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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A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 16, 2020 through Sat, Feb 22, 2020 Editor's Pick JP Morgan economists warn climate crisis is threat to human raceLeaked report for world’s major fossil fuel financier says ...
Last week the Wall Street Journal published an article ‘The Dangerous Denial of Sex by two scientists Colin Wright and Emma Hilton. Write is an evolutionary biologist at Penn State and Hilton is a developmental biologist at the University of Manchester. It is well worth reading the article in full. Here ...
I am about to mail my overseas ballot to Florida so that it can be counted in the Democratic primary on March 17. In Florida you have closed as opposed to open primaries, which means that one must declare a party preference in order to vote in a party primary. ...
Winston Peters - Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the NZ First PartyWe all know that politics can be pretty messy at times. Just look at the Dirty Politics saga in New Zealand, the misgovernment of the Australian bushfires or the recent Trump impeachment debacle in the US. In a ...
Last Monday SpaceX launched another clutch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit, bringing up to 300 the number of these units intended to bring 5G internet to the whole globe. In this post I present a movie showing how all 300 such satellites will be zipping around our planet over ...
The recent floods in Southland have highlighted the issue of Rio Tinto's illegal toxic waste dump in Mataura. But according to Newsroom, there's an even worse mess in Ruakaka near Whangarei:A Northland property stockpiled one million litres of flammable and toxic chemicals. Almost two years since the situation came to ...
It’s amazing just how many attack ads $100,000 buys you these days. The National Party has really been going to town lately, with their latest Twitter campaign making a number of questionable and blatantly false assertions, one being that poverty has worsened under the Labour led Government.The National Party's claim ...
OMV's exploratory drilling in the Great South Basin has failed to find oil. Good. Firstly, because we can't afford to burn the oil and gas we've already found, so there's just no point looking for more. And secondly, because offshore, deep-water drilling poses a risk of an environmental catastrophe, which ...
The government has announced it will strengthen whistleblower protections. The major change is "allowing people to report serious wrongdoing direct to an external authority if they wish", which fixes one of the big flaws in the Act. At present, whistleblowers must generally make their disclosure direct to the body they ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bruce Lieberman CARLSBAD, CA. – When it comes to paying the electric bill, most people don’t give it a second thought – it’s something that in effect is “baked in.” But across California and several other states, local governments increasingly are ...
Excerpts from Being and Being Bought, by Kajsa Ekis Ekman, Spinifex Press, 2013. Part 4 Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book. This is the fourth part of a synopsis and brief commentary of the book by Daphna ...
The Democracy Virus: China’s authoritarian political system enables a level of social surveillance and control that liberal democratic societies cannot match. The Chinese Government makes full use of the latest digital technology to both punish – and reward – its citizens. The plans it formulates cannot be challenged, or hindered. Where ...
Another day, another IPCA report on criminal conduct by policy. This time they kicked a child in the head when he was handcuffed:Police chased him and yelled out for him to stop. When he turned to face the police, he threatened them with a hammer. That's when the officers tasered ...
The investigation of two of the five parties in Parliament for fraud around their election donations has pushed the issue of party funding back into the spotlight. And while there are obvious things we can do to tighten up the donations regime - a much lower declaration threshold, realtime disclosure ...
While the south of New Zealand has been struggling with too much rain in recent days, here in the north we are so very short of it (though Saturday’s forecast looks promising). Basically, we have had almost none since Christmas.As someone who relies on rain to wash the car, ...
Former National Party MP Jami-Lee RossIt comes as no surprise that Jami-Lee Ross has been named as one of the defendants in the X2 $100,000 National Party donations case currently before the courts. Click bait journalists who were chaffing at the bit to discredit the former senior whip had already ...
Stand Clear! Winston Peters is encouraging voters to think of RNZ as belonging to “The Media Party”. He wants them to see it as a politically partisan institution with its own, vicious attack-dogs in the electoral fight. If he succeeds, it will be, and probably should be, the end of ...
"You're going to need a longer runway" Gratton et al explore the ongoing effects of upward-creeping temperatures on aviation in Greece in the period since 1955 at a range of airports in that country. For longer runways impacts are measurable but with little impact on operations. For airports with shorter runways, ...
