Who is a greater threat to our civil liberties? The Le Pen’s of the world (as represented in the readership of various blogs), or the muslim guy living down the road?
1. John Key legislating to spy on us, as recently as last year ….
2. Many countries requiring ID to be carried and provided ….
3. Reversing the burden of proof when charged by the state for a crime ….
4. Ability to arrest and incarcerate without charge ….
he misspoke and James you have repeated this misinformation before. READ the actual policy and educate yourself, although that you have already been educated on this and continue to repeat the lie suggests you are being deliberately deceptive.
But the Le Pens are more likely to get into power. In fact, many of them already are in France and Ukraine. Unless you’re in a country with a Muslim majority, the Muslim guy down the road is nowhere near power.
The greatest threat to our civil liberties are apathy and a lack of vigilance.
This is driven by the failure of many people to take 100% personal responsibility for their lives, causing them to assume they have no power, leading them to confer power upon those who seek to have it over them.
This is achieved by deifying those who seek such power, and imagining them to be superior human beings with special qualities, which they invariably are not, and do not have.
All of which is driven by deep seated insecurity on the part of most people, secretly believing themselves to be powerless and worthless (as in “worth less than other people who have the appearance of greater material status”).
The greatest danger we face in society is the degree to which people have given money the meaning and power it now has over us.
In reality it is just money, but the meaning and the power we now imagine it to have has got us all addicted to it like methamphetamine or cocaine, to the degree that people will behave in obscene and inhuman ways to protect their sources and supplies of it.
We have become dehumanised and desensitised to each other’s feelings, suffering, and needs because of our need to protect and maintain our income(s).
Like gerbils on treadmills, we have to run faster and faster after the money dangled in front of us,increasingly unable to care about what is going on around us, in order to maintain our supply of it.
We now do this at the cost of our sanity and health and relationships, in many, many cases.
Such is the power and the meaning we have given every dollar.
We treat people who drive expensive cars and live in expensive homes dramatically differently to the way we treat people who don’t.
Our definitions of success are almost solely rooted in financial and material status, which in turn defines our social status in our hierarchies.
All of these things combined are serving to weaken our civil liberties, because our obsession with the power we believe money gives us causes us to fear the loss of it to the degree that we will tolerate almost any inhumanity and/or indignity in order to maintain our supply of it.
Even more so if such inhumanity and/or indignities are being inflicted upon other people.
These observations make me neither left nor right.
Our entire socio-economic system has been designed to shift the power to those with money and to make others believe that they have no power to change it. This is helped be the fact that the representative governments do what the rich want and don’t listen to the people.
I see that the herald is leading with the typical teacher-bashing bait that will get the relevant people frothing. They made sure to put the word “free” in quotations, to make sure the plebs know that it’s a crumb being thrown off the table.
The inverted commas merely highlight the angle of the story, the cost of NZ’s supposedly free education; in fact, it’s about as disingenuous a notion as your blatantly stirring comment, Heartbleeding Liberal.
“House Republican women and moderates are in an escalating battle against their leaders on an antiabortion bill slated to come to the floor Thursday, deepening a rift between centrists and conservatives who are at cross-purposes on which issues the party should be highlighting.
The bill may still be tweaked, but Republican leaders are insistent they will move ahead with legislation banning abortions after 20 weeks, despite concerns from those within their conference that the bill might alienate millennials and female voters. But many female lawmakers are furious over its clause stating that women can be exempt from the ban in cases of rape only if they reported the rape to authorities. ”
Several news organizations reported last week that some Republican women, including Rep. Renee Ellmers, had objected to the clause requiring rape survivors to report to the police. But the same provision was in the 2013 version of the bill, which passed with all but six Republican members voting yes, including Elmers.>
good article – makes sense – our society has become so individualistic and competitive that trust and collegiality is difficult to come by and whereas we might have eliminated most of the things that used to eat us, we live in a much more dangerous world than our ancestors
I personally think sometimes there is more than one answer, though the “cage” idea has merit, and the success of Portugal’s approach demonstrates the failure of the punitive approach to drugs.
I do actually think that there is a genetic disposition for some to develop addictive behaviours, as well as there being some mental health issues that when unresolved will lead to people self-medicating with addictive substances or behaviours.
Genetic is a dangerous idea. It gives the impression that someone was born that way and ther is nothing that can be done. research hows this to not be true and infact Genes turn on and off based upon environment. there as a great segment on this in the Zietgiest movie.
Exactly. As stated in the video there are somethings that can have a genetic componant but that in no way makes it preditermanate. As to addiction they specifically state that it is one that is far more attributal to environment and in particular stress on the mother during pregnancy. This could be why as we see the stresses applied to families by growing inequality increase we also see rates of addiction increase. That is of course supposition on my part and in no way the result of any research I have done.
If your family does have this gene and is aware of it, they are more likely to avoid trying substances etc in the first place.
If this has been debunked, then you are right – it is a point prone to abuse.
However if it is true, then treatment for those unlucky enough to carry the gene may be more effective if it is designed around that perspective.
Most often we look for one simple answer, or one catch all solution but when it comes to people and living organisms the diversity of life should show us that multiple solutions and approaches are the most effective way of dealing with problems.
@ crash – the key word Jan uses is ‘disposition’ – or propensity or an enabler of the possibiity towards ….. whatever.
In my case, I have various family members up and down the chain on one side of the family with some sort of switch that’s been turned on enabling them to choose addiction to drugs, alcohol/pot (and all plus gambling) …. you name it – violence even. On the other ‘side’, they’re right little angels all the way up and down that chain.
The whole nature versus nurture thing has had me pondering it all for most of my life but I’m convinced there is a genetic switch that enables – but in a way that doesn’t compel – i.e. not compulsory – otherwise I can’t explain my existence.
I’d be interested in Mr Ure’s opinions ekshully though I dare not ask because there’ll be a clamour of bs nastiness and ego-driven kaka – one that caused me to make a point of avoiding TS for a few days.
(Oh, and I noticed doing a search by author of my last comment re Fletch of CSB fame – a few days back, that it apparently disappeared up its own arse – just as he should. As Little once put it “Cut the crap”. He DIDN’T resign for “family reasons”. He, ( being the sucker-of-dick-in-chief) crossed the line. A line of which future masters-of-the-Universe felt threatened by.
Anyway – back to Ludditeville. Right now’ tis a very releckzing place to be ….. one where a human has time to consider things; where 24 hour news cycles are meaningless; where cellfone coverage is almost non-existent; where trees can grow and clean water can flow; where people propping up those in power who represent the closest thing we’ve seen since the last war to fascism are absent; where trains pass by from time-to-time carrying the loads of several dozen rigs whose drivers probably idolise Phil Stein but who in reality are part of the precariat should they have to cash up (a wishin and a hopin, stand by your man – and all that sort of shit); and best of all where E-spinners, Fergussons, Christies … (in fact half of TVNZ, most of Fearfucks and the self-appointed ‘in crowd’) would be screaming mummy mummy come rescue me. There’s also no hospital – or even a primary care establishment that’s capable of surgically removing electronics from robotic life forms.
Paradise! (It isn’t Davos btw)
I don’t even know why we should worry about substance addiction. Addictions can be managed and the negative effects are usually tied up with illegality anyway. I reckon if people want to be addicted to something, good luck to them. Currency and property speculators on the other hand have an addiction which damages the whole of society.
as far as heroin is concerned..there is also the age-factor..
..’cos what i have found..is that most heroin addicts kick in their mid-thirties..
..and i dunno why that is..other imperatives kick in..(with me it was having to raise a daughter on my own..and being unable to discharge both responsibilities at the same time…so..in a way..she saved my life..)
..there is also the fact that you get sick of the lifestyle..(being a junkie really is a full-time job..and most tire of it..)
..so my harm-reduction prescription for young heroin addicts..
..is for them able to register..to be supplied/maintained with medical-grade narcotics..(most of the physical harm done to junkies is from adulterants in the blackmarket products..most overdoses are a result of the vagaries of blackmarket-priduct quality..)
..until that time that they themselves decide to wean off..
..currently we have the blackmarket..and the only other option that brain-screwing vile-muck methadone..(a drug more addictive/harder to kick than heroin..duh..!..eh..?..so much so that for most who go on it..methadone is a life-sentence..double-duh..!..eh..?..)
“I don’t even know why we should worry about substance addiction. Addictions can be managed and the negative effects are usually tied up with illegality anyway”
Substance abuse can be pretty hard on the body/health, although you are probably right about the negative effects in that some of that would be mitigated if drugs weren’t illegal and were available with medical support.
Using street rubbish, spending your money on drugs instead of food and rent, getting bashed by ngati poaka, and imprisoned on a regular basis is pretty hard on the body/health.
“Using street rubbish, spending your money on drugs instead of food and rent, getting bashed by ngati poaka, and imprisoned on a regular basis is pretty hard on the body/health.”
True, but solve all those problems, and you still have effects, sometimes significant, on the body. All drugs, including prescription, have side effects, some worse than others. Continuous use over years is far from ideal if it can be helped.
I think the mind suffers most when you have a substance abuse problem due to low sense of worth that comes from not being able to control you own behaviour.
..and kinda smacked into the wall at the end of the dead-end alley…
(and this might blow yr mind..but i had an out-of-body experience that helped convince me it was time to stop..
..i went out and looked back down at myself..
..and what i had become..
..and i was not impressed by what i saw..
..it was clear i cd not do that for much longer..
..i stopped soon after..
..(the upside of that experience of course..is that i don’t fear death..as i know we are not just the body..i don’t know any more than that tho’..but that i know..and i found that quite liberating..and u can believe that..or not..)
..also..with heroin..each time u get another habit..drop it..and then u start again..u get hooked quicker/harder than the time before..and the withdrawals are worse..
..and i had got to the stage where i only had to see a picture of the stuff to get wired..
..the pleasure/pain scales were tipped way over on the pain side..
@ Phil Ure and this might blow yr mind..but i had an out-of-body experience that helped convince me it was time to stop..
That interests me. If you don’t mind, what I want to know is
(a) Were you on death bed and clinically dead?
(b) Did you go through the ‘tunnel’ with bright lights at a distance, ‘see’ a white robed figure, welcomed by deceased close friends and relatives, see heaven etc (c) Had an enjoyable experience from which you were reluctant to return or (d) was it just a drug induced high hallucination? (What drug were you using at that time?)
Easy enough mistake for someone who doesn’t spend much of their time considering issues relating to drugs in society, but you seem to have spent years in doing field research…
Kicking the new season off in a ratings war, First Line on tv3 were trying to out do their tv1 opponents by the anchor’s sighing and rolling their eyes after watching the interview with Morgan. One saying “oh he has a book coming out soon… haha just trying to sell books” the other 2 nodding their heads like puppets, thought I was watching thunderbirds for a moment.
Anyone else remember a certain someone saying that they are tightening up on the moderation? It seems that that quite a lot of vile (as shown in the post on this blog yesterday) doesn’t quite meet the threshold. I wonder what does.
On another note, the readership sure has a lot of time on its hands to comment all day, considering that they generally self-identify as the “keeping this country running through hard work” type.
National Radio, late yesterday afternoon listening to some story about Yemen’s so-called “terrorists”, the American news story had the presenter stating “we” as in “we need to work to curb these terrorists”. Not objective journalism at all, not one iota.
I aint no part of their “we” the bloody wankers. The journalist should be referring to something like “the American government wants to curb the terrorists”, not “we need to curb the terrorists”
Gobsmacked I was, gobsmacked.
Wtf is Nat Radio doing running American fox-type shite like this? Unbelievable. Where is Morrisey?
I am answering the point. I suggest the widely held view in our society is that militant Islamic fundamentalists (who are attempting to confront Western nations or western backed governments due to their virulent opposition to many values of the West that we generally all share) should be opposed around the world. Hence why Radio NZ National probably used the term ‘We’ in the piece you refer to.
Yes but objective journalism is not the same as perfectly balanced journalism. For example during a genocide it is not necessary to respect the views of those carrying out the genocide in any reports and refrain from calling it a genocide as a result.
The Ottawa shooting was a terrorist attack by a mentally ill man. His illness doesn’t change the nature of his crime, which was essentially a copy cat of similar terrorist attacks.
Re: the RNZ piece, you haven’t given us anything to work with. There are several groups fighting in Yemen, including Al Qaeda. The group beseiging the capital probably don’t deserve the label terrorist, so if it was them being referred to, you are right to be critical.
But there was nothing “terrorism” about the Ottawa event … it involved a soldier and a government at war being attacked. No civilians involved at all. No terror.
Re the RNZ piece, yes no link sorry, bit hopeless ate fnding those. But the point was not about the subject of the piece, which is immaterial, it was entirely about how the piece was presented.
Re: Ottawa, it won’t be much comfort to the family of the dead part-time soldier that a bloke on a blog in NZ reckons his death wasn’t terrorism. Your definition of terrorism (must involve civilians) is unique. That’s not how the Canadian parliament, the Mounties, or even the Ottawa Muslim Association (who arranged his burial), saw it.
However, I would agree that the label, accurate or not, is often co-opted for other political purposes and it certainly was immediately after this incident.
I think this statement is probably the most dignified response:
“Nathan Cirillo was my boyfriend. I loved him deeply, as did all of the family and friends who knew him and we all still mourn him every day. That being said, I feel I should weigh in on this ridiculous “was he a hero or was he not” debate. My response is:
“we should be talking about is the dismal state of mental healthcare in our country. What that deeply disturbed man killing my boyfriend should make Canadians focus on is how we can prevent another event like this through more accessible and effective mental health treatment programs that target the real source of this tragedy. Stop tearing apart the honour and love bestowed upon a wonderful man who deserves every bit of it and start taking a good hard look at the awful, dysfunctional systems in our nation that this has shown us need to change….I am a very proud Canadian, but the fact that this hero/not business is what the media here and the general public has chosen to talk about, I must say I am very disappointed. We can do, and are, better than this, Canada…..I feel as though this is an important discussion that needs to continue happening.””
Andrea Polko.
Doesn’t really explain the Charlie Hebdo attack does it especially considering Al Qaida in Yemen has taken credit in ordering that specifically because of the clash of values not policies.
