience of the planners and finance holders. Left to themselves without annoying questions about action, the powers that be will proceed at their own pace with little empathy it seems.
I remember reading about how long it took Southern Italian authorities to provide for their poor people after a major earthquake destroyed their homes long established in an ancient slum area.
Originally a hard life, precarious but settled into a known culture that was livable, to totally miserable with whole families being poked into small hotel rooms for years. This was outlined in Thomas Belmonte’s great book of his time in Naples ‘The Broken Fountain’.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gables/hiv/mem/belmonte.html
Parata and Hooten, up a tree, H.A.N.G.I.N.G.
(engaging writing by Armstrong though).
Yesterday I commented on Radionz item on this woman who has written a book that goes straight to the heart of NZ’s problems with poverty in its business thinking.
However, economist and professor Mariana Mazzucato argues that the state has a huge part to play in bringing new goods and services to market.
Peter Day discusses her thought-provoking thesis with her. Her latest book is The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking public vs. private sector myths. She tweets on @MazzucatoM
Today I want to highlight that she says that all countries that advance do so on the back of government involvement. The big innovations in the USA have been done on the back of government research and development. Left to the private sector, little new stuff happens.
It is too costly for private companies to spend much on research because so much comes to nothing! But new things are needed to advance into the future with useful stuff, and to develop new ways of coping with whatever is happening, likely to happen – think green technology for instance.
I’m reading the book ATM, it’s the one I’ve been quoting over the last few days. It is rather enlightening about where the actual innovation has come from, who supported it and who benefited.
DTB
Keep on quoting. There is so much to learn to get out of the mre we are in. I sometimes think that the only people doing any important learning and thinking are on TS. Silly really. But it’s just an impression I get.
And a bit of whimsy. Do keep dropping pieces of smart thinking from her and similar others onto TS from time to time. They may be like the crumbs from Hansel and Gretel which we can follow leading to a good destination.
…as Jacques Ellul wrote about 50 years ago. (The Technological Society)
Amen!
Ok then. All y’all truthers have convinced me, as Obama is busted in prepping a black flag op:
http://www.thetotalcollapse.com/obama-ousts-top-officers-after-nuke-explodes-in-ocean-instead-of-charleston/
2,500 facebook likes, can’t argue with that.
*grin* awesome….
It’s well known that Obama hates Charlotte for letting the Hornets franchise move to New Orleans. Never cross POTUS over Bball, the man is serious about his sport.
Census stats released.
Was embargoed til 10.45am today.
NZ Herald is running a story on it and updating.
Will be watching how this info is processed by the media.
informative karol
JohnDotBanks in court
http://www.3news.co.nz/Dotcom-Banks-wanted-donation-kept-anonymous/tabid/423/articleID/317264/Default.aspx?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
And reported in the Herald:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11140346
A bit unexpected really given the Herald/Banks support system.
I’m interested to see if the cabbage boat man will take the stand. Seem to recall he hinted he would.
His statement to the police was never released because he told the police not to, so it will be interesting to see if:
What he says in court stacks up against what he said in public.
Whether the police mention he has a swon statement saying other than what he says in court.
…Their sloppy cronyism approach ends up costing more than any anticipated benefits.
Why? Short-termism gone mad? Why would nearly 50% of voters affirm a party this dysfunction on its core issue? the economy! Shonkey is not a good manager, he’s a fly boy pant sniffer type.
yet still 50% of the voting public voted for inanity. How does the Herald do it? I mean its so right wing (the wrong kind) and so actively deranged in its appeals to poor managing solutions.
We need a tax system that targets the wealthy less we forget what happens when a few own and control the super majority of the nation.
Did you see Collins, her eyebrow was a shocker, like she was some deranged bag lady invited on Q&A to an opinion that no credible minister could.
So Len Brown allegedly had sex with no condom with someone that isnt his wife at the auckland town hall, he shouldnt lose his job over this. A written warning and a divorce lawyer for his wife. The media should report news, not sleaze.
Thanks for the snifter from the sewer, Brett.
aroused moi
Viper:
Thats my point, its no ones busines but his wife’s, he should be allowed to keep his job.
Got a link for that “story”, or did you have another wet-dream?
Fender:
The sleazo whale oil reported it.
So why didn’t you preface it with “Here’s some bullshit that Slater/Lusk made up”?
Felix:
Because my point wasnt the source, it was the fact that its a non story, and noones business
apart from his wife. Yet over on the TM boards, people are all up in arms.
So why rush in here to talk about it?
Pascal:
Because its going to be a topic for discussion on why people should think he should be fired, and im saying he shouldnt be fired.
You said it was nobody’s business at the same time you were telling everybody….
boy oh boy, you fullas have some funny thinking in your heads
Brett Dale so clever, repeating sexual smears, then saying – hey don’t repeat this!
I heard a rumour that Brett lives in a gingerbread house and masturbates while drowning kittens, but I don’t believe it so if any of you haters out there repeat it, I’d disapprove. /sarc
Nah. Weren’t you were saying people shouldn’t be talking about it? That it shouldn’t e a topic of discussion?
Pascal:
Im saying he shouldnt be fired, Slater on the extreme right and people here on the extreme left shouldnt be calling for his firing.
And you’re also saying the media shouldn’t be reporting it, but are real keen to talk about it yourself, adding your little bit to the hype, which is what makes them report things.
“and people here on the extreme left shouldnt be calling for his firing”
Who has called for his firing brett? A link to the comment from an extreme leftie would be good and luckily for you it isn’t six months down the track. Or is it more of the same made up bullshit that you so often spread.
If its such a non-story why are you spreading it so much, if it’s noones business why are you spreading it so much – does it make you feel good brett. imo those that break a story are one thing but those who spread it while trying to pretend to have the moral high-ground are worse, as in an animal poos and the flies spread it around – you brett are a fly.
marty mars
Im a McFly!
on a Cetacean’s Hide
rogue:
Nice poem, but not my point.
close, but no cigar. 😉
it’s not a story just cos bloated posted it. Some people dont even know who bloated is, so no harm done.
So when its proved correct you’ll admit you were wrong and he was right?
Stephen Cook has an awesome history.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3398209/Sacked-journalist-Stephen-Cook-ordered-to-pay-costs
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Woman_disclosed_by_newspaper_in_sex_tape_found_dead
https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/pdf/jdo/fb/alfresco/service/api/node/content/workspace/SpacesStore/9e48f7de-38c8-4336-8cd3-2bd6fb4cece3/9e48f7de-38c8-4336-8cd3-2bd6fb4cece3.pdf
News of the World would be ashamed of him
Hes a dick no doubt about it but in this instance is he wrong?
You’re the one saying he’s right. I’d be pretty sceptical about the whole thing, and worried for his source. This guy makes Ian Wishart look principled.
he was right about it not being a story you mean?
Oh its a story all right 🙂
Fender:
Nope my dreams like that arent about len brown, maybe about anna paquin on a hoverboard, saying “Ive here to take you to the garth brooks concert”
You poor sad bastard……
Bullshit. Everyone knows Len only screws wharfies.
lol
The media should report news, not sleaze.
