In good times all skilled people want to contract: they are certain of more work when the term ends, they can demand more cash, and be focused with less responsibility (they no longer officially belong to the organisation). And most importantly, they are not on PAYE which gives them the ability to avoid tax others dont have. When the cash dries up security becomes all, even though contractors hang on as long as they can.
What I have described is an ethos which is at odds with “public service”. It is a primary reason why “private” contracts should be the exception rather than the rule in “public service”.
I will await the Auditor Generals report to draw conclusions. I think Shearer and Jones have done the right thing here as they were never going to beat the Nact attack dogs in the media and the blogs.
The bigger picture is now clearer: Key cant attack Shearer for how he addresses these issues, Shearer can attack Key over the Banks issue. Smokescreens are only good if you are up wind. Watch key rush through the asset sales before Banks gets nobbled by the law.
Instead he ordered her deportation to Iran under threat of death for converting from Islam to Christianity? Whereâs the humanitarian streak there?
Sadly, she’s not the first sent back when they’d sought asylum for that reason. đ At the same time as one of them (in about 2007?) a gay Iranian was feted and welcomed when he spoke about his fear of being in trouble for his homosexuality…
—We should be 100% concerned about these happenings, as our cities and country is in debt, and the forced sales of our energy security, just the beginning..
A newly published case study, resulting from research out of Harvard and Cambridge, provides evidence of the destructive, undemocratic and socially unjust results of neoliberalism.
claim to have established a “direct link” between the mass privatisation programmes followed by around half the countries of the region â enthusiastically urged upon them by western economists and western financial institutions â and the “economic failure and corruption that followed”. The more closely the countries followed western advice, and the more they privatised, the worse things became.
{…]
The level of economic output crashed throughout the region (the average fall in GDP in was nearly 30% in the early 1990s) as eastern Europe suffered a slump far worse than the Great Depression experienced by the US and the UK 60 years earlier, but which the Hollywood film industry or western writers have up to now shown little interest in covering.
And now the destructive and greedy neoliberal elite are poised to prey on the changes brought by the Arab spring in Egypt and other places in North Africa.
The article contrasts these policies with Norway, that in 2004 had a high level of democracy, state ownership and standard of living. In contrasts the claims of “freedom” by the privatisers and free marketeers, are shown to be a myth, as their policies bring about the curtailment of political freedoms.
And this destructive and unjust privatisation and free-market policies are the ones being extended by the current government at a time when the least well-off are already suffering.
In contrasts the claims of âfreedomâ by the privatisers and free marketeers, are shown to be a myth, as their policies bring about the curtailment of political freedoms.
Which is exactly what they’re designed to bring about. They do it so well that that must be their function.
When you privatise the commons then those who are dependent upon those resources will become the serfs of the new owners.
Without wishing to intrude too far into your business, and going on simply what I’ve read in your posts, this might be a route away from the problem you talked about here a couple of days ago:
Without wishing to intrude too far into your business, and going on simply what Iâve read in your posts, this might be a route away from the problem you talked about here a couple of days ago:
Thank you Uturn, I had missed it, so I am very pleased!
Vicky32 đ
Good Morning. Like the Sun I’m shining and not gonna hide behind any clouds all day.
Even though it is the day of the “Carcass Budget” where the majority of New Zealanders find out “The Remains of the Day.
Bored; Sometimes I read nuances in your posts that remind me of the way Trevor Mallard speaks.
which remind me of his better qualities.
Scientologists: Unbelievable! I wonder how many Barnum ticket buyers there are in NZ signing up for this nonsense and its prehistoric conditioning.
I tried to find similar blog content to this briefly last night. I value the way posts fall beneath each other. No joy yet,so much noise out there. So off to scroll the blog-roll????
Heaven forbid, like Mallard in his better moments…no. From where I sit he is to the Right of Genghis Khan (may be exaggerating slightly). Actually Sam I am an optimistic realist who runs businesses optimistically (despite disagreeing with the fundamental economic construct), and a futurist who finds willful blindness to known realities somewhat disturbing.
Good link Joe, found this story about how the Greek tragedy is underpinned by corruption from German bankers / industrialists to the Greek bankers and politicians. http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/revealed-how-paying-double-for-german-subs-helped-to-sink-greece/
Amazingly the normal RWNJs come on here blaming the Greek population with profligacy etc. Never a hint that the whole edifice is rotten, that their construct of the world is concurrently misanthropic and demonstrably false.
“Our country is abundantly rich in natural gas but the former military regime sold it to foreign countries without any consideration for the people,” said activist Ko Htin Kyaw, 49.
This struck me in light of the NACTS selling off the assets.
Azawad but where is Crimp progressing to? And do we want to be influenced by this man who if airports had body scans would seem to have a brain the size of a pea and a heart twisted and warped.
No doubt he is receiving quality, concerned medical care for his skin cancer and other ailments – why should we do that? Give him back the same amount as his portion of true community caring offered (apart from showy chest-thumping philanthropy).
Special needs children are to be given ‘intensive wrap-around service’ which will enable them to be cared for at home and go to local schools. Will the children have their own classes or join the tail of the mainstream school which is so much denigrated by the upper class? This pressure on teachers to please their political masters demand higher achievement for all is like lions made to jump through flaming hoops. I think teachers are noble people and deserve respect for their experience and skills and opinions. They resent being whipped verbally and having more and more tasks to perform.
Time-consuming children with ‘special needs’ from the other children in a mixed class will require more complicated individual teaching plans than for the other children. The education of the average children will deteriorate and teachers blamed. It appears that education is not valued for the children of the mass of the public while the wealthy can advance their own interests by accessing private schools and tutoring which will ensure they can get any good paying positions left in the country. The rest can be hounded from one low income job to another, and probably on a casual basis with their controller governing all their decisions and time, their cellphone, and their employer’s demands for their service at short notice.
A spokesperson from one school with special needs children says that their needs have to be subsidised from the money from international students. There isn’t adequate funding for these children and those with extreme disabilities are not receiving something called ORS funding which one would think should be mandatory. This is an ideological program and takes away choice and will place considerable demands on poorer parents. However if the government is prepared to do the right thing and support with real money, the care by parents and relatives of these children cost will be alleviated, though time for having a life will diminish and fatigue from
extra responsibilities will rise.
I cringe when Paula Benefit and ministerial colleagues talks about providing some service that “wraps around” individuals in some marginalised group. They’re trying to sound as if they’re doing something caring at the same time as limiting provisions for that group.
Moderation at present seems extreme. I can’t understand what simple things set it off – I haven’t mentioned nazis for instance nor the H… name. Could it be sensitive to dodgy sounding political terms like “wrap-around intensive service” for special needs children?
[Not sure what’s going on, sorry – is every comment from you going to mod? — r0b]
Protest action from Auckland University students to Budget planned today, at UoA. If rumours are correct, that action should make 1pm news interesting.
âWe, students, teachers, researchers, workers, politicians, parentsâŚ, call for a transformation to the current fees, loans and repayment system in tertiary education. We do not need small reforms, we need structural change. When the government and the elite insist that the only way to fund education is indebtedness, we say that education is a human right and a social necessity. We say that targeting citizen-students who cannot pay and landing them with crippling debt, is a violation of the principles of equality and freedom that our country is supposedly built on. We say that democracy demands educated and creative people, and that these changes, and the fees and loans system as it already stands, impoverish nearly every citizen who decides to pursue tertiary education. We say that the current government and the elite are destabilizing our country and mindlessly trading our future for their own privileged present.â
The above statement has support from the Council of Trade Unions, the Service and Food Workers Union, Mana, Socialist Aotearoa and Auckland Action Against Poverty.
Did you know that women-owned new enterprises outperform men-owned enterprises and woman gain more tertiary qualifications in New Zealand than men? Despite this, woman on average earn $10,000 less per year than men. There’s no doubt that woman are getting a raw deal…
Wellll…went through some time Im not going to see again looking at blogs and added AT,a wider perspective and frogblog.
What Im really looking for is a topical blog like this with contributions that draw upon the openess that the internet can facilitate. There is sooo much “noise” on the net, but I can see why this blog rates highly re visits.
If a blog touched upon these themes I would find it really useful for my path I know,
Sociohistorical cultural context
Power distribution
Applied ontology
Applied epistemology
Applied Metaphysics
Nietzsche who I have never really forgotten,and whos analysis remains salient
Foucaultian analysis
The intersection between politics and capital.
Project: analysis and synthesis of Tao application to present historical epoch.
Once was a Diesel Mechanic but now a gardener.
First significant employment was growing vegetables for the Chinese and 4 decades later I would be happy to do it again if they wished.
I even enjoy and learn from Draco T Bastard.
It has been a lonely 40 years in the desert before I discovered the possibilities of Blogs for learning.
The western gaze finally provided moi with an “explanation” (mainly description) for my “challenges with Living”; Schizoid, yet my scores on the Big Five identify Openess and Conscientiousness. There used to be an element of neuroticism, hence my hostile attacks on the politicians, but in 1 keystroke, U-Turn led the struggle to cease. Over 40 years to undo the socialisation outcomes of adoption, childhood abuse, childhood parental bereavement, capitalist marketing culture and attacks by the Self upon the Self.
Thank you again
For those who didn’t see the general debate yesterday here is David Shearer spelling out a few home truths for the national party. This the first time That I have seen him on attack like this, It certainly looks like the teething problems are coming to an end, and he is beginning to find the required leadership qualities that will show he can lead labour into that brighter future.
Sending the ashes of loved ones into space is a really good way to use up the last of our cheap oil (tech dude on Nine to Noon was waxing lyrical about the recent advancements of private space travel). Beam me down Scottie (or anywhere but here).
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What would be the fun in that? The cops wouldn’t have been able to run around with guns and terrorize the locals then. Can’t think of anybody else getting such a long sentence for having unregistered guns? Unprecedented!
After a six-week trial earlier this year, all but Signer were found guilty of five charges of unlawful possession of firearms, and one charge of unlawful possession of a restricted weapon â Molotov cocktails.
Rubbish! You can purchase assault riffles here. The restriction relates to how fast they can fire. If that had been modified as you imply, then you would expect the Police to have laid charges for it. You’re arguing from ignorance again The Cnidarian.
