Carbon trading is the single biggest act of green washing in this country.
The ETS doesn’t cut green house gas emissions. The ETS is in fact and in proven practice a roadblock to making real cuts. We would be better off without it.
The time has come to get rid of it.
The government is vulnerable.
The passing of the Mondayisation bill in the face of stiff government opposition, gives a lead. This bill was the first opposition bill to succeed against the government’s wishes.
May it be the first of many.
The ETS has gone on long enough to expose it’s real nature, and true purpose. (New Zealand’s greenhouse emissions have actually risen since its passing)
Could an opposition bill to dump this dangerous farce, be the next bill to roll the government?
Could this be the issue that the government facing defeat yet again, decide to make a stand on?
Facing a repeat defeat in the house, the government could be forced into an early election.
So which opposition party MP will be the next to step up to the plate, to weaken this government’s hold on power, and do a good for the climate?
Generally I think that geo-engineering is like offering someone a wheel chair before they have an accident.
On the individual scale there is no rational reason why anyone would choose to be an invalid. The same on the global scale.
Far better to avoid the wheelchair and the accident. The science shows that we can still avoid the very worst of effects of climate change if we act now.
“Clamped down on hard”…..no Jenny, there is enough absolutist authoritarian thinking amongst contributors here. No more required, better to give enough rope and let the buggers hang themselves.
Interestingly, it’s always been my experience that climate change deniers are stamped on, usually by lprent, who really really hates pseudoscientific bullshit appearing in his playground.
But for some reason I get this really nagging feeling that you might also define “thread jacking” as “any attempt to point out that, yet again, Jenny is trying to take over Open Mike and slag off the Green Party with nothing to back her up”.
Just a thought: Mondayisation of public holidays might just be a slightly different political creature to climate change, in terms of insignificant little details like “simplicity of ideas” and “immediate popular appeal” and “level of cost to the government and economy”.
Plus I needed a topic to keep my sarcasm/auger skills current – which you have to do by practicing. I picked climate change topics as being perfect for the task because I knew the topic and it wasn’t as boring as programming, management or history… Perfect for the task really. I am pretty constrained as I only really have a good go at the ones who parrot rather than think.
But for some reason I get this really nagging feeling that you might also define âthread jackingâ as âany attempt to point out that, yet again, Jenny is trying to take over Open Mike and slag off the Green Party with nothing to back her upâ.
QoT
Accusations that I am trying to take over open mike by QoT. (If such a thing is possible.) Is unjust. I have something to say. And I usually don’t see where I can fit it in with any of the other debates.
If QoT disagrees with what I have to say, she has every right, as everyone else has, to point out where I am going wrong. In fact I wish she would.
What I objected to was the blatant attempt HERE by Colonial Viper to sabotage others who wished to add comments to my open mike post on the Green Party called, Conference On Climate Change. Colonial Viper clearly does not want this topic discussed openly, not in the legislative chamber and not here either. CV may think he is being smart in sabotaging the thread to prevent people commenting. But in fact he is just exposing himself as out of ideas. I find it sad that QoT rushes to defend such tactics and attacks me instead.
QoT accuses me of having an anti Green Party agenda. That is also unfair, and inaccurate. I point out where I think that they may be going wrong. Just as I would do for Labour or National or any other political party or trend. Her comment is doubly inaccurate and unfair, because if she had read my comment and others relateing to the same topic. She would know that I have been very supportive of the Green Party initiative to call a Conference On Climate Change in the old legislative chamber of Parliament on June 7.
“Carbon trading isnât some side issue that can we pinch our
noses and avoid thinking about, it is the global architecture for
climate policy, pushing aside alternative approaches…and itâs
proving to be a farce….”
Bishop of Auckland says legalizing gay marriage is “bizarre”
Thursday 18 April 2013
Following last night’s passing of the Marriage Equality Law, the Catholic bishop of Auckland, the Most Reverend Patrick Dunn immediately denounced the whole thing as “bizarre.”
His holiness then picked up his crosier, adjusted his mitre, slipped on his purple slippers, and with a whisk of his skirts, flounced off in high indignation back to the Pompallier Centre.
I like that the Bishop can flounce off having had his say…that is very healthy even if we might not agree. No danger in that so long as we have a separation of church and state….inquisitions don’t really appeal, spiritual or secular.
Trousers are a fairly recent invention throughout history. It requires sewing or some other inventive practices to make them. Ancient Greeks and Romans wore robes. I suspect Bishops’ clothes date back to pre-trouser times.
A clue Karol: Ponitfex Maximus, was the title of the High Priest of Ancient Rome and is the title of the Pope today. Dress code the same. Office, well …the same.
Trousers, very barbarian according to Romans…really good to wear when riding war horses….stops the chafing. Leather shorts, more recent Germanic look, great for wearing to beer fests.
This time rather than demonstrating how the whole world could go to renewables. Jacobson has laid out a detailed plan for switching to renewables for the state of New York. For which he says:
“……at least we now know that itâs technically and economically feasible. Whether it actually happens depends on political will.”
Mark Jacobsen
In energy generation New Zealand is already 70% part way there. For us, the change would be far easier than New York which relies heavily on coal fired power stations.
Here in NZ, on their own Tiwai is on the verge of closing, and solid energy our biggest coal producer is on the verge of bankruptcy. It will require only a small nudge for New Zealand to make a world first. Becoming the first country in the world to generate all our electricity from renewables.
Both Tiwai and Solid Energy can only continue, (if they do continue), with massive taxpayer subsidies.
Far better that this government largess go into further decarbonising our transport network and industry. This would create many thousands of more well paying jobs than either coal or Tiwai ever could.
As in New Zealand, As in New York as Mark Jobobsen says all that is missing is the political will.
Proposed law update allows eavesdropping by agencies through telecommunications network providers.
Kim Dotcom’s company Mega is warily eyeing proposed legislation that may oblige it to open its systems to surveillance by spy agencies the GCSB and SIS as well as the police.
Makes you wonder if this may be the real reason for the re-organisation of the GCSB? http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10878208
My goodness they do seem to have a personal vendetta against Kim Dotcom. Why’s that I wonder?
Because he’s upstaged them? Poor little boys and girls. That’s not fair.
I’m reminded of my formative years… my younger brother threw rolled up socks at me when he was caught out misbehaving as though I was to blame. Believe me rolled up socks can pack a punch too. đ
Typical behaviour by this Government and straight out of the Crosby Textor rule book.
When faced by a crisis do the following:
1. Call for a report.
2. When it is released say that there is a legal/organisational/structural difficulty.
3. Allege that something terrible will happen if nothing is done e.g. WMDs will be constructed and detonated downtown.
4. Propose an omnibus reform package. Make sure that there are a number of changes being made. This will make sure that the one change which will increase violation of Kiwi’s rights slips through with the least amount of oversight.
5. Keep moving the debate so that attention is diverted from the original crisis.
And there’s a slightly different perspective on this in a Stuff article. It looks like there’s a struggle going on with pressure form some parties for the law to lean more in their favour, or at least, to lean a bit against their rivals. (Telecom named, but are they a proxy for the government?)
A government plan to force telcos to assist the Government Communications Security Bureau could give a leg-up to their internet-based rivals, including Kim Dotcom’s Mega, says a telecommunications industry executive….
If the definition of a telecommunications provider was not widened under the act, consumers might be more likely to switch to alternative services provided or planned by other businesses such as Skype, Google and Microsoft or even Mega, that might not be covered by the new law.
Telecommunications Users Association chief executive Paul Brislen said he feared the Government might put expanding the definition of a telco under the act into the “too-hard basket”, but warned that if they stuck with a narrow definition, it could throw up some aberrations. …
Mega is developing secure email and instant messaging services that would let users encrypt their communications.
Chief executive Vikram Kumar said the company would have to obey any new law, but would not be able to help the GCSB decrypt communications between its subscribers because customers themselves held the encryption software on their own computers.
“If the law is changed so Mega is covered by the act we will have to find a way. [But] I haven’t seen or heard any suggestion from [Adams] that she wants to change the definition of what a telecommunications network operator is,” he said.
Karol, there is existing Legal Intercept legislation that NZ telcos are required to comply to by the authorities (with massive fines for non compliance). From a technical angle so long as the big telcos are controlled the other players in the market don’t really matter in terms of interception. The reason for this is that pretty much all IP packets sent / received in NZ across a WAN link will traverse a major telco switch somewhere in transit. Capturing traffic is easy, making sense of it is another story altogether.
Yes karol. That bit: “Mega is developing secure email and instant messaging services that would let users encrypt their communications.
Chief executive Vikram Kumar said the company would have to obey any new law, but would not be able to help the GCSB decrypt communications between its subscribers because customers themselves held the encryption software on their own computers.”
Maybe the GCSB will be able to upgrade their code breaking skills and be a world first to break “the encryption held on their own computers.”
Getting logical Mr Mac, encryption is only as good as the amount of computer cycles and time taken to crack it…what might have taken theoretically a million years yesterday might take seconds to decrypt tomorrow. And old information can be just as deadly if not as timely. Its an arms race.
Now .. what is the 2013 internet equivalent of not picking a fight with someone who buys printer’s ink by the barrel ( Mark Twain) ? Someone who can use pixels by the Petabyte ? (Petabyte: is approximately 1,000 Terabytes or one million Gigabytes. It’s hard to visualize what a Petabyte could hold. 1 Petabyte could hold approximately 20 million 4-door filing cabinets full of text. It could hold 500 billion pages of standard printed text. It would take about 500 million floppy disks to store the same amount of data.)
Suggestions sought from those geekier than I please đ
Exabyte: An Exabyte is approximately 1,000 Petabytes. Another way to look at it is that an Exabyte is approximately one quintillion bytes or one billion Gigabytes. There is not much to compare an Exabyte to. It has been said that 5 Exabytes would be equal to all of the words ever spoken by mankind.
Zettabyte: A Zettabyte is approximately 1,000 Exabytes. There is nothing to compare a Zettabyte to but to say that it would take a whole lot of ones and zeroes to fill it up.
Yottabyte: A Yottabyte is approximately 1,000 Zettabytes. It would take approximately 11 trillion years to download a Yottabyte file from the Internet using high-power broadband. You can compare it to the World Wide Web as the entire Internet almost takes up about a Yottabyte.
Brontobyte: A Brontobyte is (you guessed it) approximately 1,000 Yottabytes. The only thing there is to say about a Brontobyte is that it is a 1 followed by 27 zeroes!
Geopbyte: A Geopbyte is about 1000 Brontobytes! Not sure why this term was created. I’m doubting that anyone alive today will ever see a Geopbyte hard drive. One way of looking at a geopbyte is 15267 6504600 2283229 4012496 7031205 376 bytes!
My primary personal home systems are currently up above 10 terabytes, most of it in RAID1 mirrors and about 2TB free out of the useable 5TB. By the time you have multiple copies of compiled code variants strewn around, working copies of video, copies of different bootstrap linuxes, virtualbox disks of many operating systems for testing an old software, daily delta backups of other parts of other hard disks, archives of installations of every program ever purchased or pulled off the net (I have copies of programming editors like brief and compilers from the 80’s like my old logitech modula2), backup copies of all my books music and videos, and even mail systems that span decades – it just mounts up.
While Lyn has dropped her terabyte ways at home for the present, she must have gotten closer to 20 terabytes of edits and footage when she was doing edits, translations, and shipping variants of her documentary in the office downstairs.
I find that data fills up whatever space I’m willing to buy. Since standard storage two terabyte HDD is less than $150 these days including GST, and I have a 8 bay hot swappable disk tower with spare room I tend to buy space when required for storage or backups.
I have often wondered why the hell we keep all this “information”. I know the legals and the system information etc around this BUT (to quote Mr Rotten)………”do you ever get the feeling we you’ve been had”?
Hi Lprent.
Just letting you know that when I clicked on a comment from the side panel, it took me back to a post from last year. The comment I was trying to reach was in response to a post from yesterday. Dunno if this means anything, just mentioning it because the last time this sort of thing happened there was quite a big problem.
Some comments then about the nincompoop JK seemed just so prescient.
Btw, I suspect that the throwback to old comments happens because at the very moment when I click on the person’s comment, that person is editing what had just being posted??
Most likely the in-memory database query caching running in APC on the results of previous queries.
It does seem to get somewhat flakey when it has been running for a while (indexing from PHP maybe). I’ve left it running for the last 5 days so I could find out how much fragmentation and size that it gets to (its current half a gig is a little extravagant). It also definitely improves performance both from the in-memory file caching and from the database queries.
