Kevin Bracken, who is the Victorian secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia and president of the Victorian Trades Hall Council, called in to talkback radio in Melbourne to say that “the official story doesn’t stand up to scientific scrutiny”.
Kevin Bracken some of you might know is a leading union activist in OZ and a very courageous man.
The official story he refers to is of course the official CT about the events of 911.
Just imagine this happening on NZ talkback radio. That is balls.
He is of course joined and has been for the last four years, by an ever expanding group of scientists, architects and engineers, lawyers, fire fighters, politicians, survivors, pilots, religious leaders and military asking for a new and independent investigation into the events of 911.
In fact Iran will be hosting just such an event next year and just in case you have heard that Aghmadinajad was hateful and hurt the survivors of the events of 911 with his vile words here’s what he really said.
Why does Kevin Bracken come out like this? Because he resents the kids from good hard working folk being sent to Afghanistan to die in the toxic quack mire for the profit of those who really did perpetrate the vile attacks in New York.
Kevin Bracken is a long standing member of the international 911 truth movement. He bases his opinion on scientific research such as that of Nils Harrit and the international institute for 911 research or that of the Architects and Engineers for 911 truth. Him saying in my mind the buildings were imploded is short for saying, “IMHO after done the research and based on the facts as the are I have come to the conclusion that there is no other possibility but to accept that the three building which imploded and collapsed into a pyroclastic flow at freefall speed (6.5, 10 and 11 seconds to be precise) could not have happened due to the name but three laws of Nature such as those of Newton.”
I’m sure though that had this been Galileo saying, “the earth is actually round.” you would have reacted in the same inane manner. Pick the obvious sound bite and hang onto it with desperation.
Kevin also added in that same telephone call that he was prepared to debate the talkback host in an open debate on the facts. Guess you missed that one.
The issue here is not the fact that he got through to the talkback show though but the fact that this is a man who for all intends and purposes is a powerful leader of a huge part of the population and while the newspapers are trying to paint him as a lunatic he has been in his position for a long time and has been open about his 911 stance for a long time too and the fact that he spoke out reverberated around the world witnessed in the fact that the phone call was judged worthy of a newspaper article in the UK Telegraph amongst others and the fact that OZ’s PM was pressured to comment and even fire him for his 911 stance.
Just think about it. What if Andrew Little came on talkshow radio and said he wanted a new and independent investigation into 911 because he wanted a new debate as to why we are sending NZ lads to Afghanistan.
Even more amazing is that (While I understand that this is not a scientific vote) about half of the voters (link above) say that he was right in doing so.
So you shuffle of now doing what you do best in making cheap and snide but ultimately silly comments and take Comedy with you while you’re at it and let the adults get on with it.
Excellent. Not only do you have the nutty Iranian President, (who stole the last election using a combination of electoral fraud and violence), you now have a wacky Australian Union boss, who has now been disowned by his own Prime Minister, on your side. Congratulations Travellerev. Wake me when someone with a bit of intelligence joins up to your conspiracy theory nonsense.
A heap of evidence! If you mean the 2004 election, the electronic voting machines were all that was needed… Who on earth still supports sad old Dubya? It makes me cry…
Deb
Will I do? I’d set my intelligence against yours any day – and I have always had serious doubts about the 9/11 official story – from Day 1 – the USA has this Nazi combination of ruthless militarism and schmalzty sentiment – frankly, I would put nothing past them! As for the Iranian president, he’s guilty of about 1% of what the MSM tell you he’s done and said..
Gullible. He’s no worse than mad rightists Sarkozy and Berlusconi, if you check out what he’s *really* said and done…
On the “favourite things” theme all now:
Cowboy boy oh, cowboy boy. Fat like Farrar and silly like whale, a whole lot younger and and not quit so pale.
What I find amusing about your naivety is that it’s wedded to a right wing fantasy. You obviuosly are left wing from your comments on other matters, but you tie yourself to a loony, inconsequensial cause that appears to supported by the same percentage of people who deny climate change. Hell, it may even be the same people!
Even if it were true that this was in fact an inside job, and the ‘truth’ came out, it would make no difference at all. It wouldn’t end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It wouldn’t help your mates the Taliban back into power, it wouldn’t bring Saddam Hussein back to life. There would still be 3000 dead in NY; that won’t change either.
In life, the obvious answer is, more often than not, the truth. And the truth of 9/11 is that the US security forces got done like a kipper by an audacious, but simple plan, carried out by 19 young men on the orders of an old man in a cave.
That’s it, there ain’t no more. Leave the anti-state fantasies to the Tea Party, Trav, it’s not an argument any lefty should waste time on.
TVOR , first up
“it’s not an argument any lefty should waste time on” are you seriously saying that democracy and freedom are not subjects the left should be concerned with?
also a small point but one that i hope you will be able to comprehend…
Even the people who wrote the 9/11 Comission Report have publicly stated that they were not told the whole story, so how in the name of daffy duck do you claim to know what did and did not happen.
You should take some time in the coming months studying the FACTS
, then come back and we can have an informed debate somewhere, as this story is not going away.
The official story is a lie built on misinformation and fear.
What’s this fantasy got do with democracy and freedom, er, Freedom? The facts are as we know them and the 9/11 Commission did a pretty thorough job. There is one other fact; that a loose coalition of right wing anti-statists have tried to beat up a conspiracy theory when the real conspiracy is already well known. The reason lefties should ignore the bollocks is that it’s a reactionary diversion intended to advance a particular stream of right wing lunacy.
It’s sad that a few otherwise committed lefties have jumped on this. I suspect it probably fits in with an immature left position that anything the US does is bad and that it’s all a vast conspiracy, etc…. The left should leave the frothing to Mel Gibson IMHO.
the 9/11 commission itself has denied physical laws, selectively included data and generally been a complete joke. It has admitted it was not told the full story, hell at one point the Commission were considering criminal charges against NORAD officials as they were not being forthcoming with the truth. Not to mention six of the commissioners have publicly stated that there is more to the story than the american people are being told.
Let us start with two little facts about your all-knowing commission that you put so much faith in.
1:They said WTC1&2 were hollow core buildings. The cores of WTC 1&2 had 47 welded and riveted steel columns that were 110 stories tall. These made up the infrastructure of WTC1&2, but could not be included as to do so would make their pet theory of a pancake collapse impossible.
2: The commission ignored Building 7. completely. As far as the commission is concerned it never existed.
At a recent hearing, for one of the many 9/11 cases being presented in American Courts, a judge in Manhattan, who was to decide on the next step in a call for a new investigation was asked about the collapse of building 7, his reply is one of the more chilling and revealing statments in the entire deception.. ” building what?”
So don’t feel too bad that you have been fed lies and ate a double helping, that judge probably thought he knew what had happened also. have a look at this site, you may be surpirsed at the quality of ‘nutters’ that are joing the fight for 9/11 Truth http://buildingwhat.org/
” It wouldn’t help your mates the Taliban back into power”
Vicious and not worthy of you, Voice of Reason…
“In life, the obvious answer is, more often than not, the truth. And the truth of 9/11 is that the US security forces got done like a kipper by an audacious, but simple plan, carried out by 19 young men on the orders of an old man in a cave.”
Absolute nonsense – when of those 19 men, at least 7 were found alive and well and living in other countries within days of the event!
” Leave the anti-state fantasies to the Tea Party”
IMO, it’s not anti-State, it’s anti-American Neocon! You don’t think we’re saying it was the entire American state apparatus that was responsible? Of course not…
Deb
Deb, Trav has previously quoted and linked to the Taleban’s PR arm on her website, and has made comment along the lines of them being misunderstood in the west, so my reference is apt not vicious.
The main driver of the truther movement is the particular strain of US right wing idealogy that seeks to limit the powers of the Federal state and believes that central government is a vast conspiracy against the American people. Of course, that’s possibly right in some respects, but it does not make this particular fantasy true. If my knowlege of US history serves me well, it has philosophical links to the ‘states rights’ movements from two centuries ago, that sought to minimise federal control and cede all power to individual states, negating the American constitution as much as possible, particularly in regard to domestic rights for women, children and African Americans. Very specifically, the philosophy opposes engagement with the outside world except for trade and opposes US involvement in foreign wars, no matter what the justification.
You are entirely within your rights to be a truther, if you want. It’s no more harmful than believing in fairies or Jedi mind control, I suppose. But it is still a waste of time.
“You are entirely within your rights to be a truther, if you want. It’s no more harmful than believing in fairies or Jedi mind control, I suppose. But it is still a waste of time.”
Oh so you’re that kind of Voice of Reason! I will utterly sunk in your estimation now I tell you I am also a Christian… but I am, I confess that freely!
You may consider it a “waste of time”, but if the ‘truthers’ are correct? What then? What follows? These invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were conducted on the pretext of 9/11, although Robert Fisk had pointed out within *days* that Haliburton, Cheney and an oil pipeline were the real motive for ousting the Taliban, which had refused permission for the pipeline. Robert Fisk was not then, and is not now, a ‘Truther’, but he is highly knowledgeable.
To tar us all with the brush of association with La Rouche, and other States’ rights nutmegs is unfair and untrue. All I have in common with them, is scepticism about both 9/11 and the goodness and rightness of Zionism. On the principle of sheep, lambs and being hung, I shall also confess to being involved in Palestinian rights…
Deb
Thanks for that, Trav, I’m starting to see your difficulty now. If you deny the existance of class, then I suppose it’s no surprise you can’t see that you are promoting a reactionary fantasy. If right and left make no difference to you, you will always be prone to being fooled by the right (and I suppose, the left). Class consiousness is the beginning of all political understanding.
Or if you want to keep it left and right. The right, usually aligned with the haves or the left who used to be smarter than they are now and always had a very healthy distrust of whatever motivated the lords.
I’m trying to keep it simple here OK. No nampy pampy lefty socialites trying to play all socialist for their poorer breathren but the hardcore working class fighters like euh… Kevin Bracken.
