Since this post brought it up – cannabis legalisation in New Zealand. Yay or nay?
Personally, I’m positive is cannabis was fully legalised, it would remove a swathe of our population from prison, free the police force from the monetary and manpower costs of enforcement and lead to a decrease in the cannabis users rate (as has been shown in the the Netherlands and Portugal). I’m aware that no party wants to touch it, and even the Greens step away from it since Tancoz left (though I read a nice piece by Turei recently on her stance on decriminalisation). The fact is, it’s unconscionable that we lock people up for consuming a drug that’s known to be non-toxic, not physically addictive, an anti-carcinogen and an effective medicine for a huge range of different health ailments. The fact that my taxes pay for this makes me very uncomfortable indeed. Legalising cannabis would also remove funding for many gang activities. When Chris Fowlie from the Cannabis Culture magazine actually travelled to New Zealand, himself and the rest of the NORML people he was with were actually threatened by gang members. One of them actually said [paraphrased] “originally I was in support of legalising cannabis, but then I realised it would cut into our profits”.
Just because someone isn’t in prison, it doesn’t mean a miscarriage of justice wasn’t carried out, gitmo. I can’t find data on imprisonment rate however
In 2005, there were a total of 16,364 recorded drug-related offences. The vast
majority of these (90 percent) were cannabis offences.
If so, do you believe it warrants being illegal, when you have the knowledge that somanyreputable scientists believe is it less harmful than alcohol, that anyone that possesses a tinnie should be allowed to sent to prison for upto six months?
Carcinogen if smoked, impairment of decision making, psychiatric disorders in some etc etc etc.
Make no mistake it is a drug of abuse and is as capable as any drug of abuse of causing harm…….that needs to be balanced vs its therapeutic effects in glaucome and certain patients or whom it is very effective pain relief medication.
Honestly the best reason not to legalise it is probably the stoner tourism it would attract.
Studies have shown cannabis to have anti-cancer properties, with one experiment showing a 50% decrease in the size of a breast tumor. THC is a trigger for some psychiatric disorders, not a cause. There has never been a causal relationship proven between cannabis and psychiatric disorders. Also, CBDs which are found in cannabis in lower rates than THC are anti-psychotics. Impairment of decision making? Considering many politicians have said they’ve smoked cannabis, that’s probably true.:twisted:
How does cannabis cause harm, gitmo? Give me examples instead of allusions. Cannabis is an effective analgesic, anti-emetic, anti-spasmodic, anti-psychotic (remember CBDs), and muscle relaxant. You know how many different medical conditions this can help treat? Way too many to list here, gitmo. You are an in compassionate ass hole if you can’t knowledge this fact.
If you believe something should be banned because it promotes tourism, you’re probably off your rocker. I understand that it does in Amsterdamn, but that’s in the middle of Europe. All you have to do if you live in Germany or France is a quick trip over the border. The 2200km to New Zealand just from Australia changes things a bit for us.
Cannabis can cause harm to the user. However it’s harm you’re causing to yourself and it’s less harmful than alcohol or tobacco. It’s not the state’s place to stop individuals doing what they wish with their own bodies and in the case of recreational drugs their own minds. Legalise it!
Quoth the Raven, you say cannabis causes harm. Could you please justify that statement? I’m not trying to be bigoted towards anti-cannabis opinions, I want to know what harm people really believe cannabis causes.
Noko
First – I think cannabis should be decriminalised immediately, as a first step toward legalising it in the future.
Second – QTR says it can cause harm, which is a little different to saying it causes harm. I agree with QTR, I’m sure it can cause harm. Other perfectly innocuous things like coffee, chocolate and water can also cause harm. More often than not they don’t, but they can. Similar with alcohol and tobacco, except the likelihood of harm occurring and the degree of harm are much greater.
The idea of putting restrictions and controls on most drugs, except the worst, and removing their illegality presently resulting in severe criminal penalties has a practical, pragmatic, thoughtful and intelligent approach with societal advantages and state cost savings.
The amount of time and money spent by the police in marijuana control could go somewhere else. There would be controls and standards imposed, perhaps marijuana would be treated more like party pills. The taxation on marijuana sales would result in more revenue, and criminality would then involve unpaid taxes. The government could promote different, less potent, strains of marijuana and there would be legalised outlets such as for alcohol. (There would also be controls on hours of sale made mandatory for the country). The growers could lease or buy their own land and grow and market the stuff. They could also be encouraged to go into hemp growing, another industry that would be beneficial to our economy.