… says the dude who just described said sleaze in far more detail than was necessary.
QOT:
Please, those on the left and right who dont like len, will be saying he should resign, my point is, I dont care what he does with his penis, he should keep his job, thats the point im trying to make.
Woosh!!!
Parata is on the ropes big-time, good work Hipkins, even the speaker found her answers “less than helpful”.
😀
What Len Brown should say
Far out…all the Nats have anger problems…Nick Smith is spitting while doing his best Key/Bridges impersonation, his colleagues should have worn their raincoats…
Has Whaleoil just jumped the Shark?
Either he’s right and the Mayor of Auckland is damaged by the allegations, or Whaleoil is about to have his ass sued off him.
[karol: moved this comment from the “This is how it’s done thread – off topic. Tried to tidy things up by moving the replies, too.]
[lprent: That’s correct. I have a SQL script for doing it as well at home. ]
What does that have to do with Cunliffe’s press conference today?
It doesn’t so move it to open mike. No one will mind if you accidentally lose it.
Done, DTB. Looks like it was successful. It was an expendable comment to try the move out on.
4/10 Len, now thats a burn
These farmers should be forced to get their drinking water below their farms or from the stream they are putting the shit into – record fine lol put a zero on it I say.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/9285515/Record-114-000-Waikato-dirty-dairying-fine
Should have been forfeiture of the farms – especially the second one.
Maybe the fine should be a % of the business’ turnover? And yep to the drinking water.
“Council’s investigation manager Patrick Lynch said it was “unbelievable” a farmer would choose to deliberately pump raw effluent straight into a waterway.”
Where’s he been for the past few decades?
Funny that Mr Bridges was far more subdued in answering in Question Time today, than he was during his hyperactive shouting display last night on Campbell Live. Perhaps he had taken his ritalin today?
Am in the international Koru lounge in Auckland watching David Farrars phone run hot.
This Len Brown thing looks like it might have legs.
cos farrar couldnt possibly be working on something else.
You know New Zealand is fucked when the fat turd’s gossip is taken as absolute truth by the MSM.
Fucking NZ Herald. I guess their editors see a market gap left by Truth.
What do you mean “left by Truth”? It’s more like the Truth was driven out of business by the NZHerald moving in to its bailiwick.
I also see that the NZ Herald article has been courageously penned by “New Zealand Herald staff”.
Is it that much to expect our leaders to keep it in their pants?
Oh fuck off.
The most well known political leaders from Eisenhower to Kennedy to Lange have had extra-marital affairs. Grow up and learn a little bit about real life.
As Larry Flynt said about Bill Clinton – “at least we have a President who fucks”
“cigars” all round
It was hard to type that with a straight face true 🙂 but I bet if you replaced Len Brown with John Key you lefties would all over it like white on rice
Plus theres the small matter of the threatning text she got, that puts it into a completely different catergory…
Also shows how much of a typical leftie he really is: good at throwing around other peoples money but buys his mistress cheap knickers
Len has never been my cup-of-tea; yet Auckland gets what Auckland gets
To be fair, I’m looking at Brown in a different way now – I didn’t think he had it in him.
Rooting on the job is bad form, especially if it’s a junior employee (almost like incest).
I see there’s a high ranking defence force guy up on Court Marshall for the same thing. Guess Banksie won’t get the firing squad though?
grumpy:
Like incest?? are you nuts, she was 32 years old and a consenting adult,
the only person who is allowed to be pissed off is lens wife.
Yeah it’s like incest. I mean. WTF.
The woman is supposedly 32. She hasn’t just left high school. She can make her own choices in life can she not.
Mate, it’s regarded as “in the family”. Why do you think the Army guy in being charged? You can’t take advantage of employees – who knows what pressures have been placed on them?
Sure, no one in a work place ever screwed a colleague or work mate before.
I feel your grief……..but he is the head honcho, sort of a higher standard sort of thing.
sure but when it is a superior who may or may not hold hiring and firing in his/her hands it can be different cv. NOT that that is suggested here.
If Len Brown had spent on his Council credit card entertaining this woman, took her on Council paid trips, got her promotions etc, then that’s definitely relevant to his conduct on the job.
The rest of this is BS. Two grown up consenting adults getting it on, yaaawn.
Ah yes there may be a case to be answered in situations where coercive pressure was being applied through seniority and hiring firing power.
….but in the Council Chambers????? Just think of the poor minimum pay cleaners………where is Helen Kelly on this?
lol grumpy yeah its too much for my gentle sensibilities
Brown’s statement. A personal and family issue
nothing to see here – move on
Doug Mackay doesn’t seem to see it as an employment issue.
Time for the sleaze-mongers to return to the sewer.
puh leaze, do not bring Helen (paragon of virtue) into this debacle, we plead.
(no condom, no mess).
but so far there is no evidence of coersion, it appears the woman herself has spoken to someone about it but n suggestion f misuse of power by Brown I suppose it might yet be made.
There is a report of a “threatening text” – oh goody – popcorn……..
Shes already had a threatening text sent to her
Yeah, and who knows where it came from.
IIRC the Navy guy is being charged for lying about it on security vetting forms and alleged abusing his authority to intimidate his subordinate when she tried to end it.
Not an act of consensual sex.
nothing like incest. assuming it was consensual there is no wrong doing other than people’s perception of orality.
incest is a crime. speaking of crimes. Slater knows no bounds to th depths he will stoop. I bet he knows of a number of dirty secrets of right wing MP’s and he will die before revealling them.
” A journalist sacked by the Herald on Sunday has been ordered to pay his former employer $7500 costs for an Employment Relations Authority hearing he lost.
The newspaper was justified in sacking assistant editor Stephen Cook, who was being investigated as part of a police inquiry into drug dealing, authority member Rosemary Monaghan ruled last December.
Cook was dismissed in December 2008 because he would not tell his newspaper bosses why he was under suspicion.
They responded by saying they had lost trust and confidence in him, which made his position untenable.
Cook’s work car had been seen outside an Auckland property under surveillance by the police drugs squad.
Ms Monaghan said that in failing to provide material which could have cleared his name, Cook fed the suspicion that he was not being open and honest about his activities.
She found Cook’s dismissal was justified, not because he was dishonest or had something to hide, but rather his reactions to his employer “reasonably” suggested that he did.
Today she released a cost determination ordering Cook to pay $7500 to Herald on Sunday proprietor APN New Zealand Limited as a contribution to its costs.
APN, in its memorandum of costs, pointed to the need to address Cook’s inclusion of irrelevant and prejudicial material. It also cited delay and disruptions resulting from unavailability of counsel for Cook, including two delays in starting and the scheduling of a further part-day to address matters Cook had raised at the last moment. “
“….nothing like incest. assuming it was consensual there is no wrong doing other than people’s perception of orality..”
I presume that was a typo????????
a slip of the tongue
🙂
Gold!
ha!
you are welcome, all donations gratefully received
Actually, from what I saw on the news, the high ranking defense guy is up on fairly major charges to do with the defense of the realm as well as sexual abuse.
