Joky Hen wouldn’t know what a contract or honour is. His whole philosophy on life is typical of the dog-eat-dog business environment. Their whole raison-d’etre is to do their competitor down. That’s how they increase their share of the cake. The true Joky Hen shone through when he played along with Paul Henry’s game over the Governor General – the man doesn’t have the wit to recognise bad taste or dishonour.
This week, the Jackal has a look at ACC’s hardline on elective surgery, just how much food is wasted globally, Shell’s annual assembly gets a visit from friends of the earth, Another NATO raid into Pakistan, Donald Trump, Huge protests in Spain, MP’s pecuniary interests, Farmers tax dodge and New Yorkers suing China’s biggest search engine.
Prof. Callaghan enthuses about Rakon, the bringers of death National Radio, Friday 20 May 2011
In a panel discussion about the budget, Professor Paul Callaghan lamented the government’s lack of support for “entrepreneurship and industrial research”. He said that high-tech innovation is a field in which New Zealand does very well, and he cited as an example of excellence, a company called Rakon. “Now not many New Zealander people or politicians know much about this good news story,” enthused Prof. Callaghan. “But it’s a case of knowing your customers and providing what they want.”
Well, Rakon certainly knows its customers, and Rakon also knows what its customers use its technology to do. In August 2005, the New Zealand Herald quoted Rakon marketing director Darren Robinson as saying that the company’s technology went into “smart bombs and missiles” used by the US military. Rakon denied the claims, stating the company was not privy to the “end-use systems, equipment or applications used by its customers.
In May 2006 the Herald ran a large expose around Rakon products being supplied to Rockwell for incorporation in U.S. military “smart bombs”. [1] The claims were based around the facts that Rakon had known of the end-use of their products since 1994 and may in fact be in breach of New Zealand export restrictions.
In July 2006, Rakon was the target of protests by Global Peace and Justice Auckland(GPJA). During the Israeli attacks on Lebanon in July 2006, GPJA issued a media release appealing “to the Prime Minister to close the loophole which allows New Zealand’s Rakon Industries to export parts for Israeli bombs being dropped on Lebanon and Palestine.” [2]
Nothing was done, of course, and Rakon, maker of crucial components for the bringing of death and destruction to hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of men, women and children in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Lebanon, Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
As Professor Callaghan noted, it’s a pity that more New Zealanders don’t know more about Rakon.
I just wish we developed and made our own weapons here. That way we wouldn’t be screwed if the supply lines get cut when we need weapons.
We may not want to use them but that won’t stop someone from using weapons against us which, considering the global collapse that is going to happen due to Peak oil, will happen. It really is time to get our defense forces actually capable of defending us.
More evidence of slipping standards at National Radio
Just heard on the 11 o’clock news on National Radio that Obama has said that the Palestinian state “should be based on the contentious 1967 borders.”
“Contentious”?
Excuse me? “Contentious”?
Almost the whole of the international community recognizes that Israel must return to the 1967 borders, and that the Occupied Territories must be part of the new Palestine state.
Why would that newsreader have read out that these borders are “contentious”?
The word ‘contentious’ is not included in the online report, however, it might be that a reporter put it in while reading the news out. It’s an unusual word to use, I agree, but it may be that it is Israel’s theft of the land after the 6 day war that is contentious, not the borders prior to that.
After the U.S. government called settlements “illegal” for years, President Reagan said they were “not constructive.” President Clinton changed it again, saying that “natural growth” was acceptable. President George W Bush went further to say that it was “unrealistic” to expect any kind of peace based on old borders.
So in effect, President Obama’s endorsement of the 1967 lines is a return from the shifting positions taken by his predecessors.
THE TERM “1967 lines” refers to the line from which the IDF moved into the territories at the start of hostilities on June 4, 1967 (the Six Day War).
These lines were not based on historical fact, natural geographic formations, demographic considerations or international agreement. In fact, they had served as the agreed-upon armistice lines from the termination of the 1948 War of Independence, pursuant to the armistice agreements then signed between Israel and its neighbors – Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon – in 1949. These lines remained valid until the outbreak of the 1967 hostilities.
The armistice lines represented nothing more than the forward lines of deployment of the forces on the day a cease-fire was declared, as set out in Security Council Resolution 62 of November 16, 1948, which called for the delineation of permanent armistice demarcation lines beyond which the armed forces of the respective parties would not move. The line was demarcated on the map attached to the armistice agreement with a green marker pen and hence received the name “Green Line.”
Good Lord, joe90! ABC and the Jerusalem Post are about as reliable and trustworthy as President Obama’s statement that from now on the U.S. is going to “support democracy” in the Middle East.
And you appear to have missed the Just saying… part of the post where I try to show that Obama seems to be backing the Palestinians by going back to the original US stance on the issue of the 1967 borders.and that the Israelis don’t like it.
Perhaps you should read the speech before you go into wingnut mode.
joe90, I read what you posted. Obama’s words are nothing new: the U.S., like every other country in the world (bar one), says Israel is violating international law by its occupation of the West Bank and its blockade of Gaza. There is NOTHING contentious about saying Israel must observe the law.
Me….what’s contentious, the US position is bla .bla, the Israeli position is bla..bla..
Morrissey…..I’m right and all the world thinks so too.
Me…ask a stupid..get a stupid
Morrissey…I’m right and all the world agrees with me…how dare you use.. MSM …
Me….I’m just saying..nothings really changed…and you’re starting to sound like…..
Morrissey…..bla bla ..and you called me a name.
Me…. Palestine is a fuck up but at least someone is trying, .. you’re starting to mirror the wingnuts who as long as they get to be on what they think is the right side don’t give a rats about the people on the other side ..
Last word to ME.. he may not have met my expectations but Obama winning another term is the first real opportunity since Begin and Sadat for a lasting peace in the region.
Nice attempt at dramatisation, my friend. You should approach that tired old codger John Barnett about a screenwriting job; the ones he employs on his movies are certainly not much chop.
However, while your dialoguing shows promise, you need to pay attention to your understanding of content, which is sadly lacking. I’ll deal with just the most glaring errors….
1.) Me….what’s contentious, the US position is bla .bla, the Israeli position is bla..bla..
Actually, it’s the US and the whole world versus Israel.
2.) Morrissey…..I’m right and all the world thinks so too.
That is correct. You are trying to scoff at this writer (i.e., moi) as out on a limb; actually, my position is the mainstream one.
3.) Me…. Palestine is a fuck up but at least someone is trying,
WHO is trying, Joe? And who is it that is responsible for it being a “fuck up”?
4.) …you’re starting to mirror the wingnuts who as long as they get to be on what they think is the right side don’t give a rats about the people on the other side.
There you go again! It’s easy to throw around empty epithets like “wingnuts”, especially when you aren’t up to speed on an issue. Have you been listening to that penetrating analyst Leighton Smith on NewstalkZB, by any chance?
5.) Last word to ME.. he may not have met my expectations but Obama winning another term is the first real opportunity since Begin and Sadat for a lasting peace in the region.
On what basis do you make that statement? Obama has done precisely nothing to stop Israel’s depredations in Gaza or the West Bank. You would know that if you had any familiarity with Israeli and Palestinian politics.
And yet Israel doesn’t agree. As ultimately they are the ones that have to do something about the issue, their opinion matters, I think.
In other words – talk is cheap. I’m there are members of the “international community” that think the Israel borders issue is cut-and-dried, but those members may be having their own border disputes with their neighbours.
I think ragging on National Radio by saying that “it isn’t contentious because the international community thinks x y and z” is making a fuss out of nothing. Clearly there is contention about the borders (otherwise they would already be the borders), and so using the word is accurate. You may not agree with it, but that doesn’t mean that National Radio are ‘wrong’.
As ultimately they are the ones that have to do something about the issue, their opinion matters
Ultimately it is Israel’s sponsor, the United States, that has to do something—other than its occasional wringing of hands and the odd stern word to its Israeli protégé.
Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, and its blockade of Gaza, are in flagrant violation of international law. The whole world recognizes that fact—except Israel. The U.S. has chosen to ignore Israel’s multiple violations, just as it chose to ignore similar behaviour by the apartheid regime in South Africa, the Suharto regime in Indonesia, and Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq.
…there are members of the “international community” that think the Israel borders issue is cut-and-dried…
Every country in the world bar Israel recognizes that Israel must return to the 1967 borders.
but those members may be having their own border disputes with their neighbours.
Which of those countries occupies, locks down the towns, demolishes private homes as punishment for resistance, demolishes hospitals and schools, and systematically terrorizes its neighbours? Which of those countries has its troops treating civilians like THIS?…
None of which applies to the issue of Israel’s violation of international law. There is unanimous agreement on this, even from Israel’s sponsor and enabler, the United States. There is nothing contentious about it whatsoever; the only question is, when will the international community act against this scofflaw regime?
I think Chris Trotter really over-egged it a bit, to the point that it won’t really convince many people. This budget really didn’t do very much at all, and it’s difficult to believe there would be a family that was specifically afflicted by all the changes the budget did actually make. Throwing in other, wider issues from Nat’s previous legislative work would’ve been better I think (no night schooling, an unemployed nephew who goes off the rails…).
So it is a “bad” budget, but Phil Goff won’t promise to reverse cuts too Kiwisaver and WFF.
Shades of the”axe the tax” campaign?
Now that Labour has a realistic change of getting back into power in November, is it time now to ditc Phil Goff and replace him with a 21st century person? Goff is so 1980s!!
Why should Labour commit to these kinds of fiscal decisions now when it has no idea how much extra shit English is going to place the country in over the next 6 months?
Its not logical to expect that Labour will simply reverse this National tax move or that National tax move as a policy foundation. Labour has got initiatives planned which go much further than simply negating the moves National has made in this budget.
And thanks for vainly trying to stir up the leadership debate again when it’s John Key who is going to leave National early and leave the stoush between English and Joyce, why don’t we talk about that for a bit.
I want to dedicate this video to Lanthanide who with his comments made the events on Fukushima another taboo subject and whose comments were of the Oh, she’s just a conspiracy nut sort.
Three fucking meltdowns and not a peep in the mainstream media. A million people died as the result of the Chernobyl meltdown which is a walk in the park compared to the hideous events in Fukushima. Millions of people will die as the result of what is currently happening in Japan and the radiation will damage the entire gene pool of planet Earth and not even a tiny wee peep in the mainstream media.
Oh shit thought I’d uploaded this comment but made a mistake. This is what you get when you have 39 pages open and flick from one to the other. Sorry.
Repost from the other day (with a slight edit):
So basically the Fukushima incident resulted in a release of a huge amount of radioactive material into the environment because there was a meltdown (or >1) and meltdowns always mean that radioactive material will be released environment (not that the fuel rods have just melted)? And we don’t know about this because Tepco/the Japanese government/whoever are controlling the release of information from all the detectors of radiation in the whole world in a giant conspiracy (just like 9/11 I guess)? Even though radiation is relatively easy to detect and there are numerous detectors worldwide? And this poses a huge risk to the whole world (not just the immediately surrounding area where the material would be most concentrated) because we are all going to get cancer, after all its not as if the release of radioactive material across a huge area such as the Pacific ocean/the whole world would have resulted in the radioactive material being diluted at all?
It’s a worst-case scenario simulation. If you look in the comments, someone linked to actual monitoring being done in Oregon that shows there is no cause for concern.
I remember reading about a university that set up some monitoring stations within 3 days of the event, so they could monitor when the radiation first hit California. Sure enough, they got results showing they could detect it.
If there were an actual public health or environmental risk posed to the US, you can be sure it would be in the media. The US media loves to hype that sort of stuff up (as witnessed by the reports in the immediate days following) and there’s no way you could cover it up. I guess Hawaii might be at higher risk, but again that’s US soil. Other smaller pacific islands or parts of Asia could be covered up or simply not alerted, however.
I didn’t bother visiting the link (it was from to a blog, hardly a reliable source), but as you’ve eluded to, a key point is radioactive material is trivial to detect these days, and can be detected in minute quantities. It is simply not possible that a harmful level of material being released could be covered up. You would have to get to far too many people (yes, even more than you would need to cover up something like 9/11).
Washington’s blog is so incredibly well backed up with reliable sources you would be hard pressed to find anything like that in the Mainstream media.
And if you still believe that 19 young Saudi Arab men can force a 47 floor building to implode in 6.5 seconds into it’s own footprint with only a couple of relatively cool office fires breaking all Newton’s laws of Physics I’ve got a bit of rainforest in the middle of the Sahara to sell to you.
Oh, great, back to the madness. You really have the attention span of a gnat, don’t you? Not every debate has to have your 9/11 fantasy trotted out for public ridicule, you know. You could try focussing on the issue you raised about Fukushima and which you seem to be unable to back up, but no, you have insult the 3000 killed in those attacks yet again.
Speaking of insulting the dead, somewhere between 4 and 5 thousand people were lost in the decades after Chernobyl that can be directly related to the event. Many thousands more will have lives possibly shortened by the effects. A million dead is bullshit, utter bullshit.
VoR,
These are a series of Ads we all helped to finance in which representatives of the families who lost someone in those attacks ask for a new and independent investigation.
You see for them 9/11 never stopped. They want answers to their questions. Neither did it stop for the 70.000 first responders who are all falling ill and are dying as a result of the dust they breathed in on that day and the days after.
Neither has it stopped for families of the hundreds of thousands of Afghanis and Iraqis who died in the wars started as a result of that day so if it is all the same to you I will keep bringing it up until all those people feel that their questions have been answered and they can get on with their lives too.
I don’t get it L. Do you think ev doesn’t read the pages she links to, or she reads them but doesn’t understand what they say? Either way, it’s a bit of an own-goal.
I’m beginning to wonder whether the accusation of lacking acumen that she levelled was, in fact, a self-reflection.
Yep – she seems to have a fundamental inability to distinguish between statement of fact, expert opinion, calculated broad estimate, educated guess, baseless assumption, blind guesswork, urban myth, common misconception, uncommon misconception, barefaced lie, outrageous allegation, borderline delusion, outright delusion, and generalised bullshit.
And unfortunately teh interwebz is a gloriously colourful milieu of everything above.
If you want a reasonable discussion then maybe follow the link ev provided in 10.1.1. There’s a (single) comment on the link with another, interesting, link attached.
ev’s link says: Because [the data ev is relying on to prove her point]comes from an internal – rather than publicly-released – portion of Nilo’s website, it cannot be confirmed that these are real readings, as opposed to some sort of fictitious simulation.
and the link from ev’s link says: This is archived information from the 2011 Japan Radiation Event (March 11, 2011 to May 15, 2011). This information is no longer being updated as this is not considered a local hazard at this time.
Which is not to say that Fukushima isn’t a massive fucking disaster, or that the plant owners and government of Japan haven’t been covering stuff up (I’m not going into that in this comment), it’s just to say there’s no need to get your tinfoil hat out. Yet.
“Which is not to say that Fukushima isn’t a massive fucking disaster, or that the plant owners and government of Japan haven’t been covering stuff up (I’m not going into that in this comment), it’s just to say there’s no need to get your tinfoil hat out. Yet.”
The study was not peer reviewed initially. The Ney York Academy of Sciences published it as a book, not a study. Subsequently it was found: ..the book achieves this figure [985,000] by the remarkable method of assuming that all increased deaths from a wide range of diseases – including many which have no known association with radiation – were caused by the Chernobyl accident. There is no basis for this assumption…
More information here.
Which is not to say Chernobyl was not a giant fucking disaster.
One of the reason’s TEPCO is trying to keep secret just how much radiation has been released is because there is a clear link between diseases such as cancer and radiation. You can check out some of the things TEPCO and the Japanese Govt have been trying to cover up in the link below.
