Because we have been discouraged from believing that the State was ours. We no longer believe in the power of the collective to do good. (Well it does all the time, but we’ve been trained not to see it.)
If the house is not yours, what do you care if it gets burnt down?
Nice comments Felix, thought what Kunstler says this morning might bear some relevance to the corporate predeliction for Randian superheroes. Kunstler is talking about the inability of American (read Western) males to be and act as mature humans, and why… The same country that furnishes an endless diet of super-hero movies to pubescent males who are not expected to develop normal adult coping powers
He then goes on to state what this Randian obsession has actually lead to….The same country that supplies gruesome, sado-masochistic video games to occupy the idle hours of young men – and then lets them take those “skills” to some tilt-up bunker in Nevada where they sit in air-conditioned comfort and direct drone aircraft ten thousand miles away to incinerate suspected “enemies” in mud villages. (Sometimes “mistakes are made” and they blow up a wedding party or something – but the drone controllers still get to leave the bunker at the end of their shift and roll down the strip for a plastic tray full of burritos.)
I agree Draco, but is it really that different to ships firing cruise missiles from 100s of kms away, pilots firing missiles from up to 100km away, or ground based artillery firing up to 20km away?
The 18-25 year olds have always been at the pointy end of what are essentially political decisions made by the suits, safe in their air conditioned bunkers.
The same country that supplies gruesome, sado-masochistic video games to occupy the idle hours of young men – and then lets them take those “skills” to some tilt-up bunker in Nevada where they sit in air-conditioned comfort and direct drone aircraft
Of course, not all these people can work as drone pilots, so you get the spillover which is the abuse at Abu Graib prison and the civilian killings by security firm formerly known as Blackwater.
And in both Libya and Afghanistan multiple reports of civilians being killed by western air forces.
Ed Vulliamy has more on the theme of the ultimate outcome of these Randian superheroes with regard to the Mexico border towns…
So Mexico’s war is how the future will look, because it belongs not in the 19th century with wars of empire, or the 20th with wars of ideology, race and religion – but utterly in a present to which the global economy is committed, and to a zeitgeist of frenzied materialism we adamantly refuse to temper: it is the inevitable war of capitalism gone mad.
Narco-cartels are not pastiches of global corporations, nor are they errant bastards of the global economy – they are pioneers of it. They point, in their business logic and modus operandi, to how the legal economy will arrange itself next. The Mexican cartels epitomised the North American free trade agreement long before it was dreamed up, and they thrive upon it.
And yet it is this vision that this government takes us towards. A failed society of murder and corruption.
And we have been manipulated into believing that being critical equals “conspiracy theorist”. Here is a nice article written by Paul Craig Roberts, former Wall street journal editor and assistent secretary of Treasury under Reagan, about how that works
They’re burning down the house called Greece. In The Guardian today is an article that basically stating that inflation could be the lesser evil when trying to get the euro-linked economies through the debt crisis.
Instead of encouraging Greece and other troubled euro-linked economies to go through additional rounds of austerity, which will only lead to further declines in GDP and higher unemployment, the IMF should be telling the European Central Bank (ECB) to increase its inflation target to a 3-4% range.
If the euro zone maintained a moderate rate of inflation, it would allow the Greek economy to become competitive without experiencing a wrenching process of wage deflation. It would also erode the real value of debt alleviating the burden on both heavily
The article links to a .pdf from last year when the IMF chief economist argued that the current consensus around macroeconomic policy is flawed, that monetary policy from the central banks and regulatory policy should be coordinated along with openly recognising exchange rate stability as an objective in small open economies. These can provide a comprehensive set of cyclical tools in a debt crisis.
A manageable level of inflation during the debt crisis can reduce the amount the likes of Germany would have to lend and inflation would eat up the debts owed, reducing the austerity measures that are causing so much social unrest. Rules would have to be in place so that a return to the inflation objective was re-instituted when the crisis was over. His argument doesn’t seem to fit the current IMF paradigm.
If all countries in the world simultaneously inflate at the same rate, then trade differences don’t really change at all. But existing debts will simply melt away. Put in that context, it seems weird that we have to have this back-door debt cancellation policy (with side-effects) that everyone just accepts as a fact of life, instead of just having a blatant debt-cancelling policy up front that does what it says on the tin and can be wielded more precisely against the debts that need cancelling.
Yesterday the NATO had to admit that civilians had been killed in a bombing raid.
Euphemistically called Kinetic Military action and humanitarian aid to liberate the Libyan people it should not surprise anyone that civilians would be the victim of what amongst us commoners is normally called illegal war of aggression and conquest which was declared the biggest war crime of all.
They were not the only ones nor will they be the last. Like in any war culture is being destroyed. Libraries, schools and make no mistake Tripoli is an ancient city and so are most of the other major cities and bombing them will inevitably damage the leftovers of Phoenician, Roman and Bedouin culture.
Depleted Uranium will make sure of that. Bunker busters and tomahawk missiles are always made with DU heads, make no mistake about that, which means that Tripoli a city of more than 1 million people the size and population of Auckland will be for the next 4.5 billion years spawning deformities amongst it’s infants and cause cancer and sickness defeating any pretence of “humanitarian” intervention.
Yemen is being bombed as I write this and according to reports coming from army personnel at ford Hood Troops are being prepared to invade Libya in contravention of the UN resolution which explicitly forbade boots on the ground and the congress has been effectively ignored in it’s wishes to have the law with regards to the president needing approval to wage war respected.
Syria is next. the European Union has put economic sanctions in place and US war ships have been moved to the coast of Syria. Anyone with the eyes to see knows what happened to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
One definition of a World war is that the population of two or more continents must be affected over a period of several years and I dare say that with the Asian, European, African and American continents being involved and affected we have come perilously close.
Update: If you are easily grossed out maybe this is not the link for you but if like me you are driven by the need to know and want to know what happens if you bomb a library then perhaps it is the link for you.
We “the West” are committing atrocities hidden behind the words “Kinetic military action” and Humanitarian aid in the form of bombs and we accept that it is done in our name because the people it happens to are far away in countries we don’t know and who have brown skins and a religion we are afraid off.
“congress has been effectively ignored in it’s wishes to have the law with regards to the president needing approval to wage war respected”
You are letting congress off the hook here. The congress can wish all it wants to, but unless it is prepared to act then the Pres is under no obligation to pay them attention. Congress can defund military activities at any time it chooses, and it can impeach and remove a president. Absent those things, the stated ‘wishes’ of its critters are just smoke.
Congress doesn’t have to wish a president would ask them for approval. When they cry about that, they are just shifting the buck.
I agree. The whole lot are callous out of control and a corrupt pork barrel swilling lot and the French had a perfectly good solution for that problem. It comes with a very sharp blade and a loud thud. LOL.
Congress doesn’t have to wish a president would ask them for approval. When they cry about that, they are just shifting the buck.
This is the same with congressmen and senators wailing at and telling off banking executives when they turn up at hearings.
Don’t bleat ineffectually to get prime time TV soundbites senators, simply make sure that the machinery of government and of the regulators enforces the rules already in place and puts those guys behind bars.
It was rather amusing to watch Bomber beat himself raw about DPF getting his very own Herald column a few weeks ago. Bomber was incensed and obviously had to check himself before he turned into the hulk and went completely berserk on us. He does raise a serious issue though, that is becoming more and more problematic; the right wing is trying to take over our airwaves.
There is a common courtesy while using other peoples material online. You only quote part of it and you link to their publication in the hopes of spreading their work while acknowledging their right to be named as the owner and above all you never ever claim something from someone else as written by yourself. That would be stealing.
And as for my “pathetic” blog; many of the writers I quote and link to are co-activists and and are happy to share their material because of the greater good they are trying to achieve and even though I have published parts of other peoples work for five years I have never ever had the request to take anything down.
You on the other hand STOLE someone else’s work and published that as you own. That is dishonest and shows like, by the way this ignorant remark, that you are lazy and dishonest and people have lost University jobs, book publishings and their careers over the sort of behaviour you exhibited when you STOLE the article you posted under you own name.
Now my blog might be pathetic to you which I might add says more about you than about me but I can hold my head high as I have never ever STOLEN other peoples work and presented it as my own.
Apart from publishing my own work (Which can also be used in the above described manner and which is used by others in the pursuit of spreading the truth) I have linked to other peoples work in the hopes of spreading their often excellent work.
The fact that you don’t seem to understand the difference is greatly troubling but I see you did not publish this week so perhaps I’m not alone in this sentiment.