Did I say you couldn’t buy assault rifles here? No, I said they were restricted.
i.e.:Â certain pistols, submachine guns or machine guns defined as Restricted Weapons for collecting purposes but not to fire them or take them from their home other than for exhibition purposes, and Restricted Weapons are to be disabledÂ
These restricted weapons are only allowed to be used/fired if you have special license.
Um, you seem to be a bit fixated on the rifles – the “restricted weapon” was the molotov cocktail they apparently had.
From what I gather, the rifles were just legal ones possessed unlawfully.
In this case, “restricted weapon” means “stuff nobody would ever possibly need to be wandering around DoC land with”. Although softening up an area with mortars before going after deer does sound fun. And Barry Crump’s trick of culling wild pigs by putting detonators in potatos probably counts as mine-laying these days.
More that you’re inflating the crimes for which they have been convicted in order to justify the sentence – i.e. taking unlawfull possession of firearms and one molotov and reconstructing it into that they were all running around with full auto M60s like Rambo.
And the court mentioned MSSA’s as a possibility if the weapons had high-capacity magazines, but they weren’t convicted of possessing MSSA’s. And no mention was made of magazines being found.
But keep up with your stirling defense of the establishment, they might give you a gong one day.
“But keep up with your stirling defense of the establishment, they might give you a gong one day.”
Stirling defense of the establishment? Yeah, don’t think I have defended the establishment anymore than stating they broke a law for which they were punished.
You see this is what’s wrong with some of you people on this website – you mistake “Well i don’t really know, but this is how I understand it” or any questioning of what is being said to mean “Conservative, tory, NACt right-winger. Look at you supporting the establishment”. When if you read through my comments I was asking question stating what I knew and not once “defending the establishment” outside of agreeing that those that break laws face consequences – the maximum in this instance being 4 years
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All guns are “restricted” in some way. For military style semi-automatic weapons you usually need an E class license, which you also need if you want to shoot shotguns.
What I don’t get about this is that there were people there with gun licences. Under current law you’re allowed to operate a gun without a license if you’re under immediate supervision of a licence holder. That’s how most people learn to shoot.
2.5 years which could be a 1/3 of that with parole isnât very tough considering the max penalty
You reckon TC. It is a huge sentence. It is really rare for Judges to go over half of the maximum sentence. And when you think of how long it has gone on and the severe penalty the parties have already paid it is very long. I will be interested to see what the Court of Appeal do with the decision. You can guarantee that it will end up there.
Oh, I agree the entire thing was a complete farce and a monumental waste of resources
But hard to argue yourself out of having modified military weapons and it isn’t unusual to be given a stiffer penalty if you already have a firearms charge (Iti – discharging a weapon in a public place)
Some of which didn’t even work. You might be surprised to learn that there were 7074 reported prohibited and regulated weapons and explosive offenses recorded in New Zealand last year alone. The police usually give a warning for unregistered guns… Sometimes they will confiscate them until a license is obtained. Two and a half years is just mental!
So you think there should be a law change surrounding possession of illegally modified military weapons? Currently its max 4 years, what do you think it should be?
I think the law should be applied equally, which appears not to be the case here. I wonder if the judge came under any pressure to make such a disproportionate decision?
Can you point to a similar case where someone was given considerably less ?
I don’t think there has been a similar case in NZ and while I think it was an OTT response by the police to Tama Iti and his mates behaving like unmitigated dick heads for the umpteenth time I’m somewhat conflicted as I do believe a strong message needs to be sent but I’m not convinced this is the right way to do it.
That’ll be difficult, Jackal, because each case is different. Usually, there are no conspiritorial aspects, just an individual refusing to obey the law. In this case, the sentence seems appropriate to me, because of the nature of the offending.
So what?
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People who receive ten months will be out in a considerably shorter time than that.
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And law changes are another diversion. The current law says the maximum sentence is four years and Iti received a fair chunk of that.
The sentences imposed on Tame Iti and Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara are manifestly unfair and speak less about justice and more about the system wanting to exact utu. The judge, in sentencing, spoke more to the crimes they were not convicted on than anything to do with being unlawfully in possession of firearms.
Compare the sentences to the fine and community sentence imposed on a Doctor for firing a crossbow within 3 metres of a group of sleeping children; the 2 1/2 year jail sentence for the accidental shooting and killing of Rosemary Ives; the sentence of home detention received by the Wanaka hunter for shooting and killing his best friend. Also compare to the 12 people that were issued with non-compliance notices by Fish and Game for duck hunting without a firearms license.
The sentences will go to appeal and if there is justice in the system these men will have their sentences overturned. Grumpy: Iti and Kemara have effectively been martyred and Tame Iti’s international appeal has probably grown more luminescent as a consequence.
You obviously believe Iti, Kemara, Signer and Bailey were âthinking acts of terrorismâ or at least âcrimes against humanity.â How low is your wattage that you cannot differentiate pulp from fiction? Fiction is in believing that these four neo-liberalised convicts are capable of real acts of terrorism. The pulp is believing that Tame Iti dressed in camouflage makes for a credible Rambo.
Tame Iti does not need to resort to terrorism to make his points known. He is the darling of the international twee set, who think itâs âtrès chicâ to have a fully scribed MÄori amongst their kind. Indigenous Americans are similarly idolatrised, (every second white person appears to have a ânative American spirit guideâ). Admittedly, there are many within the bourgeois spiritually astute enough to recognise good from bad. Iti and his cohorts are good.
Reality TV, however surreptiously created, does not make for good evidence, really. 18 months of covert surveillance and we arrive at a marvellous artform that delivers the following Oscar performances:
â…oh yes, lets assassinate George W Bush, weâll catapult a bus onto his head…â
Bro, whereâre we gonna get the bus?
Doh!
Trademe!
or:
Bro, we only have one Molotov cocktail.
Bro, well, I need the petrol for my car.
Bro, your car needs to be catapulted onto GW Bushâs head
Bro, thatâs not a very nice thing to say about my Holden.
Bro, then shoot me with your MSSA (Chorus of chortling in the background followed by a haka).
This sentencing has confirmed to the international community that New Zealand is backward in terms of race relations. Paranoia has overtaken critical and reasonable analysis. Although convicted of firearms charges Iti, Kemara, Signer and Bailey were sentenced, in the minds of the ignorant, as terrorists.
Precedence establishes what is appropriate sentencing for firearms related charges.
No, I don’t think the Tame and Rangi were ever seriously going to commit acts of terrorism.
As I said above I think it was an OTT response by the police to Tame’s usual behaviour which has tended towards the stupid end of the spectrum many times in the past, he is, however, harmless and I can’t recall him ever being accused or convicted of any type of violent offence.
I also think many of those he took up into the bush were idiot little anarchists who tend to speak a ‘big game’ but are usually harmless and deluded twits.
That being said Iâm somewhat conflicted as I do believe a strong message needs to be sent about these type of activities and firearms but Iâm not convinced that this sentence is the right way to do it.
Who writes the Herald editorials these days? There’s been a number of them lately which have blatantly been pushing National party policy and they’re given authority as editorials which were traditionally the views of the editor of the ‘paper. This one here is a prime example;
Editorial: Sales good bet for investors, enterprises
It’s nothing more than a brazen attempt to try & refute the growing resistance to asset sales; pure spin. It’s not for the media to tell us what we want, if they’re to take a stand they should be backing public opinion, so why are these biased editorials appearing in the Herald of late? Who’s behind them, anyone know?
The woman in question is not taking me to court for defamation for the simple reason that every thing i have stated is true.
Woman in question is taking me to court after 18 months of putting up with her harassment of me after i supported Slater in staying with his wife and family – for harassment.
These harassment proceedings were filed prior to me ever naming her on my blog. She has a free lawyer that she likes to use in her pursuit of people that she has real or imagined grievances with.
I said it on that blog post and i will say it again – i doubt Cameron Slater would want anyone challenging me to prove what i have written.
Don’t ask me why. I am not an unfaithful married man. How would i know why men do these things.
I am even more stumped by why he would then sit on the internet airing every one else’s dirty laundry when he has so much of his own – or why she would file harassment proceedings against me because i couldn’t handle having their drama in my life and attempted to end my friendship with her after her suicide attempt when he wouldn’t leave his wife.
18 months of drama from those two and then i get served with harassment proceedings and [name redacted] goes to the media and claims it is all about Michael Laws.
I am not about to sit back and take that and i make no apologies for that.
Cameron’s wife already knows about the affair. [name redacted] emailed her all the gory details – including screenshots of their conversations professing love – when she took offence to him going away with his family over Christmas 2010.
I have 18 months worth of electronic proof of their affair.
Online suicide note by [name redacted] when he refused to leave his wife.
Emails from him.
Emails from her to him.
The whole saga is crazy.
One would think if he is going to be high and mighty regarding other people’s morals then he would at least pick someone sane to cheat on his wife with.
Instead he picked an absolute psycho,bleated to me about it for 18 months, then ran with his tail between his legs when she harasses me enough to get it printed in the HOS, THEN sits back while his friend Cathy Odgers blogs and laughs about the situation.
I thought he was smarter than that as well. Perhaps he has a GOD complex.
So why is Cactus Kate of the Alzheimers old Codgers and Tax dodgers Party getting on the case is it because the last of the fundamentalist monetarists are going down the gurgle r and they have to stick together like the captain of a sinking ship.
Is it mycau this week Cactus the swimming pool must be closed to many sharks circling
Felix – I don’t want anything to do with them. I tried to end my “friendship” with [name redacted] who used to Blog on Whale Oil as “Blondie” and for that i have received 18 months worth of her attention and stalking me.
When it got to the point that she served me with legal papers that are full of lies because she has a free lawyer and she knows i don’t – and can’t afford one – and then got this whole saga in the media implying it was about Laws – i felt the need to defend myself. It had gotten to the point where i could no longer just delete and ignore her vitriol from my life like i have done for the most part of 18 months.
I have quit writing in my own blog because of the element of society that i am not comfortable with – ie the [name redacted], the Madeleine Flannagans, and the Cameron Slaters of this world and their nasty drama that it allowed in to my life.
Mike E – no idea why Cathy Odgers felt the need to stir the pot when she knew it was her friend’s cheating that i had been protecting him from being made public for 18 months. Not all that smart but – who knows what goes on in anyone else’s heads.
Good on ya, Jacqueline, I hope you get through this drama OK. I guess if there is anything to learn its that you should avoid mentally ill right wingers in future. Although, admittedly, its hard to spot where the politics ends and the illness begins with the likes of Laws.