In mid-December the Israeli secret police, the Shin Beit, revealed it had arrested dozens of Palestinian left-wing activists, including members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in the previous few months. Among those arrested was one of the central leaders of the PFLP, Khalida Jarrar. As ...
Former National Party chief whip Jami-Lee Ross is one of the four people charged over National's multiple fraudulent donations. How unsurprising. Meanwhile, just days ago National leader Simon Bridges was trying to pretend the charges were nothing to do with his party. Yeah, right. When your chief whip effectively publicly ...
If you've been watching FYI for a while, you'll have noticed that the police have a bad habit of demanding ID from requesters. They have apparently been repeatedly told to stop doing this by the Ombudsman, but we all know what law enforcement thinks of the law, so thye keep ...
Collateral Damage: For the Green Phoenix to be reborn, the funeral pyre so patiently assembled by its identity politicians over the course of many fractious years – but with growing intensity over the past three – first has to be ignited. The terrible probability, of course, is that, in setting ...
If you follow politics in New Zealand you've likely noticed that the right wing have been going on and on about the Coalition Government failing to reduce poverty. In fact they’ve been incessantly claiming, in the absence of any conclusive data, that poverty has been getting worse.Yesterday, NewstalkZB reported:Mike Hosking: ...
The Herald reported over the weekend that an Auckland business owner is being targeted with asset forfeiture laws over a workplace death:A workplace fatality has seen police use a law usually associated with drugs and organised crime to seize millions of dollars in assets from a business owner because of ...
Just days after talking about how people feel "squeezed" and promising tax and service cuts as a "solution", National is talking about cancelling a rise in the minimum wage if elected: National is considering scrapping the Government's planned minimum wage increase if it wins this year's election, the party's finance ...
Nobody thinks about the next century anymore. That at least is Sci-Fi writer William Gibson’s observation (in this BBC 4 short interview, starting at 1:43:50 ). He calls it “Futures Fatigue”, but isn’t judgemental about it. Gibson notes that in the 20th century speculation about the 21st (and beyond) was common. Now ...
A Labour government desperate for the numbers crawls into bed with Winston Peters. Winston ignores the law and secretly takes money under the table from someone. When it is exposed just months out from an election, he is investigated by the Serious Fraud Office. That's what happened back in 2008. ...
So the Serious Fraud Office has another secret $100,050 National Party donation before the Courts in a major scandal that looks set to quash any chances Simon Bridges had of winning the 2020 election.Yesterday, Newsroom reported:The Serious Fraud Office prosecution of four people over donations to the National Party involves ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Iceberg twice the size of Washington, D.C., breaks off Pine Island glacier in Antarctica Story Highlights: The Pine Island ...
Prof Philippa Howden-ChapmanHousing policy is building up to be the key election issue again. In this blog I reflect on the importance of the role of the New Zealand Government in improving access to affordable housing. I look at what the Government has been doing to increase quality public housing ...
Writing on The Spinoff, Danyl Mclauchlan argues that we have a vacuum in our political system, in that there is no longer an anti-establishment party anymore:I think there’s a vacuum in our political system. There are obvious problems with the status quo but no real critics offering reform. It’s a ...
Stuff today has a piece about the government discovering it has been oversubsidising polluters for a decade under the Emissions Trading scheme:The Government is pledging to urgently fix an issue within the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), after it emerged some polluters are likely being over-compensated with taxpayer-funded carbon credits. [...] ...
The Marlborough District Council, tired of public scrutiny, wants to increase the amount it charges for LGOIMA requests:The cost of requesting official information from Marlborough's government agency could almost double after a jump in "fishing expeditions". Charges could be raised from $60 to $100 an hour for information supplied by ...
When Winston Peters was caught money laundering donations and stalking journalists, the Greens were conspicuous by their silence. It was another example of how getting along with their government partners was eroding their values and their own reputation. It was obviously unsustainable, and so now James Shaw has finally spoken ...
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...
With over 69,000 confirmed cases and 1,600 deaths, here’s your round-up of the latest coronavirus news. New disease and virus have now officially been named On the 11th February, the WHO Director General announced a new name for the disease: COVID-19 which is short for coronavirus disease 2019. The naming ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 9, 2020 through Sat, Feb 15, 2020 Editor's Pick ANALYSIS-Climate change opens up 'frontier' farmland, but at what cost to the planet?Climate change could expand farmland globally by ...