Except it’s not, because in that case the accused was blackmailing her into sex and using his position to threaten her partners continued employment in the military.
Why do you want mayors to be celibate?
Does that mean that councillors are allowed to receive digital relief once a month?
Maybe Shane Jones was onto something? 🙂
Not at all, but you’d expect grown ups in positions of responsibility like this to behave with some decorum and not go around rooting all and sundry. Honestly what is it about men of a certain age acting in this way……. Clinton, Lange, Brash etc etc. pathetic really.
Not at all, but you’d expect grown ups in positions of responsibility like this to behave with some decorum and not go around rooting all and sundry. Honestly what is it about men of a certain age acting in this way……. Clinton, Lange, Brash etc. pathetic really.
oh and i do feel very sorry for his wife and kids and the woman who he appears to have treated so poorly.
Doubtful. Nice line regurgitation, though. Very dedicated.
?
FFS he has a wife – how much non celibacy do you want?
Little black books usually have more than one page.
Good point.
avoid drinking and dialling, it often ends in tears down the road
Celibacy or lack thereof is irrelevant to the role of mayor. But it does seem to excite the tories.
Good observation. Some patterns there.
as opposed to Key who is screwing the country
Come on – support the guy’s policies or not – it’s not good enough.
Not telling them how to do their job but it would be good if one of the authors could put a post up about it soon (whatever their take).
you want an author to right about whether or not the mayor of auckland has been extra maritally screwing an employee? There’s a few things I’ve wanted them to write about, so I could comment, but they didn’t.
Why dont you write it and submit is as a guest post.
Is this a violation of the Gosman Ruling?
(Complaining about Herald staff anonymity, that is).
[lprent: Nope because…
1. They truly are anonymous on editorials and Staff Reporter. Just like our Notices and Features when we’re doing the routine OpenMikes except they put in news content and opinion.
2. The Gosman rule applies to assertions made here about people here. Just as I cannot police the Herald, I don’t police people making comments about the Herald either there or here (unless they cause legal issues or overstep the bounds of taste here).
3. The rules are there to make this site easier to use. I’m not an ideologue and I don’t presume to demand how people should act off this site. I may merely comment on it ]
Nope.
Just checked:
“People using a pseudonym to comment who then claim that other people commenting/posting anonymously (or any words construed to mean that) will have their own comments treated as being anonymous. Since this site does not allow anonymous comments, they will receive an immediate long ban.”
You’re right – technically – as an anonymous outside article isn’t a “post” or a “comment”.
[lprent: “Since this site does not allow anonymous comments…” is also a dead giveaway. ]
too much time on your hands, hopefully
wow you are onto it. First pointing out no one has posted an article about Brown and now a violation of the rules (possibility thereof). A fine eye for detail.
The bit that you missed was that the NZHerald has run articles that attacked the “anonymous” authors on The Standard while hypocritically publishing anonymous articles.
not technically, actually.
Texts up now.
Well the Herald spewspaper has a story too
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11140517
Hardly a hanging offence if true, but he should have been sacked by the voters for not supporting the wharfies, “Lenslide” may now be “Lenslider” and joins the boardroom bonker club of various other randy old goat politicians–Worth, insert other names here……. etc.
ba na na na dee dee dee di didit, ba na na na dee didit dee
ma na ma na na na na na.
You are right CV. Mayor of Auckland “porks the payroll” is not something that any Aucklander, other than the prurient working class filth that read the Truth, should be interested in.
lol you still at it mate
If mild mannered Len was shagging at work one can only imagine what Banksie was up to in the back seat of the Bentley…..
“prurient working class filth that read the Truth” That would be Mr Slater and the folks at his blog when he was editor?
I haven’t followed all the comments on the Len Brown matter but he has just issued a statement confirming he had a two year affair with a woman who was working on some project linked to the Council. She was not a Council employee.
Since it’s come from the sleaziest blogger in the business, can someone locate the story which appeared a year or two ago detailing a story of an extra marital indulgence by the self same blogger who released this story. From memory he never denied it. Anyone else remember it? If it can be found lets give it another airing…
Pot, kettle and all that.
Not an employee according to Brown;
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1310/S00612/statement-from-mayor-len-brown.htm
Brown confirmed the woman was not a council employee but served on a council advisory board and stood in this year’s election for a local board.
Ends , however, men and their dicks aye. Nothing new under the sun.
Can somone ban this fuckwit please?
C’mon, he adds humour – try it.
What ‘Truth’ is that, do you mean the one the ex Editor/Manager a true piece of filth in anyone’s books managed in a few short months to run into the ground,
Lolz Blubber-boi the dysfunctional head case with the un-functional newspaper what a f**king loser that waste of space really is in the real world…
From the sidebar
Last November the body of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was exhumed for an autopsy to determine if he was poisoned. Sadly, it appears that he was:
“Swiss radiation experts have confirmed they found traces of the radioactive agent polonium on the clothing of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, supporting the possibility he was poisoned.”
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2013/10/arafat-was-poisoned.html
Give me a break, just received my insurance bill for my property in CHCH 50% increase on top of last years 20% increase.
You just gotta love that free market at work, about all thats free in this market is there right to screw you when your down, can’t find another company to reinsure with so take it or leave it Jack, the people of CHCH are being walked all over by greedy insurance companies along with this government, roll on election day.
Robbery and no morals from your insurer.
…maybe don’t insure?…unless you want to sell it
Yahoo!!!!! Whale is now posting the text messages. Very much not a good look!
Seems like she is younger – and Asian. Who would have thought?
“yahoo”? get your hand off it. Jesus wept.
Come on, you guys had great fun with Brash, surely you remember how great that felt?
cite for comments like “yahoo”?
I remember people saying brash was a hypocrite, and he was. I don’t remember much panty sniffing though.
He did indeed, still, as I may have mentioned earlier, Len tells them (the fortune cookie script) they want to hear.
What an arse! Does he have no concern for the woman’s privacy.
That’s sexual harassment in my book!
Where do you think he got them from? Certainly not Len – maybe Nicky Hager?
I don’t care where he got them – from the woman or not. It’s not acceptable. Sleaze is as sleaze does.
Brash – different situation.
And Brown’s wife and family? It’s already bad enough for them. They’ve been dealing with it.
“….Brash – different situation.”
Yep, he was National…..
Brash was a serial offender – had affairs with married women. Twice had affairs with another women while married to someone else.
That isn’t uncommon. My partner is 16 years younger than me.
Younger women going out with older men must be some kind of new, news-worthy phenomenon. Never seen it happening before myself.
this is not going to end well
Comment of the day……
too kind, however, a majority of over 50,000 (a cultural endorsement).
XKCD has a cartoon for everything.
“somewhere, at the (limits) of the Bell Curve, is the girl for me” 😀
Simon Bridges under fire….Banksie in court, JK not getting much media attention. MSM probably chasing SB & JB for evening TV news……what does WO do?