Fragmentation: 36.13% (151.6 MBytes out of 419.7 MBytes in 3698 fragments)
But usually the effect you are describing disappears if I get it to drop the cached variables more frequently. I think that it has a issue with whatever the hashing algorithm is. Can’t see why (the code is somewhat turgidly opaque.)
When asked by sports announcer Bob Costas about his performance in the [Boston] marathon Peter Griffin says: âIâll tell ya, Bob, I just got in my car and drove it. And when there was a guy in my way, I killed him.â
Do the producers of Family Guy not see that showing killings at the Boston Marathon, then in the same episode, depicting terrorists bombings, is what is abhorrant!
Forget the show aired 3 weeks before the Boston bombs, thats not where I’m taking this one (people can ponder for themselves the role of media/hollywood, in pre-programming, crystal balling)
Seth MacFarlane has the mindset, to call the editing of two scenes, which were both from the same episode, of his show , abhorrant.
MacFarlane must take his lead from the same script writers of Obamas speech!
Felix – The commentary was about the twisted response of the shows creator, but you already know that too, and have chosen to ignore the obvious deflection, and my references to it!
Jolly good muzza, if you don’t want to say what you’re so upset about (i.e. specifically what is the hypocrisy you perceive) then why should I give a shit?
before heading off to the green hills of the Tararuas this morning to labour under a lovely blue sky, I considered replying to muzza’s first comment,
so glad i resisted.
I first thought he was complaining about a very sensible decision but then realised he is just not a fan of Family Guy and there is no talking to those people đ
Nice one felix, thatâs a petulant response – I’ve made my position on the hypocrisy, clear, and you’ve thrown the toys out of your cot, because you’ve nothing else to offer, and are cogent enough to know when you’ve cornered yourself!
Freedom, actually I think FG is hilarious – MacFarlanes hypocrisy, not so much..
Perhaps MacFarlane should not have allowed the content to exist in his show in the first place, then there would not have been two scenes for him to claim *abhorrence*, about being merged together eh.
edit I just saw your comment above. Are you fucking serious? You’re pretty much arguing for no-one to ever make any film or tv show or record or create anything whatsoever lest it be recontextualised.
If you disagree then give an example of something you’ll allow and I’ll show you why you cant.
I take back the violent femmes song, you really are a fucking idiot.
I saw it too, felix, on Sky, about 3 weeks ago, presumably a week or so after it aired in the states.
Muzza’s faux outrage is via a beatup on Alex Jones’s show ‘Your Conspiracies Today’* and Jones appears to have thought that the heavily modified clip doing the rounds on the net was a genuine excerpt from the Family Guy ep, that somehow predicted the bombings. It’s not, it’s just a prank to try and get nutters to think Hollywood was in on the supposed Boston Marathon false flag black op.
Luckily nobody here at the Standard is stupid enough to fall for that sort of … oh … wait …
Yeah, that’s the one. But, apparently, a genuine conspiracy to attack the States by a bunch of religious fanatics isn’t good enough for some right wing fantasists and their naive followers.
Um, if you think I was on the canvas yesterday, then it’s you with the comprehension prob’s Muzza. Like we didn’t already know that, ho ho!
MacFarlane rightly condemned the deliberate (mis) editing of the show in a clip designed to fool idiots. Jones was apparently the first to be suckered but obviously not the last.
Your problems with IRONY yesterday, speak for themselves, and it seems like today you’re headed for further trouble today, with your support of MacFarlanes blatant hypocrisy, and attempted diversion away from the content of, HIS show!
MacFarlanes complaint is that someone distorted the clip to make it seem other than it was in the show. In other words, they lied for effect. And you’ve bought the lie, yet again. Silly Muzza.
edit: just seen felix’s comment above. Illustrates the process perfectly.
Muzza,
You do realise that Family Guy heavily uses cutaways, where the context of the cutaway scene is often completely irrelevant to the wider plot and connected by the most tenuous or artificial segue? Thus the fact that they might be in the same episode does not mean that they are in any way connected?
Or are you complaining that McFarlane claimed to be sensitive to the victims of the Boston bombings, but not the Middle Eastern victims he stereotyped in the episode?
Once again, your refusal to explicitly state what you are outraged about or implying leads to confusion that serves only to make others think you are insane. The fact people don’t easily get what you’re talking about doesn’t mean you are smart. It means you can’t communicate for shit.
Muzza, forget this thread, but please tell me, why oh lord why would anybody watch Family Guy (or any other recent US shitcom) and be able to quote from it? Life is passing you by, you need rescuing.
I think you and I need to turn off the telee and head for the pub. Its far funnier and it is live. We can observe the actors on their own stage.
Hey Ennui – I don’t watch tv, but have done in the past, these days if I have the box on, its only to watch a movie, otherwise I could just as easily not have a tv at all.
Appreciate the sentiment, life is certainly not passing me by, although it is somewhat slower than it used to be, by being back in NZ. Felt like I’ve crammed a few lives in already, and am enjoying the change of pace, and not being right in the middle of madness.
This is entertainment for me, and as much as I know I should drop it, I find merit in some of the posts, there is often an interesting angle ot two around the place.
That said though, at the core, its really a running commentary of the demise of this country, and in many ways is like a tv drama I guess, one I keep coming back to.
I’ll get bored with it eventually, or perhaps I have to break my crack addiction, until that happens, my posts will continue to rile the natives I expect, even though I’m just putting up what seems interesting/relevant to me, even though its relatively low key most the time.
Muzz That said though, at the core, its really a running commentary of the demise of this country, and in many ways is like a tv drama I guess, one I keep coming back to.
So true, the gift of circumspect is handed to so few. Drinks are on me.
Can’t help thinking of the daily bomb attacks in Iraq, nor the mayhem and disrespect to civilians by the invading armies. The legacy of the USA invasion in particular is the daily loss of hundreds of kids, and mums and dads. It is awful for the Boston victims but more awful for the more numerous victims in places like Iraq.
Schools demand cash to gain support… How well this zone system works to make sure that we don’t have a two tier education system… wonderful that if you can afford prime real estate you can afford to attend a more desirable school…
The failure of socialism is pretending we are all the same … using boundaries drawn around suburbs to limit access to schools so that schools don’t become elite by people having the funds to buy into schools… They just buy into a neighbourhood instead – socialists think their zoning system works – it just makes real estate the proxy for limiting entry rather than school fees.
Socialists put their hands over their ears and sing la la la la – our system works to stop schools being exclusive… Dim-bulbs .
silly me – i thought zoning was about efficient use of funding and resources and ensuring that if the govt spent money building a school they could quantify how many students are likely to go
and thats just the schools – we havent even got to issues such as transport, community cohesion etc etc
never realised it was a socialist uber plot
“it just makes real estate the proxy for limiting entry rather than school fees”
HA HA – but according to your definition of socialist burt – they want everyone to be the same – so wouldnt house prices AND school fees be the same regardless of where you lived?
If all houses were the same … All teachers were the same and all kids had the same attitude and aptitude for learning we would have Draco’s perceived reality… We don’t… Get real and face it… Real estate is a proxy for school fees – it’s the way it is… If you want to get into Auckland Grammar then you got to be able to afford the real estate… Sorry, its the reality and no amount of ideology about how you want it to be will change that.
Right… can’t have it both ways CV… 1 $1m state house in an exclusive suburb or 2 $500K houses in less expensive suburbs… 4 $250K houses might be more appealing…
What’s your objective ??? More housing or social engineering ?
That’s a fair comment. But tell me how do state house tenants get chosen for exclusive neighbourhoods ? Ballot – game of chance ?
Perhaps families with academically high achieving children could be allocated houses in zones with schools that have better results according to the ERO? Perhaps that could be flipped on its head and families with academically high achieving children could be allocated into school zones with poorer ERO ratings in some form of social engineering game to actually achieve the great socialist dream that all schools are equal ?
Sure I get it that large clusters of lower socioeconomic families in poor quality and crowded housing is a disaster. But there is also the reality that there is only so much money available to build state houses and its simply not sensible to build them in prime real estate to fulfil some grand socialist dream of creating a utopia where everyone lives the same… That’s been tried before and never worked ….
I guess if children were the ones who made government policy rather than government policy was made to appeal to people who refuse to grow up – then the current policy would make sense. Pity it’s pitched at a level where only thinking adults can see the unintended consequences of it hurts both themselves and their children.
That’s it in a nutshell isn’t it. Accepting that life is a lottery and that its never equal. That the very nature of life is unfair – then somehow pretending it should be and putting window dressing on it to feel good we have done our best as happy socialists writing the wrongs in a game we have no enduring control over.
Makes you feel better – achieves noting. Happy days pretending ideology solves the problem with your head so far up your ass you believe you made an enduring difference because you wish you could.
You know nothing of what I give to and what I take from society. But it’s ok that you assume what you assume. You support and believe in a failed ideology so your a lost case to humanity anyway.
“That the very nature of life is unfair â then somehow pretending it should be and putting window dressing on it to feel good we have done our best as happy socialists writing the wrongs in a game we have no enduring control over.”
Tell me burt, have you ever done anything to improve the condition you were born into or are you still naked and shivering?
Do you live in a house or do you sleep rough because ‘fuck that, we can’t change anything’?
Those are serious questions btw. Because you seem to be saying that we as humans are incapable of altering anything about our material existence and I think that’s self-evidently false.
“Makes you feel better â achieves noting.”
It achieves everything we’ve ever achieved ever.
This idea of yours that every unfairness we’re born into must be rigourously enforced and maintained until death is abhorrent to humanity itself.
If what you’ve written here is your sincerely held view then I truly pity you burt.
Repeat after me… we are all individuals… we must all earn the same… none are more important than others… follow the leader you have chosen while you repeat this…
burt, I’m an anarchist and thus don’t believe in leaders, don’t believe that we’re all the same and I also don’t believe that the market rewards accurately:
Hospital cleaner = worth 11 times what they’re paid
Financiers = worth minus seven times what they’re paid
My nephew is a carpenter, gets paid about $30/hour + GST. And yet I’ve seen him looking up the regulations for building and advising people on them. So, why doesn’t he get paid the same as a lawyer as a) he’s doing the same work and b) he knows the building codes a hell of a lot better than any lawyer I’ve ever met. On top of that he even builds houses that don’t leak.
Your belief in the market and that people are paid what they’re worth is delusional.
What utter bullshit. Do you really believe that? I saw my auntie bandage my cousins wound once and advise him on how to keep the wound clean. Why she doesn’t earn the same as a doctor? Fuck knows eh, Draco?
While I can accept the current economic paradigm is broken at best your response is, in itself, as flawed, utopian and unworkable as any other. Yet you hoist yourself as the pure voice of reason. And you call other delusional? You are as bad as the rest.
It’s a slight exaggeration but if people don’t take his advice they find that they’ve broken the law, which means that the thousands that they’ve just spent is worthless and that building they just had built/renovated is due for a hell of a lot of work to bring it up to code.
And I’m constantly amazed at the people who don’t take his advice. I suspect they’re like you and don’t think that a builder knows what he’s talking about as far as the laws go.
Why she doesnât earn the same as a doctor? Fuck knows eh, Draco?
Because she doesn’t have 20 years of experience and knowledge of being a doctor?
Should be paid xyz… Very Muldoonesq in your prescription of price control. The old school blue team would be so proud that their legacy of dictatorship mentality has survived and been re-born under the red flag you now support.
Plenty of people go without a lot to move into a zone “deliberately” so they can get their kids into that school.
If as a lefty you are happy that real estate prices associated with the school they choose makes them prioritise away other choices then fine.. believe they should just be happy with the school the government “allocates” them to via the real estate they can afford.
The school that their children will go to will be equally as good as the ones the rich want their children to go to. That’s the bit that you don’t seem to get. I’ll put it simply for you:
It doesn’t matter which school the child goes to they will get the same quality education*.
* Except that NACT are doing their best to destroy the educational system.
The ERO would beg to differ with your utopian view. Funny that in a state run system where everything is apparently the same there is a state run department dedicated to measuring and reporting the differences. I guess it’s the way we manage it because if we can’t measure it we can’t manage it – but wake up… The fact we measure and report differences tells us that its not the same irrespective of where you go – that’s its a struggle to try and create uniformity. Do you have intellectual issues grasping that we are not all the same or do you just let your ideology so completely override reality that you are blinded by it ?
Yes, the whole point of measuring is so that those that are falling behind can make the necessary changes to become better. Throw in continuous teacher development as well and the end result is that the teaching quality of the schools is near uniform.
The reason why the rich like to go to certain schools has nothing to do with the teaching and everything to do with the social networking – as John Key himself said at one point.
Basically the US political system is fucked. And we are following their lead???