I think that a shit load of people died from Chernobyl, more than will ever be admitted to by the authorities. People will still be prematurely dying today from that disaster. You might also like to read this:
Within four years at least 5,000 of the more than 600,000 decontamination workers (“liquidators”) had died from various causes; the fraction of deaths attributable to Chernobyl is unknown, but this figure represents less than 1% of the total.
Yes, there is a well established link between radiation and cancer.
I think saying TEPCO are “keeping it secret” is stretching the facts. Truth is they probably don’t know how much radiation was leaked, nor are they in a position to know exactly what happened, ATM. So sure, maybe they aren’t telling, but that is different to keeping it secret.
We may find that there are a lot of liability issues around the whole thing. Someone has to pay for it all to be cleaned up. Chances are TEPCO’s insurers are crapping bricks and aren’t keen for TEPCO to admit too much liability, so TEPCO will be very careful with what it says, in case it opens itself and its insurers up to enormous costs. However, that’s entirely speculation on my part, and before you challenge me to provide links, I won’t. My objective is to demonstrate there is an alternative explanation. Obviously I think it’s a plausible explanation, I’m not fussed if others choose to see the whole thing as a giant conspiracy.
Also, while TEPCO and others may have an interest in limiting their liability, there are other affected parties (again, large insurers, probably of the “health” variety) who will have an interest in telling a different story, to avoid having to care for people with mild radiation sickness for the next 40 years.
So they released details about the fire that happened on May 8th did they? I must have missed that. What about the fact that unit #1 had melted down within 16 days of the initial earthquake and tsunami? Not telling people about things that could adversely affect their health because they are scared of prosecution is keeping a secret Armchair Critic. TEPCO and it’s insurers have made a decision to put peoples lives at risk to avoid prosecution, there is no question about it.
So they released details about the fire that happened on May 8th did they?
As per my previous comment, I doubt they have details yet. Perhaps we could debate around our different interpretations of what constitutes details. I must have missed that.
I doubt it. What about the fact that unit #1 had melted down within 16 days of the initial earthquake and tsunami?
Do you mean 16 hours?
16 hours after the enormous earthquake, I expect they were busy doing stuff and not in a position to have a press conference. After that, they were probably in damage control mode and didn’t care whether it was 16 hours or 16 days. Fact is they had a huge mess on their hands and were still busy trying to stop things getting any worse than they already were. Not telling people about things that could adversely affect their health because they are scared of prosecution is keeping a secret Armchair Critic.
Unless, of course, they don’t know. The it’s not very much like keeping a secret at all. It’s more like when John Key started on about how many houses needed to be demolished in Canterbury, before he had the full story. TEPCO and it’s insurers have made a decision to put peoples lives at risk to avoid prosecution, there is no question about it.
And that’s their job. Kudos to you for being more open in your opposition to them doing their job than I am (my blog pales in comparison to yours). I don’t think that them doing their job is right, either.
President Masataka Shimizu reportedly is resigning more than two months after an earthquake and tusnami crippled the company’s Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear …
Compare that to the 18,345 hits on Kate and William or 5,588 for Britney Spears or 37,862 for osama bin laden and you get my drift.
And y’all thanks for admitting that TEPCO and the Japanese government have indeed been covering up all kinds of stuff.
Yeah, but Kate and Wills and OBL are actual news events of significance and Fukushima has turned out to be nowhere near as bad as it could have been. The point I was making is that you don’t think or research before commenting. Far from not being a peep, it has been the major science related news story in the last two months and has been covered in depth by people who know what they are talking about.
Just because other actual journalists don’t share your desire to see Japan glow at night to prove an obscure point doesn’t mean their work should be ignored by you. 2265 new stories vs your claim of zero news stories makes you look even less credible than usual, EV. As does the Million dead at Chernobyl claim, which is again completely lacking in research, just a number pulled out of your arse.
Not quite. Check the link provided above. It comes from a book published last year by the New York Academy of Sciences that reviews 5000 scientific articles and studies on the Chernobyl aftermath. Key quote:
“Drawing upon extensive data, the authors estimate the number of deaths worldwide due to Chernobyl fallout from 1986 through 2004 was 985,000, a number that has since increased. By contrast, WHO and the IAEA estimated 9,000 deaths and some 200,000 people sickened in 2005.”
Once bitten, twice shy, ev. You have a habit of linking to youtube videos as a source of reliable information.
I’ve watched enough of them to have discovered the following relationship:
youtube video linked to by ev = full of wild theories, vaguely plausible stories and the rantings of supporters of right wing conspiracies.
If the best you can do is a youtube link, I have better things to do than waste any more of my time.
So? A greater percentage of the population than your 12,041 other supporters think ACT’s policies rock. I still disagree.
1502 verified architectural and engineering professionals is a tiny proportion of the combined membership of ASCE and AIA, which is, in turn a small proportion of the number of architects and engineers.
Numbers alone aren’t enough to create a convincing argument.
Neither are links to youtube, which is what I hoped you would respond to. Instead you are arguing the significance of google search results to support your position. Is that the best you have?
Let me respond to that with a couple of questions.
If you look at the video of the collapsing WTC 7 what do you see?
A/ a building collapsing naturally as they always do when office fires burn for a couple of hours.
B/ A building collapsing as the result of as yet unexplained natural phenomena since the only two other buildings to ever collapse as the result of fires collapsed on that same day.
C/ A building collapsing into its own footprint in 6.5 seconds strongly resembling the only comparable events; controlled demolition!
If you read the New Zealand newspapers are you being kept abreast of the latest developments with regards to the events in Fukushima Japan?
Do you know for example what the no go zone size is and that high radiation levels have been found at twice the distance of the official no go zone?
Do you know that the safety level of radioactivity permitted in foods has changed in the aftermath of the meltdowns? here and here
Do you know that 50 cars (Of which we import a great deal) coming from Japan have been stopped and send back because of high levels of radiation in Russia.
Yes, its news. The first one is not relevant to me personally, but it’s still news by any definition. And finally killing bin Laden is the biggest news story of the year, so far. The point is that you claimed that there was no Fukushima news stories, yet they are thousands.
Still, I agree with the idea of you rolling on the floor laughing. My mental image of you is still the Simpsons’ cat woman, but I can visualise her rolling on the floor laughing, no problem at all.
PB,
I used the same Google News search as Voice of reason. The normal Google search gives 1,030,000 hits on beheaded grandma (The poor lady beheaded by a crazy maniac last week.) to give just a sample.
But go ahead and search Fukushima on google news. VoR’s lower number is not the total number of hits. You are comparing an orange to an apple. Bringing an eggplant into the mix won’t help.
Doesn’t change the point that the story is getting a lot of coverage in the msm.
VOR wanted to establish the amount of actual articles in the “Mainstream News” as I said that there was not a peep in the mainstream news about the seriousness of what is happening in Fukushima.
I used the same method to come up with other “News” articles to stay within the chosen parameters.
So yes, the times Fukushima, Will and Kate, beheaded grandma will be higher in a general search but that is neither here nor there. That would be comparing apples with pears.
All these technical terms being used by non-professionals:
a news “peep” is a million media articles globally inside of 6 months,
a “whimper is half a million,
a “purr” is an average monthly article rate of around 20,000, sustained for 8.3 months,
a “bang” is more than a million articles inside of a week,
and a “britney” is a photo that shows everything you want to know about a situation, goes viral, and when it is finally published in the MSM it’s all blurry.
VoR
Hmm, and here’s me thinking you would actually want to know answers to the questions I put to you. But it seems that denial is more than a river in Egypt with you.
National made a strange strategic move in the budget and it seems Goff has seen his window of opportunity. With so much resting on asset sales and imaginary tax takes on an economy that isn’t growing, the left have an old axe to grind and can also extend their market to include the middle income folks. Either the government is asleep, complaicent or apathetic (very likely) or they saw the next ten years were to be tax increases, no growth, regardless, and decided other people could sell it and take the responsibility. No reason why a coalition government couldn’t cobble together the same tired old slogans of the past and beat National/Act easily.