After cross-examination Jones knew he would lose the defamation case he took against film maker Renae Maihi. That’s why he threw in the towel. The weight of evidence was clearly against the old tycoon with the defense presenting fifty articles to confirm Jones’ racist views.Being unable to harass somebody into ...
Sprung! Former NZ First president, Lester Gray, chats with RNZ's Guyon Espiner in the carpark of a Tauranga shopping centre.(Photo supplied anonymously to NZ First and The BFD.)IT’S CLEAR THAT an important aspect of Jacinda Ardern’s political success is her willingness to seek – and take – advice. This ...
Ruth Cunningham, Charlotte Paul, Andrew MoorePublic health responses to infectious diseases such as COVID-19 require us to draw on our common humanity and be explicit about our values. Recognising this will help us make good decisions in difficult situations so that, for example, the need to impose restrictive measures ...
The Helen Clark Foundation has released its report on the housing crisis, and found that house-hoarders are to blame for it:Property investors are to blame for New Zealand's high house prices, a new research paper published by the Helen Clark Foundation says. [...] McArthur said previous attempts to address housing ...
The Abortion Legislation Committee has reported back on the Abortion Legislation Bill and recommended that it be passed with some amendments. Unfortunately, the latter include even more hoops to jump through for those seeking abortions after 20 weeks, including a time-wasting requirement to consult a second doctor. No-one casually seeks ...
Brexit is likely to be a disaster for the UK (how sad, never mind). But now that they're out of the EU, the latter has finaly taken the opportunity to blacklist one of their key tax havens:The Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory, is to be put on an EU ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, New Zealand First Deputy Leader A total delivery of 2,000 new Police Officers has been achieved. New Zealand First Deputy Leader, Fletcher Tabuteau attended the latest police graduation of Recruit Wing 335 in Porirua today. Mr Tabuteau said, “Increasing police numbers and boosting their resources was one of ...
Taupō District mayor David Trewavas has welcomed today’s announcement from regional economic development minister Shane Jones outlining $5.87m of funding for the re-development of the Taupō Airport. The bulk of the investment ($5 million) will come from the Provincial Growth Fund, while the rest will be from the New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has defended multi-million dollar provincial growth fund money for Northland water storage. The New Zealand First leader, along with Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones, were recently in Dargaville to announce up to $12.745 million PGF funding top-up for water storage initiatives in the ...
One of our most immediate priorities upon forming Government was to get people out of sleeping in cars, garages, or on the street and into safe and warm housing. Since then, we've made major progress towards breaking the cycle of homelessness, including expanding Housing First, building more state houses, and ...
Kids learn better with a full stomach. That's why we launched our Lunches in Schools programme, which is already providing free and healthy school lunches to thousands of children so they can focus on what's important - learning. ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP based in Clutha-Southland This afternoon to a crowd of over 100 people in Mataura -- Mark Patterson, New Zealand First List MP based in Clutha-Southland launched a parliamentary petition regarding the aluminium dross issue in Mataura, Southland. The petition asks that the ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Spokesperson for Finance, Fletcher Tabuteau has welcomed Statistics New Zealand’s latest report as a timely reminder of the value that this Coalition Government brings to every day New Zealanders: “This Coalition Government has meant a ...
Today New Zealand First made a pledge to campaign at the election to fund St John Ambulance the 90 per cent it has asked for. Government funding would allow St. John’s to achieve fully funded status. Leader of New Zealand First, Rt Hon Winston Peters publicly declared his determination to deliver ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order Newly released Police data shows once again the number of fleeing drivers have continued to skyrocket with a record 512 incidents occurring in December – almost tripling the number of incidents occurring just ten years ago, says New Zealand First Law and ...
While the Provincial Growth Fund has provided $2 million to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia, Regional Economic Minister Shane Jones said he is greatly concerned that there are “issues” in implementing the projects. The Minister said the immediate solution was to pipe water from a bore ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland NZ First is calling on Rio Tinto to accept its responsibilities to the Southland community and enable the immediate removal of the toxic Aluminium Dross from the Mataura Paper Mill site. New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland, Mark Patterson ...