Yes and yes and the reason why we’re following the US down the Rabbit Hole is because a few people want our political system to fail as it benefits them.
It’s time to bury not just Thatcher â but NeoLiberalism
“Which is what the facts show. Far from saving Britain, Thatcher’s government delivered rampant inequality, social breakdown, disastrous financial deregulation, pulverising deindustrialisation and mass unemployment. A North Sea oil bonanza was frittered away on tax cuts for the wealthy and a swollen benefits bill as public services were run down, child poverty escalated and social mobility ground to a halt.”
I watched Maggie’s cortege on the teev, her box was dragged (the upper class twits would say “drawn”) along the Strand to St Pauls by some rather magnificent horses. Pomp, circumstance, ceremony and bored horses. The steeds stole the show, they were biting one another, one shaking its head vociferously at the military band in its way. Unfortunately they did not get out of hand and bolt away: shame.
“The forced mourning and the military trappings is of course an ideological, propaganda stunt by the British state. In the face of public opposition to the stately honoring of Thatcher, todayâs proceedings smack of dictatorship by Britainâs ruling elite. The occasion – paid for by the austerity-clobbered British taxpayer – is also being seen as an indulgence in British jingoism and imperialism.”
A lot to read Jim. Compelling. It reads like a grim documentary and in due course the good people, the parents, the teachers and the kids will win. The legal weight on the side of justice will prevail.
But that doesn’t happen. Insidious and nasty. The thin highly financed wedge.
And could it happen here? Not in the same way perhaps but read the number of times we read the words, “The schools are run by selfish teachers who are just there to protect their own interests and resist improvements,” and “Clearly Privatisation of the schools in failing neighbourhoods will boost the learning of failing kids.”
So far I have heard not one word about exactly what specific actions will be taken to help these kids and since the Partnership schools will be hidden from scrutiny we might never know..
from around the traps;
from CL that Susan Devoy is a great source of clinical material
on why I got the job- “I’ve been looking for a role for a while now”. “Somebody just called me, I can’t recall their name….” (John Keys sister by another mother?)
“Strengths and Weaknesses” (that is one foolish flip-flopping person)
waxed on about “disability, mental health, health’, yet not race initially, shifting race around to issues faced by europeans as well.
then,
(has been doing some cocoa reading) “I think that the biggest issues the country is facing are “structural”. You don’t say.
“bias of the people who make the decisions…we need to inform, re-educate the public about the treaty…” Yup!
Manu-“it is a promise of two people to take care of each other” which Devoy acknowledges we have not done. then a small concession “fault is on our part.” followed by “there are many poor white people”…”need a little bit of movement from both sides”…”sigh, it’s not gonna be easy”…plug…”for better public services”.
Isn’t the role Race Relations Commissioner, or is she morphing into the Human Rights, Disability, Health and poor white people commissioner?
Great interview…the interesting thing was her linking race relations to social issues…no doubting her well meaning approach is genuine. She seemed oblivious to her laying bare social realities and the disconnect of her world view to these. This clearly demonstrated the failure of the ideology of those who appointed her to the role. In doing so it laid bare the intellectual vacuity underpinning the appointment.
As for Sue, I wish her luck, she will need it, at heart I am sure, like Maggie she means well.
You wanna take the chance they’re wrong? Be my guest but for someone not interested in all of that conspiracy stuff you are always very informed and must spend a lot of time on this stuff. Hope they pay you well Bookie!
-“Sheep and beef farming is not in good shape (from the farmers themselves)
gonna try “Quality” as the point of difference on the international meat markets, again.
that is if they can discern who are the ‘Bitumen Bandits” laying sh*tty driveways; have you ever seen anything so foolish from otherwise, hardworking businessmen. Wow, just wow, and very sad.
on vaccination programs-“there is just not enough information in the population about vaccines.”
even now, in the information age; if not now, then freakin’ when???
h/t to framu; the form may change yet the consistency remains.
and from vto a h/t to you all; a generous “tops of their field” accolade; very generous indeed.
Yes, john key is a cunningly instinctive chap; that is why we understand him relatively easily; he is not some “higher man” at all; Helen Clark was way stronger than he is.
that “Worlds Deadliest Roads” must appeal to the local Road Transport industry, particular consideration given to the camera angles and shots
soooo, former recidivist immigration fraudster moves to the Phillipines, couldn’t repay a debt, gets 20 years (he looked about 60 anyway) and then the tele people get involved in his liberation???
“Sir” Francois Botha! Whatever. boxing is becoming a WWE-like farce; “shameless” even according to “Sir” Bob Jones. đ (he’d been drinking wine before his appearance on Seven Sharp)
KASM “Kiwis Against Seabed Mining”; on mining for the iron-ore black-sands “if this goes ahead the world has gone mad” ; ya don’t say. (the corporates are getting desperate for resources now indeed).
form 360o and even rounder;
authority on media and gender construction (was fading by then, it is on soooo late)
“we are living in a sexualized age”…”this stuff that is out there is very problematic”…”and if you are surrounded by it.”
According to the Netsafe CEO, focus groups have found 3/4 of young people know how to get around content filters.
KPMG : bank profits up 10% for the DEC Q. 800M schamolies.
and, and, just when you thought the public pillories (stocks đ ) from the Herald were a new journalistic low, along comes Garth McVicar and the SST ‘Judge The Judges website!
Finlayson and him live on RNZ; very revealing indeed.
Finlayson-“they should can this website”
may provoke “an escalation of personal attacks on judges”; see the Bye Bye Birdy campaign đ in California destroyed a judge’s career (they were light on sentencing).
Finlayson just had to humour McVicar who appears to have no appreciation of the supervision and review the juduciary comes under as it is; does he think they are autonomous or something? FFS!
after the net, the television can appear so slow, yet it pays to check in and see what the dominant narratives (stories are),
other than the ‘Richards” it is usually, “and who today is being oppressed by the Taliban / sharia”.
Rip the stories to shreds.
it is not necessary for the advanced thinkers around here to explicate every point or examine the validity of every construct; we see people frequently using constructs fluidly as part of the design.
By the good Lord, that CT was marching out the anglo-saxon flag down Bowalley Road; he comes and goes like that Viking Guy; it may be a little late to be lifting the draw-bridge to the motte-and -bailey.
see, these farmers, when the payout is high, they spend the money in advance, paying down debt likely, then ride on in the lean times; ride on the provincial economies “you can’t spend what you don’t have” says one cocky spokesman; thus the usual, yet worsening, significant eefect on small towns (and then we see Mrs Farmer in Pak n Save)
Magnolia make some good movies like Magnolia, like Hopscotch, like,like American Beauty
Tyrannosaur
(“we’ve got a present for yee, home-made, covert”) some movies you see twice (wanna see some familiar anger, something primitive) People can be be not much better than animals at times.
This is a very moving, yet violent film; one of the better “kitchen sink” ala Mike Leigh looks at council-estate type living.
Costs for a person on the dole searching for a job Versus Cabinet Minister searching for a job.
Trade Minister Tim Groser’s international travel costs soared to almost $250,000 in the first three months of this year as he hit the international traps to lobby for support for his bid to be the Director General of the World Trade Organisation.
on NZ Housing Stocks http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8567572/Kiwis-shivering-in-damp-and-cramped-homes
Jesus Wept; and the tories wonder why working people can so dislike them. FFS, reading the news is like watching a car on a level crossing and the diesel-electric ain’t slowing down; even Winston agrees in todays Herald, “we have lost our place”.
The Miners’ union is spot on about the need for corporate manslaughter laws. PRC killed 29 men and the individuals responsible won’t even have to pay so much as a fine, let alone go to jail.
The press release:
The EPMU has welcomed the Greymouth District Courtâs decision to find Pike River Coal Ltd guilty of serious health and safety breaches and is calling for the sentencing judge to impose the maximum penalty.
EPMU assistant national secretary Ged OâConnell says the sentencing judge should throw the book at Pike River Coal.
âItâs a matter of public record that the people running Pike River Coal put production over the safety of their workforce, leading directly to the deaths of 29 men.
âThis is the most serious breach of our workplace health and safety laws in at least a generation and the sentence must reflect the gravity of the crime. We would expect to see no less than the maximum fine levelled, as well as reparations for the families of the 29 miners.â
Mr OâConnell says the case also shows the need for changes to the law.
âThe reality is Pike River Coal is now little more than a shell company thatâs now in receivership. The accountability must lie with the directors and management who actually made the decisions.
âPike River Coalâs directors should not be able to hide behind shabby legal structures and carry on as if nothing ever happened. Itâs time we had corporate manslaughter laws and personal liability for directors so we can hold those responsible accountable for their actions.
âNew Zealandâs miners and their families also need to see the recommendations of the Pike River Royal Commission implemented as soon as possible and we encourage the Government to carry on its good work putting this into action.â
“The victims’ rights advocate Garth McVicar”
Jim Mora plumbs a new low The Panel, Radio New Zealand National, Thursday 18 April 2013
Jim Mora, Michael Deaker, Irene Gardiner
A few weeks ago, NewstalkZB listeners enjoyed the delicious treat of hearing Janet Wilson indulge in a thinly coded tirade against her husband Bill Ralston. Under the pretext of a critique of Kevin Rudd, she snarled that “he” (ostensibly Kevin Rudd) was “rude, moody and controlling.” As she developed her analysis of “Kevin Rudd”, her voice wound up to a pitch indicative of real psychic pain; any astute listener realized that this was a woman on the edge of clinical hysteria.
This afternoon, National Radio listeners were treated to another coded attack, this time on someone even more odious than Janet Wilson’s husband. The target of today’s roundabout but unmistakeable criticism was the hateful S.S. Trust fĂźhrer Garth “The Knife” McVicar….
JIM MORA: It has been announced today that there is a new website to critique the judges in our courts. Just before we speak to the victims’ rights advocate Garth McVicar, we’ll see what our Panelists think. So, is it a good idea?
IRENE GARDINER: I don’t think this is a very good idea at all.
MICHAEL DEAKER: This sounds like a group for those people who think they know better than everyone else, the ignorant, the vengeful and the kind of people who are on talk radio in the small hours of the morning.
JIM MORA: It sounds like he’s talking about you, Garth!
Of course, McVicar is too dull and insensate to even register a full-frontal assault, leave alone an oblique one like that handed out by Michael Deaker. He merely plowed on with his sub-moronic version of reality. But the comments were made, and did something to balance up Mora’s outrageous definition of McVicar, that monstrous hypocrite, as a “victims’ rights advocate.”
A very small victory for the forces of decency, but a victory nonetheless. Well done, Michael Deaker.
Jim Mora wuvs Mozza! Heard two of your emails read out in the last few days, I think you’re wearing him down. Can’t be long before you’re on the panel yourself đ
Jim Mora wuvs Mozza! Heard two of your emails read out in the last few days, I think youâre wearing him down.
Thanks for the heads up, my friend. I did not hear either of them; in fact I’ve only heard scraps of the program for the last few weeks. I thought Jim had given up on reading my stuff out on air. He’s back on my Christmas card list now.
Canât be long before youâre on the panel yourself
That would be horrific. I would be more mealy-mouthed and stammering and apologetic than anyone that’s ever been on…
CHRISTINE RANKIN: Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
MORRISSEY BREEN: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Um.
JIM MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha! It’s time to find out what our Panelists have been thinking about. Christine Rankin, what’s been on YOUR mind lately?
CHRISTINE RANKIN: Well, Jim, look, I’ve been so busy working for the reintroduction of corporal punishment for the under-fives that I haven’t had TIME to do any thinking at all for several years now. I really can’t think of one thing to talk about.
JIM MORA:[long, irritated silence] Mmmmm-kay. Morrissey, have YOU got something on your mind?
MORRISSEY BREEN: Ummm, ahhhh, I’m going to abandon my, uh, carefully prepared speech about foreign policy, and comment on Christine’s failure to ummm, errr, honour her, ummmm, commitments to your show.
CHRISTINE RANKIN:[indignant] I’ve been BUSY.
MORRISSEY BREEN: Ummmm, ahhhh, yeah. Ummm…to paraphrase Dr. Johnson, I will say this about Christine: “This woman’s thinking is like a dog’s walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it not done at all.”
JIM MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! That’s very funny! I think he’s talking about you Christine!
MORRISSEY BREEN: And that’s all I have to say, Jim. Um.
JIM MORA: Short and sweet. That’s the way we like them on the Panel! Okay, next up, Lanthanide will tell us why he thinks a nuclear reactor in the middle of Christchurch would be a good idea. First, though, what do the Panelists think of this?
RANKIN:[fervently] That’s a SPLENDID idea. At last, somebody talking some sense….
