“But capitalism without the prospect of failure is not any kind of market economy. We are running a large-scale, nontransparent, and dangerous government subsidy scheme for the benefit primarily of a very few, extremely wealthy people….
We should learn from both the WaMu and the Occupy movement. In both cases, the lesson is the same: concentrated financial power is a gift that keeps on giving â but not to you.”
Simon Johnson, a former chief economist of the IMF – thinks we should learn from #occupy, hmmm stalled huh.
Where have I ever argued that the responses to the financial crisis is the correct one. In fact I believe I have stated numerous times that Governments should NOT bail out corporations and/or banks. They should be left to fail. Of course that would mean more short term pain for people especially those on the bottom of the heap but it would be for the benefit of the economy as a whole in the long term. Capitalism requires business failures. It is politics that stops this from taking it’s natural course.
“Of course that would mean more short term pain for people especially those on the bottom of the heap but it would be for the benefit of the economy as a whole in the long term. “
Your lack of concern and empathy for other people is beyond my comprehension…
Can you explain to us why it should be the people “on the bottom of the heap” who should suffer the consequences of extreme capitalism?
That’s like saying that it was ok for Stalin to murder 30 million of his fellow contrymen/women, “for the benefit of the [socialist] economy as a whole in the long term.”
Ah Frank, I’m not sure I should bother answering your questions because if you were interested in getting to read different opinions from your own narrow view you would allow them on your own blog.
I will humour you a little by asking you a couple of questions though. What was the purpose of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and who did these organisations ultimately benefit?
Interesting how you deflect other peoples’ questions – and then have the cheek to demand answers to yours.
“Ah Frank, Iâm not sure I should bother answering your questions because if you were interested in getting to read different opinions from your own narrow view you would allow them on your own blog.”
You mean, apart from the 193 posts you’ve made on my Blog, Gosman?
Now, getting back to what I wrote above, and which you might care to address,
. â
âOf course that would mean more short term pain for people especially those on the bottom of the heap but it would be for the benefit of the economy as a whole in the long term
Your lack of concern and empathy for other people is beyond my comprehensionâŠ
Can you explain to us why it should be the people âon the bottom of the heapâ who should suffer the consequences of extreme capitalism?
Thatâs like saying that it was ok for Stalin to murder 30 million of his fellow contrymen/women, âfor the benefit of the [socialist] economy as a whole in the long term.â
Top marks Gos, I agree, let the bastards go to the wall. Lets face it if it were the rest of us we would be dropped from a great height.
Now, starter for 10…putting one and one together “It is politics that stops this” so the politicians are in the pay of the:
a. Banksters
b. Banksters mates
c. They are the banksters.
No the problem is that the Bankers have convinced the politicians that if they go to the wall the economy will be irretrievably harmed. While not true it is true that there is a risk of a serious economic downturn such as the great depression if the banking system freezes up, This tends to harm both rich and poor but as the poor have less cushion protecting them they obviously suffer more. This is the reason that bankers can hold a political gun against the heads of Government to protect them from going bust. Now I agree if they use that argument then they don’t have a stong argument for less Government interference in their business. That is why I think they should be left to fail.
Break the big banks up, nationalise the core infrastructure parts, segregate the casino investment banking divisions, return the power of printing money to the Crown; these steps will ensure that the financial terrorists cannot hold our country to ransom.
Gooseman your blind faith to your ideology shows how little you know about economics the great depression that went on for twenty years in the USA was caused by letting banks fail the best solution research has shown is to nationalize banks and let them return to profit using printed money to free up capital flow.
Nowhere in the world has your theory worked.
Air New Zealand is a perfect example of how it is done.
New Zealand nationalized banks in the 1930s under labour brought them back to profitability and our economy only suffered a 5 year depression.
Lucky we didn’t have your lot in power then.
You’ve made the mistake of thinking that the current banking crisis is a crisis of liquidity (hence your solution of freeing up cash flows in the banking sector).
Its not. Its a crisis of solvency. Almost every major investment bank out there, from JP Morgan to BNP Paribas to Deutschebank would be bankrupt tonight if they were to forced to mark their assets to market prices, and to bring their hidden off balance sheet liabilities on to the balance sheet.
