Following the deafening silence from the Race Relations Commissioner over revelations from the IPCA, that several of the police actions taken against Tuhoe were illegal.
Plus the following statement from the Commissioner of Police Peter Marshall, that no disciplinary actions of any sort will be taken against those responsible for these illegal acts. You might think that as most of these illegal police acts were perpetrated against Maori. And that the police are not interested in disciplining those responsible. The Race Relations Commissioner might have an opinion.
But no. Nothing at all from the office of the Race Relations Commissioner, either for, or against Peter Marshall’s decision not to act on admitted police wrong doing against Maori.
And now another wondrous tale from the log of the amazing Race Relations Commissioner, who isn’t.
Winston Peters has again resumed mining the rich vein of anti-Asian racism that has served his so well. The Race Relations Commissioner says she “doesn’t want to get involved”.
….Susan Devoy has refrained from joining critics of NZ First Leader Winston Peters’ latest attack on China’s growing influence in New Zealand, saying she doesn’t want to get involved.
The clock must be ticking on our Squash Relations Commissioner.
Things have got so bad, that Judith Collins who appointed Devoy to the role. Had to personally issue a statement to fill the vacuum left by Devoy. Collins statement labelled Mr Peters’ comments “confrontational” and “insulting”.
When the Minister has to step in, this farcical appointment must be nearing its end,
I think Dame Susan is waiting for Ansell or Brash to complain about the racism of Mowree places at Medical School before she’ll have an opinion. Or the racism and apartheid of Mowree seats in Parliament. She probably has views on that too.
Just saw a report on AL Jazeera’s NewsHour about a Waikato Treaty settlement. It portrayed it as part of a reconciliation process and ended with the line:
A country facing up to its painful past
If only more of the country were interested in such settlements and the history leading up to them!
The report included a speech from Finlayson and critical comments by Winston Peters.
‘It is definitely a fit-up.’
GCHQ employees on Assange rape allegations
Authorities at GCHQ, the government eavesdropping agency, are facing embarrassing revelations about internal correspondence in which Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is discussed, apparently including speculation that he is being framed by Swedish authorities seeking his extradition on rape allegations. The records were revealed by Assange himself in a Sunday night interview with Spanish television programme Salvados in which he explained that an official request for information gave him access to instant messages that remained unclassified by GCHQ.
A message from September 2012, read out by Assange, apparently says: “They are trying to arrest him on suspicion of XYZ … It is definitely a fit-up… Their timings are too convenient right after Cablegate.”‘
A message from September 2012, read out by Assange, apparently says: “They are trying to arrest him on suspicion of XYZ … It is definitely a fit-up… Their timings are too convenient right after Cablegate.”‘
This makes me trust Assange even less.
If he had released the whole of the information received from GCHQ then it would give people the chance to judge for themselves and it would demonstrate an openness about the information. As it is, he is selectively quoting. It looks like in an attempt to make out he is innocent of the rape allegations and that he is the victim of a conspiracy, but his actions now are the actions of someone with something to hide.
Likewise Morrisey, your highlighting of “it is definitely a fit up” as the headline in your comment, misleads as it implies that GCHQ think that. Instead, when you read the Guardian article, it looks more like the anonymous speculation of a single GCHQ employee taken out of context with no analysis or conclusion.
It would help if you used the html tags to make it clear that the words in your post are quote from the Guardian rather than your own thoughts.
The other alleged text message Julian Assange read out, and Moz forgot to quote, is far more apt:
“He reckons he will stay in the Ecuadorian embassy for six to 12 months when the charges against him will be dropped, but that is not really how it works now is it? He’s a fool… Yeah … A highly optimistic fool.”
Come now TRP, either the GCHQ staffer has good judgement on how these things work or doesn’t. You don’t get to cherry pick which messages are credible according to your own preselection bias.
Spies are always good at what they do or always bad at what they do? What I took from the article is that these were messages being sent as part of ongoing communications. Until we have context and see what was done with the information in those communications it’s hard to know the value ot place on them.
We also don’t know how many people are being quoted (did Assange choose that?).
If this was a serious discussion, it would be classified. The fact it was released suggests it’s just idiots blathering.
Fool, you know as well as the rest of us that this was a statement of truth by someone required to carry out wicked deeds for the state. And what the hell do you know about the protocols involved in classifying internal communications?
The only idiots blathering here are the likes of your good, albeit bewildered, self.
It looks like you are trying to suggest that there are not people conspiring to get this dissenter, whom you dismissively refer to as “the guy”.
If you are trying to suggest that, you have even less integrity than the egregious Paul Holmes (R.I.P.) who at least had the honesty to admit that the U.S. and U.K. regimes “will have to kill him.”
Maybe you should read it again, and try and address the point that if the charges are a fit up, then discussing the fit up would be classified.
Given that the discussion is not classified, that suggests that it was a casual communication between people speculating, rather than official records of actual events and official conclusions.
Maybe you should read it again, and try and address the point that if the charges are a fit up, then discussing the fit up would be classified.
That is not the point, of course. The point is: GCHQ operatives have been caught acknowledging that the charges against this dissenter—who you dismissively refer to as “the guy”—-are fraudulent. That they probably broke some protocol designed to protect their criminal behaviour from public scrutiny is a matter for the ethically void mandarins who run that thoroughly discredited department.
Given that the discussion is not classified, that suggests that it was a casual communication between people speculating, rather than official records of actual events and official conclusions.
“Speculating”? They were stating the truth—not a good career move in a branch of government dedicated to the precise opposite. But it is the truth, nonetheless.
Morrissey, you are not thinking clearly about this.
The communication that was released was determined not to be sensitive enough to classify.
There was no ‘protocol’ broken here. There is a communication, of some sort, that was deemed to be ok to release. That’s what you haven’t explained. If the people speaking actually know what they are talking about, and reaching official conclusions, then it would have been deemed highly sensitive, especially if Assange is in fact being stiched up.
But it wasn’t deemed sensitive at all. These are the only actual facts we have: Snippets of what was said, and the fact it wasn’t classified.
You very much want to believe that this is some sort of official finding. If it was, it would have been classified. We don’t know for certain what it is, because the details and context are not things that Assange has chosen to disclose as yet.
If they were ‘stating the truth’, why wasn’t it deemed sensitive enough to classify?
Yep, fair enough. But does Assange still have access the internet? Why not publish what he was given? (or leak it if he can’t publish it himself). That was really my point – Assange has this information and he is manipulating us by how it gets fed into the public domain.
I also think that Morrissey is manipulating the information, so by the time it gets to the Standard, it’s hard to know what is going on 🙂 If I was in Morrissey’s position, I’d look further to see where else Assange has permitted this information to be used. Unless of course that would make Assange look bad 😉
If I was [sic] in Morrissey’s position, I’d look further to see where else Assange has permitted this information to be used.
If I were in YOUR position, i.e., embarrassed and floundering, I would try to divert the discussion away from the key admission, which is “It is definitely a fit-up.”
Which is what you are doing, badly. Be advised that you should desist from this, because you will be called on it, as you are being called on it right now.
Have a good day, my feathered friend, and try not to let the bile levels affect your functioning as a human being.
Wow, so many words to say, well, bugger all. I already addressed the point that you think is key (“it’s definitely a fitup”). It looks like one comment, from one staffer, in a casual communication, and devoid of any context or official conclusion.
Go ahead and see if you can call me on the actual points I raise instead of spending three parapgraphs correcting my grammar, trying to put me down and marginalising my comments by attributing nasty qualities that you’ve made up.
“So many words”? Fool, I edit my writing very carefully, and I don’t mess around with empty verbiage. I pulled you down, dispatched you, roasted you and served you up as an example of hapless bewilderment in a few well executed words.
Not a word too many, not a word too few. (I know you’re protected and all, but it had to be done.)
I already addressed the point that you think is key (“it’s definitely a fitup”).
“The point I think is key”? That is the whole point of the release; it’s not very often that these frightening people let their guards down and tell the truth like that. People who care about ethical standards and justice—not you, obviously—will be heartened to see that even GCHQ spooks have a conscience.
And here YOU are, trying to diminish, even deny, the massive significance of that rare moment of honesty. You’re not clever enough to get away with such brazen tactics, buddy.
Go ahead and see if you can call me on the actual points I raise instead of spending three parapgraphs correcting my grammar, trying to put me down and marginalising my comments by attributing nasty qualities that you’ve made up.
You are the one who waded out of your comfort zone. Your self-pitying reproaches cut no ice with me.
I edit my writing very carefully, and I don’t mess around with empty verbiage. I pulled you down, dispatched you, roasted you and served you up as an example of hapless bewilderment in a few well executed words.