Changes like this would have to be fought all the way through the politics and brouhaha of people who aren’t inclined to analyse and make changes to improve bad outcomes. Much easier to continue braying about others’ badness, being authoritarian, bemoaning the costs, etc. Many feel secure and superior in having continuing patterns of behaviour to criticise. Such people quote the anecdote and received wisdom and resist improvement of the situation. Drugs cannot be effectively abolished – prohibition in the USA just gave a boost to the criminal Mafia, and in NZ the gangs, otherwise low income powerless people, are drawn to the drug scene to improve their finances also.
Good idea perhaps we could let Phillip Morris and British American Tobacco give us some advice ….. I mean no harm could possibly come from freeing up access to marijuana
Harm reduction, making a choice for a better outcome in a dodgy situation. Do nothing often seems the best option. Why can’t trial policies be introduced for hard to deal with situations, to be monitored and assessed against reasonable goals of improvement?
The difference is that cannabis has medicinial qualities that are well observed and proved. Even the Ministry of Health has approved Savitex made from cannabis extract for medical use.
That cannabis smoke doesn’t even effect the airways in the same way as tobacco shows how ignorant you are (perhaps purposely) being of the matter.
Interesting bit of news. This is what happens when you try to use your intelligence and make some improvement in embedded policy. Google – The British Home Secretary sacked his drug advisor David Nutt on 30/10/09 for criticising the government’s drug policy.
An anti-smoking group has lost its taxpayer funding after audits revealed its director took a string of international jaunts.
Audits of Te Reo Marama found that international travel counted for a large chunk of the organisation’s spending, and led to the Ministry of Health pulling $200,000 a year funding.
Te Reo Marama director Shane Kawenata Bradbrook said he was surprised at the ministry’s decision – and that ministry cash was rarely used to pay for flights.
The Wellington-based group, which aims to help Maori stop smoking, is an independent organisation that receives funding from several sources, including the World Health Organisation.
On its website, it states: “Maori have a tradition of resistance within Aotearoa-New Zealand… Resisting the industry that profits from Maori illness and premature death continues that tradition of resistance.”
Public health group manager Warren Lindberg said the contract was terminated after “considerable concerns about its reporting and other management and governance issues”.
“The Ministry of Health did not expect to be funding international travel,” Lindberg said.
Interesting guy this morning Dmitry Orlov on Chris Laidlaw National Radio. Talking about the transition of big states USSR to capitalism type state and how they coped and how the USA will cope when they have to transition. Talked about how oil will soon be as expensive to find, reach, draw off and supply as can be paid by consumers, hence not profitable any more. Then… It’s a curse ‘May you live in interesting times’.
Heh, for one who claims to be “superior” it’s surprising that you haven’t even tried looking at the empirical veracity of Peak Oil, i.e. it’s not going to be an issue till the end of this century (see October 09 issue of Scientific American, “Squeezing More Oil from the Ground” pp36) though this may not be the best thing in getting us weaned off oil and over to low/neutral carbon energy sources.
Also, the USSR’s transtition to capitalism has worked oh so well, that’s if you’re one of the rich, for otherwise Russia has developing world levels for some of the key socio-economic indicators. Or course, this only matters darling if you’re one of teh poor, or those silly upper class fools who care about them…
/sarcasm
Interesting that feedbacks was the spam word. The way you think NickS all I would need to say is that one word and you could make a strong argument against it, having a quick sneer and projecting all your pathetic prejudices on to my possible, imagined meaning.
Long answer: People look for reasons for why horrible things happen, reasons which fit in with the cultural matrix/fabric they’re part of, and when your culture doesn’t really understand why some people break and go postal, you end up looking for “rational” alternative explanations. And given then that in the West, particularly the USA, there exists a proportion of the population who think evolution is teh evils, it’s not particularly surprising to see evilution blamed for these tragedies. Instead of say, said person having been put into a situation that is not productive to considering others as human, or just having mental disorders which predispose them to violence under the right environment…
Same thinking goes for why people reject evolution in the first place, though you can also look at the role culture plays in making individuals accept someone as an “expert” or particular claims as “true”, regardless of the empirical evidence to the contrary…
Which partly helps explain why Wishart somehow manages to get no1 for the piece of sh*t that is Air Con
And double plus irony for “Poison Free NZ”, mostly due to philosophical fun and dose-dependency of lethal effects when it comes to classifying the boundaries of the term “poison”.