In a situation like this, printing money cannot help.
Hmmm, Russia is an oligarchy run by ex KGB kleptocrats who have seized the assets of the former state and privatised them. They own Chelsea FC….and a whole lot of other private ventures around the world, privately, as in private property…….these guys control RT……very leftist I must say.
Replacing Banks with the Nat candidate for Epsom (as would surely be the result from a by-election) would put their charter schools policy into a curious position.
Some more balanced reporting on RNZ this morning over the akl wharf strike, interviewing Barnett of akl chamber of commerce ……..no other side, just Barnett who’s quite frankly a whining born to rule tosser offering no insight into the actual issues the strike is about.
Why not get the unions and members view they are after all the ones losing the most here.
Yep. I don’t think many right wingers would be happy if their job required them to be on call for 365 days of the year at 8 hours notice, the employer telling you at random, if you could have a weekend with your family, or not . With only 40 hours of each week paid for!
Basically POAL want the whole workforce to be always on call without paying for them to be standing by ready to work. Like Mcd’s with their expecting you to be available at 12 hours or less notice, but they only guarantee 12 hours per week to their “full time” staff.
Never ceases to amaze me that here in the private sector we club together for discounts as buying groups, we use restrictive practices (legal and “dubious”) to ensure that we have advantageous terms of trade, and we negotiate from a position of strength. Sounds like what Unions do, they are merely following good commercial practices to get the best price and to restrict competition.
Its also what those other great Unions do, the Chartered Accountant, the Law Society, Colleges of Surgeons etc etc
Consultants were paid as much as $275 an hour or $2500 a day, according to figures released by 31 government departments and agencies under the Official Information Act.
Some departments are increasing spending on consultants while getting rid of workers who, across all the departments involved, make an average of $33 an hour based on a 40-hour week.
So every person to a tee in Christchurch is appalled at the back-dated 14% pay rise given to the Council’s CEO (making 45% rise in 4 years) and all bloody Brownlee can do is say “button up Councillors and get in behind your mayor or some of you will get the sack”.
What planet is this ape on?
It is identical to his uniteral increase of the pay rates to the CERA overlords like Jenny Shipley some months ago.
Brownlee also claims that “people don’t know everything that’s going on” and should just shut up.
These events show that Brownlee has lost touch. Or perhaps that the power of his office is going to his head. Just remember that Brownlee – it is the office and not you which has the power.
He’s no lost touch. He was given this power until April 2012 and if you think he won’t use and abuse it you’re the one out of touch. This is were we are now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7IvLEpjPmc
Funny that, we have just had a major change in how we are expected to operate, all done without proper consultation, all released in the holiday season – over half of those affected won’t have a clue till mid-January.
This morningâs flight noted patches of oil, and a 3 km long metallic sheen about 20 metres wide heading northwest. Patches of rainbow sheen were visible for up to 7-8km off the western side of MĆtÄ«tÄ« Island about half a kilometre from the coast. A SCAT team is checking MaketĆ« spit and PÄpÄmoa beach today.
Just a couple of days after the ban on collecting Shellfish was lifted. There will be no MSM reporting on this because the all important tourist dollar has to be protected.
… too concerned about their tickets for the the Rugby World Cup I suspect. Weather was fine, see was calm, “not a problem, we’ll discuss it next week during the celebrations.”
Speaking of MSM not reporting on things… even after it was known 500 people had died in the Philippines flooding, none of the main television news services reported on this event. It wasn’t until yesterday when 652 people were confirmed to have died that Prime News finally reported on the flooding. In my opinion that’s three days after they should have. What are they afraid of I wonder… that people might start waking up to the effects of climate change?
Late breaking shock
Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae has just delivered the Speech
which was the 2008 speech
The National-lead Government is promising to spend its second term building a more competitive economy, reducing debt, creating jobs and lifting incomes
I dont know how that happened says Key.
Tolley has been asked to check why.
Inside comment is that there are so few Public Servant, nobody checked.
We are a nation of sheep.