I will also forward this to Iprent because I have no need for another silly and above all limitless exchange with someone I consider to be defective in the integrity department and I think that you need to sort out your attitude with the writers here and not with me.
I must admit I don’t know about the ins and outs of resource consent, etc. But living in a semi-rural community north of Auckland, we’re all on tank water of course. And as I recall, neighbours of ours in Manurewa had tank water a few years ago (don’t know if it was just for the garden or for drinking).
‘ (NaturalNews) Many of the freedoms we enjoy here in the U.S. are quickly eroding as the nation transforms from the land of the free into the land of the enslaved, but what I’m about to share with you takes the assault on our freedoms to a whole new level. You may not be aware of this, but many Western states, including Utah, Washington and Colorado, have long outlawed individuals from collecting rainwater on their own properties because, according to officials, that rain belongs to someone else.’
Before everyone gets high and mighty here, bear in mind that every other TA charges for water supply via their rates.
And rates are subject to pretty similar non-payment provisions. Not much different really. And Water Care is totally owned by Auckland City Council.
What this does show up is how unwise it is to split out water supply into separate entities, and to charge seperately for the service. It just riles people up.
some people in the labour party should remember that the original labour party newspaper went down in flames when the bluenoses would not let them publish race results. good thinking guys. and now that we have progressed into the twenty first century it is possible to buy micropulse line of sight fm radio stations for less than $5,000.
Time to wise up and tackle the spin meisters head on. the trouble is everybody in the labour party who has any money has already fallen under the capitalist spell of using it to browbeat their bank manager for sport rather than investing in something that would make a difference.
and furthermore the mor people use this space to display their erudtion and learning about the byzantine minutae of the workings of the united states congress then the more the spotlight shifts off the neanderthals currently in charge here.
I hate to say this and please note the qualifiers …
Most of the A-list left the country,
increasingly, more of the B-list are fleeing,
and we have to make do with the C-list.
We can talk, or hear, about being ‘ambitious’ for all we like –
But if we do nothing, if we don’t follow up talk with action,
we bleed more of our B-list overseas.
This is called self-selection down the spiral –
Dumbing down produces dumbs.
May New Zealand not descend to the levels of New Dumbland.
“New Zealand had a net migration loss for a third consecutive month as large numbers of people continue to head to Australia to live … The net outflow of 3300 migrants to Australia last month was up from 1700 in May 2010 …”
While Key blunders and plunders, Kiwis increasingly vote with their feet.
Smile and wave goodbye to your family, friends and work mates!
Now, what else is there left to ambitiously sell and shut down here?
Pike River mine ‘would be illegal in Australia’ – Key
“Prime Minister John Key has defended his claims that the Pike River coal mine would be illegal in Australia.”
‘The Australian newspaper reported that Key had yesterday “vowed that there would be changes to mining safety laws”.
He told the newspaper the Pike River mine, which was a single-entry uphill mine, “couldn’t have been constructed in Australia” because it would have been “illegal”.
“There will be changes in New Zealand,” Key said.’
‘But, in an apparent departure from his comments at the time of the disaster, Key conceded that the mine could not have been operational in Australia.
In November last year, however, he said:
“I have no reason to believe that New Zealand safety standards are any less than Australia’s.” ‘
Prosecutor Evan McCaughan said Bryant’s house was protected by a CCTV set-up which was inconsistent with his admissions of low-level drug dealing to friends over the past two years.
Better tell all those people who set up their houses with security cameras that, if they’re investigated by the law, that it’s going to be assumed that they’re criminals.
The appalling way that Vince Siemer has been treated by the NZ ‘Justice’ system helps confirm why our New Zealand so desperately needs real checks and balances to help ensure an ‘open, transparent and accountable’ judiciary?
SUCH AS:
1) An enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’ for Judges.
(Preferably based upon the ‘Banagalore Principles for Judicial Conduct’
Vince Siemer was denied leave to appeal by the NZ Supreme Court on 3 June 2011:
BACKGROUND:
On 23 December 2008, Cooper J delivered his judgment awarding the first respondent, Michael Peter Stiassny, defamation damages against Vincent Ross Siemer, totalling $825,000 and the second respondent, Korda Mentha, damages of $95,000 ($75,000 for defamation and $20,000 for breach of an agreement settling a dispute between the parties).
This was the highest ever defamation award in New Zealand.
(Korda Mentha v Siemer HC Auckland CIV-2005-404-1808, 23 December 2008. )
“An unusual feature of the case is that Mr Siemer had been debarred from defending the proceedings.”
Whatever happened to ‘Justice 101′?
That there are always at least TWO sides to the story, and in order to get a ‘fair trial’ you are supposed to be able to defend yourself?
Vince Siemer appealed to the Court of Appeal against J Cooper’s decision, and lost.
(Siemer v Stiassny [2011] NZCA 106. )
He then sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court, but his application was dismissed.
((SC 49/2011) [2011] NZSC 63 3 June 2011 )
The judgment of Cooper J accused Vince Siemer of engaging in “vile racist abuse”;
Subsequently, a comment was made by the Court of Appeal that its attention had not been drawn to a worse case of defamation in the British Commonwealth and that its own researches had not disclosed one.
(Following comments from Steven Price Media Law Journal on these matters)
Vince Siemer was denied his day in Court to defend himself at the defamation hearing at which he got the highest ever defamation award against him and he has been denied leave to appeal to the Supreme Court about the accuracy of the comments upon which the defamation award was based.
How would you like this happening to YOU?
BEWARE! If it can happen to Vince Siemer – WHO IS NEXT?
I cannot find ANYTHING Vince Siemer said about Michael Stiassny that was ‘anti-semetic’ or constituted ‘vile racist abuse’.
VERY interested in the CONSIDERED opinions of others on this matter.
What EXACT ‘defamatory’ statements made by Vince Siemer about Michael Stiassny were relied upon by Judge Cooper from the High Court; Judges Arnold, Glazebrook and Hammond from the Court of Appeal; and Judges Blanchard, Tipping and William Young from the Supreme Court as being:
Hard to feel sorry for Seimer. He repeatedly, consistently and fragrantly put himself above the law by breaching any order of the Court he felt above. Which turned out to be most of them.
One of the interesting things, for me at least, about the recent Deaker controversy was the way that both the man’s detractors and defenders seemed to assume that the racist phrase he used came from a society far, far away, and didn’t have any organic connection to this part of the world. It’s certainly true that ‘working like a nigger’ is a phrase connected to slavery, but was slavery really unknown to New Zealanders in the nineteenth century? The truth is that we were trading in slaves foro/f the years after the end American Civil War: http://readingthemaps.blogspot.com/2011/06/new-zealands-slaving-history.html
Well at last the serious fraud office has charged “that lovely old man ” Hubbard. My opinion is that he is a con man of the very best. Interesting that he is friendly with Key and interesting that when the shit hit the fan he said “this would not have happened if Mr Key had been in the country.
He hopes to one day be the president of the Pacific rim Federation of Nations.
He like his masters believes no doubt that we would all be better off being farmed by sensible bankers.
Radio lightweights sling off at Miss USA
National Radio, “The Panel”, Tuesday 21 June 2011
Jim Mora, Susan Baldacci, Graham Bell, Julia Hartley Moore
Last Wednesday, the target of their scorn was a Playboy bunny-girl. This week, another young American beauty has drawn the contempt of some of radio’s finest intellects…
MORA: Uh, Susan Baldacci, what’s the world talking about on the social networks?
SUSAN BALDACCI: We’ve got a new Miss USA!
MORA: Hur, hur, hur!
GRAHAM BELL: Ho ho ho ho ho!
BALDACCI: Yes! Miss California, Alyssa Campanella, crowned as Miss USA in Las Vegas on Sunday, says she’s a history geek!
MORA: Oh really? Hur, hur, hur, hur, hur!
BELL: Ho ho ho ho ho!
BALDACCI: Yes, she says she has watched Braveheart, Gladiator, and Shakespeare in Love. And she’s a huge fan of Camelot, apparently.
BELL: Ho ho ho ho ho! She probably thinks Camelot is about the Kennedys!
MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha! She probably DOES think that!
BALDACCI: Ha ha ha ha ha!
BELL: Ho ho ho ho ho!