And for your information I don’t know any “Taliban” or al Qaeda” and therefore can’t call them my friends but someone else has. Here’s Reagan calling them the moral equivalent of the founding fathers you dimwit.
That was of course when they were fighting the Russians financed and trained by the CIA.
Hey, Trav, I haven’t abused you, so cut the name calling. Leave that shit to the real righties, eh? My reference to ‘your taliban friends’ was sarky, but you are the one who has linked to their PR front and, if I recall correctly, referred to them as misunderstood freedom fighters.
If I’ve got that wrong, I’ll withdraw and humbly apologise, but I remember thinking at the time that it was weird that you would be even vaguely supportive of them when they would kill you in a heartbeat. Well, not a heartbeat; I believe they prefer stoning or public strangulation as a means of keeping women oppressed.
I take that as a I don’t want to admit to being a moron for calling yourself a leftie while being a soft middle class asshole who plays at being part of the “sensible” left movement while hoping he can crawl up the ass of the right wing ruling elite.
And yes, you were abusing me and trying to rile me with stupid remarks about the Taliban and my so called naivety. So if you don’t like me calling you names don’t act like a moron.
The Taliban is a Western invention and a useful name for all those who are taking up weapons against the invader. I might not like them and I sure as shit don’t like their attitude to females but they are the inhabitants of Afghanistan and no invading army has ever won a war against the rightful inhabitants of a country.
The war is lost, you just don’t know it yet and the “Taliban” will rule wether we like it or not and a small group of very rich Westerners has made a gazillion out of the destruction of that country and it ain’t you or me.
Righto, this is getting boring now. You ascribe views to me that I don’t hold, call me a moron when, clearly, I am not. You, the Taleban, your boggle eyed truthers and the rest of the conservative right you are so keen to support can take a flying leap. Don’t kid yourself, Trav, you are as conservative and as trustingly naive as any Tea Party supporter.
And have a read of this line of yours again and see if you can spot the real dimwit:
“…and no invading army has ever won a war against the rightful inhabitants of a country.”
If you don’t know the history of the country you live in now nor the history of North America, South America, Asia or even, amazingly, the country of your birth, then it’s pretty obvious who the moron is, eh?
Funny,
That’s how all the trolling ends. You and the myriad of others who went before you, many of whom have left the building with a little help for from a moderator.
“Well, not a heartbeat; I believe they prefer stoning or public strangulation as a means of keeping women oppressed.”
VoR, do you actually know any Muslims? I am reminded of the statement of some banking higher up, played on Nat Rad this morning, something he said to Bill O’Reilly on Faux News – that whenever he is on a plane and sees people in “Muslim dress” he wants to flee, or attack.. The only thing I wonder about that is why Nat Rad thought such a statement to be newsworthy… many Americans, especially the powerful, have such attitudes. I assure you, from having had them in my classes, that Muslims are not all foaming at the mouth, desperately eager to kill Western women! To think so is simply absurd.
Whilst on the subject of class, VOR, what is your class origin? Your tone reminds me of a champagne socialist I used to debate with on h2g2 (the BBC forum). He was off impeccably upper class origin, but despite my provably working class origins, was constantly chiding me for my false consciousness, because I did not regard him as an authority on everything. Pathetic.
Until I moved to NZ I lived amongst Muslims immigrants in Amsterdam. Never have I been treated with disrespect. I have had many wonderful Muslim friends from every corner of the Muslim world. Most Muslims were appalled and saddened for what happened that day and I never heard anyone of them yell in support for the “alleged” perps. I do remember though walking with hundreds of thousands of people amongst whom many Muslims of course to protest both the Afghan and Iraq wars.
My mother when in her early 50s took one bag with clothes and one with knitting and travelled from Amsterdam to Afghanistan with public transport and took a plane over Pakistan to meet up with her husband in India who was working there for the WFO.
She had the most amazing experiences and was never short of food and a bed in some of the most remote Muslim places and nobody tried to chop of her head or stone her for not wearing a burka or being a woman alone on the road.
It makes me sick the way some people think and talk about Muslims over in this country.
It is just like most Germans talked about Jews before the war and I have seen the sad result of the massacre that could be perpetrated on them because of that because I grew up with the people who survived it. And no I won’t apologise for comparing the two because that is just what it is.
For those 9-11 deniers still refusing to believe in the laws of physics, here is one of the most recent nails in the coffin of the Official Story as presented by the university of Copenhagen, one of the most respected academic institutions on the planet.
Any proposition deserves consideration and an open mind unless it is demonstrably false.
A few years ago I watched the translation of the Iranian President’s speech on Israel. What he said was that Israel risked being destroyed if it continued the persecution of its neighbours. True? However the interpretation of his words by USA and Israel was that he was determined to exterminate Israel. (Sorry can’t find the exact words.) The response to his words at the UN recently, including that of NZ was anything but considered. Especially as we have troops in Afghanistan.
The recent UN walkout was completely orchestrated thus well considered, i personally was offended by this international floorshow of support for continuing illegal wars and drumming up support for a new one. Even if Israel won’t sign non-proliferation treaties, or adhere to the peace accords they did sign, or even stick to the land they have already taken, they should admit to the vast number of nuclear warheads they own. It would at least be a start towards a rationale for asking Iran to shut down, what all international studies prove to be an energy plant.
Thanks freedom. Wish I could use Google as well as you. What was actually said then has echoes now re the UN walkout. You don’t think that oil is in there somewhere do you?
oil is everywhere, as is the greed and desperation that harbours it
On our little globe we are suffering the real affects of financial decisions taken a hundred years ago but sold to us as if the period is an irrelevancy and has no bearing on contemporary society. We are told how the currency wars are responding to new challenges when really they are the same old musical chairs just with a heavier bassline.
At this moment a few well known words from Thomas Jefferson are worth revisiting,
“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money,
first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”
a few years later, he went on to say some more very prophetic words
“Scenes are now to take place as will open the eyes of credulity and of insanity itself, to the dangers of a paper medium abandoned to the discretion of avarice and of swindlers.”
http://conspiracyscience.com asks why these respected academics haven’t published in respected academic journals (among other things). Until they do, I’ll go with the official version thanks.
Above are four sites full of academic articles that have repeatedly been subject to peer review though [often] are not published in ‘respected journals’. The political machinations of funding and a Scientist’s need for self-preservation, i.e. a paycheck to feed their family, are very powerful persuaders. The rapidly increasing numbers of Academics around the globe, who are independantly presenting evidence and supporting the call for a new inquiry, suggest there is undoubtedly a reason to cast off the matrix of misinformation and concentrate on the factual evidence. Put more simply, Truth is punching holes in your lifeboat called the Official Story.
what is really funny comedy, you’ll laugh man, its so funny
i mean its really funny
but i hear that a lot
then i dare them to actually do the research and read some information and generally just give it the same consideration they would a dinner menu,
but when they have done the work honestly
it is amazing how the comedians like yourself whimper
as the reality hammers their little world
Ah, the sweet smell of globalisation. We’ll f*&k you up the ass and if you don’t like it will take it else where. Plenty of people prepared to take it up the ass if you don’t.
Yeah, good riddance to the biggest movie production in history that’ll employ thousands of NZers for the next couple of years. We don’t need their money!
So Warner Bros is threatening to take filming of The Hobbitt overseas because of a dispute the value of which is according to Robyn Malcom is “less than the budget for coffee”.
What is the bet that Warner gets a larger tax break from the Government many times the value of Actors Equity’s request and then decides to stay?
About the same amount of mileage the Labour can get out of the stirring by unions at the moment……. both parties treat the whole thing like a game of chess with being in power their only real interest and the public get played again and again and again nothing changes………….
comedy. you need to get some understanding of what interests the parties stand for:
National is funded and staffed by businessmen and farmers – its policies reflect those interests
Labour is funded and staffed by people who have risen from the union ranks (not enough from the shop floor, these days) and ‘care’ professions like teaching and medicine. It is the interests of working people that it represents.
So, National will always work for lower wages and higher profits while Labour will work for higher wages.
This is the basic political competition: how do we divide up the economic pie between the owners of capital and the workers – National and Labour, and the Right and Left in general, represent the opposite sides of that struggle.
Politics is not a valueless game you make out, and if you believe it is you miss what is actually going on.
HA HA I think you’re the victim of too many political studies courses.
Their both funded and staffed by tossers who want to make a living off the public tit.
The only struggle is how to get to the treasury benches and grab as much money as possible off the taxpayer and ratepayer to maintain enough services to keep the proletariat reasonably subdued to keep in power and maintain their perks and lifestyle.
At the moment you have the do nothing Nats in power doing …..well pretty much nothing, when Labour get back in they’ll do pretty much nothing as well unless you believe their recent pronouncements which amount to rejuvenating the corpse of Rob Muldoon.
comedy you show the very cynicism and me-ism that you accuse the politicians of. It takes one to know one. I don’t think if you got to parliament on either side that you would do anything different than the incumbents. Why would you criticise MartyG’s summation of the NZ political situation, it sounds pretty objective to me?
Robyn Malcom just shows her ignorance of economics by that statement. Her and Helen Kelly sounded particularly sheepish this morning, trying to shift the blame. at ;east she acknowledged that if the Hobbit does move somewhere else the general public will blame them for it.
Yesterday during Question time Chris Carter asked Anne Tolley some good questions about National Standards. His last one centred on moderation. Did anyone hear what her answer was? How do I find out?
Thanks Rob. I will go to the transcript next time.
Rather strange given that Chris then tabled the letter concerning reporting/moderation sent to schools? Thanks. Could have repercussions?
CERRA Powers a blueprint for coping with a fuel starved societal collapse and consequent social chaos
Refer this link: Author Dale Allen Pfeiffer predicts military dictatorship in US as successive oil shocks (Severe Spiking prices) deteriorate US NeoLiberal society further. Reason? Their Government is incapable of planning for this certainty just as ours is too!