Ha, that transcript would still be an improvement on most of the shows! Can’t remember the one read out earlier in the week, but yesterday’s was about mad Monckton and space aliens. Very apt.
It happened all right. Her outburst was followed by a long, awkward silence. Even that notorious thicko Larry Lackwit Williams realized what she was really saying; I’m sure you do too.
As Ms. Wilson clenched her teeth, snarled and steadily ratcheted up that attack on “Kevin Rudd”, listeners were given a perfect example of what we rhetoricians call argument from analogy.
I look forward to your demolition work on “Humpty Dumpty”, “Spiggy Topes” and Animal Farm.
FRIENDLY ADMONITION
One should not allow oneself to be driven by one’s own personal problems with a fellow Standardista into denying what even the most addle-pated host on the world’s worst radio show can recognize.
Reality is in the process of resuming. The Nats’ shyte is catching up with them and they are looking like they are on their last legs. And Labour has been coherent.
The nats are down to 40.5%. It has been a loooong time since they were down this low.
A bit of real left wing inspiration after 12 years.
Fify.
Not particularly worked up, just pointing out that six months ago you seemed convinced that labour would stay at 32% if they didn’t do what you wanted.
Nah I’d always accepted that Labour could win with 35%. But winning means fuck all, because its knowing how to use that victory which counts. And this power initiative is a start.
PS Labour under Goff hit the heights of 35% as well.
To do win without NZF (and preclude the chances that a NZF swing to the NATs might occur) Labour will need no less than 35% to 37% of the vote on e-day, with the Greens turning in another good performance.
Unless Labour gets a minimum 34% (or maybe even 35% plus) in the E-day poll, NZF will be a must have in order to form a coalition government.
The follow on analysis from that is that a swing from 27% 2011 to 34%-35% 2014 is a very big ask in the best circumstances.
(emphasis added).
My impression has been that labour with the current caucus and leadership is not what you would regard as “the best circumstances”, so the real challenge facing Labour is significantly harder than a “very big ask”.
Yep. The North Korea stuff is somewhat bewildering.
Their comments make them look like a brainless talentless clique of careerists wanting only to preserve their grip on power so they can serve up to their masters who happen to be uber rich psychopaths even more of our resources but who realise that ordinary Kiwis have now cottoned on to what they are doing.
Listening to Bryan Crump on Radionz parry with Lord Monckton who is the male version of Margaret Thatcher. Someone from his Club has been involved with climate change in the past and one feels that here is a repository of lucid intellect.
Nuclear power has killed very few people and the waste problem can go down to the bottom of a sea trench and all radiation is stopped by 10 feet-metres-knots? of water. And hydro produced electricity is bad for some reason. I can’t be bothered listening more as my head hurts, and I don’t have respect for him anyway.
He has been appointed a UN expert reviewer and now knows all there is to know and has published stuff too. This man really knows…. how to talk fluently in a confident manner. Just like all right wing pollies. I think this is his mindset – that one has to do something in life, and better this than mixing with one’s nanny and running off into oblivion like Lord Lucan.
Lord Haw Haw said something about being a UN reviewer but it sounds like he might be self appointed or nearly. Probably they had to find some way of getting him out of their hair. A bit like the Tom Lehrer song about being serenaded by a noisy Mexican band who wouldn’t go away till they were paid.
The economic theory underpinning austerity policies being followed by governments world wide may be flawed.
That is the allegation made in a study by the University of Massachusetts. It claims to have found coding errors on the Excel spreadsheet used by the academics who produced the theory which could invalidate their conclusions.
no other researcher has been able to replicate [Reinhart and Rogoff’s] “association”, and no satisfactory explanation has been given as to why that is. Until now. The new critique, “Does High Public Debt Consistently Stifle Economic Growth? A Critique of Reinhart and Rogoff” by Thomas Herndon, Michael Ash and Robert Pollin (HAP, in economistspeak), is damning. It highlights three inaccuracies in R&R: “coding errors, selective exclusion of available data, and unconventional weighting of summary statistics”.
The use of New Zealand data features strongly in the critique.
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A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
âYou talking about me?âThe neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hallâs âGlide Timeâ caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...
Introduction Pickleball, a rapidly growing paddle sport, has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Its blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis elements has made it a favorite among players of all ages and skill levels. As the sport’s popularity continues to surge, the question on ...
Our two-tiered system for veteransâ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veteransâ affairs spokesperson Greg OâConnor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxonâs management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last yearâs severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
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, Labourâs 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 countryâs 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 Governmentâs Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a âget out of jail freeâ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
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 Zealandâs good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National governmentâs 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. ...
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 TÄmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Governmentâs democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Governmentâs 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 thatâs great for the planet and great for consumers after her memberâs 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 countryâs books after Teanau Tuionoâs membersâ 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 memberâs bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Todayâs 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. ...
The Governmentâs newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealandâs urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
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. âOur 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 Zealandâs hydrogen future, with the opening of the countryâs first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. âI 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 Zealandâs own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealandâs 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. âThe report shows that New Zealandâs emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,â Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where heâll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Governmentâs work to restore law and order. âAttending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealandâs human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the worldâs largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. âThe reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealandâs 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  NgÄ 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. âOur 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 Zealandâs overseas missions.  âOur diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealandâs interests around the world,â Mr Peters says.  âI 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. Â âOver 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. âIt 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. âOur coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
âChina remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,â 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. âRecently 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 Teachersâ 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.  âThe 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. âScience, 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 todayâs 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. âThe Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in TaupĹ as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the TaupĹ International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. âAnticipation for the ITM TaupĹ 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. âThe 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. âThis project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sectorâs productivity,â Mr Jones says. âThe project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Governmentâs plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. âBenefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Governmentâs commitment to doubling New Zealandâs 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 Zealandâs 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. âOur 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. âNew 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 Governmentâs intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. âThe introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Todayâs 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 Governmentâs plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. âInflation 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 sectorâs role in the export-led recovery of the economy. âI am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Governmentâs support for the revitalisation the sector.  "New Zealandâs wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. âThe inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. âMy meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the RĂĄkĂłczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).SĂĄndor HegedĹąs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesnât really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didnât really want to, because of a war they didnât ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the publicâs democratic right to have âa fair sayâ and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard â in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
Iâm on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Heraâs help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener youâre likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
âNever again - No AUKUSâ was the message of the wreath laid at this morningâs national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now sheâs very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice â both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high schoolâs head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble. Â Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhireâs 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.  My World War I Poem  Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging.  Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihanâs gorgeous and sad debut KĹhine, Noelle McCarthyâs memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend NgÄhuia te ...
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Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australiaâs University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourneâs Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
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 Australiaâs inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and itâs now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this weekâs Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
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 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealandâs coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Leeâs spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammageâs Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australiaâs forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmersâs third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief â beyond the tax cuts â although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Leeâs recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmannâs defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Leeâs âforensicâ and ânuancedâ application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Itâs one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayersâ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of âsix decades of treacheryâ over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazineâs 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish Iâd writtenIf I wish Iâd written a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
âThree Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.â ...
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunalâs report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
Books editor Claire Mabey reviews poet Louise Wallaceâs debut novel. A famous poet once said to me that heâs always suspicious when a poet publishes a novel. I never really understood why but maybe itâs something to do with cheating on your first form. Louise Wallace is a poet. Sheâs ...
For a few months at the turn of the millennium, TrueBliss burned bright as the biggest pop stars in the country. Alex Casey chats to two superfans who still hold the flame. During a humble backyard wedding in Nelson, 1999, one of the cordially invited guests had to excuse themselves ...
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whÄnau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...
A new survey says âoutlook not greatâ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoffâs morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, itâs not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
A leaked document shows the Canterbury/Waitaha arm of health agency Te Whatu Ora is scurrying to save $13.3 million by July. The âfinancial sustainability targetâ, which was âallocatedâ to Waitaha, is consistent with whatâs happening in other districts, says Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ...
A look at the state of the previous governmentâs affordable housing scheme, and what could come next.Remind me: Whatâs KiwiBuild again?First announced in 2012, KiwiBuild was a flagship policy of the Labour Party heading into both its 2014 and 2017 election campaigns. With Jacinda Ardern as prime minister, ...
Labour in opposition will be shocked to learn which party had six years in power but squandered any chance to make real change. Grant Robertsonâs valedictory speech was a predictably entertaining trip down memory lane. The acid-tongued incoming Otago University chancellor administered a sick burn to the coalition government. He ...
There’s relief for building owners bending under the weight of earthquake strengthening rules â and costs â that came into force seven years ago. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has announced a scheduled 2027 review of the earthquake-prone building regulations will now start this year. Owners will also get ...
Opinion: It has been announced that nine percent of roles at Oranga Tamariki will be disestablished, presumably to help fund the tax cuts promised by the coalition Government. I am reminded of the graphics used to illustrate pandemic events, where five thousand people are standing in a field and then ...
After more than two sleepless days, running through savage terrain, Greig Hamilton didnât know if he was going to finish one of the most gruelling psychological assaults in sport. He was metres away from the finish line, a yellow gate made famous in a Netflix documentary; a race heâd dreamed ...
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The following interview with former Green Party MP Sue Kedgley came about because she features in the new memoir Hine Toa by activist NgÄhuia te AwekĹtuku; the two knew each other at the University of Auckland in the early 70s, when they were both took on leadership roles in the ...
Well done David Clark
So what could be the next private member’s bill to roll the government?
How about a private member’s bill to dump the ETS?
This rotten law is well past its use by date. Exposed by the passing of time to be a provenly completely useless piece of legislation.
Go to the following link to read the 350 reasons why carbon trading doesn’t work.
http://www.350reasons.org/350reasons_readonline.pdf
(And was never meant to work)
Carbon trading is the single biggest act of green washing in this country.
The ETS doesn’t cut green house gas emissions. The ETS is in fact and in proven practice a roadblock to making real cuts. We would be better off without it.
The time has come to get rid of it.
The government is vulnerable.
The passing of the Mondayisation bill in the face of stiff government opposition, gives a lead. This bill was the first opposition bill to succeed against the government’s wishes.
May it be the first of many.
The ETS has gone on long enough to expose it’s real nature, and true purpose. (New Zealand’s greenhouse emissions have actually risen since its passing)
Could an opposition bill to dump this dangerous farce, be the next bill to roll the government?
Could this be the issue that the government facing defeat yet again, decide to make a stand on?
Facing a repeat defeat in the house, the government could be forced into an early election.
So which opposition party MP will be the next to step up to the plate, to weaken this government’s hold on power, and do a good for the climate?
More reasons why the market solution to climate change should be dumped.
So that we can get down to implementing some real solutions.
http://grist.org/news/effort-to-revive-cap-and-trade-in-europe-fails/
P.S. Any attempt at thread jacking by climate change apologists needs to be clamped down on hard.
If they can’t argue their case. They should not be allowed to sabotage others.
đ
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/17/canada-geoengineering-pacific
Where does this sort of activity fit into the discussion for you, Jenny ?
Generally I think that geo-engineering is like offering someone a wheel chair before they have an accident.
On the individual scale there is no rational reason why anyone would choose to be an invalid. The same on the global scale.
Far better to avoid the wheelchair and the accident. The science shows that we can still avoid the very worst of effects of climate change if we act now.
All that is missing is the political will.
“Clamped down on hard”…..no Jenny, there is enough absolutist authoritarian thinking amongst contributors here. No more required, better to give enough rope and let the buggers hang themselves.
Interestingly, it’s always been my experience that climate change deniers are stamped on, usually by lprent, who really really hates pseudoscientific bullshit appearing in his playground.
But for some reason I get this really nagging feeling that you might also define “thread jacking” as “any attempt to point out that, yet again, Jenny is trying to take over Open Mike and slag off the Green Party with nothing to back her up”.
Just a thought: Mondayisation of public holidays might just be a slightly different political creature to climate change, in terms of insignificant little details like “simplicity of ideas” and “immediate popular appeal” and “level of cost to the government and economy”.
Plus I needed a topic to keep my sarcasm/auger skills current – which you have to do by practicing. I picked climate change topics as being perfect for the task because I knew the topic and it wasn’t as boring as programming, management or history… Perfect for the task really. I am pretty constrained as I only really have a good go at the ones who parrot rather than think.
Accusations that I am trying to take over open mike by QoT. (If such a thing is possible.) Is unjust. I have something to say. And I usually don’t see where I can fit it in with any of the other debates.
If QoT disagrees with what I have to say, she has every right, as everyone else has, to point out where I am going wrong. In fact I wish she would.