The Right are good at this stuff, and the MSM falls for it pavlovian like every time. Mind you, this is a good wee reminder of how dirty the NATs are going to fight next year.
I have political criticisms of Brown’s performance. I think his private behaviour probably has hurt others, especially the women involved. The sleazemongers don’t care about the latter.
Meanwhile, there’s some significant political issues that don’t get enough in-depth attention.
It looks like ‘the other woman’ went to sleazebag herself and has given him their text conversations. Seems Len Brown ended the affair month or two ago. She claims she received anonymous threatening messages.
Well, an intelligent and mature woman would go to the police if it is true, not spill the beans in what looks to me like a spiteful vendetta.
Yes the right are good at making lefties make tits on themselves, I can just see the RWNJ setting Len up with a two year sting operation timed to go off after the election
Poor Len, he never stood a chance…
and, just how chummy are you with Cameron…
Never met the guy but sent him some links to his web page, a youtube clip about a guy that made a double barrel pump action shot gun as I recall
handy, alas, not allowed a firearms license, for obvious reasons, however, crossbows are another target altogether, especially when compounded.
Nah – more like WO sits on stuff and then choices the timing to release it.
Maybe I should rephrase that?
nope.
WhaleSpew’s best work is released when he’s sitting.
Actually, 3 News said, WO got the info about a month ago. And Chuang signed the affadavit this morning.
What took so long for the release?
The timing is all. I thought Brown on Campbell Live tonight was suggesting that the timing of the release has been done to force him to stand down before he is inaugurated. Thus, I guess, the 2nd place candidate would be mayor without a new election?
How cynical and undemocratic is that?
Had Brown lost there would be no story. This is why it did not come out prior to the election. Who ever is now behind Brown’s demise feel confident enough that Brown being elected mayor will become untenable.
How hard are those who want Brown gone going to push?
Len Brown is left wing? Nah, he’s strictly centrist.
Interesting. Just been looking at the real time analytics after getting a threshold CPU alert.
I normally only get those if the database jams or a Labour leader resigns or is elected or we are having an election…
What is going on with the Simon Bridges post? Way higher than anything else right now and a hell of a lot of people piling on at once. Looks like facebook.
Oh – ~600 likes.
Bryce Edwards linked to it and a couple of other TS posts this afternoon here.
Thank goodness blogs like The Standard (and WO) have no relevance to the MSM 😈
who has the time
We get those enough that the pattern is predictable. Just gives little bumps. This was a social media jump and started at ~1:30PM according to the CPU log rather than the 3:56PM start for bryce’s post. We just had a big spike in the last 15 minutes when it started going viral.
Maybe also because I put the link to the Youtube video of the interview in the post? the video’s gone from one or two views this morning to over 450 views this afternoon.
You have to feel for his Wife.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/113640/mayoral-candidate039s-wife-has-throat-cancer
yes, however, how women get their hair to look like large poodles remains a mystery to the average kiwi bloke.
Sometimes it’s just the hair’s choice – mine has a mind of it’s own.
as above, so below 😀
Marine Le Pen’s NF Party Now The Largest in France
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-10-13/marine-le-pen-s-national-front-wins-french-local-by-election
(she threatens to sue if described as “extreme right”).
hmmm, and the Greeks wish for the repayment of a loan to the NSDAP
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/threat.jpg
– Heres one of the texts Dirty Len (yes its an Eastenders reference) sent to her, makes things different I feel
unsurprising
Why would you send that text, Chris? It’s a bit low, even for you.
Consensual sex is not an issue for me. Having sex at the office during working hours is not in the job description, nor is using the credit card for personal use in a relationship appropriate.
I want to know:
1. Was the sex during office hours on council premises?
2. Was the mayoral credit card used for personal use as part of the relationship e.g gifts, dining?
3. Was the other willing party silenced, bullied or threatened?
and, did they both orgasm
3 News said she’s been getting threatening txts from an anonymous number since Brown broke it off a few weeks’ back.
it’ll all come out in the wash; freakin’ sex aye, who wuld a thunk it.
Just for a second stop focusing on the sex act and then you may see what the substance is.
for instance
See 1., 2., 3., @34.
This story will grow legs.
of course; it will Bloom
Perhaps you meant this one?
that too. I often reflect on how “the old lady” became our term of reference at home; hardly respectful, but then, you know how it is -“the old man” (Down The Road)
Slater is pushing for a re-election Maybe he should be careful what he wishes for – a proper campaign just for Mayor, with high profile media attention encouraging people to vote?
And the Right thinks by-elections and referenda are wastes of money…
What sort of voting process did Auckland use to elect the council?
Postal – FPtP
Well, they are. Look at what happened to the smacking one.
The woman cannot ignore threatening txts. People are going to think that the mayor is involved in these txts.
Agreed. So let us choose a suggested course of action for the woman.
1) Go to the police.
2) Go to Whaleoil.
Your pick?
Made that point five minutes ago CV. Gone into moderation. Second time in 24 hrs???
In essence I’ve suggested a vendetta by the ‘other woman’. An intelligent and mature person would go to the police… not spill the beans to a sleazebag!
(now lets see if it goes into mod again)
I’m also in moderation, saying Brown has to go and what a let down he’s proven himself to be.
Don’t expect to be agreed with, but it’s not like it’s a momentary indiscretion, it’s a two year long deceit. In politics, once you lose trust, you have nothing.
Oh fuck let’s not go down this road UNLESS Brown has spent rate payers money on this woman with gifts, trips, career favours etc.
Would you have thrown Eisenhower out of office? Kennedy? Lange? Clinton? And a bunch of others too???
Both options are just as bad.
Strike out 2. as Brown does not have a mayoral credit card.
Len Brown should resign.
He’s been exposed by his actions as a weak man, and if he tries to sit tight until the media storm blows itself out, it will only emphasise this further.
If he cries on Campbell live, says he’s sorry and begs forgiveness, it’s more bullsh*t weakness.
Gift horse to the tories when they were so under the cosh. No excuses, just get out.
Fu*k, I dislike weak politicians.
like leaky ships, Into Darkness , such is the Wrath of a Khan scorned.
Um, what makes you think that Len is from the left? Chris Trotter writes an excellent analysis of Len’s outlook and while he may have been or is a member of the labour party, Trotter asserts that’s it’s the labour party of Roger Douglas that he joined – http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/10/14/leaving-politics-at-the-door-len-brown-wins-a-second-term/
He showed how much he leans to the left during the wharfies dispute.
So if this is a gift to the tories, they can have it.
“what makes you think that Len is from the left?”
If you can’t quote, just make it up, right?
But if you’re asking, I think he’s a somewhat left centrist.
Len will only go kicking and screaming.
On that basis, we would hardly have any politicians left. Some might say that would be a good thing.
Btw, it’s been going on in high places since God made little apples. Secretaries and parliamentary bunnies are usually the primary sources.
I’m not expecting anyone to agree with me, just like I don’t expect politicians to be whiter than white and anything other than human like the rest of us, but when caught out, they have to do the decent thing and walk away and not wait for the polls or results of focus groups to see how much they can get away with.