That sorta had crossed my mind as well. I thought earlier this year Labour didn’t really want the Govt benches, certainly acted like it. Now I think National are weather-beaten by the dog-turd of an economy they’ve had to deal with for far too long so apart from Key playing comedian with Goff any chance he gets they don’t look that enthusiastic. If anything, it’s Labour that’s fired up recently.
Hah, that was good. The interviewer sounded quite upset that he got his arse handed to him on a platter for trying to defend what Nact were doing to the economy.
Focus on securing a sustainable and self-determining future for NZers, reducing foreign control of government policy and foreign asset ownership. Introduce “economic terrorism” legislation to combat tax avoidance. Restore NZ Army as a credible military force for protecting strategic resources such as fisheries. (A ready-made political anthem is already available.)
Unfortunately, at the moment most NZers seem remarkably apathetic about the slow erosion of their birthright and sovereignity. “I’m gonna leave for Australia” seems to the most fashionable way to avoid the issue at present.
Yup, duh. Probably also the Air Force would defend the fisheries too; like a coupla Orions try and do at present.
It’s funny how patriotic sentiment is currently so discredited that the likes of Kyle Chapman seem to naturally spring to mind when one raises it. (Perhaps I shouldn’t have used that word “birthright”…)
A question was raised as part of the debate on the budget “do we thing we should keep funding items within the governments portfolio regardless of deficit or surplus?”(I believe it was Blinglish – but don’t quote me on that)
This is an important question which deserves some discussion.
I have raised previously the notion of some budget line items being determined by something akin to a human rights charter. [My post her onMay 3rd, 2011] This is an attempt to enshrine in law the notion that there should be a minimum spend on looking after your society and that this %/Sum should not be subject to the vagaries of chance as determined by the creative accounting of Politicians and the Treasury.
At what point does a country/ society go broke exactly?
Answer: when it no longer looks after is weakest, poorest and most vulnerable.
Everyone now understands the merry-go-round of international indebted-ness – Blind borrowing encouraged by institutions which then go onto gain tremendously from collapses in sovereignty that they have induced. The Budget rhetoric is currently fixated on the unpalatable policy which National is passing in order to keep some economic disaster at bay – but I believe the discussion should not be about particulars necessarily, but about the philosophy behind a government and the governance of a society.
I do not believe we can subscribe in honesty to a policy position which attempts to assert that ‘in order to be able to care later we must be brutal now’
This path is fraught with danger – the promised caring never eventuates once the brutality has been justified.
Compassion and capability must be the defining characteristics of governance – the National government is really saying that its mismanagement of the county has gotten so bad that it can no longer look after the citizens of New Zealand. We are bankrupt already – National has failed.
The time has come for a more inclusive approach which puts people first – the compass of our nation should be the compass of compassion. There is no point having an ‘economic surplus’ if one has squandered ones heart.
We can easily afford for everyone to have a decent living – we just can’t afford to have rich people at the same time. This is a truth that has been forgotten or, perhaps, never learned.
Bit weird, that Israeli line that keeps getting used about how various borders that they used to have are ‘indefensible’, even though when wars broke out with those borders in place Israel not only defended them, but expanded her territory.
They should get laughed out of court every time they say it, but people just nod at them as if to say ‘good point’.
But what’s wrong with privatisation? Three examples should suffice – Telecom, the Railways, Air New Zealand. You don’t need me to spell out the details of all that was wrong with their respective privatisations (necessitating renationalisation in the case of two of them). Read the Roger Award’s Judges’ Reports where you will find copious material, year after year, on the corporate misdeeds of both Telecom and the former Tranz Rail. People say “who cares who owns the power companies? The State-owned ones behave like bastards anyway” (and don’t I know it, I’m a customer of Meridian – which gave us a $5 rebate off our power bill for our place having no power for five days after the February earthquake. I’m pretty sure we get charged more than $5 when we actually use power for five days). True, but the solution is not to flog them off to a private owner but to enact a policy that State-owned companies supplying an essential service actually be a public service rather than profit-obsessed corporations, which are publicly-owned whilst exhibiting all the worst characteristics of privately owned Big Business corporations. That requires a political decision to change the business model of those and other State-owned Enterprises from profit to service. Both the Railways and the Post Office could have been fixed, updated and recapitalised without needing to be flogged off. They are both textbook examples of what is called socialising the losses whilst privatising the profits.
So, when are we going to get a political party that has the gumption to actually state that we need these public services as public services rather than as profit making corporations?
Methinks, in the short term our SOE should have the mandate of less profit return back to the Govt coffers and more on investment and expansion, with the long term objective of stabilising the economic influencers. During the late 90’s an SOE bought an small australian company in the same sector ( brisbane from memory ) but had to sell due to ministerial decree – not due to lack of profit or australian Govt concerns.
SOE or any other State owned entity are or could be such a positive influencer on society and the economy – point in case the Tories desire for selling State assets off to the elites. This century will be not about outright speculative wealth but who controls or owns a states infrastructure, assets, water and resources.
This link to an interactive pie chart that shows a breakdown of the 2011 budget expenses is truly eye opening. Everyone should check it out. In fact maybe Iprent could repost or transfer it to a main posting. It gives a tremendous ability to see the real proportions of the budget spend on working for families and the unemployment benefit for example.
Hats off to the creators.
has anyone pointed out to our brethren mate in the US that New Zealand will making it to the 21st of May before California (by about 18 hours) – we will have all gone and left him – poor bugger
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 26 July appeared first on Newsroom. ...
John Key’s “brighter future” for NZ: KiwiSlaver
Joky Hen wouldn’t know what a contract or honour is. His whole philosophy on life is typical of the dog-eat-dog business environment. Their whole raison-d’etre is to do their competitor down. That’s how they increase their share of the cake. The true Joky Hen shone through when he played along with Paul Henry’s game over the Governor General – the man doesn’t have the wit to recognise bad taste or dishonour.
The week that was 14 – 20 May
This week, the Jackal has a look at ACC’s hardline on elective surgery, just how much food is wasted globally, Shell’s annual assembly gets a visit from friends of the earth, Another NATO raid into Pakistan, Donald Trump, Huge protests in Spain, MP’s pecuniary interests, Farmers tax dodge and New Yorkers suing China’s biggest search engine.
Prof. Callaghan enthuses about Rakon, the bringers of death
National Radio, Friday 20 May 2011
In a panel discussion about the budget, Professor Paul Callaghan lamented the government’s lack of support for “entrepreneurship and industrial research”. He said that high-tech innovation is a field in which New Zealand does very well, and he cited as an example of excellence, a company called Rakon. “Now not many New Zealander people or politicians know much about this good news story,” enthused Prof. Callaghan. “But it’s a case of knowing your customers and providing what they want.”
Well, Rakon certainly knows its customers, and Rakon also knows what its customers use its technology to do. In August 2005, the New Zealand Herald quoted Rakon marketing director Darren Robinson as saying that the company’s technology went into “smart bombs and missiles” used by the US military. Rakon denied the claims, stating the company was not privy to the “end-use systems, equipment or applications used by its customers.
In May 2006 the Herald ran a large expose around Rakon products being supplied to Rockwell for incorporation in U.S. military “smart bombs”. [1] The claims were based around the facts that Rakon had known of the end-use of their products since 1994 and may in fact be in breach of New Zealand export restrictions.
In July 2006, Rakon was the target of protests by Global Peace and Justice Auckland(GPJA). During the Israeli attacks on Lebanon in July 2006, GPJA issued a media release appealing “to the Prime Minister to close the loophole which allows New Zealand’s Rakon Industries to export parts for Israeli bombs being dropped on Lebanon and Palestine.” [2]
Nothing was done, of course, and Rakon, maker of crucial components for the bringing of death and destruction to hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of men, women and children in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Lebanon, Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
As Professor Callaghan noted, it’s a pity that more New Zealanders don’t know more about Rakon.
Doesn’t it make you proud to be a Kiwi!