What I objected to was the blatant attempt HERE by Colonial Viper to sabotage others who wished to add comments to my open mike post on the Green Party called, Conference On Climate Change. Colonial Viper clearly does not want this topic discussed openly, not in the legislative chamber and not here either. CV may think he is being smart in sabotaging the thread to prevent people commenting. But in fact he is just exposing himself as out of ideas. I find it sad that QoT rushes to defend such tactics and attacks me instead.
QoT accuses me of having an anti Green Party agenda. That is also unfair, and inaccurate. I point out where I think that they may be going wrong. Just as I would do for Labour or National or any other political party or trend. Her comment is doubly inaccurate and unfair, because if she had read my comment and others relateing to the same topic. She would know that I have been very supportive of the Green Party initiative to call a Conference On Climate Change in the old legislative chamber of Parliament on June 7.
http://www.350reasons.org/350reasons_readonline.pdf
The bullshit that is carbon trading is simply this – “…like squeezing a balloon: gains made in one place [are] cancelled out by increases elsewhere.”
(From this very good article by Duncan Clark in the Guardian). Well worth the time and effort to read.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/apr/17/why-cant-we-give-up-fossil-fuels
A picture speaks a thousand words apparently.
http://www.anorak.co.uk/354196/politicians/turn-your-back-on-thatcher-the-funeral-protest-that-might-be-a-poznan.html/
lol that one almost needs a warning! đ
Great to see the protests around this contrived (except for Osborne’s) mourning though.
Bishop of Auckland says legalizing gay marriage is “bizarre”
Thursday 18 April 2013
Following last night’s passing of the Marriage Equality Law, the Catholic bishop of Auckland, the Most Reverend Patrick Dunn immediately denounced the whole thing as “bizarre.”
His holiness then picked up his crosier, adjusted his mitre, slipped on his purple slippers, and with a whisk of his skirts, flounced off in high indignation back to the Pompallier Centre.
I like that the Bishop can flounce off having had his say…that is very healthy even if we might not agree. No danger in that so long as we have a separation of church and state….inquisitions don’t really appeal, spiritual or secular.
but the question remains why do they call them ‘fathers’ and dress them like ‘mothers’ ? More than an errant flounce in there ….
Trousers are a fairly recent invention throughout history. It requires sewing or some other inventive practices to make them. Ancient Greeks and Romans wore robes. I suspect Bishops’ clothes date back to pre-trouser times.
A clue Karol: Ponitfex Maximus, was the title of the High Priest of Ancient Rome and is the title of the Pope today. Dress code the same. Office, well …the same.
Trousers, very barbarian according to Romans…really good to wear when riding war horses….stops the chafing. Leather shorts, more recent Germanic look, great for wearing to beer fests.
So what other alternative approaches could we be looking at if we dumped the ETS?
How about this:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-to-power-the-world&page=3
This time rather than demonstrating how the whole world could go to renewables. Jacobson has laid out a detailed plan for switching to renewables for the state of New York. For which he says:
In energy generation New Zealand is already 70% part way there. For us, the change would be far easier than New York which relies heavily on coal fired power stations.
Here in NZ, on their own Tiwai is on the verge of closing, and solid energy our biggest coal producer is on the verge of bankruptcy. It will require only a small nudge for New Zealand to make a world first. Becoming the first country in the world to generate all our electricity from renewables.
Both Tiwai and Solid Energy can only continue, (if they do continue), with massive taxpayer subsidies.
Far better that this government largess go into further decarbonising our transport network and industry. This would create many thousands of more well paying jobs than either coal or Tiwai ever could.
As in New Zealand, As in New York as Mark Jobobsen says all that is missing is the political will.
Proposed law update allows eavesdropping by agencies through telecommunications network providers.
Kim Dotcom’s company Mega is warily eyeing proposed legislation that may oblige it to open its systems to surveillance by spy agencies the GCSB and SIS as well as the police.
Makes you wonder if this may be the real reason for the re-organisation of the GCSB?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10878208
My goodness they do seem to have a personal vendetta against Kim Dotcom. Why’s that I wonder?
Because he’s upstaged them? Poor little boys and girls. That’s not fair.
I’m reminded of my formative years… my younger brother threw rolled up socks at me when he was caught out misbehaving as though I was to blame. Believe me rolled up socks can pack a punch too. đ
Typical behaviour by this Government and straight out of the Crosby Textor rule book.
When faced by a crisis do the following:
1. Call for a report.
2. When it is released say that there is a legal/organisational/structural difficulty.
3. Allege that something terrible will happen if nothing is done e.g. WMDs will be constructed and detonated downtown.
4. Propose an omnibus reform package. Make sure that there are a number of changes being made. This will make sure that the one change which will increase violation of Kiwi’s rights slips through with the least amount of oversight.
5. Keep moving the debate so that attention is diverted from the original crisis.
+1
And it’s not just this government either. We got those terrorism laws under the last government.
And there’s a slightly different perspective on this in a Stuff article. It looks like there’s a struggle going on with pressure form some parties for the law to lean more in their favour, or at least, to lean a bit against their rivals. (Telecom named, but are they a proxy for the government?)
Karol, there is existing Legal Intercept legislation that NZ telcos are required to comply to by the authorities (with massive fines for non compliance). From a technical angle so long as the big telcos are controlled the other players in the market don’t really matter in terms of interception. The reason for this is that pretty much all IP packets sent / received in NZ across a WAN link will traverse a major telco switch somewhere in transit. Capturing traffic is easy, making sense of it is another story altogether.
Yes karol. That bit: “Mega is developing secure email and instant messaging services that would let users encrypt their communications.
Chief executive Vikram Kumar said the company would have to obey any new law, but would not be able to help the GCSB decrypt communications between its subscribers because customers themselves held the encryption software on their own computers.”
Maybe the GCSB will be able to upgrade their code breaking skills and be a world first to break “the encryption held on their own computers.”
lol, ianmac
Getting logical Mr Mac, encryption is only as good as the amount of computer cycles and time taken to crack it…what might have taken theoretically a million years yesterday might take seconds to decrypt tomorrow. And old information can be just as deadly if not as timely. Its an arms race.
A clever move might be to pull the plug……..
PGP
Admittedly, it’s a little clumsy to use but it’s the type of stuff that’s been around for a long time. No Mega needed.
seriously don’t spend too much time worrying about Dotcom, he’s light years ahead of the authorities.
And wonderfully so.
Now .. what is the 2013 internet equivalent of not picking a fight with someone who buys printer’s ink by the barrel ( Mark Twain) ? Someone who can use pixels by the Petabyte ? (Petabyte: is approximately 1,000 Terabytes or one million Gigabytes. It’s hard to visualize what a Petabyte could hold. 1 Petabyte could hold approximately 20 million 4-door filing cabinets full of text. It could hold 500 billion pages of standard printed text. It would take about 500 million floppy disks to store the same amount of data.)
Suggestions sought from those geekier than I please đ
and because these are fun to imagine:
Exabyte: An Exabyte is approximately 1,000 Petabytes. Another way to look at it is that an Exabyte is approximately one quintillion bytes or one billion Gigabytes. There is not much to compare an Exabyte to. It has been said that 5 Exabytes would be equal to all of the words ever spoken by mankind.
Zettabyte: A Zettabyte is approximately 1,000 Exabytes. There is nothing to compare a Zettabyte to but to say that it would take a whole lot of ones and zeroes to fill it up.
Yottabyte: A Yottabyte is approximately 1,000 Zettabytes. It would take approximately 11 trillion years to download a Yottabyte file from the Internet using high-power broadband. You can compare it to the World Wide Web as the entire Internet almost takes up about a Yottabyte.
Brontobyte: A Brontobyte is (you guessed it) approximately 1,000 Yottabytes. The only thing there is to say about a Brontobyte is that it is a 1 followed by 27 zeroes!
Geopbyte: A Geopbyte is about 1000 Brontobytes! Not sure why this term was created. I’m doubting that anyone alive today will ever see a Geopbyte hard drive. One way of looking at a geopbyte is 15267 6504600 2283229 4012496 7031205 376 bytes!
http://www.whatsabyte.com/
My primary personal home systems are currently up above 10 terabytes, most of it in RAID1 mirrors and about 2TB free out of the useable 5TB. By the time you have multiple copies of compiled code variants strewn around, working copies of video, copies of different bootstrap linuxes, virtualbox disks of many operating systems for testing an old software, daily delta backups of other parts of other hard disks, archives of installations of every program ever purchased or pulled off the net (I have copies of programming editors like brief and compilers from the 80’s like my old logitech modula2), backup copies of all my books music and videos, and even mail systems that span decades – it just mounts up.
While Lyn has dropped her terabyte ways at home for the present, she must have gotten closer to 20 terabytes of edits and footage when she was doing edits, translations, and shipping variants of her documentary in the office downstairs.
I find that data fills up whatever space I’m willing to buy. Since standard storage two terabyte HDD is less than $150 these days including GST, and I have a 8 bay hot swappable disk tower with spare room I tend to buy space when required for storage or backups.
I have often wondered why the hell we keep all this “information”. I know the legals and the system information etc around this BUT (to quote Mr Rotten)………”do you ever get the feeling we you’ve been had”?
If every byte was a millimeter, in a Petabyte, you would have a length equivalent to about 7.2 billion Brontosaurus.
Alternatively, if every byte in a Petabyte was a walnut, you would have a volume equal to about 33.5 million Olympic sized swimming pools.
Hi Lprent.
Just letting you know that when I clicked on a comment from the side panel, it took me back to a post from last year. The comment I was trying to reach was in response to a post from yesterday. Dunno if this means anything, just mentioning it because the last time this sort of thing happened there was quite a big problem.
This has been happening to me intermittently for a while – usually once a day at least.
Yep. Quite funny seeing what was going on in 2009 and 2010.
Some comments then about the nincompoop JK seemed just so prescient.
Btw, I suspect that the throwback to old comments happens because at the very moment when I click on the person’s comment, that person is editing what had just being posted??
Me too. At first I thought my time machine was finally operational but no, it still only goes forward in time.
Had that happen to me a couple of days ago. Took me to a comment from Tim Ellis. Where are you now, Tim Tim, nice but dim?
I kind of quite like the random dip into historical posts and kind of hope it isn’t ‘fixed’.
Most likely the in-memory database query caching running in APC on the results of previous queries.
It does seem to get somewhat flakey when it has been running for a while (indexing from PHP maybe). I’ve left it running for the last 5 days so I could find out how much fragmentation and size that it gets to (its current half a gig is a little extravagant). It also definitely improves performance both from the in-memory file caching and from the database queries.
Uptime 4 days, 14 hours and 53 minutes
Cached Files 528 ( 72.2 MBytes)
Hits 61894861
Misses 1398
Request Rate (hits, misses) 155.04 cache requests/second
Hit Rate 155.04 cache requests/second
Miss Rate 0.00 cache requests/second
Insert Rate 0.00 cache requests/second
Cached Variables 5984 ( 19.4 MBytes)
Hits 53067581
Misses 4401715
Request Rate (hits, misses) 143.95 cache requests/second
Hit Rate 132.93 cache requests/second
Miss Rate 11.03 cache requests/second
Insert Rate 25.74 cache requests/second
Fragmentation: 36.13% (151.6 MBytes out of 419.7 MBytes in 3698 fragments)
But usually the effect you are describing disappears if I get it to drop the cached variables more frequently. I think that it has a issue with whatever the hashing algorithm is. Can’t see why (the code is somewhat turgidly opaque.)
The edited Family Guy clip currently circulating is abhorrent,â MacFarlane tweeted. âThe event was a crime and a tragedy, and my thoughts are with the victims.â
Do the producers of Family Guy not see that showing killings at the Boston Marathon, then in the same episode, depicting terrorists bombings, is what is abhorrant!
Forget the show aired 3 weeks before the Boston bombs, thats not where I’m taking this one (people can ponder for themselves the role of media/hollywood, in pre-programming, crystal balling)
Seth MacFarlane has the mindset, to call the editing of two scenes, which were both from the same episode, of his show , abhorrant.
MacFarlane must take his lead from the same script writers of Obamas speech!
Twisted!
The Taliban have put the membership forms in the post Muzza.
Does Project Onan have access to a calendar? Might want to get someone higher up the org chart to have a look at the date of that episode.
Muzza, is there any conspiracy theory you don’t believe?
KK –
Felix – The commentary was about the twisted response of the shows creator, but you already know that too, and have chosen to ignore the obvious deflection, and my references to it!
TC –
muzza.
It only seems a twisted response because you imagined that the show was made after the events at the marathon.
You were mistaken.
When was the show aired?
Where was I mistaken?