‘Speaking over footage of the attack that killed 12 people, Ansi said: “Today, the mujahideen avenge their revered prophet, and send the clearest message to everyone who would dare to attack Islamic sanctities.”‘
Short version though, on what terrorists aim to achieve by terrorism:
1) Provoke an overreaction from the state and the broader population
2) Escalate the conflict
3) Win the hearts and minds of the people they claim to represent, primarily by using the state’s reactions as examples of how the state hates them, and the terrorists are right to be fighting back
4) Endure. If the terrorists can survive (not individually, but as a ’cause’) they will win.
The propaganda they put out is simply in aid of point 3.
Have you joined the Army/Navy yet? So that you will be ready to curb terrorism the day that Dear Leader announces our most excellent adventure in the Middle East?
IF not… Why not? Don’t you want to curb militant Islamic terrorism?
..the american senate has just voted on a motion..that voting yes on indicated an acceptance of the science of climate-change as a reality by the voting senator..
..and only one senator voted against it..
..2015 really will be the yr of climatechange taken seriously..
..and the drill baby drill!/mine baby mine! policies of this key govt..and our (pollution-charging exempt) dirty-dairying exporting ‘industries’..
..will make us more and more international-outliers..
..key will no longer be able to fall back on our high rate of renewable-energy as his answer/counter to any calls to clean up our act..
..the international pressure/imperatives on us/key is going to seriously ramp-up..
Are you seriously suggesting that the GOP is now full of Climate change accepting anti-oil people? I think you might need to change the variety that you are smoking at the moment as it could well be too strong 😉 .
I have never denied the scientific consensus around any topic. I suspect you on the other hand have been at odds with the mainstream scientific view numerous times in the past and currently.
Strangely you read like some of the hard core Climate change deniers I have seen. They too argue the IPCC is driven by political rather than scientific notions.
Senate Republicans head-faked Democrats on climate change Wednesday, agreeing in a floor vote that the planet’s climate was changing, but blocking language that would have blamed human activity.
It will be good for the planet when this generation passes. Though I imagine there are many mini-colonials being brainwashed at the breakfast table each day in these regions
Today is a day National & the Maori-Tory party’s will be dreading. Fronting up at Ratana where Little & Labour are the main act. Peters will be rubbing Nationals frontman, Bill English nose in it over pretty much everything 🙂
Tradition dear boy, whatever next Gosman? Don’t tell me you would suggest the Government abstain from attending the Waitangi commemoration?
Speaking our which I see the NZH are starting their divisive nonsense early by putting out the question of is being called Pakeha an insult? Something like that I read on their Facebook feed. Oh yes and as they intended the amount of thin skinned people taking offense was overwhelming.
I don’t like being described as a Pakeha. I much prefer NZ European. I would rather not be defined by the other partner in our bi-cultural nation. It isn’t as if Maori people still go by the name ‘Natives’ any more.
Exactly. Let us acknowledge that many people prefer not to be called Pakeha or any other name they feel may be derogatory. Maori have defined what name/s they prefer (e.g. Maori, Tanga te Whenua etc). Non Maori should have the same right.
Not really though eh. “natives” is just a description. Loads of people all over the world were called natives by colonial powers. It doesn’t apply to Maori specifically. The term used for Maori specifically, to distinguish them from other peoples, was New Zealanders
But whatever. I like being called Pakeha, and the term isn;t going away, so you’re just going to have to live with it I’m afraid.
You are quite free to your identity politics driven idea here. That’s fine.
All I’m saying is that many people will find you ridiculous. This is to do with the nature of identity politics.
It’s like how “meninism” is trying to become a thing, but is only becoming a silly thing that most people will laugh at.
Complaining that you are being othered, that your identity is being forced on you by a marginalised minority is always going to sound odd to many people.
‘I’m a white male facing structural oppression, and I demand the right to have my voice as a white male heard’, is simply hard argument to make and not come across as being a bit of a fuckwit, what with society being the way it is.
But like I said, go for it. Print a T-shirt. Reclaim the streets, or something.
Except the NZ Herald is holding internet polls on the issue. Remember it wasn’t me who raised this issue but someone who objected to the Herald doing this. Why would they be holding polls if it is such a non issue as you seem to think it is?
Objecting to being called Pakeha does not make you a racist. That stated many racists it is true would likely object to being labelled by the term. That still doesn’t make objecting to the term wrong.
I repetitively remind everyone of the Monty Python skit of the political underclass the unrestructured anarchists or something.
Ends with the king getting totally pissed off with the peasant who won’t Shut Up. And gives him a shake. ‘Help I’m being repressed’. See the violence inherent in the system Gosman.
When your in france do you insist on using english names for things?
Its the same idiocy you get from people who refuse to use proper maori pronunciation.
Yet those same people would pronounce “faux pas” as “fo par” because they can somehow accept that the spelling of a word is said differently in french – yet they shit their precious little y-fronts if its in maori
Maori is an official language of NZ and pakeha was the name they used to describe/label/denote europeans – so your a pakeha, big whoop
Ooh noes – some is labeling me in a language i dont speak! The horror!
As stated I am happy if you want to define yourself as a Pakeha. I would prefer not to myself and would correct people if they decide to do so. They are free to ignore me but then they make the choice to be deliberately provocative.
I usually object to someone trying to define me as anything I disagree with. I make exceptions in places where I should expect such things such as this site.
As far as I’m concerned, and following my own definition of ‘pakeha’ I would agree with Gosman that he isn’t one. I tend to think of a pakeha as someone who tries to honour the Treaty, is proud of it and acknowledges Maori as tangata whenua. It is, as far as I’m concerned, a compliment and not to be handed out to any old ‘european’.
Thing is, immigrants to a country already populated by some other culture have to suck it up and take what the locals call them – for instance, I doubt Chinese immigrants call themselves Chinese, but that’s tough shit because we’re not going to call them whatever it is they call themselves. And if we moved to China, they’d have some word for us that wouldn’t be “NZ European,” and they wouldn’t be interested in being taught to call us “NZ European” instead of whatever word they already came up with. Them’s the breaks, kid – Maori got here first. People who want to be Europeans should go live in Europe.
Gosman @ 13.1.1.1.4.1 – “……but then they make the choice to be deliberately provocative.”
Back up the truck bro’ ! Ain’t that all part and parcel of “Freedom of Speech” ? Yeah. Without limit apparently. So why the unmissable pejorative about provocativeness Gosman ?
(“I would suggest…..”) that your ridiculously self-centred, eurocentric exceptionalism, the father of your hypocrisy, is risible Mr Pakehahahaha Gosman.
Our commercial media is so transparently biased it is ridiculous. Today Kim Dotcom’s Mega launched a new, end to end, encrypted voice service called “MegaChat”. How do I know this? Not from the business pages of the Herald or Stuff, even though the service is based here. No, I read it in the Guardian – http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/22/kim-dotcom-launches-encrypted-voice-chat-skype-killer – a British newspaper that thought the story worth a reasonable amount of coverage.
It is almost as if the word has gone out from the corporate owners of our commercial media – Dotcom can only be reported on if it furthers a certain new narrative about the guy – maybe a hint of perversion in some hot tottie being lured to the lair of the fat man (Sarah Torrent) or his “dubious” legal battles to avoid extradition.
Preparing for my Public Meeting tonight, Friday 23 January 2015, 7.30pm – 9pm, at the Carterton ‘RSA’ 35 Broadway – to SLAM the Auckland ‘Supercity – for the 1%’, by exposing what a SUPER (expensive) mess and disaster it has been for the majority of citizens and ratepayers.
Why on earth would anyone (apart from the 1% who stand to benefit from the ‘economies of scale’ – ie: bigger infrastructure and service contracts for fewer, but bigger private contractors / consultants), want to even consider any further Council amalgamations, before a full, thorough, genuinely independent audit, based upon FACTS and EVIDENCE, which prove just how ‘cost-effective’ the Auckland ‘Supercity’ has been for the majority of citizens and ratepayers?
In my considered opinion, the Draft Wellington Reorganisation Proposal should STOP – NOW!
How can future ‘cost-effectiveness’ of any proposed Council amalgamation be measured without a FACTUAL ‘datum’ of where costs fall NOW for Council services and regulatory functions?
How can any citizens and ratepayers make an informed submission on this Draft Wellington Reorganisation Proposal – without such FACTS and EVIDENCE?
Where does the ‘Tax Payers Union’ stand on the proposed Wellington ‘Supercity’?
When are the Labour Party going to come out, hard and strong against the proposed Wellington ‘Supercity’?
Greens co-leader Meteria Turei used the occasion to berate Key for his response to the first part of a landmark Waitangi Tribunal inquiry.
“The Prime Minister’s response was to knock us several steps back,” she said in a speech to morehu [followers].
“John Key had the gall to claim that New Zealand was settled “peacefully,” as if all Maori grievances evaporated into irrelevance on his command.
“But he didn’t finish there. In an attempt to really put us in our place, John Key said Maori would have been grateful for the injection of capital early Pakeha brought with them when they settled in Aotearoa.”
The Greens had no faith in the Treaty settlement process under National, she added.
From the Klein article. “So be careful with that Oxfam statistic. It’s not telling you what you think it is. But it’s still telling you something.”
Care to share what it is telling us Gosman, since Klein doesn’t. Or is “fascinating read” simply GosSpeak for “See, meaningless rubbish !” ? Come on Gosman……there must be a reason you find it “fascinating”.
hmmmm don’t expect too much of an answer from Gossy the hardly impressive analysis by klein involves a lot of waving of hands – but then if it supports the religion of the hidden hand – it must be “fascinating”
In recent years the NZ state’s ‘terrorist’ designation list has expanded to include what are clearly several liberation movements.
We’ve stuck up an article on developments in the repressive legislation in NZ in relation to this (and state powers), including a list of the organisations that now fall under this designation.
Sneering little article from sneering little Pakeha Claire Trevett. Using Morgan to sneer at Maori. Akshilly. Rubbish journalist. Probably out of sorts not being with Mr Akshilly in Europe.
2015 IT IS 3 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT (from 5 minutes to midnight in 2012)
Unchecked climate change, global nuclear weapons modernizations, and outsized nuclear weapons arsenals pose extraordinary and undeniable threats to the continued existence of humanity, and world leaders have failed to act with the speed or on the scale required to protect citizens from potential catastrophe. These failures of political leadership endanger every person on Earth.”
Despite some modestly positive developments in the climate change arena, current efforts are entirely insufficient to prevent a catastrophic warming of Earth. Meanwhile, the United States and Russia have embarked on massive programs to modernize their nuclear triads—thereby undermining existing nuclear weapons treaties.
“The clock ticks now at just three minutes to midnight because international leaders are failing to perform their most important duty—ensuring and preserving the health and vitality of human civilization.”
It was 17 minutes to midnight in 1991 – it’s hard to believe that we are more than five times more precarious now than then.
Follow the hippies Pete, follow the hippies ….. They are always onto future happenings while the hapless conservatives mooch around behind their lace curtains until the ground is broken and tested by others. It is only then that they are brave enough to face the future….
Conservatives never face the future.
Remember that next time you are considering the National Party’s approach to anything …. it is in their DNA – conservative, fearful and afraid, unable and unwilling to look ahead…..
little use they are, little use …
are you a conservative Pete? (btw, don’t be afraid to admit that you are, they do have a purpose although it is a small and little used one – do you know what it is?)
I was actually thinking about this today while bumping over bumps and road-coning along (road-coning being the trick of clipping cones just enough to topple them, especially when they are used to divert from where there is no need… which is unbelievably common)
If society is a ship on the sea then the conservatives are the lead in the keel and the ballast in the bilges. They keep the ship upright and stable but they have no idea where they have been or where they are going, let alone how to sail or any other such useful functions in the ship. Their use is as dead-weight….
… whereas the future-facers, they are everything… they are the navigators, the ones at the helm, they raise and drop the sails, stitch and mend the sails, the list goes on…
The problem arises of course when the dead-weight tries to navigate and sail… they should just stay in the bilges…
Interesting analogy. And who do you think would be the ones fighting over everyone having an equal share of the sails and shredding them in the process? And throwing everyone over starboard for standing on the wrong side?
All sailors know that order is required at sea and as such disorder is very uncommon as the result is disaster for all …
Of course the ship requires all components as otherwise without the lead and ballast the ship would roll over and sink.. while without the sailors and navigators the ship would hit rocks and sink…
Again, the problem arises when the dead-weight tries to sail, while the effect of sailors adding their (typically skinny) mass to the dead-weight is negligible.
It IS an interesting analogy isn’t it. It works in many many senses …
Depends on what you’re referring to as ‘conservative’. I was nowhere near being a supporter of Colin Craig’s so-called Conservatives.
I’m conservative about some things but can be radical about others. I don’t have much in common with the conservatives who frequent Kiwiblog. Or here (for example lprent and others are quite conservative/old school in how they approach doing politics).
I generally tend to think and act outside the crowd, am prepared to consider minority views and willing question groupthink.
In 1999, 2002 and 2005 I preferred a Labour led government. In 2008, 2011 and 2014 I preferred a National led government.
I hope I can prefer a Labour led government again but they have got to sort a lot of stuff out before I think they will be up to it. It’s a big ask to reverse a decade long declining trend in three years but I hope they are at least competitive in 2017.
If Little and Labour have improved sufficiently there’s a better than even chance I’ll be interested in improving Labour’s share of the vote, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they will be ready to be preferred lead party in Government.
No I didn’t mean that. The Greens haven’t been in government so could hardly be blamed.
However they keep warning of the end of the world as we know it unless we change everything so have raised fears of the end of the world.
Ironically for a Bulletin of Atomic Scientists there doesn’t seem to be a lot of science involved in tweaking their clock. It seems to be based on perceptions.
It may have worked effectively in the 1940s and 1950s but it seems a bit quaint and impotent now. And that’s similar to what the Greens are now struggling with.
Perhaps people who are interested in the physical measurable world and less in the imaginary have a better “subjective” opinion than you do?
I believe they do a statistical sampling.
But based on the current population and that effects we are seeing now are far more irreversible than just dropping bombs, then I’d agree with them. Of course I have a science degree in the area of most concern?
“I believe they do a statistical sampling” is not very scientific. They don’t cite any methodology in their announcement. Can you cite anything on their methodology or do you just have a belief in it? ?