That should be:
I edit my writing very carefully. My concise comments made you an example of hapless bewilderment.
If you wanted to avoid your claim to outstanding prose contradicting itself. Christ knows the rest of your claims only reflect reality by occasional happenstance.
If you wanted to avoid your claim to outstanding prose contradicting itself.
Since I’m in a magnanimous frame of mind today, I would have liked to correct and tidy up that sentence before critiquing it. However, it is utterly incomprehensible, and I feel unable to help you out at this stage.
Please resubmit it, this time with the words you have so clearly forgotten to put in.
Christ knows the rest of your claims only reflect reality by occasional happenstance.
At least that one internally coheres, even though it is an utterly vacuous and untrue assertion.
That should be “I edit my writing very carefully. My concise comments made you an example of hapless bewilderment” if you wanted to avoid your claim to outstanding prose contradicting itself.
Funny how a wee bit of non-standard punctuation and formatting made you as stupid as a ZX81 attempting the Turing Test.
If you read the article Weka you will see Assange says
“We have just received this. It is not public yet,”
Don’t you think that the founder of Wikileaks knows about the importance of public disclosure. It seems here he managed to get GCHQ to blow their own whistle.
Indeed – and Assange knows the importance of not just timing information releases for maximum coverage, but also co-ordinating it with other events and documents.
I did read that red rattler, and of course I know what Assange is capable of re information disclosure. Did you read my comments, as that was one of the points I was making.
Or to put it another way. Why let the Guardian selectively quote, so that it looks like ‘idiots blathering’, when you could make the whole thing public, in context, and make things transparent rather than appearing to be manipulated (by the Guardian, by Assange, by whoever)?
Let me guess: your “distrust” of Assange is matched by your faith in the people who are targeting him. I hope you get some sort of civic recognition for your faithful devotion to state propaganda—if you’re doing this for free, you’re an even more hapless fool than you seem.
Likewise Morrisey, your highlighting of “it is definitely a fit up” as the headline in your comment, misleads as it implies that GCHQ think that. Instead, when you read the Guardian article, it looks more like the anonymous speculation of a single GCHQ employee taken out of context with no analysis or conclusion.
Like the internal state documents exposed by the likes of Ellsberg, Chomsky and many other dissenters, this is damning evidence because it shows what the people hired to carry out these lethal state duties actually think about what they are doing. You can shout and scream abuse at them if you like, but truth will out in the end. As it most certainly has in this case.
Oh the irony. You do realise you just had a go at me for believing state propaganda, and then ended by attempting to use state evidence to support your cause.
I don’t particularly trust Assange, nor the State. But in either case I judge on a case by case basis, rather than assigning prejudice like you do. In case you don’t remember, (but I am sure you do, and are just being a deceptive shit head), I’m quite prepared to believe that various states in the world are trying to undermine Assange in various ways. I just don’t think that makes Assange an angel or the Great Hero you profess him to be.
I’m sorry you live in a such a black and white world where any criticism of Assange = non-belief in his persecution. The world I live in is more complex.
As is often the case your debate technique is poor. Not sure if that is because you just can’t put the arguments together more coherently, or if it’s because you understand that asserting opinion as Truth serves your cause better.
WHAT? Clearly, you have about as much understanding of the concept of irony as Alanis Morissette.
You do realise you just had a go at me for believing state propaganda, and then ended by attempting to use state evidence to support your cause.
No I didn’t.
I’m sorry you live in a such a black and white world where any criticism of Assange = non-belief in his persecution.
“Criticism” of Assange? What you and the other unwitting dupes of the British secret service are doing is not criticising Assange, it is simply adding to the blackening of his name and adding to the climate of fear and loathing against this dissenter. If this was Soviet Russia in 1937, you would have been blithely repeating Stalinist rhetoric against those dastardly doctors.
I don’t particularly trust Assange, nor the State.
Rubbish. Your posting history is all over this mostly excellent forum. Do you want me to embarrass you by digging up some of your more credulous posts?
The world I live in is more complex.
Obviously. Maybe that explains the bewilderment.
As is often the case your debate technique is poor. Not sure if that is because you just can’t put the arguments together more coherently, or if it’s because you understand that asserting opinion as Truth serves your cause better.
I didn’t assert my opinion, I posted up EVIDENCE—irrefutable evidence—that even the people charged with persecuting this dissenter openly acknowledge the allegations against him are utterly spurious.
Congratulations. You have succeeded in posting up a response even more abjectly limp than Descendant of Smith’s moronic “whatever” during a football debate the other day.
Can’t even be bothered answering if you are going on with the character maligning every time you can’t address a point properly.
I posted up EVIDENCE—irrefutable evidence—that even the people charged with persecuting this dissenter openly acknowledge the allegations against him are utterly spurious.
Lol
Nope. You posted private comments attributed to professional conspiracy theorists in which they apparently speculate that a conspiracy occurred.
Sacré bleu! First there was Descendant of Smith with his “Whatever”; then there was poor bewildered weka with his abject “Boring”, and now here YOU are with the most witless signifier of inadequacy of them all! I’d like to put it down to the likelihood that you’ve had (another) bad day, but I’m sadly aware that I’m probably clutching at straws. I’m concerned about your lack of performance, my friend, I really am.
Nope. You posted private comments attributed to professional conspiracy theorists in which they apparently speculate that a conspiracy occurred.
Two GCHQ people dare to speak the truth about the frightful business they are being employed to carry out, and they are immediately transformed into “professional conspiracy theorists”!
As shown by your witty reply on this thread, written at 5:01 p.m., you do possess a sense of humour. For your sake, I hope the mad and desperate rhetoric you’re now engaging in is just some kind of barren exercise in intellectual jousting. I’m still inclined to the view that you’re just having a laugh; the alternative is just too depressing.
Just goes to show you shouldn’t spend bullshitting emails to your workmates, which is what the guardian quotes look like.
Intelligence work is largely about constructing theories and assessments about human networks and plans from the available data. Gchq employees are paid to do this.
They weren’t transformed into professional conspiracy theorists, that’s their actual job.
Your “irrefutable evidence” is simply at least two people speculating about what happened based purely on timing. Nothing we haven’t seen here.
Now, if they’d said that they had direct knowledge that the complainants were part of a plan by an intelligence service, you might merely be overstating a point (“irrefutable” my arse). As it is, you’re in Fantasy Land again.
Your “irrefutable evidence” is simply at least two people speculating about what happened based purely on timing. Nothing we haven’t seen here.
Two spooks speak frankly about the craven dishonesty of their mission. This is a rare and (for those souls who support this official attempt at lynching) devastating revelation. You can, for whatever reason, try to trivialize and scoff at it, but it only has consequences for your credibility, I’m afraid.
Now, if they’d said that they had direct knowledge that the complainants were part of a plan by an intelligence service,
They did say that, and they do have direct knowledge of it. They are involved in this crime up to their elbows.
… you might merely be overstating a point (“irrefutable” my arse).
Two spooks calling it as it is. speaking plainly about a man their organization is trying to “fit up”, i.e. frame him on entirely bogus charges; you know and everyone else with an IQ above room temperature knows that they were speaking plainly and honestly. Still, let’s be philosophers for a moment and consider the other possibility, the one to which (for whatever reason) you are subscribing: these spooks are so brilliantly deceptive that they are speaking in some weird code which renders their private correspondence as contrary to truth as their official lying.
As it is, you’re in Fantasy Land again.
That’s not any sort of argument. You’re the one who actually buys in to (or pretends to buy in to) this squalid official fantasy.
Many people have noted the disquieting similarity of the persecution of Assange to what happened to official enemies in Moscow in the 1930s; trying to discuss this rationally with you puts me in mind of what Noam Chomsky said about trying to engage in debate with the darling of the extreme right Christopher Hitchens: it’s like trying to argue with a Soviet commissar.
Seen juila gilards speech on muslems fuckn nailed it ,tho many on here will know doubt have a promblem,but the majority of assies’s and n zs would agree
This f..boy doesn’t smell right, I don’t think he is of the agricultural persuasion. No lovely whiff of sheep nuts or cow pats at all. More like an overflowing septic tank.
See also….
No. 10: Boris Johnson: “Londoners have… the best police in the world to keep us safe.”
No. 9: NewstalkZB PR dept: “News you NEED! Fast, fair, accurate!” No. 8: Simon Bridges: “I don’t mean to duck the question” No. 7: Nigel Morrison: “Quite frankly, they’ve been VERY tough.”
No. 6: NZ Herald PR dept: “Congratulations—you’re reading New Zealand’s best newspaper.”