BALDACCI: And she made an unbelievable speech! The judges asked her about her thoughts on the legalization of medical marijuana in California. Here’s what she said: “Medical marijuana is sort of like medicine. I’m not sure if it should be legalized, if it would really affect, with the drug war. That kind of tells me there’s a war going on, and the people on drugs are winning. America doesn’t lose wars. So we need to get the Army in there and take down the Islamic pot lords. I mean, it’s abused today, unfortunately, so that’s the only reason why I would kind of be a little bit against it, but medically it’s OK. And if the law-making people legalize it, then that would be great too. But I still wouldn’t do it because my friends tell me that weed makes you hungry, and I can’t risk eating food at this stage in my career.”
MORA: Hur, hur, hur, hur, hur!
BELL: Ho ho ho ho ho! She’s obviously a towering intellect!
———————————————————
After the 4:30 news, the Panelists get their chance to say what’s on their minds. As you read what they have to say, bear in mind that, unlike beauty contestants, these two have had days to come up with something witty and/or intelligent to say. Let’s see how they did…
Here are the considered thoughts of panelist Julia Hartley Moore: “Greece is the dirtiest country I’ve ever been to. Is it something to do with the people? The mindset? I dunno.”
And here are the considered thoughts of panelist Graham Bell: “There’s a number of things that RANKLE me and FRUSTRATE me….Some time, just once in a blue moon, I’d like to get TWO biscuits with my cup of coffee, not just one biscuit!”
If only Miss USA could be serious and intelligent, like these people.
I really enjoy reading these Morrissey – thanks. Sometimes seeing it written down after hearing it highlights just how absurd, idiotic and vacant that lot are. But not hearing it – just reading this is even better.
Last week, Chris Cornell sat down in Los Angeles with David Farrier for an interview. Chris was the front man of the hugely successful band Soundgarden. He then embarked on other endeavours such as Temple of the Dog, Audioslave and his solo career. The seminal statement in the interview was “stay of the pipe.” Although Chris delivered this with humour, it’s a serious topic that needs further investigation…
“There’s two different standards…” – it’s singular John, FFS.
This joke, who is pushing for literacy standards, wouldn’t pass a Year 5 (Standard 3) test.
It is not surprising that his speeches are written for him – he is just left to struggle with the phrasing and intonation when he reads them to make it sound as though he is making sense. Goodness knows what his speeches would be like if he wrote them himself. I guess it is what we can expect from MBAs though. They’re not interested in the Arts or the intricacies of the English language, as long as they can spell “Dollars” and “sense”.
Did anyone pick up Simon Power’s comment on Radionz about his true feelings concerning the rorting of low income people with 500% p.a. loans using texts? Super fast money, once cleared for credit the loan can be sent to your bank account in 4 minutes! It went something like this – that the government can’t bring in controlling legislation on innovative financial packages. This means that all the repeated media coverage about his concern for ordinary people on low incomes taking on vicious loans, and how something should be done about it, is just a smokescreen.
Loans available via text – Radionz 9.31am Tues 21/6
A global finance company, offering high interest micro-loans via text message, has begun operating in New Zealand. These loans have been met with despair by family budgeting services. Kathryn talked to Peter Sykes, CEO of Mangere East Family Service Centre, and Labour consumer affairs spokesperson, Carol Beaumont. We also hear from a spokesman for Ferratum, the finance company concerned. (24′59″)
Carol Beaumont, Labour’s Spokesperson for Consumer Affairs had a bill about this that National and ACT voted down. She spoke well, very impressive. Also to note is that barrister Catriona MacLennan has been advocating for action for ages. Herald piece – Labour MP Carol Beaumont is to introduce to Parliament a member’s bill designed to cap New Zealand’s interest rates. The Credit Reform (Responsible Lending) Bill provides for the Governor of the Reserve Bank to set maximum annual percentage rates of interest payable on consumer credit contracts. The bill also requires lenders to make inquiries to ascertain that borrowers have a reasonable prospect of repaying loans. Catriona MacLennan: Govt chance to reel in loan sharks
Power thinks that if people are informed of all the factors, then they can make smart, informed decisions and after that they are on their own (the suckers). They are just patsies to be bled by business people who like that sort of business. Not his cup of tea, he makes his money being a clever lawyer, but it takes all sorts doesn’t it. He belongs to the group that is willing to make money from tempting people to do something that will be injurious to them, and then condemn them for being foolish in falling prey to the scam.
There are psychological drives to gain instant gratification in people deprived of discretionary income or who are prone to impulsive action. If fully informed they may still refuse to accept that they are stepping into a debt quagmire which will suck them down. I don’t know what enforcement system this outrageous new loan scheme will use when people can’t pay back all the debt and all the interest – 91% for an 8 day debt, rising.
I’ll just add, for those who haven’t experienced them, that the constant small tremors are a strong reminder of the aftermaths of the 7.1 and the 6.3 from February. Not so much last week’s 6.3, though. So having so many small quakes puts me on edge for something bigger about to break.
Looking at the location on the map, right in the centre of banks peninsula, Akaroa probably got quite a rocking from reflected waves, I would think. Could be a bit of damage there.
How do you know you’ve been too long in Christchurch?
When you know the underlying fault structure like a geologist..
When you can estimate the effect of reflections of P waves off local basalt..
More come to mind…
But it is actually better to have lots of slightly larger 5’s than those 4’s, it probably means that nothing is jamming up for a bigger one as that whole area destresses.
A bit harder on the people and already stressed buildings with repeated shakes.
In a comment? You can’t here. Just editors and above when they use the moderating editor.
There are many nasty things that can be done to our layout with images, so I have it off. The plugin fix sometimes gets bypassed with wordpress updates. KSES isn’t exactly finished.
Test as logged out.
Good. Still protected. KSES swallows non allowed HTML and discards it.
Looks like wordpress are doing a better job on layout these days
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For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
The hypocritical actions of political leaders throughout the global Covid pandemic have damaged public faith in institutions and governance. Liam Hehir chronicles the way in which contemporary politicians have let down the public, and explains how real leadership means walking the talk. During the Blitz, when German bombs were ...
Over the years, we've published many rebuttals, blog posts and graphics which came about due to direct interactions with the scientists actually carrying out the underlying research or being knowledgable about a topic in general. We'll highlight some of these interactions in this blog post. We'll start with two memorable ...
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation: Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the city’s available rental housing: the power ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about today’s global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONAL’S Bill English who accurately described New Zealand’s prisons as “fiscal and moral failures”. On the same subject, Labour’s Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. We’d studied Shakespeare’s King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. There’s a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, here’s a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Moro, Associate Professor of Science & Medicine, Bond University How do scabs form? — Talila, aged 8 Great question, Talila! Our skin has many different jobs. One is to act as a barrier, protecting us from harmful things in the ...
US President Donald Trump is pardoning former White House adviser Steve Bannon, who is accused of fraud in a case involving funds for the border wall. ...
Joel Little with Lorde, Dera Meelan with Church & AP, Josh Fountain with Maala and Randa and Benee – producers make good songs great. Now a new fund from NZ on Air is putting the focus on them.Six months ago it looked like the music industry was on the brink ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denise Buiten, Senior Lecturer in Social Justice and Sociology, University of Notre Dame Australia On average, one child is killed by a parent almost every fortnight in Australia. Last week, three children — Claire, 7, Anna, 5, and Matthew, 3 — were ...
This commendable and realistic decision again underlines that it is the police, not government, who are largely responsible for the reduction in cannabis prosecutions over the past 15 years, writes Russell Brown.The news that New Zealand police have discontinued the annual Helicopter Recovery Operation, which has, each summer for more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ilan Noy, Professor and Chair in the Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington We will not be able to put the COVID-19 pandemic behind us until the world’s population is mostly immune through vaccination ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s US inauguration live blog: inauguration news, analysis and reaction, updated throughout Wednesday and Thursday, NZ time. Reach me at catherine@thespinoff.co.nz.4.00pm: What will Trump be doing tomorrow?It’s pretty well known by now that outgoing president Donald Trump intends to throw out the rulebook when it comes to ...
The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance is calling out Mayor Phil Goff for his undignified comment that the claim made by Councillor Greg Sayers asking why Auckland Council is funding yoga classes is “bullshit.” Yesterday, Councillor Greg Sayers penned ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne At 4am Thursday AEDT, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be inaugurated as president and vice president of the United States, replacing Donald Trump and Mike Pence. What follows is ...
*This article was originally published on RNZ and is republished with permission. New Zealanders flocked to beaches and lakes this summer, but it wasn't enough to fill the gap left by international tourists in other regions. The tourism industry is struggling to fill a $6 billion hole left by international tourists ...
Summer reissue: Chef Monique Fiso joins us for a chat about Hiakai – her acclaimed Wellington restaurant, and the title of her stunning new book.First published November 3, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members – click here to learn ...