How can you do statistical sampling of the nuclear threat?
“Modernization of huge arsenals” is mentioned but they don’t explain how that would make the weapons more dangerous, I would hope that they would be making them safer.
I can understand that “Disarmament machinery that has ground to a halt” might not reduce the risk but why would it significantly (from 5 to 3) increase the risk?
“From 2009 to 2013, the Obama administration cut only 309 warheads” shouldn’t increase the risk markedly.
“Progress on climate and nuclear weapons issues has been too limited in recent years, according to the Board statement” – again, maybe a reason not to increase the minutes but reason to change it from 5 to 3?
What they seem to have done is substantially increase the climate risk.
Atomic scientists are presumably not climate scientists (ok, some of them cite climate connections but that seems odd for a Bulletin of Atomic Scientists).
The climate risks have been talked about for decades, it isn’t some sudden new risk or suddenly escalated risk.
And atomic scientists are presumably not psychologists who are able to assess the risk of nuclear nation leaders going momentarily mental.
There’s plenty of dramatic statements in their announcement but no sign of scientific backing apart from stating they are scientists.
I’m surprised to see them nearly double the risk in three years. Without any apparent science.
When did you last study or research in “the area of most concern”?
I’m interested to see your scientific backing for a change of risk from 5 to 3. You must have some good science to support “then I’d agree with them”.
My impression is they are confusing a need for urgent action with the imminence of apocalypse. One scientists says “by the end of this century to profoundly transform the Earth’s climate” but also “We all need to respond now”.
We call upon world leaders to take coordinated and rapid action to drastically reduce global emissions of heat-trapping gases, especially carbon dioxide.
What is your scientific assessment of the consequences of “rapid action to drastically reduce global emissions of heat-trapping gases, especially carbon dioxide”?
There must be some scientific analysis of the possible and probable positive and negative effects of rapid and drastic reductions in global emissions.
The claim that The Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists answers Pete’s questions about The Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists is easily verified, as is the claim that Lprent has mentioned his academic credentials on this forum.
Pete’s too lazy to read the lengthy articles of the former, and too dishonest to admit that he remembers the latter.
Been playing with code on site today. This will be short.
I can’t cite anything for it without spending more time than I currently have. It was from a Economist article just after the fall of the Berlin wall in the late 80s. From memory they sample the views of the members of the atomic scientists membership, which can include everyone who works with radioactives from physicists to geologists and even climate scientists.
Playing with nuclear weapons even to upgrade or improve them is dangerous in its own right. However I suspect that the underlying issue is that trying to make weapons that are more able to bypass or destroy defenses or attack systems (the GPS sats for instance) is inherently dangerous. It is effectively an escalation of posture and makes it more likely that a cornerstone of deterrence fails.
BTW: Virtually every scientist or person trained deeply in science understands the basis of climate science and why they are worried about climate change. Everyone from physicists to people with just bachelor degrees knows the basis of the science. They may disagree about how to cope with it and the degree of alarm, but it is really hard to find one who isn’t paid by the carbon industries who wouldn’t put that up as one of the most dangerous issues politically today.
Especially people playing with nuclear arms. They are aware of the history that a high proportion of wars are triggered by disputes over scarce resources.
The reason that the climate change issue is imminent is because you are confusing the cause and the effects because of the oceanic and icecap buffering. The cause is excessive CO2 (and a few other gases – but CO2 is the killer) in the volatiles that make up the oceans and atmosphere. Currently the excess CO2 is piling into the oceans and what extra CO2 is resident in the atmosphere is largely pumping its extra warming into melting ice and warming oceans.
After those buffers start having a diminished ability to suck up excess, then everything that gets dumped into the atmosphere causes a much greater effect than we see today. Moreover the oceans aren’t static. They run with deep currents and the bulk of the stored heat and CO2 from the last century is currently being transported to the equators to pulse out at some time in the future (and BTW we still don’t really know how long that is away).
The big risk is that if we don’t stop dumping waste CO2 until we see some effects, then we are likely to not see a gradual climate shift, but one that is periods of gradual change (like the last 15 years) punctuated by big spikes of change (like the decade prior). The level of the shifts are likely to keep getting larger.
What that means for war is that instead of a gradual movement out of somewhere like Bangladesh as the farmlands get saline, we’re much more likely to see a 150 million starving people pouring over borders in a single year. Or instead of having the monsoons move offshore slowly over years, they simply will stop falling on land for years on end. Same in NZ, we’d get droughts year after year, followed by floods year after year. Climate change directly hits food production because it makes it more unpredictable.
My first degree was in earth sciences. Look up what it covers. I study in it all of the time, just as I do in every other area I have trained or work in.
There is this elegant thing called “searching the net for resources” and I have these abilities to “read” and “comprehend”. I know that the first and the last are difficult for you. But I have provided some hints on topics above.
As I understand it the original arrangement was to be reviewed a few months after the election anyway. And I’m certain I have read that they had given up on the arrangement with no hard feelings, but I am not able to find a link.
ok, thanks. I thought the 6 week past the election thing was for a review, rather than it expiring. But interesting there’s not been anything formal in public.
Not sure which is more shocking, that the Herald ran this McDonalds advert as a news story, or the list of ingredients in US made McDonalds chips.
Dimethylpolysiloxane, which Imahara struggles to pronounce, is added for safety reasons to prevent cooking oil from foaming.
While tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) is applied as a food preservative.
Imahara explains that there are numerous steps involved in the creation of McDonald’s fries.
First potatoes are harvested from fields before being peeled, cut and blanched.
They’re then fired through a cutter at up to 70 miles an hour into thin sticks.
After being chiseled into the perfect shape, the strips of potato are sauced with a blend of canola oil, soybean oil, hydrongenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor, hydrolyzed wheat, hydrolyzed milk, citric acid and dimethylpolysiloxane.
Dextrose – a natural sugar – is sprayed on the batons to help them maintain a golden fried color.
Sodium acid pyrophosphate is also added to prevent the fries from going grey.
Last but not least, salt is sprinkled on for flavor.
The fries are then flash frozen at the Simplot factory and transported to McDonald’s outlets across the country.
Once they are at restaurants, the potato sticks are fried for a second time.
The oil blend is similar to the factory mix, with the addition of tertiary butylhydroquinone and hydrogenated soybean oil – a manufactured form of trans fat.
And voila! McDonald’s World Famous Fries are served.
McDonalds, because despite their food tech the best chips on the planet are made with the right spuddies cut, soaked and double fried, in dripping, by Stan in his shed.
cut into wedges… par boiled, dried off, shaken to rough up… heat oil/duck fat in oven til piping hot. In they go, turn every ten minutes till cooked. Sprinkle with salt.
If the cow worshiping Hindus read this, there could be riots in India!
And if McDonald’s use lard or pork flavor, the 1.6 billion Muslims plus 13 million Jews in the world will go gaga!
Apart from that, they use 19 ingredients to make the chips! Wonder how healthy and safe these chips are.
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Essential workers who take leave from work to comply with public health guidance are being supported with a leave scheme to ensure they will continue to receive income, say the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Iain Lees-Galloway and Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni. A number of essential businesses ...
A Government WhatsApp channel has been launched to help make information more easily accessible and shareable in the fight against COVID-19. Govt.NZ, which is free to use on any mobile device, will carry information and news for the public, businesses, healthcare providers, not for profits and local government. It can ...
The Government has announced a plan to enable the safe, orderly exit of tens of thousands of stranded foreign nationals from New Zealand during the current COVID-19 Alert Level 4 restrictions, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters has said. “When we moved into lockdown a week ago, the ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says the Government is delivering on its commitment to support general practice doctors and nurses, and pharmacies on the front-line of our fight against COVID-19. "For us to overcome COVID-19, we need community health services such as general practice and community pharmacy to step up ...
Justice Susan Thomas has been appointed Chief High Court Judge, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. She replaces Justice Geoffrey Venning who has resigned from the position. David Parker paid tribute to Justice Venning, who he said had stewarded the High Court very capably over the last five years. “On behalf ...
Businesses can start applying to their banks for loans under the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme set up to support the New Zealand economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re moving quickly to protect New Zealand businesses, jobs and the economy during this unprecedented global economic shock,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said. ...
Work is underway looking at measures to speed up consents for development and infrastructure projects during the recovery from COVID 19, to provide jobs and stimulate our economy. Environment Minister David Parker said the COVID-19 pandemic is a serious global crisis that will have a wide ranging and lasting impact ...
Advance payments will be made to transport construction industry contractors to retain the workforce and ensure it is ready to quickly gear up to build projects which will be vital to New Zealand’s COVID-19 economic recovery, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. He said keeping the workforce required to build ...
The Government has tasked a group of industry leaders to seek out infrastructure projects that are ready to start as soon as the construction industry returns to normal to reduce the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones say. The Infrastructure ...
Work to scale up the health system in preparation for COVID-19 was today outlined by Health Minister David Clark, as he reported back to the new Epidemic Response Committee. “We are well placed to contain the spread of COVID-19. We have taken early and decisive action at our borders, and ...
The Government is refining its COVID-19 essential business guidance to include the distribution of news publications for communities which are hard to reach. The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, Kris Faafoi, said the move was in recognition of the importance for New Zealanders who might be harder to ...
The Government is ensuring supermarkets can open on Easter Sunday so we can buy groceries, but stay closed on Good Friday allowing workers to take a break. This provides a balanced approach and ensures we avoid large queues that two days closure may cause. “Supermarkets will be able to open ...
Following the successful conclusion of the Building Partner Capacity (BPC) mission at Taji, New Zealand defence personnel are returning to New Zealand from Iraq, in accordance with the Cabinet decision made in June 2019, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. “New Zealand is very ...
The State of National Emergency to help stop the spread of COVID-19 has been extended for a further seven days, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare said. The initial declaration on March 25 lasted seven days and can be extended as many times as necessary. “Since we went into isolation ...
New Zealand’s ability to go hard and go early in the fight against COVID-19 has been underpinned by strong Government finances and the growing economy heading into this global pandemic, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown financial statements for the eight months to the end ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says 36 new intensive care beds at Christchurch Hospital’s new Hagley building are being fast tracked so they are available for treatment of COVID-19 patients. The Ministry of Health is working with contractor CPB and Canterbury DHB to enable access to the hospital’s ICU, ...
The Government has fast-tracked up to $1 million to help Air New Zealand move urgent freight to and from New Zealand, with the first flight to Shanghai leaving tonight, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says it’s crucial that trade in vital goods such as medical supplies and ...
New Zealand will temporarily remove tariffs on all medical and hygiene imports needed for the COVID-19 response. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said today that the New Zealand Customs Service will apply tariff concessions to all diagnostic reagents and testing ...
Minister of Finance Grant Robertson has clarified that the changes to the wage subsidy scheme announced yesterday mean that employers should be passing on the full subsidy to workers, except in the case where the person’s normal income is less than the level of the subsidy. “We still want employers ...
Medical face masks from the national reserve supply are now being distributed to District Health Boards, while at the same time local production is being ramped up. Yesterday more than 640,000 masks were sent to DHBS – that is an immediate two week supply, with more to follow in coming ...
The Government has made modifications to the wage subsidy scheme to ensure people don’t lose their jobs during the national lockdown. These changes will soften the impact of COVID-19 on workers, families and businesses, and position them to exit the lockdown and look to recovery, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. ...
Farmers whose herds were culled in response to the outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis will be able to minimise the tax treatment of their income in some circumstances. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says Cabinet has agreed to change the law. It means farmers may be eligible to spread their income over ...
A $27 million dollar package, effective immediately, is being provided to social sector services and community groups to ensure they can continue to provide essential support to communities as we stay at home as a nation to stop the spread of COVID-19, Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni announced. “At ...
“The guilty plea today will provide some relief to the many people whose lives were shattered by what happened on March 15,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “These guilty pleas and conviction bring accountability for what happened and also save the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured, ...
The Prime Minister is holding daily press conferences to update New Zealanders on the Government's response to COVID-19. Links to videos and transcripts of these updates below. These transcripts also include All of Government press conferences led by Director Ministry of Health's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. 25 March: Live update from the Prime ...
Frontline Police numbers have broken through the 10,000 mark for the first time in history as officers step forward to keep the community safe during the COVID19 lockdown. “Two Police graduations in Auckland and Wellington in the past week have been conducted in unprecedented circumstances,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said. ...
Urgent legislation has been passed to support the package of economic and social measures needed to recover from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. “The COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Bill will cushion New Zealanders from the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Revenue Minister ...
From tomorrow, Government support for farmers and growers affected by drought will be expanded and extended across the country, with access to Rural Assistance Payments (RAPS) available throughout the North Island, parts of the South Island and the Chatham Islands, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced. “These challenging conditions have ...
Parliament has passed amendments to legislation that give the Secretary of Education stronger powers to act in the fight to limit the spread of COVID-19, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “They are part of a suite of changes passed under the COVID-19 Response (Urgent Management Measures) Legislation Bill,” Chris ...
Canada, Australia, Chile, Brunei and Myanmar have joined forces with New Zealand and Singapore by committing to keep supply chains open and remove any existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker today welcomed ...
Immediate freeze on rent increases Tenancies will not be terminated during the lock-down period, unless the parties agree, or in limited circumstances Tenants who had previously given notice can stay in their if they need to stay in the tenancy during the lock-down period Tenants will still be able to ...
As New Zealand unites to lock-down in the fight against COVID-19, the Finance Minister is urging all businesses and workers to stay connected over the next four weeks. “We understand the extreme pressure many businesses are under right now. I know most business owners think of their workers as family ...
A State of National Emergency has been declared across the country as the Government pulls out all the stops to curtail the spread of COVID-19. “Today we put in place our country’s second ever State of National Emergency as we fight a global pandemic, save New Zealanders’ lives and prevent ...
Mr Speaker I wish to make a Ministerial Statement under Standing Order 347 in relation to the recent declaration of a State of National Emergency. Having considered the advice of the Director Civil Defence Emergency Management, the Minister of Civil Defence declared a State of National Emergency for the whole of ...
People needing to travel on domestic flights, trains and Cook Strait ferries to get home before the country moves into level 4 lock-down tomorrow night will be able to continue using the passenger services until midnight on Friday, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. Domestic passenger services, particularly ferries, have ...