The Coalition Government has announced that a further $500,000 will be given to help residents in Southland and Otago to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. It follows prior government assistance of $200,000 earlier this month where the Southland Mayoral Relief Fund received $100,000 to support communities impacted by ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones was on RNZ’s Morning Report talking about the recent droughts in the Northland region and what the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is doing to alleviate its impact. The PGF recently announced a funding of $2 million for temporary water supplies to Kaikohe and Kaitaia, ...
Speaking to The Country’s Jamie Mackay, New Zealand First MP and Cabinet Minister Shane Jones talks water storage, plant-based meat imitation, and superstar Hollywood director James Cameron. While water storage may have its critics, Minister Jones defended the scheme by saying: “unless we invest and continue to invest” in this ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones is accusing northern iwi leaders of selling out Māori by voting for ideologically-driven court cases rather than practical steps to increase water supply. “I just think that iwi leaders who think that water issues are going to be solved by perpetually fighting in the ...
A dairy owner in St Kilda, Dunedin was delighted to hear that an attempted robbery of his establishment was foiled by a government-funded security system. Sean Lee was delighted at how well the anti-theft smoke system worked. When a knife-wielding man entered the store, the shop assistant immediately pressed a ...
Customs says it stopped more than three tonnes of illegal drugs coming into New Zealand last year. This includes 1,180kg of methamphetamine, 329kg of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine precursors, which could have been converted into 246kg of methamphetamine, 739kg and 6469 pills of MDMA or Ecstasy and 60kg of cocaine. Offshore, ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Up to $2 million will be allocated from the Provincial Growth Fund to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia where drought is biting hard, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Drought conditions in Northland have led to ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First welcomes the deployment of an Eagle Police helicopter in Christchurch in what is a step towards fulfilling its long-standing goal to increase the use of police helicopters for the front line, particularly in addressing the scourge of fleeing drivers. Christchurch leads ...
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...
In a heated debate in Parliament, National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett claimed that “nearly 1600 patched gang members have been added” since the Coalition Government took power. To illustrate her point, she altered a chart used by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to show her government’s progress in housing to instead ...
Speech by the Rt Hon Winston Peters at Parliament’s Opening 2020 "We all need insurance" This year New Zealanders are going to have a clear choice to make That choice is between: Optimism versus pessimism; More progress versus back to the future; Investment versus divestment; Unity versus division. New Zealand ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has slammed the Board of Auckland Airport following the airport's runway closing twice within two weeks due to maintenance. Around 2,000 passengers were affected by last week’s runway closures, according to 1NEWS. Another maintenance closure on January 24 saw two international flights and three domestic flights ...
A milestone has been reached with the graduation of more than 2,000 new Police officers since the Coalition Government took office in October 2017. Police Minister Stuart Nash says the graduation today of Wing 335 marks a surge of 2,023 new officers, and coincides with some significant breakthroughs against organised ...
Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Minister, Kris Faafoi, and the Minister of Education, Chris Hipkins, have welcomed a new cyber security qualification as a step towards countering cyber threats and keeping New Zealanders safe. Attending the launch of the new Level 6 Diploma of Cyber Security at Auckland’s Unitec Institute ...
Government Ministers today celebrated 20 years of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park/ Ko te Pataka kai o Tikapa Moana/ Te Moananui a Toi, and recognise there is much to celebrate and so much more to do to give nature a helping hand. Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage said “New Zealanders care deeply about nature.I want to ...
Prepared remarks on coronavirus by Finance Minister Grant Robertson to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and Massey University. Good morning ladies and gentlemen, The topic of this speech is the Budget 2020 priorities. But, given the considerable interest that I imagine is in the room about COVID-19 coronavirus, I do ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, e ngā rau rangatira ma. Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa. Ni sa bula vinaka. Namaste Thank you Shamima, Hon. Minister Vuniwaqa, community leaders and Women’s Crisis Centre staff for your warm welcome. It’s an honour and privilege to officially ...
The Government has released a comprehensive response to ensuring New Zealanders get a fairer deal at the petrol pump. This follows the Commerce Commission fuel market study which found motorists were paying more than they should for petrol and includes: Fuel Market Bill drafting, to pass mid-year Industry consultation in ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, e ngā rau rangatira ma Tēnā koutou katoa Ni sa bula vinaka As-salaam alaikum It is a privilege to be here today. Thank you for welcoming us to your house of prayer. Thank you for your warmth. Thank you for greeting ...