A new trough was brought to our attention this morning, although ethnicity will limit the numbers of eligible applicants. If you are non-Maori, it looks like you shouldn’t bother getting into the queue – but who knows?We learned of the trough from the Scoop website, where the Kapiti ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Britta Denise Hardesty, Principal Research Scientist, Oceans and Atmosphere Flagship, CSIRO Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing costs economies up to US$50 billion globally each year, and makes up to one-fifth of the global catch. It’s a huge problem not only for the ...
Police stopping major cannabis eradication operations has given the green light to drug dealers and gangs to expand operations, make more profit, and continue to wreak havoc on the most vulnerable in our society, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. ...
Varieties of merino wool footwear are emerging faster than Netflix series about British aristocracy. Michael Andrew takes a look at the rise of the shoe that almost everyone – including his 95-year-old grandma – is wearing.Some might say it all started with Allbirds. After all, to the average consumer, it ...
A new report from New Zealand’s Independent Monitoring Mechanism (IMM) highlights the realities and challenges disabled people faced during the COVID-19 emergency. The report, Making Disability Rights Real in a Pandemic, Te Whakatinana i ngā Tika ...
The Maritime Union is questioning the reasons provided for ongoing delays at the Ports of Auckland. Maritime Union of New Zealand National Secretary Craig Harrison says there is a need for an honest conversation about what has gone wrong at the ...
As New Zealand faces a dire shortage of veterinarians, a petition has been launched urging the Government to reclassify veterinarians as critical workers so we can Get Vets into NZ. “New Zealand desperately needs veterinarians from overseas to counter ...
New Zealand is fast developing a reputation as a South Pacific vandal, says Greenpeace, as the government continues to fight against increased ocean protection. At the upcoming meeting of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO), ...
The Department of Internal Affairs and Netsafe are urging parents and caregivers to be mindful of the online content their tamariki may be consuming in the lead up to the inauguration of president-elect of the United States of America Joe Biden ...
Care is at the centre of Auckland Zoo’s mandate, and it’s clear to see when you witness the staff doing their day-to-day jobs up close. Leonie Hayden went behind the scenes to talk to two people who would do anything for the animals they look after. “We were having this ...
The Game Animal Council (GAC) is applying its expertise in the use of firearms for hunting to work alongside Police, other agencies and stakeholder groups to improve the compliance provisions for hunters and other firearms users. The GAC has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Verica Rupar, Professor, Auckland University of Technology “The lie outlasts the liar,” writes historian Timothy Snyder, referring to outgoing president Donald Trump and his contribution to the “post-truth” era in the US. Indeed, the mass rejection of reason that erupted in a ...
The internet ain’t what it used to be, thanks to privacy issues, data leaks, censorship and hate speech. But a group of New Zealanders are working on a way to give power back to the people. A flood of headlines over the last week made it clear: the internet has become ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Brooks, Scientia Professor of Evolutionary Ecology; Academic Lead of UNSW’s Grand Challenges Program, UNSW The views of women and men can differ on important gendered issues such as abortion, gender equity and government spending priorities. Surprisingly, however, average differences in sex ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jennifer S. Hunt, Lecturer in National Security, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Every four years on January 20, the US exercises a key tenant of democratic government: the peaceful transfer of power. This year, the scene looks a bit ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Laureate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle In Australia and around the world, research is showing changes in body weight, cooking, eating and drinking patterns associated with COVID lockdowns. Some changes have been positive, such as people cooking ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hao Tan, Associate professor, University of Newcastle Australian coal exports to China plummeted last year. While this is due in part to recent trade tensions between Australia and China, our research suggests coal plant closures are a bigger threat to Australia’s export ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Asha Bowen, Head, Skin Health, Telethon Kids Institute A year ago, in late January 2020, Australia reported its first cases of COVID-19. Since then, we have seen almost 29,000 confirmed cases and 909 deaths. As cases climbed in Australian cities in 2020, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin Davis, Emeritus Professor of Finance, University of Melbourne Political pressure forced the federal government in 2017 – when Scott Morrison was treasurer – to call the royal commission into misconduct in the banking, superannuation and financial services sector. Commissioner Kenneth Hayne ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justin Ellis, Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Newcastle, University of Newcastle The Rise and Fall of Saint George is a story about place, belonging and community that taps into universal tensions of identity and faith in multicultural societies. Playing for ...
An in-depth analysis of media coverage of the euthanasia and cannabis referendums has found that while both sides of the euthanasia referendum were given reasonably fair and balanced coverage, the YES position in the cannabis debate received a heavily ...
*This article was originally published on RNZ and is republished with permission Auckland has no plans to hand over the ownership of it assets under the government's planned water reforms, with Auckland Mayor Phil Goff saying his top priority is to ensure it stacks up for the city. Despite ...
Auckland Transport is putting nine new electric buses on the roads today, as it dramatically accelerates its plans to get rid of all its diesel buses – in a funding challenge to the council. Public transport operators are being told to not buy any more diesel buses or risk losing their council ...
Summer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden as they find out exactly what we’re voting on in the cannabis referendum, and discover how legalising weed is a women’s issue.First published August 4, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
A principal analyst for the Climate Change Commission says more needs to be done to reduce agricultural emissions or the country will miss its methane targets. ...
New Zealand needs to be bold in making developers enhance the environment - not just limit its degradation, writes Stephen Knight-Lenihan All human activity should help restore the natural world. This is a concept that may resonate following the upheavals of 2020 and one which is beginning to appear in law. Imagine ...
Derek Challis, son of the legendary author Robin Hyde, died last Thursday. Michelle Leggott pays tribute He opens a suitcase and there they are, the precious manuscript notebooks written by his poet mother Iris Wilkinson aka Robin Hyde. We are in Dunedin for a Hyde conference. Yes, says Derek Arden ...
Former New Zealand gymnast Katya Nosova is now a champion bodybuilder, who was prepared to spend Christmas alone in quarantine to compete in the 'Olympics' of her sport. Katya Nosova was willing to do everything she could to pose on the world stage in her third Ms Olympia. Despite a ...
Concerts and some sports look likely to be on the move in Auckland after a big win for Eden Park – and politicians and officials may now want to win the public some control over the independent stadium. The advent of big concerts at Eden Park will, in all likelihood, mean ...
Despite promises of improvement, questions remain about colonoscopy services in Otago and Southland.David Williams reports The apology, when it came, was fulsome. “On behalf of the Southern DHB, I offer a sincere apology for lapses and inadequacies in colonoscopy services over the past several years,” district health board chair ...
The issues political editor Justin Giovannetti will be keeping an eye on in 2021 (that have nothing to do with Covid-19).New Zealand will be busy in 2021. The border will remain closed to nearly all travellers and Covid-19 will continue to lead the news, but the country has a packed ...
A former case manager says that his experience working with beneficiaries suggests claims of a ‘complete shift’ in the service’s approach are laughable.A former Work and Income case manager who now works with beneficiaries engaging with the service has spoken out on a “toxic” culture which he says denies beneficiaries ...
ACC Minister Carmel Sepuloni must confirm whether the Government supports ACC’s apparent policy to make payouts for illegal overstayers , says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . Union spokesman Jordan Williams says, “Since when was it ACC policy to ...
By RNZ News An independent panel says Chinese officials could have applied public health measures more forcefully in January to curb the initial covid-19 outbreak, and criticised the World Health Organisation (WHO) for not declaring an international emergency until 30 January. The experts reviewing the global handling of the pandemic, ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk Fiji’s NGO Coalition on Human Rights has called for stronger accountability and commitment to human rights at home in response to the country taking the world stage as the head of a UN body. The UN Human Rights Council (UNHCR) elected Fiji’s ambassador Nazhat Shameem as ...
Danyl McLauchlan reviews Stuart Ritchie’s Science Fictions, which outlines the staggering systemic flaws in the funding and publication of scientific papers. Back in August of 2006 a number of New Zealand scientists were caught up in a media controversy about whether Māori had a genetic predisposition towards violent crime. It kicked ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert G. Patman, Professor of International Relations, University of Otago America is currently experiencing its worst political and constitutional crisis since the civil war when the very survival of Abraham Lincoln’s government “of, by and for the people” was at stake. On ...
Manaaki Rangatahi report that young people experiencing homelessness are being further traumatized within the emergency accommodation where they have sought safety. Often these environments are unsafe, and unsuitable for young people to live in, and rangatahi ...