“It’s becoming painfully clear that the federal government, having been swallowed whole by the corporate-financial sector, and is incapable of even a shred of preparation for the impending economic/oil shocks. The myopic short-term-profit prime directive of the corporations is now being defended wholly and at all costs by both Democrats and Republicans alike – to the exclusion of even the most basic protections for the bemused and hapless citizenry”
Many strong statements are made in support of the Official Story of 9/11. Why is it then, whenever a link is produced, a link that supplies the very information that according to the ‘strong statement’ does not exist, that the person who made the comment seems to dissapear from the dialogue, odd.
Sad, but not surprising, Freedom… What saddens me most, is that opposition to the official story is called a Right Wing point of view!
Imperial ambitions (IMO the reason for 9/11) are obviously not left wing, so the accusation that scepticism about the official story is right wing just does not compute!
Deb
Bugger Jackson, 9/11, Jonkey etc etc, there is a real life and death issue that we need to resolve. When plants are not pollinated by bees we are in trouble. We eat the result. Hives are dying off and that spells trouble. My beans are on the line, your food as well.
9/11 is center to the very issue Bored, as it is a provable action by THEM which would open a floodgate of proof where the policies of the NWO/Global Elite etc have many times created and controlled the circumstances that have, for example, brought about the possibilty of a Bee extinction.
Monsanto for instance, has recently written a bill that is before the US Senate. A bill that will effectively make illegal, all organic and non-organic, community/small scale farming and food growing. An industry that without the Bee, loses an essential ingredient of its survival.
Monsanto, which has been using Xe for its Security and Intelligence actions, has numerous military contracts. ( Xe was/is Blackwater, the biggest private contractor of Security Intelligence and Paramilitary Services for the Pentagon.) Monsanto has been in numerous long term cross liscening agreements and Patent disagreements with Bayer, the makers of said pesticide suspected of killing the Bees. Don’t neglect the fact that Monsanto also produces the neonicotinoid-coated corn seeds which are also suspected of killing the bees.
The actions that really affect our world are not being controlled by any Government.
This changes the known or familiar actions a citizenry can take, but does not limit the possibility of real change. The first task in finding a solution is acknowledging there is a problem.
9/11 is the perfect resource for that process.
An interesting take, personally I would make all corporations illegal, and run a Nuremburg trial process on all execs. Prior to that I would at least locally ban the said chemicals from usage, the revolution may have to await more vital actions.
on a positive note Bored, there is a growing alarm against Aspartame in foodstuffs since the recent release of 1970’s documents showing the FDA said very clearly Aspartame is Poison. So at least one of the GM corn by-products will be canned, we hope.
As an update on my comment about Kevin Bracken trying to reignite the discussion about the ongoing illegal invasion of Afghanistan and the events that lead to the invasion, the attacks on 911 here is the actual conversation he had with radio host Jon Faine from talkback radio on ABC
Here are also some background information links in response to the remarks made by the host.
A common line of attack to shut people up is the you are hurting the families of those perished in the attacks.
Wrong. Those families hurt period. They lost people they loved. But most of those pople report hurting more because their government does not want to provide information and investigate the events to help them explain why and how this could happen.
More than 80.000 NY citizens signed a petition to request a new and independent investigation into the attacks the drive for this came from a group of dedicated family members and survivors of the attacks. In fact if it wasn’t for a small group of family members, no investigation into how these attacks could have happened and why the buildings collapsed would ever have happened.
These people are not satisfied with the rapport and so neither are we.
Jon Faine argues that Kevin should be dumped for even entertaining these ideas. His attacks on Kevin are on emotional and personal grounds only and totally ignore that huge groups of professionals are dissatisfied with the first “investigation” and want to have a new and independent investigation too. To call for the end of some ones career because he shows he is capable of critical thought is strongly reminiscent of Soviet and prewar German style strategies to silence opposition and to be dismissed as a bully techniques not worthy of a radio presenter in a democratic Western country.
Jon Faine argues that the 911 truth movement is a fringe movement of crazies and as per instructed dumps them together with John F Kennedy, moon landings and other outlandish conspiracy theories. While Kevin does an outstanding job of avoiding these inane pitfalls it pays to remember that in every poll over the last three years the division of whether there should be a new investigation is about 50-50 with the 911 truth side generally being the bigger half, the poll linked to on this link being a case in point.
VoR, you chided me for mentioning Muslims, and say you were just talking about the Taliban. Don’t be naive! If you know the history of the region, you should know why Muslims are relevant…
Deb
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My conclusion last week was that The Rings of Power season two represented a major improvement in the series. The writing’s just so much better, and honestly, its major problems are less the result of the current episodes and more creatures arising from season one plot-holes. I found episode three ...
As a child in the 1950s, I thought the British had won the Second World War because that’s what all our comics said. Later on, the films and comics told me that the Americans won the war. In my late teens, I found out that the Soviet Union ...
Open access notablesDiurnal Temperature RangeTrends Differ Below and Above the Melting Point, Pithan & Schatt, Geophysical Research Letters:The globally averaged diurnal temperature range (DTR) has shrunk since the mid-20th century, and climate models project further shrinking. Observations indicate a slowdown or reversal of this trend in recent decades. ...
I was interviewed by Mike Hosking at NewstalkZB and a few other media outlets about the NZSIS Security Threat Report released recently. I have long advocated for more transparency, accountability and oversight of the NZ Intelligence Community, and although the … Continue reading → ...
Home, home again to a long warm embrace. Plenty of reasons to be glad to be back.But also, reasons for dejection.You, yes you, Simeon Brown, you odious little oik, you bible thumping petrol-pandering ratfucker weasel. You would be Reason Number One. Well, maybe first among equals with Seymour and Of-Seymour ...
The government introduced a pretty big piece of constitutional legislation today: the Parliament Bill. But rather than the contentious constitutional change (four year terms) pushed by Labour, this merely consolidates the existing legislation covering Parliament - currently scattered across four different Acts - into one piece of legislation. While I ...
Synopsis:Nicola Willis is seeking a new Treasury Boss after Dr Caralee McLiesh’s tenure ends this month. She didn’t listen to McLiesh. Will she listen to the new one?And why is Atlas Network’s Taxpayers Union chiming in?Please consider subscribing or supporting my work. Thanks, Tui.About CaraleeAt the beginning of July, Newsroom ...
The golden days of profit continue for the the Foodstuffs (Pak’n’Save and New World) and Woolworths supermarket duopoly. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, September 5:The Groceries Commissioner has ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew DesslerI love thermodynamics. Thermodynamics is like your mom: it may not tell you what you can do, but it damn well tells you what you can’t do. I’ve written a few previous posts that include thermodynamics, like one on air capture of ...
The notion of geopolitical “periphery.” The concept of periphery used here refers strictly to what can be called the geopolitical periphery. Being on the geopolitical periphery is an analytic virtue because it makes for more visible policy reform in response … Continue reading → ...
Fill me up with soundThe world sings with me a million smiles an hourI can see me dancing on my radioI can hear you singing in the blades of grassYellow dandelions on my way to schoolBig Beautiful Sky!Song: Venus Hum.Good morning, all you lovely people, and welcome to the 700th ...
Note: The audio attached to this Webworm compliments today’s newsletter. I collected it as I met people attending a Creed concert. Their opinions may differ to mine. Read more ...
The country has imported literally thousands of nurses over the past few months yet whether they are being employed as nurses is another matter. Just what is going on with HealthNZ and it nurses is, at best, opaque, in that it will not release anything but broad general statistics and ...
Emotional Response: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon addresses mourners at the tangi of King Tuheitia on Turangawaewae Marae on Saturday, 31 August 2024.THE DEATH OF KING TUHEITIA could hardly have come at a worse time for Maoridom. The power of the Kingitanga to unify te iwi Māori was demonstrated powerfully at January’s ...
National's tax cut policies relied on stealing revenue from the ETS (previously used to fund emissions reduction) to fund tax cuts to landlords. So how's that going? Badly. Today's auction failed again, with zero units (of a possible 7.6 million) sold. Which means they have a $456 million hole in ...
A question of size. Small size generally means large vulnerability. The perception of threat is broader and often more immediate for small countries. The feeling of comparative weakness, of exposure to risk, and of potential intimidation by larger powers often … Continue reading → ...
Open to all with kind thanks to all subscribers and supporters.Today, RNZ revealed that despite MFAT advice to Nicola Willis to be very “careful and deliberate” in her communications with the South Korean government, prior to any public announcement on cancelling Kiwirail’s i-Rex, Willis instead told South Korea 26 minutes ...
The Minister of Transport’s speed obsession has this week resulted in two new consultations for 110km/h speed limits, one in Auckland and one in Christchurch. There has also been final approval of the Kapiti Expressway to move to 110km/h following an earlier consultation. While the changes will almost certainly see ...
This guest post is by Tommy de Silva, a local rangatahi and freelance writer who is passionate about making the urban fabric of Tāmaki Makaurau-Auckland more people-focused and sustainable. New Zealand’s March-April 2020 Level 4 Covid response (aka “lockdown”) was somehow both the best and worst six weeks of ...
A heart that's full up like a landfillA job that slowly kills youBruises that won't healYou look so tired, unhappyBring down the governmentThey don't, they don't speak for usI'll take a quiet lifeA handshake of carbon monoxideAnd no alarms and no surprisesThe fabulous English comedian Stewart Lee once wrote a ...
Studies show each $1 of spending on walking and cycling infrastructure produces $13 to $35 of economic benefits from higher productivity, lower healthcare costs, less congestion, lower emissions and lower fossil fuel import costs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my top six things to note ...
Dad turned 99 today.Hell of a lot of candles, eh?He won't be alone for his birthday. He will have the warm attention of my brother, and my sister, and everyone at the rest home, the most thoughtful attentive and considerate people you could ever know. On Saturday there will be ...