After the Governor General’s delivery, he departed with ceremony and the elected members slowly filed back into the chamber. As they made their way back, they were greeted by a kapa haka group. Most continued on their way to take up their seats and then the cameras went back outside to the procession. One member must have decided to move over to meet and hongi with the group. And so the procession began – every subsequent elected member went over to meet-and-greet. (Nice touch?)
No, could’nt be…Shonkers was off in a hurry to delivery Christmas presents (little blond barbie dolls dressed in blue rosettes) to disadvantaged children in some Close in South Auckland. There was a bevvy of photographers in to, and a TV film crew.
hah this is fun.
hooton and his crew of sausage roll molesters instituted the permanent campaign.
so now I’m glad there is something to do all summer.
better than the cricket.
tee he.
Graeme Edgeler says the possibility of Bennett losing her seat and getting kicked out of Parliament is pretty slim, but surely given the stakes Labour needs to take the punt:
Yes, but it’s a matter of priorities: what’s more important? Stopping asset sales, or $30k? I think raising that amount wouldn’t be difficult in the circumstances. A decision just needs to be made now to go for it, then everyone gets cracking. Even if the odds, according some commentators, are low, we have to do it: the basis is to stop asset sales. This is what makes the situation different, exceptional.
You call an electoral petition a “trick in the book”? It’s a legitimate means available under the law. So someone legitimately exercising rights of appeal under the law somehow means they’re “sore losers” or up to “tricks”? Legal avenues like an electoral petition are there for a reason. The logical extension of what you’re saying is that the electoral petition provision, while we have there, it should never be used because parties shouldn’t look like “sore losers” or get up to “tricks”. Get real.
Ask an anarchist why they read white supremacist literature. Ask Odgers why she reads The Standard. (I have to say though that lately it’s been just brief glances and it’s getting harder and harder even doing that.)
Sad.
I could put up a picture of a drongo with anything I like in the background, but not here of course.
That would get me banned, yet others can do lies with pictures drongo
[lprent: Noone apart from authors can add pictures (or video now I fixed the bug) into the site. So you are suggesting something that you cannot do will get you banned? I realize you might be a bit challenged… But that?
Links to other sites don’t worry the mods – but we don’t like pure link-whoring. Our view is that you can pay for advertisements. So you have to write some origional content to accompany the link. Writing an articulate sentence explaining why people would want to clip the link!. Ummm ok now I can understand your problem… ]
Anyone notice that Pete George didnt post on this thread?
[lprent: You cannot draw conclusions from such occurrances and even pointing it out will sometimes earn moderator warnings. Quite simply most people do not spend their lives online. Expecting people to be present all of the time is unreasonable (even moderators). It is often a start of the pwned (and variants) idiocy which leads to flamewars that are irritating to most readers – especially to moderators. ]
On the thread Farewell NZ Institute we got a bit sidetracked by the reference to USA President Barack Obama. While trawling for some of my family information I came upon his family background. And for those interested in all the furore of whether he is a USA citizen etc here it is as detailed by William Addams Reitwiesner. link http://www.wargs.com/political/obama.html
Ancestry of Barack Obama
1 Barack Hussein Obama II, U.S. Senator from Illinois, U.S. President from 2009, b. Kapiolani Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, 4 Aug. 1961,
m. at Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago, 3 Oct. 1992
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, b. Chicago 17 Jan. 1964, dau. of Frasier Robinson and of Marian Shields. Further details of her ancestry can be found here.