The Government, retail banks and the Reserve Bank are today announcing a major financial support package for home owners and businesses affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19. The package will include a six month principal and interest payment holiday for mortgage holders and SME customers whose incomes have been ...
Like countless New Zealanders stranded overseas, Wellingtonian Rosie O’Hagan will be braving authorities, airlines, airports and uncertainty to make it back from the other side of the world, writes Jim Kayes.Rosie O’Hagan hadn’t stepped outside for three weeks.When she finally did – around midnight on Friday ...
PACIFIC PANDEMIC DIARY:By David Robie A rather beautiful Guåhan legend is rather poignant in these stressed pandemic times. It is one about survival and cooperation. In ancient times, goes the story, a giant fish was eating great chunks out of this western Pacific island. The men used muscle ...
Simon Wren-Lewis, Emeritus Professor of Economics and Fellow of Merton College, University of Oxford, raises good questions about Britain’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Some of them seem germane to this country’s response. Wren-Lewis posted his critique on his Mainly Macro blog under the heading Following the Science or a ...
Alex Casey speaks to a dream expert about why so many people are suddenly remembering their vivid and often horrible dreams. As the days begin to blur together and the only thing we get between sleeps is unimaginably horrible news and an embarrassing tootle around the block, it’s no surprise ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet of ...
Medical centres across the country are condensing services, moving online, and ushering in pandemic plans. Josie Adams assesses what it’s like to access and provide essential medical care under alert level four.On Monday, Sandra Russell woke up before dawn and drove to Milford to get her blood tested. She has ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, some of New Zealand’s best writers tell us what they’ve been up to in the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, writer and doctor Glenn Colquhoun, with the second of his Letters to Hone Tūwhare and his Travelling Band of Constant Companions. ...
ANALYSIS:By Haiqing Yu of RMIT University and Michael Keane of Curtin University China has gradually emerged out of its shadow of despair as the epicentre where the coronavirus pandemic started. Now, there is face saving required – as well as agenda-setting in the global power play. China played ...
Tech giant Google has released a giant global data set which shows how different countries are locking down, and which NZ regions are most compliant with its lockdown.A giant set of reports released by Google, created using its anonymised cellphone location data reveals the scale of human behaviour change the ...
Comedian Penny Ashton writes on the necessity of the arts, especially during lockdown.On March 22, everyone’s favourite fiscal bloodhounds, the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, sent out a tweet in response to Creative New Zealand’s announcement that it will dedicate an emergency response package to helping New Zealand’s artists, in the ...
Wellington writer Philippa Swan’s new novel TheNight of All Souls is an homage to Pulitzer-winning and all-round fabulous American writer Edith Wharton. Wharton died in 1937 but, Swan writes, she’s very much of the moment. Nobody does social distancing like Wharton did. While Wharton was still comparatively young, she created the ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Normally heaving year-round, Queenstown has ground to an eerie halt as Covid-19 cases rise and tourism income plummets, reports Paul Taylor. On a hill behind Queenstown's coronavirus Covid-19 community testing centre, the resort's iconic Skyline gondola sits motionless. More than 17 million people are estimated to have ridden the gondola ...
Are we drinking more in the lockdown? Hard to know, writes David Slack, but we’re certainly having to get creative about it. Almost every phone call I’ve answered this week has begun the same way: “You still off the drink, then?” Fair question. What a time to be not drinking. ...
Kiwi clinical psychologist Desiree Dickerson is stuck with her family in Spain and has written a guide in Nature: "Seven tips to manage your mental health and well-being during the Covid-19 outbreak." It’s Day 17 of the Covid-19 lockdown in Spain. In a small village on the Mediterranean coast, about ...
"Will our ills be cured? Will our feet carry us? For how long?": a short story set in Henderson by West Auckland writer Serie Barford.I learned to drive a tractor when I was a kid feeding out hay with my cousins on a dairy farm down the line. I ...
Without active testing in the community our Covid-19 picture isn’t complete, an epidemiologist says. David Williams reports. There are worse places to be self-isolating than Whakatāne, in the Bay of Plenty, says Bridget Robson, who lives on a two-acre block and keeps chickens. “We live in a beautiful part of ...
How do you hold a funeral service with the country in lockdown? Where there’s a will – and a tech-savvy uncle – there’s a way, Erin Kavanagh-Hall discovered.I was floating somewhere in the Cook Strait when I heard my grandfather’s funeral had been cancelled.I should elaborate. It was a Monday, ...
‘Stay in your bubble’ didn’t exist 100 years ago, but our ancestors would want us to know how essential it is to do so, says Jai Breitnauer.It was a warm but slightly grey January day in 2019 when I pulled the car over to the side of SH1, just south ...
David Clark’s misadventure in mountain biking was a stupid, but ultimately forgivable offence. The bigger problem is the continued uncertainty around what is and isn’t appropriate activity in lockdown, as Sam Sachdeva writes. Given the pressure he and his Cabinet colleagues are under, it is little surprise Health Minister David ...
Assessing the economic impact of Covid-19 requires a new approach to a problem economists have not encountered in modern times, writes Dr Kirdan Lees Covid-19 has presented quite a problem for economists. Containment policies that seek to flatten the Covid-19 curve or eliminate the virus, restrict economic activity. All governments ...
Every day at 1pm New Zealand’s Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announces precise figures on the number of confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 in the country. He is working on the best information available, and during this week the level of community transmission was put at around ...
Most of New Zealand's MPs are in lockdown just like the rest of us, confined to their neighbourhoods and stuck in their bubbles. Checkpoint called a few to ask them what they're doing. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Deery, Lecturer in Early Childhood Education, University of Melbourne “Stupid coronavirus!” I heard my six-year-old mumble while talking in her sleep. Earlier that day her swimming and basketball lessons were cancelled, a birthday party postponed, and she had to race with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University “Zoombombing” in case you haven’t heard, is the unsavoury practice of posting distressing comments, pictures or videos after gatecrashing virtual meetings hosted by the videoconferencing app Zoom. With hundreds of millions ...
Analysis - A leading epidemiologist says health authorities 'really have no idea' of the extent of community spread, Parliament's Epidemic Response Committee gets its teeth into what's going on during the lockdown and the horrendous economic imp ...
The fifth in our new series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall, covering the Covid-19 epidemic within New Zealand. We’ll publish the latest set each day on The Spinoff.This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff MembersInformation about confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 ...
The Finance Minister says struggling companies will be able to put some debt into hibernation, under new legislation unveiled today. Watch the latest government update here. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Lund, Commissioning Editor, The Conversation Editor’s note: The following is current as at April 3, 2020. Things are changing quickly so best to keep an eye on the latest information from WA Health, as well as the federal government.This article ...
During the challenges associated with lockdown, the Māori Party are congratulating Ngāti Ruanui and South Taranaki on the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling What does the COVID-19 pandemic sound like? For this episode, Dallas Rogers – a senior lecturer in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney – asked academic colleagues from all over ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sven Gallasch, Lecturer in Law, Swinburne University of Technology “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion,” wrote Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (published in 1776), “but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the ...
Environment Minister David Parker has directed officials to find ways to fast-track consents for infrastructure and development projects. He says his goal is to help create a pipeline of projects so that some can start immediately once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted “so people can get back into work as fast ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Of the larger European countries, Italy is now in third place for known cases per person in the population. Spain has overtaken Switzerland for ...
Contact tracing is a crucial part of the Covid-19 puzzle and technology might prove essential to scaling up New Zealand's tracing capacity, Marc Daalder reports With the lockdown reducing physical contact between members of the public and testing ramping up, the only missing piece of the Covid-19 puzzle is contact tracing. ...
Insolvency laws will be temporarily changed to allow troubled companies to trade while technically insolvent Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced changes to the Companies Act to allow companies to put their debts into "hibernation". Robertson said companies facing liquidity problems would have "safe harbour" from their normal insolvency duties ...
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui and Te Kaahui o Rauru are celebrating the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South Taranaki Bight. The Court of Appeal found that there ...
Bernard Hickey talks to Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr about a massive spike in US jobless claims, and they talk about an inspiring Kiwi app to fight Covid-19 globally. Guest, Pie Funds chief executive Mike Taylor also joins them to talk about the massive market swings and hopes for recovery. Bernard zooms out ...
Political commentators from the left and right sides of the political divide are questioning the powers being exercised by police during the nation-wide “lockdown”. The Asian Invasion 2019 blog draws attention to the warning sounded by former UK Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Sumption when he challenged Covid-19 actions by British ...
Pacific Media Watch The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) has strongly condemned the shoot-to-kill order by President Rodrigo Duterte this week as a ‘dangerous’ opening to target and kill anyone in a public space. “We are raising the alarm in the international community on President ...
The Reserve Bank looks set to start buying council bonds as well as Government bonds to unfreeze financial markets and allow councils to defer rates and jointly invest in infrastructure with the central Government, Dileepa Fonseka reports In what would be another unprecedented move to calm financial markets and help ...
Four PhD students engaged a clinical psychologist to help them navigate an uncertain time in their studies. They share their findings here.As four PhD students from Massey University’s Joint Centre for Disaster Research we, like many others, can’t stop reading and talking about the unfolding events that have gripped our ...
The SpinoffBy Ashleigh Rushton, Lisa McLaren, Marion Tan & Sara Harrison
Covid-19 testing of the wider population is on the cards as World Health Organisation research shows people are most contagious within their first few days of being infected Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says Covid-19 carriers are highly infectious when they show few signs of carrying the virus. People were ...
Z Energy is the latest company to cut its dividend payout and start talking to its banks about strengthening its finances. Chief executive Mike Bennetts said the company, the largest fuel retailer in the country, had been battered by a range of issues over the past 18 months, and was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney Young people in Australia are among the fastest-growing group to contract COVID19. According to the Department of Health, there are now more cases in Australia among people aged 20 – 29 years than any ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassandra Pattinson, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Getting a good night’s sleep can be difficult at the best of times. But it can be even harder when you’re anxious or have something on your mind – a global pandemic, for example. ...
Journalist and Great Barrier Island resident Lindsay Wright reflects on outer gulf pandemic preparedness. Hardy locals can tough it out but Auckland bach owners and boaties should keep their distance. Aotea Great Barrier, the easternmost island in the Hauraki Gulf, are undergoing a Covid-19-inspired population flood. Great Barrier has scenery that makes ...
The Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand is delighted that the government has moved quickly to provide an initial financial support package for pharmacy. The $15 million package was paid this week to pharmacy contract holders. Pharmaceutical Society president ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference and are "as of 9am" of the day. There were 71 new cases of Covid-19 in ...
A new poem by Wellington poet and bookseller Ash Davida Jane. washed up! it gets tiring pushing the fire alarm every nightbut things keep catching on fireor sometimes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Welcome to the second edition of our lockdown Top 10s. A reminder that this chart has nothing to do with sales or launches or the publishing cycle; these are just books the Unity team love – and this week it’s westerns, full of big skies and long rides and showdowns.AUCKLANDAll ...
Wellington Mayor Andy Foster’s plan to cover revenue shortfalls through borrowing without cutting low priority spending is immoral, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . “Businesses and households across the country are meeting financial challenges ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin John Brophy, Emeritus Professor of Creative writing, University of Melbourne “Katrina, I had in mind a prayer, but only this came,” Bruce Dawe wrote to his infant daughter, new-born, in intensive care, her life in the balance, declaring as poets must ...
The shock closure of Bauer NZ – and with it all of the country’s current affairs magazines – is a stark reminder of the fragile state of local media, writes Mel Bunce, the author of a book on the subject.It is a dark week for journalism in New Zealand, with ...
Join Leonie Hayden as she works through the first four weeks of Scotty Morrison’s Māori Made Easy.Rāmere/FridayWe made it to the end of week one e te whānau. It wasn’t that hard! In fact it was… Māori made easy.To end our week of pronunciation practice we’re going to revisit everything we ...
India faces more challenges battling Covid-19 than any other country in the world. With 1.3 billion inhabitants, hundreds of different languages spoken, and an estimated 80% of the workforce daily wage earners currently without jobs, it could be a recipe for disaster.I’ve been living in India for more than three ...
By Sri Krishnamurthi of Pacific Media Watch The Vanuatu government is using the Covid-19 to impose draconian measures and authoritarian rule by end of last month. Wholesale censorship of all Covid-19 related content has been instituted. Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) took the extraordinary step to ...
People with lower credit scores increased their borrowing upon news of the lockdown, while those with higher scores dropped away. March data from the credit-reporting agency Centrix, which runs credit checks on behalf of banks, finance companies, online lenders, and buy now pay later schemes, showed credit inquiries dropped sharply ...
Small business owners say commercial rent relief is desperately needed if they are to survive past the Covid-19 disruptions. While the wage subsidy helped with staff costs, there is currently no government assistance for commercial rent - which typically accounts for 40 percent of a firm's fixed costs. Landlords and ...
SkyCity is making 200 staff redundant as part of cost cutting because of the Covid-19 virus. The casino operator said it had no choice but to cut the size of the workforce given that once business resumes it will be at much reduced level. Chief executive Graeme Stephens said it's ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Glikson, Earth and paleo-climate scientist, Australian National University At several points in the history of our planet, increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have caused extreme global warming, prompting the majority of species on Earth to die out. In ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand. Today’s contentMedia Henry Cooke (Stuff): There’s no easy way for Government to save media drowning. But a fast fix is ...
Just after midday a cyclist was killed on a straight road on a clear day, after being hit by a van in North Canterbury. Lucinda Rees from NZ School Speeds is asking for the mandatory cyclist/vulnerable road user passing gap, which is in consultation, ...
By Indra Singh in Suva Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says that if Fijians continue to disregard the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic directives from authorities, a nationwide 24-hour curfew could be imposed. His comments come as Fiji yesterday recorded its two latest coronavirus cases, taking the total to seven. Bainimarama said ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, some of New Zealand’s best writers tell us what they’ve been up to in the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, Ōtaki author Renée.Yes, a few cyclists out and about. I remember my first bike bought from Farmers around 1942, five shillings a ...