Like i said to the editor of the HOS – i have survived worse than this, and i will survive this latest drama.
And yes – i digress – mentally ill right wingers should be avoided at all cost. Had i not let Laws into my life – i never would have met Slater – then i never would have met [name redacted] or her Mad lawyer Madeleine Flannagan – and my life would be peaceful right now.
They have been like a metastatic cancer in my life…it just keeps spreading.
I’m not ususally wild about Geoffry Miller’s stuff, but in this piece, he articulates my feelings in giving Shearer the bollocking he so richly deserves over Shearer’s dealings with fat cats at SkyCity, both in accepting gifts and in cosying-up over leisurely and luxurious dinner parties.
He’s shaping-up as our own inept and inarticulate version of Tony Blair imo.
Geoffrey Miller: Is taking gifts from lobbyists ever a good idea?
David Shearer has defended taking free hospitality from SkyCity at the Rugby World Cup by saying he didn’t know at the time about the âconvention centre for pokie machines dealâ. If this is really true, then Shearer is, at the very least, guilty of incompetence, as the deal was announced in June 2011 and he is an Auckland MP. The deal was covered by the media at the time in June 2011. The alternative is somewhat worse for Shearer, namely that he was in fact fully aware of the news of the deal in June 2011, but somehow, in May 2012, fell victim to the rather contagious and virulent malady spreading through the New Zealand parliament: the ‘cannot recall’ disease…
Indeed. But the sentence for two people with a collection of automatic weapons or even MSSA’s would reasonably be a bit stronger than for people with the same number of .22 non-MSSA semi-autos and some non-MSSA shotguns, wouldn’t it.
Like I say, you’re inflating the crime to justify the sentence. Or if you want to get all object-oriented, you’re inflating this instance of crime in order to justify this instance of sentence.
Personally I don’t see why you’re getting so worked up on being called a defender of the establishment – I mean it simply describes your stretching of interpretation in this particular instance, such as bringing automatic weapons into the discussion about a case that involved none. Now you’re all embarrassed, like a teenager who gets called out on the fact that he’s been fawning blatantly over another cute teenager.
Look up the difference between “automatic” and “semi-automatic”. A marked escalation right there.
“Rabid attitude”? All I’ve done is point out that you managed to shift the level of the crimes for which they were convicted from one case of a restricted weapon (the molotov) and a few not-uncommon firearm possession charges up to everybody having automatic weapons with hi-cap mags. And you get all defensive.
“All Iâve done is point out that you managed to shift the level of the crimes for which they were convicted from one case of a restricted weapon (the molotov) and a few not-uncommon firearm possession charges up to everybody having automatic weapons with hi-cap mags.”
What utter bullshit. There were auto weapons (semi-auto granted) I never mentioned magazines. I never shifted anything – all I pointed out was that 2.5 years didn’t seem excessive considering the max is 4. Then there was a dispute about the weapons of which I was quite clear that I was running from memory and asking for clarification. But what ever, you win.
Congratulations. You may now go chuckle about it.Â
“Semi-automatic”: one trigger depression, one bang.
“Automatic”: one trigger depression, many bangs.
A significant functional and legislative difference. Semi-autos are fine. Automatics are “restricted”. That is why there was only ONE “restricted weapon” charge – for the molotov. Not for any of the firearms.
You argued that a sentence of 2 or 3 times the average firearms possession jail sentence was not particularly harsh for possession of “unregistered, illegally modified military weapons”. At least one of those adjectives was false. And you get all persnickety when called on it.
Love that – discussion is over but you thought you’d repeat your side anyway.
Far from chuckling, I’m still amazed that you chose to make such a categorical statement about which you obviously know absolutely nothing. And I’m pretty sure that’s not much of an exagerration, if at all.
For example, semi-automatic firearms are legally fine, exactly the same as bolt action rifles or even a muzzle-loading black powder musket. I think you might be confusing all semi-automatics with “military-style semi automatics”, which are at a higher level of licensing than most firearms (but still not “restricted weapons”, which are another class of no-nos). The latter include things like folding stocks, bayonet lugs (to stick a knife on the end of the weapon), high capacity magazine (the bullet holder holds lots of bullets), and pistol-style hand grips.
So the degree of the offense which justified a sentence 2 or 3 times longer than the average for the same offense was “unregistered” – which is hardly out of the ordinary for an unlawful possession charge.
There is the matter of the single molotov, but it seems to me that much of the sentencing rests on the judge having the feeling that they really did in fact commit the other crimes of which they were actually acquitted. But they seem to have pretty capable lawyers to sort that out.
“edit: Unregistered, illegally modified military weapons.”
That’s how you introduced your false decription of what they convicted of. The context was clear enough. Jackal was saying unregistered weapons, and you were saying it was a bit more than that.
You later admitted that you didn’t actually know what you were talking aboput and that it was all based on some video you’d seen.
if you don’t care what sentence they got, why have you been provoking arguments and insulting people who do have an opinion about it?
Hint: the 4 year max is a red herring. No one was saying that they were sentenced above the max. People are just saying tthat they think 2 1/2 years is steep for what they were convicted on, which is fair enough isn’t it?
That’s nice HS but we already know that most of the police case was bullpucky! It’s interesting though that Peter Marshall says there was no explanation given as to what the accused were doing in the Ruatoki, which is a complete lie!
We raided because somebody said they were going to catapult a bus onto John Keys head… it was a serious investigation. Yeah right!
However it appears that the judge took into consideration the charges that were dismissed and not the harm already caused to the accused. Therefore I think McFlock’s statement is correct. The punishment handed down does not fit the crimes committed.
You haven’t been here long enough to remember a commenter called Randal who did some wonderful rambling comments on infantalisation the captain has a similiar “typespeak” about him/her.
I thought I’d trace the original remark that captain hook was replying to on 27 at 3.22pm. And it was at 2.58 on 25.1 by The Contrarian and there were 19 comments in between, at varying times as late as 7.09 pm.
It would be easier to connect comment and reply if replies noted the name of the commenter they were reacting to.
I found the rhetoric today very passionate,”well written”. Trev putting the boot into the bully boys while they are down.
Everyone SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER.
There may be a vacuum for a Democratic Socialist Coalition.
Great to see the students getting some adaptive benefit from a liberal education and recognising and speaking truth to intergenerational theft.
ALL THE RESEARCH, is suggesting the Western Baby Boomer Generation to have been the most self-interested, prolifligate the world has seen since the ascendence of the Catholic Churches, and those offspring they have indulged to be lifting their narcissism to new levels.
I know Steve Keen has fans here-abouts,
and in case any of y’all are not regular listeners of Kim Hill’s radio show of a saturday morning,
the lovely Mark Cubey reports via the twittering machine
that Keen and Hill had a rather interesting discussion,
which will be braoadcast this coming saturday.
In the wake of the budget, what Steve Keen gave up to Kim Hill yesterday should get minds churning on Saturday morning.
George Carlin has just been in full spate.
He said that there are some great ideas about how things ought to be in the country – it’s called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe in it.
The country is actually owned by a big club – and You Aren’t In It!
This discussion is from a Twitter thread by Martin Kulldorff on 20 December 2020. He is a Professor at Harvard Medical School specialising in disease surveillance methods, infectious disease outbreaks and vaccine safety. His Twitter handle is @MartinKulldorff #1 Public health is about all health outcomes, not just a single ...
The Treasury forecasts suggest the economy is doing better than expected after the Covid Shock. John Kenneth Galbraith was wont to say that economic forecasting was designed to make astrology look good. Unfair, but it raises the question of the purpose of economic forecasts. Certainly the public may treat them ...
Q: Will the COVID-19 vaccines prevent the transmission of the coronavirus and bring about community immunity (aka herd immunity)? A: Jury not in yet but vaccines do not have to be perfect to thwart the spread of infection. While vaccines induce protection against illness, they do not always stop actual ...
Joe Biden seems to be everything that Donald Trump was not – decent, straightforward, considerate of others, mindful of his responsibilities – but none of that means that he has an easy path ahead of him. The pandemic still rages, American standing in the world is grievously low, and the ...
Keana VirmaniFrom healthcare robots to data privacy, to sea level rise and Antarctica under the ice: in the four years since its establishment, the Aotearoa New Zealand Science Journalism Fund has supported over 30 projects.Rebecca Priestley, receiving the PM Science Communication Prize (Photo by Mark Tantrum) Associate Professor ...
Nothing more from me today - I'm off to Wellington, to participate in the city's annual roleplaying convention (which has also eaten my time for the whole week, limiting blogging despite there being interesting things happening). Normal bloggage will resume Tuesday. ...
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weaponscame into force today, making the development, possession, use or threat of use of nuclear weapons illegal in international law. Every nuclear-armed state is now a criminal regime. The corporations and scientists who design, build and maintain their illegal weapons are now ...
"Come The Revolution!" The key objective of Bernard Hickeyâs revolutionary solution to the housing crisis is a 50 percent reduction in the price of the average family home. This will be achieved by the introduction of Capital Gains, Land, and Wealth taxes, and by the opening up of currently RMA-protected ...
by Daphna Whitmore Twitter and Facebook shutting down Trump’s accounts after his supporters stormed Capitol Hill is old news now but the debates continue over whether the actions against Trump are a good thing or not. Those in favour of banning Trump say Twitter and Facebook are private companies and ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Democrats now control the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives for the first time in a decade, albeit with razor thin Congressional majorities. The last time, in the 111th Congress (2009-2011), House Democrats passed a carbon cap and trade bill, but it died ...
Session thirty-three was highly abbreviated, via having to move house in a short space of time. Oh well. The party decided to ignore the tree-monster and continue the attack on the Giant Troll. Tarsin – flying on a giant summoned bat – dumped some high-grade oil over the ...
Last night I stayed up till 3am just to see then-President Donald Trump leave the White House, get on a plane, and fly off to Florida, hopefully never to return. And when I woke up this morning, America was different. Not perfect, because it never was. Probably not even good, ...
Watching todayâs inauguration of Joe Biden as the United Statesâ 46th president, thereâs not a lot in common with the inauguration of Donald Trump just four destructive years ago. Where Trump warned of carnage, Biden dared to hope for unity and decency. But the one place they converge is that ...
