really phillip? That is your contribution to people honouring a legacy that expresses the rare symbiosis of a great actor and a globally respected character? 🙄
🙂 apparently! It’s too soon to give an opinion unless positive.
Just checking tho’. We are allowed to call out Magaret Thatcher on her BS, yes? How about Frank Bainimarama and his Esmeralda jaunts?
Any timeframe on when Sabin is a fair, dignified pluck?
Christ! I HOPE like hell when it comes time for me to fertilise the fig tree, people won’t hold back. I already know who the false arsehole pretenders are anyway – and I’m picking they won’t have the guts to show up.
Ekshully @ Phil ….. just the sort of attitude ….. nah I’m thinking they can’t cope! – better I STFU, but the comment was to do with the reason cnuts like that BBC icon and a few Kethlick priests got away with things for as long asa they did.
I’m talking about attitude btw – NOT suggesting Nimoy was in that bracket (someone I actually admired) – Just your right to expression without people clutching their pearls in horros.
Indeed – apparently its too soon to call a spade a spade. Get some fukkin learnings will ya!
God you’re an awful human being. Be as republican as you like, but I’m going to link to this comment next time you try to attack feminists for not caring about animal rights.
With such attitudes it surprises me that you didn’t make biltong out of your recently deceased pooch and sell it on the side of the street along with some potted herbs.
goose and gander I always think. I feel sorry at the passing of Nimoy like many others. I’m just not going to clutch my pearls if others feel differently or try to inflict my values on them. Nor do I expect them to inflict their values on me.
When there are assholes like (say) Whaleoil and his accomplices about, I’m not about to waste my energy on them. There are far better causes to worry about.
As I say, I’ll miss Nimoy (and many others), but I don’t EXPECT others to feel the same and if they drop a clanger or two from time to time, I’m not about to string ’em up.
(It never ceases to amaze me how quick some are to give PU a hard time over his attitude to various things, and his campaigning, whilst all the while harping on like a stuck record themselves.)
I preferred coming home from skool in Oz to watch George Reeves in Superman – now that was camp/corny. Nimoy was a bit of humour tho’ I must admit. It seems he’s been elevated to the opium of the people status though. Nothing wrong with a bit of escapism tho eh PU? Sanity is becoming more expensive these days.
Because if you had, your ignorant comment about the quotations being from scriptwriters may not have been made. Or is accuracy just another literary affectation that you feel constrains your creativity?
Less than two years earlier, the heroic London Snipper would have been tolerated, or even lauded as a hero, if only he’d stuck to killing official enemies, like this bloke did….
Are they both right?
One side of the Key War from Fran O’Sullivan “…Committing the New Zealand military to Iraq is the right thing to do.
Not simply from a moral purpose – although that is highly important – but also because it is rational….
…The Prime Minister hadn’t helped himself when he said that joining the coalition against Islamic State was “the price of joining the club”.
If he had just added a rider that the “club” was that group of nations who had already committed troops to assist Iraq to repel Isis he may have achieved greater carriage for the Government’s argument that committing military to train Iraqi soldiers and provide support behind the wire was necessary.” http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11409263
And then John Armstrong’s very different one: “..If last Monday’s “misguided” decision by the Cabinet to dispatch a contingent to Iraq was the price of New Zealand’s membership of the exclusive Five Eyes intelligence-gathering “club” – as the Prime Minister admitted a month ago – what did that say about the transparency and credibility of the country’s supposedly “independent” foreign policy?…..
The Cabinet decision has rather made nonsense of a core selling-point in New Zealand’s successful campaign for a seat on the United Nations Security Council” http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11409236
There’s no question that Emwazi was an extremist – that’s why MI5 was interested in him. But in this case, as in others, their heavy-handed tactics seem to have made things worse, not better, and pushed him over the edge into murder. Its the war on terror in miniature, where the US/UK’s abuses simply drive more people to terrorism. we’ve seen it over US torture, which is a recruiting poster for radicals. We’ve seen it over Iraq and Afghanistan, where the US invasion provided an endless stream of atrocities. And we’re seeing it in Australia at the moment, where Tony Abbott’s war on Muslims is fuelling rather than quenching domestic radicalism. And sadly, John Key seems to be marching us down exactly the same path. And the only people who do well out of such tactics are spies and terrorists, who seem to paradoxically need each other to survive.