Internal memos from NZ’s biggest magazine company, which announced its sudden closure yesterday, state they were lobbying to change a ban on publication. But the minister responsible, Kris Faafoi, has doubled down on rejecting that position, calling those internal communications ‘contradictory’ to what they said to him directly.Magazine publishing giant ...
Up to 100,000 foreigners could be seeking to leave the country in coming weeks, now the Government has relaxed domestic travel restrictions for them. ...
The loss of a loved one can be difficult in the best of times. But it’s even more painful when the planes are grounded.Late on Saturday night, three days into New Zealand’s level four lockdown, Harish got a call from his sister in India telling him that his father had ...
Health Minister David Clark has flouted the Government's advice to exercise locally after confirming he drove to a park to go mountain biking on Thursday. ...
Open mike 23/01/2015 
Open mike is your post.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addressed the nation today about the decline in daylight New Zealand has been experiencing over the previous few months. She said “As many of you will notice, our attempts to stem the dwindling of the daylight over the last few months have been completely ...5 hours ago
Redline received this article from the KOE a Marxist party in Greece Our friends in the KOE describe here the mounting crisis in Greece and tensions on the Turkish border. As desperate people flee from their homelands which have been ruined after decades of imperialist wars and interventions the people ...8 hours ago
As the first week of Level Four lockdown unfolded, mounting questions grew as to just what was (and was not) allowed under its “rules”. Partly these were driven by some apparently contradictory messages from different authority figures and explanations carried in the media. Partly they reflected a somewhat sketchy legal basis ...11 hours ago
. . April 3: Day 9 of living in lock-down… Another late-start to my work day. Everything is temporarily upended as clients are shuffled around so we can minimise our “bubble” by reducing the number of people we help. One of my colleagues has been removed from his clients; his ...14 hours ago
We must root out the traitors among us! ...1 day ago
In order to meet our 2050 carbon target and do our bit to avoid making the Earth uninhabitable, New Zealand needs to decarbonise our economy, replacing fossil fuels with electricity in the energy, industrial and transport sectors. The good news is that it will mean cheaper power for all of ...2 days ago
As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look like and how to stay in them to stop the spread of Covid-19. New to the government’s Covid-19 website is some good guidance for people living in apartment blocks. Recent decades have ...2 days ago
Resuming Normal Service: The Republican Party's nominee for in 1920, Warren Harding, promised the American people: “not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration”. If she wishes to remain our prime minister, then Jacinda Ardern will offer New Zealanders the same.HOW EDUCATED AMERICA snickered when the ...2 days ago
I haven’t done a huge amount in the last few days. I’m reading The Poppy War and I’ve sort of poked at a couple of games – I started SOMA but I’m a wimp and I quit while in the first room after the brain scan. I might try it ...2 days ago
Much has been written about the importance of discretion in an emergency situation, and the concerns raised by the potential for it to be exercised arbitrarily. Given the quality of the discussion, there seemed little point in adding to it at any length. In particular, I point to the evidence ...2 days ago
46 Articles Physical science of global warming & effects Global response of evapotranspiration ratio to climate conditions and watershed characteristics in a changing environment Greenhouse effect: the relative contributions of emission height and total absorption Observations & observational methods of global warming & effects Climate change induced a ...3 days ago
Image credit: Diamond Harbour School Blogs I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or ... 4 days ago
The Covid-19 saga will no doubt produce many twists and turns for us before it is finally brought to an end. But one thing it has shown us – and what comfort it should bring us – is that our country’s government is in good hands. I am not thinking ...4 days ago
The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...4 days ago
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...6 days ago
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...1 week ago
Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...1 week ago
Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights: In this legal blog we outline some ...1 week ago
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Who is a greater threat to our civil liberties? The Le Pen’s of the world (as represented in the readership of various blogs), or the muslim guy living down the road?
Neither.
The threat to our civil liberties comes from those in positions of power.
@ oab..
+ 1..
Yes and the evidence for this is collosal;
1. John Key legislating to spy on us, as recently as last year ….
2. Many countries requiring ID to be carried and provided ….
3. Reversing the burden of proof when charged by the state for a crime ….
4. Ability to arrest and incarcerate without charge ….
please add
The Law Society summed it up in their submission to the UN Human Rights Council in 2013.
Wasnt the removing burden of proof something being championed by Andrew Little?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11289979
he misspoke and James you have repeated this misinformation before. READ the actual policy and educate yourself, although that you have already been educated on this and continue to repeat the lie suggests you are being deliberately deceptive.
But the Le Pens are more likely to get into power. In fact, many of them already are in France and Ukraine. Unless you’re in a country with a Muslim majority, the Muslim guy down the road is nowhere near power.
The greatest threat to our civil liberties are apathy and a lack of vigilance.
This is driven by the failure of many people to take 100% personal responsibility for their lives, causing them to assume they have no power, leading them to confer power upon those who seek to have it over them.
This is achieved by deifying those who seek such power, and imagining them to be superior human beings with special qualities, which they invariably are not, and do not have.
All of which is driven by deep seated insecurity on the part of most people, secretly believing themselves to be powerless and worthless (as in “worth less than other people who have the appearance of greater material status”).
The greatest danger we face in society is the degree to which people have given money the meaning and power it now has over us.
In reality it is just money, but the meaning and the power we now imagine it to have has got us all addicted to it like methamphetamine or cocaine, to the degree that people will behave in obscene and inhuman ways to protect their sources and supplies of it.
We have become dehumanised and desensitised to each other’s feelings, suffering, and needs because of our need to protect and maintain our income(s).
Like gerbils on treadmills, we have to run faster and faster after the money dangled in front of us,increasingly unable to care about what is going on around us, in order to maintain our supply of it.
We now do this at the cost of our sanity and health and relationships, in many, many cases.
Such is the power and the meaning we have given every dollar.
We treat people who drive expensive cars and live in expensive homes dramatically differently to the way we treat people who don’t.
Our definitions of success are almost solely rooted in financial and material status, which in turn defines our social status in our hierarchies.
All of these things combined are serving to weaken our civil liberties, because our obsession with the power we believe money gives us causes us to fear the loss of it to the degree that we will tolerate almost any inhumanity and/or indignity in order to maintain our supply of it.
Even more so if such inhumanity and/or indignities are being inflicted upon other people.
These observations make me neither left nor right.
These observations make me human.
Very well put. Power will remain with those who currently control the money as long as the majority firmly believe they have no power to change that.
Our entire socio-economic system has been designed to shift the power to those with money and to make others believe that they have no power to change it. This is helped be the fact that the representative governments do what the rich want and don’t listen to the people.
Excellent summation
Imagination has left the human being via a combination of compliance and force
Without imagination there will be no change to the status quo and the status quo controls ‘reality’ ergo controls imagination
I see that the herald is leading with the typical teacher-bashing bait that will get the relevant people frothing. They made sure to put the word “free” in quotations, to make sure the plebs know that it’s a crumb being thrown off the table.
The inverted commas merely highlight the angle of the story, the cost of NZ’s supposedly free education; in fact, it’s about as disingenuous a notion as your blatantly stirring comment, Heartbleeding Liberal.
“House Republican women and moderates are in an escalating battle against their leaders on an antiabortion bill slated to come to the floor Thursday, deepening a rift between centrists and conservatives who are at cross-purposes on which issues the party should be highlighting.
The bill may still be tweaked, but Republican leaders are insistent they will move ahead with legislation banning abortions after 20 weeks, despite concerns from those within their conference that the bill might alienate millennials and female voters. But many female lawmakers are furious over its clause stating that women can be exempt from the ban in cases of rape only if they reported the rape to authorities. ”
http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/gop-leaders-pull-abortion-bill-after-revolt-by-women-moderates-20150121
meh
Several news organizations reported last week that some Republican women, including Rep. Renee Ellmers, had objected to the clause requiring rape survivors to report to the police. But the same provision was in the 2013 version of the bill, which passed with all but six Republican members voting yes, including Elmers.>
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/white-house-signals-obama-will-veto-abortion-ban
ddouble meh
NWLC @nwlc
BREAKING: The House just passed a bill eliminating insurance coverage for abortion, barring many low-income women from #reprohealth care.
Misogyny Supremacists – The suppurating arrogance of the ‘rape’ clause beggars belief. “Bear your burden uncomplainingly woman !”
“..The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered – and It Is Not What You Think..
..what I learned on the road is that almost everything we have been told about addiction is wrong –
– and there is a very different story waiting for us –
– if only we are ready to hear it..”
(cont..)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/the-real-cause-of-addicti_b_6506936.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
Thanks for the that phillip.
Only Connect.
good article – makes sense – our society has become so individualistic and competitive that trust and collegiality is difficult to come by and whereas we might have eliminated most of the things that used to eat us, we live in a much more dangerous world than our ancestors
Author of the book referenced in the article was on Russell Brand’s – The Trews a couple of days ago.
I personally think sometimes there is more than one answer, though the “cage” idea has merit, and the success of Portugal’s approach demonstrates the failure of the punitive approach to drugs.
I do actually think that there is a genetic disposition for some to develop addictive behaviours, as well as there being some mental health issues that when unresolved will lead to people self-medicating with addictive substances or behaviours.
Genetic is a dangerous idea. It gives the impression that someone was born that way and ther is nothing that can be done. research hows this to not be true and infact Genes turn on and off based upon environment. there as a great segment on this in the Zietgiest movie.
I agree, but that doesn’t preclude genetic presdisposition (in general, I’m in two minds about what that means re addiction).
Exactly. As stated in the video there are somethings that can have a genetic componant but that in no way makes it preditermanate. As to addiction they specifically state that it is one that is far more attributal to environment and in particular stress on the mother during pregnancy. This could be why as we see the stresses applied to families by growing inequality increase we also see rates of addiction increase. That is of course supposition on my part and in no way the result of any research I have done.
Genes get turned on and off all the time. “Genetic determinism” is a dogma which is now decades out of date.
I thought genetics had recently identified some genes that predicate (not ensure) addictive behaviours.
If your family does have this gene and is aware of it, they are more likely to avoid trying substances etc in the first place.
If this has been debunked, then you are right – it is a point prone to abuse.
However if it is true, then treatment for those unlucky enough to carry the gene may be more effective if it is designed around that perspective.
Most often we look for one simple answer, or one catch all solution but when it comes to people and living organisms the diversity of life should show us that multiple solutions and approaches are the most effective way of dealing with problems.
@ crash – the key word Jan uses is ‘disposition’ – or propensity or an enabler of the possibiity towards ….. whatever.
In my case, I have various family members up and down the chain on one side of the family with some sort of switch that’s been turned on enabling them to choose addiction to drugs, alcohol/pot (and all plus gambling) …. you name it – violence even. On the other ‘side’, they’re right little angels all the way up and down that chain.
The whole nature versus nurture thing has had me pondering it all for most of my life but I’m convinced there is a genetic switch that enables – but in a way that doesn’t compel – i.e. not compulsory – otherwise I can’t explain my existence.
I’d be interested in Mr Ure’s opinions ekshully though I dare not ask because there’ll be a clamour of bs nastiness and ego-driven kaka – one that caused me to make a point of avoiding TS for a few days.
(Oh, and I noticed doing a search by author of my last comment re Fletch of CSB fame – a few days back, that it apparently disappeared up its own arse – just as he should. As Little once put it “Cut the crap”. He DIDN’T resign for “family reasons”. He, ( being the sucker-of-dick-in-chief) crossed the line. A line of which future masters-of-the-Universe felt threatened by.
Anyway – back to Ludditeville. Right now’ tis a very releckzing place to be ….. one where a human has time to consider things; where 24 hour news cycles are meaningless; where cellfone coverage is almost non-existent; where trees can grow and clean water can flow; where people propping up those in power who represent the closest thing we’ve seen since the last war to fascism are absent; where trains pass by from time-to-time carrying the loads of several dozen rigs whose drivers probably idolise Phil Stein but who in reality are part of the precariat should they have to cash up (a wishin and a hopin, stand by your man – and all that sort of shit); and best of all where E-spinners, Fergussons, Christies … (in fact half of TVNZ, most of Fearfucks and the self-appointed ‘in crowd’) would be screaming mummy mummy come rescue me. There’s also no hospital – or even a primary care establishment that’s capable of surgically removing electronics from robotic life forms.
Paradise! (It isn’t Davos btw)
You could ask for my opinion. I was a good mate of Baine’s for a while and my ego wouldn’t get in the road.
I don’t even know why we should worry about substance addiction. Addictions can be managed and the negative effects are usually tied up with illegality anyway. I reckon if people want to be addicted to something, good luck to them. Currency and property speculators on the other hand have an addiction which damages the whole of society.
as far as heroin is concerned..there is also the age-factor..
..’cos what i have found..is that most heroin addicts kick in their mid-thirties..
..and i dunno why that is..other imperatives kick in..(with me it was having to raise a daughter on my own..and being unable to discharge both responsibilities at the same time…so..in a way..she saved my life..)
..there is also the fact that you get sick of the lifestyle..(being a junkie really is a full-time job..and most tire of it..)
..so my harm-reduction prescription for young heroin addicts..
..is for them able to register..to be supplied/maintained with medical-grade narcotics..(most of the physical harm done to junkies is from adulterants in the blackmarket products..most overdoses are a result of the vagaries of blackmarket-priduct quality..)
..until that time that they themselves decide to wean off..
..currently we have the blackmarket..and the only other option that brain-screwing vile-muck methadone..(a drug more addictive/harder to kick than heroin..duh..!..eh..?..so much so that for most who go on it..methadone is a life-sentence..double-duh..!..eh..?..)
..we are doing everything the wrong way..
“I don’t even know why we should worry about substance addiction. Addictions can be managed and the negative effects are usually tied up with illegality anyway”
Substance abuse can be pretty hard on the body/health, although you are probably right about the negative effects in that some of that would be mitigated if drugs weren’t illegal and were available with medical support.
Using street rubbish, spending your money on drugs instead of food and rent, getting bashed by ngati poaka, and imprisoned on a regular basis is pretty hard on the body/health.
“Using street rubbish, spending your money on drugs instead of food and rent, getting bashed by ngati poaka, and imprisoned on a regular basis is pretty hard on the body/health.”
True, but solve all those problems, and you still have effects, sometimes significant, on the body. All drugs, including prescription, have side effects, some worse than others. Continuous use over years is far from ideal if it can be helped.