I don’t know when it aired, but I saw it before the bombings.
And if I saw it, it had already been made.
Unless you are secretly clairvoyant. Please try to be more thorough in your responses đ
I’ll do my best đ
Oh god what if Seth MacFarlane is in on the whole “bombing” scam?
What were you actually on about?
This comment of yours:
Don’t have a twisted response, dude. It’s made from bits of your comments.
No I wasn’t – We’ve established that, much as you have tried to deflect it!
Time to ask Voice to borrow the Bobcat, you’re going to need a bigger hole too!
muzza you’re insane.
There’s nothing twisted about MacFarlane’s response to you editing his film.
The hypocrisy and deflection of MacFarlane is blinding, can you see that, felix?
No. The stupidity of you is vast and omnipotent.
What can’t you see about MacFarlanes hypocrisy/deflection, felix?
Go on then. Describe the hypocrisy.
The response to a question, sits with you for now…
Jolly good muzza, if you don’t want to say what you’re so upset about (i.e. specifically what is the hypocrisy you perceive) then why should I give a shit?
meh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpDNuZW-tTA
đ “I wanta’ be a cowboy, and you can be my cowgirl”
before heading off to the green hills of the Tararuas this morning to labour under a lovely blue sky, I considered replying to muzza’s first comment,
so glad i resisted.
I first thought he was complaining about a very sensible decision but then realised he is just not a fan of Family Guy and there is no talking to those people đ
Nice one felix, thatâs a petulant response – I’ve made my position on the hypocrisy, clear, and you’ve thrown the toys out of your cot, because you’ve nothing else to offer, and are cogent enough to know when you’ve cornered yourself!
Freedom, actually I think FG is hilarious – MacFarlanes hypocrisy, not so much..
Perhaps MacFarlane should not have allowed the content to exist in his show in the first place, then there would not have been two scenes for him to claim *abhorrence*, about being merged together eh.
Enjoy the trip, and the work…
What hypocrisy muzza? You haven’t said squat except that you think some exists.
I’m happy to chat about hypocrisy as soon as you point it out. Until then maybe you’d like this one better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1nrmdft5tk
edit I just saw your comment above. Are you fucking serious? You’re pretty much arguing for no-one to ever make any film or tv show or record or create anything whatsoever lest it be recontextualised.
If you disagree then give an example of something you’ll allow and I’ll show you why you cant.
I take back the violent femmes song, you really are a fucking idiot.
And more insults, awesome, felix…
No, what I’m saying is that MacFarlane should have kept his mouth shut (to avoid being sounding like a hypocrite), as the content came from, his show!
What hypocrisy, muz? No one else can see any, so take pity on us mere mortals and spell it out.
To ghostrider888 âŚmy name is Ted, one day I’ll be dead, yo yo….great guitar solo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turban_Cowboy
I saw it too, felix, on Sky, about 3 weeks ago, presumably a week or so after it aired in the states.
Muzza’s faux outrage is via a beatup on Alex Jones’s show ‘Your Conspiracies Today’* and Jones appears to have thought that the heavily modified clip doing the rounds on the net was a genuine excerpt from the Family Guy ep, that somehow predicted the bombings. It’s not, it’s just a prank to try and get nutters to think Hollywood was in on the supposed Boston Marathon false flag black op.
Luckily nobody here at the Standard is stupid enough to fall for that sort of … oh … wait …
Victory is mine!
* may not be the actual name of the show.
Muzza never met a conspiracy he didn’t like
Except the real one on 9/11.
The one where 19 highjackers conspired with a radical Islamic terror group?
Yeah, that’s the one. But, apparently, a genuine conspiracy to attack the States by a bunch of religious fanatics isn’t good enough for some right wing fantasists and their naive followers.
What are you referencing Alex Jones for?
Poor attempt to scrape yourself up off the floor from yesterday, Voice!
The faux outrage, you’re looking, in fact came from Seth MacFarlane, which was my contention, or do you have comprehension issues as well!
Another fail, from you!
Um, if you think I was on the canvas yesterday, then it’s you with the comprehension prob’s Muzza. Like we didn’t already know that, ho ho!
MacFarlane rightly condemned the deliberate (mis) editing of the show in a clip designed to fool idiots. Jones was apparently the first to be suckered but obviously not the last.
Your problems with IRONY yesterday, speak for themselves, and it seems like today you’re headed for further trouble today, with your support of MacFarlanes blatant hypocrisy, and attempted diversion away from the content of, HIS show!
Only ever speak for yourself!
MacFarlanes complaint is that someone distorted the clip to make it seem other than it was in the show. In other words, they lied for effect. And you’ve bought the lie, yet again. Silly Muzza.
edit: just seen felix’s comment above. Illustrates the process perfectly.
No voice, you have serious comprehension (at best) issues, I was not talking about the pasting of the two scenes (which were in the show).
I’ll try spell it out simply enough for you:
1: The content was in an episode of McFarlanes show – Family Guy
2: The show aired on March 17 in USA
3: The show had a scene where Peter Griffen answers a question about his killing/injuring of people, driving his car, to win the Boston Marathon
4: The show had a scene which *insinuated* Peter Griffen activated two explosions using a cell phone
5: The two scenes were not consecutive, in the aired tv episode
6: Someone(s) edited those two scenes together to make it appear as if they were consecutive, this was on the internet.
7: The editing of the scenes prompted the *abhorrant* comment from MacFarlane, and was supported by the MSM
8: MacFarlanes hypocrisy, prompted the original post from myself
9: Yourself, and felix, have attempted to turn it around.
10: Yourself and felix, have again failed, it would appear deliberately – benefit of doubt to you both.
Keep trying TRP – You’re going need to upgrade the Bobcat to something which can dig a hole big enough for both you, and felix!
Muzza,
You do realise that Family Guy heavily uses cutaways, where the context of the cutaway scene is often completely irrelevant to the wider plot and connected by the most tenuous or artificial segue? Thus the fact that they might be in the same episode does not mean that they are in any way connected?
Or are you complaining that McFarlane claimed to be sensitive to the victims of the Boston bombings, but not the Middle Eastern victims he stereotyped in the episode?
Once again, your refusal to explicitly state what you are outraged about or implying leads to confusion that serves only to make others think you are insane. The fact people don’t easily get what you’re talking about doesn’t mean you are smart. It means you can’t communicate for shit.
Muzza, forget this thread, but please tell me, why oh lord why would anybody watch Family Guy (or any other recent US shitcom) and be able to quote from it? Life is passing you by, you need rescuing.
I think you and I need to turn off the telee and head for the pub. Its far funnier and it is live. We can observe the actors on their own stage.
Ennui, you have to be 18 to go to the pub.
Hey Ennui – I don’t watch tv, but have done in the past, these days if I have the box on, its only to watch a movie, otherwise I could just as easily not have a tv at all.
Appreciate the sentiment, life is certainly not passing me by, although it is somewhat slower than it used to be, by being back in NZ. Felt like I’ve crammed a few lives in already, and am enjoying the change of pace, and not being right in the middle of madness.
This is entertainment for me, and as much as I know I should drop it, I find merit in some of the posts, there is often an interesting angle ot two around the place.
That said though, at the core, its really a running commentary of the demise of this country, and in many ways is like a tv drama I guess, one I keep coming back to.
I’ll get bored with it eventually, or perhaps I have to break my crack addiction, until that happens, my posts will continue to rile the natives I expect, even though I’m just putting up what seems interesting/relevant to me, even though its relatively low key most the time.
Take it easy bro.
So now you’re not even running a personal experiment, just trolololollling…
Muzz That said though, at the core, its really a running commentary of the demise of this country, and in many ways is like a tv drama I guess, one I keep coming back to.
So true, the gift of circumspect is handed to so few. Drinks are on me.
was gonna say “by God, alone shall judge…” but you seem a bit occupied at the moment.
đ
Can’t help thinking of the daily bomb attacks in Iraq, nor the mayhem and disrespect to civilians by the invading armies. The legacy of the USA invasion in particular is the daily loss of hundreds of kids, and mums and dads. It is awful for the Boston victims but more awful for the more numerous victims in places like Iraq.
Schools demand cash to gain support… How well this zone system works to make sure that we don’t have a two tier education system… wonderful that if you can afford prime real estate you can afford to attend a more desirable school…
Socialism … failing again… like always.
That;s why its important to have social housing in every suburb Burt.
Notice that’s what your Tory mates have been busily getting rid of? Blame yourself for the failings you point out, Mr Clever.
i still cant figure out why only rich people being able to afford expensive houses and private schools is a failure of socialism
whats that phrase about something rising and lifting all boats?
The failure of socialism is pretending we are all the same … using boundaries drawn around suburbs to limit access to schools so that schools don’t become elite by people having the funds to buy into schools… They just buy into a neighbourhood instead – socialists think their zoning system works – it just makes real estate the proxy for limiting entry rather than school fees.
Socialists put their hands over their ears and sing la la la la – our system works to stop schools being exclusive… Dim-bulbs .
silly me – i thought zoning was about efficient use of funding and resources and ensuring that if the govt spent money building a school they could quantify how many students are likely to go
and thats just the schools – we havent even got to issues such as transport, community cohesion etc etc
never realised it was a socialist uber plot
“it just makes real estate the proxy for limiting entry rather than school fees”
HA HA – but according to your definition of socialist burt – they want everyone to be the same – so wouldnt house prices AND school fees be the same regardless of where you lived?
If all houses were the same … All teachers were the same and all kids had the same attitude and aptitude for learning we would have Draco’s perceived reality… We don’t… Get real and face it… Real estate is a proxy for school fees – it’s the way it is… If you want to get into Auckland Grammar then you got to be able to afford the real estate… Sorry, its the reality and no amount of ideology about how you want it to be will change that.
Right… can’t have it both ways CV… 1 $1m state house in an exclusive suburb or 2 $500K houses in less expensive suburbs… 4 $250K houses might be more appealing…
What’s your objective ??? More housing or social engineering ?
i thought you were talking about school zoning being a failure of socialism – i think
your net being very clear burt
Avoiding the creation or exacerbation of socio-economic schisms and ghetto-isation is not “social engineering”. It’s the avoidance of such.
That’s a fair comment. But tell me how do state house tenants get chosen for exclusive neighbourhoods ? Ballot – game of chance ?
Perhaps families with academically high achieving children could be allocated houses in zones with schools that have better results according to the ERO? Perhaps that could be flipped on its head and families with academically high achieving children could be allocated into school zones with poorer ERO ratings in some form of social engineering game to actually achieve the great socialist dream that all schools are equal ?
Sure I get it that large clusters of lower socioeconomic families in poor quality and crowded housing is a disaster. But there is also the reality that there is only so much money available to build state houses and its simply not sensible to build them in prime real estate to fulfil some grand socialist dream of creating a utopia where everyone lives the same… That’s been tried before and never worked ….
“Thatâs a fair comment. But tell me how do state house tenants get chosen for exclusive neighbourhoods ? Ballot â game of chance ?”
Same as it happens now then – from the child’s point of view that is.
felix
I guess if children were the ones who made government policy rather than government policy was made to appeal to people who refuse to grow up – then the current policy would make sense. Pity it’s pitched at a level where only thinking adults can see the unintended consequences of it hurts both themselves and their children.
Seriously though, if this is about giving kids a better chance to grow up with better opportunities, then it’s a ballot or a game of chance now.
Whether kids grow up in a ghettoised part of Manurewa or somewhere with more on offer is nothing more than an accident of birth.
A ballot system to assign more kids to grow up in other parts of town can only be an improvement on the current lottery.
That’s it in a nutshell isn’t it. Accepting that life is a lottery and that its never equal. That the very nature of life is unfair – then somehow pretending it should be and putting window dressing on it to feel good we have done our best as happy socialists writing the wrongs in a game we have no enduring control over.
Makes you feel better – achieves noting. Happy days pretending ideology solves the problem with your head so far up your ass you believe you made an enduring difference because you wish you could.
Man created civilised communities burt.
The fact that you deliberately ignore that while benefitting directly from it marks you as a shite.
You know nothing of what I give to and what I take from society. But it’s ok that you assume what you assume. You support and believe in a failed ideology so your a lost case to humanity anyway.
“That the very nature of life is unfair â then somehow pretending it should be and putting window dressing on it to feel good we have done our best as happy socialists writing the wrongs in a game we have no enduring control over.”
Tell me burt, have you ever done anything to improve the condition you were born into or are you still naked and shivering?
Do you live in a house or do you sleep rough because ‘fuck that, we can’t change anything’?
Those are serious questions btw. Because you seem to be saying that we as humans are incapable of altering anything about our material existence and I think that’s self-evidently false.