Taupō Airport is to be upgraded and expanded through a $5.9 million Government funding boost, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. “Taupō Airport is the gateway to the Central North Island. It is essential for both keeping local people and businesses connected, but also to bring more people ...
The Minister of Housing Megan Woods has confirmed the Government is working with Rotorua Lakes District Council and Te Arawa for the second place-based assessment to better understand the housing and urban issues affecting the city. “Every New Zealander has a right to a warm, safe and secure place to ...
19 new community homes (in addition to 14 opened in December) delivered in Takanini, Auckland 500 people housed by CORT Housing Trust by end of March 2,290 new public housing homes delivered in Auckland (November 2017 – December 2019). Another nineteen new public housing homes are being delivered in Auckland, ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Minister for Trade and Export Growth David Parker met today with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to discuss ways to strengthen ties between New Zealand and India. “India is a priority relationship for New Zealand. We share common democratic traditions, growing two-way trade, extensive people-to-people links, ...
Speech to the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) Delhi, India Wednesday 26 February 2020 [CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY] The Indo-Pacific: from principles to partnerships Distinguished guests, good afternoon and thank you for your invitation. It is good to be here at a time where New Zealand needs less of an introduction than ...
Tihei mauri ora Te Whare e tu nei Te Papa e takoto Tēnā korua No reira tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa Ni sa bula Vinaka It is a real pleasure to be here today, and to have the honour of addressing you all. If you’ll indulge me I’m ...
Improved air quality to support better health and environmental wellbeing is the focus of proposed amendments to air quality regulations, says the Associate Minister for the Environment, Hon Nanaia Mahuta. “Although our air quality is good in most places, during winter certain places have spikes in air pollution, mainly from ...
The remote eastern Bay of Plenty community of Raukokere will receive a Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment of $10.6 million for a water storage facility, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones says. “This is great news for the rural community. The landowner, Te Whānau a Maruhaeremuri Hapū Trust, will use ...
The Lake Ōkaro lakebed has transferred to Te Arawa Lakes Trust, Minister for Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis announced today. Kelvin Davis joined Te Arawa at Te Papaiōuru Marae in Rotorua to celebrate the reinstatement of Te Arawa Lakes Trust as a key decision maker over the bed ...
New legislation is being proposed which aims to reduce the stress and financial hardship caused by late payments to small businesses. The Minister for Small Business Stuart Nash is considering stricter rules around payment practices between businesses. “Late payments from large organisations to smaller suppliers can be crippling for these ...
A new partnership programme between the New Zealand Police and Fiji Police will focus on combatting transnational organised crime and enhancing investigative skills, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on the first day of her visit to Fiji. The programme will see: · New Zealand Institute of Environmental Science and Research ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama met today in Suva, and renewed their commitment to continue to strengthen Fiji-New Zealand relations on a foundation of shared values and equal partnership. The Prime Ministers acknowledged the kinship between Fijians and New Zealanders, one that has endured over ...
A $19.9 million investment from the Provincial Growth Fund will help develop essential infrastructure for an industrial hub in the Bay of Plenty town of Kawerau, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones says. “The funding will go to three projects to further develop the Putauaki Trust Industrial Hub, an industrial ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing $8.3 million on a roading package for Mahia that will lead to greater and wider economic benefits for the region and beyond, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced at an event in Mahia today. The $8.3 million announced consists of: $7 ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed new reporting showing the Coalition Government is on track to meet its child poverty targets, with 18,400 children lifted out of poverty as a result of the Families Package. Stats NZ has released the first set of comprehensive child poverty statistics since the Government ...
Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter today announced that Bikes in Schools facilities have been rolled out to 20,000 more kiwi kids under this Government. She made the announcement at the opening of a new bike track at Henderson North School in Auckland. “Bikes in Schools facilities give kids ...
Benefit settings rise in line with wages as of 1 April Main benefits will increase by over 3 percent, instead of 1.66 percent, on 1 April with the Government’s decision to annually adjust benefit rates to increases in the average wage. The Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni, said ...