PARENTS
2 Barack Hussein Obama, Ph. D., b. Alego, Kenya [on the shores of Lake Victoria], … 1936, senior economist in the Kenyan Ministry of Finance, d. Nairobi, Kenya, … 1982, bur. Alego m. Maui, Hawaii, 2 Feb. 1961, div. filed Honolulu, Hawaii Jan. 1964
3 S[tanley] Ann Dunham, b. Wichita, Kansas, 29 Nov. 1942, d. Straub Clinic, Honolulu, Hawaii, 7 Nov. 1995 [SSDI 535-40-8522]
[lprent: all very interesting. However it was a full cut and paste. And it wasn’t even up on Penny’s own site. Perhaps she should put it there and link to it from here with a teaser – like everyone else does. ]
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Our two-tiered system for veteransâ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veteransâ affairs spokesperson Greg OâConnor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxonâs management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonightâs court decision to overturn the summons of the Childrenâs Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about MÄori without evidence, says Te PÄti MÄori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. âThe judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last yearâs severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labourâs environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our countryâs most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Governmentâs Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a âget out of jail freeâ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te PÄti MÄori Justice Spokesperson, TÄkuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, MÄori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealandâs good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National governmentâs lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te PÄti MÄori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. âThis act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.â Said Te PÄti MÄori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for TÄmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te PÄti MÄori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mĆ TÄmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with MÄori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Governmentâs democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Governmentâs proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change thatâs great for the planet and great for consumers after her memberâs bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the countryâs books after Teanau Tuionoâs membersâ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his memberâs bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,â says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. âWe know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,â Dr Reti says. âEvery day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikoheâs new $14.7 million sports complex. âThe completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,â Mr Jones says. âThis facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Petersâ engagements in TĂŒrkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges.  âReturning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,â Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen â good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood â a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - Â It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Â Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Â Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. âOur Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealandâs hydrogen future, with the opening of the countryâs first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. âI want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealandâs own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealandâs energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. âThe report shows that New Zealandâs emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,â Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where heâll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Governmentâs work to restore law and order. âAttending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealandâs human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the worldâs largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. âThe reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealandâs wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin  NgÄ mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho  Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today.  I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. âOur Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealandâs overseas missions.  âOur diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealandâs interests around the world,â Mr Peters says.  âI am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. Â âOver 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. âIt is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. âOur coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
âChina remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,â Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says.  Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. âRecently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachersâ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul.  âThe Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. âScience, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During todayâs meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. âThe Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in TaupĆ as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the TaupĆ International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. âAnticipation for the ITM TaupĆ Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. âThe coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. âThis project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sectorâs productivity,â Mr Jones says. âThe project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Governmentâs plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. âBenefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Governmentâs commitment to doubling New Zealandâs renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealandâs latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. âOur Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. âNew Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Governmentâs intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. âThe introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Asia Pacific Report A score of Palestine solidarity protesters draped themselves in white shrouds with mock blood in a sombre âdie-inâ demonstration at Te Komitanga Square â the heart of Auckland, New Zealandâs largest city â today as speakers urged people to take a stronger boycott against Israeli products. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tackling violence against women will be the sole agenda item for a national cabinet meeting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has convened for Wednesday. The meeting, held remotely, follows thousands of Australians attending rallies across ...
The protest outside the White House correspondentsâ dinner hotel. Image: Anatolu video screenshot APR More than two dozen Palestinian journalists had called for a boycott of the dinner, writing an open letter urging their American colleagues not to attend. âYou have a unique responsibility to speak truth to power and ...
âOur exporters should, therefore, be deeply concerned that the Fast-track Approvals Bill was not assessed for consistency with any of our free trade commitments prior to being introduced to the House,â says Gary Taylor, Chief Executive of the Environmental ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff is calling on all political parties to support the new Memberâs Bill from Labourâs workplace relations and safety spokesperson Camilla Belich MP that would ensure negligent companies are held accountable when their employees ...
A historian with an uncanny track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go very wrong for him. ...
A historian with a track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go wrong for him. ...
Ngaio Marsh House is one of Christchurchâs best kept secrets â and contains more than a few mysteries of its own.Trust Ngaio Marsh to leave more than a few mysteries scattered through her house long after her departure. For a start, thereâs the curious concrete portal in the garden, ...
Appointment viewing has been lost to the mists of time, but memories of Montana Sunday Theatre can still be conjured by hitting play on a particular piece of classical music. âYouâre not going to be able to sell it.â Over 30 years on, Karen Bieleski still recalls how the task ...