This project analyzes security politics in three peripheral democracies (Chile, New Zealand, Portugal) during the 30 years after the end of the Cold War. It argues that changes in the geopolitical landscape and geo-strategic context are interpreted differently by small … Continue reading → ...
When the skies are looking bad my dearAnd your heart's lost all its hopeAfter dawn there will be sunshineAnd all the dust will goThe skies will clear my darlingNow it's time for you to let goOur girl will wake you up in the mornin'With some tea and toastLyrics: Lucy Spraggan.Good ...
The Government’s unveiling of its road-building programme yesterday was ambitious and, many would say, long overdue. But the question will be whether it is too ambitious, whether it is affordable, and, if not, what might be dropped. The big ticket items will be the 17 so-called Roads of National Significance. ...
In the late 2000s-early 2010s I was researching and writing a book titled “Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies: Chile, New Zealand and Portugal.” The book was a cross-regional Small-N qualitative comparison of the security strategies and postures of three small … Continue reading → ...
A few months ago, my fellow countryman, HelloFutureMe, put out a giant YouTube video, dissecting what went wrong with the first season of Rings of Power (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ6FRUO0ui0&t=8376s). It’s an exceptionally good video, and though it spans some two and a half hours, it is well worth your time. But ...
On Friday the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment released their submission on National's second Emissions Reduction Plan, ripping the shit out of it as a massive gamble based on wishful thinking. One of the specific issues he focused on was National's idea of "least cost" emissions reduction, pointing out that ...
There is no monopoly on common senseOn either side of the political fenceWe share the same biology, regardless of ideologyBelieve me when I say to youI hope the Russians love their children tooLyrics: Sting. Read more ...
Over the weekend, I found myself rather irritably reading up about the Treaty of Waitangi. “Do I need to do this?” It’s not my jurisdiction. In any other world, would this be something I choose to do?My answer - no.The Waitangi Tribunal, headed by some of our best legal minds, ...
A decade of under-building is coming home to roost in Wellington. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday September 2:Wellington’s leaders are wringing their hands over an exodus of skilled ...
This is a guest post by Charmaine Vaughan, who came to transport advocacy via her local Residents Association and a comms role at Bike Auckland. Her enthusiasm to make local streets safer for all is shared by her son Dylan Vaughan, a budding “urban nerd” who provided much of the ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, August 25, 2024 thru Sat, August 31, 2024. Story of the week After another crammed week of climate news including updates on climate tipping points, increasing threats from rising ...
And thus we come to the second instalment of Amazon’s Rings of Power. The first season, in 2022, was underwhelming, even for someone like myself, who is by nature inclined to approach Tolkien adaptations with charity. The writing was poor, the plot made no sense on its own terms, and ...
I write to you this morning from scenes of carnage. Around the floor lie young men who only hours earlier were full of life, and cocktails, and now lie silent. Read more ...
Hi,The first time I saw something that made me recoil on the internet was a visit to Rotten.com. The clue was in the name — but the internet was a new thing to me in the 90s, and no-one really knew what the hell was going on. But somehow I ...
You turn your back for a moment and a city can completely transform itself. It was, oh, just the other day I was tripping up to Kuala Lumpur every few months to teach workshops and luxuriate in the tropical warmth and fill my face with Char Kway Teow.It has to ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with John Mason. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is recent global warming part ...
Now here we standWith our hearts in our handsSqueezing out the liesAll that I hearIs a message, unclearWhat else is there to decide?All that I'm hearing from youIs White NoiseLyrics: Christopher John CheneyIs the tide turning?Have we reached the high point of the racist hate and lies from Hobson’s Pledge, ...
Norman KirkPrime Minister of New Zealand 1972-1974Born: 6 January 1923 - Died: 31 August 1974Of the working-class, by the working-class, for the working-class.Video courtesy of YouTubeThese elements were posted on Bowalley Road on Saturday, 31 August 2024. ...
Whose Foreshore? Whose Seabed?When the Marine and Coastal Area Act was originally passed back in 2011, fears about the coastline becoming off-limits to Pakeha were routinely allayed by National Party politicians pointing out that the tests imposed were so stringent that only a modest percentage of claims (the then treaty ...
Hardly anyone says what are ‘the principles of the treaty’. The courts’ interpretation restrain the New Zealand Government. While they about protecting a particular community, those restraints apply equally to all community in a liberal democracy – including a single person.Treaty principles were introduced into the governance of New Zealand ...
An Elite Leader Awaiting Rotation? Hipkins’ give-National-nothing-to-aim-at strategy will only succeed if the Coalition becomes as unpopular in three years as the British Tories became in fourteen.THE SHAPE OF CHRIS HIPKINS’ THINKING on Labour’s optimum pathway to re-election is emerging steadily. At the core of his strategy is Hipkins’ view ...
Open to all - deep thanks to those who support and subscribe.One of the things that has got me interested recently is updates about Māori wards.In April, Stuff’s Karanama Ruru reported that ~ 2/3 of our 78 councils had adopted Māori wards in NZ.That meant that under the Coalition repeal ...
One of the central planks of the previous Labour-Green government's emissions reduction policy was GIDI (Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry). This was basically using ETS revenue to pay polluters to clean up production, reducing emissions while protecting jobs. Corporate welfare, but it got the job done, and was often a ...
Oh twice as much ain't twice as goodAnd can't sustain like one half couldIt's wanting moreThat's gonna send me to my kneesSong: John MayerSome ups and downs from the last week of August ‘24. The good and bad, happy and sad, funny and mad, heroes and cads. The week that ...
Long stories short, here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer:The Government announced changes to the Fast-Track Approvals Bill on Sunday, backing off from the contentious proposal to give ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts and talking about the week’s news with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on the latest science of changing sea temperatures and which emissions policies actually work; on the latest from Ukraine, Gaza and ...
Billions of dollars in value uplift was identified around the Transmission Gully project, but that was captured 100% by landowners and not shared to pay for the project. Now National is saying value capture should be used for similar projects. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/ Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my ...
Kia ora and welcome to the end of another week. Here’s our regular Friday roundup of things that caught our eye, in the realm of cities and transport. If you enjoy these roundups, feel free to join our growing ranks of supporters by making a recurring donation to keep the ...
“That’s the sort of constitutional reform he favours: conceived in secret; revolutionary in intent; implemented incrementally without fanfare; and under no circumstances to be placed before the electorate for democratic ratification.”TO SAY IT WAS RAINING would have understated seriously the meteorological conditions. Simply put, it was pissing down. One of ...
It’s 50 years ago today that “Big Norm” Kirk died of a heart attack in Wellington’s Home of Compassion. Home of Compassion. Although he was Prime Minister for only 623 days, he has an iconic place in New Zealand history, particularly Labour history. When Labour leaders like Jacinda Ardern recite ...
Open access notables Arctic glacier snowline altitudes rise 150 m over the last 4 decades, Larocca et al., The Cryosphere:We mapped the snowline (SL) on a subset of 269 land-terminating glaciers above 60° N latitude in the latest available summer, clear-sky Landsat satellite image between 1984 and 2022. The mean SLA was extracted ...
Councils across the country have now decided where they stand regarding Māori wards, with a resounding majority in favour of keeping them in what is a significant setback for the Government. ...
The National-led government has been given a clear message from the local government sector, as almost all councils reject the Government’s bid to treat Māori wards different to other wards. ...
The Green Party is unsurprised but disappointed by today’s announcement from the Government that will see our Early Childhood Centre teachers undermined and pay parity pushed further out of reach. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to intervene in the supermarket duopoly dominating our supply of groceries following today’s report from the Commerce Commission. ...
Labour backs the call from The Rainbow Support Collective members for mental health funding specifically earmarked for grassroots and peer led community organisations to be set up in a way that they are able to access. ...
As expected, the National Land Transport Programme lacks ambition for our cities and our country’s rail network and puts the majority of investment into roads. ...
Tēnā koutou katoa, Thank you for your warm welcome and for having my colleagues and I here today. Earlier you heard from the Labour Leader, Chris Hipkins, on our vision for the future of infrastructure. I want to build on his comments and provide further detail on some key elements ...
The Green Party says the Government’s new National Land Transport Programme marks another missed opportunity to take meaningful action to fight the climate crisis. ...
The Green Party is calling on the public to support the Ngutu Pare Wrybill not just in this year’s Bird of the Year competition but also in pushing back against policies that could lead to the destruction of its habitat and accelerate its extinction. ...
News that the annual number of building consents granted for new homes fell by more than 20 percent for the year ended July 2024, is bad news for the construction industry. ...
Papā te whatitiri, hikohiko te uira, i kanapu ki te rangi, i whētuki i raro rā, rū ana te whenua e. Uea te pou o tōku whare kia tū tangata he kapua whakairi nāku nā runga o Taupiri. Ko taku kiri ka tōkia ki te anu mātao. E te iwi ...
Today’s Whakaata Māori announcement is yet another colossal failure from Minister Potaka, who has turned his back on te reo Māori, forcing a channel offline, putting whānau out of jobs, and cutting Māori content, says Te Pāti Māori. “A Senior Māori Minister has turned his back on Te Reo Māori. ...
With disability communities still reeling from the diminishing of Whaikaha, a leaked document now reveals another blow with National restricting access to residential care homes. ...
Labour is calling on the Government and Mercury Energy to find a solution to the proposed Winstone Pulp mill closure and save 230 manufacturing jobs. ...
The Green Party has called out the Government for allowing Whakaata Māori to effectively collapse to a shell of its former self as job cuts and programming cuts were announced at the broadcaster today. ...
Today New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill that will restore democratic control over transport management in Auckland City by disestablishing Auckland Transport (AT) and returning control to Auckland Council. The ‘Local Government (Auckland Council) (Disestablishment of Auckland Transport) Amendment Bill’ intends to restore democratic oversight, control, and accountability ...