I think the mind suffers most when you have a substance abuse problem due to low sense of worth that comes from not being able to control you own behaviour.
+1
and i think yr guess is that of a purse-lipped cleanskin..
..who knows very little of what they speak..
Meet my 1st love alcohol as a 14 year .
aahh..!..alcohol..!
..that is the low-esteem drug…
..(it is..after all..a depressant..)
..i used heroin mixed with cocaine..
..too much of a chemical roller-coaster to wallow in self-doubt..
..too blasted..no time..!
If it was so good why stop?
see 5.4.1
..and i was just answering yr false-surmise..
..that you piled on top of yr first false-surmise..
Good on ya. I still drink but the switch that used to click over and drive me on on and on has long gone.
if you don’t mind me asking, how did that happen (the switch no longer working)?
A mix between will power , growing up , having stepdaughters and the love of a good woman and sick of wasting my days recovering from hangovers.
@ weka..
..how did what happen..?
..if i u r asking what i think u r asking..
..the answer is in 5.4.1..
..but i also got really fucken messy..
..and kinda smacked into the wall at the end of the dead-end alley…
(and this might blow yr mind..but i had an out-of-body experience that helped convince me it was time to stop..
..i went out and looked back down at myself..
..and what i had become..
..and i was not impressed by what i saw..
..it was clear i cd not do that for much longer..
..i stopped soon after..
..(the upside of that experience of course..is that i don’t fear death..as i know we are not just the body..i don’t know any more than that tho’..but that i know..and i found that quite liberating..and u can believe that..or not..)
..also..with heroin..each time u get another habit..drop it..and then u start again..u get hooked quicker/harder than the time before..and the withdrawals are worse..
..and i had got to the stage where i only had to see a picture of the stuff to get wired..
..the pleasure/pain scales were tipped way over on the pain side..
..plus i reached the age when most stop..
@ Phil Ure
and this might blow yr mind..but i had an out-of-body experience that helped convince me it was time to stop..
That interests me. If you don’t mind, what I want to know is
(a) Were you on death bed and clinically dead?
(b) Did you go through the ‘tunnel’ with bright lights at a distance, ‘see’ a white robed figure, welcomed by deceased close friends and relatives, see heaven etc (c) Had an enjoyable experience from which you were reluctant to return or (d) was it just a drug induced high hallucination? (What drug were you using at that time?)
@ clem..
no…and no..
..i was straight @ the time..
..and given my previous experiences with self-induced/fun ‘hallucinations’..
..i do know the difference..
🙄
do/did u not know that alcohol acts as a depressant on the central nervous system..?
..drink up..!..feel sad..!
..and then a hangover..
..what a deal..!
..where do i sign up..?
..cannabis gets u ‘high’..eh..?
..it acts as a stimulant on the central nervous system..
..smoke up..!..get mellow/hungry/sleepy..
..sleep like a baby..
..and no hangover..
..(it’s a hard/difficult choice.)
I was a bit surprised that our resident drug expert would link a physiological depressant with something that lowers self esteem ( a depressogenic).
Easy enough mistake for someone who doesn’t spend much of their time considering issues relating to drugs in society, but you seem to have spent years in doing field research…
“.. someone who doesn’t spend much of their time considering issues relating to drugs in society..”
crikey..!..others wd say i spend far too much time doing just that..
..and i am no ‘expert’..i can just speak of what i know/have experienced..
wow..!..what a total hatchet-job on gareth morgan by tvone breakfast…
..du plessy allen and christie spent an inordinate amount of time cynically sneering at as to why morgan should even be @ ratana..
..how he is using the gathering to just promote his book..etc..etc..
.factcheck:..morgan was invited to speak @ ratana..by ratana…
..real shabby/shit-journalism…
..by/from a pair of toxic-toads..
..they should both hang their heads in fucken shame..
and the braindeadeness continues @ tvone..
“..he’s gone vegetarian for the last 12 months – he only eats fish..”
Kicking the new season off in a ratings war, First Line on tv3 were trying to out do their tv1 opponents by the anchor’s sighing and rolling their eyes after watching the interview with Morgan. One saying “oh he has a book coming out soon… haha just trying to sell books” the other 2 nodding their heads like puppets, thought I was watching thunderbirds for a moment.
4 all his faults..henry cd hardly do worse..
No not henry please not henry I’ll turn vegan if you can keep him off TV.
i’m working on it..
Just keep in mind that I promised god all sorts of things when I was in a tight spot once I’m hoping he’s forgotten if/when I meet him/her/it.
noted..
and not a single politician has ever gone there to do anything than pay tribute to ratana… they have never used it to self promote. (sarcasm)
Anyone else remember a certain someone saying that they are tightening up on the moderation? It seems that that quite a lot of vile (as shown in the post on this blog yesterday) doesn’t quite meet the threshold. I wonder what does.
On another note, the readership sure has a lot of time on its hands to comment all day, considering that they generally self-identify as the “keeping this country running through hard work” type.
Perhaps you should tell the authors and admins what to do and see how that works out?
heh..!
Phil ure, contact me on facebook
there are many of u there..
..either link..or..
..my email contact details are @ http://whoar.co.nz/
You guys gonna have a session?
f.y.i..h.l..
..i am presuming i am one of those potty-mouther all-dayers u speak of/have a passive-aggressive moan about..?
..this is what i also do @ the same time..
http://whoar.co.nz/
It sounds awful. Why not name and shame the vile shirkers?
LOL
and the Bain train rolls on…whats the deal?David gets 50% of the take after expenses?
National Radio, late yesterday afternoon listening to some story about Yemen’s so-called “terrorists”, the American news story had the presenter stating “we” as in “we need to work to curb these terrorists”. Not objective journalism at all, not one iota.
I aint no part of their “we” the bloody wankers. The journalist should be referring to something like “the American government wants to curb the terrorists”, not “we need to curb the terrorists”
Gobsmacked I was, gobsmacked.
Wtf is Nat Radio doing running American fox-type shite like this? Unbelievable. Where is Morrisey?
Don’t you want to curb militant Islamic terrorism?
Why don’t you answer the point?
I am answering the point. I suggest the widely held view in our society is that militant Islamic fundamentalists (who are attempting to confront Western nations or western backed governments due to their virulent opposition to many values of the West that we generally all share) should be opposed around the world. Hence why Radio NZ National probably used the term ‘We’ in the piece you refer to.
The point was about objective journalism, not war.
Yes but objective journalism is not the same as perfectly balanced journalism. For example during a genocide it is not necessary to respect the views of those carrying out the genocide in any reports and refrain from calling it a genocide as a result.
You mean like the western governments and media calling the Ottawa event an act of terrorism when it clearly was anything but.
First casualty in war is truth, and this conspicuous blurt by Nat Radio yesterday is evidence of that.
The Ottawa shooting was a terrorist attack by a mentally ill man. His illness doesn’t change the nature of his crime, which was essentially a copy cat of similar terrorist attacks.
Re: the RNZ piece, you haven’t given us anything to work with. There are several groups fighting in Yemen, including Al Qaeda. The group beseiging the capital probably don’t deserve the label terrorist, so if it was them being referred to, you are right to be critical.
A link would be useful.
But there was nothing “terrorism” about the Ottawa event … it involved a soldier and a government at war being attacked. No civilians involved at all. No terror.
Re the RNZ piece, yes no link sorry, bit hopeless ate fnding those. But the point was not about the subject of the piece, which is immaterial, it was entirely about how the piece was presented.
Re: Ottawa, it won’t be much comfort to the family of the dead part-time soldier that a bloke on a blog in NZ reckons his death wasn’t terrorism. Your definition of terrorism (must involve civilians) is unique. That’s not how the Canadian parliament, the Mounties, or even the Ottawa Muslim Association (who arranged his burial), saw it.
However, I would agree that the label, accurate or not, is often co-opted for other political purposes and it certainly was immediately after this incident.
I think this statement is probably the most dignified response:
“Nathan Cirillo was my boyfriend. I loved him deeply, as did all of the family and friends who knew him and we all still mourn him every day. That being said, I feel I should weigh in on this ridiculous “was he a hero or was he not” debate. My response is:
“we should be talking about is the dismal state of mental healthcare in our country. What that deeply disturbed man killing my boyfriend should make Canadians focus on is how we can prevent another event like this through more accessible and effective mental health treatment programs that target the real source of this tragedy. Stop tearing apart the honour and love bestowed upon a wonderful man who deserves every bit of it and start taking a good hard look at the awful, dysfunctional systems in our nation that this has shown us need to change….I am a very proud Canadian, but the fact that this hero/not business is what the media here and the general public has chosen to talk about, I must say I am very disappointed. We can do, and are, better than this, Canada…..I feel as though this is an important discussion that needs to continue happening.””
Andrea Polko.
“due to their virulent opposition to many values of the West”
It’s been quite a while now Gos, you should try and get your head around what the conflict is about.
“Muslims do not ‘hate our freedom,’ but rather they hate our policies,”
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/24/politics/24info.html?pagewanted=print&position=&_r=0
Doesn’t really explain the Charlie Hebdo attack does it especially considering Al Qaida in Yemen has taken credit in ordering that specifically because of the clash of values not policies.
‘Speaking over footage of the attack that killed 12 people, Ansi said: “Today, the mujahideen avenge their revered prophet, and send the clearest message to everyone who would dare to attack Islamic sanctities.”‘
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2015/01/al-qaeda-yemen-charlie-hebdo-paris-attacks-201511410323361511.html
It’s been a while now Gos, you should read up on how asymetric warfare works. What the strategy of terrorism is.
Here’s a good primer on the subject, dirt cheap too, ebook under $15, paper version about $25
http://www.allthatmattersbooks.com/book/terrorism-all-that-matters/
Or here for a free starter:
http://www.kiwipolitico.com/2015/01/fighting-terrorism-is-a-matter-of-law-enforcement/
Short version though, on what terrorists aim to achieve by terrorism:
1) Provoke an overreaction from the state and the broader population
2) Escalate the conflict
3) Win the hearts and minds of the people they claim to represent, primarily by using the state’s reactions as examples of how the state hates them, and the terrorists are right to be fighting back
4) Endure. If the terrorists can survive (not individually, but as a ’cause’) they will win.
The propaganda they put out is simply in aid of point 3.
Yes I do Gosman and I want to curb militant American terrorism as well.
Have you joined the Army/Navy yet? So that you will be ready to curb terrorism the day that Dear Leader announces our most excellent adventure in the Middle East?
IF not… Why not? Don’t you want to curb militant Islamic terrorism?
Don’t you want to curb militant American racism?.
Roqayah Chamseddine @roqchams
American patriots still tweeting about killing “ragheads” and “sandn—-rs” #AmericanSniper cc @adctweets
https://twitter.com/roqchams/status/557913195289903105/photo/1
a ‘good-news’ seachange..
..the american senate has just voted on a motion..that voting yes on indicated an acceptance of the science of climate-change as a reality by the voting senator..
..and only one senator voted against it..
..2015 really will be the yr of climatechange taken seriously..
..and the drill baby drill!/mine baby mine! policies of this key govt..and our (pollution-charging exempt) dirty-dairying exporting ‘industries’..
..will make us more and more international-outliers..
..key will no longer be able to fall back on our high rate of renewable-energy as his answer/counter to any calls to clean up our act..
..the international pressure/imperatives on us/key is going to seriously ramp-up..
Are you seriously suggesting that the GOP is now full of Climate change accepting anti-oil people? I think you might need to change the variety that you are smoking at the moment as it could well be too strong 😉 .
do try to keep up..gosman..
..i am reporting on a vote held in the american senate..in the last 24 hrs..
..where last time i looked..the denialists were in a serious majority..
..nothing more..nothing less..
..(of course..u r a denialist..eh..?..
..heads-up..!..it’s sunset-time on you..)
(and romney has come out today denying he is a denialist..)
I have never denied the scientific consensus around any topic. I suspect you on the other hand have been at odds with the mainstream scientific view numerous times in the past and currently.
‘at odds with’ political views..more than ‘scientific’ views..
..’science’ supports most of the arguments i make..
Not the scientific consensus though.
Strangely you read like some of the hard core Climate change deniers I have seen. They too argue the IPCC is driven by political rather than scientific notions.
w.t.f. r.u banging on about..?
..and is yr spine/neck ok after that pirouette on the facts of what i actually said..?
Yeah nah…
Senate Republicans head-faked Democrats on climate change Wednesday, agreeing in a floor vote that the planet’s climate was changing, but blocking language that would have blamed human activity.
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/senate-climate-change-vote-114463.html
that is a more nuanced report than the one i saw..
..(curse you..!..huffington post..!..)
..but everything else i said about increasing international pressure on us..
..still applies..
Bloody 18th century colonials, still wanting to eat the environment …
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/65331060/farmers-want-to-tap-tekapo
It will be good for the planet when this generation passes. Though I imagine there are many mini-colonials being brainwashed at the breakfast table each day in these regions
We less of the irrigate style and more of this type of thinking.
http://www.ruralnewsgroup.co.nz/rural-news/rural-management/lupin-gains-traction-in-high-country
yes
comment@whoar:..the govts’ war on the poor continues apace..(we shall know/mark them by their spectacles..)
the government’s/work and incomes’ war on the poor continues..
..their cementing in of beneficiaries as second-hand citizens..
..soon you will be able to pick beneficiaries by the shitty/cheap glasses they are wearing..
..’cos..what used to happen..was beneficiaries would go to optician..
..and work and income wd lend them the money for them..(i repeat..’lend’..not give..)
..this was paid back in weekly increments..
..and that all seemed to work well for everyone..
..now there is a new regime..
..where you walk into an opticians..and don’t even bother looking at the frames lining the walls..they are not for the likes of you..
..beneficiaries get to choose from a very small selection of cheap/crappy frames..
..really fucken ugly they are..
(cont..)
http://whoar.co.nz/2015/commentwhoar-the-govts-war-on-the-poor-continues-apace-we-shall-knowmark-them-by-their-spectacles/
(and after banging on at length..i finish with this..)
.and while we are at it..how about an mp ask a question about this in questiontime..?
..as to why was this actually done..?..and for whose benefit..?..