Dan FalkBritons who switched on their TVs to âGood Morning Britainâ on the morning of Sept. 15, 2020, were greeted by news not from our own troubled world, but from neighboring Venus. Piers Morgan, one of the hosts, was talking about a major science story that had surfaced the ...
Sara LutermanGrowing up autistic in a non-autistic world can be very isolating. We are often strange and out of sync with peers, despite our best efforts. Autistic adults have, until very recently, been largely absent from media and the public sphere. Finding role models is difficult. Finding useful advice ...
Doug JohnsonThe alien-like blooms and putrid stench of Amorphophallus titanum, better known as the corpse flower, draw big crowds and media coverage to botanical gardens each year. In 2015, for instance, around 75,000 people visited the Chicago Botanic Garden to see one of their corpse flowers bloom. More than ...
Getting to Browser Tab Zero so I can reboot the computer is awfully hard when the one open tab is a Table of Contents for the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, and every issue has more stuff I want to read. A few highlights: Gugler et al demonstrating ...
Timothy Ford, University of Massachusetts Lowell and Charles M. Schweik, University of Massachusetts AmherstTo mitigate health inequities and promote social justice, coronavirus vaccines need to get to underserved populations and hard-to-reach communities. There are few places in the U.S. that are unreachable by road, but other factors â many ...
Israel chose to pay a bit over the odds for the Pfizer vaccine to get earlier access. Here’s The Times of Israel from 16 November. American government will be charged $39 for each two-shot dose, and the European bloc even less, but Jerusalem said to agree to pay $56. Israel ...
Orla is a gender critical Marxist in Ireland. She gave a presentation on 15 January 2021 on the connection between postmodern/transgender identity politics and the current attacks on democratic and free speech rights. Orla has been active previously in the Irish Socialist Workers Party and the People Before Profit electoral ...
. . America: The Empire Strikes Back (at itself) Further to my comments in the first part of 2020: The History That Was, the following should be considered regarding the current state of the US. They most likely will be by future historians pondering the critical decades of ...
Nathaniel ScharpingIn March, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to shut down major cities in the U.S., researchers were thinking about blood. In particular, they were worried about the U.S. blood supply â the millions of donations every year that help keep hospital patients alive when they need a transfusion. ...
Sarah L Caddy, University of CambridgeVaccines are a marvel of medicine. Few interventions can claim to have saved as many lives. But it may surprise you to know that not all vaccines provide the same level of protection. Some vaccines stop you getting symptomatic disease, but others stop you ...
Back in 2016, the Portuguese government announced plans to stop burning coal by 2030. But progress has come much quicker, and they're now scheduled to close their last coal plant by the end of this year: The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 ...
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: As anybody with the intestinal fortitude to brave the commentary threads of local news-sites, large and small, will attest, the number of Trump-supporting New Zealanders is really quite astounding. ITâS SO DIFFICULT to resist the temptation to be smug. From the distant perspective of New Zealand, ...
RNZ reports on continued arbitrariness on decisions at the border. British comedian Russell Howard is about to tour New Zealand and other acts allowed in through managed isolation this summer include drag queen RuPaul and musicians at Northern Bass in Mangawhai and the Bay Dreams festival. The vice-president of the ...
As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that â…one of New Zealandâs COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the countryâ Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished âat least, we got rid of Muldoonâ, a response which tells us that then, and today, oneâs views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement:Â More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
âTheyâre here already! Youâre next! Youâre next! Youâre next!âWHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: âTheyâre here already! Youâre next! Youâre next! Youâre next!âOstensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dĂťr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhowerâs inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been âleaders of the free worldâ. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to âdrain the swampâ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, UniversitÊ de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
The hypocritical actions of political leaders throughout the global Covid pandemic have damaged public faith in institutions and governance. Liam Hehir chronicles the way in which contemporary politicians have let down the public, and explains how real leadership means walking the talk. During the Blitz, when German bombs were ...
Over the years, we've published many rebuttals, blog posts and graphics which came about due to direct interactions with the scientists actually carrying out the underlying research or being knowledgable about a topic in general. We'll highlight some of these interactions in this blog post. We'll start with two memorable ...
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation: Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the cityâs available rental housing: the power ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story â read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trumpâs behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. Itâs a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, UniversitĂŠ du QuĂŠbec Ă MontrĂŠal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
A growing public housing waiting list and continued increase of house prices must be urgently addressed by Government, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
[Opening comments, welcome and thank you to Auckland University etc] It is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate such an historic occasion - the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is a moment many feared would never come, but ...
The Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...
Border workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...
The next steps in the Governmentâs ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. âThe last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. âThe Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes â 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. âI look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,â Jacinda Ardern said. âNew Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the areaâs unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien OâConnor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. âThese special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. âThe change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. âFollowing confirmation of the Cook Islandsâ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. âOur top priority continues ...
Todayâs deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. âThe deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. âABAC helps ensure that APECâs work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Governmentâs prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealandâs local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. âGiven the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, itâs clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. âThe Battle at Te Ruapekapeka PÄ, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
At an antagonistic hearing yesterday, the internet giant laid out the ‘worst case scenario’. And Facebook is also considering an ‘amputation’. Hal Crawford was watching.Google is poised to hit self-destruct in Australia according to a fractious Senate hearing into an unprecedented law that will force digital giants to pay money ...
Itâs great to hear Phil Twyford celebrating a success. Not a personal ministerial success, itâs fair to say, but a success nevertheless related to arms control. The arms on which Twyford is focused, it should be noted, will make quite a mess if they are triggered. They tend to be ...
Duncan Greive and Leonie Hayden were young hip hop heads and music journalists during the era captured in a new documentary about the rise and fall of South Auckland hip hop label Dawn Raid. Here they discuss the film and their memories (what’s left of them) of that time. Warning: contains ...
Houses might be the most popular and inflated purchases in New Zealand, but there are plenty of other products that are seeing soaring demand and prices over the past few months. Here’s a list of what New Zealanders are spending their money on with international travel out of the picture.Used ...
"The young boy leaps, the muscles in his thighs tensing and twisting as he lifts from the handrail": the noble art of bombing, by PÄtea writer Airana Ngarewa A beautifully muscled boy is posted on the side of a pool, his feet fixed to the top of a pair of ...
How Waiwera Hot Pools went from New Zealand’s most visited water park to dereliction and decay. Many who grew up in Auckland likely have fond memories of Waiwera Hot Pools. Like me, they remember summer days spent racing down the slides and playing in the naturally hot pools. But how did ...
A government contract for a P rehab programme was canned after half a million dollars of taxpayer money was given out. Aaron Smale investigates. The Ministry of Health spent over half a million dollars on a P Rehab contract before pulling the pin because there were no results or progress reports. ...
Kia Koropp and her husband John Daubeny have been cruising the Pacific, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean over the past decade with their two children onboard their 50ft yacht, Atea. Starting in 2011 from Auckland, New Zealand, they have sailed more than 64,000 kilometres and just completed their longest ...
We are drowning out the natural world with synthetic sounds, and it’s getting worse, writes Michelle Langstone.It used to be quiet once. Remember that? Remember the hush that settled over the cities like the silence that comes down in a snowstorm? It’s less than a year since Aotearoa first locked ...
Summer reissue: Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden in the latest episode of On the Rag as they examine the topic of boobs from every possible angle. First published November 16, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Seventy-five years after the US detonated the first nuclear tests in the Pacific, New Zealand pledges its support to Joe Biden's first tentative step towards disarmament. Today, the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons comes into effect, making it illegal for New Zealand and the 50 other ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Terry, Professor of Psychology, University of Southern Queensland The challenge of bringing the worldâs best tennis players and support staff, about 1,200 people in all, from COVID-ravaged parts of the world to our almost pandemic-free shores was always going to be ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoffrey Browne, Research Fellow in International Urban Development, University of Melbourne The Victorian government has committed to removing 75 road/rail level crossings across Melbourne by 2025. Thatâs the fastest rate of removal in the cityâs history. The scale of the investment â ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW In an age of hyperpartisan politics, the Biden presidency offers a welcome centrism that might help bridge the divides. But it is also Bidenâs economic centrism that offers a chance to cut through what has become ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Stevens, Lecturer in History, University of Waikato In a year of surprises, one of the more pleasant was the recent runaway viral popularity of 19th century sea shanties on TikTok. A collaborative global response to pandemic isolation, it saw singers and ...
The sudden departure of Graine Moss from her Chief Executive role at Oranga Tamariki is a vital first step in a sequence of changes that must take place at the Ministry according to a group of wahine MÄori leaders. Dame Naida Glavish, Dame Tariana Turia, ...
A new poem from Dunedin poet Jenny Powell.Her uncle’s eyeShe introduced us to her uncle’s eye floating in a jar.Lost in an accident, he hadn’t wanted to lose it again. He left it to her in his will.We must have looked shocked. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I turn him to ...
The chief executive of Oranga Tamariki is quitting, leaving behind an agency she’s admitted suffers from structural racism. Justin Giovannetti looks at the future of Oranga Tamariki.Grainne Moss’s tenure as head of Oranga Tamariki has been untenable since November when the government’s senior Māori minister wouldn’t express any confidence in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Sainsbury, Senior Lecturer Composition, Australian National University Despite having different cultural backgrounds and experiences â Indigenous composers with an Indigenous mentor, and a pianist descended from Anglo-colonial history â it is nevertheless possible to create a project that can serve as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Plank, Professor in Applied Mathematics, University of Canterbury With new, more infectious variants of COVID-19 detected around the world, and at New Zealandâs border, the risk of further level 3 or 4 lockdowns is increased if those viruses get into the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Hogg, Lecturer in Psychology, Charles Sturt University Horse racing is an ethical hotbed in Australia. The Melbourne Cup alone has seen seven horses die after racing since 2013, and animal cruelty protesters have become a common feature at carnivals. The latest ...
Right now, our most fiery national debate is over whether New Zealanders were nice to the singer Amanda Palmer in a café. Desperate to restore peace in our nation, Hayden Donnell went in search of the truth.Joe Biden had barely finished calling for unity when Amanda Palmer posted a tweet ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut (Pushkin Press, $37)Maths, cyanide, suicide, gardening; ye ...
Wellington artist Estère isn’t just breaking boundaries, she’s dissecting them. Maddi Rowe spoke to her about her new album, Archetypes.“That’s the story of pelicans, they’ll stab themselves in the heart to feed their young.”Despite the somewhat dark subject matter, Estère Dalton’s eyes sparkle with fascination. We’ve met to discuss Archetypes, ...