But using your logic, it should be acceptable for all our elected representatives to be like Berlusconi.
I think if Brown goes now, Palino will become mayor, without an election. Looks like it’s been timed to attempt just that.
No-one is clean here, including WO’s team.
Let’s just wait and see how things play out.
I do not want a loser right wing Mayor by un-elected default.
Just remember that while no-one is clean this all started because of Len Brown, he instigated it, he continued it, its completely his fault so stop trying to spread the blame around
Oh. Yeah. Brown has not behaved well. He is the best of the standing candidates for Mayor. But I care more about democracy. And WO and co. and all thier supporters try to undermine it. That is far more despicable. I’m not spreading anything. SleazeOil does it all on his own.
Hey chris73, did Len Brown just get elected as Bishop of Rome?
No? Then wtf with the calls that his personal life is relevant to his office holding.
plot?
It would be a very bad outcome for Auk if Palino won by default and WO is a tabloid scummer in the worst tradition.
A new election is what I’d want as a voter.
Yep. If Brown’s conduct does require standing down, I want another election. I don’t think the evidence so far requires a stand down.
I would stand down if it were me, though it wouldn’t be me because I can keep it in my pants and even as a dumb middle aged bloke, know these things rarely ever stay secret.
What on earth was he thinking? He’s old enough to be her dads older brother. :grrrross:
For goodness sake – Len made a mistake, or was a hu(man) , call it what you will – its personal. Its not a hanging matter. And its not something that will interfere with his ability to be Mayor or to be political or to be a manager – all qualities he needs as Mayor. And he fronted up to his wife before this became public, which is saying something positive about him, her, and their family.
He’s shit, to be fair. No brownie points for Len’s two years too late admission, apology and regret.
Berluscon was /is in a different league altogether !
+1 Anne
No wrath or scorn here, nor judgement on his moral failing, but at the very least a rerun of the vote is needed. If he’s brazen enough to run again and wins, then fair fight fair result.
phaser was not directed at you
More captain’s log for everyone else
Like 😀 Yuletide
Quite
ab solved
The worshipful mayor of Auckland is a complete and utter skeevy idiot who has played into the hands of gleeful rightwingers. Did he think he wouldn’t be found out with the blubbery whale sniffing around for any kind of scandal? It shouldn’t matter what people get up to in their private lives, but to most people it will look very bad. Especially shagging in his office. I am intrigued by the timing of this though, wouldn’t it have been more effective for the blubbery one to go public before the election?
Brown’s behaviour is not commendable. But repeating my comment from above, given WO had the info about a month ago.
The timing is all. I thought Brown on Campbell Live tonight was suggesting that the timing of the release has been done to force him to stand down before he is inaugurated. Thus, I guess, the 2nd place candidate would be mayor without a new election?
How cynical and undemocratic is that?
Very undemocratic and cynical, though the two subjects don’t cancel each other out.
Not commendable 😆
I am fascinated that WO has been sitting on this story for some time. I remember a story way back of a High commissioner or someone similar of some country bonking his secretary on the table of the High commission. It wasn’t Clinton. Can someone please refresh my memory.
The story sure takes the heat off the “young pup” from Tauranga!
“The story sure takes the heat off the “young pup” from Tauranga!”
And the alleged fraudster representing the divs of Epsom.
Of course ! you are so right The Allen. WO was waiting for the moment to distract everyone from the NaAct’s misdoings.
Probably coincidence, who knows? But you may be in the right place for conspiracy theorists.
a Stardate then 😀
Nova on the first date
me and you, and a dog named Blue.
-“The boy said my name’s Johnny, and it might be a sin, but I’ll take your bet, you’re gonna regret, cos….” 😉
’cause… You’re only as good as your last success
success breeds success (being a Towns van Zandt sorta’ guy)
I’d give up my Bad Habits , yet, then I would not be the man you see before you. (everyone is better off if I’m out of it).
I passed on my Red and Glo Butane, and now I dodge the Hammer of dawn.
No synths and everyone is better off if I’m not out of it (except poor old Al1).
@ Dan1…it was the guy who held up the sausages in parliament wasn’t it ? ( no not Shearer…he held up the fish) ….McClay?…I could be wrong
…everyone in NZ was gobsmacked at both sausages and table incidents …..didnt know whether to laugh or howl….but then he rapidly took off to Britain to be High Commissioner ( the perfect Nat solution)… .overseas and respectability ….the mirth was all over …all forgotten…almost…..not quite
The allegations were about John Collinge High commissioner in London and past National party president. I believe the next High commissioner replaced the table.
Story is at bottom of this link
stuff.co.nz
Thanks RB. Oh the trappings of power!
Yeh I think he used to tell them all that he would marry them. perhaps Len’s lady friend though she might be geeting a weeding as well.
@ Red Baron ….thanks …yes that was who it was …Collinge…but close on the heels of the sausage waving incident in parliament i think
Jim Mora calls U.S. “a bulwark against totalitarianism”
Another very bad day for The Panel
Radio NZ National, Monday 14 October 2013
Jim Mora, Matt Nippert, Josie Pagani
JIM MORA: Jessica Maddock is here, with what the WOOOOOORLD is talking about!
JESSICA MADDOCK: Well first up is Richard Branson! He’s living permanently in the British Virgin Islands now, and he denies it has anything to do with a tax dodge!
MORA: Hurr, hurr, hurr, hurr!
JOSIE PAGANI: He’s a tax dodger.
JESSICA MADDOCK: Well, since he gives all the money he makes now to charity I guess he thinks it probably all balances out.
JOSIE PAGANI: He’s a tax dodger!
MORA: Ahhhh, he would say that he can use the money BETTER, wouldn’t he.
JOSIE PAGANI: He’s a TAX DODGER!!
[Awkward silence for several seconds.]
MORA: Okay, what else have you got?
JESSICA MADDOCK: Well this is an unusual one! A man has died from guzzling mince!
MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! He died from guzzling mince?
JESSICA MADDOCK: [voice betraying a slight edge of irritation] Y-y-y-yes.
[A short discussion about the dangers of guzzling mince, then on to the next topic: self drive cars….]
JESSICA MADDOCK: Not only the big car companies, but also Google is getting in on the act! But a British survey shows that only 29 per cent of people would buy one and a mere 21 per cent would feel safe in one.
MORA: Ah yeah, watch that change though. I’d like the NSA to be in charge of it! Ha ha ha ha ha! Okay, what else?
JESSICA MADDOCK: Prince William and Princess Kate are breaking with tradition and choosing their friends from university for the christening of Prince George.
MORA: Oh really?
JESSICA MADDOCK: Yes, the godparents will be chosen from their closest friends, who include Emilia d’Erlanger, Fergus Boyd, Hugh van Cutsem, Alasdair Coutts-Wood, and Alicia Fox-Pitt.
[Lengthy silence]
MORA: Hmmmmm….
JOSIE PAGANI: Those are not really names of ordinary people, are they?