..and as a follow-up..how much did this new schema cost to plan/set-up..?
..but the main question being..
..for why..?
..to my mind what they are doing is cruel..and a form of persecution..
..and surely this is a matter of civil-rights..?
..beneficiaries are clearly being treated as second-class citizens..and this is wrong..
..and the rub being..there is no cost-saving/rationale for this latest way to fuck over the poor..
..it is poor-bashing ideology writ-large..nothing more..nothing less..
..and cruel/an exercise in persecution with it..
..opposition mp’s should demand this logic-free policy/schema be scrapped..
Today is a day National & the Maori-Tory party’s will be dreading. Fronting up at Ratana where Little & Labour are the main act. Peters will be rubbing Nationals frontman, Bill English nose in it over pretty much everything 🙂
Not sure why they should even bother going. Why kowtow to a religious and ethnically based organisation that formally supports your opponent?
Tradition dear boy, whatever next Gosman? Don’t tell me you would suggest the Government abstain from attending the Waitangi commemoration?
Speaking our which I see the NZH are starting their divisive nonsense early by putting out the question of is being called Pakeha an insult? Something like that I read on their Facebook feed. Oh yes and as they intended the amount of thin skinned people taking offense was overwhelming.
I don’t like being described as a Pakeha. I much prefer NZ European. I would rather not be defined by the other partner in our bi-cultural nation. It isn’t as if Maori people still go by the name ‘Natives’ any more.
An optimistic tory would feel lucky if the descriptions stopped at “Pakeha”.
Exactly. Let us acknowledge that many people prefer not to be called Pakeha or any other name they feel may be derogatory. Maori have defined what name/s they prefer (e.g. Maori, Tanga te Whenua etc). Non Maori should have the same right.
You have the right to want to not be called a Pakeha, Pakeha.
That is fine White person.
You see? You even have the right to label others.
It isn’t as if Maori people still go by the name ‘Natives’ any more.
Euros original term for them seems to have been “New Zealanders” when you look at old docs.
But the term was used as a broad description of them.
Not really though eh. “natives” is just a description. Loads of people all over the world were called natives by colonial powers. It doesn’t apply to Maori specifically. The term used for Maori specifically, to distinguish them from other peoples, was New Zealanders
But whatever. I like being called Pakeha, and the term isn;t going away, so you’re just going to have to live with it I’m afraid.
If you want to be called Pakeha then that is your choice. But worrying that other people don’t want to be called one is a different matter entirely.
You need a march to reclaim the language for oppressed Pakeha Gosman; a Pakeha Walk.
snap
I’m not worried Gos.
You are quite free to your identity politics driven idea here. That’s fine.
All I’m saying is that many people will find you ridiculous. This is to do with the nature of identity politics.
It’s like how “meninism” is trying to become a thing, but is only becoming a silly thing that most people will laugh at.
Complaining that you are being othered, that your identity is being forced on you by a marginalised minority is always going to sound odd to many people.
‘I’m a white male facing structural oppression, and I demand the right to have my voice as a white male heard’, is simply hard argument to make and not come across as being a bit of a fuckwit, what with society being the way it is.
But like I said, go for it. Print a T-shirt. Reclaim the streets, or something.
Except the NZ Herald is holding internet polls on the issue. Remember it wasn’t me who raised this issue but someone who objected to the Herald doing this. Why would they be holding polls if it is such a non issue as you seem to think it is?
Geez, Gosman, are you a bit slow today? Might the Herald not be blowing that dogwhistle of theirs to deliberately inflame racist sentiment?
Or is that so far outside the realms of possibility on Gosman?
The Herald holds ‘polls’ on all sorts of jack ass nonsense.
Who are the spokesbots for the poor oppressed white folk being othered by Te Reo?
Umm. Colin Craig perhaps? Mike Butler maybe? Jamie Whyte?
How they all doing?
‘Pakeha’ gets used every day. No one* gives a shit.
*except for people who get ignored because *pretty much* everyone can see that the claim is inherently ridiculous.
Objecting to being called Pakeha does not make you a racist. That stated many racists it is true would likely object to being labelled by the term. That still doesn’t make objecting to the term wrong.
Objecting to being called Pakeha does not make you a racist, just very very precious, Pakeha.
I repetitively remind everyone of the Monty Python skit of the political underclass the unrestructured anarchists or something.
Ends with the king getting totally pissed off with the peasant who won’t Shut Up. And gives him a shake. ‘Help I’m being repressed’. See the violence inherent in the system Gosman.
aren’t you lucky that the census gives you that choice. Of the things you get called here and other places that may be the less offensive ?
When your in france do you insist on using english names for things?
Its the same idiocy you get from people who refuse to use proper maori pronunciation.
Yet those same people would pronounce “faux pas” as “fo par” because they can somehow accept that the spelling of a word is said differently in french – yet they shit their precious little y-fronts if its in maori
Maori is an official language of NZ and pakeha was the name they used to describe/label/denote europeans – so your a pakeha, big whoop
Ooh noes – some is labeling me in a language i dont speak! The horror!
Get over yourself ya big baby
As stated I am happy if you want to define yourself as a Pakeha. I would prefer not to myself and would correct people if they decide to do so. They are free to ignore me but then they make the choice to be deliberately provocative.
do you object to different names in other languages or are you just a baby if its in maori?
I usually object to someone trying to define me as anything I disagree with. I make exceptions in places where I should expect such things such as this site.
You have the right to come and see the violence inherent in the system. You’re being oppressed.
You said above that you prefer to be defined as “NZ European”.
Is “Pakeha” that different in “definition” from “NZ European”? How so? I’m not sure it is.
so you disagree that your a european? You still havent even explained what you think pakeha means
your doing a shit job of papering over your knee jerk
“I would rather not be defined by the other partner in our bi-cultural nation.”
why not?
If you believe the sentence you wrote, what is the big issue for you gos?
Just as I would expect Maori wouldn’t want to be defined by non-Maori . In fact I believe that has been the objection to much policy in the past.
You see what a learning experience this could be for you?
is it the ‘defining’ bit that you don’t like? In that someone else is making a categorisation of you in some way that is beyond your control.
As far as I’m concerned, and following my own definition of ‘pakeha’ I would agree with Gosman that he isn’t one. I tend to think of a pakeha as someone who tries to honour the Treaty, is proud of it and acknowledges Maori as tangata whenua. It is, as far as I’m concerned, a compliment and not to be handed out to any old ‘european’.
I have defined myself as God-Emperor of Tamaki Makau Rau. In future you shall address me this way.
[lprent: Translating…. Please wait….
A large worm?
😈 ???? ]
lol nope,
Just a bit of sarcasm about Gosman’s objection to the word “Pakeha”. Shoulda addressed the comment to him… 🙄
Thing is, immigrants to a country already populated by some other culture have to suck it up and take what the locals call them – for instance, I doubt Chinese immigrants call themselves Chinese, but that’s tough shit because we’re not going to call them whatever it is they call themselves. And if we moved to China, they’d have some word for us that wouldn’t be “NZ European,” and they wouldn’t be interested in being taught to call us “NZ European” instead of whatever word they already came up with. Them’s the breaks, kid – Maori got here first. People who want to be Europeans should go live in Europe.
“have to suck it up and take what the locals call them ”
I know what you mean. I don’t like being called “NZ European” but just have to suck it up sometimes.
But I don’t have any problem with being called ‘Pākehā’
Gosman @ 13.1.1.1.4.1 – “……but then they make the choice to be deliberately provocative.”
Back up the truck bro’ ! Ain’t that all part and parcel of “Freedom of Speech” ? Yeah. Without limit apparently. So why the unmissable pejorative about provocativeness Gosman ?
(“I would suggest…..”) that your ridiculously self-centred, eurocentric exceptionalism, the father of your hypocrisy, is risible Mr Pakehahahaha Gosman.
“I don’t like being described as a Pakeha”-Gosman
How about, ‘Honky-Ori Supremist’?
heh..!..
Our commercial media is so transparently biased it is ridiculous. Today Kim Dotcom’s Mega launched a new, end to end, encrypted voice service called “MegaChat”. How do I know this? Not from the business pages of the Herald or Stuff, even though the service is based here. No, I read it in the Guardian – http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/22/kim-dotcom-launches-encrypted-voice-chat-skype-killer – a British newspaper that thought the story worth a reasonable amount of coverage.
It is almost as if the word has gone out from the corporate owners of our commercial media – Dotcom can only be reported on if it furthers a certain new narrative about the guy – maybe a hint of perversion in some hot tottie being lured to the lair of the fat man (Sarah Torrent) or his “dubious” legal battles to avoid extradition.
(ahem..!..from earlier this morn..)
http://whoar.co.nz/2015/kim-dotcom-launches-end-to-end-encrypted-voice-chat-%E2%80%98skype-killer%E2%80%99/
..that whoar..eh..?..always first with the best..!
One for you phillip ur the best!
chrs grey..
..i know it..u know it…
..i do wonder @ the resistance from others..
..’cos as u know..given their politics etc..(and esp considering the constant laments about ‘the news’ in this country..)..
..in a way those resisters are cutting off their own noses..
..as (so far) today i have posted 41 stories/links..
..many of which wd interest them..
..and more than that go up every day..(and i mean..’every day’..)
..and i know..as far as quality of material posted..in variety/quality/good-writing..
..i haven’t found a better site..(i source from excellent sites..but for that overall global-grab i haven’t found better..)
..if anyone knows of one..let me know..and i will add it as a resource..
..from day one i set out to be the best..
..and as far as reliability of constant high-quality content is concerned..i think i am..
..again..chrs 4 the feedback..
and..btw..i run this thing on the smell of an oily-rag..
(..and as a prototype of what can be done by one person..i wd submit it is an example..
..and if anyone else kicks one off..let me know..and i will link to/promote ya..
..that world is open..where we are from doesn’t matter..)
so anyway..i can’t afford to advertise..
..so if u like what i do..if u cd alert yr networks..?
..that wd b much appreciated..
..both by me..and by them to you..for turning them on to what i offer each day..
@ phillip u
Oh blah blah don’t get carried away becos you’re so good. Just quietly sit there and feel superior.
“.. Just quietly sit there..”
yeah..that makes sense..
(i forgot..!..we’re in nz..!..u aren’t allowed to say here that what u do is ‘good’..eh..?..
..the national inferiority-complex kicks in..)
phillip ure
Go ahead tall poppy, shoot up to match the sunflower. Good for a bumper sticker that sounds positive and happy eh!
“Oh blah blah don’t get carried away becos you’re so good. Just quietly sit there and feel superior.”
Real superiority comes from the quietly sitting part.
quite so..grasshopper..!
..you learn well..!
..but..if a man sits quietly in the woods..
.will anyone hear him..?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11390635
“Hecklers give super-city plan slow handclap”
Preparing for my Public Meeting tonight, Friday 23 January 2015, 7.30pm – 9pm, at the Carterton ‘RSA’ 35 Broadway – to SLAM the Auckland ‘Supercity – for the 1%’, by exposing what a SUPER (expensive) mess and disaster it has been for the majority of citizens and ratepayers.
Why on earth would anyone (apart from the 1% who stand to benefit from the ‘economies of scale’ – ie: bigger infrastructure and service contracts for fewer, but bigger private contractors / consultants), want to even consider any further Council amalgamations, before a full, thorough, genuinely independent audit, based upon FACTS and EVIDENCE, which prove just how ‘cost-effective’ the Auckland ‘Supercity’ has been for the majority of citizens and ratepayers?
In my considered opinion, the Draft Wellington Reorganisation Proposal should STOP – NOW!
How can future ‘cost-effectiveness’ of any proposed Council amalgamation be measured without a FACTUAL ‘datum’ of where costs fall NOW for Council services and regulatory functions?
How can any citizens and ratepayers make an informed submission on this Draft Wellington Reorganisation Proposal – without such FACTS and EVIDENCE?
Where does the ‘Tax Payers Union’ stand on the proposed Wellington ‘Supercity’?
When are the Labour Party going to come out, hard and strong against the proposed Wellington ‘Supercity’?
Penny Bright
(For more information – check out http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz )
I’m a fan of this
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/65343562/greens-use-ratana-meeting-to-attack-john-key
key must be reminded constantly of his lies, misinformation and idiotic utterings. Onya Greens.
I enjoyed reading the speech when it came through the email today.
Will our PM be taking the opportunity to call the European union “loonies” while he is in their neck of the words?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30933515
A more nuanced look at the Oxfam 1% stat
http://www.vox.com/2015/1/22/7871947/oxfam-wealth-statistic
Fascinating read. Thanks nadis.
Q. How does the figure make the world a better place ?
Q. How can untraceable untrackable ‘wealth’ be measured ?
Q. Do you know the contents of the Vatican vault ?
From the Klein article. “So be careful with that Oxfam statistic. It’s not telling you what you think it is. But it’s still telling you something.”
Care to share what it is telling us Gosman, since Klein doesn’t. Or is “fascinating read” simply GosSpeak for “See, meaningless rubbish !” ? Come on Gosman……there must be a reason you find it “fascinating”.
hmmmm don’t expect too much of an answer from Gossy the hardly impressive analysis by klein involves a lot of waving of hands – but then if it supports the religion of the hidden hand – it must be “fascinating”
In recent years the NZ state’s ‘terrorist’ designation list has expanded to include what are clearly several liberation movements.
We’ve stuck up an article on developments in the repressive legislation in NZ in relation to this (and state powers), including a list of the organisations that now fall under this designation.
See: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/01/23/the-terrorism-suppression-act-since-2007/
Phil
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11390420
Sneering little article from sneering little Pakeha Claire Trevett. Using Morgan to sneer at Maori. Akshilly. Rubbish journalist. Probably out of sorts not being with Mr Akshilly in Europe.
very odd framing…
2015 IT IS 3 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT (from 5 minutes to midnight in 2012)
It was 17 minutes to midnight in 1991 – it’s hard to believe that we are more than five times more precarious now than then.
But the Greens weren’t formed then.
http://thebulletin.org/timeline
Follow the hippies Pete, follow the hippies ….. They are always onto future happenings while the hapless conservatives mooch around behind their lace curtains until the ground is broken and tested by others. It is only then that they are brave enough to face the future….
Conservatives never face the future.