Cycling advocates are welcoming new advice from the Transport Agency on safe cycling. "Cyclists hate it when drivers pass too close. That's scary and dangerous," said Patrick Morgan from Cycling Action Network. "So it's encouraging to see ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tilman Ruff, Honorary Principal Fellow, School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne Today, many around the world will celebrate the first multilateral nuclear disarmament treaty to enter into force in 50 years. The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear ...
The Public Service Association welcomes the creation of a Chief Executive role to lead the public serviceâs pay equity work, and the appointment of Grainne Moss to this position. "Unions and public service employers are currently working ...
The Council of Trade Unions is warning that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures out today illustrate that the cost of living is increasing disproportionately for those on lower incomes; resulting in the poor getting poorer. CTU Economist Craig ...
Why are there so many offensive comments on the New Zealand Police Facebook page and are they breaking the law? Janaye Henry investigates. New Zealand Police Facebook pages – there are a number of them, for different regional police districts around the country – are an interesting place to spend ...
Our guide to stopping procrastinating and actually (finally) getting on top of investing. Because there’s a good chance that if you’re reading this, you don’t know a single thing about it.In part one, we covered some of the basic things you need to know about investing – why do it? ...
Childrenâs Commissioner Andrew Becroft acknowledges the huge effort and commitment of departing Oranga Tamariki Chief Executive Grainne Moss and says her decision to resign today was principled. âThe issues facing Oranga Tamariki are beyond individual ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Two Large Waves versus One Tsunami. Chart by Keith Rankin. Two Large Waves versus One Tsunami. Chart by Keith Rankin. With Covid19, Italy shows the classic European pattern, with its early outbreak, substantial recovery thanks to lockdowns and other public health measures, and resurgence thanks to complacency ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabrielle Appleby, Professor, UNSW Law School, UNSW This year has already seen significant progress in the governmentâs commitment to establish a body â a âVoiceâ â that would allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have a say when the government ...
Northland farmer Derek Robinson was sentenced earlier today by the District Court in Whangarei for two offences of ill-treating animals at rodeo events. Mr Robinson was found guilty in November last year, following a defended hearing. The charges ...
Under fire Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss has announced she will resign, effective February 28, Marc Daalder reports After four and a half years at the helm of child protection agency Oranga Tamariki, chief executive Grainne Moss has announced she will be leaving the position at the end of ...
The Department of Internal Affairs and New Zealand Police acknowledge the sentencing of 36-year-old Aaron Joseph Hutton on charges relating to the possession of child sexual exploitation material, and entering into a dealing involving the sexual exploitation ...
NgÄ TÄngata Microfinance (NTM) is calling for tougher penalties for those caught promoting pyramid schemes. Such business models are illegal under the Fair Trading Act 1986. This call comes after the Commerce Commission issued a âstop nowâ notice ...
British High Commissioner to New Zealand Laura Clarke is calling on young women aged 17 to 25 to apply for the annual âBe British High Commissioner for the Dayâ competition. The winner will have the opportunity to become an âhonorary High Commissionerâ, ...
The MÄori Party is welcoming the resignation of Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss after sustained pressure from leading figures within the MÄori Party. This resignation is the result of the continued strong pressure of the MÄori Party ...
In a historic corner of Dunedin, startup culture is thriving. Catherine McGregor visited the city’s Warehouse Precinct to meet the people driving the movement. When Jason and Kate Lindsey bought the four storey building now known as Petridish, it was an absolute wreck. Once home to a thriving hat and textiles ...
Summer reissue: The Fold’s very first guest is back to tell Duncan Greive how she pulled off the media deal of the year.The chaotic couple of weeks which finally saw the end of the Stuff-NZME saga were riveting and strange, replete with stock exchange announcements, legal challenges and finally the ...
Chris Liddell has dropped his candidacy to become director-general of the Paris-based OECD. Without support from the Ardern government and   vilified in the media as somehow being  involved in the encouragement by Donald Trump of the Washington riots, he plainly saw he had little chance of crowning his stellar career ...
Tara Ward hands out her first impression roses as she dives deep into the sea of single men vying to win The Bachelorette NZ’s heart. While the world burns in a searing fireball of unpredictability, we can take comfort in the fact that some things never change. The heart still yearns, ...
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Contractors in the public service at senior levels about to end in the UK.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/may/23/2400-senior-civil-servants-off-payroll
What about NZ next???
In good times all skilled people want to contract: they are certain of more work when the term ends, they can demand more cash, and be focused with less responsibility (they no longer officially belong to the organisation). And most importantly, they are not on PAYE which gives them the ability to avoid tax others dont have. When the cash dries up security becomes all, even though contractors hang on as long as they can.
What I have described is an ethos which is at odds with “public service”. It is a primary reason why “private” contracts should be the exception rather than the rule in “public service”.
So there’s an inconsistency in Shane Jones’ explanation about his humanitarianism over Bill Liu.
Just a few days before granting Liu citizenship Jones turned down an application from an Iranian refugee to stay in New Zealand.
Instead he ordered her deportation to Iran under threat of death for converting from Islam to Christianity? Where’s the humanitarian streak there?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/north-shore-times/343543/Christian-refugee-sent-back-to-Iran
I will await the Auditor Generals report to draw conclusions. I think Shearer and Jones have done the right thing here as they were never going to beat the Nact attack dogs in the media and the blogs.
The bigger picture is now clearer: Key cant attack Shearer for how he addresses these issues, Shearer can attack Key over the Banks issue. Smokescreens are only good if you are up wind. Watch key rush through the asset sales before Banks gets nobbled by the law.
Sadly, she’s not the first sent back when they’d sought asylum for that reason. đ At the same time as one of them (in about 2007?) a gay Iranian was feted and welcomed when he spoke about his fear of being in trouble for his homosexuality…
What the EU was always designed to achieve
“It is a quantum leap of governance, which I trust is necessary for the next step of European integration,” he said. ”
—Of course the same patterns in the USA
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder announced his appointment of an emergency financial manager to Highland Park Schools — a district outside Detroit —
Asked if the emergency-manager law hands power over to a âdictator,â Schimmel sighed, âI guess Iâm the tyrant in Pontiac, then, if thatâs the way it is.â
—We should be 100% concerned about these happenings, as our cities and country is in debt, and the forced sales of our energy security, just the beginning..
Time for people to open their eyes to the agenda!
Well on their way muzza.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/05/congress-propaganda
edit: this too
A newly published case study, resulting from research out of Harvard and Cambridge, provides evidence of the destructive, undemocratic and socially unjust results of neoliberalism.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/20/eastern-europe-neoliberal-disaster-arab-spring
The authors claim to have found that
And now the destructive and greedy neoliberal elite are poised to prey on the changes brought by the Arab spring in Egypt and other places in North Africa.
The article contrasts these policies with Norway, that in 2004 had a high level of democracy, state ownership and standard of living. In contrasts the claims of “freedom” by the privatisers and free marketeers, are shown to be a myth, as their policies bring about the curtailment of political freedoms.
And this destructive and unjust privatisation and free-market policies are the ones being extended by the current government at a time when the least well-off are already suffering.
Which is exactly what they’re designed to bring about. They do it so well that that must be their function.
When you privatise the commons then those who are dependent upon those resources will become the serfs of the new owners.
Message for Vicky32,
Without wishing to intrude too far into your business, and going on simply what I’ve read in your posts, this might be a route away from the problem you talked about here a couple of days ago:
http://tinyurl.com/88d8uf4
AFAIR you were saying you have dial-up/online restrictions so you may have missed it – or it may not be useful to you. Wanted to be sure.
Thank you Uturn, I had missed it, so I am very pleased!
Vicky32 đ
Good Morning. Like the Sun I’m shining and not gonna hide behind any clouds all day.
Even though it is the day of the “Carcass Budget” where the majority of New Zealanders find out “The Remains of the Day.
Bored; Sometimes I read nuances in your posts that remind me of the way Trevor Mallard speaks.
which remind me of his better qualities.
Scientologists: Unbelievable! I wonder how many Barnum ticket buyers there are in NZ signing up for this nonsense and its prehistoric conditioning.
I tried to find similar blog content to this briefly last night. I value the way posts fall beneath each other. No joy yet,so much noise out there. So off to scroll the blog-roll????
Heaven forbid, like Mallard in his better moments…no. From where I sit he is to the Right of Genghis Khan (may be exaggerating slightly). Actually Sam I am an optimistic realist who runs businesses optimistically (despite disagreeing with the fundamental economic construct), and a futurist who finds willful blindness to known realities somewhat disturbing.
Smee, its budget day today.
so break out the budget bread, budget baked beans and the budget margarine.
time for a feast.
Once were warmongers.
Good link Joe, found this story about how the Greek tragedy is underpinned by corruption from German bankers / industrialists to the Greek bankers and politicians.
http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/revealed-how-paying-double-for-german-subs-helped-to-sink-greece/
Amazingly the normal RWNJs come on here blaming the Greek population with profligacy etc. Never a hint that the whole edifice is rotten, that their construct of the world is concurrently misanthropic and demonstrably false.
Bored as you will know, the Greeks do not have a monoply on rotten..
NZ is as filthy as anywhere else….people need to start understanding that there is much more to this than the appearance of greed!
Greed in simply an exploitable weapon to leveredge, in order to reach desired outcomes!
Aye Bored, then as now.
Why would Greece want to own submarines?!!!!
Resources and a history of hate.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/6975109/Myanmar-protesters-test-boundaries
“Our country is abundantly rich in natural gas but the former military regime sold it to foreign countries without any consideration for the people,” said activist Ko Htin Kyaw, 49.
This struck me in light of the NACTS selling off the assets.
NACT is part of the system designed to transfer wealth (both monetary and physical) to the wealthy.
Is Louis Crimp a progressive redneck, as Chris Trotter suggests?
http://www.readingthemaps.blogspot.co.nz/2012/05/louis-crimp-face-in-our-mirrors.html
Azawad but where is Crimp progressing to? And do we want to be influenced by this man who if airports had body scans would seem to have a brain the size of a pea and a heart twisted and warped.
No doubt he is receiving quality, concerned medical care for his skin cancer and other ailments – why should we do that? Give him back the same amount as his portion of true community caring offered (apart from showy chest-thumping philanthropy).