Strengthening New Zealand’s political and business ties with India will be the focus of Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters’ and Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker’s visit to India this week. The Ministers are co-leading a high level business delegation to India to support increased people and economic engagement ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio continues to champion for greater Pacific participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers with the announcement of the Toloa Awards, with 8 recipients of the Toloa Community Fund and 13 Toloa Tertiary Scholarships. “The Toloa Programme encourages more Pacific peoples ...
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has extended the date for people to have their say on proposed changes to improve management of whitebait across New Zealand. Submissions were due to close on 2 March 2020 but will now remain open until 9am on Monday 16 March 2020. “I have ...
The endangered toroa/Antipodean albatross has new international protection for its 100,000km annual migration, thanks to collaborative efforts led by New Zealand, Australia and Chile. Today, 130 countries agreed to strictly protect Antipodean albatross at the Conference of Parties on the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild ...
No sales to under-18-year-olds No advertising and sponsorship of vaping products and e-cigarettes No vaping or smokeless tobacco in smokefree areas Regulates vaping product safety comprehensively, - including devices, flavours and ingredients Ensure vaping products are available for those who want to quit smoking Vaping regulation that balances ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little will travel to Berlin tomorrow to represent New Zealand at a high-level summit on nuclear disarmament. This year, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) celebrates 50 years since it entered into force. “New Zealand’s proud record and leadership on nuclear disarmament is unwavering, so it’s important we are present ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will visit two of New Zealand’s most important Pacific partners, Fiji and Australia, next week. The visit to Fiji will be the first by a New Zealand Prime Minister in four years and comes during the 50th anniversary of Fijian independence and diplomatic relations between our ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little and New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball, have today announced the appointment of the Chief Commissioner of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), the location, and the membership of the Establishment Advisory Group. Colin Carruthers QC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of the CCRC for an ...
Māori Development Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta and Agriculture Minister Hon Damien O’Connor co-announced the first horticultural finalists for the Ahuwhenua Trophy celebrating excellence in the Māori agricultural sector. The three finalists are Ngai Tukairangi Trust from Mt Maunganui, Otama Marere Trust from Tauranga, and Hineora Orchard Te Kaha 15B Ahuwhenua ...
A new kete of resources to strengthen support for students with dyslexia will provide extra tools for the new Learning Support Coordinators (LSCs) as they start in schools, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Minister launched the kete in Wellington this morning, at the first of three induction ...
The Government continues to make progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the First Reading of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill and its referral to the Social Services and Community Select Committee. “Now is the opportunity for landlords, tenants and others who want ...
Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Hon James Marape will visit New Zealand from 21-25 February, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “New Zealand and Papua New Guinea have a warm and friendly relationship. I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Marape here and strengthening the relationship between our two countries,” ...
Thousands of children have begun receiving a free lunch on every day of the school week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. The Government’s free and healthy school lunch programme is under way for 7,000 students at 31 schools in Hawke’s Bay / Tairāwhiti and Bay of Plenty / Waiariki, extending ...
The Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni today announced a new approach that continues to broaden the Government’s social sector focus from a narrow, investment approach to one centred on people and wellbeing. Minister Sepuloni said redefining the previous approach to social investment by combining science, data and lived experience ...
The Government is strengthening the Protected Disclosures Act to provide better protection for whistle blowers, Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins said today. “The Protected Disclosures Act is meant to encourage people to speak up about serious wrongdoing in the workplace and protect them from losing their jobs or being ...
Nǐn hǎo (Hello in Mandarin). Xīn Nián Kuài Lè (Happy New Year in Mandarin) Néi Hóu (Hello in Cantonese). Sun Nin Fai Lok (Happy New Year in Cantonese) Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Thank you for your invitation to attend this celebration today. I would like to acknowledge ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The government would be looking for the private sector to put in four or five times as much as it invests in research and development of particular technologies to reduce emissions, Energy Minister Angus Taylor ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Two issues are currently presenting the Morrison government with fast-moving targets. One is the fallout from the coronavirus, where the picture has been altering on a near-daily basis. The other is very different – the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The federal government has activated its emergency response plan to deal with a spread of the coronavirus locally, in anticipation of it becoming a “pandemic”. It is also considering limited assistance for those hardest hit ...