The failure of the Prime Minister to condemn his Minister for personally attacking the judiciary is another example of this Government riding roughshod over important constitutional rules. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and Member of Parliament for Waiariki, which includes Rotorua, has written to Rotorua Lakes Councillors requesting they immediately stop sewerage piping works at Lake Rotokākahi in Rotorua. “Mana whenua have been urging Rotorua Lakes Council to stop works and look at alternative plans to protect the ...
Patient care could suffer as a result of further cuts to the health system, which could lose thousands of staff who keep our hospitals and clinics running. ...
The Green Party says the latest statistics on child poverty in this country highlight the callous approach that the Government is taking on this issue of national shame. ...
The Green Party is urging the Government to end the use of solitary confinement within our prisons after new research revealed some prisoners have been held in confinement for more than 900 days. ...
The Government’s moves to enable the import of Liquefied Natural Gas is another step away from the sustainable and affordable energy network that this country needs. ...
The Court of Appeal decision that Uber drivers are entitled to employee rights such as minimum wage, sick leave, holiday pay and collective bargaining is welcome news for the drivers involved and their unions. ...
The Labour Party is calling on the Government to tell the two major wealth funds, the NZ Super Fund and ACC, to withdraw investments from companies listed by the United Nations as complicit in Israel’s illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. ...
Labour welcomes news that the National Government is backing down on its reckless proposal to give Ministers final sign-off on significant projects, but it’s still not enough. ...
The harrowing images of the severely polluted Ohinemuri River caused by an old mining shaft could become a more common occurrence under the mining regime the Government is looking to roll out. ...
Information released by the Minister for Children has revealed that almost 800 mokopuna Māori have been taken by the state this year, putting it on track for the largest displacement of tamariki Māori since the introduction of Section 7AA in 2019. “Oranga Tamariki is running a crusade against whakapapa Māori ...
On the back of a patronising speech to local councils the Government has rushed out an announcement on regional and city deals that leaves out the crucial component – funding. ...
A Crown Response Office is being established within the Public Service Commission to drive the Government’s response to the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care. “The creation of an Office within a central Government agency was a key recommendation by the Royal Commission’s final report. “It will have the mandate ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says passport processing has returned to normal, and the Department of Internal Affairs [Department] is now advising customers to allow up to two weeks to receive their passport. “I am pleased that passport processing is back at target service levels and the Department ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister has today announced three new appointments and one reappointment to the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) board. Tracey Berry, Nicholas Hegan and Mariette van Ryn have been appointed for a five-year term ending in August 2029, while Chris Swasbrook, who has served as a board member ...
Attorney-General Hon Judith Collins today announced the appointment of two new District Court judges. The appointees, who will take up their roles at the Manukau Court and the Auckland Court in the Accident Compensation Appeal Jurisdiction, are: Jacqui Clark Judge Clark was admitted to the bar in 1988 after graduating ...
Associate Minister of Finance David Seymour is encouraged by significant improvements to overseas investment decision timeframes, and the enhanced interest from investors as the Government continues to reform overseas investment. “There were about as many foreign direct investment applications in July and August as there was across the six months ...
New Zealand has accepted an invitation to join US-led multi-national space initiative Operation Olympic Defender, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. Operation Olympic Defender is designed to coordinate the space capabilities of member nations, enhance the resilience of space-based systems, deter hostile actions in space and reduce the spread of ...
Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says that a new economic impact analysis report reinforces this government’s commitment to ‘stamp out’ any New Zealand foot and mouth disease incursion. “The new analysis, produced by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research, shows an incursion of the disease in New Zealand would have ...
5 September 2024 The Government is progressing further reforms to financial services to make it easier for Kiwis to access finance when they need it, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Financial services are foundational for economic success and are woven throughout our lives. Without access to finance our ...
As Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII is laid to rest today, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has paid tribute to a leader whose commitment to Kotahitanga will have a lasting impact on our country. “Kiingi Tuheitia was a humble leader who served his people with wisdom, mana and an unwavering ...
Forestry Minister Todd McClay today announced proposals to reform the resource management system that will provide greater certainty for the forestry sector and help them meet environmental obligations. “The Government has committed to restoring confidence and certainty across the sector by removing unworkable regulatory burden created by the previous ...
A major shake-up of building products which will make it easier and more affordable to build is on the way, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Today we have introduced legislation that will improve access to a wider variety of quality building products from overseas, giving Kiwis more choice and ...
On the occasion of the official visit by the Right Honourable Prime Minister Christopher Luxon of New Zealand to the Republic of Korea from 4 to 5 September 2024, a summit meeting was held between His Excellency President Yoon Suk Yeol of the Republic of Korea (hereinafter referred to as ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Republic of Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol. “Korea and New Zealand are likeminded democracies and natural partners in the Indo Pacific. As such, we have decided to advance discussions on elevating the bilateral relationship to a Comprehensive ...
Results released today from the International Visitor Survey (IVS) confirm international tourism is continuing to bounce back, Tourism and Hospitality Minister Matt Doocey says. The IVS results show that in the June quarter, international tourism contributed $2.6 billion to New Zealand’s economy, an increase of 17 per cent on last ...
The Government is moving to review and update national level policy directives that impact the primary sector, as part of its work to get Wellington out of farming. “The primary sector has been weighed down by unworkable and costly regulation for too long,” Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. “That is ...
The first annual grocery report underscores the need for reforms to cut red tape and promote competition, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “The report paints a concerning picture of the $25 billion grocery sector and reinforces the need for stronger regulatory action, coupled with an ambitious, economy-wide ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says the Government has listened to the early childhood education sector’s calls to simplify paying ECE relief teachers. Today two simple changes that will reduce red tape for ECEs are being announced, in the run-up to larger changes that will come in time from the ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says there has been a strong response to the Ministry for Regulation’s public consultation on the early childhood education regulatory review, affirming the need for action in reducing regulatory burden. “Over 2,320 submissions have been received from parents, teachers, centre owners, child advocacy groups, unions, research ...
“The Government is empowering women in the horticulture industry by funding an initiative that will support networking and career progression,” Associate Minister of Agriculture, Nicola Grigg says. “Women currently make up around half of the horticulture workforce, but only 20 per cent of leadership roles which is why initiatives like this ...
The Government will pause the rollout of freshwater farm plans until system improvements are finalised, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard announced today. “Improving the freshwater farm plan system to make it more cost-effective and practical for farmers is a priority for this ...
Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden says yesterday Cabinet reached another milestone on fixing the Holidays Act with approval of the consultation exposure draft of the Bill ready for release next week to participants. “This Government will improve the Holidays Act with the help of businesses, workers, and ...
Toitū te marae a Tāne Mahuta me Hineahuone, toitū te marae a Tangaroa me Hinemoana, toitū te taiao, toitū te tangata. The Government has introduced clear priorities to modernise Te Papa Atawhai - The Department of Conservation’s protection of our natural taonga. “Te Papa Atawhai manages nearly a third of our ...
A new 110km/h speed limit for the Kāpiti Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS) has been approved to reduce travel times for Kiwis travelling in and out of Wellington, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy. ...
The International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) will be raised to $100 to ensure visitors contribute to public services and high-quality experiences while visiting New Zealand, Minister for Tourism and Hospitality Matt Doocey and Minister of Conservation Tama Potaka say. “The Government is serious about enabling the tourism sector ...
A record $255 million for transport investment on the West Coast through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will strengthen the region’s road and rail links to keep people connected and support the region’s economy, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The Government is committed to making sure that every ...
A record $3.3 billion of transport investment in Greater Wellington through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will increase productivity and reduce travel times, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering infrastructure to increase productivity and economic growth is a priority for our Government. We're focused on delivering transport projects ...
A record $1.9 billion for transport investment in the Waikato through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will create a more efficient, safe, and resilient roading network that supports economic growth and productivity, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “With almost a third of the country’s freight travelling into, out ...
A record $808 million for transport investment in Taranaki through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will support economic growth and productivity, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Taranaki’s roads carry a high volume of freight from primary industries and it’s critical we maintain efficient connections across the region to ...
A record $1.4 billion for transport investment in Otago and Southland through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will create a more resilient and efficient network that supports economic growth and productivity, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Transport is a critical enabler for economic growth and productivity in Otago ...
A record $991 million for transport investment in Northland through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will strengthen the region’s connections and support economic growth and productivity, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “We are committed to making sure that every transport dollar is spent wisely on the projects and ...
A record $479 million for transport investment across the top of the South Island through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will build a stronger road network that supports primary industries and grows the economy, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “We’re committed to making sure that every dollar is ...
A record $1.6 billion for transport investment in Manawatū-Whanganui through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will strengthen the region’s importance as a strategic freight hub that boosts economic growth, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering infrastructure to increase productivity and economic growth is a priority for our Government. ...
A record $657 million for transport investment in the Hawke’s Bay through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will support recovery from cyclone damage and build greater resilience into the network to support economic growth and productivity, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “We are committed to making sure that ...
A record $255 million for transport investment in Gisborne through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will support economic growth and restore the cyclone-damaged network, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “With $255 million of investment over the next three years, we are committed to making sure that every transport ...
A record $1.8 billion for transport investment Canterbury through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will boost economic growth and productivity and reduce travel times, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Christchurch is the economic powerhouse of the South Island, and transport is a critical enabler for economic growth and ...
A record $1.9 billion for transport investment in the Bay of Plenty through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will boost economic growth and unlock land for thousands of houses, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Transport is a critical enabler for economic growth and productivity in the Bay of ...
A record $8.4 billion for transport investment in Auckland through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will deliver the infrastructure our rapidly growing region needs to support economic growth and reduce travel times, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Aucklanders rejected the previous government’s transport policies which resulted in non-delivery, phantoms projects, ...
A record $32.9 billion investment in New Zealand’s transport network through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will create a more reliable and efficient transport network that boosts economic growth and productivity, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “New Zealanders rejected the previous government’s transport policies which resulted in non-delivery, ...
Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey has welcomed the start of Gambling Harm Awareness Week by encouraging New Zealanders to have their say on the next three-year strategy to prevent and minimise gambling harm. “While many New Zealanders enjoy gambling as a pastime without issue, the statistics are clear that ...
1. Prime Minister YAB Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim hosted Prime Minister Rt. Hon Christopher Luxon on an Official Visit to Malaysia from 1 to 3 September 2024. Both leaders expressed appreciation for enduring and warm bilateral ties over 67 years of diplomatic relations. The Malaysia – New Zealand Strategic Partnership 2. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government has shifted again on the 2026 census, now saying it will include questions on both sexual orientation and gender identity. In its latest iteration, the government announced on Sunday the census ...
“Anticipation is growing. The warriors are ready. They’re preparing themselves. The paddlers are already on their waka,” Scotty Morrison, alongside veteran journalist Tini Molyneux, told viewers from the banks of the Waikato River. It was Thursday, and the body of Kiingi Tuheitia was being escorted to the barge to take ...
Orient ExpressHot air balloon Number OneIs prepared by the Royal Hot Air Balloon ForceFor Prime Balloonist, King Luxon,And his trade delegation to the Orient.But lo! With a splutter and a puffHot air balloon Number One folds in on itselfAnd deflates onto the field.King Luxon sighs and books a ticketOn a ...
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was. The Paralympic Games end tomorrow after nearly two weeks of incredible athletic feats. On a purely results basis, New Zealand hasn’t done that well. As of writing (Friday), we’re yet to win a gold medal and are placed 61st out of 74 ...
The infomercial queen looks back on an eventful life in TV, filled with Coronation Street, The Blue Monkey and a lot of reality television.Suzanne Paul is a New Zealand television icon. Born and raised in England, Paul worked around the world for 20 years before she arrived in Aotearoa ...
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Kevin Bracken, who is the Victorian secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia and president of the Victorian Trades Hall Council, called in to talkback radio in Melbourne to say that “the official story doesn’t stand up to scientific scrutiny”.
Kevin Bracken some of you might know is a leading union activist in OZ and a very courageous man.
The official story he refers to is of course the official CT about the events of 911.
Just imagine this happening on NZ talkback radio. That is balls.
He is of course joined and has been for the last four years, by an ever expanding group of scientists, architects and engineers, lawyers, fire fighters, politicians, survivors, pilots, religious leaders and military asking for a new and independent investigation into the events of 911.
In fact Iran will be hosting just such an event next year and just in case you have heard that Aghmadinajad was hateful and hurt the survivors of the events of 911 with his vile words here’s what he really said.
Why does Kevin Bracken come out like this? Because he resents the kids from good hard working folk being sent to Afghanistan to die in the toxic quack mire for the profit of those who really did perpetrate the vile attacks in New York.
“I stick to scientific facts. In my mind the buildings were imploded.”
The second sentence says it all.
🙂
Kevin Bracken is a long standing member of the international 911 truth movement. He bases his opinion on scientific research such as that of Nils Harrit and the international institute for 911 research or that of the Architects and Engineers for 911 truth. Him saying in my mind the buildings were imploded is short for saying, “IMHO after done the research and based on the facts as the are I have come to the conclusion that there is no other possibility but to accept that the three building which imploded and collapsed into a pyroclastic flow at freefall speed (6.5, 10 and 11 seconds to be precise) could not have happened due to the name but three laws of Nature such as those of Newton.”
I’m sure though that had this been Galileo saying, “the earth is actually round.” you would have reacted in the same inane manner. Pick the obvious sound bite and hang onto it with desperation.
Kevin also added in that same telephone call that he was prepared to debate the talkback host in an open debate on the facts. Guess you missed that one.
The issue here is not the fact that he got through to the talkback show though but the fact that this is a man who for all intends and purposes is a powerful leader of a huge part of the population and while the newspapers are trying to paint him as a lunatic he has been in his position for a long time and has been open about his 911 stance for a long time too and the fact that he spoke out reverberated around the world witnessed in the fact that the phone call was judged worthy of a newspaper article in the UK Telegraph amongst others and the fact that OZ’s PM was pressured to comment and even fire him for his 911 stance.
Just think about it. What if Andrew Little came on talkshow radio and said he wanted a new and independent investigation into 911 because he wanted a new debate as to why we are sending NZ lads to Afghanistan.
Even more amazing is that (While I understand that this is not a scientific vote) about half of the voters (link above) say that he was right in doing so.
So you shuffle of now doing what you do best in making cheap and snide but ultimately silly comments and take Comedy with you while you’re at it and let the adults get on with it.
Excellent. Not only do you have the nutty Iranian President, (who stole the last election using a combination of electoral fraud and violence), you now have a wacky Australian Union boss, who has now been disowned by his own Prime Minister, on your side. Congratulations Travellerev. Wake me when someone with a bit of intelligence joins up to your conspiracy theory nonsense.
Gosman I think that you meant George W Bush when you said this: “who stole the last election using a combination of electoral fraud and violence” Yes?
So what evidence do you have that George Bush stole the 2004 election with electoral fraud and violence?
Gawd the internet is a big thing and there are many sources of information that can be verified. Go and have a look.
A heap of evidence! If you mean the 2004 election, the electronic voting machines were all that was needed… Who on earth still supports sad old Dubya? It makes me cry…
Deb
Will I do? I’d set my intelligence against yours any day – and I have always had serious doubts about the 9/11 official story – from Day 1 – the USA has this Nazi combination of ruthless militarism and schmalzty sentiment – frankly, I would put nothing past them! As for the Iranian president, he’s guilty of about 1% of what the MSM tell you he’s done and said..
Gullible. He’s no worse than mad rightists Sarkozy and Berlusconi, if you check out what he’s *really* said and done…
I’d suggest you set your intelligence against a dog turd………. probably a more even battle of wits.
Ah cowboy boy,
Day wouldn’t be complete without your sillyness.
On the “favourite things” theme all now:
Cowboy boy oh, cowboy boy. Fat like Farrar and silly like whale, a whole lot younger and and not quit so pale.
GOVL
LOLATSDNHSDIHOE
What I find amusing about your naivety is that it’s wedded to a right wing fantasy. You obviuosly are left wing from your comments on other matters, but you tie yourself to a loony, inconsequensial cause that appears to supported by the same percentage of people who deny climate change. Hell, it may even be the same people!
Even if it were true that this was in fact an inside job, and the ‘truth’ came out, it would make no difference at all. It wouldn’t end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It wouldn’t help your mates the Taliban back into power, it wouldn’t bring Saddam Hussein back to life. There would still be 3000 dead in NY; that won’t change either.
In life, the obvious answer is, more often than not, the truth. And the truth of 9/11 is that the US security forces got done like a kipper by an audacious, but simple plan, carried out by 19 young men on the orders of an old man in a cave.
That’s it, there ain’t no more. Leave the anti-state fantasies to the Tea Party, Trav, it’s not an argument any lefty should waste time on.
TVOR , first up
“it’s not an argument any lefty should waste time on” are you seriously saying that democracy and freedom are not subjects the left should be concerned with?
also a small point but one that i hope you will be able to comprehend…
Even the people who wrote the 9/11 Comission Report have publicly stated that they were not told the whole story, so how in the name of daffy duck do you claim to know what did and did not happen.
You should take some time in the coming months studying the FACTS
, then come back and we can have an informed debate somewhere, as this story is not going away.
The official story is a lie built on misinformation and fear.
What’s this fantasy got do with democracy and freedom, er, Freedom? The facts are as we know them and the 9/11 Commission did a pretty thorough job. There is one other fact; that a loose coalition of right wing anti-statists have tried to beat up a conspiracy theory when the real conspiracy is already well known. The reason lefties should ignore the bollocks is that it’s a reactionary diversion intended to advance a particular stream of right wing lunacy.
It’s sad that a few otherwise committed lefties have jumped on this. I suspect it probably fits in with an immature left position that anything the US does is bad and that it’s all a vast conspiracy, etc…. The left should leave the frothing to Mel Gibson IMHO.
the 9/11 commission itself has denied physical laws, selectively included data and generally been a complete joke. It has admitted it was not told the full story, hell at one point the Commission were considering criminal charges against NORAD officials as they were not being forthcoming with the truth. Not to mention six of the commissioners have publicly stated that there is more to the story than the american people are being told.
Let us start with two little facts about your all-knowing commission that you put so much faith in.
1:They said WTC1&2 were hollow core buildings. The cores of WTC 1&2 had 47 welded and riveted steel columns that were 110 stories tall. These made up the infrastructure of WTC1&2, but could not be included as to do so would make their pet theory of a pancake collapse impossible.
2: The commission ignored Building 7. completely. As far as the commission is concerned it never existed.
At a recent hearing, for one of the many 9/11 cases being presented in American Courts, a judge in Manhattan, who was to decide on the next step in a call for a new investigation was asked about the collapse of building 7, his reply is one of the more chilling and revealing statments in the entire deception.. ” building what?”
So don’t feel too bad that you have been fed lies and ate a double helping, that judge probably thought he knew what had happened also. have a look at this site, you may be surpirsed at the quality of ‘nutters’ that are joing the fight for 9/11 Truth
http://buildingwhat.org/
” It wouldn’t help your mates the Taliban back into power”
Vicious and not worthy of you, Voice of Reason…
“In life, the obvious answer is, more often than not, the truth. And the truth of 9/11 is that the US security forces got done like a kipper by an audacious, but simple plan, carried out by 19 young men on the orders of an old man in a cave.”
Absolute nonsense – when of those 19 men, at least 7 were found alive and well and living in other countries within days of the event!
” Leave the anti-state fantasies to the Tea Party”
IMO, it’s not anti-State, it’s anti-American Neocon! You don’t think we’re saying it was the entire American state apparatus that was responsible? Of course not…
Deb
Deb, Trav has previously quoted and linked to the Taleban’s PR arm on her website, and has made comment along the lines of them being misunderstood in the west, so my reference is apt not vicious.