[1] http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=1…
[2] http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0607/S00365.htm
I just wish we developed and made our own weapons here. That way we wouldn’t be screwed if the supply lines get cut when we need weapons.
We may not want to use them but that won’t stop someone from using weapons against us which, considering the global collapse that is going to happen due to Peak oil, will happen. It really is time to get our defense forces actually capable of defending us.
High precision frequency generators are a crucial part of military electronics/RF (and civilian electronics and RF). That’s just the way it is.
YES!!
From the budget protest:
http://thehandmirror.blogspot.com/
A good round-up of left wing and centrist perspectives on the budget from stargazer at the handmirror.
budget links
More evidence of slipping standards at National Radio
Just heard on the 11 o’clock news on National Radio that Obama has said that the Palestinian state “should be based on the contentious 1967 borders.”
“Contentious”?
Excuse me? “Contentious”?
Almost the whole of the international community recognizes that Israel must return to the 1967 borders, and that the Occupied Territories must be part of the new Palestine state.
Why would that newsreader have read out that these borders are “contentious”?
Evidently Israel doesn’t agree, therefore making it “contentious”.
Evidently Israel doesn’t agree, therefore making it “contentious”.
No, it makes Israel a scofflaw regime. That, and its massive use of firepower against civilian populations.
The word ‘contentious’ is not included in the online report, however, it might be that a reporter put it in while reading the news out. It’s an unusual word to use, I agree, but it may be that it is Israel’s theft of the land after the 6 day war that is contentious, not the borders prior to that.
Just saying….
The U.S. policy shift on 1967 borders explained.
After the U.S. government called settlements “illegal” for years, President Reagan said they were “not constructive.” President Clinton changed it again, saying that “natural growth” was acceptable. President George W Bush went further to say that it was “unrealistic” to expect any kind of peace based on old borders.
So in effect, President Obama’s endorsement of the 1967 lines is a return from the shifting positions taken by his predecessors.
The fallacy of the 1967 ‘borders’
THE TERM “1967 lines” refers to the line from which the IDF moved into the territories at the start of hostilities on June 4, 1967 (the Six Day War).
These lines were not based on historical fact, natural geographic formations, demographic considerations or international agreement. In fact, they had served as the agreed-upon armistice lines from the termination of the 1948 War of Independence, pursuant to the armistice agreements then signed between Israel and its neighbors – Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon – in 1949. These lines remained valid until the outbreak of the 1967 hostilities.
The armistice lines represented nothing more than the forward lines of deployment of the forces on the day a cease-fire was declared, as set out in Security Council Resolution 62 of November 16, 1948, which called for the delineation of permanent armistice demarcation lines beyond which the armed forces of the respective parties would not move. The line was demarcated on the map attached to the armistice agreement with a green marker pen and hence received the name “Green Line.”
The international consensus is absolutely clear. Where did you cut and paste that nonsense from?
The blue bit Morrissey, the blue bit.
Good Lord, joe90! ABC and the Jerusalem Post are about as reliable and trustworthy as President Obama’s statement that from now on the U.S. is going to “support democracy” in the Middle East.
And you appear to have missed the Just saying… part of the post where I try to show that Obama seems to be backing the Palestinians by going back to the original US stance on the issue of the 1967 borders.and that the Israelis don’t like it.
Perhaps you should read the speech before you go into wingnut mode.
joe90, I read what you posted. Obama’s words are nothing new: the U.S., like every other country in the world (bar one), says Israel is violating international law by its occupation of the West Bank and its blockade of Gaza. There is NOTHING contentious about saying Israel must observe the law.
And….did you just call me a wingnut?!?!?!?!?!?
So we’re back where it all started.
Morrissey…I don’t like the word contentious.
Me….what’s contentious, the US position is bla .bla, the Israeli position is bla..bla..
Morrissey…..I’m right and all the world thinks so too.
Me…ask a stupid..get a stupid
Morrissey…I’m right and all the world agrees with me…how dare you use.. MSM …
Me….I’m just saying..nothings really changed…and you’re starting to sound like…..
Morrissey…..bla bla ..and you called me a name.
Me…. Palestine is a fuck up but at least someone is trying, .. you’re starting to mirror the wingnuts who as long as they get to be on what they think is the right side don’t give a rats about the people on the other side ..
Last word to ME.. he may not have met my expectations but Obama winning another term is the first real opportunity since Begin and Sadat for a lasting peace in the region.
End.
Nice attempt at dramatisation, my friend. You should approach that tired old codger John Barnett about a screenwriting job; the ones he employs on his movies are certainly not much chop.
However, while your dialoguing shows promise, you need to pay attention to your understanding of content, which is sadly lacking. I’ll deal with just the most glaring errors….
1.) Me….what’s contentious, the US position is bla .bla, the Israeli position is bla..bla..
Actually, it’s the US and the whole world versus Israel.
2.) Morrissey…..I’m right and all the world thinks so too.
That is correct. You are trying to scoff at this writer (i.e., moi) as out on a limb; actually, my position is the mainstream one.
3.) Me…. Palestine is a fuck up but at least someone is trying,
WHO is trying, Joe? And who is it that is responsible for it being a “fuck up”?
4.) …you’re starting to mirror the wingnuts who as long as they get to be on what they think is the right side don’t give a rats about the people on the other side.
There you go again! It’s easy to throw around empty epithets like “wingnuts”, especially when you aren’t up to speed on an issue. Have you been listening to that penetrating analyst Leighton Smith on NewstalkZB, by any chance?
5.) Last word to ME.. he may not have met my expectations but Obama winning another term is the first real opportunity since Begin and Sadat for a lasting peace in the region.
On what basis do you make that statement? Obama has done precisely nothing to stop Israel’s depredations in Gaza or the West Bank. You would know that if you had any familiarity with Israeli and Palestinian politics.
The difference between ’67 borders’ and ‘facts on the ground’ as starting points is nicely captured in this french map:
http://bigthink.com/ideas/21423
And yet Israel doesn’t agree. As ultimately they are the ones that have to do something about the issue, their opinion matters, I think.
In other words – talk is cheap. I’m there are members of the “international community” that think the Israel borders issue is cut-and-dried, but those members may be having their own border disputes with their neighbours.
I think ragging on National Radio by saying that “it isn’t contentious because the international community thinks x y and z” is making a fuss out of nothing. Clearly there is contention about the borders (otherwise they would already be the borders), and so using the word is accurate. You may not agree with it, but that doesn’t mean that National Radio are ‘wrong’.
As ultimately they are the ones that have to do something about the issue, their opinion matters
Ultimately it is Israel’s sponsor, the United States, that has to do something—other than its occasional wringing of hands and the odd stern word to its Israeli protégé.
Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, and its blockade of Gaza, are in flagrant violation of international law. The whole world recognizes that fact—except Israel. The U.S. has chosen to ignore Israel’s multiple violations, just as it chose to ignore similar behaviour by the apartheid regime in South Africa, the Suharto regime in Indonesia, and Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq.
…there are members of the “international community” that think the Israel borders issue is cut-and-dried…
Every country in the world bar Israel recognizes that Israel must return to the 1967 borders.
but those members may be having their own border disputes with their neighbours.
Which of those countries occupies, locks down the towns, demolishes private homes as punishment for resistance, demolishes hospitals and schools, and systematically terrorizes its neighbours? Which of those countries has its troops treating civilians like THIS?…
Here’s a dictionary definition for you:
Here’s a dictionary definition for you:
None of which applies to the issue of Israel’s violation of international law. There is unanimous agreement on this, even from Israel’s sponsor and enabler, the United States. There is nothing contentious about it whatsoever; the only question is, when will the international community act against this scofflaw regime?
A couple of perspectives on the budget as to how it will actually affect people, rather than numbers on a balance sheet:
Chris Trotter‘s well worded fictional tale, and Ruby Martin‘s reality.