In an apparent change of tune, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern expects to raise the topic of climate change with Australian counterpart Scott Morrison tomorrow. ...
The Government says it wants to protect small businesses from getting shafted by big companies who don’t or won’t pay their bills on time. The move can’t come too soon. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Muecke, Clinical senior lecturer in Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Adelaide Humans are physiologically hardwired to love and seek out sweet things. It’s an ancient survival mechanism that evolved to prepare our bodies for periods of fasting when food supplies ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marilyn McMahon, Deputy Dean, School of Law, Deakin University The NSW government has just introduced a bill that will, among other significant reforms, make it easier for a jury to be informed about the prior convictions of a person on trial for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marilyn McMahon, Deputy Dean, School of Law, Deakin University The NSW government has just introduced a bill that will, among other significant reforms, make it easier for a jury to be informed about the prior convictions of a person on trial for ...
By RNZ Pacific Jacinda Ardern has paid tribute to the three Fijians who died in last year’s Christchurch mosque shootings. Ardern spoke today at Lautoka Mosque as part of her trip to Fiji to remember Imam Hafiz Musa Patel, Ashraf Ali Razak and Ashraf Ali, who died almost a ...
The Real Pod reassembles to dissect the cultured fourth week of The Bachelorette NZ with special thanks to Nando’s.This week on The Bachelorette NZ, a burrito bust-up ends in anaphylaxis, Steve chows down on some one-ply, and the Buenos Aires hostel goes full Lord of the Flies. It’s become abundantly ...
Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, the Catholic Bishops' agency for justice, peace and development, is concerned that the latestchild poverty numbers show that there has been anincrease in material hardship,with 4100 more children living in ...
Dr Bryce Edwards.Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni described this year’s annual benefit increases of 3 per cent as “significant”, and “a way of sharing the wealth”. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also heralded them as the biggest increase to benefits in nine years, if National’s 2015 one-off adjustments are excluded. ...
Is it the kind of headline that will win votes at the general election? “Rock-star reception in Fijian village” followed by a sub-head “Rapturous greeting for Ardern during visit to launch $3m sanitation project”. The reporter (veteran Barry Soper, Newstalk ZB’s political editor) poses the rhetorical question: “Is there any ...
The New Zealand First Foundation received $100,000 in just one week from two rich-listers, whose donations remained secret because the individual payments fell below the disclosure threshold. ...
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Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Andrea Watson, Sparrows CEO and founder, and Simon Yarrow, who leads Callaghan Innovation’s ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Madeline Taylor, Academic Fellow, University of Sydney This week’s decision by Norwegian company Equinor to abandon a A$200 million plan to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight surprised both its critics and backers. Equinor says it abandoned the project off ...
Finance Minister sees serious, short-term impact on economy from Covid-19. He says the Government is able to deliver more general fiscal stimulus and sector-specific help if the economic hit is longer and harder. Finance Minister Grant Robertson has given his first comprehensive update on the economic effects expected from the ...
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Child protection social work involves risk. It always will. The right decisions cannot always be made and sometimes it can be a question of choosing between the least damaging alternatives. We have had a long list of child abuse tragedies for over 30 years now – in Aotearoa New Zealand and ...
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Not paying NZ Super out to those on incomes of $100,000 or more would save taxpayers around $608 million. Is it time we shake up who gets paid and what? RNZ‘s Nita Blake-Persen reports.The number of New Zealand retirees getting their superannuation while earning more than $100,000 has topped 30,000, ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentCoronavirus John Gibb (ODT): Otago academic fears ‘massive’ impact Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Nothing Xenophobic Or Racist About The Chinese ...
Dr Bryce Edwards.Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won power in 2017 on the basis of statements such as “My goal is to eradicate child poverty in New Zealand”. The Government’s progress on child poverty will be under scrutiny at this year’s general election, but progress is slow, and many are claiming ...
New Zealand King Salmon has had a better-than-expected first half, driven by record prices for its fish products. The Marlborough-based salmon farmer's net profit rose nearly 38 percent to $20.8 million in the six months to December, with the average sale price up 6.6 percent. However, revenue of $84.2m was ...
Reform of superannuation is overdue, with new figures showing more than 30,000 superannuitants are earning more than $100,000 per year. This number is growing fast as more people keep working past 65. More than 126,000 superannuitants (17% of the total) are earning ...