Can you figure out which of the above is the real Jacinda Ardern? Probably! But one day, that might not be true.There are many reasons to believe the internet shouldn’t exist. Social media empires exerting, intentionally or not, their control over sovereign governments. Baby Shark. Your aunt on Facebook.It pains ...
The Point of Order Ministers on a Mission Monitor has flickered only fleetingly for much of the month. More than once, the minister to trigger it has been David Parker, who set it off again yesterday with an announcement that shows how he has been spending our money. He welcomed ...
Ban Bomb Day event at the New Brighton Pier, 9am, on January 22nd, 2021 January 22nd, 2021, marks the first day the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) Enters into Force and becomes international law. Aotearoa NZ is one of the ...
Why are New Zealand’s 2 Minute Noodles called 3 Minute Noodles in the UK? It’s a puzzle that has taken hold of Dylan Reeve and refuses to let go.I’m a child of the 80s and 90s. I watched a lot of TV and was a big fan of aggressively marketed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonatan A Lassa, Senior Lecturer, Humanitarian Emergency and Disaster Management, College of Indigenous Futures, Arts and Society, Charles Darwin University News of storms battering parts of Queensland and the threat posed by Cyclone Kimi reminded me of a recent experience I’d had. ...
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that the use of force to effect the arrest of a wanted offender in Auckland was justified and proportionate to the risk he posed. A man, who was well known to Police, was wanted by Police for an aggravated ...
A distinctly colonial institution, banking has long ignored te ao Māori. Teaho Pihama believes investment in tikanga Māori at Kiwibank can have significant, positive outcomes for Māori.In early 90s Tāmaki Makaurau, when Teahooterangi (Teaho) Pihama was growing up riding his bike around the streets of Kingsland until the streetlights came ...
Donald Trump’s awful presidency expires at midday on Wednesday [US time] when Air Force One will have deposited him in Florida. He retreats to his Mar-a-Lago resort and Joseph R Biden Junior takes command of the White House. Trump’s has been an unpleasant presidency, brought about largely by his own ...
The New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA) has elected its National President for 2021. The election took place last Friday at an NZUSA Special General Meeting (SGM) in Wellington. Andrew Lessells, 22, was elected to serve as the National ...
Think twice before you accept that surprise school reunion invite, writes Chris Schulz.It started with a Facebook notification. A school reunion was being organised. It sounded fun, with a fancy dress party set to be held in the city where I grew up, Whanganui. I hadn’t seen some of my ...
Unlike the US, there is very little NZ precedent for politicians to issue discretionary pardons – creating a challenge for those like Prof Sean Davison who might have a humanitarian claim to mercy. ...
Schools have told the Education Review Office that some children lost 10 weeks of learning in last year's lockdowns, but the overall impact of the pandemic is still unclear. In a report based on surveys of thousand of students, teachers and principals during and after last year's national and Auckland ...
The government seems to still be in holiday mode when in the past two weeks alone we have had six homicides, countless firearms incidents, and police needing to arm themselves against gangs almost every second day," says Sensible Sentencing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Crawford, Associate Professor in Construction and Environmental Assessment, University of Melbourne Over the past few years, Australians have embraced online food delivery services such as UberEats, Deliveroo and Menulog. But home-delivered food comes with a climate cost, and single-use packaging is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland When the coronavirus pandemic hit Australia in March 2020, the Morrison government took bold and imaginative action. The most notable examples were its income support programs – JobKeeper, paying a A$750 weekly ...
Ocean Ute, which arrived at Port Taranaki yesterday, is the second live export ship to arrive in New Zealand this year. Taranaki Animal Rights Group has two demonstrations planned for today. A protest at midday and a vigil at 6.30pm tonight . The number ...
The Department of Corrections is well within its rights to refuse Jared Savage’s “Gangland” book from being read by inmates and it is outrageous that resources and time are now potentially going to be wasted in court about it, says Sensible ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Cowling, Associate Professor – Information & Communication Technology (ICT), CQUniversity Australia We’ve probably all been there. We buy some new smart gadget and when we plug it in for the first time it requires an update to work. So we end ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Walker, Vice-chancellor’s fellow, La Trobe University The new trade minister, Dan Tehan, has been handed one of the Morrison government’s most demanding roles. Despite a lot of chest-thumping in government circles about the need to stand up to “Chinese bullying”, Tehan’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip Weinstein, Professorial Research Fellow, University of Adelaide There’s no question the rising rate of unemployment is one of the worst consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of Australians seeking work is heading towards 10%, almost double the pre-pandemic Australian average ...
If someone says they want to burn your house down you wouldn’t let them move in, would you?
You wouldn’t hire someone whose stated aim is to destroy your company, would you?
So why do we allow randians to work in government jobs? Seeing as Key and English think we have too many public servants anyway, lets have a purge.
And let’s start at the top.
Absolutely felix. So why do we let it happen?
Because we have been discouraged from believing that the State was ours. We no longer believe in the power of the collective to do good. (Well it does all the time, but we’ve been trained not to see it.)
If the house is not yours, what do you care if it gets burnt down?
Nice comments Felix, thought what Kunstler says this morning might bear some relevance to the corporate predeliction for Randian superheroes. Kunstler is talking about the inability of American (read Western) males to be and act as mature humans, and why… The same country that furnishes an endless diet of super-hero movies to pubescent males who are not expected to develop normal adult coping powers
He then goes on to state what this Randian obsession has actually lead to….The same country that supplies gruesome, sado-masochistic video games to occupy the idle hours of young men – and then lets them take those “skills” to some tilt-up bunker in Nevada where they sit in air-conditioned comfort and direct drone aircraft ten thousand miles away to incinerate suspected “enemies” in mud villages. (Sometimes “mistakes are made” and they blow up a wedding party or something – but the drone controllers still get to leave the bunker at the end of their shift and roll down the strip for a plastic tray full of burritos.)
Yeah, the concept behind drone killing is horrible really. Total disassociation from the act itself.
I agree Draco, but is it really that different to ships firing cruise missiles from 100s of kms away, pilots firing missiles from up to 100km away, or ground based artillery firing up to 20km away?
The 18-25 year olds have always been at the pointy end of what are essentially political decisions made by the suits, safe in their air conditioned bunkers.
Of course, not all these people can work as drone pilots, so you get the spillover which is the abuse at Abu Graib prison and the civilian killings by security firm formerly known as Blackwater.
And in both Libya and Afghanistan multiple reports of civilians being killed by western air forces.
Ed Vulliamy has more on the theme of the ultimate outcome of these Randian superheroes with regard to the Mexico border towns…
And yet it is this vision that this government takes us towards. A failed society of murder and corruption.
And we have been manipulated into believing that being critical equals “conspiracy theorist”. Here is a nice article written by Paul Craig Roberts, former Wall street journal editor and assistent secretary of Treasury under Reagan, about how that works
They’re burning down the house called Greece. In The Guardian today is an article that basically stating that inflation could be the lesser evil when trying to get the euro-linked economies through the debt crisis.
The article links to a .pdf from last year when the IMF chief economist argued that the current consensus around macroeconomic policy is flawed, that monetary policy from the central banks and regulatory policy should be coordinated along with openly recognising exchange rate stability as an objective in small open economies. These can provide a comprehensive set of cyclical tools in a debt crisis.
A manageable level of inflation during the debt crisis can reduce the amount the likes of Germany would have to lend and inflation would eat up the debts owed, reducing the austerity measures that are causing so much social unrest. Rules would have to be in place so that a return to the inflation objective was re-instituted when the crisis was over. His argument doesn’t seem to fit the current IMF paradigm.
Inflation is a funny beast, really.
If all countries in the world simultaneously inflate at the same rate, then trade differences don’t really change at all. But existing debts will simply melt away. Put in that context, it seems weird that we have to have this back-door debt cancellation policy (with side-effects) that everyone just accepts as a fact of life, instead of just having a blatant debt-cancelling policy up front that does what it says on the tin and can be wielded more precisely against the debts that need cancelling.
Yesterday the NATO had to admit that civilians had been killed in a bombing raid.
Euphemistically called Kinetic Military action and humanitarian aid to liberate the Libyan people it should not surprise anyone that civilians would be the victim of what amongst us commoners is normally called illegal war of aggression and conquest which was declared the biggest war crime of all.
They were not the only ones nor will they be the last. Like in any war culture is being destroyed. Libraries, schools and make no mistake Tripoli is an ancient city and so are most of the other major cities and bombing them will inevitably damage the leftovers of Phoenician, Roman and Bedouin culture.