`
What a horrible bloodthirsty rant by Key. And his reeling off the number of Labour parties around the world that are pro war was just disturbing. The USA is doubling down on its mission to fuck up the Middle East.
Taking a page from their British mothers, their Canadian brothers, and their American bosses cousins, Australian politics is dominated by two parties, the centre-right Australian Labor Party (who can’t spell) and the right-centre Liberal Party of Australia (who can spell but don’t own a dictionary). While Britain’s Liberal Democrats are in a coalition government, and Canada’s NDP became the Official Opposition, Australia is identical to America in having a two-party duopoly, where both parties are closely aligned in policy (even if they aren’t in rhetoric). To the credit of Canberra, they don’t have any true-blue nationalist parties that have any chance at anything…
It’s a good read and cerainly a creepy image. However, there are a couple of typos. Firstly; “politicians where dubious at best”, where “where” should be; “were” (it’s always the ones that make it through the spell-checker that are hardest to catch!). Secondly; omitting the macron on Māori (which I wouldn’t mention except you managed the umlaut on naïve just fine). Personally; I’d add more commas and semi-colons too, but that’s just individual style.
Thanks for pointing out the typos. My first language is Dutch and yes, some of them slip through. Let me return the favour. Cerainly should be certainly! 😆
By the way the macron does not come easy in even my international keyboard whereas the umlaut does!
cut and paste from the Māori dictionary http://www.maoridictionary.co.nz/ – build up a file of common words – that is what i do – very simple which is good for me
This is interesting [WARNING linked article contains descriptions of torture; do not read if eating, or easily distressed]:
Lama was arrested in 2013 after settling in St Leonard-on-Sea, East Sussex, with his family… Charged with presiding over the torture of two men – Janak Raut and Karam Hussain – while in charge of Gorusinghe barracks in Kapilvastu in 2005….
“The authorities in this country have an obligation in cases where torture is alleged to have been committed if the alleged perpetrators are found within England.
“This commitment to prosecute alleged torturers even if the torture happened in an entirely different country and continent is sometimes called the principle of providing no safe haven for torturers.”
I think we are signatories to the same treaty, so any torturers who settle here in future will be liable to prosecution in a similar manner. What does this mean for our troops in Afghanistan who handed prisoners over to US soldiers for “enhanced interrogations”? How about those NZ soldiers may end up being in charge of ISIL prisoners who Iraq?
This alleged torture was four years after the massacre:
On 1 June 2001, there was a massacre in the royal palace. King Birendra, Queen Aiswarya, and seven other members of the royal family were killed. The perpetrator was Crown Prince Dipendra, who committed suicide (he died three days later)
Thanks for that. I gasped when I read this bit from your link:
“Factionalism inside the royal family led to a period of instability. In 1846 a plot was discovered revealing that the reigning queen had planned to overthrow Jung Bahadur Kunwar, a fast-rising military leader. This led to the Kot Massacre; armed clashes between military personnel and administrators loyal to the queen led to the execution of several hundred princes and chieftains around the country. Jung Bahadur Kunwar emerged victorious and founded the Rana Lineage and was later known as Jung Bahadur Rana”
Shows that the wholesale mass murders of royal families is not a recent phenomenon there!
I have not been to Nepal. I have been to the Himalayas and Darjeeling and met many Nepalese there. The common people of Napalese origin are very nice people.
Have you visited there?
Dean Barker says he has had a gutsful of Team New Zealand. He is not on his own. I think the whole country has. We are sick and tired of the childish antics, the leaking of information when it suits, the unavailability to comment when it doesn’t. Most of all, we are fed up with the backstabbing and the public statements which defy common sense.
[…]
Dalton should never have called a lay-day during the last America’s Cup. It should not have been his call. It should have been the sole right of Dean Barker to make that call, as skipper. Barker didn’t even know that Dalton had made the call. Dalton made the call for commercial reasons … some of the key sponsors hadn’t arrived in San Francisco and he wanted them to see the final victory. This decision, on its own, is so bad it should have led to his resignation.