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Police acknowledge the findings of the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) in relation to decision-making in a sexual assault investigation in Palmerston North. The IPCA found that the decision-making was sound, and there was no conflict of interest ...
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The clash between urban cyclists and car drivers has been brewing for several years now. But pedestrians have been advocating for their rights for far longer, writesNot so long ago, the journalist Bernard Hickey predicted that cyclists vs motorists will become one of the political issues of our age. “We ...
A2 Milk has delivered a strong financial result, with increased sales in its infant nutrition business and with better than expected profit margins. The specialty milk company's net profit rose 21 percent in the six months to December to $184.9m, with an underlying sales margin of 32.6 percent. Sales rose ...
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As government services shut their doors in communities and drive people to interact online, the wellbeing of New Zealand's most vulnerable people is being diminished, says the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). CAB has released the report 'Face to Face ...
New research from justice advocacy group JustSpeak released today shows that structural bias in policing continues to disproportionately harm Māori and demonstrates the urgent need for transformative change across our justice system. Using the Statistics ...
A Spinoff article last year rightly raised concerns that citizens’ assemblies could be yet another imposition of Western ideas on Māori. But assemblies and tino rangatiratanga-based visions in fact share a critique of our current democratic system – and could together transform politics, write Emily Beausoleil and Max Rashbrooke.Nadine Anne ...
More new coronavirus cases have for the first time been reported outside China than inside, World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said. ...
Simon Bridges wouldn't deport mosque shooter Brenton Tarrant if found guilty despite calling for reciprocal policy; and Why climate change should be on the agenda for Jacinda meet Morrison. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David A. Savage, Associate Professor of Behavioural Economics , Newcastle Business School, University of Newcastle Recent days have brought reports of shoppers clearing out supermarket shelves from Wuhan and Hong Kong to Singapore and Milan in response to the spread of coronavirus. ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Beirman, Senior Lecturer, Tourism, University of Technology Sydney The coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) has now reached more than 80,000 recorded cases, largely concentrated in China, with a death toll over 2,700 and rising. There are few signs the epidemic is abating. In ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominique Hes, Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Architecture, University of Melbourne Despite a wealth of evidence to the contrary, some still propagate the myth that the world will need Australian coal for decades to come. Last weekend Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese joined in, ...
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Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Saving water becomes crucial amid drought, means testing Super back in the news, and a hard look at a Special Purpose Vehicle.Aucklanders need to get serious about saving water or restrictions will come in. Newshub reports that’s the message from Watercare, who ...
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ReadingRoom has devoted all week to the biggest-selling book in New Zealand right now, In The Clearing, a brilliant thriller by Ngāpuhi author JP Pomare, based on creepy Australian cult The Family. We conclude the series with a review by Bill Ralston.JP Pomare's second novel In ...
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An anonymous international student at the University of Auckland grapples with when and how she might return to NZ amid the coronavirus outbreak, and what challenges she will face if she makes it back. I am a Chinese international student at the University of Auckland. Having completed my language course and ...
When will there be a vaccine? What can we do and how do we stay up to date? Helen Petousis-Harris gives an update on the COVID-19 global health emergency Less than two months after China told the World Health Organisation there was a problem, a lot has happened. Sadly, deaths, confirmed ...
New Zealand’s travel ban on China has been extended another week. The president of the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations argues for a student exemption.The loss of lives and poor health caused by coronavirus is devastating. We must acknowledge the families, across the globe, who have lost loved ones ...
The first issue of the Otago student magazine for 2020 had barely hit campus before it was making headlines in the wider media. The cover was censored by Facebook, and a furious editorial denounced party politics, promising to give them a miss. Josie Adams speaks to editor Sinead Gill about ...
The global health emergency that is the Coronavirus - or Covid-19 - has become a game-changer for scientists around the world in terms of the speed of the response. But at the same time it's been termed a 'misinfodemic' Covid-19 – or coronavirus – is a game changer for scientists around the ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Merryn McKinnon, Senior lecturer, Australian National University Public representation of science in the media still struggles to reflect the true diversity of those who work in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM). According to the Women in Leadership Australia’s 2019 Women for ...
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Open mike 21/06/2011 
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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: /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