Protip; water is toxic as well in sufficient quantities, aka water intoxication…
Kind of a misrepresentation there, NickS. According to Wikipedia’s article
Fluoroacetate is highly toxic to mammals and insects.[2] The oral dose of fluoroacetate sufficient to be lethal in humans is 210 mg/kg.[9]
That’s 1 gram to kill a 100kg person.
The thing about 1080 isn’t that it kills (well it is, when you’re talking about the deaths of 7 Keas, however) but the mechanism of killing. It interrupts the citric acid cycle, which is what our cells derive their energy from. It’s a particularly horrible way to die, for any creature.
Now if we were talking about it sticking around in the ecosystem…
Except of course 1080 doesn’t stick round in the environment, since organic molecules, other than aromatic hydrocarbon rings, tend to have rather short half-life’s out in nature when they have fluorine functional groups, as they tend to make the carbon they’re attached to highly electro-positive and prone to attack…
Or at least that’s what 2 years of organic chemistry and 3 years of biochemistry point to. Without digging through my notes/textbooks for reactivity data for F-fg’s…
Also, being killed by a stoat isn’t exactly a fun way to go, nor is starvation due to possums stripping your food source, nor gin-traps for possums, and/or shooting. The tendency to talk about poisons being “cruel” oft goes with a tendency to romanticise the cruelty of nature and ignore the use of rather nasty poisons in nature as defense, and the ecological impacts of introduced mammals, even at low levels, on NZ’s environment and native animals. Which all evolved in splendid isolation from mammalian herbivores and predators, and thus, are mostly highly vulnerable to becoming food…
And humane measures aren’t exactly an option when dealing with rough NZ back country and a lack of conservation funding, not to mention actual effectiveness.
Heh! Remember the last time he got to meet Obama? There he was at the UN surrounded by the leaders of the world discussing hugely critical matters pertaining to the future of the planet – asked what his impressions were, the Goober said:
h-yuck, h-yuck, h-yuck – Michull Bama’z roily, roily tull – she mid Bronagh luk lyke a Hobbit
it certainly looks as if the Maori Party is tearing its-self apart .
Sadly a great opportunity for Maori ,the Labour Party and the whole of the political Left has been lost. As soon as Maori Party was formed the Labour Party should has agreed to give up the electoral seats in exchange for the party vote . It would have kept us in government for years. Instead we drove them into the arms of the Nats.However having said that I realise that Turia and Sharples lean to the Right and cannot be trusted ,dispite the majority of Maori favouring a relationship with labour.
If as I believe will happen, the Maori Party splits then we Labour members must do our utmost to enable Maori to return to Labour.
Its going go happen so ,let be prepaired to welcome the Maori people with open arms/
A couple of misconceptions there, Postie. The Maori party was formed in opposition to the Labour party and was conservative in nature right from the start. It hasn’t moved right, it is right. Secondly, Labour don’t need to do a deal to pick up the party vote; they get it anyway.
Those points aside, you are dead right that Labour needs to be prepared to get those electorate seats back. Formulating policy that appeals to Maori would be a start. Perhaps they should begin by asking Maori what they want?
Many people assume that marijuana was made illegal through some kind of process involving scientific, medical, and government hearings; that it was to protect the citizens from what was determined to be a dangerous drug.
The actual story shows a much different picture. Those who voted on the legal fate of this plant never had the facts, but were dependent on information supplied by those who had a specific agenda to deceive lawmakers. You’ll see below that the very first federal vote to prohibit marijuana was based entirely on a documented lie on the floor of the Senate.
You’ll also see that the history of marijuana’s criminalization is filled with:
* Racism
* Fear
* Protection of Corporate Profits
* Yellow Journalism
* Ignorant, Incompetent, and/or Corrupt Legislators
* Personal Career Advancement and Greed
These are the actual reasons marijuana is illegal.
You are quite correct voice. Not only is Turia on the Right but she is driven by a hatred of Helen Clark.
However I still believe we should have made an effort before the eelction to have some accomodation.
We also missed the chance with the Greens in 1990.We should have stood down from the Coromandel in favour of the Green candidate in exchange for party vote ,Im a life member of the
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Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
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The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
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.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
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You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
So which NACT MPs do you think will be trying to convince the leader that they ‘need’ to go to the soccer World Cup…?
Since this post brought it up – cannabis legalisation in New Zealand. Yay or nay?