The main driver of the truther movement is the particular strain of US right wing idealogy that seeks to limit the powers of the Federal state and believes that central government is a vast conspiracy against the American people. Of course, that’s possibly right in some respects, but it does not make this particular fantasy true. If my knowlege of US history serves me well, it has philosophical links to the ‘states rights’ movements from two centuries ago, that sought to minimise federal control and cede all power to individual states, negating the American constitution as much as possible, particularly in regard to domestic rights for women, children and African Americans. Very specifically, the philosophy opposes engagement with the outside world except for trade and opposes US involvement in foreign wars, no matter what the justification.
You are entirely within your rights to be a truther, if you want. It’s no more harmful than believing in fairies or Jedi mind control, I suppose. But it is still a waste of time.
“You are entirely within your rights to be a truther, if you want. It’s no more harmful than believing in fairies or Jedi mind control, I suppose. But it is still a waste of time.”
Oh so you’re that kind of Voice of Reason! I will utterly sunk in your estimation now I tell you I am also a Christian… but I am, I confess that freely!
You may consider it a “waste of time”, but if the ‘truthers’ are correct? What then? What follows? These invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were conducted on the pretext of 9/11, although Robert Fisk had pointed out within *days* that Haliburton, Cheney and an oil pipeline were the real motive for ousting the Taliban, which had refused permission for the pipeline. Robert Fisk was not then, and is not now, a ‘Truther’, but he is highly knowledgeable.
To tar us all with the brush of association with La Rouche, and other States’ rights nutmegs is unfair and untrue. All I have in common with them, is scepticism about both 9/11 and the goodness and rightness of Zionism. On the principle of sheep, lambs and being hung, I shall also confess to being involved in Palestinian rights…
Deb
Grow up and ditch the left right paradigm TVOR.
There is no equal people divided in some magical left and right.
There is the oppressor and the oppressed.
The have and the have not.
The lords and the peasants.
The farmers and the cattle.
What category you reckon you fit in?
If as a “lefty” you associate yourself with the ruling elite and the powerful in the above you are the one who is naive.
Thanks for that, Trav, I’m starting to see your difficulty now. If you deny the existance of class, then I suppose it’s no surprise you can’t see that you are promoting a reactionary fantasy. If right and left make no difference to you, you will always be prone to being fooled by the right (and I suppose, the left). Class consiousness is the beginning of all political understanding.
Yep you got it in one.
So which class do you reckon you’re in?
The lords or the peasants?
Or if you want to keep it left and right. The right, usually aligned with the haves or the left who used to be smarter than they are now and always had a very healthy distrust of whatever motivated the lords.
I’m trying to keep it simple here OK. No nampy pampy lefty socialites trying to play all socialist for their poorer breathren but the hardcore working class fighters like euh… Kevin Bracken.
And for your information I don’t know any “Taliban” or al Qaeda” and therefore can’t call them my friends but someone else has. Here’s Reagan calling them the moral equivalent of the founding fathers you dimwit.
That was of course when they were fighting the Russians financed and trained by the CIA.
Hey, Trav, I haven’t abused you, so cut the name calling. Leave that shit to the real righties, eh? My reference to ‘your taliban friends’ was sarky, but you are the one who has linked to their PR front and, if I recall correctly, referred to them as misunderstood freedom fighters.
If I’ve got that wrong, I’ll withdraw and humbly apologise, but I remember thinking at the time that it was weird that you would be even vaguely supportive of them when they would kill you in a heartbeat. Well, not a heartbeat; I believe they prefer stoning or public strangulation as a means of keeping women oppressed.
I take that as a I don’t want to admit to being a moron for calling yourself a leftie while being a soft middle class asshole who plays at being part of the “sensible” left movement while hoping he can crawl up the ass of the right wing ruling elite.
And yes, you were abusing me and trying to rile me with stupid remarks about the Taliban and my so called naivety. So if you don’t like me calling you names don’t act like a moron.
The Taliban is a Western invention and a useful name for all those who are taking up weapons against the invader. I might not like them and I sure as shit don’t like their attitude to females but they are the inhabitants of Afghanistan and no invading army has ever won a war against the rightful inhabitants of a country.
The war is lost, you just don’t know it yet and the “Taliban” will rule wether we like it or not and a small group of very rich Westerners has made a gazillion out of the destruction of that country and it ain’t you or me.
Righto, this is getting boring now. You ascribe views to me that I don’t hold, call me a moron when, clearly, I am not. You, the Taleban, your boggle eyed truthers and the rest of the conservative right you are so keen to support can take a flying leap. Don’t kid yourself, Trav, you are as conservative and as trustingly naive as any Tea Party supporter.
And have a read of this line of yours again and see if you can spot the real dimwit:
“…and no invading army has ever won a war against the rightful inhabitants of a country.”
If you don’t know the history of the country you live in now nor the history of North America, South America, Asia or even, amazingly, the country of your birth, then it’s pretty obvious who the moron is, eh?
Funny,
That’s how all the trolling ends. You and the myriad of others who went before you, many of whom have left the building with a little help for from a moderator.
“Well, not a heartbeat; I believe they prefer stoning or public strangulation as a means of keeping women oppressed.”
VoR, do you actually know any Muslims? I am reminded of the statement of some banking higher up, played on Nat Rad this morning, something he said to Bill O’Reilly on Faux News – that whenever he is on a plane and sees people in “Muslim dress” he wants to flee, or attack.. The only thing I wonder about that is why Nat Rad thought such a statement to be newsworthy… many Americans, especially the powerful, have such attitudes. I assure you, from having had them in my classes, that Muslims are not all foaming at the mouth, desperately eager to kill Western women! To think so is simply absurd.
Whilst on the subject of class, VOR, what is your class origin? Your tone reminds me of a champagne socialist I used to debate with on h2g2 (the BBC forum). He was off impeccably upper class origin, but despite my provably working class origins, was constantly chiding me for my false consciousness, because I did not regard him as an authority on everything. Pathetic.
You know Deb,
Until I moved to NZ I lived amongst Muslims immigrants in Amsterdam. Never have I been treated with disrespect. I have had many wonderful Muslim friends from every corner of the Muslim world. Most Muslims were appalled and saddened for what happened that day and I never heard anyone of them yell in support for the “alleged” perps. I do remember though walking with hundreds of thousands of people amongst whom many Muslims of course to protest both the Afghan and Iraq wars.
My mother when in her early 50s took one bag with clothes and one with knitting and travelled from Amsterdam to Afghanistan with public transport and took a plane over Pakistan to meet up with her husband in India who was working there for the WFO.
She had the most amazing experiences and was never short of food and a bed in some of the most remote Muslim places and nobody tried to chop of her head or stone her for not wearing a burka or being a woman alone on the road.
It makes me sick the way some people think and talk about Muslims over in this country.
It is just like most Germans talked about Jews before the war and I have seen the sad result of the massacre that could be perpetrated on them because of that because I grew up with the people who survived it. And no I won’t apologise for comparing the two because that is just what it is.
Ev
Beware of a ticking Muslim indeed. Yuk.
You are the first to mention Muslims, Deb. I was writing about the Taleban. Enough already.
TVOR, You are beyond yuk.
For those 9-11 deniers still refusing to believe in the laws of physics, here is one of the most recent nails in the coffin of the Official Story as presented by the university of Copenhagen, one of the most respected academic institutions on the planet.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/collapse-of-wtc-under-fresh-scrutiny-after-explosive-dust-samples-found.html
Any proposition deserves consideration and an open mind unless it is demonstrably false.
A few years ago I watched the translation of the Iranian President’s speech on Israel. What he said was that Israel risked being destroyed if it continued the persecution of its neighbours. True? However the interpretation of his words by USA and Israel was that he was determined to exterminate Israel. (Sorry can’t find the exact words.) The response to his words at the UN recently, including that of NZ was anything but considered. Especially as we have troops in Afghanistan.
here you go ianmac;
how it was reported in the NY times, but the same rhetoric was misprinted everywhere
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/28/politics/28iran.html?_r=1
and what was actually said
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad_and_Israel#.22Wiped_off_the_map.22_or_.22Vanish_from_the_pages_of_time.22_translation
The recent UN walkout was completely orchestrated thus well considered, i personally was offended by this international floorshow of support for continuing illegal wars and drumming up support for a new one. Even if Israel won’t sign non-proliferation treaties, or adhere to the peace accords they did sign, or even stick to the land they have already taken, they should admit to the vast number of nuclear warheads they own. It would at least be a start towards a rationale for asking Iran to shut down, what all international studies prove to be an energy plant.
Thanks freedom. Wish I could use Google as well as you. What was actually said then has echoes now re the UN walkout. You don’t think that oil is in there somewhere do you?
oil is everywhere, as is the greed and desperation that harbours it
On our little globe we are suffering the real affects of financial decisions taken a hundred years ago but sold to us as if the period is an irrelevancy and has no bearing on contemporary society. We are told how the currency wars are responding to new challenges when really they are the same old musical chairs just with a heavier bassline.
At this moment a few well known words from Thomas Jefferson are worth revisiting,
“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money,
first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”
a few years later, he went on to say some more very prophetic words
“Scenes are now to take place as will open the eyes of credulity and of insanity itself, to the dangers of a paper medium abandoned to the discretion of avarice and of swindlers.”
Good on him!
Deb
I forgot,
for those of you wanting to vote for or against Kevin to have come out like this, here is a link
http://conspiracyscience.com asks why these respected academics haven’t published in respected academic journals (among other things). Until they do, I’ll go with the official version thanks.