MORA: No they’re aristocratic names! All right, anything else?
JESSICA MADDOCK: Yes, a feminist has accused Lorde of racism in her song “Royals”.
MORA: W-w-what??!!??!?
JOSIE PAGANI: Surely not.
JESSICA MADDOCK: Veronica Bayetti Flores says that Lorde lambasts things like gold teeth, Maybach cars and diamonds—all accoutrements of black rappers. She asks why Lorde doesn’t attack golf or polo or Central Park East.
JOSIE PAGANI: Good Lord! It’s SILLY, isn’t it!
MORA: It’s a questionable thesis that gold teeth and Maybach cars are the preserve of rappers, surely. All right, anything else?
JESSICA MADDOCK: Plasma televisions will soon be a thing of the past.
MORA: So plasma TV will soon be a thing of the past?
JESSICA MADDOCK: [voice betraying real irritation] Y-y-yeah…
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 o’clock news………………………..
[After the break, the usual dispiriting crap……]
1.) Penny Hulse skillfully deals with a series of bumptious and ridiculous questions from Mora. Somehow she maintains her equanimity throughout.
2.) Josie Pagani launches into a wandery, poorly informed potted history of the Rwandan genocide, during which she makes the highly contentious statement that “Rwandans absolutely HATE Kofi Annan”.
3.) A professor of dentistry scolds Jim Mora for approvingly quoting Kevin Milne’s braindead suggestion that people defraud dentists.
[After the 4:30 news and weather, a welcome blast from the past, Neil Diamond’s “They’re coming to America”. This is by way of introducing the next once-over-lightly….]
MORA: China’s official news agency has called for the creation of a “de-Americanised world”, saying the destinies of people should not be left in the hands of a hypocritical nation with a dysfunctional government.
[Long pause….]
MATT NIPPERT Huh!
MORA: Heaping criticism and caustic ridicule on Washington, the Xinhua news agency called the US a civilian slayer, prisoner torturer and meddler in others’ affairs, and said the ‘Pax Americana’ was a failure on all fronts.
JOSIE PAGANI: [snorting] What on EARTH—-
MORA: So what are we to MAKE of this? America has always been a bulwark against totalitarianism….
It has to be noted that neither Josie Pagani nor Matt Nippert challenged this foolish propaganda statement, nor uttered even a murmur of dissent.
faaaaaaaaaaark! now that’s out of the system, gr8t piece Morrissey, especially the bit from the you-know-what news agency. Ha! (Maybachs, now, if I were still a petroleum-head, yet an old , mid-80’s SL500 would be about all I could afford). Did I ever tell you about the Merc diesel ambulance imported by a German dental technician that I remedied after it was erroneously filled with petrol…and the wonderful gig with a live band we enjoyed (Christina and I) held in his consulting rooms, just off Taranaki Street). no, guess not. 😀
If we’re going to have a “Resign-athon”, with much sound and fury, then I suggest we start with those who have betrayed the public. Not their private partners.
If Brown goes, and Banks remains, we all lose.
If Key is faithful to his wife, but unfaithful to his country, does he keep his job, while half the mayors and MPs must lose theirs, because of their private lives?
I don’t defend Brown, or like him much, but I sure as hell don’t want to live in a country where sex is a bigger crime than fraud and treason.
“I sure as hell don’t want to live in a country where sex is a bigger crime than fraud and treason.”
Exactly.
But you’d trust Len and take him at his word after keeping a two year affair secret?
I know I couldn’t.
The Allen – at least he told his wife before it broke in the media
Two years too late, but thankful she must be for that small mercy.
I think he’s a more competent person for the job than John Palino, who I trust to give ratepayers’ money to his best mates, oops, business contacts.
Am I disappointed in Brown? Yes, it’s all so cliched and sordid. Does it affect his ability to run the city? It may do – it all depends on who (if anyone) he’s compromised to keep the affair quiet.
Otherwise, this is something for his family to work through. If it has affected relationships that reduce his ability to do his job, then the public should be concerned. Otherwise, outside of his personal relationships, it’s just info that Brown and the consenting adult he slept with, are two more flawed human beings.
I’ll add this to the other info I know about him when I do the compare and contrasts with other politicians looking to impress.
Don’t think much of that woman sticking herself into Len Brown’s marriage. So many women seem to just go and do this type of thing? Do they not think of their fellow women and the misery they cause?
What a toad.
Of course, the guys are completely incapable of making decisions for themselves.
Correct! Stupid comment from vto
silly eggs. just trying to balance up the comments which so typically and heavily imbalancedly point the naughty finger at the guy rather than the girl, who usually comes across as squeaky clean and pressed against her will into the arms of the typically despicable man. rolly eyes..
+1vto….except that maybe she thought it was just a fling and would never come out….certainly not come out this way
I feel sorry for his wife….but then again who knows….maybe she has had flings before also…and if not she may certainly be contemplating them for the future
so then one feels sorry for the kids….but it is life and sometimes it is best to be prepared rather than kept in a cocoon
Maybe everyone needs an overseas holiday until it all blows over !!!
ooops ….the plot thickens……on more information ……seems like the girlfriend may have let it out of the bag herself! ..and to Whaleoil!..in which case Len definitely should Not resign!….but take an overseas holiday with wifee and kids….
There seems to be a few regular commenters, whose recent comments have gone into auto-moderation. I’m reluctant to release them, before Lynn can check why it’s happening.
Edit: ah, there they are.
[lprent: Just have a lock on the Len Brown against flooding coming in from some of the usual trolls. Releases are pretty fast (except when I’m travelling home of course). ]
Ah. I see. Thanks. Good way of handling it.
So Len Brown cheated on his wife.
Big deal. None of our business. He should be apologising to his wife, not everyone else. That is where the greasing should be focused.
I smell a right wing smear campaign.
Mayors should only forced from office because of serious misconduct. Having an affair is not serious misconduct.
So you don’t have a problem with the threatening texts sent to the young lady, interesting how the left wing think when it happens to one of their own
I bet that if this happened to a right wing politician you lot (all you lefties I mean) would be baying for blood
I do have a problem with threatening txts. Has it been proved who sent them? Or are you willing to convict on no evidence? Due process.
Oh please spare me
Len Browns a walking cliche:
he hooked up with a young Asian women probably fulfilling some fantasy of his (especially if you read her account of the affair) and treats her pretty shabbily, she breaks it off and she then gets sent threatening texts
Yeah I’m sure Len Brown had nothing to do with it, him being a paragon of virtue and all
“He hooked up with a young Asian woman”
As opposed to John Palino and his Chinese girlfriend, 20 years younger? (yes, she is)
Her age and ethnicity are irrelevant to me, but obviously it matters to you, so I guess Palino’s ruled out too. Who’s next for your vote, Minto or Penny?