Personally, I’m positive is cannabis was fully legalised, it would remove a swathe of our population from prison, free the police force from the monetary and manpower costs of enforcement and lead to a decrease in the cannabis users rate (as has been shown in the the Netherlands and Portugal). I’m aware that no party wants to touch it, and even the Greens step away from it since Tancoz left (though I read a nice piece by Turei recently on her stance on decriminalisation). The fact is, it’s unconscionable that we lock people up for consuming a drug that’s known to be non-toxic, not physically addictive, an anti-carcinogen and an effective medicine for a huge range of different health ailments. The fact that my taxes pay for this makes me very uncomfortable indeed. Legalising cannabis would also remove funding for many gang activities. When Chris Fowlie from the Cannabis Culture magazine actually travelled to New Zealand, himself and the rest of the NORML people he was with were actually threatened by gang members. One of them actually said [paraphrased] “originally I was in support of legalising cannabis, but then I realised it would cut into our profits”.
So how many people are in jail solely on a charge of use/possession of cannabis – I’m guessing not very many at all.
Just because someone isn’t in prison, it doesn’t mean a miscarriage of justice wasn’t carried out, gitmo. I can’t find data on imprisonment rate however
Link – StatsNZ
Given that, a fair few people were sentenced to community service, and/or fined.
However, gitmo, is there any justifiable reason cannabis should be illegal?
Yes probably for the same reasons that tobacco and alcohol are illegal for those under a certain age.
As always what needs to be balanced is the harm vs good of making something illegal/legal.
Gitmo, what harm comes from cannabis?
If so, do you believe it warrants being illegal, when you have the knowledge that so many reputable scientists believe is it less harmful than alcohol, that anyone that possesses a tinnie should be allowed to sent to prison for upto six months?
Carcinogen if smoked, impairment of decision making, psychiatric disorders in some etc etc etc.
Make no mistake it is a drug of abuse and is as capable as any drug of abuse of causing harm…….that needs to be balanced vs its therapeutic effects in glaucome and certain patients or whom it is very effective pain relief medication.
Honestly the best reason not to legalise it is probably the stoner tourism it would attract.
Studies have shown cannabis to have anti-cancer properties, with one experiment showing a 50% decrease in the size of a breast tumor. THC is a trigger for some psychiatric disorders, not a cause. There has never been a causal relationship proven between cannabis and psychiatric disorders. Also, CBDs which are found in cannabis in lower rates than THC are anti-psychotics. Impairment of decision making? Considering many politicians have said they’ve smoked cannabis, that’s probably true.:twisted:
How does cannabis cause harm, gitmo? Give me examples instead of allusions. Cannabis is an effective analgesic, anti-emetic, anti-spasmodic, anti-psychotic (remember CBDs), and muscle relaxant. You know how many different medical conditions this can help treat? Way too many to list here, gitmo. You are an in compassionate ass hole if you can’t knowledge this fact.
If you believe something should be banned because it promotes tourism, you’re probably off your rocker. I understand that it does in Amsterdamn, but that’s in the middle of Europe. All you have to do if you live in Germany or France is a quick trip over the border. The 2200km to New Zealand just from Australia changes things a bit for us.
Cannabis can cause harm to the user. However it’s harm you’re causing to yourself and it’s less harmful than alcohol or tobacco. It’s not the state’s place to stop individuals doing what they wish with their own bodies and in the case of recreational drugs their own minds. Legalise it!
Quoth the Raven, you say cannabis causes harm. Could you please justify that statement? I’m not trying to be bigoted towards anti-cannabis opinions, I want to know what harm people really believe cannabis causes.
Noko
First – I think cannabis should be decriminalised immediately, as a first step toward legalising it in the future.
Second – QTR says it can cause harm, which is a little different to saying it causes harm. I agree with QTR, I’m sure it can cause harm. Other perfectly innocuous things like coffee, chocolate and water can also cause harm. More often than not they don’t, but they can. Similar with alcohol and tobacco, except the likelihood of harm occurring and the degree of harm are much greater.
Ah, right, my misunderstanding. Thanks for clearing it up, AC.
The idea of putting restrictions and controls on most drugs, except the worst, and removing their illegality presently resulting in severe criminal penalties has a practical, pragmatic, thoughtful and intelligent approach with societal advantages and state cost savings.