Is Louis Crimp a progressive redneck…
Please don’t use the word “redneck” when you mean to use the word “bigot”.
Special needs children are to be given ‘intensive wrap-around service’ which will enable them to be cared for at home and go to local schools. Will the children have their own classes or join the tail of the mainstream school which is so much denigrated by the upper class? This pressure on teachers to please their political masters demand higher achievement for all is like lions made to jump through flaming hoops. I think teachers are noble people and deserve respect for their experience and skills and opinions. They resent being whipped verbally and having more and more tasks to perform.
Time-consuming children with ‘special needs’ from the other children in a mixed class will require more complicated individual teaching plans than for the other children. The education of the average children will deteriorate and teachers blamed. It appears that education is not valued for the children of the mass of the public while the wealthy can advance their own interests by accessing private schools and tutoring which will ensure they can get any good paying positions left in the country. The rest can be hounded from one low income job to another, and probably on a casual basis with their controller governing all their decisions and time, their cellphone, and their employer’s demands for their service at short notice.
A spokesperson from one school with special needs children says that their needs have to be subsidised from the money from international students. There isn’t adequate funding for these children and those with extreme disabilities are not receiving something called ORS funding which one would think should be mandatory. This is an ideological program and takes away choice and will place considerable demands on poorer parents. However if the government is prepared to do the right thing and support with real money, the care by parents and relatives of these children cost will be alleviated, though time for having a life will diminish and fatigue from
extra responsibilities will rise.
I cringe when Paula Benefit and ministerial colleagues talks about providing some service that “wraps around” individuals in some marginalised group. They’re trying to sound as if they’re doing something caring at the same time as limiting provisions for that group.
Imagery – wrap round.
Modelled on Vampire Squid.
Moderation at present seems extreme. I can’t understand what simple things set it off – I haven’t mentioned nazis for instance nor the H… name. Could it be sensitive to dodgy sounding political terms like “wrap-around intensive service” for special needs children?
[Not sure what’s going on, sorry – is every comment from you going to mod? — r0b]
I canât understand what simple things set it off…
Maybe what alerted the censors was the cockney rhyming slang word “prism”.
Protest action from Auckland University students to Budget planned today, at UoA. If rumours are correct, that action should make 1pm news interesting.
âWe, students, teachers, researchers, workers, politicians, parentsâŚ, call for a transformation to the current fees, loans and repayment system in tertiary education. We do not need small reforms, we need structural change. When the government and the elite insist that the only way to fund education is indebtedness, we say that education is a human right and a social necessity. We say that targeting citizen-students who cannot pay and landing them with crippling debt, is a violation of the principles of equality and freedom that our country is supposedly built on. We say that democracy demands educated and creative people, and that these changes, and the fees and loans system as it already stands, impoverish nearly every citizen who decides to pursue tertiary education. We say that the current government and the elite are destabilizing our country and mindlessly trading our future for their own privileged present.â
The above statement has support from the Council of Trade Unions, the Service and Food Workers Union, Mana, Socialist Aotearoa and Auckland Action Against Poverty.
Thanks for this info. I will keep an eye out on the news. Go the students!
Uturn
Absolutely and exactly. Very well said, and apposite (to show how well educated I am).
.
Heh! Angry US citizen is angry.
Great flow of language there BLiP but he nails it. Heaven help Presidential hopefuls if this angry man made it onto the public stage!
Gender inequality in New Zealand
Did you know that women-owned new enterprises outperform men-owned enterprises and woman gain more tertiary qualifications in New Zealand than men? Despite this, woman on average earn $10,000 less per year than men. There’s no doubt that woman are getting a raw deal…
Wellll…went through some time Im not going to see again looking at blogs and added AT,a wider perspective and frogblog.
What Im really looking for is a topical blog like this with contributions that draw upon the openess that the internet can facilitate. There is sooo much “noise” on the net, but I can see why this blog rates highly re visits.
If a blog touched upon these themes I would find it really useful for my path I know,
Sociohistorical cultural context
Power distribution
Applied ontology
Applied epistemology
Applied Metaphysics
Nietzsche who I have never really forgotten,and whos analysis remains salient
Foucaultian analysis
The intersection between politics and capital.
Project: analysis and synthesis of Tao application to present historical epoch.
Once was a Diesel Mechanic but now a gardener.
First significant employment was growing vegetables for the Chinese and 4 decades later I would be happy to do it again if they wished.
I even enjoy and learn from Draco T Bastard.
It has been a lonely 40 years in the desert before I discovered the possibilities of Blogs for learning.
The western gaze finally provided moi with an “explanation” (mainly description) for my “challenges with Living”; Schizoid, yet my scores on the Big Five identify Openess and Conscientiousness. There used to be an element of neuroticism, hence my hostile attacks on the politicians, but in 1 keystroke, U-Turn led the struggle to cease. Over 40 years to undo the socialisation outcomes of adoption, childhood abuse, childhood parental bereavement, capitalist marketing culture and attacks by the Self upon the Self.
Thank you again
For those who didn’t see the general debate yesterday here is David Shearer spelling out a few home truths for the national party. This the first time That I have seen him on attack like this, It certainly looks like the teething problems are coming to an end, and he is beginning to find the required leadership qualities that will show he can lead labour into that brighter future.
http://blog.labour.org.nz/2012/05/23/david-shearer-takes-fight-to-government/
Watch the faces of the backing MPs. They look pleased and surprised. Go David today in the post Budget debate.
Some fire in the belly and some improvisation off the cuff. Nice work David Shearer. Moar plz.
Thanks for that. DS was very impressive.Nice touch mentioning Moombeam.
Sending the ashes of loved ones into space is a really good way to use up the last of our cheap oil (tech dude on Nine to Noon was waxing lyrical about the recent advancements of private space travel). Beam me down Scottie (or anywhere but here).
Â
Â
Just on TVNZ news .. Tame Iti sentenced to two and a half years in prison … wow.
If you do that crime…
“penalties for the possession of firearms and restricted weapons are a maximum four-year sentence and $5000 fine”
2.5 years which could be a 1/3 of that with parole isn’t very tough considering the max penalty
Dude that was illegally hunting and thought Rosemary Ives was a deer & fired his weapon, killing her; got the same sentence.
I guess its worth the millions in court costs, legal aid fees and anti-terrorist squad actions which were required to get to this point.
Maybe they could just have sent a couple of constables in to nab him at the start eh.
What would be the fun in that? The cops wouldn’t have been able to run around with guns and terrorize the locals then. Can’t think of anybody else getting such a long sentence for having unregistered guns? Unprecedented!
edit: Unregistered, illegally modified military weapons.
I don’t think they were found guilty for modifying military weapons The Contagion.
2 of Urewera 4 sentenced to 2 1/2 years:
I’ll sit out on the modified part but restricted refers to automatic rifles like which are found in the military.
Come on man, we have all seen the videos. Assault rifles are heavily restricted here
Rubbish! You can purchase assault riffles here. The restriction relates to how fast they can fire. If that had been modified as you imply, then you would expect the Police to have laid charges for it. You’re arguing from ignorance again The Cnidarian.
Did I say you couldn’t buy assault rifles here? No, I said they were restricted.
i.e.:Â certain pistols, submachine guns or machine guns defined as Restricted Weapons for collecting purposes but not to fire them or take them from their home other than for exhibition purposes, and Restricted Weapons are to be disabledÂ
These restricted weapons are only allowed to be used/fired if you have special license.
They weren’t gun collectors you fool!
No shit
Um, you seem to be a bit fixated on the rifles – the “restricted weapon” was the molotov cocktail they apparently had.
From what I gather, the rifles were just legal ones possessed unlawfully.
In this case, “restricted weapon” means “stuff nobody would ever possibly need to be wandering around DoC land with”. Although softening up an area with mortars before going after deer does sound fun. And Barry Crump’s trick of culling wild pigs by putting detonators in potatos probably counts as mine-laying these days.
Well, the videos do show them in possession of assault rifles as far as I recall
It’s lucky the justice system doesn’t rely on your recollection, then
The court notes mention possession of military style semi-automatic weapons. What’s your point? They weren’t considered restricted? Well, OK then.
Not so much that,
More that you’re inflating the crimes for which they have been convicted in order to justify the sentence – i.e. taking unlawfull possession of firearms and one molotov and reconstructing it into that they were all running around with full auto M60s like Rambo.
And the court mentioned MSSA’s as a possibility if the weapons had high-capacity magazines, but they weren’t convicted of possessing MSSA’s. And no mention was made of magazines being found.
But keep up with your stirling defense of the establishment, they might give you a gong one day.
“But keep up with your stirling defense of the establishment, they might give you a gong one day.”
Stirling defense of the establishment? Yeah, don’t think I have defended the establishment anymore than stating they broke a law for which they were punished.
You see this is what’s wrong with some of you people on this website – you mistake “Well i don’t really know, but this is how I understand it” or any questioning of what is being said to mean “Conservative, tory, NACt right-winger. Look at you supporting the establishment”. When if you read through my comments I was asking question stating what I knew and not once “defending the establishment” outside of agreeing that those that break laws face consequences – the maximum in this instance being 4 years
Â
An MSSA with non automatic fire and a 5 shot magazine is OK, add a high capacity magazine (as they did) and it becomes a “restricted” weapon..
All guns are “restricted” in some way. For military style semi-automatic weapons you usually need an E class license, which you also need if you want to shoot shotguns.
What I don’t get about this is that there were people there with gun licences. Under current law you’re allowed to operate a gun without a license if you’re under immediate supervision of a licence holder. That’s how most people learn to shoot.
With some guns ONLY the license holder is allowed to operate  the gun.
So what guns can only be used by a lisenced holder and what guns exactly relate to the charges The Corpuscularian?
Can anybody tell the difference between a military rifle and a hunting rifle?
Yeah, thought not. Use of military style is just scare tactics in use by the MSM and government.
2.5 years which could be a 1/3 of that with parole isnât very tough considering the max penalty
You reckon TC. It is a huge sentence. It is really rare for Judges to go over half of the maximum sentence. And when you think of how long it has gone on and the severe penalty the parties have already paid it is very long. I will be interested to see what the Court of Appeal do with the decision. You can guarantee that it will end up there.