Remember that next time you are considering the National Party’s approach to anything …. it is in their DNA – conservative, fearful and afraid, unable and unwilling to look ahead…..
little use they are, little use …
are you a conservative Pete? (btw, don’t be afraid to admit that you are, they do have a purpose although it is a small and little used one – do you know what it is?)
I was actually thinking about this today while bumping over bumps and road-coning along (road-coning being the trick of clipping cones just enough to topple them, especially when they are used to divert from where there is no need… which is unbelievably common)
If society is a ship on the sea then the conservatives are the lead in the keel and the ballast in the bilges. They keep the ship upright and stable but they have no idea where they have been or where they are going, let alone how to sail or any other such useful functions in the ship. Their use is as dead-weight….
… whereas the future-facers, they are everything… they are the navigators, the ones at the helm, they raise and drop the sails, stitch and mend the sails, the list goes on…
The problem arises of course when the dead-weight tries to navigate and sail… they should just stay in the bilges…
Just look at Peter Dunne
Interesting analogy. And who do you think would be the ones fighting over everyone having an equal share of the sails and shredding them in the process? And throwing everyone over starboard for standing on the wrong side?
All sailors know that order is required at sea and as such disorder is very uncommon as the result is disaster for all …
Of course the ship requires all components as otherwise without the lead and ballast the ship would roll over and sink.. while without the sailors and navigators the ship would hit rocks and sink…
Again, the problem arises when the dead-weight tries to sail, while the effect of sailors adding their (typically skinny) mass to the dead-weight is negligible.
It IS an interesting analogy isn’t it. It works in many many senses …
We’re all sailors but every three years we get to navigate and elect helmsmen.
Problem arises when navigators allow helmsmen to navigate.
are you a conservative Pete?
Depends on what you’re referring to as ‘conservative’. I was nowhere near being a supporter of Colin Craig’s so-called Conservatives.
I’m conservative about some things but can be radical about others. I don’t have much in common with the conservatives who frequent Kiwiblog. Or here (for example lprent and others are quite conservative/old school in how they approach doing politics).
I generally tend to think and act outside the crowd, am prepared to consider minority views and willing question groupthink.
Which do you prefer : A National led government or a Labour led government?
In 1999, 2002 and 2005 I preferred a Labour led government. In 2008, 2011 and 2014 I preferred a National led government.
I hope I can prefer a Labour led government again but they have got to sort a lot of stuff out before I think they will be up to it. It’s a big ask to reverse a decade long declining trend in three years but I hope they are at least competitive in 2017.
If Little and Labour have improved sufficiently there’s a better than even chance I’ll be interested in improving Labour’s share of the vote, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they will be ready to be preferred lead party in Government.
“.. I’ll be interested in improving Labour’s share of the vote..”
delusions of grandeur..much..?
Delusions of democracy?
I get one vote like nearly everyone else.
I hope I can prefer a Labour led government again but they have got to sort a lot of stuff out before I think they will be up to it.
What do you mean by ‘they have to sort a lot of stuff?’ What stuff? Explain.
But the Greens weren’t formed then.
Yo wut? Anyway, the NZ Green Party may not have been formed then, but the German version was.
Hi Pete.
What do you mean by this?
“It was 17 minutes to midnight in 1991 – it’s hard to believe that we are more than five times more precarious now than then.
But the Greens weren’t formed then.”
An obvious reading is that it is the formation of the Greens that has moved the clock forward. Is that what you meant?
No I didn’t mean that. The Greens haven’t been in government so could hardly be blamed.
However they keep warning of the end of the world as we know it unless we change everything so have raised fears of the end of the world.
Ironically for a Bulletin of Atomic Scientists there doesn’t seem to be a lot of science involved in tweaking their clock. It seems to be based on perceptions.
It may have worked effectively in the 1940s and 1950s but it seems a bit quaint and impotent now. And that’s similar to what the Greens are now struggling with.
So many riches in one comment, I don’t know where to start, so am just going to back away while I still can, lol.
😆 Weka.
yes..that was funny…
Perhaps people who are interested in the physical measurable world and less in the imaginary have a better “subjective” opinion than you do?
I believe they do a statistical sampling.
But based on the current population and that effects we are seeing now are far more irreversible than just dropping bombs, then I’d agree with them. Of course I have a science degree in the area of most concern?
What is the basis of your opinion? Navel hair?
“I believe they do a statistical sampling” is not very scientific. They don’t cite any methodology in their announcement. Can you cite anything on their methodology or do you just have a belief in it? ?
How can you do statistical sampling of the nuclear threat?
“Modernization of huge arsenals” is mentioned but they don’t explain how that would make the weapons more dangerous, I would hope that they would be making them safer.
I can understand that “Disarmament machinery that has ground to a halt” might not reduce the risk but why would it significantly (from 5 to 3) increase the risk?
“From 2009 to 2013, the Obama administration cut only 309 warheads” shouldn’t increase the risk markedly.
“Progress on climate and nuclear weapons issues has been too limited in recent years, according to the Board statement” – again, maybe a reason not to increase the minutes but reason to change it from 5 to 3?
What they seem to have done is substantially increase the climate risk.
Atomic scientists are presumably not climate scientists (ok, some of them cite climate connections but that seems odd for a Bulletin of Atomic Scientists).
The climate risks have been talked about for decades, it isn’t some sudden new risk or suddenly escalated risk.
And atomic scientists are presumably not psychologists who are able to assess the risk of nuclear nation leaders going momentarily mental.
There’s plenty of dramatic statements in their announcement but no sign of scientific backing apart from stating they are scientists.
I’m surprised to see them nearly double the risk in three years. Without any apparent science.
Source: http://thebulletin.org/press-release/press-release-it-now-3-minutes-midnight7950
“Of course I have a science degree in the area of most concern?”
Climate science?
Atomic Weaponry science?
Risk Assessment science?
When did you last study or research in “the area of most concern”?
I’m interested to see your scientific backing for a change of risk from 5 to 3. You must have some good science to support “then I’d agree with them”.
My impression is they are confusing a need for urgent action with the imminence of apocalypse. One scientists says “by the end of this century to profoundly transform the Earth’s climate” but also “We all need to respond now”.
What is your scientific assessment of the consequences of “rapid action to drastically reduce global emissions of heat-trapping gases, especially carbon dioxide”?
There must be some scientific analysis of the possible and probable positive and negative effects of rapid and drastic reductions in global emissions.
Do you seriously expect people to go and read the whole bulletin and then summarise it for your beige benefit?
I read it. It contains the answers to your questions.
So it should be easy for you to provide citations then.
Interesting that the bulletin would answer questions about lprent’s scientific credentials. I must have missed those bits.
The answers to that are available here. Not searching them out for you either.
Go play your games at Yawns, Petty.
The usual OAB MO, make a dubious claim, fail to back it up, and divert into petty attack.
The claim that The Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists answers Pete’s questions about The Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists is easily verified, as is the claim that Lprent has mentioned his academic credentials on this forum.
Pete’s too lazy to read the lengthy articles of the former, and too dishonest to admit that he remembers the latter.
Yawns.
Same old empty retchoric.
“.. make a dubious claim, fail to back it up, and divert..”
petey..!..that’s yr m.o..!
pete why didn’t you at least learn some skills when you were the fackchecker – you are just making yourself out to be silly here slackchecker
The usual suspects lining up to contribute positively to discussion. /sarc
Been playing with code on site today. This will be short.
I can’t cite anything for it without spending more time than I currently have. It was from a Economist article just after the fall of the Berlin wall in the late 80s. From memory they sample the views of the members of the atomic scientists membership, which can include everyone who works with radioactives from physicists to geologists and even climate scientists.
Playing with nuclear weapons even to upgrade or improve them is dangerous in its own right. However I suspect that the underlying issue is that trying to make weapons that are more able to bypass or destroy defenses or attack systems (the GPS sats for instance) is inherently dangerous. It is effectively an escalation of posture and makes it more likely that a cornerstone of deterrence fails.
BTW: Virtually every scientist or person trained deeply in science understands the basis of climate science and why they are worried about climate change. Everyone from physicists to people with just bachelor degrees knows the basis of the science. They may disagree about how to cope with it and the degree of alarm, but it is really hard to find one who isn’t paid by the carbon industries who wouldn’t put that up as one of the most dangerous issues politically today.
Especially people playing with nuclear arms. They are aware of the history that a high proportion of wars are triggered by disputes over scarce resources.
The reason that the climate change issue is imminent is because you are confusing the cause and the effects because of the oceanic and icecap buffering. The cause is excessive CO2 (and a few other gases – but CO2 is the killer) in the volatiles that make up the oceans and atmosphere. Currently the excess CO2 is piling into the oceans and what extra CO2 is resident in the atmosphere is largely pumping its extra warming into melting ice and warming oceans.
After those buffers start having a diminished ability to suck up excess, then everything that gets dumped into the atmosphere causes a much greater effect than we see today. Moreover the oceans aren’t static. They run with deep currents and the bulk of the stored heat and CO2 from the last century is currently being transported to the equators to pulse out at some time in the future (and BTW we still don’t really know how long that is away).
The big risk is that if we don’t stop dumping waste CO2 until we see some effects, then we are likely to not see a gradual climate shift, but one that is periods of gradual change (like the last 15 years) punctuated by big spikes of change (like the decade prior). The level of the shifts are likely to keep getting larger.
What that means for war is that instead of a gradual movement out of somewhere like Bangladesh as the farmlands get saline, we’re much more likely to see a 150 million starving people pouring over borders in a single year. Or instead of having the monsoons move offshore slowly over years, they simply will stop falling on land for years on end. Same in NZ, we’d get droughts year after year, followed by floods year after year. Climate change directly hits food production because it makes it more unpredictable.
My first degree was in earth sciences. Look up what it covers. I study in it all of the time, just as I do in every other area I have trained or work in.
There is this elegant thing called “searching the net for resources” and I have these abilities to “read” and “comprehend”. I know that the first and the last are difficult for you. But I have provided some hints on topics above.
The latest Roy Morgan poll is of minor interest but I wouldn’t bet the year on it – National up to 52%, they same as they were mid-last year.
– National 52% (up 6% since November 24-December 7, 2014)
– Maori Party 1.5% (down 0.5%)
– Act NZ 1% (down 0.5%)
– United Future 0% (unchanged)
– Labour Party 26% (down 1%)
– Greens 11% (down 1%)
– NZ First 6% (down 1%
Apart from National hey are insignificant changes especially for this time of year.
– Conservative Party of NZ 2% (down 0.5%)
– Internet-Mana Party alliance 0% (down 1%)
– Independent/ Others 0.5% (down 0.5%)
Internet-Mana down to 8% is one of the more notable results. The Internet Party seems doomed but Mana has been dragged right down with them.
National deserve their high outcome in the RM.
There is no longer an Internet Mana Party – the arrangement expired a few weeks back. Roy Morgan should do some homework.
Expired? Or they disbanded?
As I understand it the original arrangement was to be reviewed a few months after the election anyway. And I’m certain I have read that they had given up on the arrangement with no hard feelings, but I am not able to find a link.
ok, thanks. I thought the 6 week past the election thing was for a review, rather than it expiring. But interesting there’s not been anything formal in public.
Hone confirmed to TV3’s The Nation at its Christmas party the relationship had formally ended:
http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/internet-mana-coalition-comes-to-an-end-2014121313#axzz3PdrmqBiW
This is the nearest thing I could find, from Dec 7th – Hone says he is open to working with Dotcom again, but it would be under the Mana banner.
http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/mana-party-goes-big-for-2017-2014120713#axzz3PddLyZf7
Not sure which is more shocking, that the Herald ran this McDonalds advert as a news story, or the list of ingredients in US made McDonalds chips.
Dimethylpolysiloxane, which Imahara struggles to pronounce, is added for safety reasons to prevent cooking oil from foaming.
While tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) is applied as a food preservative.
Imahara explains that there are numerous steps involved in the creation of McDonald’s fries.
First potatoes are harvested from fields before being peeled, cut and blanched.
They’re then fired through a cutter at up to 70 miles an hour into thin sticks.
After being chiseled into the perfect shape, the strips of potato are sauced with a blend of canola oil, soybean oil, hydrongenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor, hydrolyzed wheat, hydrolyzed milk, citric acid and dimethylpolysiloxane.
Dextrose – a natural sugar – is sprayed on the batons to help them maintain a golden fried color.
Sodium acid pyrophosphate is also added to prevent the fries from going grey.
Last but not least, salt is sprinkled on for flavor.
The fries are then flash frozen at the Simplot factory and transported to McDonald’s outlets across the country.
Once they are at restaurants, the potato sticks are fried for a second time.
The oil blend is similar to the factory mix, with the addition of tertiary butylhydroquinone and hydrogenated soybean oil – a manufactured form of trans fat.
And voila! McDonald’s World Famous Fries are served.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11390699
McDonalds, because despite their food tech the best chips on the planet are made with the right spuddies cut, soaked and double fried, in dripping, by Stan in his shed.
😀
OR
cut into wedges… par boiled, dried off, shaken to rough up… heat oil/duck fat in oven til piping hot. In they go, turn every ten minutes till cooked. Sprinkle with salt.
Yum-Bloody-O
natural beef flavor
If the cow worshiping Hindus read this, there could be riots in India!
And if McDonald’s use lard or pork flavor, the 1.6 billion Muslims plus 13 million Jews in the world will go gaga!
Apart from that, they use 19 ingredients to make the chips! Wonder how healthy and safe these chips are.
They taste damn good though!
Bear in mind that ‘natural beef flavour’ is a flavour. It might not necessarily have any actual relationship to natural beef.
Exactly. Pretty sure it’s made out of people.
actual lol.
mike was pretty good too.
It’s shameful that the NZ MSM is still/i> so ignorant of the the Māori world.
Andrea Vance promotes the Pākehā imperialist agenda,
“Greens use Ratana meeting to attack John Key”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/65343562/greens-use-ratana-meeting-to-attack-john-key
Dave Kennedy puts the speech in context.
“Turei Ratana Speech Justified”
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2015/01/turei-ratana-speech-justified.html
And Ratana would have smiled
Nact could have preserved the unity by also condemning FJK’s shonky view of history. It wasn’t Metiria who destroyed it.