The amount of time and money spent by the police in marijuana control could go somewhere else. There would be controls and standards imposed, perhaps marijuana would be treated more like party pills. The taxation on marijuana sales would result in more revenue, and criminality would then involve unpaid taxes. The government could promote different, less potent, strains of marijuana and there would be legalised outlets such as for alcohol. (There would also be controls on hours of sale made mandatory for the country). The growers could lease or buy their own land and grow and market the stuff. They could also be encouraged to go into hemp growing, another industry that would be beneficial to our economy.
Changes like this would have to be fought all the way through the politics and brouhaha of people who aren’t inclined to analyse and make changes to improve bad outcomes. Much easier to continue braying about others’ badness, being authoritarian, bemoaning the costs, etc. Many feel secure and superior in having continuing patterns of behaviour to criticise. Such people quote the anecdote and received wisdom and resist improvement of the situation. Drugs cannot be effectively abolished – prohibition in the USA just gave a boost to the criminal Mafia, and in NZ the gangs, otherwise low income powerless people, are drawn to the drug scene to improve their finances also.
Good idea perhaps we could let Phillip Morris and British American Tobacco give us some advice ….. I mean no harm could possibly come from freeing up access to marijuana
Harm reduction, making a choice for a better outcome in a dodgy situation. Do nothing often seems the best option. Why can’t trial policies be introduced for hard to deal with situations, to be monitored and assessed against reasonable goals of improvement?
The difference is that cannabis has medicinial qualities that are well observed and proved. Even the Ministry of Health has approved Savitex made from cannabis extract for medical use.
That cannabis smoke doesn’t even effect the airways in the same way as tobacco shows how ignorant you are (perhaps purposely) being of the matter.
Interesting bit of news. This is what happens when you try to use your intelligence and make some improvement in embedded policy. Google – The British Home Secretary sacked his drug advisor David Nutt on 30/10/09 for criticising the government’s drug policy.
Another trougher outed:
An anti-smoking group has lost its taxpayer funding after audits revealed its director took a string of international jaunts.
Audits of Te Reo Marama found that international travel counted for a large chunk of the organisation’s spending, and led to the Ministry of Health pulling $200,000 a year funding.
Te Reo Marama director Shane Kawenata Bradbrook said he was surprised at the ministry’s decision – and that ministry cash was rarely used to pay for flights.
The Wellington-based group, which aims to help Maori stop smoking, is an independent organisation that receives funding from several sources, including the World Health Organisation.
On its website, it states: “Maori have a tradition of resistance within Aotearoa-New Zealand… Resisting the industry that profits from Maori illness and premature death continues that tradition of resistance.”
Public health group manager Warren Lindberg said the contract was terminated after “considerable concerns about its reporting and other management and governance issues”.
“The Ministry of Health did not expect to be funding international travel,” Lindberg said.
Interesting guy this morning Dmitry Orlov on Chris Laidlaw National Radio. Talking about the transition of big states USSR to capitalism type state and how they coped and how the USA will cope when they have to transition. Talked about how oil will soon be as expensive to find, reach, draw off and supply as can be paid by consumers, hence not profitable any more. Then… It’s a curse ‘May you live in interesting times’.
Heh, for one who claims to be “superior” it’s surprising that you haven’t even tried looking at the empirical veracity of Peak Oil, i.e. it’s not going to be an issue till the end of this century (see October 09 issue of Scientific American, “Squeezing More Oil from the Ground” pp36) though this may not be the best thing in getting us weaned off oil and over to low/neutral carbon energy sources.
Also, the USSR’s transtition to capitalism has worked oh so well, that’s if you’re one of the rich, for otherwise Russia has developing world levels for some of the key socio-economic indicators. Or course, this only matters darling if you’re one of teh poor, or those silly upper class fools who care about them…
/sarcasm
Like the argument above in relation to drugs, it would seem the argument in relation to “peak oil” has become one of politics rather than the data.
Interesting that feedbacks was the spam word. The way you think NickS all I would need to say is that one word and you could make a strong argument against it, having a quick sneer and projecting all your pathetic prejudices on to my possible, imagined meaning.
An article in the Times of London from a few days ago brought to my attention by the wonderful Jerry Coyne – http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/biology_evolution/article6905259.ece
Why are we still having these arguments?