No. 5: Rawdon Christie: “…a FORMIDABLE replacement, it seems, is Claudette Hauiti.”
No. 4: Willie and J.T.: “The X-Factor. Nah, nah, there’s some GREAT talent there!”
No. 3: John Key: “Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”
No. 2: Colin Craig: “Oh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.” (TV3 News, 24 April 2013) No. 1: Barack Obama: “Margaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.”
I notice what isn’t included…no allegations of sexual abuse. Is that because they never occurred, or because any complaints were shut down? And only ONE reported incident of client self harm (for example) – isn’t that a suspiciously low number for this type of facility?
Reported incidents at Te Roopu Taurima O Manukau Trust 2010-2012
17 escapes
14 alleged assaults of clients
3 alleged client assaults/threatens staff
2 alleged abuse
2 clients charged by police
2 inappropriate behaviour by client
1 medication error
1 client hospitalisation (medical condition)
1 fire
1 car accident
1 inappropriate restraint of client
1 property damage by client
1 client self harm
With knowledge of the atrocious treatment of marginalised individuals in every kind of institutional care, I think many thought we couldn’t do much worse by those in need of care and support, if such services were taken out of the hands of the state.
So now we sell off the care of the most powerless to the lowest bidder in a race to the bottom free-market of neglect and abuse. That, or offer no help at all.
I know! put ’em in the Army, or the Police! and show ’em some discipline. We might even be able to get them to do our dirty work, and when things turn sour – we’ve got the perfik scuse.
Kim Hill interviewing NZs of note that we should all know about. These should be our stars so we hear lots about them and less sports trivia, including from overseas now such as the Boston Red Sox and that sort of thing. Note I said LESS sport only.
9:05 David Skegg
Professor Sir David Skegg is a New Zealand epidemiologist, and the President of the Royal Society of New Zealand. He is a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Otago, and Professor of Preventive and Social Medicine. http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/ http://www.otago.ac.nz/
9:45 Phoebe Hayman
Phoebe Hayman is the CEO of toy craft-kit design company Seedling NZ. The company’s gnomes are being showcased in London this week at the centenary celebrations of the world’s most famous gardening event, the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show, overturning the Show’s long-standing prohibition on gnomes to raise funds for the Show’s school gardening campaign.
10:05 Playing Favourites with Gifford Jackson
New Zealand industrial design pioneer Gifford Jackson spent 37 years as a design consultant here after working in New York for 17 years. His life and work is celebrated in the new book, Gifford Jackson: New Zealand Industrial Design Pathfinder by Michael Smyth (Creationz, ISBN: 978-0-473-23882-7).
And Joan Baez interview preparation for her coming here in August I think.
Re the TPPA. I assume that like most of the other agreements we have such as with Australia and China, that the TPPA will be signed on behalf of the crown for Aotearoa?
What wouls happen then, in the instance that Aotearoa becomes a Republic? Does that mean the agreements signed on behalf of the crown become null and void?
Only if the way we become a republic includes abrogating every single agreement and contract the Government has been involved with for 150 years. All those people sentnced to preventative detention by the Crown just gonna go walk? Not likely.
Cars in the USA had a terrifying plunge into freezing waters from a broken bridge. A beam had been hit by an over-sized load of drilling equipment. There are calls now for the old bridges in the USA to receive much needed attention.
The ability of business to externalise their costs there is the same here. Longer trucks, heavier trucks here are causing problems on the public roads.
Drilling equipment will be a growing blockage on our roads. The USA isn’t up to the problems that their pursuit of business cause. Neither are we.
Interesting how the USA could spend a measley $75B doing up their old run down transport infrastructure (the budgetary equivalent for developing a single major weapon like a stealth fighter) and in doing so create jobs for 1M people…but unlike the days of the New Deal, they can’t be assed this time around.
Randle, I really hope you don’t mind but the way he was out of sync with the field of view was bugging me so I took the liberty of giving him a back, to sit him in the picture better.
(I couldn’t do anything about his lack of spine) http://postimg.org/image/rd2ctavur/
There are problems with all this, to be sure – that’s the whole point of Blyth’s book. But the story austerians like to tell is considerably simpler than the messy details of how it all falls apart time after time after time after time. What’s more, there’s a rather compelling moral overtone involved: You’ve got debts? Pay them! It’s what individuals, households and businesses must do, why not governments as well?
Why not? The anti-austerity case is two-fold: First, as Blyth repeatedly points out, there’s the fallacy of composition: what’s true for any one individual isn’t always true for the whole, and in the case of cutting spending in a recession, it’s exactly the opposite of what’s needed, since one person’s spending cut is another’s drop in income, which only increases the need to cut spending more, creating a vicious downward spiral. Second, governments alone have the ability to resist this self-defeating logic. Governments sovereign in their own currencies – like the US and Britain, and most of Europe before the creation of the eurozone – have the power to borrow as much money as necessary to break the downward cycle of deflationary fear (moreover, Keynes specifically said that governments should pay down debt once the economy recovered, and the US consistently didreduce its debt burden [debt/GDP ratio] throughout the post-World War II period when Keynesian policies dominated. That’s what ensures their long-term ability to keep intervening with expansionary spending when everyone else is cutting back).
It seems that the book missed the most important part about countries being sovereign – they can print their own money and thus have no need to borrow.
The bit that seems to have been missed is that that fallacy of composition is the entire basis of our economic system. The economists take a single actor Homo economicus and expands it out to every single person and company in the world and is precisely what the fallacy of composition is.
The entire neo-liberal economic theory starts with a fallacy and goes downhill from there.
Indeed, one of the evident subtexts of Blyth’s book which cries out for futher systematic study is the ways in which socio-political power relations are first mystified, and then magically transformed into psuedo-natural laws, which in turn leads directly to TINA-style arguments. Or, more simply: how the golden rule works out in metaphysical practice: those with the gold make all the rules, not just about how the world does work, but about how it possibly can work.
Hits the nail on the head there though. The problem we have is that it’s the rich making the rules.
Thanks for that link to a very interesting review. Also this weekend, I read this that relates to your last sentence, DTB, about the rich making the rules. Paul Krugman on The Smith/Klein/Kalecki Theory of Austerity.
Noah Smith recently offered an interesting take on the real reasons austerity garners so much support from elites, no matter hw badly it fails in practice. Elites, he argues, see economic distress as an opportunity to push through “reforms” — which basically means changes they want, which may or may not actually serve the interest of promoting economic growth — and oppose any policies that might mitigate crisis without the need for these changes:…
What Smith didn’t note, somewhat surprisingly, is that his argument is very close to Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine, with its argument that elites systematically exploit disasters to push through neoliberal policies even if these policies are essentially irrelevant to the sources of disaster.
And I also read this book review, on David Stuckler’s latest book: review title ‘Recessions can hurt, but austerity kills’. Stuckler’s book is about the impact on health, and the related increase in homelessness that has resulted from “austerity”.
In a powerful new book, The Body Economic, Stuckler and his colleague Sanjay Basu, an assistant professor of medicine and epidemiologist at Stanford University, show that austerity is now having a “devastating effect” on public health in Europe and North America.
The review focuses on the impact of austerity, and compares that with countries, like Germany and Iceland, that have included policies to lessen the impact of the recession on people’s health and levels of poverty. From the review, it seems to me the book has only looked to compare with less austere policies, and doesn’t look to a totally different alternative. Though comparisons are also made with US and UK policies of the Great Depression, and the post WWII investment in the UK welfare state.
The Book of Amos.
Amos, not a man of court like Isaiah, or a priest like Jeremiah. Earned his living from tending the flock and the sycamore-fig grove. Skilled with words. Great range of general and historical knowledge (not an ignorant peasant). Went from Judah to announce God’s judgement on the Northern Kingdom (Israel). Few, if any, clues to the chronological order of his spoken messages-he may have repeated them often to reach everyone. Prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah over Judah, 792-740, and Jereboam II over Israel, 793-753.
Both kingdoms enjoyed great prosperity and had reached new political and military heights, yet they were spiritually smug; prosperity had increased Israel’s religious and moral corruption. Israel had a worldly view of even the ritual that the Lord himself had prescribed. They thought performance of the rites was all God required, and with that done they could do what they pleased.Also a time of idolatry, extravagant indulgence in luxurious living, immorality, corruption of judicial procedures and oppression of the poor. As a consequence, God would soon bring about the Assyrian captivity of the Northern Kingdom.
5:42 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never failing stream.
Amos condemned all those who make themselves powerful and rich at the expense of others. Those who had acquired two splendid houses, expensive furniture and richly furnished tables by cheating, perverting justice and crushing the poor would lose everything they had. God’s imminent judgement on Israel would not be a mere punitive blow to warn, but an almost total destruction. The unthinkable was about to happen.