“Makes you feel better â achieves noting.”
It achieves everything we’ve ever achieved ever.
This idea of yours that every unfairness we’re born into must be rigourously enforced and maintained until death is abhorrent to humanity itself.
If what you’ve written here is your sincerely held view then I truly pity you burt.
But it’s not actually a better school so, basically, idiots with too much money are throwing it away.
Socialism – showing up the stupidity of rich pricks – again.
Yes they are so stupid they earn more, have more assets and make more deliberate choices in the best interests of their children…
If only they knew they just had to let it go and be happy socialists.
If the system was more equal then they wouldn’t be earning any more. That’s the bit that you and the other RWNJs fail to realise.
The rich really aren’t any better than any one else. Usually, they’re more sociopathic though.
Repeat after me… we are all individuals… we must all earn the same… none are more important than others… follow the leader you have chosen while you repeat this…
burt, I’m an anarchist and thus don’t believe in leaders, don’t believe that we’re all the same and I also don’t believe that the market rewards accurately:
Hospital cleaner = worth 11 times what they’re paid
Financiers = worth minus seven times what they’re paid
My nephew is a carpenter, gets paid about $30/hour + GST. And yet I’ve seen him looking up the regulations for building and advising people on them. So, why doesn’t he get paid the same as a lawyer as a) he’s doing the same work and b) he knows the building codes a hell of a lot better than any lawyer I’ve ever met. On top of that he even builds houses that don’t leak.
Your belief in the market and that people are paid what they’re worth is delusional.
“a) heâs doing the same work”
What utter bullshit. Do you really believe that? I saw my auntie bandage my cousins wound once and advise him on how to keep the wound clean. Why she doesn’t earn the same as a doctor? Fuck knows eh, Draco?
While I can accept the current economic paradigm is broken at best your response is, in itself, as flawed, utopian and unworkable as any other. Yet you hoist yourself as the pure voice of reason. And you call other delusional? You are as bad as the rest.
It’s a slight exaggeration but if people don’t take his advice they find that they’ve broken the law, which means that the thousands that they’ve just spent is worthless and that building they just had built/renovated is due for a hell of a lot of work to bring it up to code.
And I’m constantly amazed at the people who don’t take his advice. I suspect they’re like you and don’t think that a builder knows what he’s talking about as far as the laws go.
Because she doesn’t have 20 years of experience and knowledge of being a doctor?
“I saw my auntie bandage my cousins wound once and advise him on how to keep the wound clean. Why she doesnât earn the same as a doctor?”
Because wound care and education about wound care is a nurse’s job (far too lowly for a doctor). And why do nurses get paid so much less than doctors?
Nurse practitioners should be paid between $80K and $100K pa
CV
Should be paid xyz… Very Muldoonesq in your prescription of price control. The old school blue team would be so proud that their legacy of dictatorship mentality has survived and been re-born under the red flag you now support.
you heard it here first folks – if your rich, your choices are more deliberate
framu
Plenty of people go without a lot to move into a zone “deliberately” so they can get their kids into that school.
If as a lefty you are happy that real estate prices associated with the school they choose makes them prioritise away other choices then fine.. believe they should just be happy with the school the government “allocates” them to via the real estate they can afford.
The school that their children will go to will be equally as good as the ones the rich want their children to go to. That’s the bit that you don’t seem to get. I’ll put it simply for you:
It doesn’t matter which school the child goes to they will get the same quality education*.
* Except that NACT are doing their best to destroy the educational system.
Draco
The ERO would beg to differ with your utopian view. Funny that in a state run system where everything is apparently the same there is a state run department dedicated to measuring and reporting the differences. I guess it’s the way we manage it because if we can’t measure it we can’t manage it – but wake up… The fact we measure and report differences tells us that its not the same irrespective of where you go – that’s its a struggle to try and create uniformity. Do you have intellectual issues grasping that we are not all the same or do you just let your ideology so completely override reality that you are blinded by it ?
Yes, the whole point of measuring is so that those that are falling behind can make the necessary changes to become better. Throw in continuous teacher development as well and the end result is that the teaching quality of the schools is near uniform.
The reason why the rich like to go to certain schools has nothing to do with the teaching and everything to do with the social networking – as John Key himself said at one point.
US senate fails to pass expanded gun background checks legislation; amendment to ban assault weapons also fails.
Basically the US political system is fucked. And we are following their lead???
Yes and yes and the reason why we’re following the US down the Rabbit Hole is because a few people want our political system to fail as it benefits them.
It’s time to bury not just Thatcher â but NeoLiberalism
“Which is what the facts show. Far from saving Britain, Thatcher’s government delivered rampant inequality, social breakdown, disastrous financial deregulation, pulverising deindustrialisation and mass unemployment. A North Sea oil bonanza was frittered away on tax cuts for the wealthy and a swollen benefits bill as public services were run down, child poverty escalated and social mobility ground to a halt.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/16/bury-not-just-thatcher-but-thatcherism
The Right wing class warrior Thatcher is unlamented by the ordinary brit who have suffered under her and continue to do so with her legacy:
When Maggie Thatcher dies we’re gonna have a party – Liverpool vs Sunderland – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_uHxX8DQXY&feature=youtu.be
The cuts get personal
https://witness.guardian.co.uk/assignment/516beb30e4b046e93b9623d2
Key is trying to create more of the same here by copying the iniquitous policies of Cameron.
I watched Maggie’s cortege on the teev, her box was dragged (the upper class twits would say “drawn”) along the Strand to St Pauls by some rather magnificent horses. Pomp, circumstance, ceremony and bored horses. The steeds stole the show, they were biting one another, one shaking its head vociferously at the military band in its way. Unfortunately they did not get out of hand and bolt away: shame.
Well, sunset was coming and they were afraid maggie would be thirsty.
Horses can sense these things, you know…
Might explain the bats flying overhead…..
“The forced mourning and the military trappings is of course an ideological, propaganda stunt by the British state. In the face of public opposition to the stately honoring of Thatcher, todayâs proceedings smack of dictatorship by Britainâs ruling elite. The occasion – paid for by the austerity-clobbered British taxpayer – is also being seen as an indulgence in British jingoism and imperialism.”
Thatcher gets funeral fit for a dictator
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/04/17/298771/thatcher-gets-funeral-fit-for-a-dictator/
with British statecraft subtly elevating the pillars of the British state – class oppression and militarism.
A peek into California’s charter school revolution….
https://www.nsfwcorp.com/dispatch/parent-trigger/42dc356cb94ca1abe129d46e3e5e6cc81d9f8cf1/
A lot to read Jim. Compelling. It reads like a grim documentary and in due course the good people, the parents, the teachers and the kids will win. The legal weight on the side of justice will prevail.
But that doesn’t happen. Insidious and nasty. The thin highly financed wedge.
And could it happen here? Not in the same way perhaps but read the number of times we read the words, “The schools are run by selfish teachers who are just there to protect their own interests and resist improvements,” and “Clearly Privatisation of the schools in failing neighbourhoods will boost the learning of failing kids.”
So far I have heard not one word about exactly what specific actions will be taken to help these kids and since the Partnership schools will be hidden from scrutiny we might never know..
Oh dear. Peter Dunne will not support the Charter School Bill, but the Maori Party will. Enough to pass the Bill.
Apparently the mP has only committed to voting yes on the second reading. Some hope yet.
from around the traps;
from CL that Susan Devoy is a great source of clinical material
on why I got the job- “I’ve been looking for a role for a while now”. “Somebody just called me, I can’t recall their name….” (John Keys sister by another mother?)
“Strengths and Weaknesses” (that is one foolish flip-flopping person)
waxed on about “disability, mental health, health’, yet not race initially, shifting race around to issues faced by europeans as well.
then,
(has been doing some cocoa reading) “I think that the biggest issues the country is facing are “structural”. You don’t say.
“bias of the people who make the decisions…we need to inform, re-educate the public about the treaty…” Yup!
Manu-“it is a promise of two people to take care of each other” which Devoy acknowledges we have not done. then a small concession “fault is on our part.” followed by “there are many poor white people”…”need a little bit of movement from both sides”…”sigh, it’s not gonna be easy”…plug…”for better public services”.
Isn’t the role Race Relations Commissioner, or is she morphing into the Human Rights, Disability, Health and poor white people commissioner?
Great interview…the interesting thing was her linking race relations to social issues…no doubting her well meaning approach is genuine. She seemed oblivious to her laying bare social realities and the disconnect of her world view to these. This clearly demonstrated the failure of the ideology of those who appointed her to the role. In doing so it laid bare the intellectual vacuity underpinning the appointment.
As for Sue, I wish her luck, she will need it, at heart I am sure, like Maggie she means well.
This will blow your mind:
http://imgur.com/a/sUrnA
amazing; so where are they up to so far?
ahhh, the aryan liberation front backed by Chinese, North Korean jihadists.
This will blow your mind.
http://gawker.com/5994892/your-guide-to-the-boston-marathon-bombing-amateur-internet-crowd%20sleuthing
mission accomplished joe90 đ
+1 Joe.
This guy here nails it:
https://twitter.com/RobDenBleyker/status/324764145553641473
The chances are overwhelming that part time 4chan sleuths will have got it wrong, and these people are victims.
Yeah but they did find the guy who kicked that cat…
They are very good in specialised fields, don’t get me wrong.
Generally cat-related fields.
Next time there’s a fur-ball related terrorist incident, these guys will shine.
Don’t mock, it could happen. Just stop feeding us if you want to see some furrorism.
You wanna take the chance they’re wrong? Be my guest but for someone not interested in all of that conspiracy stuff you are always very informed and must spend a lot of time on this stuff. Hope they pay you well Bookie!
Bah rain, what else have we seen overnight;
-“Sheep and beef farming is not in good shape (from the farmers themselves)
gonna try “Quality” as the point of difference on the international meat markets, again.
that is if they can discern who are the ‘Bitumen Bandits” laying sh*tty driveways; have you ever seen anything so foolish from otherwise, hardworking businessmen. Wow, just wow, and very sad.
on vaccination programs-“there is just not enough information in the population about vaccines.”
even now, in the information age; if not now, then freakin’ when???
h/t to framu; the form may change yet the consistency remains.
and from vto a h/t to you all; a generous “tops of their field” accolade; very generous indeed.
Yes, john key is a cunningly instinctive chap; that is why we understand him relatively easily; he is not some “higher man” at all; Helen Clark was way stronger than he is.
that “Worlds Deadliest Roads” must appeal to the local Road Transport industry, particular consideration given to the camera angles and shots
soooo, former recidivist immigration fraudster moves to the Phillipines, couldn’t repay a debt, gets 20 years (he looked about 60 anyway) and then the tele people get involved in his liberation???
“Sir” Francois Botha! Whatever. boxing is becoming a WWE-like farce; “shameless” even according to “Sir” Bob Jones. đ (he’d been drinking wine before his appearance on Seven Sharp)
KASM “Kiwis Against Seabed Mining”; on mining for the iron-ore black-sands “if this goes ahead the world has gone mad” ; ya don’t say. (the corporates are getting desperate for resources now indeed).
form 360o and even rounder;
authority on media and gender construction (was fading by then, it is on soooo late)
“we are living in a sexualized age”…”this stuff that is out there is very problematic”…”and if you are surrounded by it.”
According to the Netsafe CEO, focus groups have found 3/4 of young people know how to get around content filters.
KPMG : bank profits up 10% for the DEC Q. 800M schamolies.
and, and, just when you thought the public pillories (stocks đ ) from the Herald were a new journalistic low, along comes Garth McVicar and the SST ‘Judge The Judges website!
Finlayson and him live on RNZ; very revealing indeed.
Finlayson-“they should can this website”
may provoke “an escalation of personal attacks on judges”; see the Bye Bye Birdy campaign đ in California destroyed a judge’s career (they were light on sentencing).
Finlayson just had to humour McVicar who appears to have no appreciation of the supervision and review the juduciary comes under as it is; does he think they are autonomous or something? FFS!
after the net, the television can appear so slow, yet it pays to check in and see what the dominant narratives (stories are),
other than the ‘Richards” it is usually, “and who today is being oppressed by the Taliban / sharia”.
Rip the stories to shreds.
it is not necessary for the advanced thinkers around here to explicate every point or examine the validity of every construct; we see people frequently using constructs fluidly as part of the design.