I was referring to the bit about Brown being a cliche, middle age white man scoring a young Asian women is a cliche but its only a cliche because it happens so often
The problem for Len is that she wasn’t his girlfriend (like John Palino) but she was his mistress
Yeah I know its difficult to defend the indefensible but remember he bought it all on himself
Penny (well, John is cool, yet something is not adding up there according to QoT).
and it is OK with you that Slater and his mates roll out the whole affair in front of the Nation without caring one iota for his wife and children…as I said what goes around…
You mean as much care that Len had for his own family?
Heres the thing, 4/10 Len is a very public figure and he knows it, he knows hes being watched and yet he still decided to carry own with his mistress, the guy even had the balls to introduce her to movers and shakers (surely people who knew he was married to someone else) hes the person that brought his own family into this
Unfortunately Dirty Lens family is caught in the crossfire but again thats because of Lens own actions, if Len didn’tt wanted this to happen he shouldn’t have pursued the women
As I said before, if it is proven that it was Brown that sent the threatening texts, then that would be serious misconduct, and he should step down, but so far there is no proof that he sent the txts.
Give it time, the stories only just been broken…enough time for Len to go on everyones favourite lefty show and have good “poor me” session
Did Campbell ask him about the threatening texts?
There’s a problem with the threatening texts so we probably find out who sent them rather than assume that it was Len Brown.
Nope and you can check my comments here about the Labour MP that watched porn.
In fact, the only people I know that get really upset about people having sex is the RWNJs. It’s the politics of envy – their not getting laid and they’re jealous.
You can’t compare having a hand shandy over some tame porn to cheating on your wife and sending threatening texts to cover it up
you just accused LB of sending threatening texts.
Got a helping of evidence for that?
It seems I just did.
The problem isn’t the affair but societies damaging views on sex.
see Foucault; “too much made of sex” . (yes Cameron and David, that is why this site is The Standard ).
Yep – Millsy. It IS none of our business. and it doesn’t interfere with Len’s ability to be the Mayor.
It’s there in large neon lights.
Seven Sharp (no never watch it but they signalled it in advance) had a poll. Overwhelmingly in favour of Len Brown resigning. Metro editor said he wasn’t surprised. I wasn’t surprised either but for a different reason. Slater, Lusk and co. would have set their bush telegraph on high alert and lined up the moral Right in large numbers.
Maybe, but I think this is just as much a “sink John Campbell” exercise. The super soft interview by Campbell would have been predicted. Just wait for tomorrow and more info on the “threats” will emerge. An embarrassment to Campbell (who ignored that issue) as much as Brown (who is dead meat anyway).
Seriously? Stop blaming the right and blame the 2 minute noodle mayor that couldn’t keep it in his pants
I know its a difficult concept to grasp but if he didn’t cheat on his wife and threaten the mistress then there wouldn’t have been a scandal
What is about the left that they seem incapable of owning up to their errors and always try to find someone else to blame…
John Palino was the Right’s candidate in Auckland. He came a distant second to Brown.
Palino’s campaign manager was … Slater’s dad.
Aha. Thanks for that gobsmacked. Like father like son. Remember hearing about Slater senior back in the 80s. I think he was the chairman of the Auckland branch of the National Party at the time. Rather a nasty piece of work from all accounts. Didn’t he and Slater junior try to smear the current Nat. Party Chairman, Goodfellow after he ousted Slater senior?
Edit: Yes they did and it’s always to do with sex. Couple of slimeballs both of them. And how about Palino? He must have known about it and approved their actions!
Slater What a sleazy loser..Loved Len Brown’s performance on Campbell…Masterful.I was moved to tears of compassion.
Much better than Shagger Brash’s performance. Even better than Lange’s misedemeanours.
Mine pale by comparison but who cares? Watch Len Brown’s popularity polls rocket like Clinton’s.
Hey why do people get so exited about sex…Its the economy stupid!
God I love the dramas that TV celebrities and slime bloggers can drag up.Campbell’s pietism was a bit overdone though.
I can’t wait for Slater’s mosquito (I mean slug) attacks on Cunliffe.Should be worth a lot of votes.
An inside job. Those behind wanting Brown gone did not want Palino associated with Brown’s indiscretion as this may have cost Palino votes.
They had to wait for the result as Brown may have lost. They will make Brown’s job untenable.
Brown’s vision of a city rail loop jeopardised by blurred boundaries. The right want Brown gone because there aint no money for his train set.
Yep those cunning righties, the way they tricked Brown into instigating the affair and then how they manipulated him into continuing it for two years…will they stoop to nothing?
Blurred boundaries and dirty tricks. The woman Brown had the affair with is the meat in the sandwhich and she may end up being fodder and she has to be so careful.
My advise to her is get your own legal advise.
I agree, shes a pawn in all this
Or maybe they should just have revealed the affair during/before the elction campaign, then people could have had the choice to vote for Brown or someone else?
Timing smells of a cynical ploy.
Nats just seem to hate democracy.
And Bevan Chaung was standing on the Cits & Rats ticket – politically aligned to the Nats and Palino.
All a bit dodgy.
Quoting BLiP from Karol’s link:
Would it have been brown that instigated the affair?
The plot thickens. Are Communities and Residents the old Cits & Rats, aka Auckland Council National Branch?
https://plus.google.com/108237597844137113671/posts
Bevan Chuang – Google+
plus.google.com
Bevan Chuang – The Burlesque Dancing Superwoman – Member of Ethnic People’s Advisory Panel, Auckland Council – Auckland Council – Hong Kong – Auckland
Yep. Something smells badly here, and it’s not a fragrant oriental blossom either:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communities_and_Residents
Communities and Residents – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org
The Auckland Communities and Residents Incorporated, known as Communities and Residents (C&R), is an established right-leaning local bodyticket in Auckland, New Zealand. It formed in 1937 as Citizens & Ratepayers with a view to control the Auckland City Council and prevent the left-leaning Labour Pa…
And then there’s this comment on TS from BLiP back in July.
Yes, that affair is wrong and the Auckland people can decide for themselves, but BlubberOil bringing down a whole family publically is no laughing matter either. What goes around Cameron.
I’m sure he knows the score and while its sad the family is involved its only involved because of Len (cheap knickers) Browns actions
If Len 4/10 Brown cared for his family as much as he’d like the public and media to care about his family we wouldn’t be having this discussion
I don’t see how having an affair can take away from caring for others.
Considering the consequences of his actions towards his family I’d suggest he cares two-fifths of f**k all towards his family especially his wife
I suspect that there was no change in his actions towards his family and thus the consequences to his family are the result of the affair being made public which it wasn’t by him or his family.
Ah so its not 4/10 Lens fault, good to know
If this affair is what I’m thinking, I hope someone ends up in prison for it. We’ll see.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10778625
Murray if half the stink around this girl comes out, it’s going to be messy!
a long drag on
Honey trap? Many a famous dignitary has fallen for that one.
2 years is quite a long time to run a honey trap…
Thought of that later.Too long for a honey trap. More like a set-up to bring Brown down and install Palino in his place.
If only there had been a way to stymie the plan…like, oh I don’t know, not having the affair?
+1 …and some have been blackmailed into sticking with or marrying the ‘ honey trap’ in all probability…or suffered the consequences of not doing so……..