The God for whom Amos speaks is God of more than merely Israel. He uses nations against each other to carry out his purposes. He is the great King who rules the whole universe. All sovereign, the God of Israel holds the history and destiny of all peoples and of the world in his hands. Israel must know not only that he is the Lord of her future, but also that he is Lord over all, and that he has purposes and concerns that reach far beyond her borders. Israel had a unique, but not exclusive, claim on God.
3:17 Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plans to his servants, the prophets.
Revelation 11:18 That you should destroy those who would destroy the earth.
from The Nation
-if councils don’t sign the accords, they (Central Government) intend to come in over the top.”
-Len Brown.(accord, if ratified, doesn’t come into effect until the Unitary Plan is notified, in September.)
some interesting observations from the Parata article;
Boag- (Parata is ) “warm, articulate, engaging and very bright”.???
Jones-(charged with) “reigning in teacher unions political power”.
Peters- “eat a dead rat everyday under National’s leadership”.
(Govts education policy is deficient and the communication of said policy, is deficient).
and Parata’s educational ethos? “that individuals excel”.read INDIVIDUALS! despite her background, no better than Paula Bennett.
But the minister says he’s no puppeteer.
“I have no idea what he’s talking about in that regard, but I will do my job, which is to try and encourage job and growth for New Zealanders and investment in the economy,”
“I have no idea what he’s talking about in that regard, but I will do my job, which is to try and encourage job and growth for New Zealanders and investment in the economy, irrespective of the effect on the environment”
May 25, 2013
Awesome effort!
Category: Media
Posted by: admin
A huge thanks to everyone who has contributed ideas, time and submissions. What an outstanding effort – we have already called out Steven Joyce on 3 News Friday 24th May, and the website has only been up 3 days.
Mr Joyce told 3 big lies in the interview and as soon as the news clip is posted here we will show you what they were. He also made one thing abundantly clear – he is in charge. So for any of you who had doubts about where the buck stops, you just had it confirmed that he is the man.
Now is the time to get the word out and ramp up the submissions. Please tell anyone you know that we are on a roll, and that if they help by submitting in the box above we have a lot better chance of saving our clean water. Get the message out though email, facebook and twitter.
Haven’t read all of the above comments so this may have been discussed already – that covered – who wrote this shit editorial in the Herald ? Sounds like something from that facile and unaccomplished trougher, the flibbitigibbert Hekia Potato Parata:
And on what authority does the writer float this business about the people who speak for legal aid lawyers not enjoying the confidence of those they speak for ? Complete and unadulterated bullshit to the point of being a wilful fabrication. Examples of any such lack of confidence please, liar.
Own goal CV, this is in reference to ones, who have enough savings they can live off, comfortably. So the argument of poverty becomes a bit obsolete then. If the argument is about too low interest rates, so that interest does not cover living costs, how can you justify this to people that have not even any savings, no interest earned and so forth? I am sorry, I feel you did not view and listen to the whole story there. No, this is BS.
People that are so wealthy, that they can live off interest are NOT Poor!
A cop car featured heavily, once again, on the front page of the Herald Online last night, all about “hostage taking” and inguries and so forth. There was also a mention about “teen porn”, about other “scandalous” stories, and the list goes on. NZ media is now gutter media, for sure, as headlines are competed for, such “news” needing to be “enhanced” or “hyped up”.
Nothing is normal anymore, nor do the shit consumers bother to demand it. It is the new game for the new generation, full of trivia, and contempt for anything that should be taken seriously and be treated with due respect.
Generation X is followed by Gen Y, the most ruthless, selfish and jerkish lot I ever met.
That is supposed to be our “future”. If I as an ageing person, NOT having been able to provide for retirement savings, having to “depend” on such bastarts of a mentality, I rather take my life before I hit the retirement age.
Yes, we have no more solidarity and not a caring society anymore, unless perhaps as baby boomer parents you managed to tie your kids into some commitment.
No, I have no such family, and I will die, I will die a lonely death, a life will be concluded in despiccable conditions, by the fucked, shit arsed selfish generation I see every day. I am contemplating about how to deal them a blow before they fucking retire, the selfishly rotten brats. They deserve to be taken apart, and punished, for not caring, and I see and hear it every day. Paula Bennett, Key and crims love them, as they are their voter base.
The left do not get it, yet! Many of you should damned bloody worry, we have a rotten next generation that is semi fascist and capitalist, your damned traitor kids!!!
..and you seem to be discounting the greed-is-good! /there-is-no-alternative! those ‘y’s were force-fed with all their lives..
..they are just a product of that conditioning/brainwashing..
..conditioning/brainwashing done by your generation..and an unthinking/craven/self-serving mainstream media..(and craven/self-serving/self-muzzling politicians – of all stripes..)
..and the good/cheering news is that i think that many of those ‘y’s are waking up to the poisoned-package they were sold..
“..they are just a product of that conditioning/brainwashing..
..conditioning/brainwashing done by your generation..and an unthinking/craven/self-serving mainstream media..(and craven/self-serving/self-muzzling politicians – of all stripes..)
..and the good/cheering news is that i think that many of those ‘y’s are waking up to the poisoned-package they were sold..
..after all..the evidence is all around them..”
Of course my comment was well over the top, as I must admit, but it is frustrating and angering, to see so much indifference and apathy out there, except where it comes to serve selected own interests and chasing opportunities and exciting perks.
While you raise valid points, I must say though, that much that is said in defence by many of the younger generation, is just a cop-out. The internet makes available sufficient information and offers alternative choices, and there are also other ways to find out the truth about most things.
Yet it is not taken advantage of by so many, and I notice and have heard and seen, that most cannot be bothered to make much effort in seeking true, factual information, in taking a stand on issues, or to even bother voting.
They rather escape into personal distraction, little bits of private indulgence, and leave the rest to others more senior, to do the work and thinking for them. That is luckily not all, but sadly too many. Willing consumers of products and services (brainwashing included) offered by corporate ruled capitalism, that seems to fit the description of most.
As for “xtasy”, I choose to stay away from drugs, believe it or not.
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
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Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
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Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
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Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
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What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
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Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
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Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
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Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
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Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
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Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
I was initially resistant to the idea often suggested to me that the Government should deliver an arts strategy. The whole point of the arts and creativity is that people should do whatever the hell they want, unbound by the dictates of politicians in Wellington. Peter Jackson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Eleanor ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 26 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
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Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
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Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
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Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Fantastic to see our new Race Relations Commissioner articulately condemning Winston Peter’s comments and she should get a pay increase:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10886045
/sarc
‘
Following the deafening silence from the Race Relations Commissioner over revelations from the IPCA, that several of the police actions taken against Tuhoe were illegal.
Plus the following statement from the Commissioner of Police Peter Marshall, that no disciplinary actions of any sort will be taken against those responsible for these illegal acts. You might think that as most of these illegal police acts were perpetrated against Maori. And that the police are not interested in disciplining those responsible. The Race Relations Commissioner might have an opinion.
But no. Nothing at all from the office of the Race Relations Commissioner, either for, or against Peter Marshall’s decision not to act on admitted police wrong doing against Maori.
And now another wondrous tale from the log of the amazing Race Relations Commissioner, who isn’t.
Winston Peters has again resumed mining the rich vein of anti-Asian racism that has served his so well. The Race Relations Commissioner says she “doesn’t want to get involved”.
The clock must be ticking on our Squash Relations Commissioner.
Things have got so bad, that Judith Collins who appointed Devoy to the role. Had to personally issue a statement to fill the vacuum left by Devoy. Collins statement labelled Mr Peters’ comments “confrontational” and “insulting”.
When the Minister has to step in, this farcical appointment must be nearing its end,
Our dearest dame doing her darndest not to fking get involved, nor even fronting up to say that, but getting her ‘spokeswoman’ to say that !?!
. . . . .
But Dame Susan was not willing to comment last night.
“It’s just not a discussion she wants to get involved with,” a spokeswoman said.
. . . . .
“Not a discussion she wants to get involved with”!
Huh?? Wot?
In the famous two-word question from Pauline Hanson (yes, one needs to resort to quoting that thing): “Please explain?”
Wtf, darn de Void, wtf-ing wtf.
Maybe Collins should make the spokeswoman Commissioner.
While apparently the current RRC is AWOL, At least she fronts up.
She couldn’t be worse than the current office holder.
I think Dame Susan is waiting for Ansell or Brash to complain about the racism of Mowree places at Medical School before she’ll have an opinion. Or the racism and apartheid of Mowree seats in Parliament. She probably has views on that too.