Performance Review King Luxon sat behind His massive polished oak desk. It is Performance Review time. There is a knock on the door. âEnter!â says the King. In steps Minister of Disabilities and Carer Pedicures, Penny Simmonds. âI can explain everything âŠâ she begins. âFine,â says King Luxon, pressing the ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.âIt didnât start out like, âThis is a show about Nina,ââ says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. Iâm another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Governmentâs Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. Itâs important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our Whatâs Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scoutâs human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird â she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including âterribleâ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking âdo you have what it takes to be a popstar?â 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar â a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldnât stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes â while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. Itâs not often an episode of a childrenâs cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but thatâs exactly what happened this week when ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people ⊠and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minuteâs silence to mark the âblood debtâ owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. âA promise to most people is a promise,â Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an âadministrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the countryâs major TV network of broadcasting âpropagandaâ backing Israelâs genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to menâs ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock âChildhoodâ and âdementiaâ are two words we wish we didnât have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The governmentâs Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9â17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University Thereâs been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russiaâs war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peaceâs new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a womanâs hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Booksâ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingwayâs Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time â ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australiaâs fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The âWicked Gameâ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didnât stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from âWicked Gameâ, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called đ, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao MÄori and remove many specialist MÄori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, weâve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedinâs India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoaâs drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says itâs hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoffâs morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
I thought of Gosman this morning as I was watching the latest Keiser report. Here you go cowboy hat boy. Some education: http://rt.com/programs/keiser-report/episode-225-max-keiser/
I always enjoy it on youtube đ
Yeah, me too but when I posted it it had not been put on youtube yet. LOL.
This made me think of Gosman too
“But capitalism without the prospect of failure is not any kind of market economy. We are running a large-scale, nontransparent, and dangerous government subsidy scheme for the benefit primarily of a very few, extremely wealthy people….
We should learn from both the WaMu and the Occupy movement. In both cases, the lesson is the same: concentrated financial power is a gift that keeps on giving â but not to you.”
Simon Johnson, a former chief economist of the IMF – thinks we should learn from #occupy, hmmm stalled huh.
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/johnson27/English
Where have I ever argued that the responses to the financial crisis is the correct one. In fact I believe I have stated numerous times that Governments should NOT bail out corporations and/or banks. They should be left to fail. Of course that would mean more short term pain for people especially those on the bottom of the heap but it would be for the benefit of the economy as a whole in the long term. Capitalism requires business failures. It is politics that stops this from taking it’s natural course.
Your lack of concern and empathy for other people is beyond my comprehension…
Can you explain to us why it should be the people “on the bottom of the heap” who should suffer the consequences of extreme capitalism?
That’s like saying that it was ok for Stalin to murder 30 million of his fellow contrymen/women, “for the benefit of the [socialist] economy as a whole in the long term.”
In other words, the end justifies the means?
Ah Frank, I’m not sure I should bother answering your questions because if you were interested in getting to read different opinions from your own narrow view you would allow them on your own blog.
I will humour you a little by asking you a couple of questions though. What was the purpose of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and who did these organisations ultimately benefit?
Interesting how you deflect other peoples’ questions – and then have the cheek to demand answers to yours.
You mean, apart from the 193 posts you’ve made on my Blog, Gosman?
Or the article I reposted from Brian Edward’s blog (by permission), written by Kimbo – a staunch critic of Labour? http://fmacskasy.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/lessons-from-the-past-a-critique-of-labour/
Yeah… not many, if any, eh?
Now, getting back to what I wrote above, and which you might care to address,
. â
Your lack of concern and empathy for other people is beyond my comprehensionâŠ
Can you explain to us why it should be the people âon the bottom of the heapâ who should suffer the consequences of extreme capitalism?
Thatâs like saying that it was ok for Stalin to murder 30 million of his fellow contrymen/women, âfor the benefit of the [socialist] economy as a whole in the long term.â
In other words, the end justifies the means?
Top marks Gos, I agree, let the bastards go to the wall. Lets face it if it were the rest of us we would be dropped from a great height.
Now, starter for 10…putting one and one together “It is politics that stops this” so the politicians are in the pay of the:
a. Banksters
b. Banksters mates
c. They are the banksters.
No the problem is that the Bankers have convinced the politicians that if they go to the wall the economy will be irretrievably harmed. While not true it is true that there is a risk of a serious economic downturn such as the great depression if the banking system freezes up, This tends to harm both rich and poor but as the poor have less cushion protecting them they obviously suffer more. This is the reason that bankers can hold a political gun against the heads of Government to protect them from going bust. Now I agree if they use that argument then they don’t have a stong argument for less Government interference in their business. That is why I think they should be left to fail.