I think Chris Trotter really over-egged it a bit, to the point that it won’t really convince many people. This budget really didn’t do very much at all, and it’s difficult to believe there would be a family that was specifically afflicted by all the changes the budget did actually make. Throwing in other, wider issues from Nat’s previous legislative work would’ve been better I think (no night schooling, an unemployed nephew who goes off the rails…).
But good attempt anyway.
So it is a “bad” budget, but Phil Goff won’t promise to reverse cuts too Kiwisaver and WFF.
Shades of the”axe the tax” campaign?
Now that Labour has a realistic change of getting back into power in November, is it time now to ditc Phil Goff and replace him with a 21st century person? Goff is so 1980s!!
Why should Labour commit to these kinds of fiscal decisions now when it has no idea how much extra shit English is going to place the country in over the next 6 months?
Its not logical to expect that Labour will simply reverse this National tax move or that National tax move as a policy foundation. Labour has got initiatives planned which go much further than simply negating the moves National has made in this budget.
And thanks for vainly trying to stir up the leadership debate again when it’s John Key who is going to leave National early and leave the stoush between English and Joyce, why don’t we talk about that for a bit.
Re asset sales. Can somebody tell what Govt revenues currently are from Power companies, Solid Energy and Air NZ?
NZX is rubbing its hands over the thought of the income they will make from Asset sales.
I want to know what we will lose!
go to the COMU website (part of the treasury) and look for the 2010 Annual portfolio report
if you cant be bothered, total dividends for the 4 power companies according to the cash flow statements therein was around $730 million for 2010
I haven’t and there is nothing in trash or spam. It may not have saved?
Sorry Iprent,
My bad.
I want to dedicate this video to Lanthanide who with his comments made the events on Fukushima another taboo subject and whose comments were of the Oh, she’s just a conspiracy nut sort.
Three fucking meltdowns and not a peep in the mainstream media. A million people died as the result of the Chernobyl meltdown which is a walk in the park compared to the hideous events in Fukushima. Millions of people will die as the result of what is currently happening in Japan and the radiation will damage the entire gene pool of planet Earth and not even a tiny wee peep in the mainstream media.
Oh shit thought I’d uploaded this comment but made a mistake. This is what you get when you have 39 pages open and flick from one to the other. Sorry.
Repost from the other day (with a slight edit):
So basically the Fukushima incident resulted in a release of a huge amount of radioactive material into the environment because there was a meltdown (or >1) and meltdowns always mean that radioactive material will be released environment (not that the fuel rods have just melted)? And we don’t know about this because Tepco/the Japanese government/whoever are controlling the release of information from all the detectors of radiation in the whole world in a giant conspiracy (just like 9/11 I guess)? Even though radiation is relatively easy to detect and there are numerous detectors worldwide? And this poses a huge risk to the whole world (not just the immediately surrounding area where the material would be most concentrated) because we are all going to get cancer, after all its not as if the release of radioactive material across a huge area such as the Pacific ocean/the whole world would have resulted in the radioactive material being diluted at all?
p.s Lan: it looks like you made a new friend 🙂
Here is some <a href=’http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2011/05/simulation-shows-high-levels-of.html’>info</a> you might want to read up on.
It’s a worst-case scenario simulation. If you look in the comments, someone linked to actual monitoring being done in Oregon that shows there is no cause for concern.
I remember reading about a university that set up some monitoring stations within 3 days of the event, so they could monitor when the radiation first hit California. Sure enough, they got results showing they could detect it.
If there were an actual public health or environmental risk posed to the US, you can be sure it would be in the media. The US media loves to hype that sort of stuff up (as witnessed by the reports in the immediate days following) and there’s no way you could cover it up. I guess Hawaii might be at higher risk, but again that’s US soil. Other smaller pacific islands or parts of Asia could be covered up or simply not alerted, however.
I didn’t bother visiting the link (it was from to a blog, hardly a reliable source), but as you’ve eluded to, a key point is radioactive material is trivial to detect these days, and can be detected in minute quantities. It is simply not possible that a harmful level of material being released could be covered up. You would have to get to far too many people (yes, even more than you would need to cover up something like 9/11).
Washington’s blog is so incredibly well backed up with reliable sources you would be hard pressed to find anything like that in the Mainstream media.
And if you still believe that 19 young Saudi Arab men can force a 47 floor building to implode in 6.5 seconds into it’s own footprint with only a couple of relatively cool office fires breaking all Newton’s laws of Physics I’ve got a bit of rainforest in the middle of the Sahara to sell to you.
Oh, great, back to the madness. You really have the attention span of a gnat, don’t you? Not every debate has to have your 9/11 fantasy trotted out for public ridicule, you know. You could try focussing on the issue you raised about Fukushima and which you seem to be unable to back up, but no, you have insult the 3000 killed in those attacks yet again.
Speaking of insulting the dead, somewhere between 4 and 5 thousand people were lost in the decades after Chernobyl that can be directly related to the event. Many thousands more will have lives possibly shortened by the effects. A million dead is bullshit, utter bullshit.
VoR,
These are a series of Ads we all helped to finance in which representatives of the families who lost someone in those attacks ask for a new and independent investigation.
You see for them 9/11 never stopped. They want answers to their questions. Neither did it stop for the 70.000 first responders who are all falling ill and are dying as a result of the dust they breathed in on that day and the days after.
Neither has it stopped for families of the hundreds of thousands of Afghanis and Iraqis who died in the wars started as a result of that day so if it is all the same to you I will keep bringing it up until all those people feel that their questions have been answered and they can get on with their lives too.
I don’t get it L. Do you think ev doesn’t read the pages she links to, or she reads them but doesn’t understand what they say? Either way, it’s a bit of an own-goal.
I’m beginning to wonder whether the accusation of lacking acumen that she levelled was, in fact, a self-reflection.
Yep – she seems to have a fundamental inability to distinguish between statement of fact, expert opinion, calculated broad estimate, educated guess, baseless assumption, blind guesswork, urban myth, common misconception, uncommon misconception, barefaced lie, outrageous allegation, borderline delusion, outright delusion, and generalised bullshit.
And unfortunately teh interwebz is a gloriously colourful milieu of everything above.
“who with his comments made the events on Fukushima another taboo subject”
I don’t mind having reasonable discussions about Fukushima based around factual information.
If you want a reasonable discussion then maybe follow the link ev provided in 10.1.1. There’s a (single) comment on the link with another, interesting, link attached.
ev’s link says:
Because [the data ev is relying on to prove her point]comes from an internal – rather than publicly-released – portion of Nilo’s website, it cannot be confirmed that these are real readings, as opposed to some sort of fictitious simulation.
and the link from ev’s link says:
This is archived information from the 2011 Japan Radiation Event (March 11, 2011 to May 15, 2011). This information is no longer being updated as this is not considered a local hazard at this time.
Which is not to say that Fukushima isn’t a massive fucking disaster, or that the plant owners and government of Japan haven’t been covering stuff up (I’m not going into that in this comment), it’s just to say there’s no need to get your tinfoil hat out. Yet.
“Which is not to say that Fukushima isn’t a massive fucking disaster, or that the plant owners and government of Japan haven’t been covering stuff up (I’m not going into that in this comment), it’s just to say there’s no need to get your tinfoil hat out. Yet.”
Definitely agree, and that’s my position.
Indeed, it is a bad disaster for that local area. But not any sort of worldwide threat like certain people would have us believe.
Chernobyl killed almost 1 million people
The study was not peer reviewed initially. The Ney York Academy of Sciences published it as a book, not a study. Subsequently it was found:
..the book achieves this figure [985,000] by the remarkable method of assuming that all increased deaths from a wide range of diseases – including many which have no known association with radiation – were caused by the Chernobyl accident. There is no basis for this assumption…
More information here.
Which is not to say Chernobyl was not a giant fucking disaster.