Depleted Uranium will make sure of that. Bunker busters and tomahawk missiles are always made with DU heads, make no mistake about that, which means that Tripoli a city of more than 1 million people the size and population of Auckland will be for the next 4.5 billion years spawning deformities amongst it’s infants and cause cancer and sickness defeating any pretence of “humanitarian” intervention.
Yemen is being bombed as I write this and according to reports coming from army personnel at ford Hood Troops are being prepared to invade Libya in contravention of the UN resolution which explicitly forbade boots on the ground and the congress has been effectively ignored in it’s wishes to have the law with regards to the president needing approval to wage war respected.
Syria is next. the European Union has put economic sanctions in place and US war ships have been moved to the coast of Syria. Anyone with the eyes to see knows what happened to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
One definition of a World war is that the population of two or more continents must be affected over a period of several years and I dare say that with the Asian, European, African and American continents being involved and affected we have come perilously close.
Update: If you are easily grossed out maybe this is not the link for you but if like me you are driven by the need to know and want to know what happens if you bomb a library then perhaps it is the link for you.
We “the West” are committing atrocities hidden behind the words “Kinetic military action” and Humanitarian aid in the form of bombs and we accept that it is done in our name because the people it happens to are far away in countries we don’t know and who have brown skins and a religion we are afraid off.
It is that simple.
[lprent: removed excess bolding. ]
Thanks for the link T. These pictures should be on the 6pm news.
Wee point on this bit :
“congress has been effectively ignored in it’s wishes to have the law with regards to the president needing approval to wage war respected”
You are letting congress off the hook here. The congress can wish all it wants to, but unless it is prepared to act then the Pres is under no obligation to pay them attention. Congress can defund military activities at any time it chooses, and it can impeach and remove a president. Absent those things, the stated ‘wishes’ of its critters are just smoke.
Congress doesn’t have to wish a president would ask them for approval. When they cry about that, they are just shifting the buck.
Tigger,
Thanks, I agree.
PB,
I agree. The whole lot are callous out of control and a corrupt pork barrel swilling lot and the French had a perfectly good solution for that problem. It comes with a very sharp blade and a loud thud. LOL.
This is the same with congressmen and senators wailing at and telling off banking executives when they turn up at hearings.
Don’t bleat ineffectually to get prime time TV soundbites senators, simply make sure that the machinery of government and of the regulators enforces the rules already in place and puts those guys behind bars.
Never going to happen though is it.
In the Westernised World, rules are only for the “little” people.
So the NBR is running the Labour/NEIS email story.
“Labour says email addresses harvested solely for campaign”
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/labour-says-email-addresses-harvested-solely-campaign-ck-95615
A Room Full of Typing Monkeys
It was rather amusing to watch Bomber beat himself raw about DPF getting his very own Herald column a few weeks ago. Bomber was incensed and obviously had to check himself before he turned into the hulk and went completely berserk on us. He does raise a serious issue though, that is becoming more and more problematic; the right wing is trying to take over our airwaves.
No, they have taken over our airways.
Perhaps a better word to use was media.
Smarmy git
I notice your still using copyrighted material on your pathetic blog travellerev… Hypocrite!
Well I didn’t start this one.
I’ll try to explain it one more time to you.
There is a common courtesy while using other peoples material online. You only quote part of it and you link to their publication in the hopes of spreading their work while acknowledging their right to be named as the owner and above all you never ever claim something from someone else as written by yourself. That would be stealing.
And as for my “pathetic” blog; many of the writers I quote and link to are co-activists and and are happy to share their material because of the greater good they are trying to achieve and even though I have published parts of other peoples work for five years I have never ever had the request to take anything down.
You on the other hand STOLE someone else’s work and published that as you own. That is dishonest and shows like, by the way this ignorant remark, that you are lazy and dishonest and people have lost University jobs, book publishings and their careers over the sort of behaviour you exhibited when you STOLE the article you posted under you own name.
Now my blog might be pathetic to you which I might add says more about you than about me but I can hold my head high as I have never ever STOLEN other peoples work and presented it as my own.
Apart from publishing my own work (Which can also be used in the above described manner and which is used by others in the pursuit of spreading the truth) I have linked to other peoples work in the hopes of spreading their often excellent work.
The fact that you don’t seem to understand the difference is greatly troubling but I see you did not publish this week so perhaps I’m not alone in this sentiment.
I will also forward this to Iprent because I have no need for another silly and above all limitless exchange with someone I consider to be defective in the integrity department and I think that you need to sort out your attitude with the writers here and not with me.
travellerev
Dito
pft!
Bullshit!
? I’ve published this week Dick! Not only on The Jackal I might add. Scroll up to see one of today’s posts.
Ha ha ha! That’s the funniest brain fart I’ve seen in a while.
Aucklanders not paying your water bills?
Expect to go thirsty then, thanks to the kind folks at “Watercare”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10733531
Put in your own water tank. No more reliance on Watercare.
Simple.
They still charge you for wastewater though!
Waste-water could be stored for watering the garden when needed.
Can you get consent approval for roof sourced water containment systems for potable water? I didn’t think this was possible in Auckland.
Watercare owns the monopoly on a literal necessity of life.
I must admit I don’t know about the ins and outs of resource consent, etc. But living in a semi-rural community north of Auckland, we’re all on tank water of course. And as I recall, neighbours of ours in Manurewa had tank water a few years ago (don’t know if it was just for the garden or for drinking).
Echoing evermore the state of play in the US:
‘ (NaturalNews) Many of the freedoms we enjoy here in the U.S. are quickly eroding as the nation transforms from the land of the free into the land of the enslaved, but what I’m about to share with you takes the assault on our freedoms to a whole new level. You may not be aware of this, but many Western states, including Utah, Washington and Colorado, have long outlawed individuals from collecting rainwater on their own properties because, according to officials, that rain belongs to someone else.’
http://www.naturalnews.com/029286_rainwater_collection_water.html
Heads on pikes when there’s no energy to pump the water?
The corporates and super rich are a bit despondent that they can’t privatise oxygen and sell that.
Yet.
Bloody hell JN. Be carefull they might start thinking along those line.I do not put anything beyond those Right-Wing bastards.
Before everyone gets high and mighty here, bear in mind that every other TA charges for water supply via their rates.
And rates are subject to pretty similar non-payment provisions. Not much different really. And Water Care is totally owned by Auckland City Council.
What this does show up is how unwise it is to split out water supply into separate entities, and to charge seperately for the service. It just riles people up.
I guess splitting water out into a separate business entity might make it easier to sell off when our bankster occupiers demand it.
And allows councils to pretend that they can’t control the decisions of the organisation.
some people in the labour party should remember that the original labour party newspaper went down in flames when the bluenoses would not let them publish race results. good thinking guys. and now that we have progressed into the twenty first century it is possible to buy micropulse line of sight fm radio stations for less than $5,000.
Time to wise up and tackle the spin meisters head on. the trouble is everybody in the labour party who has any money has already fallen under the capitalist spell of using it to browbeat their bank manager for sport rather than investing in something that would make a difference.
+1
but screw FM radio, that is too 1970’s, I want HD digital TV with surround sound broadcasting the Message of the Left.
and furthermore the mor people use this space to display their erudtion and learning about the byzantine minutae of the workings of the united states congress then the more the spotlight shifts off the neanderthals currently in charge here.
I always thought of TVNZ News to be one of the better news sources in NZ…they have proved to be stupid idiots…they fell for anti-capitalist satire, no wonder NZ is so stupid
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/online-outrage-quake-profiteers-4248164
I hate to say this and please note the qualifiers …
Most of the A-list left the country,
increasingly, more of the B-list are fleeing,
and we have to make do with the C-list.
We can talk, or hear, about being ‘ambitious’ for all we like –
But if we do nothing, if we don’t follow up talk with action,
we bleed more of our B-list overseas.
This is called self-selection down the spiral –
Dumbing down produces dumbs.
May New Zealand not descend to the levels of New Dumbland.
~ Newsflash ~
[quoting National(‘s) Business Review]
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/record-number-leave-live-australia-ck-95729
“New Zealand had a net migration loss for a third consecutive month as large numbers of people continue to head to Australia to live … The net outflow of 3300 migrants to Australia last month was up from 1700 in May 2010 …”
While Key blunders and plunders, Kiwis increasingly vote with their feet.
Smile and wave goodbye to your family, friends and work mates!
Now, what else is there left to ambitiously sell and shut down here?
John Key makes incredible statement on Pike River …
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10733536
This fits the usual pattern:
1) The comments are made to foreign media.
2) The comments totally contradict his earlier statements (even the Herald notices this).