Too big too fail = too big to exist.
Break the big banks up, nationalise the core infrastructure parts, segregate the casino investment banking divisions, return the power of printing money to the Crown; these steps will ensure that the financial terrorists cannot hold our country to ransom.
Gooseman your blind faith to your ideology shows how little you know about economics the great depression that went on for twenty years in the USA was caused by letting banks fail the best solution research has shown is to nationalize banks and let them return to profit using printed money to free up capital flow.
Nowhere in the world has your theory worked.
Air New Zealand is a perfect example of how it is done.
New Zealand nationalized banks in the 1930s under labour brought them back to profitability and our economy only suffered a 5 year depression.
Lucky we didn’t have your lot in power then.
You’ve made the mistake of thinking that the current banking crisis is a crisis of liquidity (hence your solution of freeing up cash flows in the banking sector).
Its not. Its a crisis of solvency. Almost every major investment bank out there, from JP Morgan to BNP Paribas to Deutschebank would be bankrupt tonight if they were to forced to mark their assets to market prices, and to bring their hidden off balance sheet liabilities on to the balance sheet.
In a situation like this, printing money cannot help.
You do realise that RT is the equivalent of Fox news for leftist conspiacy theorists don’t you? Oh wait… that is why you watch it.
Yep, MF Global’s bankruptcy is a left wing conspiracy theory!
As for Goldman Sac’s involvement in Europe..
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/what-price-the-new-democracy-goldman-sachs-conquers-europe-6264091.html
Hmmm, Russia is an oligarchy run by ex KGB kleptocrats who have seized the assets of the former state and privatised them. They own Chelsea FC….and a whole lot of other private ventures around the world, privately, as in private property…….these guys control RT……very leftist I must say.
‘
“Surreal”
The word that John Banks used yesterday to describe his return to the House of Representatives.
Indeed.
The leader of a party who a few months ago he wasn’t even a member of.
Appointed to his position by another person who also at the time of his selection was also not a member.
What other one word descriptions could describe this farcical anointment?
(Representative wouldn’t be one of them).
Surreal will be an accurate depiction of his tenure this time around…..wonder if he’ll last the term.
Replacing Banks with the Nat candidate for Epsom (as would surely be the result from a by-election) would put their charter schools policy into a curious position.
Corporate takeover of a political party?
So surreal is now a synonym for ‘crooked’?
When will the SFO finally look at him and Orewa Slur daddy?
yes please
Some more balanced reporting on RNZ this morning over the akl wharf strike, interviewing Barnett of akl chamber of commerce ……..no other side, just Barnett who’s quite frankly a whining born to rule tosser offering no insight into the actual issues the strike is about.
Why not get the unions and members view they are after all the ones losing the most here.
Yep one of the Standard authors should do a post to dispel Cactus Kate’s spin on the issue.
Yep. I don’t think many right wingers would be happy if their job required them to be on call for 365 days of the year at 8 hours notice, the employer telling you at random, if you could have a weekend with your family, or not . With only 40 hours of each week paid for!
Basically POAL want the whole workforce to be always on call without paying for them to be standing by ready to work. Like Mcd’s with their expecting you to be available at 12 hours or less notice, but they only guarantee 12 hours per week to their “full time” staff.
Show me where to sign. I’ll take it at that pay, or even less to have such a job.
All the extra hours and double shifts to get the published pay. I doubt it.
Never ceases to amaze me that here in the private sector we club together for discounts as buying groups, we use restrictive practices (legal and “dubious”) to ensure that we have advantageous terms of trade, and we negotiate from a position of strength. Sounds like what Unions do, they are merely following good commercial practices to get the best price and to restrict competition.
Its also what those other great Unions do, the Chartered Accountant, the Law Society, Colleges of Surgeons etc etc
They had the Union on yesterday along with the Employer.
lol – and the union or one of its allies by itself at any time?
Govt’s consultants’ bill $375m and rising
Consultants were paid as much as $275 an hour or $2500 a day, according to figures released by 31 government departments and agencies under the Official Information Act.