By the good Lord, that CT was marching out the anglo-saxon flag down Bowalley Road; he comes and goes like that Viking Guy; it may be a little late to be lifting the draw-bridge to the motte-and -bailey.
see, these farmers, when the payout is high, they spend the money in advance, paying down debt likely, then ride on in the lean times; ride on the provincial economies “you can’t spend what you don’t have” says one cocky spokesman; thus the usual, yet worsening, significant eefect on small towns (and then we see Mrs Farmer in Pak n Save)
Magnolia make some good movies like Magnolia, like Hopscotch, like,like American Beauty
Tyrannosaur
(“we’ve got a present for yee, home-made, covert”) some movies you see twice (wanna see some familiar anger, something primitive) People can be be not much better than animals at times.
This is a very moving, yet violent film; one of the better “kitchen sink” ala Mike Leigh looks at council-estate type living.
A Black Dog Barking
Machine Gun Blues
form The General Electric
Costs for a person on the dole searching for a job Versus Cabinet Minister searching for a job.
Trade Minister Tim Groser’s international travel costs soared to almost $250,000 in the first three months of this year as he hit the international traps to lobby for support for his bid to be the Director General of the World Trade Organisation.
Mr Groser was formally nominated by New Zealand as a contender for the job in December last year, although it was publicly revealed he hoped to go for it at the end of August.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10878297
“Mr Groser was formally nominated by New Zealand as a contender for the job”
how do you become King then?
Oi! What about peasant solidarity. What would happen if everyone wanted to be King? Eh?
An Ode to Persistence
on judging the judges
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10878204
(don’t these SST people just seem silly?)
on NZ Housing Stocks
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8567572/Kiwis-shivering-in-damp-and-cramped-homes
Jesus Wept; and the tories wonder why working people can so dislike them. FFS, reading the news is like watching a car on a level crossing and the diesel-electric ain’t slowing down; even Winston agrees in todays Herald, “we have lost our place”.
ricin
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/8564719/Arrest-over-poisonous-ricin-letters
and rifles
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/8566011/Obama-A-shameful-day-for-Washington
Supersize the GFC
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/heading-off-a-china-style-subprime-crisis-2013-04-17
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-18/auditor-warns-china-debt-crisis-could-dwarf-gfc/4636648
“escraches”
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-04-17/new-%E2%80%9Cnazis%E2%80%9D-spain
and Europe enters own energy crisis
http://www.energytribune.com/75961/europe-faces-a-crisis-in-energy-costs
*sigh
getting the sums wrong
The Miners’ union is spot on about the need for corporate manslaughter laws. PRC killed 29 men and the individuals responsible won’t even have to pay so much as a fine, let alone go to jail.
The press release:
The EPMU has welcomed the Greymouth District Courtâs decision to find Pike River Coal Ltd guilty of serious health and safety breaches and is calling for the sentencing judge to impose the maximum penalty.
EPMU assistant national secretary Ged OâConnell says the sentencing judge should throw the book at Pike River Coal.
âItâs a matter of public record that the people running Pike River Coal put production over the safety of their workforce, leading directly to the deaths of 29 men.
âThis is the most serious breach of our workplace health and safety laws in at least a generation and the sentence must reflect the gravity of the crime. We would expect to see no less than the maximum fine levelled, as well as reparations for the families of the 29 miners.â
Mr OâConnell says the case also shows the need for changes to the law.
âThe reality is Pike River Coal is now little more than a shell company thatâs now in receivership. The accountability must lie with the directors and management who actually made the decisions.
âPike River Coalâs directors should not be able to hide behind shabby legal structures and carry on as if nothing ever happened. Itâs time we had corporate manslaughter laws and personal liability for directors so we can hold those responsible accountable for their actions.
âNew Zealandâs miners and their families also need to see the recommendations of the Pike River Royal Commission implemented as soon as possible and we encourage the Government to carry on its good work putting this into action.â
Check it out guys, we made number 3!
http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/the-goofiest-world-leaders-of-all-time
“The victims’ rights advocate Garth McVicar”
Jim Mora plumbs a new low
The Panel, Radio New Zealand National, Thursday 18 April 2013
Jim Mora, Michael Deaker, Irene Gardiner
A few weeks ago, NewstalkZB listeners enjoyed the delicious treat of hearing Janet Wilson indulge in a thinly coded tirade against her husband Bill Ralston. Under the pretext of a critique of Kevin Rudd, she snarled that “he” (ostensibly Kevin Rudd) was “rude, moody and controlling.” As she developed her analysis of “Kevin Rudd”, her voice wound up to a pitch indicative of real psychic pain; any astute listener realized that this was a woman on the edge of clinical hysteria.
This afternoon, National Radio listeners were treated to another coded attack, this time on someone even more odious than Janet Wilson’s husband. The target of today’s roundabout but unmistakeable criticism was the hateful S.S. Trust fĂźhrer Garth “The Knife” McVicar….
JIM MORA: It has been announced today that there is a new website to critique the judges in our courts. Just before we speak to the victims’ rights advocate Garth McVicar, we’ll see what our Panelists think. So, is it a good idea?
IRENE GARDINER: I don’t think this is a very good idea at all.
MICHAEL DEAKER: This sounds like a group for those people who think they know better than everyone else, the ignorant, the vengeful and the kind of people who are on talk radio in the small hours of the morning.
JIM MORA: It sounds like he’s talking about you, Garth!
Of course, McVicar is too dull and insensate to even register a full-frontal assault, leave alone an oblique one like that handed out by Michael Deaker. He merely plowed on with his sub-moronic version of reality. But the comments were made, and did something to balance up Mora’s outrageous definition of McVicar, that monstrous hypocrite, as a “victims’ rights advocate.”
A very small victory for the forces of decency, but a victory nonetheless. Well done, Michael Deaker.
Click the following link to see my take on Janet Wilson’s tirade against her husband….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-22032013/#comment-607420
Jim Mora wuvs Mozza! Heard two of your emails read out in the last few days, I think you’re wearing him down. Can’t be long before you’re on the panel yourself đ
Jim Mora wuvs Mozza! Heard two of your emails read out in the last few days, I think youâre wearing him down.
Thanks for the heads up, my friend. I did not hear either of them; in fact I’ve only heard scraps of the program for the last few weeks. I thought Jim had given up on reading my stuff out on air. He’s back on my Christmas card list now.
Canât be long before youâre on the panel yourself
That would be horrific. I would be more mealy-mouthed and stammering and apologetic than anyone that’s ever been on…
CHRISTINE RANKIN: Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
MORRISSEY BREEN: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Um.
JIM MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha! It’s time to find out what our Panelists have been thinking about. Christine Rankin, what’s been on YOUR mind lately?
CHRISTINE RANKIN: Well, Jim, look, I’ve been so busy working for the reintroduction of corporal punishment for the under-fives that I haven’t had TIME to do any thinking at all for several years now. I really can’t think of one thing to talk about.
JIM MORA: [long, irritated silence] Mmmmm-kay. Morrissey, have YOU got something on your mind?
MORRISSEY BREEN: Ummm, ahhhh, I’m going to abandon my, uh, carefully prepared speech about foreign policy, and comment on Christine’s failure to ummm, errr, honour her, ummmm, commitments to your show.
CHRISTINE RANKIN: [indignant] I’ve been BUSY.
MORRISSEY BREEN: Ummmm, ahhhh, yeah. Ummm…to paraphrase Dr. Johnson, I will say this about Christine: “This woman’s thinking is like a dog’s walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it not done at all.”
JIM MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! That’s very funny! I think he’s talking about you Christine!
MORRISSEY BREEN: And that’s all I have to say, Jim. Um.
JIM MORA: Short and sweet. That’s the way we like them on the Panel! Okay, next up, Lanthanide will tell us why he thinks a nuclear reactor in the middle of Christchurch would be a good idea. First, though, what do the Panelists think of this?
RANKIN: [fervently] That’s a SPLENDID idea. At last, somebody talking some sense….
Ha, that transcript would still be an improvement on most of the shows! Can’t remember the one read out earlier in the week, but yesterday’s was about mad Monckton and space aliens. Very apt.
Probably never happened.
“Janet Wilsonâs tirade against her husband”
Definitely never happened.
It happened all right. Her outburst was followed by a long, awkward silence. Even that notorious thicko Larry Lackwit Williams realized what she was really saying; I’m sure you do too.
As Ms. Wilson clenched her teeth, snarled and steadily ratcheted up that attack on “Kevin Rudd”, listeners were given a perfect example of what we rhetoricians call argument from analogy.
I look forward to your demolition work on “Humpty Dumpty”, “Spiggy Topes” and Animal Farm.
FRIENDLY ADMONITION
One should not allow oneself to be driven by one’s own personal problems with a fellow Standardista into denying what even the most addle-pated host on the world’s worst radio show can recognize.
Oh Morrissey that’s nasty.
It looks like you’re talking about Wilson but you’re really talking about your mum.
A nice riposte from felix sees off Morrissey for the time being….
“It looks like youâre talking about Wilson but youâre really talking about your mum.”
A hit! A palpable hit! Well done, sir!
You may find it juvenile but the logic of it is precisely that which Mozza is asking us to accept in his comments about Wilson.
I think he was praising you, felix. Take it, and be grateful. The Professor doesn’t seem to hand out too many plaudits around here.
Labour/Greens (or Greens/Labour if you prefer) at 49% in the latest Roy Morgan.
good – finally a 35.
And I like that the Greens didn’t take a hit to get it.
Reality is in the process of resuming. The Nats’ shyte is catching up with them and they are looking like they are on their last legs. And Labour has been coherent.
The nats are down to 40.5%. It has been a loooong time since they were down this low.
Bring the next election on …
Link?
http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2013/4886/
Shearer out!
and carthage must be destroyed…
I dunno, Labour just released some hard left policy, its going to cost them votes, right?
Lol.
So they’re no longer just stagnating at the same level forever then? Even without releasing your policy objectives according to your schedule?
Good to know.
A bit of real left wing inspiration after 4 years. Don’t blow your load over it eh?
A bit of real left wing inspiration after 12 years.
Fify.
Not particularly worked up, just pointing out that six months ago you seemed convinced that labour would stay at 32% if they didn’t do what you wanted.
Nah I’d always accepted that Labour could win with 35%. But winning means fuck all, because its knowing how to use that victory which counts. And this power initiative is a start.
PS Labour under Goff hit the heights of 35% as well.
Ha.
I’m not so sure you’ve “always accepted” that labour would reach 35%.
And when goff hit 35/36, what were the greens on again?
I talked about such a scenario in Feb:
http://thestandard.org.nz/poll-of-polls-looking-good/#comment-589106
And yet a few weeks ago you were saying:
(emphasis added).
My impression has been that labour with the current caucus and leadership is not what you would regard as “the best circumstances”, so the real challenge facing Labour is significantly harder than a “very big ask”.
Trailing Lab/Green by 8.5.
This explains the shrieking about communism/stalin/northKorea. They don’t like it up ’em Capt Mainwaring sir.
Yep. The North Korea stuff is somewhat bewildering.
Their comments make them look like a brainless talentless clique of careerists wanting only to preserve their grip on power so they can serve up to their masters who happen to be uber rich psychopaths even more of our resources but who realise that ordinary Kiwis have now cottoned on to what they are doing.
I love the smell of despair in the morning!
All hail our great leader*, who achieves greatness by pillaging the countryside. đ
*John Key
Listening to Bryan Crump on Radionz parry with Lord Monckton who is the male version of Margaret Thatcher. Someone from his Club has been involved with climate change in the past and one feels that here is a repository of lucid intellect.
Nuclear power has killed very few people and the waste problem can go down to the bottom of a sea trench and all radiation is stopped by 10 feet-metres-knots? of water. And hydro produced electricity is bad for some reason. I can’t be bothered listening more as my head hurts, and I don’t have respect for him anyway.
He has been appointed a UN expert reviewer and now knows all there is to know and has published stuff too. This man really knows…. how to talk fluently in a confident manner. Just like all right wing pollies. I think this is his mindset – that one has to do something in life, and better this than mixing with one’s nanny and running off into oblivion like Lord Lucan.
Lord HawHaw rides again, this time in the pay of the UN..what does that tell you about the UN?
Lord Haw Haw said something about being a UN reviewer but it sounds like he might be self appointed or nearly. Probably they had to find some way of getting him out of their hair. A bit like the Tom Lehrer song about being serenaded by a noisy Mexican band who wouldn’t go away till they were paid.
Does the UN actually pay Monckton anything? He’s one of the few people in public life who lie more than Key. I’d want to see some proof.
The bullshit file.
http://bbickmore.wordpress.com/lord-moncktons-rap-sheet/
A Minties moment for austerity?
further..
The use of New Zealand data features strongly in the critique.
Politicians who think that withdrawing money from communities and ordinary people who spend it on is going to help the economy are STUPID
Hey you Treasury officials…you too.