Oh, I agree the entire thing was a complete farce and a monumental waste of resources
But hard to argue yourself out of having modified military weapons and it isn’t unusual to be given a stiffer penalty if you already have a firearms charge (Iti – discharging a weapon in a public place)
Some of which didn’t even work. You might be surprised to learn that there were 7074 reported prohibited and regulated weapons and explosive offenses recorded in New Zealand last year alone. The police usually give a warning for unregistered guns… Sometimes they will confiscate them until a license is obtained. Two and a half years is just mental!
So you think there should be a law change surrounding possession of illegally modified military weapons? Currently its max 4 years, what do you think it should be?
I think the law should be applied equally, which appears not to be the case here. I wonder if the judge came under any pressure to make such a disproportionate decision?
“I think the law should be applied equally, which appears not to be the case here”
How was it not applied equally in this case?
Can you point to a similar case where somebody found guilty for unlawful possession of firearms etc is given two and a half years?
Can you point to a similar case where someone was given considerably less ?
I don’t think there has been a similar case in NZ and while I think it was an OTT response by the police to Tama Iti and his mates behaving like unmitigated dick heads for the umpteenth time I’m somewhat conflicted as I do believe a strong message needs to be sent but I’m not convinced this is the right way to do it.
You get the same if you had actually shot someone, it seems.
That’ll be difficult, Jackal, because each case is different. Usually, there are no conspiritorial aspects, just an individual refusing to obey the law. In this case, the sentence seems appropriate to me, because of the nature of the offending.
Can I point to a similar case where someone was given considerably less… why yes!
15% of Arms Act offenses go to jail for an average of 10 months.
“15% of Arms Act offenses go to jail for an average of 10 months.”
With parole it is quite possible Iti will only do 10 monthsÂ
So what?
Â
People who receive ten months will be out in a considerably shorter time than that.
Â
And law changes are another diversion. The current law says the maximum sentence is four years and Iti received a fair chunk of that.
I was taking it as read i.e people go to jail for 10 months not are sentencing to 10 months.
I suppose it is hard to say without seeing the hard data on comparable cases.Â
…..not forgetting the additional penalty of highly restricted, if not prohibited, international travel.
Iti’s days as the darling of Aussie, US and European art circles are completely over.
The sentences imposed on Tame Iti and Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara are manifestly unfair and speak less about justice and more about the system wanting to exact utu. The judge, in sentencing, spoke more to the crimes they were not convicted on than anything to do with being unlawfully in possession of firearms.
Compare the sentences to the fine and community sentence imposed on a Doctor for firing a crossbow within 3 metres of a group of sleeping children; the 2 1/2 year jail sentence for the accidental shooting and killing of Rosemary Ives; the sentence of home detention received by the Wanaka hunter for shooting and killing his best friend. Also compare to the 12 people that were issued with non-compliance notices by Fish and Game for duck hunting without a firearms license.
The sentences will go to appeal and if there is justice in the system these men will have their sentences overturned. Grumpy: Iti and Kemara have effectively been martyred and Tame Iti’s international appeal has probably grown more luminescent as a consequence.
Given the convictions, the nature of the case and the judges comments Adele what do you think they should have been given ?
Do you think they would have been given a lesser sentence if they’d be more open about the what they had been engaged in ?
Higherstandard
You obviously believe Iti, Kemara, Signer and Bailey were âthinking acts of terrorismâ or at least âcrimes against humanity.â How low is your wattage that you cannot differentiate pulp from fiction? Fiction is in believing that these four neo-liberalised convicts are capable of real acts of terrorism. The pulp is believing that Tame Iti dressed in camouflage makes for a credible Rambo.
Tame Iti does not need to resort to terrorism to make his points known. He is the darling of the international twee set, who think itâs âtrès chicâ to have a fully scribed MÄori amongst their kind. Indigenous Americans are similarly idolatrised, (every second white person appears to have a ânative American spirit guideâ). Admittedly, there are many within the bourgeois spiritually astute enough to recognise good from bad. Iti and his cohorts are good.
Reality TV, however surreptiously created, does not make for good evidence, really. 18 months of covert surveillance and we arrive at a marvellous artform that delivers the following Oscar performances:
â…oh yes, lets assassinate George W Bush, weâll catapult a bus onto his head…â
Bro, whereâre we gonna get the bus?
Doh!
Trademe!
or:
Bro, we only have one Molotov cocktail.
Bro, well, I need the petrol for my car.
Bro, your car needs to be catapulted onto GW Bushâs head
Bro, thatâs not a very nice thing to say about my Holden.
Bro, then shoot me with your MSSA (Chorus of chortling in the background followed by a haka).
This sentencing has confirmed to the international community that New Zealand is backward in terms of race relations. Paranoia has overtaken critical and reasonable analysis. Although convicted of firearms charges Iti, Kemara, Signer and Bailey were sentenced, in the minds of the ignorant, as terrorists.
Precedence establishes what is appropriate sentencing for firearms related charges.
Hi Adele
No, I don’t think the Tame and Rangi were ever seriously going to commit acts of terrorism.
As I said above I think it was an OTT response by the police to Tame’s usual behaviour which has tended towards the stupid end of the spectrum many times in the past, he is, however, harmless and I can’t recall him ever being accused or convicted of any type of violent offence.
I also think many of those he took up into the bush were idiot little anarchists who tend to speak a ‘big game’ but are usually harmless and deluded twits.
That being said Iâm somewhat conflicted as I do believe a strong message needs to be sent about these type of activities and firearms but Iâm not convinced that this sentence is the right way to do it.
Who writes the Herald editorials these days? There’s been a number of them lately which have blatantly been pushing National party policy and they’re given authority as editorials which were traditionally the views of the editor of the ‘paper. This one here is a prime example;
Editorial: Sales good bet for investors, enterprises
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10807947
It’s nothing more than a brazen attempt to try & refute the growing resistance to asset sales; pure spin. It’s not for the media to tell us what we want, if they’re to take a stand they should be backing public opinion, so why are these biased editorials appearing in the Herald of late? Who’s behind them, anyone know?
Anyone know whatâs going on between Cam Slater (Whale Oil) and [name redacted]?
http://wonderfulnow.blogspot.co.nz/2012/05/one-more-thing-before-i-go.html
Don’t know but it’s pretty funny/tragic.
DD – it is.
Funny as WO is so high and mighty wrt others’ shady dealings.
Tragic as he has a family and a long-suffering wife.
Wonder if there’s truth to the allegations.
Woman in question seems to have taken the blog owner to court for defamation.
Wow, great stuff.
Readers of Whaleoil will have already put 2 and 2 together and noted his increasing obsession with certain causes.
I see – WO’s not very impressed with hetero marriag it seems. He does like to mock the “sanctity of marriage” very much.
The woman in question is not taking me to court for defamation for the simple reason that every thing i have stated is true.
Woman in question is taking me to court after 18 months of putting up with her harassment of me after i supported Slater in staying with his wife and family – for harassment.
These harassment proceedings were filed prior to me ever naming her on my blog. She has a free lawyer that she likes to use in her pursuit of people that she has real or imagined grievances with.
I said it on that blog post and i will say it again – i doubt Cameron Slater would want anyone challenging me to prove what i have written.
Wow. So you’re claiming Slater cheated on his wife with [name redacted]?
Why would he? He’s a happily married man.
….we haven’t heard from “Spanish Bride” for a very long time…………..
She commented on their wedding anniversary 2 weeks ago.
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2012/05/they-should-get-jobs/
It is a fact.
Don’t ask me why. I am not an unfaithful married man. How would i know why men do these things.
I am even more stumped by why he would then sit on the internet airing every one else’s dirty laundry when he has so much of his own – or why she would file harassment proceedings against me because i couldn’t handle having their drama in my life and attempted to end my friendship with her after her suicide attempt when he wouldn’t leave his wife.
18 months of drama from those two and then i get served with harassment proceedings and [name redacted] goes to the media and claims it is all about Michael Laws.
I am not about to sit back and take that and i make no apologies for that.
Cameron’s wife already knows about the affair. [name redacted] emailed her all the gory details – including screenshots of their conversations professing love – when she took offence to him going away with his family over Christmas 2010.
Jacqueline – what proof do you hafve?
18 months worth of electronic proof.
Don’t even go there…I have proof coming out my ears.
no, not proof of her harassing you, but proof Whale Oil cheatd.
He’s got himself all high and mighty in his crusades to expose other people – surely he’d cover his own backside?
It makes sense now why he thinks marriage is worthless.
I thought whale was some staunch right wing christian. I try my best to ignore him as much as possible so I could be entirely wrong.
That is interesting that he thinks marriage is worthless. The guy is just so negative. He must be the most bitter and twisted person in NZ media.
I have 18 months worth of electronic proof of their affair.
Online suicide note by [name redacted] when he refused to leave his wife.
Emails from him.
Emails from her to him.
The whole saga is crazy.
One would think if he is going to be high and mighty regarding other people’s morals then he would at least pick someone sane to cheat on his wife with.
Instead he picked an absolute psycho,bleated to me about it for 18 months, then ran with his tail between his legs when she harasses me enough to get it printed in the HOS, THEN sits back while his friend Cathy Odgers blogs and laughs about the situation.
I thought he was smarter than that as well. Perhaps he has a GOD complex.
The HErald article was about Michael Laws, not Slater, I thought.
The HOS article was about Laws.
That suited [name redacted] agenda and was just another in a long line of examples of her harassment of me.
None of this is about Laws though and that is why i have blogged the truth.
Why would you want anything to do with that bunch of panty-sniffers anyway?
They’re all just going to destroy themselves and each other. Get on with your life and leave them to it.
Unless you’re just like the rest of them of course, in which case carry on.
So why is Cactus Kate of the Alzheimers old Codgers and Tax dodgers Party getting on the case is it because the last of the fundamentalist monetarists are going down the gurgle r and they have to stick together like the captain of a sinking ship.
Is it mycau this week Cactus the swimming pool must be closed to many sharks circling
Felix – I don’t want anything to do with them. I tried to end my “friendship” with [name redacted] who used to Blog on Whale Oil as “Blondie” and for that i have received 18 months worth of her attention and stalking me.
When it got to the point that she served me with legal papers that are full of lies because she has a free lawyer and she knows i don’t – and can’t afford one – and then got this whole saga in the media implying it was about Laws – i felt the need to defend myself. It had gotten to the point where i could no longer just delete and ignore her vitriol from my life like i have done for the most part of 18 months.