Study the evidence before parroting the propoganda
http://www.scholarsfor911truth.org/
http://www.physics911.ca/Main_Page
http://ae911truth.org/
http://www.journalof911studies.com/
Above are four sites full of academic articles that have repeatedly been subject to peer review though [often] are not published in ‘respected journals’. The political machinations of funding and a Scientist’s need for self-preservation, i.e. a paycheck to feed their family, are very powerful persuaders. The rapidly increasing numbers of Academics around the globe, who are independantly presenting evidence and supporting the call for a new inquiry, suggest there is undoubtedly a reason to cast off the matrix of misinformation and concentrate on the factual evidence. Put more simply, Truth is punching holes in your lifeboat called the Official Story.
Shouldn’t these all be filed under http://www.nuttersfor11truth.com ?
what is really funny comedy, you’ll laugh man, its so funny
i mean its really funny
but i hear that a lot
then i dare them to actually do the research and read some information and generally just give it the same consideration they would a dinner menu,
but when they have done the work honestly
it is amazing how the comedians like yourself whimper
as the reality hammers their little world
Well done unions, Hobbit to move offshore, more to go……….
Well done Zimmer, completely swallowed the Jackson/Key rhetoric.
1)There is no confirmation The Hobbit has moved offshore
2)If it goes offshore this is probably why.
Suggest you read more than just the headlines before rushing to the keyboard
Captcha: Invents – as in zimmer invents the news
Ah, the sweet smell of globalisation. We’ll f*&k you up the ass and if you don’t like it will take it else where. Plenty of people prepared to take it up the ass if you don’t.
Good riddance I say.
Yeah, good riddance to the biggest movie production in history that’ll employ thousands of NZers for the next couple of years. We don’t need their money!
Are you campaigning for Rainbow labour ?
wtf does that even mean?
Well worth a look
Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz: Foreclosure Moratorium, Government Stimulus Needed to Revive US Economy
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/10/20/nobel_laureate_joseph_stiglitz_on_how
So Warner Bros is threatening to take filming of The Hobbitt overseas because of a dispute the value of which is according to Robyn Malcom is “less than the budget for coffee”.
What is the bet that Warner gets a larger tax break from the Government many times the value of Actors Equity’s request and then decides to stay?
Oh well if Robyn Malcolm says that it must be true.
What is the bet that Warner gets a larger tax break from the Government many times the value of Actors Equity’s request and then decides to stay?
…depends on how much political mileage the govt thinks it can get out of blaming unionism for the loss of the project.
About the same amount of mileage the Labour can get out of the stirring by unions at the moment……. both parties treat the whole thing like a game of chess with being in power their only real interest and the public get played again and again and again nothing changes………….
…..game set and match to the duplicitous 120 !
comedy. you need to get some understanding of what interests the parties stand for:
National is funded and staffed by businessmen and farmers – its policies reflect those interests
Labour is funded and staffed by people who have risen from the union ranks (not enough from the shop floor, these days) and ‘care’ professions like teaching and medicine. It is the interests of working people that it represents.
So, National will always work for lower wages and higher profits while Labour will work for higher wages.
This is the basic political competition: how do we divide up the economic pie between the owners of capital and the workers – National and Labour, and the Right and Left in general, represent the opposite sides of that struggle.
Politics is not a valueless game you make out, and if you believe it is you miss what is actually going on.
HA HA I think you’re the victim of too many political studies courses.
Their both funded and staffed by tossers who want to make a living off the public tit.
The only struggle is how to get to the treasury benches and grab as much money as possible off the taxpayer and ratepayer to maintain enough services to keep the proletariat reasonably subdued to keep in power and maintain their perks and lifestyle.
At the moment you have the do nothing Nats in power doing …..well pretty much nothing, when Labour get back in they’ll do pretty much nothing as well unless you believe their recent pronouncements which amount to rejuvenating the corpse of Rob Muldoon.
Labour now has a powerful, differentiated platform to stand on in 2011.
NATs…well we’ll see but I’m not holding my breath re: what they come up with.
comedy you show the very cynicism and me-ism that you accuse the politicians of. It takes one to know one. I don’t think if you got to parliament on either side that you would do anything different than the incumbents. Why would you criticise MartyG’s summation of the NZ political situation, it sounds pretty objective to me?
Prism even someone of my cynicism and me-ism couldn’t stomach being in the company of the crooked 120.
Union bashing.
Borrowing for election bribes.
Big payouts to business.
Corporate welfare.
Interfering with education.
Muldoon’s Zombie is in control now..
Robyn Malcom just shows her ignorance of economics by that statement. Her and Helen Kelly sounded particularly sheepish this morning, trying to shift the blame. at ;east she acknowledged that if the Hobbit does move somewhere else the general public will blame them for it.
Yesterday during Question time Chris Carter asked Anne Tolley some good questions about National Standards. His last one centred on moderation. Did anyone hear what her answer was? How do I find out?
This the one?
Thanks Rob. I will go to the transcript next time.
Rather strange given that Chris then tabled the letter concerning reporting/moderation sent to schools? Thanks. Could have repercussions?
CERRA Powers a blueprint for coping with a fuel starved societal collapse and consequent social chaos
Refer this link: Author Dale Allen Pfeiffer predicts military dictatorship in US as successive oil shocks (Severe Spiking prices) deteriorate US NeoLiberal society further. Reason? Their Government is incapable of planning for this certainty just as ours is too!
http://carolynbaker.net/content/view/1806/1/
“It’s becoming painfully clear that the federal government, having been swallowed whole by the corporate-financial sector, and is incapable of even a shred of preparation for the impending economic/oil shocks. The myopic short-term-profit prime directive of the corporations is now being defended wholly and at all costs by both Democrats and Republicans alike – to the exclusion of even the most basic protections for the bemused and hapless citizenry”
Many strong statements are made in support of the Official Story of 9/11. Why is it then, whenever a link is produced, a link that supplies the very information that according to the ‘strong statement’ does not exist, that the person who made the comment seems to dissapear from the dialogue, odd.
Sad, but not surprising, Freedom… What saddens me most, is that opposition to the official story is called a Right Wing point of view!
Imperial ambitions (IMO the reason for 9/11) are obviously not left wing, so the accusation that scepticism about the official story is right wing just does not compute!
Deb
Bugger Jackson, 9/11, Jonkey etc etc, there is a real life and death issue that we need to resolve. When plants are not pollinated by bees we are in trouble. We eat the result. Hives are dying off and that spells trouble. My beans are on the line, your food as well.
For a number of years the decline has been a mystery, but now it appears agro chemicals are to blame. And those who profit are denying it. See http://civileats.com/2010/10/15/sorry-new-york-times-the-bee-die-off-case-is-not-closed/
This poses far more threat to our economy than a Hobbit movie. Calls to action anybody??????????
9/11 is center to the very issue Bored, as it is a provable action by THEM which would open a floodgate of proof where the policies of the NWO/Global Elite etc have many times created and controlled the circumstances that have, for example, brought about the possibilty of a Bee extinction.
Monsanto for instance, has recently written a bill that is before the US Senate. A bill that will effectively make illegal, all organic and non-organic, community/small scale farming and food growing. An industry that without the Bee, loses an essential ingredient of its survival.
Monsanto, which has been using Xe for its Security and Intelligence actions, has numerous military contracts. ( Xe was/is Blackwater, the biggest private contractor of Security Intelligence and Paramilitary Services for the Pentagon.) Monsanto has been in numerous long term cross liscening agreements and Patent disagreements with Bayer, the makers of said pesticide suspected of killing the Bees. Don’t neglect the fact that Monsanto also produces the neonicotinoid-coated corn seeds which are also suspected of killing the bees.
The actions that really affect our world are not being controlled by any Government.
This changes the known or familiar actions a citizenry can take, but does not limit the possibility of real change. The first task in finding a solution is acknowledging there is a problem.
9/11 is the perfect resource for that process.
An interesting take, personally I would make all corporations illegal, and run a Nuremburg trial process on all execs. Prior to that I would at least locally ban the said chemicals from usage, the revolution may have to await more vital actions.
on a positive note Bored, there is a growing alarm against Aspartame in foodstuffs since the recent release of 1970’s documents showing the FDA said very clearly Aspartame is Poison. So at least one of the GM corn by-products will be canned, we hope.
As an update on my comment about Kevin Bracken trying to reignite the discussion about the ongoing illegal invasion of Afghanistan and the events that lead to the invasion, the attacks on 911 here is the actual conversation he had with radio host Jon Faine from talkback radio on ABC
Here are also some background information links in response to the remarks made by the host.
A common line of attack to shut people up is the you are hurting the families of those perished in the attacks.
Wrong. Those families hurt period. They lost people they loved. But most of those pople report hurting more because their government does not want to provide information and investigate the events to help them explain why and how this could happen.
More than 80.000 NY citizens signed a petition to request a new and independent investigation into the attacks the drive for this came from a group of dedicated family members and survivors of the attacks. In fact if it wasn’t for a small group of family members, no investigation into how these attacks could have happened and why the buildings collapsed would ever have happened.
These people are not satisfied with the rapport and so neither are we.
Jon Faine argues that Kevin should be dumped for even entertaining these ideas. His attacks on Kevin are on emotional and personal grounds only and totally ignore that huge groups of professionals are dissatisfied with the first “investigation” and want to have a new and independent investigation too. To call for the end of some ones career because he shows he is capable of critical thought is strongly reminiscent of Soviet and prewar German style strategies to silence opposition and to be dismissed as a bully techniques not worthy of a radio presenter in a democratic Western country.
Jon Faine argues that the 911 truth movement is a fringe movement of crazies and as per instructed dumps them together with John F Kennedy, moon landings and other outlandish conspiracy theories. While Kevin does an outstanding job of avoiding these inane pitfalls it pays to remember that in every poll over the last three years the division of whether there should be a new investigation is about 50-50 with the 911 truth side generally being the bigger half, the poll linked to on this link being a case in point.
Purgatory help!!!
VoR, you chided me for mentioning Muslims, and say you were just talking about the Taliban. Don’t be naive! If you know the history of the region, you should know why Muslims are relevant…
Deb