Who wants to put money into an organisation that was so badly structured that at its key moment in recent history it had a board of only one member? Who wants to put money into an organisation that loses an event when it leads 8-1 and requires only one more victory?
In the history of modern sport this has to be the greatest choke of all time. Yet we have not been given any adequate explanation. We are of course entitled to one, because we have a $36 million stake in it.
If this was a private syndicate, we would have no right to know anything. However, this is a team that revels in the title Team New Zealand, that raises money because it uses the name of our country and that thrives on our support, our patriotism. That comes at a cost. We need to know the facts and we need to know why the next challenge will lead to a success, not another failure.
It is apparent that the Government, John Key and Steven Joyce particularly, have not realised the depth of feeling against Team New Zealand. If the Government funds Team New Zealand under its present leadership and structure, it will pay for it at the polling booths. I could not bring myself to vote for any party supporting the current bunch.
Team nz represents elitism and jobs for the boys typified by the arrogant dalton who deemed himself good enough to still be crew, we blew it in sanfranciso yet nobody got sacked.
Just like rugby world in 07, boys club members like dalton and graham live a charmed life.
I suppose your implication is that Putin had the former deputy Prime Minister Nemtsov killed. Shot multiple times while he was walking not far from the Kremlin.
Seriously, even if Putin on 80% popularity ratings could be bothered to order such a thing, I think as an ex KGB Colonel he would have made it a tad more subtle and deniable.
Yep. The CIA is responsible for all of the problems in Russia. Without their meddling Russia would be a civilised, democratic paradise that didnt rank close to last in the world of unimportant things like freedom of the press, income inequality, harassment of dissidents, corruption, judicial corruption, murder of journalists etc. And their leadership would never have stolen several hundreds of billions of dollars without being forced to by the CIA.
So criticism of John Key extends to all New Zealanders? This is exactly the sort of thing I’m talking about: Buzz’s mind control techniques are messing with your head.
nadis – I’d simply note that Russia doesn’t destabilise nations and start wars in faraway lands killing hundreds of thousands. And then head in for seconds and thirds because it fucked up those places so badly to begin with.
And yes, Russia has many of the hallmarks of a plutocracy, but so has the UK and USA.
Apparently if you rub a dead cat on your face it will heal the pain. According to an alternative healer (who carefully did not claim to bea medical practitioner, just a healer) on the interwebz
McFlock
Do you remember if he/she said that it also worked with toy cats (sort of dead)? Does it have to have real fur or not? If you can’t get a dead cat, or a toy cat in real fur, would a koala bear made out of kangaroo skin work?
Waiting in anticipation while my head and tooth aches. Please hurry and advise.
I think I saw a dead cat in the local reservoir, so rubbing the ultra-diluted tapwater on your head and rinsing your mouth with it should have the same healing properties as the cat itself.
Koalas are good for chlamydia, because most of ’em have it, the dirty buggers.
And yes, Russia has many of the hallmarks of a plutocracy
Let me fix that for you:
And yes, Russia has many of the hallmarks of a fascist mafia kleptcracy…
I’m sorry, unless you are deluded and have a complete blindspot/hard-on for Russia, the political systems of Russia versus the USA and UK arent even on the same planet.
Oh I think they are moving closer together as we speak. The FVEY nations have learnt to bring all the techniques of the East German Stasi into the 21st century, for instance. US government torture programmes used techniques detailed in SS/Gestapo handbooks from WWII. And of course, it is natural to prefer the governmental systems of the USA – if you aren’t poor and black.
CR
There is a one man show on in Wellington written about Paul Robeson and how it was to be a black in free advanced USA. And how they in gummint felt free to oppress USA citizens. At one time he was forbidden to sing and his passport was withheld so he couldn’t leave the USA. He suffered a bit of depression around that time I think.
No joyride living there! http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20169090
Playing Favourites with Tayo Aluko ( 53′ 35″ )
10:08 Nigerian-born, UK-based writer and performer of Call Mr Robeson: a Life with Songs, based on the musical career and political activism of the US singer Paul Robeson.
On another note, the US still has Black Panther political activists locked up from the 1970s, most likely on trumped up/falsified charges. Those men are American political prisoners and will never see a free day in their lives again.