One of the reason’s TEPCO is trying to keep secret just how much radiation has been released is because there is a clear link between diseases such as cancer and radiation. You can check out some of the things TEPCO and the Japanese Govt have been trying to cover up in the link below.
http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2011/05/fukushima-cover-up.html
I think that a shit load of people died from Chernobyl, more than will ever be admitted to by the authorities. People will still be prematurely dying today from that disaster. You might also like to read this:
Within four years at least 5,000 of the more than 600,000 decontamination workers (“liquidators”) had died from various causes; the fraction of deaths attributable to Chernobyl is unknown, but this figure represents less than 1% of the total.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_due_to_the_Chernobyl_disaster
Yes, there is a well established link between radiation and cancer.
I think saying TEPCO are “keeping it secret” is stretching the facts. Truth is they probably don’t know how much radiation was leaked, nor are they in a position to know exactly what happened, ATM. So sure, maybe they aren’t telling, but that is different to keeping it secret.
We may find that there are a lot of liability issues around the whole thing. Someone has to pay for it all to be cleaned up. Chances are TEPCO’s insurers are crapping bricks and aren’t keen for TEPCO to admit too much liability, so TEPCO will be very careful with what it says, in case it opens itself and its insurers up to enormous costs. However, that’s entirely speculation on my part, and before you challenge me to provide links, I won’t. My objective is to demonstrate there is an alternative explanation. Obviously I think it’s a plausible explanation, I’m not fussed if others choose to see the whole thing as a giant conspiracy.
Also, while TEPCO and others may have an interest in limiting their liability, there are other affected parties (again, large insurers, probably of the “health” variety) who will have an interest in telling a different story, to avoid having to care for people with mild radiation sickness for the next 40 years.
So they released details about the fire that happened on May 8th did they? I must have missed that. What about the fact that unit #1 had melted down within 16 days of the initial earthquake and tsunami? Not telling people about things that could adversely affect their health because they are scared of prosecution is keeping a secret Armchair Critic. TEPCO and it’s insurers have made a decision to put peoples lives at risk to avoid prosecution, there is no question about it.
So they released details about the fire that happened on May 8th did they?
As per my previous comment, I doubt they have details yet. Perhaps we could debate around our different interpretations of what constitutes details.
I must have missed that.
I doubt it.
What about the fact that unit #1 had melted down within 16 days of the initial earthquake and tsunami?
Do you mean 16 hours?
16 hours after the enormous earthquake, I expect they were busy doing stuff and not in a position to have a press conference. After that, they were probably in damage control mode and didn’t care whether it was 16 hours or 16 days. Fact is they had a huge mess on their hands and were still busy trying to stop things getting any worse than they already were.
Not telling people about things that could adversely affect their health because they are scared of prosecution is keeping a secret Armchair Critic.
Unless, of course, they don’t know. The it’s not very much like keeping a secret at all. It’s more like when John Key started on about how many houses needed to be demolished in Canterbury, before he had the full story.
TEPCO and it’s insurers have made a decision to put peoples lives at risk to avoid prosecution, there is no question about it.
And that’s their job. Kudos to you for being more open in your opposition to them doing their job than I am (my blog pales in comparison to yours). I don’t think that them doing their job is right, either.
Would you have a link to your blog Armchair Critic?
Not a peep, eh? Well, just 2265 news reports pop up when you google Fukushima, so you’re nearly right, Ev.
Report: Japan utility’s chief out
msnbc.com – 11 minutes ago
The Associated Press
Tepco told to avoid sale of national park land – The Japan Times
Japan’s Fukushima Reactor May Have Leaked Radiation Before Tsunami … – Bloomberg
Financial Times – BBC News
all 2265 news articles »
Compare that to the 18,345 hits on Kate and William or 5,588 for Britney Spears or 37,862 for osama bin laden and you get my drift.
And y’all thanks for admitting that TEPCO and the Japanese government have indeed been covering up all kinds of stuff.
Yeah, but Kate and Wills and OBL are actual news events of significance and Fukushima has turned out to be nowhere near as bad as it could have been. The point I was making is that you don’t think or research before commenting. Far from not being a peep, it has been the major science related news story in the last two months and has been covered in depth by people who know what they are talking about.
Just because other actual journalists don’t share your desire to see Japan glow at night to prove an obscure point doesn’t mean their work should be ignored by you. 2265 new stories vs your claim of zero news stories makes you look even less credible than usual, EV. As does the Million dead at Chernobyl claim, which is again completely lacking in research, just a number pulled out of your arse.
“…a number pulled out of your arse.”
Not quite. Check the link provided above. It comes from a book published last year by the New York Academy of Sciences that reviews 5000 scientific articles and studies on the Chernobyl aftermath. Key quote:
“Drawing upon extensive data, the authors estimate the number of deaths worldwide due to Chernobyl fallout from 1986 through 2004 was 985,000, a number that has since increased. By contrast, WHO and the IAEA estimated 9,000 deaths and some 200,000 people sickened in 2005.”
Here’s a glossary of some facts collected by a concerned citizen from Canada.
Wow, it’s on youtube – it must be true.
/sarcasm
Oh, you really took the time to watch this didn’t you?
Once bitten, twice shy, ev. You have a habit of linking to youtube videos as a source of reliable information.
I’ve watched enough of them to have discovered the following relationship:
youtube video linked to by ev = full of wild theories, vaguely plausible stories and the rantings of supporters of right wing conspiracies.
If the best you can do is a youtube link, I have better things to do than waste any more of my time.
1,502 verified architectural and engineering professionals and 12,041 other supporters have signed the petition demanding of Congress a truly independent investigation into the events of 9/11.
Yep, we’re all nutters.
So? A greater percentage of the population than your 12,041 other supporters think ACT’s policies rock. I still disagree.
1502 verified architectural and engineering professionals is a tiny proportion of the combined membership of ASCE and AIA, which is, in turn a small proportion of the number of architects and engineers.
Numbers alone aren’t enough to create a convincing argument.
Neither are links to youtube, which is what I hoped you would respond to. Instead you are arguing the significance of google search results to support your position. Is that the best you have?
Let me respond to that with a couple of questions.
If you look at the video of the collapsing WTC 7 what do you see?
A/ a building collapsing naturally as they always do when office fires burn for a couple of hours.
B/ A building collapsing as the result of as yet unexplained natural phenomena since the only two other buildings to ever collapse as the result of fires collapsed on that same day.
C/ A building collapsing into its own footprint in 6.5 seconds strongly resembling the only comparable events; controlled demolition!
If you read the New Zealand newspapers are you being kept abreast of the latest developments with regards to the events in Fukushima Japan?
Do you know for example what the no go zone size is and that high radiation levels have been found at twice the distance of the official no go zone?
Do you know that the safety level of radioactivity permitted in foods has changed in the aftermath of the meltdowns? here and here
Do you know that 50 cars (Of which we import a great deal) coming from Japan have been stopped and send back because of high levels of radiation in Russia.
Let me respond to that with a couple of questions.
I’d prefer you responded with some answers.
See 10.2.1.1.1.1 and Armchair’s reply.
ROFL,
Somebody gets married at the other side of the world a fake story about the 9th death of OBL is News?
Yes, its news. The first one is not relevant to me personally, but it’s still news by any definition. And finally killing bin Laden is the biggest news story of the year, so far. The point is that you claimed that there was no Fukushima news stories, yet they are thousands.
Still, I agree with the idea of you rolling on the floor laughing. My mental image of you is still the Simpsons’ cat woman, but I can visualise her rolling on the floor laughing, no problem at all.
LOL.
Comparing apples with apples then Fukushima gets 22,176 ‘hits’.
PB,
I used the same Google News search as Voice of reason. The normal Google search gives 1,030,000 hits on beheaded grandma (The poor lady beheaded by a crazy maniac last week.) to give just a sample.
This is silly.
But go ahead and search Fukushima on google news. VoR’s lower number is not the total number of hits. You are comparing an orange to an apple. Bringing an eggplant into the mix won’t help.
Doesn’t change the point that the story is getting a lot of coverage in the msm.
VOR wanted to establish the amount of actual articles in the “Mainstream News” as I said that there was not a peep in the mainstream news about the seriousness of what is happening in Fukushima.
I used the same method to come up with other “News” articles to stay within the chosen parameters.