Why would anyone give a shit about Peters? Waste of fucking oxygen he is.
5%-6% of parliament is why.
Possible kingmaker in the next parliament is why.
Just saw a report on AL Jazeera’s NewsHour about a Waikato Treaty settlement. It portrayed it as part of a reconciliation process and ended with the line:
If only more of the country were interested in such settlements and the history leading up to them!
The report included a speech from Finlayson and critical comments by Winston Peters.
It’s probably this settlement.
‘It is definitely a fit-up.’
GCHQ employees on Assange rape allegations
Authorities at GCHQ, the government eavesdropping agency, are facing embarrassing revelations about internal correspondence in which Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is discussed, apparently including speculation that he is being framed by Swedish authorities seeking his extradition on rape allegations. The records were revealed by Assange himself in a Sunday night interview with Spanish television programme Salvados in which he explained that an official request for information gave him access to instant messages that remained unclassified by GCHQ.
A message from September 2012, read out by Assange, apparently says: “They are trying to arrest him on suspicion of XYZ … It is definitely a fit-up… Their timings are too convenient right after Cablegate.”‘
Read more….
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/may/20/julian-assange-gchq-messages-extradition
A message from September 2012, read out by Assange, apparently says: “They are trying to arrest him on suspicion of XYZ … It is definitely a fit-up… Their timings are too convenient right after Cablegate.”‘
This makes me trust Assange even less.
If he had released the whole of the information received from GCHQ then it would give people the chance to judge for themselves and it would demonstrate an openness about the information. As it is, he is selectively quoting. It looks like in an attempt to make out he is innocent of the rape allegations and that he is the victim of a conspiracy, but his actions now are the actions of someone with something to hide.
Likewise Morrisey, your highlighting of “it is definitely a fit up” as the headline in your comment, misleads as it implies that GCHQ think that. Instead, when you read the Guardian article, it looks more like the anonymous speculation of a single GCHQ employee taken out of context with no analysis or conclusion.
It would help if you used the html tags to make it clear that the words in your post are quote from the Guardian rather than your own thoughts.
The other alleged text message Julian Assange read out, and Moz forgot to quote, is far more apt:
“He reckons he will stay in the Ecuadorian embassy for six to 12 months when the charges against him will be dropped, but that is not really how it works now is it? He’s a fool… Yeah … A highly optimistic fool.”
Come now TRP, either the GCHQ staffer has good judgement on how these things work or doesn’t. You don’t get to cherry pick which messages are credible according to your own preselection bias.
Spies are always good at what they do or always bad at what they do? What I took from the article is that these were messages being sent as part of ongoing communications. Until we have context and see what was done with the information in those communications it’s hard to know the value ot place on them.
We also don’t know how many people are being quoted (did Assange choose that?).
Pretty sure it was Morrissey who did that.
What reason do we have to think the fit up line shows good judgement?
If this was a serious discussion, it would be classified. The fact it was released suggests it’s just idiots blathering.
If this was a serious discussion, it would be classified. The fact it was released suggests it’s just idiots blathering.
Fool, you know as well as the rest of us that this was a statement of truth by someone required to carry out wicked deeds for the state. And what the hell do you know about the protocols involved in classifying internal communications?
The only idiots blathering here are the likes of your good, albeit bewildered, self.
lol.
So there is a grand conspiracy to trump up charges against the guy, but it’s not classified because why on earth would you do that?
It looks like you are trying to suggest that there are not people conspiring to get this dissenter, whom you dismissively refer to as “the guy”.
If you are trying to suggest that, you have even less integrity than the egregious Paul Holmes (R.I.P.) who at least had the honesty to admit that the U.S. and U.K. regimes “will have to kill him.”
Maybe you should read it again, and try and address the point that if the charges are a fit up, then discussing the fit up would be classified.
Given that the discussion is not classified, that suggests that it was a casual communication between people speculating, rather than official records of actual events and official conclusions.
Maybe you should read it again, and try and address the point that if the charges are a fit up, then discussing the fit up would be classified.
That is not the point, of course. The point is: GCHQ operatives have been caught acknowledging that the charges against this dissenter—who you dismissively refer to as “the guy”—-are fraudulent. That they probably broke some protocol designed to protect their criminal behaviour from public scrutiny is a matter for the ethically void mandarins who run that thoroughly discredited department.
Given that the discussion is not classified, that suggests that it was a casual communication between people speculating, rather than official records of actual events and official conclusions.
“Speculating”? They were stating the truth—not a good career move in a branch of government dedicated to the precise opposite. But it is the truth, nonetheless.
Morrissey, you are not thinking clearly about this.
The communication that was released was determined not to be sensitive enough to classify.
There was no ‘protocol’ broken here. There is a communication, of some sort, that was deemed to be ok to release. That’s what you haven’t explained. If the people speaking actually know what they are talking about, and reaching official conclusions, then it would have been deemed highly sensitive, especially if Assange is in fact being stiched up.
But it wasn’t deemed sensitive at all. These are the only actual facts we have: Snippets of what was said, and the fact it wasn’t classified.
You very much want to believe that this is some sort of official finding. If it was, it would have been classified. We don’t know for certain what it is, because the details and context are not things that Assange has chosen to disclose as yet.
If they were ‘stating the truth’, why wasn’t it deemed sensitive enough to classify?
Are you going to address this at all?
“He’s a fool… Yeah … A highly optimistic fool.”
So they don’t particularly admire the dissenter—after all, they ARE working for the government’s notoriously unreliable and corrupt secret service.
But, to the evident consternation and embarrassment of the likes of you and poor old weka, the key words here are “It is definitely a fit-up.”
You know it is, too, but I don’t think you have the moral courage to actually admit you were foolishly taken in by these folk.
Weka, has it occurred to you that its the reporter (or their editor) selectively quoting that passage, not Assange?
Yep, fair enough. But does Assange still have access the internet? Why not publish what he was given? (or leak it if he can’t publish it himself). That was really my point – Assange has this information and he is manipulating us by how it gets fed into the public domain.
I also think that Morrissey is manipulating the information, so by the time it gets to the Standard, it’s hard to know what is going on 🙂 If I was in Morrissey’s position, I’d look further to see where else Assange has permitted this information to be used. Unless of course that would make Assange look bad 😉
If I was [sic] in Morrissey’s position, I’d look further to see where else Assange has permitted this information to be used.
If I were in YOUR position, i.e., embarrassed and floundering, I would try to divert the discussion away from the key admission, which is “It is definitely a fit-up.”
Which is what you are doing, badly. Be advised that you should desist from this, because you will be called on it, as you are being called on it right now.
Have a good day, my feathered friend, and try not to let the bile levels affect your functioning as a human being.
Wow, so many words to say, well, bugger all. I already addressed the point that you think is key (“it’s definitely a fitup”). It looks like one comment, from one staffer, in a casual communication, and devoid of any context or official conclusion.
Go ahead and see if you can call me on the actual points I raise instead of spending three parapgraphs correcting my grammar, trying to put me down and marginalising my comments by attributing nasty qualities that you’ve made up.
Wow, so many words to say, well, bugger all.
“So many words”? Fool, I edit my writing very carefully, and I don’t mess around with empty verbiage. I pulled you down, dispatched you, roasted you and served you up as an example of hapless bewilderment in a few well executed words.
Not a word too many, not a word too few. (I know you’re protected and all, but it had to be done.)
I already addressed the point that you think is key (“it’s definitely a fitup”).
“The point I think is key”? That is the whole point of the release; it’s not very often that these frightening people let their guards down and tell the truth like that. People who care about ethical standards and justice—not you, obviously—will be heartened to see that even GCHQ spooks have a conscience.
And here YOU are, trying to diminish, even deny, the massive significance of that rare moment of honesty. You’re not clever enough to get away with such brazen tactics, buddy.
Go ahead and see if you can call me on the actual points I raise instead of spending three parapgraphs correcting my grammar, trying to put me down and marginalising my comments by attributing nasty qualities that you’ve made up.
You are the one who waded out of your comfort zone. Your self-pitying reproaches cut no ice with me.
That should be:
I edit my writing very carefully. My concise comments made you an example of hapless bewilderment.
If you wanted to avoid your claim to outstanding prose contradicting itself. Christ knows the rest of your claims only reflect reality by occasional happenstance.
If you wanted to avoid your claim to outstanding prose contradicting itself.
Since I’m in a magnanimous frame of mind today, I would have liked to correct and tidy up that sentence before critiquing it. However, it is utterly incomprehensible, and I feel unable to help you out at this stage.
Please resubmit it, this time with the words you have so clearly forgotten to put in.
Christ knows the rest of your claims only reflect reality by occasional happenstance.