The noble western ideals of democracy, freedom, fraternity and equality have, in practical terms, been altered as freedom for the wealthy and the powerful minority to do as they wish in their own special interests, while the poor, the under privileged and the ordinary people get to enjoy neither equality nor fraternity nor true democracy in effect.
I also can’t believe the number of Lefties who get sucked into the idea of waging war, droning ‘bad guys’, overthrowing governments and impoverishing nations all in the righteous name of freedom, democracy, equality and human rights.
Apart from the fact that I have knowledge of your absurdist denial of all knowledge, so really there’s a 50/50 chance that you’d have looked down the long end of the gun before pulling the trigger, so you’re not competent enough to have done it, so the speculation of your guilt is not as valid as putin having ordered someone else to do it.
But then the weak anthropic principle comes in, that maybe you’re just one incredibly lucky imbecile…
Lol
So you replied to me with a passive-aggressive reference to a previous argument that you completely failed to understand, and any reply I make after that is stalking? Piss off.
As for the rest, your acataleptic doubt is amusing, but leaves you fucking useless.
0pen mike, doofus. FWIW, I ignore most of your idiocies unless you reply to me. But every so often one of your comments is so spectacularly pretentious and useless that I feel the need to point out the gaping hole to you.
And being told to pick up my game by someone who invents definitions to suit their delusional claims of victory is just funny.
Oh yes the Putin is the crazy, irrational, blood thirsty one out of the the current set of world leaders meme.
You scientism acolytes are surprisingly weak minded to fall for this kind of thing.
Tell you what, take a look at the 3 hour plus no questions barred annual pressor he did last year and ask yourself why you’ll never see Obama, Cameron, Abbott or Key fielding unscripted questions from the global media like that.
I thought you were the one asserting Putin is very special, and hence deserving of special attention to be sorted out. Sorry I must have mistaken your intent.
Like many liberals, you’re a sponge for propaganda messaging from authority figures.
That’s not a gain, and further, it foments political dissatisfaction with the Kremlin. As I said earlier, it’s other players who would benefit from that but it seems that you’re not listening.
It depends entirely on what the guy was about to say. Putin might well be much better off with enemies in fear and no disturbing revelations than he would be if the guy were left alive.
Your suggestion that “other players” would manage an elaborate plan to increase Russian instability by eliminating putin’s opponents, in secret, with massive geopolitical blowback if the slightest legitimate suspicion were raised, is incredibly unlikely for the simple reason that anyone dumb enough to try it would not be competent enough to achieve it.
… so, apart from silence, and the intimidation of other opponents, and an increased reputation as a ‘strong man’*, what has Putin ever gained from this?
Putin will blame “Dark western forces” or “chechen gangsters” or “Ukrainian fascists”. The majority of Russians will lap it up becasue that is the only narrative they will get (complete state control of TV, complete state censorship of the internet)
The small opposition that the message is directed at will understand completely. Criticising Putin in Russia as a journalist or politician is generally a death sentence, or prison at best.
I have been to Russia though that was some time ago – 1997-2003 – on multiple visits for business, though they didnt give me a huge lot of insight into how average russians lived or thought. Though I do have some great anecdotes about how business was done and who was doing it.
Subsequently I have read a lot of books both by Russians and outsiders. You want a reading list? Defending Russia without having read at least some of the books I could recommend makes you look a bit stupid.
Yes I agree that’s worse than the US, where they generally only fire journalists for printing unpalatable stories about US government or Israeli government activities.
Mind you, the US does tend to spy on, intimidate, prosecute and imprison journalists sources and whistleblowers of conscience, sometimes for decades at a time.
Then there’s things like the extra-judicial exiling of people like Edward Snowden.
“Then there’s things like the extra-judicial exiling of people like Edward Snowden.”
Funny way to describe being on the run. Snowden can go home any time he wants so he’s not actually exiled extra-judicially. Or judicially, for that matter. It’s entirely a self-exile.
The US government cancelled his passport when he arrived in Moscow to prevent him from fleeing to Ecuador (or anywhere else). That was effectively exiling (stranding) Snowden in Russia.