So yes, the times Fukushima, Will and Kate, beheaded grandma will be higher in a general search but that is neither here nor there. That would be comparing apples with pears.
You’re still not getting it ev. I’m not talking about a general search.
You used a different thing than the thing VoR quoted.
VoR’s 2265 number is the number of news stories related to just the first item on the google news search.
So comparing apples to apples, the number for ‘britney spears’ would be the:
“all 42 news articles”
from the first item listed at your link (10.3.1)
I just went to your britney link (comment 10.3.1). It’s now showing, by your method 5673 hits.
Put ‘Fukushima’ into the search field, hit go, and I get “20,525 hits” showing up in the spot where Britney got her “5673”.
Apples to apples.
If I put “fukushima nuclear plant” in I get 14,015 hits.
Not general searches, news searches.
Whatever PB. You go boy and while you’re at it why don’t you read some of the stuff you’re “searching” LOL.
All these technical terms being used by non-professionals:
a news “peep” is a million media articles globally inside of 6 months,
a “whimper is half a million,
a “purr” is an average monthly article rate of around 20,000, sustained for 8.3 months,
a “bang” is more than a million articles inside of a week,
and a “britney” is a photo that shows everything you want to know about a situation, goes viral, and when it is finally published in the MSM it’s all blurry.
Thanks for clearing that up, it all makes sense to me now!
VoR
Hmm, and here’s me thinking you would actually want to know answers to the questions I put to you. But it seems that denial is more than a river in Egypt with you.
I really wish we could vote comments up here :/
Ok, we’ll try it for a few days and see what happens – but without hiding or highlighting comments and some higher trigger values. *grumble*
Don’t like it. Won’t vote Lanth’s suggestion down out of spite, though.
Great stuff from Goff on Morning Report
http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-20110520-0813-labour_says_budget_is_bleak-048.mp3
National made a strange strategic move in the budget and it seems Goff has seen his window of opportunity. With so much resting on asset sales and imaginary tax takes on an economy that isn’t growing, the left have an old axe to grind and can also extend their market to include the middle income folks. Either the government is asleep, complaicent or apathetic (very likely) or they saw the next ten years were to be tax increases, no growth, regardless, and decided other people could sell it and take the responsibility. No reason why a coalition government couldn’t cobble together the same tired old slogans of the past and beat National/Act easily.
That sorta had crossed my mind as well. I thought earlier this year Labour didn’t really want the Govt benches, certainly acted like it. Now I think National are weather-beaten by the dog-turd of an economy they’ve had to deal with for far too long so apart from Key playing comedian with Goff any chance he gets they don’t look that enthusiastic. If anything, it’s Labour that’s fired up recently.
Aye, he did really well. Keep it up Phil.
Hah, that was good. The interviewer sounded quite upset that he got his arse handed to him on a platter for trying to defend what Nact were doing to the economy.
bread and circuses still work dude.
Further erosion of civil liberties in the “land of the free”:
US Supreme Court gives green light to warrant-less searches of homes
I see Bill English is in a rush to sell NZ off to overseas owners.
Perhaps time to begin a “Defend NZ Party”?
Focus on securing a sustainable and self-determining future for NZers, reducing foreign control of government policy and foreign asset ownership. Introduce “economic terrorism” legislation to combat tax avoidance. Restore NZ Army as a credible military force for protecting strategic resources such as fisheries. (A ready-made political anthem is already available.)
Unfortunately, at the moment most NZers seem remarkably apathetic about the slow erosion of their birthright and sovereignity. “I’m gonna leave for Australia” seems to the most fashionable way to avoid the issue at present.
Um – shouldn’t it be the navy that protects our fisheries? 🙂
The trouble is that if you get too nationalist Kyle Chapman starts dropping leaflets…
“…the navy…”
Yup, duh. Probably also the Air Force would defend the fisheries too; like a coupla Orions try and do at present.
It’s funny how patriotic sentiment is currently so discredited that the likes of Kyle Chapman seem to naturally spring to mind when one raises it. (Perhaps I shouldn’t have used that word “birthright”…)
Anyone going to a Political Party? 🙂
[lprent: Ruled out of bounds and moved to openmike. ]
The Ocean of Liquidity and the Moral high ground.
A question was raised as part of the debate on the budget “do we thing we should keep funding items within the governments portfolio regardless of deficit or surplus?”(I believe it was Blinglish – but don’t quote me on that)
This is an important question which deserves some discussion.
I have raised previously the notion of some budget line items being determined by something akin to a human rights charter. [My post her onMay 3rd, 2011] This is an attempt to enshrine in law the notion that there should be a minimum spend on looking after your society and that this %/Sum should not be subject to the vagaries of chance as determined by the creative accounting of Politicians and the Treasury.
At what point does a country/ society go broke exactly?
Answer: when it no longer looks after is weakest, poorest and most vulnerable.
Everyone now understands the merry-go-round of international indebted-ness – Blind borrowing encouraged by institutions which then go onto gain tremendously from collapses in sovereignty that they have induced. The Budget rhetoric is currently fixated on the unpalatable policy which National is passing in order to keep some economic disaster at bay – but I believe the discussion should not be about particulars necessarily, but about the philosophy behind a government and the governance of a society.
I do not believe we can subscribe in honesty to a policy position which attempts to assert that ‘in order to be able to care later we must be brutal now’
This path is fraught with danger – the promised caring never eventuates once the brutality has been justified.
Compassion and capability must be the defining characteristics of governance – the National government is really saying that its mismanagement of the county has gotten so bad that it can no longer look after the citizens of New Zealand. We are bankrupt already – National has failed.
The time has come for a more inclusive approach which puts people first – the compass of our nation should be the compass of compassion. There is no point having an ‘economic surplus’ if one has squandered ones heart.
We can easily afford for everyone to have a decent living – we just can’t afford to have rich people at the same time. This is a truth that has been forgotten or, perhaps, never learned.
Rating comments? Wooohoooooooo
Edit: Moderation??? Booooooooo
Parliament has been quite entertaining today.
Cosgrove slam-dunking Foss over democracy is worth a look.
Best Freudian slip – Shane Ardern – “I say to that Labour Government over there” … must be getting practice in for 2012
Mick Elborado: working class hero?
http://readingthemaps.blogspot.com/2011/05/aftershocks-and-insults-in-christchurch.html
That’s really fucked up. Poor bastard.
Bit weird, that Israeli line that keeps getting used about how various borders that they used to have are ‘indefensible’, even though when wars broke out with those borders in place Israel not only defended them, but expanded her territory.
They should get laughed out of court every time they say it, but people just nod at them as if to say ‘good point’.
It’s fucking barking.
This is an absolute must read:
So, when are we going to get a political party that has the gumption to actually state that we need these public services as public services rather than as profit making corporations?
Methinks, in the short term our SOE should have the mandate of less profit return back to the Govt coffers and more on investment and expansion, with the long term objective of stabilising the economic influencers. During the late 90’s an SOE bought an small australian company in the same sector ( brisbane from memory ) but had to sell due to ministerial decree – not due to lack of profit or australian Govt concerns.
SOE or any other State owned entity are or could be such a positive influencer on society and the economy – point in case the Tories desire for selling State assets off to the elites. This century will be not about outright speculative wealth but who controls or owns a states infrastructure, assets, water and resources.
http://wheresmytaxes.co.nz/
This link to an interactive pie chart that shows a breakdown of the 2011 budget expenses is truly eye opening. Everyone should check it out. In fact maybe Iprent could repost or transfer it to a main posting. It gives a tremendous ability to see the real proportions of the budget spend on working for families and the unemployment benefit for example.
Hats off to the creators.
This rapture business, if no one disappears that just means the church is wrong about what god wants.
I’m hoping that people like Bill English, the SS Trust and maybe even the Exclusive Brethren will all be gone by Monday.
has anyone pointed out to our brethren mate in the US that New Zealand will making it to the 21st of May before California (by about 18 hours) – we will have all gone and left him – poor bugger