Short answer: Because some people are morons
Long answer: People look for reasons for why horrible things happen, reasons which fit in with the cultural matrix/fabric they’re part of, and when your culture doesn’t really understand why some people break and go postal, you end up looking for “rational” alternative explanations. And given then that in the West, particularly the USA, there exists a proportion of the population who think evolution is teh evils, it’s not particularly surprising to see evilution blamed for these tragedies. Instead of say, said person having been put into a situation that is not productive to considering others as human, or just having mental disorders which predispose them to violence under the right environment…
Same thinking goes for why people reject evolution in the first place, though you can also look at the role culture plays in making individuals accept someone as an “expert” or particular claims as “true”, regardless of the empirical evidence to the contrary…
Which partly helps explain why Wishart somehow manages to get no1 for the piece of sh*t that is Air Con
Oh joy, once more science ignorance strikes;
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/protest-action-against-1080-drops-3144252
And double plus irony for “Poison Free NZ”, mostly due to philosophical fun and dose-dependency of lethal effects when it comes to classifying the boundaries of the term “poison”.
Protip; water is toxic as well in sufficient quantities, aka water intoxication…
Kind of a misrepresentation there, NickS. According to Wikipedia’s article
That’s 1 gram to kill a 100kg person.
The thing about 1080 isn’t that it kills (well it is, when you’re talking about the deaths of 7 Keas, however) but the mechanism of killing. It interrupts the citric acid cycle, which is what our cells derive their energy from. It’s a particularly horrible way to die, for any creature.
Now if we were talking about it sticking around in the ecosystem…
Except of course 1080 doesn’t stick round in the environment, since organic molecules, other than aromatic hydrocarbon rings, tend to have rather short half-life’s out in nature when they have fluorine functional groups, as they tend to make the carbon they’re attached to highly electro-positive and prone to attack…
Or at least that’s what 2 years of organic chemistry and 3 years of biochemistry point to. Without digging through my notes/textbooks for reactivity data for F-fg’s…
Organic chemistry is fun.
And potential sources for info, since I have all the motivation of a corpse at present for deep researching;
http://scholar.google.co.nz/scholar?q=%22Sodium+fluoroacetate%22+environmental+persistence&hl=en&rlz=1C1CHNG_enNZ348NZ348&um=1&ie=UTF-8&oi=scholart
Oh yeah, page 27 onwards of this pdf might be useful;
http://www.apvma.gov.au/chemrev/downloads/1080_env.pdf
Also, being killed by a stoat isn’t exactly a fun way to go, nor is starvation due to possums stripping your food source, nor gin-traps for possums, and/or shooting. The tendency to talk about poisons being “cruel” oft goes with a tendency to romanticise the cruelty of nature and ignore the use of rather nasty poisons in nature as defense, and the ecological impacts of introduced mammals, even at low levels, on NZ’s environment and native animals. Which all evolved in splendid isolation from mammalian herbivores and predators, and thus, are mostly highly vulnerable to becoming food…
And humane measures aren’t exactly an option when dealing with rough NZ back country and a lack of conservation funding, not to mention actual effectiveness.
Looks like our smug media slut of a PM got to meet Obama again.
Heh! Remember the last time he got to meet Obama? There he was at the UN surrounded by the leaders of the world discussing hugely critical matters pertaining to the future of the planet – asked what his impressions were, the Goober said:
it certainly looks as if the Maori Party is tearing its-self apart .
Sadly a great opportunity for Maori ,the Labour Party and the whole of the political Left has been lost. As soon as Maori Party was formed the Labour Party should has agreed to give up the electoral seats in exchange for the party vote . It would have kept us in government for years. Instead we drove them into the arms of the Nats.However having said that I realise that Turia and Sharples lean to the Right and cannot be trusted ,dispite the majority of Maori favouring a relationship with labour.
If as I believe will happen, the Maori Party splits then we Labour members must do our utmost to enable Maori to return to Labour.
Its going go happen so ,let be prepaired to welcome the Maori people with open arms/
A couple of misconceptions there, Postie. The Maori party was formed in opposition to the Labour party and was conservative in nature right from the start. It hasn’t moved right, it is right. Secondly, Labour don’t need to do a deal to pick up the party vote; they get it anyway.
Those points aside, you are dead right that Labour needs to be prepared to get those electorate seats back. Formulating policy that appeals to Maori would be a start. Perhaps they should begin by asking Maori what they want?
Why is Marijuana Illegal?
You are quite correct voice. Not only is Turia on the Right but she is driven by a hatred of Helen Clark.
However I still believe we should have made an effort before the eelction to have some accomodation.
We also missed the chance with the Greens in 1990.We should have stood down from the Coromandel in favour of the Green candidate in exchange for party vote ,Im a life member of the