Wont let me edit so:
… add anonymous threats but little ‘lady’ doesn’t go to the police. Interesting.
The source and content of the txts will be crucial to the case.
It is not acceptable to intimidate or harass a person.
There needs to be some sort of investigation to determine whether or not the txts are genuine. Hell we may never get to see them, recall the emails between Dunne and Vance.
Will Key get involved in a city council matter, recall what he has said about Banks when he was mayor and how Key says he is not Banks leader.
OK, I know people have busy lives and can’t always check out the background details, but for those trying to follow this grubby business, here are the basic facts:
1) The Right wanted to defeat Brown (not sure why they’d bother, but never mind, that’s what they wanted)
2) Various candidates were canvassed, none were credible, Nobody could win at the ballot box.
3) Palino stood as a token Rightie. But obviously couldn’t win.
4) Slater (father, son, who cares?) got dirt on Brown. BUT their problem was … Palino’s private history is even more “colourful”. So they couldn’t run with “Saint versus Sinner”.
5) So their best option (in their warped thinking) was to wait until Brown had won, and then hit him.
Therefore, the choice NOW (see all media parrots) is not “Who do you vote for Mayor?’ but “Should the Mayor resign”?. That’s a crucial difference. It’s not Brown versus fallible alternative, its Brown versus nobody.
The aim is to change to a narrative they think they can win (i.e. Dump Brown), not one they would lose (i.e. Vote Palino).
And – this is classic SOP for these guys – they try to win a dirt-fight in the media, not a straight fight at the ballot box. Hence the references to ‘online polls”, instead of real ones. The problem with real votes is that they can be counted. Whereas astroturf and noise can’t be.
We’ve got to get wise to their Rove tactics, and not take them at face value ever. It’s gonna be a lot worse next year.
Interesting WO April post about Bevan – why did he suddenly take up her cause?
What a bunch of physically degenerate toss pots…
I share your low opinion of the WhaleSpew suckups.
Um no Cameron Slater doesn’t have any time for them either but good try
From the link:
So ‘Bevan’ was happy to go to the police about an anti-Chinese leaflet drop but didn’t report recent anonymous threats to herself. A bit strange.
There’s a lot that is very strange about this. When it all goes tits up, Slater and a few others are not going to enjoy finding out how expendable they are.
QFT
Basic Facts
Well maybe Len should have shagged the help if he didn’t want it out in the open.
And that covers points 1 to 5
Next please, but try harder
So do you think Brown should resign?
And do you apply that to all elected reps?
Think for a moment before replying …
I don’t think he should resign because then the issue would go away
you are very forth-coming this evening, btw, we are at 330, let’s try for Four hundie aye.
(and it’s an aye aye to you too The Al1en, boldly going)
Well local body politics is normally so boring….
some truth to that, same old, same old.
Surely set ups, schemes and political machination are totally a different matter as to whether LB can ever be a trustworthy sort of guy again, let alone trusted mayor of our biggest city.
It is all about trust, and as a politico, if you lie you lose it. Hard to see how outside the walls of a one eyed blogosphere he can maintain credibility, whether ultimately it’s a private matter (which of course it’s not, he’s the mayor) or just an ego flattering sex thing. If he can lie to his missus for two years, then what’s he prepared to do to us? And so it will go, etc…
Anyway, I’ve said my bit now, so no need to fall out with anyone, especially over a guy that can’t keep to his vows.
have you my friend
Yes, I keep to my vows, and on this topic, yes, as saying extra won’t make me any more correct, and no-one like the guy that’s always right 😆
“The Man They Love To Hate”. 😉
And though he probably didn’y care too much
The girl she finally left him
Because she loved the man too much
How much can one Daemon achieve.
Let you know when I get the bill.
Be ready to leggit.
sounds like Mary, she’s quite contrary about her real estate, didn’t you know.
Nothing like Mary, more Mungo and Midge.
keeping me from my movie Captain Pugwash.
Who Made Who the ‘king hit”.
Just setting you up to hit the 400
You know you want to 😉
“I’m leavin’ it up to you who who…” (fast, maybe you have fibre; I despaired and finally connected up a gifted computer, as anybody who is interested can tell).
Knock yourself out, (figuratively speaking of course).
Ha! comment was all yours.
Result.
“Minute By Minute” man
Auckland has some super sized problems that only apply to Auckland. Will think about your questions.
a whimsical wending pseudonym
McFlock:
I wish i lived in a gingerbread house.
DIY would rot your teeth
Rogue:
But it would be yummy.
introduced a gingernut to #1 de-facto grand-daughter on the weekend; she loved it. Up your game, plenty of cavities for everyone
Not in Hamilton though they have fluoridation 🙂
don’t hide your light under a bushel; plurality plays out.
Brett didn’t mention deny masturbatory kitten-drowning. However, anyone who spreads the rumour that he partakes in it is being grossly irresponsible, as we don’t know the truth of the matter.
Brett didn’t mention deny masturbatory kitten-drowning. However, anyone who spreads the rumour that he partakes in it is being grossly irresponsible, as we don’t know the truth of the matter.
been drinking? or merely thinking…
slow computer and double press of the button 🙂
McFlock:
I can honesty say, that i dont masturbate to drowning kittens.
well, that’s a relief
Already thinking about who to vote for in 2014…
Help Wanted Column:
Long-term Green Party member, likes the cut of DC’s jib and the direction the party seems headed, seeks advice on how to decide between GP and LP for party vote. Any well-researched thoughts on the key policy differentiators?
Thanks, Jim
Tricksy house goppits.
But previously, House Republicans had made a small but hugely consequential move to block them from doing it.
Here’s the rule in question:
In other words, if the House and Senate are gridlocked as they were on the eve of the shutdown, any motion from any member to end that gridlock should be allowed to proceed. Like, for example, a motion to vote on the Senate bill. That’s how House Democrats read it.
But the House Rules Committee voted the night of Sept. 30 to change that rule for this specific bill. They added language dictating that any motion “may be offered only by the majority Leader or his designee.”
So unless House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) wanted the Senate spending bill to come to the floor, it wasn’t going to happen. And it didn’t.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/the-house-gop-s-little-rule-change-that-guaranteed-a-shutdown
The demands.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/09/here-are-the-gops-debt-ceiling-demands-and-they-are-insane/280012/
ooh, whose ‘insane’ now. oh dear, how sad, Nevermind (‘cept for all the folks back home missing out on the American Dream).What would Ralph Waite’s character say.
ps, only 18 more # comments to go, but I gotta go watch a movie
and kill some Slugs
When is an election win, not a election win?
That’s some menu. Pity it doesn’t include the TPP.
when you are the first African-American POTUS
The truth comes out “First home buyers, shut out of the market by new restrictions to lending rules, are better off not owning a home at all rather than purchasing one to find it’s no longer worth what they’ve paid, Prime Minister John Key says.”
So those wanting to buy a house are better of renting are they Key?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9284357/Key-defends-loan-restrictions