At least that one internally coheres, even though it is an utterly vacuous and untrue assertion.
I thought you were better than this, McFlock.
https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/1677672704/h4A6096A1/
Lol.
Funny how a wee bit of non-standard punctuation and formatting made you as stupid as a ZX81 attempting the Turing Test.
Well, anyone can OIA the exact same information if they wanted too…or even just do an OIA on his OIA.
From the piece it seems that the request is for info regarding the person making the request. More like our privacy act than our OIA
Maybe CV, but my point was about why Assange wouldn’t just make the whole bundle public. What do you think?
If you read the article Weka you will see Assange says
“We have just received this. It is not public yet,”
Don’t you think that the founder of Wikileaks knows about the importance of public disclosure. It seems here he managed to get GCHQ to blow their own whistle.
Indeed – and Assange knows the importance of not just timing information releases for maximum coverage, but also co-ordinating it with other events and documents.
I did read that red rattler, and of course I know what Assange is capable of re information disclosure. Did you read my comments, as that was one of the points I was making.
Or to put it another way. Why let the Guardian selectively quote, so that it looks like ‘idiots blathering’, when you could make the whole thing public, in context, and make things transparent rather than appearing to be manipulated (by the Guardian, by Assange, by whoever)?
This makes me trust Assange even less.
Let me guess: your “distrust” of Assange is matched by your faith in the people who are targeting him. I hope you get some sort of civic recognition for your faithful devotion to state propaganda—if you’re doing this for free, you’re an even more hapless fool than you seem.
Likewise Morrisey, your highlighting of “it is definitely a fit up” as the headline in your comment, misleads as it implies that GCHQ think that. Instead, when you read the Guardian article, it looks more like the anonymous speculation of a single GCHQ employee taken out of context with no analysis or conclusion.
Like the internal state documents exposed by the likes of Ellsberg, Chomsky and many other dissenters, this is damning evidence because it shows what the people hired to carry out these lethal state duties actually think about what they are doing. You can shout and scream abuse at them if you like, but truth will out in the end. As it most certainly has in this case.
Oh the irony. You do realise you just had a go at me for believing state propaganda, and then ended by attempting to use state evidence to support your cause.
I don’t particularly trust Assange, nor the State. But in either case I judge on a case by case basis, rather than assigning prejudice like you do. In case you don’t remember, (but I am sure you do, and are just being a deceptive shit head), I’m quite prepared to believe that various states in the world are trying to undermine Assange in various ways. I just don’t think that makes Assange an angel or the Great Hero you profess him to be.
I’m sorry you live in a such a black and white world where any criticism of Assange = non-belief in his persecution. The world I live in is more complex.
As is often the case your debate technique is poor. Not sure if that is because you just can’t put the arguments together more coherently, or if it’s because you understand that asserting opinion as Truth serves your cause better.
Oh the irony.
WHAT? Clearly, you have about as much understanding of the concept of irony as Alanis Morissette.
You do realise you just had a go at me for believing state propaganda, and then ended by attempting to use state evidence to support your cause.
No I didn’t.
I’m sorry you live in a such a black and white world where any criticism of Assange = non-belief in his persecution.
“Criticism” of Assange? What you and the other unwitting dupes of the British secret service are doing is not criticising Assange, it is simply adding to the blackening of his name and adding to the climate of fear and loathing against this dissenter. If this was Soviet Russia in 1937, you would have been blithely repeating Stalinist rhetoric against those dastardly doctors.
I don’t particularly trust Assange, nor the State.
Rubbish. Your posting history is all over this mostly excellent forum. Do you want me to embarrass you by digging up some of your more credulous posts?
The world I live in is more complex.
Obviously. Maybe that explains the bewilderment.
As is often the case your debate technique is poor. Not sure if that is because you just can’t put the arguments together more coherently, or if it’s because you understand that asserting opinion as Truth serves your cause better.
I didn’t assert my opinion, I posted up EVIDENCE—irrefutable evidence—that even the people charged with persecuting this dissenter openly acknowledge the allegations against him are utterly spurious.
Boring. Can’t even be bothered answering if you are going on with the character maligning every time you can’t address a point properly.
Boring.
Congratulations. You have succeeded in posting up a response even more abjectly limp than Descendant of Smith’s moronic “whatever” during a football debate the other day.
Can’t even be bothered answering if you are going on with the character maligning every time you can’t address a point properly.
Translation: I got nuthin’.
Lol
Nope. You posted private comments attributed to professional conspiracy theorists in which they apparently speculate that a conspiracy occurred.
Lol
“Lol”?
“LOL”?!?
Sacré bleu! First there was Descendant of Smith with his “Whatever”; then there was poor bewildered weka with his abject “Boring”, and now here YOU are with the most witless signifier of inadequacy of them all! I’d like to put it down to the likelihood that you’ve had (another) bad day, but I’m sadly aware that I’m probably clutching at straws. I’m concerned about your lack of performance, my friend, I really am.
Nope. You posted private comments attributed to professional conspiracy theorists in which they apparently speculate that a conspiracy occurred.
Two GCHQ people dare to speak the truth about the frightful business they are being employed to carry out, and they are immediately transformed into “professional conspiracy theorists”!
As shown by your witty reply on this thread, written at 5:01 p.m., you do possess a sense of humour. For your sake, I hope the mad and desperate rhetoric you’re now engaging in is just some kind of barren exercise in intellectual jousting. I’m still inclined to the view that you’re just having a laugh; the alternative is just too depressing.
Just goes to show you shouldn’t spend bullshitting emails to your workmates, which is what the guardian quotes look like.
Intelligence work is largely about constructing theories and assessments about human networks and plans from the available data. Gchq employees are paid to do this.
So yeah, lolz.
Gchq employees are paid to do this.
And they’re not paid to speak plainly about unhelpful matters like morality and human rights. The damned fools broke all the rules.
Oh for fuck’s sake, try to stick to the point.
They weren’t transformed into professional conspiracy theorists, that’s their actual job.
Your “irrefutable evidence” is simply at least two people speculating about what happened based purely on timing. Nothing we haven’t seen here.
Now, if they’d said that they had direct knowledge that the complainants were part of a plan by an intelligence service, you might merely be overstating a point (“irrefutable” my arse). As it is, you’re in Fantasy Land again.
Your “irrefutable evidence” is simply at least two people speculating about what happened based purely on timing. Nothing we haven’t seen here.
Two spooks speak frankly about the craven dishonesty of their mission. This is a rare and (for those souls who support this official attempt at lynching) devastating revelation. You can, for whatever reason, try to trivialize and scoff at it, but it only has consequences for your credibility, I’m afraid.
Now, if they’d said that they had direct knowledge that the complainants were part of a plan by an intelligence service,
They did say that, and they do have direct knowledge of it. They are involved in this crime up to their elbows.
… you might merely be overstating a point (“irrefutable” my arse).
Two spooks calling it as it is. speaking plainly about a man their organization is trying to “fit up”, i.e. frame him on entirely bogus charges; you know and everyone else with an IQ above room temperature knows that they were speaking plainly and honestly. Still, let’s be philosophers for a moment and consider the other possibility, the one to which (for whatever reason) you are subscribing: these spooks are so brilliantly deceptive that they are speaking in some weird code which renders their private correspondence as contrary to truth as their official lying.
As it is, you’re in Fantasy Land again.
That’s not any sort of argument. You’re the one who actually buys in to (or pretends to buy in to) this squalid official fantasy.
Many people have noted the disquieting similarity of the persecution of Assange to what happened to official enemies in Moscow in the 1930s; trying to discuss this rationally with you puts me in mind of what Noam Chomsky said about trying to engage in debate with the darling of the extreme right Christopher Hitchens: it’s like trying to argue with a Soviet commissar.
Um, no. The clue is that the emails used the words “they” rather than “we”. Referring to intelligence services of another nation.
They say neither. You are reading shit that is not there. Just fyi.
Seen juila gilards speech on muslems fuckn nailed it ,tho many on here will know doubt have a promblem,but the majority of assies’s and n zs would agree
de di ding ding ding ding ding ding ding …
Seen juila gilards speech on muslems fuckn
Lyn, just a couple of weeks ago, this hapless fool was banned for posting nothing but idiotic, illiterate provocations. I see he is still at it.
What gives?
“That’s nice”.
This f..boy doesn’t smell right, I don’t think he is of the agricultural persuasion. No lovely whiff of sheep nuts or cow pats at all. More like an overflowing septic tank.
nice to no you love smelling sheeps nuts prism,and i thought you were a lessy
you are a straight up nutbar farmboy, have you anything to say that is at least based in reality?