3) The comments will finally be picked up by the Labour party some time after everyone else has …
Yep, the usual pattern of NZ politics today: two-faced Prime Minister, feeble domestic media, and a useless opposition.
This should be THE lead story. Key should be facing a grilling when he gets back. But who from?
Let me at him. Pleeeaaase!!!
maybe he’ll do a one-one with the herald…or that morning show on TV1
Where they always asking him these hard case questions? Yeah right!
Goff has now read my comment (!) and has spoken to the media, describing Key’s remarks as an “unbelievable about-face”. Good.
Labour need to keep up the pressure. Key can’t be allowed to get away with saying one thing in Greymouth and another in Canberra.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5171922/Pike-River-mine-would-be-illegal-in-Australia-Key
Pike River mine ‘would be illegal in Australia’ – Key
“Prime Minister John Key has defended his claims that the Pike River coal mine would be illegal in Australia.”
‘The Australian newspaper reported that Key had yesterday “vowed that there would be changes to mining safety laws”.
He told the newspaper the Pike River mine, which was a single-entry uphill mine, “couldn’t have been constructed in Australia” because it would have been “illegal”.
“There will be changes in New Zealand,” Key said.’
‘But, in an apparent departure from his comments at the time of the disaster, Key conceded that the mine could not have been operational in Australia.
In November last year, however, he said:
“I have no reason to believe that New Zealand safety standards are any less than Australia’s.” ‘
____________________________________________________________
Seen the Sunday Programme on Pike River Mine?
tvnz.co.nz/sunday-news/disturbing-questions-pike-river-mine-part-1-15-04-video-4222074
tvnz.co.nz/sunday-news/disturbing-questions-pike-river-mine-part-2-8-34-video-4222107
Hmmmm…….. seems the Pike River Mine ‘Whistleblower’ was correct about safety concerns
– what else …………….?
http://www.scribd.com/doc/47745564/Murder-at-Pike-River-Mine-SECOND-EDITION-With-Postscript
Check out Chapter 9, pg 38,
“SECRET PLAN TO OPEN UP PARKS TO OPEN CAST MINING:
BATHURST RESOURCES & L&M COAL”
Check out Bathurst Resources Ltd, the company which is currently applying for a resource consent for open-cast coal mining in Buller:
See ‘Resource Consent Process’ 7 June 2011
“Buller Coal Resource Consent Application Public Hearing Commences”
http://www.bathurstresources.com/Investor-Information/Announcements/2011-ASX-Announcements
Who is a substantial shareholder in Bathurst Resources Ltd?
The Bank of America.
( Has voting power of 7.50% in Bathurst Resources Ltd.)
See April 29 2011 ‘Changes in substantial ownership’
Remember?
John Key is a shareholder in the Bank of America.
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/MPP/MPs/FinInterests/8/c/3/00CLOOCMPPFinInterests20101-Register-of-Pecuniary-Interests-of-Members.htm (See pg 36)
So – would John Key stand to personally profit from open cast coal-mining in the West Coast, given his shareholding in the Bank of America?
Arguably YES.
Penny Bright
waterpressure.wordpress.com
Key’s (and Kate Wilkinson’s) earlier comments here
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/pike-river-coal-slammed-inspector-shortage-3909410
Completely stupid and senseless imprisonment. What a farce the drug laws are http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/5170738/Rock-legend-Rick-Bryant-jailed-for-drugs
No, no we have to rid the world of evil cannabis smokers. F*&king hell!
Better tell all those people who set up their houses with security cameras that, if they’re investigated by the law, that it’s going to be assumed that they’re criminals.
/sarc
The appalling way that Vince Siemer has been treated by the NZ ‘Justice’ system helps confirm why our New Zealand so desperately needs real checks and balances to help ensure an ‘open, transparent and accountable’ judiciary?
SUCH AS:
1) An enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’ for Judges.
(Preferably based upon the ‘Banagalore Principles for Judicial Conduct’
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/search.html?q=Bangalore+Principles+of+judicial+Conduct
2) An enforceable ‘Register of Pecuniary Interests’ for Judges.
3) ALL Court proceedings to be recorded, and records made available to parties who request them.
__________________________________________________________________________
Vince Siemer was denied leave to appeal by the NZ Supreme Court on 3 June 2011:
BACKGROUND:
On 23 December 2008, Cooper J delivered his judgment awarding the first respondent, Michael Peter Stiassny, defamation damages against Vincent Ross Siemer, totalling $825,000 and the second respondent, Korda Mentha, damages of $95,000 ($75,000 for defamation and $20,000 for breach of an agreement settling a dispute between the parties).
This was the highest ever defamation award in New Zealand.
(Korda Mentha v Siemer HC Auckland CIV-2005-404-1808, 23 December 2008. )
“An unusual feature of the case is that Mr Siemer had been debarred from defending the proceedings.”
Whatever happened to ‘Justice 101′?
That there are always at least TWO sides to the story, and in order to get a ‘fair trial’ you are supposed to be able to defend yourself?
Vince Siemer appealed to the Court of Appeal against J Cooper’s decision, and lost.
(Siemer v Stiassny [2011] NZCA 106. )
He then sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court, but his application was dismissed.
((SC 49/2011) [2011] NZSC 63 3 June 2011 )
The judgment of Cooper J accused Vince Siemer of engaging in “vile racist abuse”;
Subsequently, a comment was made by the Court of Appeal that its attention had not been drawn to a worse case of defamation in the British Commonwealth and that its own researches had not disclosed one.
(Following comments from Steven Price Media Law Journal on these matters)
http://www.medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=205
http://www.medialawjournal.co.nz/?p=452
That’s pretty heavy stuff!
Vince Siemer was denied his day in Court to defend himself at the defamation hearing at which he got the highest ever defamation award against him and he has been denied leave to appeal to the Supreme Court about the accuracy of the comments upon which the defamation award was based.
How would you like this happening to YOU?
BEWARE! If it can happen to Vince Siemer – WHO IS NEXT?
Having STUDIED the recent SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT 3 June 2011 (SC 49/2011) [2011] NZSC 63
http://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/from/decisions/judgments
I cannot find ANYTHING Vince Siemer said about Michael Stiassny that was ‘anti-semetic’ or constituted ‘vile racist abuse’.
VERY interested in the CONSIDERED opinions of others on this matter.
What EXACT ‘defamatory’ statements made by Vince Siemer about Michael Stiassny were relied upon by Judge Cooper from the High Court; Judges Arnold, Glazebrook and Hammond from the Court of Appeal; and Judges Blanchard, Tipping and William Young from the Supreme Court as being:
a) ‘anti-semetic’?
b) constituting ‘vile racist abuse’?
c) constituting ‘poking racist jibes’?
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
YOU BE THE JUDGE!
Penny Bright
http://waterpressure.wordpress.com
[email deleted]
‘Anti-corruption campaigner’
Attendee: Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference (APSACC) 2009
Attendee: Transparency international 14th Anti-Corruption Conference 2010
Hard to feel sorry for Seimer. He repeatedly, consistently and fragrantly put himself above the law by breaching any order of the Court he felt above. Which turned out to be most of them.
One of the interesting things, for me at least, about the recent Deaker controversy was the way that both the man’s detractors and defenders seemed to assume that the racist phrase he used came from a society far, far away, and didn’t have any organic connection to this part of the world. It’s certainly true that ‘working like a nigger’ is a phrase connected to slavery, but was slavery really unknown to New Zealanders in the nineteenth century? The truth is that we were trading in slaves foro/f the years after the end American Civil War:
http://readingthemaps.blogspot.com/2011/06/new-zealands-slaving-history.html
Very interesting. Thanks for the link.
Well at last the serious fraud office has charged “that lovely old man ” Hubbard. My opinion is that he is a con man of the very best. Interesting that he is friendly with Key and interesting that when the shit hit the fan he said “this would not have happened if Mr Key had been in the country.
Well the One Man Band is busy wowing them in Ushtralia and he’s even taught the Mad Monk to smile and wave.
He hopes to one day be the president of the Pacific rim Federation of Nations.
He like his masters believes no doubt that we would all be better off being farmed by sensible bankers.
Radio lightweights sling off at Miss USA
National Radio, “The Panel”, Tuesday 21 June 2011
Jim Mora, Susan Baldacci, Graham Bell, Julia Hartley Moore
Last Wednesday, the target of their scorn was a Playboy bunny-girl. This week, another young American beauty has drawn the contempt of some of radio’s finest intellects…
MORA: Uh, Susan Baldacci, what’s the world talking about on the social networks?