Some departments are increasing spending on consultants while getting rid of workers who, across all the departments involved, make an average of $33 an hour based on a 40-hour week.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10774433
Thats so they can save $375 million on many more public servants
So every person to a tee in Christchurch is appalled at the back-dated 14% pay rise given to the Council’s CEO (making 45% rise in 4 years) and all bloody Brownlee can do is say “button up Councillors and get in behind your mayor or some of you will get the sack”.
What planet is this ape on?
It is identical to his uniteral increase of the pay rates to the CERA overlords like Jenny Shipley some months ago.
Brownlee also claims that “people don’t know everything that’s going on” and should just shut up.
These events show that Brownlee has lost touch. Or perhaps that the power of his office is going to his head. Just remember that Brownlee – it is the office and not you which has the power.
I don’t like this statement re: what it implies.
No VTO,
He’s no lost touch. He was given this power until April 2012 and if you think he won’t use and abuse it you’re the one out of touch. This is were we are now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7IvLEpjPmc
Just what are the police (or journalists) implying?
First, cell phones, now the bible – careful people what you have on the front seat
of your car.
“Devoted Christian had Bible with him in fatal crash…”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10774493
More on those lazy stalled occupiers, Occupy LSX takes it’s 4th space, an old court, where they’ll put the 1% on trial, here are pictures..
http://www.demotix.com/news/975833/occupy-london-squat-old-street-magistrates-court
Even the apologist for National, Herald, now, admits they stuffed around with the Rena salvage for at least 4 days.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10772196
Yep just as you said at the time. I guess just before Christmas is the right time to release this kind of news.
Just before christmas and just after the election.
Funny that, we have just had a major change in how we are expected to operate, all done without proper consultation, all released in the holiday season – over half of those affected won’t have a clue till mid-January.
Yesterday, Maritime NZ reported another oil spill from Rena.
Rena update (update 136)
Just a couple of days after the ban on collecting Shellfish was lifted. There will be no MSM reporting on this because the all important tourist dollar has to be protected.
… too concerned about their tickets for the the Rugby World Cup I suspect. Weather was fine, see was calm, “not a problem, we’ll discuss it next week during the celebrations.”
Speaking of MSM not reporting on things… even after it was known 500 people had died in the Philippines flooding, none of the main television news services reported on this event. It wasn’t until yesterday when 652 people were confirmed to have died that Prime News finally reported on the flooding. In my opinion that’s three days after they should have. What are they afraid of I wonder… that people might start waking up to the effects of climate change?
More incompetence from this government and Auckland ratepayers get to pick up the bill.
It obviously wasn’t enough that they massively increased the costs of Auckland Council through the super-city implementation incompetence.
This is an interesting way to balance the books. Lets just make someone else pay for it because we are incapable of handling the budget.
Give your thoughts on the Food Bill to the Greens.
http://blog.greens.org.nz/2011/12/21/mojo-and-steffan-lead-green-response-to-food-bill/
Late breaking shock
Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae has just delivered the Speech
which was the 2008 speech
The National-lead Government is promising to spend its second term building a more competitive economy, reducing debt, creating jobs and lifting incomes
I dont know how that happened says Key.
Tolley has been asked to check why.
Inside comment is that there are so few Public Servant, nobody checked.
No mention in the Speech from the Throne about policy for seniors.
Â
I guess they’re ignoring them because they are all “dying out” đ
We are a nation of sheep.
After the Governor General’s delivery, he departed with ceremony and the elected members slowly filed back into the chamber. As they made their way back, they were greeted by a kapa haka group. Most continued on their way to take up their seats and then the cameras went back outside to the procession. One member must have decided to move over to meet and hongi with the group. And so the procession began – every subsequent elected member went over to meet-and-greet. (Nice touch?)
No, could’nt be…Shonkers was off in a hurry to delivery Christmas presents (little blond barbie dolls dressed in blue rosettes) to disadvantaged children in some Close in South Auckland. There was a bevvy of photographers in to, and a TV film crew.
hah this is fun.
hooton and his crew of sausage roll molesters instituted the permanent campaign.
so now I’m glad there is something to do all summer.
better than the cricket.
tee he.
Bryce Edwards gives an area-by-area analysis of how Labour lost the party vote in Dunedin South.