I have quit writing in my own blog because of the element of society that i am not comfortable with – ie the [name redacted], the Madeleine Flannagans, and the Cameron Slaters of this world and their nasty drama that it allowed in to my life.
Mike E – no idea why Cathy Odgers felt the need to stir the pot when she knew it was her friend’s cheating that i had been protecting him from being made public for 18 months. Not all that smart but – who knows what goes on in anyone else’s heads.
Good on ya, Jacqueline, I hope you get through this drama OK. I guess if there is anything to learn its that you should avoid mentally ill right wingers in future. Although, admittedly, its hard to spot where the politics ends and the illness begins with the likes of Laws.
Thanks Te Reo.
Like i said to the editor of the HOS – i have survived worse than this, and i will survive this latest drama.
And yes – i digress – mentally ill right wingers should be avoided at all cost. Had i not let Laws into my life – i never would have met Slater – then i never would have met [name redacted] or her Mad lawyer Madeleine Flannagan – and my life would be peaceful right now.
They have been like a metastatic cancer in my life…it just keeps spreading.
Lesson well and truly learned.
I’m not ususally wild about Geoffry Miller’s stuff, but in this piece, he articulates my feelings in giving Shearer the bollocking he so richly deserves over Shearer’s dealings with fat cats at SkyCity, both in accepting gifts and in cosying-up over leisurely and luxurious dinner parties.
He’s shaping-up as our own inept and inarticulate version of Tony Blair imo.
http://liberation.typepad.com/liberation/2012/05/geoffrey-miller-is-taking-gifts-from-lobbyists-ever-a-good-idea.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Fliberationbybryceedwards+%28liberation%29
Geoffrey Miller: Is taking gifts from lobbyists ever a good idea?
David Shearer has defended taking free hospitality from SkyCity at the Rugby World Cup by saying he didn’t know at the time about the âconvention centre for pokie machines dealâ. If this is really true, then Shearer is, at the very least, guilty of incompetence, as the deal was announced in June 2011 and he is an Auckland MP. The deal was covered by the media at the time in June 2011. The alternative is somewhat worse for Shearer, namely that he was in fact fully aware of the news of the deal in June 2011, but somehow, in May 2012, fell victim to the rather contagious and virulent malady spreading through the New Zealand parliament: the ‘cannot recall’ disease…
DC was good one backbencher’s. As was Norman (As usual).
Nah, like I said, you’ve been inflating their crime to justify the punishment. Don’t start going all peteg now…
“youâve been inflating their crime to justify the punishment”Â
You idiot – the crime being judged has a maximum of fours years. I didn’t inflate that, that is what the law says.Â
Indeed. But the sentence for two people with a collection of automatic weapons or even MSSA’s would reasonably be a bit stronger than for people with the same number of .22 non-MSSA semi-autos and some non-MSSA shotguns, wouldn’t it.
Like I say, you’re inflating the crime to justify the sentence. Or if you want to get all object-oriented, you’re inflating this instance of crime in order to justify this instance of sentence.
Personally I don’t see why you’re getting so worked up on being called a defender of the establishment – I mean it simply describes your stretching of interpretation in this particular instance, such as bringing automatic weapons into the discussion about a case that involved none. Now you’re all embarrassed, like a teenager who gets called out on the fact that he’s been fawning blatantly over another cute teenager.
Apart from when the judge mentioned said automatic weapons (granted they were semi-automatic).
Why would I need to justify the sentence? It doesn’t bother what they get. What does bother me is the rabid attitude of people like you.
People like McFlock? I doubt you’ve ever met McFlock as I’m sure he/she doesn’t slither under rocks like you The Conformist.
Look up the difference between “automatic” and “semi-automatic”. A marked escalation right there.
“Rabid attitude”? All I’ve done is point out that you managed to shift the level of the crimes for which they were convicted from one case of a restricted weapon (the molotov) and a few not-uncommon firearm possession charges up to everybody having automatic weapons with hi-cap mags. And you get all defensive.
“All Iâve done is point out that you managed to shift the level of the crimes for which they were convicted from one case of a restricted weapon (the molotov) and a few not-uncommon firearm possession charges up to everybody having automatic weapons with hi-cap mags.”
What utter bullshit. There were auto weapons (semi-auto granted) I never mentioned magazines. I never shifted anything – all I pointed out was that 2.5 years didn’t seem excessive considering the max is 4. Then there was a dispute about the weapons of which I was quite clear that I was running from memory and asking for clarification. But what ever, you win.
Congratulations. You may now go chuckle about it.Â
“There were auto weapons (semi-auto granted)”
“Semi-automatic”: one trigger depression, one bang.
“Automatic”: one trigger depression, many bangs.
A significant functional and legislative difference. Semi-autos are fine. Automatics are “restricted”. That is why there was only ONE “restricted weapon” charge – for the molotov. Not for any of the firearms.
You argued that a sentence of 2 or 3 times the average firearms possession jail sentence was not particularly harsh for possession of “unregistered, illegally modified military weapons”. At least one of those adjectives was false. And you get all persnickety when called on it.
I already agreed, sometime ago, to drop the “illegally modified adjective as incorrect. Â
Semi-autos are not fine as laid out under the firearms law where Semi-Auto are only to be used or owned by those with a special license.
The maximum charge for the offences is 4 years.
Iti received a 2.5 concurrent sentence for all charges.
Iti should be out much earlier on parole
I don’t care how long he gets and am certainly not interested in “inflating the crime to justify the sentence”Â
Its a moot point because you won the discussion and should be chuckling.
Â
lols.
Love that – discussion is over but you thought you’d repeat your side anyway.
Far from chuckling, I’m still amazed that you chose to make such a categorical statement about which you obviously know absolutely nothing. And I’m pretty sure that’s not much of an exagerration, if at all.
For example, semi-automatic firearms are legally fine, exactly the same as bolt action rifles or even a muzzle-loading black powder musket. I think you might be confusing all semi-automatics with “military-style semi automatics”, which are at a higher level of licensing than most firearms (but still not “restricted weapons”, which are another class of no-nos). The latter include things like folding stocks, bayonet lugs (to stick a knife on the end of the weapon), high capacity magazine (the bullet holder holds lots of bullets), and pistol-style hand grips.
So the degree of the offense which justified a sentence 2 or 3 times longer than the average for the same offense was “unregistered” – which is hardly out of the ordinary for an unlawful possession charge.
There is the matter of the single molotov, but it seems to me that much of the sentencing rests on the judge having the feeling that they really did in fact commit the other crimes of which they were actually acquitted. But they seem to have pretty capable lawyers to sort that out.
“edit: Unregistered, illegally modified military weapons.”
That’s how you introduced your false decription of what they convicted of. The context was clear enough. Jackal was saying unregistered weapons, and you were saying it was a bit more than that.
You later admitted that you didn’t actually know what you were talking aboput and that it was all based on some video you’d seen.
if you don’t care what sentence they got, why have you been provoking arguments and insulting people who do have an opinion about it?
Hint: the 4 year max is a red herring. No one was saying that they were sentenced above the max. People are just saying tthat they think 2 1/2 years is steep for what they were convicted on, which is fair enough isn’t it?
Hey man, how’s it going?
All good.
Wondering if you’re going to develop into anything that isn’t pants.
Hope fades though; sad to say.
“Wondering if youâre going to develop into anything that isnât pants.”Â
Sorry buddy. Next time
Sure.
my wife thinks I am the coolest kid in class though
Bless her heart. You look after that one mate.
Another example of TC showing how keen he is on the sort of “serious discussion” that he says the silly lefties never want to engage in.
Yawn.
Here’s the police’s view which is worth a look.
That’s nice HS but we already know that most of the police case was bullpucky! It’s interesting though that Peter Marshall says there was no explanation given as to what the accused were doing in the Ruatoki, which is a complete lie!
We raided because somebody said they were going to catapult a bus onto John Keys head… it was a serious investigation. Yeah right!
However it appears that the judge took into consideration the charges that were dismissed and not the harm already caused to the accused. Therefore I think McFlock’s statement is correct. The punishment handed down does not fit the crimes committed.
The worst and the best of humanity
Read this and you’ll weep, but you’ll cheer up when you reflect that there are people in the world like Sahar Vardi….
http://972mag.com/author/lisa/
hey idot..
yes you.
who let you call other people idiots?
just because you are one does not mean that you know one.
yeah because I am the guy inflating crimes to justify them getting two years. Do I look like a fucking judge?
nope. You look like a guy talking about automatic weapons and MSSAs when the case involved neither. Very close to the latter, but nope.
Nice, sort of a haiku version of “I know you are but what am I”
I really miss the infantalisation diatribes though.
There’s always Kiwibog HS.
Or I could link through to yours !
You haven’t been here long enough to remember a commenter called Randal who did some wonderful rambling comments on infantalisation the captain has a similiar “typespeak” about him/her.
See below for an example.
My mistake, Whailoil is far more up your alley.
I have more fun playing here Todd
Todd is my old handle HS. People who are new wont know what you’re on about.
I thought I’d trace the original remark that captain hook was replying to on 27 at 3.22pm. And it was at 2.58 on 25.1 by The Contrarian and there were 19 comments in between, at varying times as late as 7.09 pm.
It would be easier to connect comment and reply if replies noted the name of the commenter they were reacting to.
I found the rhetoric today very passionate,”well written”. Trev putting the boot into the bully boys while they are down.
Everyone SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER.
There may be a vacuum for a Democratic Socialist Coalition.
Great to see the students getting some adaptive benefit from a liberal education and recognising and speaking truth to intergenerational theft.
ALL THE RESEARCH, is suggesting the Western Baby Boomer Generation to have been the most self-interested, prolifligate the world has seen since the ascendence of the Catholic Churches, and those offspring they have indulged to be lifting their narcissism to new levels.
What research? citations or links, please?
A Democratic Socialist Coalition.
Now that’s an idea. Ironically, it would require a few million in funding to make a difference.
I know Steve Keen has fans here-abouts,
and in case any of y’all are not regular listeners of Kim Hill’s radio show of a saturday morning,
the lovely Mark Cubey reports via the twittering machine
that Keen and Hill had a rather interesting discussion,
which will be braoadcast this coming saturday.
George Carlin has just been in full spate.
He said that there are some great ideas about how things ought to be in the country – it’s called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe in it.
The country is actually owned by a big club – and You Aren’t In It!