Where’d you ‘see’ this speech farmboy?
link plz.
Farmboy illustrates ‘lessy’ is not more(y).
What has Gillard said? She is not anti-Muslim. What is the problem?
Is this about the hoax email that was doing the rounds:
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/gillard-muslims-leave.shtml
Poor Farmboy, so easily duped into believing such an obvious hoax.
Here’s the even sadder part: he’ll be angrier at us for pointing it out than he will be at the manipulative wretch that lied to him.
We need better wingnuts.
LIARS OF OUR TIME
No. 11: Brendan O’Connor
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Australia’s approach to refugees is compassionate and generous.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
—Australian Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Brendan O’Connor, after a damning Amnesty International report.
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1769562/Australia-‘going-backwards’-on-asylum-policy
See also….
No. 10: Boris Johnson: “Londoners have… the best police in the world to keep us safe.”
No. 9: NewstalkZB PR dept: “News you NEED! Fast, fair, accurate!” No. 8: Simon Bridges: “I don’t mean to duck the question” No. 7: Nigel Morrison: “Quite frankly, they’ve been VERY tough.”
No. 6: NZ Herald PR dept: “Congratulations—you’re reading New Zealand’s best newspaper.”
No. 5: Rawdon Christie: “…a FORMIDABLE replacement, it seems, is Claudette Hauiti.”
No. 4: Willie and J.T.: “The X-Factor. Nah, nah, there’s some GREAT talent there!”
No. 3: John Key: “Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”
No. 2: Colin Craig: “Oh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.” (TV3 News, 24 April 2013) No. 1: Barack Obama: “Margaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.”
Richmond not doing their job AGAIN. When is it that those who care for disabled and mentally ill will be held to account?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/8715951/No-place-left-to-feel-safe
In other news, abuse is apparently “normal” for patients in residential care. So much for human rights. What else is happening that isn’t in the news?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/8712369/Abuse-claims-at-seriously-dysfunctional-care-home
I notice what isn’t included…no allegations of sexual abuse. Is that because they never occurred, or because any complaints were shut down? And only ONE reported incident of client self harm (for example) – isn’t that a suspiciously low number for this type of facility?
Reported incidents at Te Roopu Taurima O Manukau Trust 2010-2012
17 escapes
14 alleged assaults of clients
3 alleged client assaults/threatens staff
2 alleged abuse
2 clients charged by police
2 inappropriate behaviour by client
1 medication error
1 client hospitalisation (medical condition)
1 fire
1 car accident
1 inappropriate restraint of client
1 property damage by client
1 client self harm
47: TOTAL
Well said in both comments.
With knowledge of the atrocious treatment of marginalised individuals in every kind of institutional care, I think many thought we couldn’t do much worse by those in need of care and support, if such services were taken out of the hands of the state.
So now we sell off the care of the most powerless to the lowest bidder in a race to the bottom free-market of neglect and abuse. That, or offer no help at all.
I know! put ’em in the Army, or the Police! and show ’em some discipline. We might even be able to get them to do our dirty work, and when things turn sour – we’ve got the perfik scuse.
Now this is shaping up to be quite a fight, in one corner the Brewing barons, and in the other the Fracking barons. And in the middle Angela Merkel.
Now it gets serious: Fracking could RUIN BEER
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/24/german_brewers_warn_that_frackng_could_contaminate_beer/
Kim Hill interviewing NZs of note that we should all know about. These should be our stars so we hear lots about them and less sports trivia, including from overseas now such as the Boston Red Sox and that sort of thing. Note I said LESS sport only.
9:05 David Skegg
Professor Sir David Skegg is a New Zealand epidemiologist, and the President of the Royal Society of New Zealand. He is a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Otago, and Professor of Preventive and Social Medicine.
http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/
http://www.otago.ac.nz/
9:45 Phoebe Hayman
Phoebe Hayman is the CEO of toy craft-kit design company Seedling NZ. The company’s gnomes are being showcased in London this week at the centenary celebrations of the world’s most famous gardening event, the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show, overturning the Show’s long-standing prohibition on gnomes to raise funds for the Show’s school gardening campaign.
10:05 Playing Favourites with Gifford Jackson
New Zealand industrial design pioneer Gifford Jackson spent 37 years as a design consultant here after working in New York for 17 years. His life and work is celebrated in the new book, Gifford Jackson: New Zealand Industrial Design Pathfinder by Michael Smyth (Creationz, ISBN: 978-0-473-23882-7).
And Joan Baez interview preparation for her coming here in August I think.
Re the TPPA. I assume that like most of the other agreements we have such as with Australia and China, that the TPPA will be signed on behalf of the crown for Aotearoa?
What wouls happen then, in the instance that Aotearoa becomes a Republic? Does that mean the agreements signed on behalf of the crown become null and void?
Only if the way we become a republic includes abrogating every single agreement and contract the Government has been involved with for 150 years. All those people sentnced to preventative detention by the Crown just gonna go walk? Not likely.
I suppose it is slightly comforting to know that NZ isn’t the only place with nutbars in control
http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/fema-plans-clear-cutting-85000-berkeley-and-oakland-trees
Cars in the USA had a terrifying plunge into freezing waters from a broken bridge. A beam had been hit by an over-sized load of drilling equipment. There are calls now for the old bridges in the USA to receive much needed attention.
The ability of business to externalise their costs there is the same here. Longer trucks, heavier trucks here are causing problems on the public roads.
Drilling equipment will be a growing blockage on our roads. The USA isn’t up to the problems that their pursuit of business cause. Neither are we.
Interesting how the USA could spend a measley $75B doing up their old run down transport infrastructure (the budgetary equivalent for developing a single major weapon like a stealth fighter) and in doing so create jobs for 1M people…but unlike the days of the New Deal, they can’t be assed this time around.
Well they did say they were going to starve the beast.
http://uglybridges.com/1589303
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2013/05/bridge-collapses-on-interstate-5-over-skagit-river/
http://mobile.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-22/americas-broken-bridges
http://www.governing.com/blogs/fedwatch/gov-highway-trust-fund-future-jeopardy-infrastructure-transportation.html
we have surveyed infrastructure collapse before; guess China (or Aus.) could sell them steel smelt with the Denniston coking coal, at the right price.
I’ll just put this here for the next time John Key gets in deep shit
http://i41.tinypic.com/1yx374.jpg
He will smell a little better in cowshit than in dogshit.
Randle, I really hope you don’t mind but the way he was out of sync with the field of view was bugging me so I took the liberty of giving him a back, to sit him in the picture better.
(I couldn’t do anything about his lack of spine)
http://postimg.org/image/rd2ctavur/
The poverty of austerity exposed
It seems that the book missed the most important part about countries being sovereign – they can print their own money and thus have no need to borrow.
The bit that seems to have been missed is that that fallacy of composition is the entire basis of our economic system. The economists take a single actor Homo economicus and expands it out to every single person and company in the world and is precisely what the fallacy of composition is.
The entire neo-liberal economic theory starts with a fallacy and goes downhill from there.
Hits the nail on the head there though. The problem we have is that it’s the rich making the rules.
Thanks for that link to a very interesting review. Also this weekend, I read this that relates to your last sentence, DTB, about the rich making the rules. Paul Krugman on The Smith/Klein/Kalecki Theory of Austerity.
And I also read this book review, on David Stuckler’s latest book: review title ‘Recessions can hurt, but austerity kills’. Stuckler’s book is about the impact on health, and the related increase in homelessness that has resulted from “austerity”.
The review focuses on the impact of austerity, and compares that with countries, like Germany and Iceland, that have included policies to lessen the impact of the recession on people’s health and levels of poverty. From the review, it seems to me the book has only looked to compare with less austere policies, and doesn’t look to a totally different alternative. Though comparisons are also made with US and UK policies of the Great Depression, and the post WWII investment in the UK welfare state.
I’ve sent a few contributions in lately and they seem to disappear into a black hole.
If it is a fault with the email you may want to fix it.
If, on the other hand, the Standard dosn’t want to publish them, fine. That is your right. But please let me know so I know not to bother.
[r0b: Hi KJT – I’m not sure who reads that email, probably Eddie or Lprent – I’ll ask lprent to take a look…]
What email address are you using? I think it’s better to email someone direct rather than use the submission function on the site.
The gmail one on the submissions page.
The submission function has never worked on firefox for me.
Me I am afraid. No time. I will email you…
The Book of Amos.
Amos, not a man of court like Isaiah, or a priest like Jeremiah. Earned his living from tending the flock and the sycamore-fig grove. Skilled with words. Great range of general and historical knowledge (not an ignorant peasant). Went from Judah to announce God’s judgement on the Northern Kingdom (Israel). Few, if any, clues to the chronological order of his spoken messages-he may have repeated them often to reach everyone. Prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah over Judah, 792-740, and Jereboam II over Israel, 793-753.