Graeme Edgeler says the possibility of Bennett losing her seat and getting kicked out of Parliament is pretty slim, but surely given the stakes Labour needs to take the punt:
http://publicaddress.net/legalbeagle/paulas-peril-or-the-uncertain-scenario/
It’s a fair bit of money though. I’d love to see Bennett turfed out as much as anyone, but it is a lot to punt.
Yes, but it’s a matter of priorities: what’s more important? Stopping asset sales, or $30k? I think raising that amount wouldn’t be difficult in the circumstances. A decision just needs to be made now to go for it, then everyone gets cracking. Even if the odds, according some commentators, are low, we have to do it: the basis is to stop asset sales. This is what makes the situation different, exceptional.
And makes Labour look like sore losers trying any trick in the book to overthrow the will of the people.
Good move.
You call an electoral petition a “trick in the book”? It’s a legitimate means available under the law. So someone legitimately exercising rights of appeal under the law somehow means they’re “sore losers” or up to “tricks”? Legal avenues like an electoral petition are there for a reason. The logical extension of what you’re saying is that the electoral petition provision, while we have there, it should never be used because parties shouldn’t look like “sore losers” or get up to “tricks”. Get real.
This is interesting. Slater’s hoping Winston Peters dies. Why is he so nasty? He’s getting to be as nasty as Odgers.
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2011/12/face-of-the-day-41/
why would you read either of their blogs?
Ask an anarchist why they read white supremacist literature. Ask Odgers why she reads The Standard. (I have to say though that lately it’s been just brief glances and it’s getting harder and harder even doing that.)
Well, kudos to you for resisting the urge to soak your eyeballs in acid after reading such things.
drongo Could be dierbeaties
Sad.
I could put up a picture of a drongo with anything I like in the background, but not here of course.
That would get me banned, yet others can do lies with pictures drongo
[lprent: Noone apart from authors can add pictures (or video now I fixed the bug) into the site. So you are suggesting something that you cannot do will get you banned? I realize you might be a bit challenged… But that?
Links to other sites don’t worry the mods – but we don’t like pure link-whoring. Our view is that you can pay for advertisements. So you have to write some origional content to accompany the link. Writing an articulate sentence explaining why people would want to clip the link!. Ummm ok now I can understand your problem… ]
Yep, definitely stalled. #D17
What happened to my reply? I can’t be arsed typing it all again..
Anyone notice that Pete George didnt post on this thread?
[lprent: You cannot draw conclusions from such occurrances and even pointing it out will sometimes earn moderator warnings. Quite simply most people do not spend their lives online. Expecting people to be present all of the time is unreasonable (even moderators). It is often a start of the pwned (and variants) idiocy which leads to flamewars that are irritating to most readers – especially to moderators. ]
On the thread Farewell NZ Institute we got a bit sidetracked by the reference to USA President Barack Obama. While trawling for some of my family information I came upon his family background. And for those interested in all the furore of whether he is a USA citizen etc here it is as detailed by William Addams Reitwiesner. link http://www.wargs.com/political/obama.html
Ancestry of Barack Obama
1 Barack Hussein Obama II, U.S. Senator from Illinois, U.S. President from 2009, b. Kapiolani Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, 4 Aug. 1961,
m. at Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago, 3 Oct. 1992
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, b. Chicago 17 Jan. 1964, dau. of Frasier Robinson and of Marian Shields. Further details of her ancestry can be found here.
PARENTS
2 Barack Hussein Obama, Ph. D., b. Alego, Kenya [on the shores of Lake Victoria], … 1936, senior economist in the Kenyan Ministry of Finance, d. Nairobi, Kenya, … 1982, bur. Alego m. Maui, Hawaii, 2 Feb. 1961, div. filed Honolulu, Hawaii Jan. 1964
3 S[tanley] Ann Dunham, b. Wichita, Kansas, 29 Nov. 1942, d. Straub Clinic, Honolulu, Hawaii, 7 Nov. 1995 [SSDI 535-40-8522]
OPEN LETTER: [deleted]
[lprent: all very interesting. However it was a full cut and paste. And it wasn’t even up on Penny’s own site. Perhaps she should put it there and link to it from here with a teaser – like everyone else does. ]