SUSAN BALDACCI: We’ve got a new Miss USA!
MORA: Hur, hur, hur!
GRAHAM BELL: Ho ho ho ho ho!
BALDACCI: Yes! Miss California, Alyssa Campanella, crowned as Miss USA in Las Vegas on Sunday, says she’s a history geek!
MORA: Oh really? Hur, hur, hur, hur, hur!
BELL: Ho ho ho ho ho!
BALDACCI: Yes, she says she has watched Braveheart, Gladiator, and Shakespeare in Love. And she’s a huge fan of Camelot, apparently.
BELL: Ho ho ho ho ho! She probably thinks Camelot is about the Kennedys!
MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha! She probably DOES think that!
BALDACCI: Ha ha ha ha ha!
BELL: Ho ho ho ho ho!
BALDACCI: And she made an unbelievable speech! The judges asked her about her thoughts on the legalization of medical marijuana in California. Here’s what she said: “Medical marijuana is sort of like medicine. I’m not sure if it should be legalized, if it would really affect, with the drug war. That kind of tells me there’s a war going on, and the people on drugs are winning. America doesn’t lose wars. So we need to get the Army in there and take down the Islamic pot lords. I mean, it’s abused today, unfortunately, so that’s the only reason why I would kind of be a little bit against it, but medically it’s OK. And if the law-making people legalize it, then that would be great too. But I still wouldn’t do it because my friends tell me that weed makes you hungry, and I can’t risk eating food at this stage in my career.”
MORA: Hur, hur, hur, hur, hur!
BELL: Ho ho ho ho ho! She’s obviously a towering intellect!
———————————————————
After the 4:30 news, the Panelists get their chance to say what’s on their minds. As you read what they have to say, bear in mind that, unlike beauty contestants, these two have had days to come up with something witty and/or intelligent to say. Let’s see how they did…
Here are the considered thoughts of panelist Julia Hartley Moore: “Greece is the dirtiest country I’ve ever been to. Is it something to do with the people? The mindset? I dunno.”
And here are the considered thoughts of panelist Graham Bell: “There’s a number of things that RANKLE me and FRUSTRATE me….Some time, just once in a blue moon, I’d like to get TWO biscuits with my cup of coffee, not just one biscuit!”
If only Miss USA could be serious and intelligent, like these people.
I really enjoy reading these Morrissey – thanks. Sometimes seeing it written down after hearing it highlights just how absurd, idiotic and vacant that lot are. But not hearing it – just reading this is even better.
LOL 😀
Question 10: Darien Fenton to the Minister of Labour
Her response to the last question asked by Jacinda Adern is, effectively, I’m not telling, neeya, neeya, neeya.
Stay off the Pipe
Last week, Chris Cornell sat down in Los Angeles with David Farrier for an interview. Chris was the front man of the hugely successful band Soundgarden. He then embarked on other endeavours such as Temple of the Dog, Audioslave and his solo career. The seminal statement in the interview was “stay of the pipe.” Although Chris delivered this with humour, it’s a serious topic that needs further investigation…
Joky Hen on this evening’s news. (re mining)
“There’s two different standards…” – it’s singular John, FFS.
This joke, who is pushing for literacy standards, wouldn’t pass a Year 5 (Standard 3) test.
It is not surprising that his speeches are written for him – he is just left to struggle with the phrasing and intonation when he reads them to make it sound as though he is making sense. Goodness knows what his speeches would be like if he wrote them himself. I guess it is what we can expect from MBAs though. They’re not interested in the Arts or the intricacies of the English language, as long as they can spell “Dollars” and “sense”.
I wonder how the families of those who died at Pike River mine feel about what Shonkey said?
“Two different standards” ??
Joky Hen is splitting hair which he got from a bald man.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/pm-denies-u-turn-pike-river-mine-4252180
Ummm, he is not doing a u-turn. The road was turning into a ‘u’.
Did anyone pick up Simon Power’s comment on Radionz about his true feelings concerning the rorting of low income people with 500% p.a. loans using texts? Super fast money, once cleared for credit the loan can be sent to your bank account in 4 minutes! It went something like this – that the government can’t bring in controlling legislation on innovative financial packages. This means that all the repeated media coverage about his concern for ordinary people on low incomes taking on vicious loans, and how something should be done about it, is just a smokescreen.
Loans available via text – Radionz 9.31am Tues 21/6
A global finance company, offering high interest micro-loans via text message, has begun operating in New Zealand. These loans have been met with despair by family budgeting services. Kathryn talked to Peter Sykes, CEO of Mangere East Family Service Centre, and Labour consumer affairs spokesperson, Carol Beaumont. We also hear from a spokesman for Ferratum, the finance company concerned. (24′59″)
Carol Beaumont, Labour’s Spokesperson for Consumer Affairs had a bill about this that National and ACT voted down. She spoke well, very impressive. Also to note is that barrister Catriona MacLennan has been advocating for action for ages. Herald piece – Labour MP Carol Beaumont is to introduce to Parliament a member’s bill designed to cap New Zealand’s interest rates. The Credit Reform (Responsible Lending) Bill provides for the Governor of the Reserve Bank to set maximum annual percentage rates of interest payable on consumer credit contracts. The bill also requires lenders to make inquiries to ascertain that borrowers have a reasonable prospect of repaying loans. Catriona MacLennan: Govt chance to reel in loan sharks
Power thinks that if people are informed of all the factors, then they can make smart, informed decisions and after that they are on their own (the suckers). They are just patsies to be bled by business people who like that sort of business. Not his cup of tea, he makes his money being a clever lawyer, but it takes all sorts doesn’t it. He belongs to the group that is willing to make money from tempting people to do something that will be injurious to them, and then condemn them for being foolish in falling prey to the scam.
There are psychological drives to gain instant gratification in people deprived of discretionary income or who are prone to impulsive action. If fully informed they may still refuse to accept that they are stepping into a debt quagmire which will suck them down. I don’t know what enforcement system this outrageous new loan scheme will use when people can’t pay back all the debt and all the interest – 91% for an 8 day debt, rising.
I read/heard (?) somewhere about simple simon and a “financial summit” in august.
Given this government’s track record (ahem, job summit), let’s just be very very polite and say we wish the summit all the very best.
Poor people deserve to be fraked over while the National Government helps invest in the financial institutions doing the fraking.
Another sizeable aftershock just now. At least 5, probably 5.0 to 5.5 I think.
Lots of little rumbles in the last few minutes after it, too. No damage here, as usual. Lights are still swaying though (quite long pendants).
Edit: another rattler, good 4ish in size. Jumping for doorways ’cause I don’t know if they’re going to get worse :/
Edit x2: Getting little tremors about once every minute. Can hear them, sometimes the house creaks and can feel a small judder. Pretty unnerving.
Geonet update, 5.3M, 10km west of Akaroa:
http://geonet.org.nz/earthquake/quakes/3533107g.html
I’ll just add, for those who haven’t experienced them, that the constant small tremors are a strong reminder of the aftermaths of the 7.1 and the 6.3 from February. Not so much last week’s 6.3, though. So having so many small quakes puts me on edge for something bigger about to break.
Looking at the location on the map, right in the centre of banks peninsula, Akaroa probably got quite a rocking from reflected waves, I would think. Could be a bit of damage there.
Yeah time for a calming cup of tea.
Gin and tonic.
Seems I filled my glass a bit full. Hopefully I can drink it before a tremor spills it.
Bugger the tea, pass the Scotch.
And don’t forget to do some deep breathing.
Deadly_NZ: hope the baby reckons this is all fun and games !
You guys 🙂
How do you know you’ve been too long in Christchurch?
When you know the underlying fault structure like a geologist..
When you can estimate the effect of reflections of P waves off local basalt..
More come to mind…
But it is actually better to have lots of slightly larger 5’s than those 4’s, it probably means that nothing is jamming up for a bigger one as that whole area destresses.
A bit harder on the people and already stressed buildings with repeated shakes.
Anyone able to tell me how to insert an image into a post?
I don’t think the comments support that here.
The FAQ doesn’t mention anything about image tags: http://thestandard.org.nz/faq/
I’ve seen it once or twice before but I dont know if they were flukes.
In a comment? You can’t here. Just editors and above when they use the moderating editor.
There are many nasty things that can be done to our layout with images, so I have it off. The plugin fix sometimes gets bypassed with wordpress updates. KSES isn’t exactly finished.
testing…. Um mm..
Test as logged out.
Good. Still protected. KSES swallows non allowed HTML and discards it.
Looks like wordpress are doing a better job on layout these days