Both kingdoms enjoyed great prosperity and had reached new political and military heights, yet they were spiritually smug; prosperity had increased Israel’s religious and moral corruption. Israel had a worldly view of even the ritual that the Lord himself had prescribed. They thought performance of the rites was all God required, and with that done they could do what they pleased.Also a time of idolatry, extravagant indulgence in luxurious living, immorality, corruption of judicial procedures and oppression of the poor. As a consequence, God would soon bring about the Assyrian captivity of the Northern Kingdom.
5:42 But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never failing stream.
Amos condemned all those who make themselves powerful and rich at the expense of others. Those who had acquired two splendid houses, expensive furniture and richly furnished tables by cheating, perverting justice and crushing the poor would lose everything they had. God’s imminent judgement on Israel would not be a mere punitive blow to warn, but an almost total destruction. The unthinkable was about to happen.
The God for whom Amos speaks is God of more than merely Israel. He uses nations against each other to carry out his purposes. He is the great King who rules the whole universe. All sovereign, the God of Israel holds the history and destiny of all peoples and of the world in his hands. Israel must know not only that he is the Lord of her future, but also that he is Lord over all, and that he has purposes and concerns that reach far beyond her borders. Israel had a unique, but not exclusive, claim on God.
3:17 Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plans to his servants, the prophets.
Revelation 11:18 That you should destroy those who would destroy the earth.
…for much is determined. 😉
Nice work, ghostrider. A brave and principled modern prophet, Noam Chomsky, is often cited as the modern equivalent of Amos.
you are very kind.All is clear to see for those who have eyes.
I trust that unlike Chomsky, Amos wasn’t taking a hefty paycheck from an organisation he professes to despise as an instrument of oppression.
Thank God for the Welfare State!
from The Nation
-if councils don’t sign the accords, they (Central Government) intend to come in over the top.”
-Len Brown.(accord, if ratified, doesn’t come into effect until the Unitary Plan is notified, in September.)
some interesting observations from the Parata article;
Boag- (Parata is ) “warm, articulate, engaging and very bright”.???
Jones-(charged with) “reigning in teacher unions political power”.
Peters- “eat a dead rat everyday under National’s leadership”.
(Govts education policy is deficient and the communication of said policy, is deficient).
and Parata’s educational ethos? “that individuals excel”.read INDIVIDUALS! despite her background, no better than Paula Bennett.
forgot this. Not! 😉
“Why are our rivers so polluted?
Ask Steven Joyce.”
http://www.3news.co.nz/Campaign-blames-Joyce-for-river-pollution/tabid/1160/articleID/299039/Default.aspx
Heh, good for Snowdon.
But the minister says he’s no puppeteer.
“I have no idea what he’s talking about in that regard, but I will do my job, which is to try and encourage job and growth for New Zealanders and investment in the economy,”
“I have no idea what he’s talking about in that regard, but I will do my job, which is to try and encourage job and growth for New Zealanders and investment in the economy, irrespective of the effect on the environment”
FIFY Mr Joyce.
http://www.askstevenjoyce.org.nz/
May 25, 2013
Awesome effort!
Category: Media
Posted by: admin
A huge thanks to everyone who has contributed ideas, time and submissions. What an outstanding effort – we have already called out Steven Joyce on 3 News Friday 24th May, and the website has only been up 3 days.
Mr Joyce told 3 big lies in the interview and as soon as the news clip is posted here we will show you what they were. He also made one thing abundantly clear – he is in charge. So for any of you who had doubts about where the buck stops, you just had it confirmed that he is the man.
Now is the time to get the word out and ramp up the submissions. Please tell anyone you know that we are on a roll, and that if they help by submitting in the box above we have a lot better chance of saving our clean water. Get the message out though email, facebook and twitter.
North Korea and China ‘penpals’ again
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10886121
Porn: “it’ll make ya go blind”.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10886042
Running themselves into the ground.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10885992
Budget: Incredulity.tsk tsk.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10886008
Haven’t read all of the above comments so this may have been discussed already – that covered – who wrote this shit editorial in the Herald ? Sounds like something from that facile and unaccomplished trougher, the flibbitigibbert Hekia Potato Parata:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/employment/news/article.cfm?c_id=11&objectid=10885737
And on what authority does the writer float this business about the people who speak for legal aid lawyers not enjoying the confidence of those they speak for ? Complete and unadulterated bullshit to the point of being a wilful fabrication. Examples of any such lack of confidence please, liar.
What a piece of shit the Herald is !
In New Mexico, we recognise a war on the poor
Congressman Pearce.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-24/jack-lews-triple-whammy-irs-ignorance-corzine-corruption-and-war-poor
Own goal CV, this is in reference to ones, who have enough savings they can live off, comfortably. So the argument of poverty becomes a bit obsolete then. If the argument is about too low interest rates, so that interest does not cover living costs, how can you justify this to people that have not even any savings, no interest earned and so forth? I am sorry, I feel you did not view and listen to the whole story there. No, this is BS.
People that are so wealthy, that they can live off interest are NOT Poor!
A cop car featured heavily, once again, on the front page of the Herald Online last night, all about “hostage taking” and inguries and so forth. There was also a mention about “teen porn”, about other “scandalous” stories, and the list goes on. NZ media is now gutter media, for sure, as headlines are competed for, such “news” needing to be “enhanced” or “hyped up”.
Nothing is normal anymore, nor do the shit consumers bother to demand it. It is the new game for the new generation, full of trivia, and contempt for anything that should be taken seriously and be treated with due respect.
Generation X is followed by Gen Y, the most ruthless, selfish and jerkish lot I ever met.
That is supposed to be our “future”. If I as an ageing person, NOT having been able to provide for retirement savings, having to “depend” on such bastarts of a mentality, I rather take my life before I hit the retirement age.
Yes, we have no more solidarity and not a caring society anymore, unless perhaps as baby boomer parents you managed to tie your kids into some commitment.
No, I have no such family, and I will die, I will die a lonely death, a life will be concluded in despiccable conditions, by the fucked, shit arsed selfish generation I see every day. I am contemplating about how to deal them a blow before they fucking retire, the selfishly rotten brats. They deserve to be taken apart, and punished, for not caring, and I see and hear it every day. Paula Bennett, Key and crims love them, as they are their voter base.
The left do not get it, yet! Many of you should damned bloody worry, we have a rotten next generation that is semi fascist and capitalist, your damned traitor kids!!!
bloody hell..!..xstasy..!
..i think you need some xstasy..eh..?..
..and..not met many idealistic-millenials then..?
..and you seem to be discounting the greed-is-good! /there-is-no-alternative! those ‘y’s were force-fed with all their lives..
..they are just a product of that conditioning/brainwashing..
..conditioning/brainwashing done by your generation..and an unthinking/craven/self-serving mainstream media..(and craven/self-serving/self-muzzling politicians – of all stripes..)
..and the good/cheering news is that i think that many of those ‘y’s are waking up to the poisoned-package they were sold..
..after all..the evidence is all around them..
..phillip ure..
“..they are just a product of that conditioning/brainwashing..
..conditioning/brainwashing done by your generation..and an unthinking/craven/self-serving mainstream media..(and craven/self-serving/self-muzzling politicians – of all stripes..)
..and the good/cheering news is that i think that many of those ‘y’s are waking up to the poisoned-package they were sold..
..after all..the evidence is all around them..”
Of course my comment was well over the top, as I must admit, but it is frustrating and angering, to see so much indifference and apathy out there, except where it comes to serve selected own interests and chasing opportunities and exciting perks.
While you raise valid points, I must say though, that much that is said in defence by many of the younger generation, is just a cop-out. The internet makes available sufficient information and offers alternative choices, and there are also other ways to find out the truth about most things.
Yet it is not taken advantage of by so many, and I notice and have heard and seen, that most cannot be bothered to make much effort in seeking true, factual information, in taking a stand on issues, or to even bother voting.
They rather escape into personal distraction, little bits of private indulgence, and leave the rest to others more senior, to do the work and thinking for them. That is luckily not all, but sadly too many. Willing consumers of products and services (brainwashing included) offered by corporate ruled capitalism, that seems to fit the description of most.
As for “xtasy”, I choose to stay away from drugs, believe it or not.
“Generation X is followed by Gen Y, the most ruthless, selfish and jerkish lot I ever met.”
Would this be because we’re getting on with it and have no particular use for you and your entitled hysterical, paranoid blatherings?
so young for such gnarled hands.