Snowden can go home any time he wants
How? And regardless, he’d never get a fair trial if the secret grand jury has charged him with crimes under the Espionage Act.
Revoking his passport doesn’t stop him going home. He can return any time he wants so he’s not exiled.
As for his trial, he knowingly broke the laws of his country. I think he did it for the greater good, but he still chose to do so. On the up side, he doesn’t appear to have raped anyone, so good on him for showing some restraint 😉
As for his trial, he knowingly broke the laws of his country.
Yep. Just like freeing slaves or helping Jews escape across the border broke the laws of those lands. Or sitting in White only sections of the bus, restaurant or movie theatre.
On the up side, he doesn’t appear to have raped anyone, so good on him for showing some restraint 😉
Yeah, you’re a prick. And again, a prime sponge for smearing propaganda.
he actually can mount a defence that the lawbreaking was for the greater good.
Not a permissible defense for charges brought under the Espionage Act.
But hey, don’t let that get in the way of endlessly excusing and apologising for authority, while slamming any ingrate who dares question, undermine or challenge it. I mean, we all know authority is to be revered at all times and in all circumstances.
Bill, you might be well be a suck up to authority, but I really don’t revere it the way you claim to. So let’s focus on the facts, eh?
Snowden knew what he was doing was illegal and while it’s an uphill struggle to get a not guilty verdict (what with him being guilty an’ all) he is entitled to use the public good defence in both the case itself and the sentencing aspect, if convicted.
Whether it works for him is entirely another matter.
Bill is right of course, and TRP you are wrong. The problem TRP is that you have assumed that Snowden would have natural justice on return to the USA. That is not the case. Even Daniel Ellsberg has said that Snowden is right to not return to the USA, given how much conditions have deteriorated since he leaked the Pentagon Papers.
Snowden would not be permitted to use a public good defence, he also would not be able to use a defence that no material harm was done to the interests of the United States.
he is entitled to use the public good defence in both the case itself…
What is it that you’re not getting about ‘the public good’ (or whatever) not being permissible grounds of defense for charges brought under the Espionage Act!?
The Espionage Act is kinda somewhat like trespass is in this country. There is, to all practical purposes, no fcking possible defense if the Act is used against you.
Well, you’re almost there, Bill. It is permissible as a defence, but whether it works is another matter. Kinda like you think the trespass Act that you mentioned works.
The best defence is a) don’t break the law, b) don’t broadcast what you’ve done if you do. Snowden’s defence is weak not because the public good defence isn’t available to him (it is), it’s just that he has already admitted knowingly breaking the law. If he’d been more selective in what he released, he would have more of a chance of using that defence. ie he could say “I only released specific things such as incidents of lawbreaking that the public had a right to know about”. But a general dumping of the info he took substantially weakens any defence he might have had.
If he’s found guilty, he can still plead the public good in mitigation during the sentencing phase. But again, non specific dumps don’t support that either.
CR is right. A public interest defence is prohibited for charges brought under the Espionage Act. However, Hilary Clinton agrees with you. She doesn’t seem to know US law either.
As for the best defence being to not break the law, wow. You really are authoritarian. This is one of the reasons the Labour Party is becoming increasingly irrelevant in making the needed changes in the way things are run.
A killing like this of a high profile opponent sneds a pretty clear message to other opponents.
Lets be honest. Putin doesnt and never has given a shit about appearances, except those ones that make him look like a Stalin-esque leader.
He’s never cared in the past when as mayor of St Petersburg he personally signed thousands of import export licenses in return for 30% kickbacks, didnt care when killing journalists in moscow, didnt care when dosing tea with polonium, doesn’t care when arbitrarily stripping assets from opponents.
He may not have anything to do with it, but I think it is unlikely the hand of the Russian state is either directly or indirectly involved. Russian organised crime doesnt do anything in Russia without a nod from the FSB, so the chances of an organised hit within Russia happening without state input is low. I guess we’ll see on the aftermath. If no-one or only a patsy is captured then you know it was a state hit.
OK let’s say it was a state sanctioned hit. Let’s even say that Putin personally signed off on the assassination to make a public point ahead of the upcoming opposition protest march. Let’s even say that the power of being perpetual president has gone to his head and he’s decided he might be the New Stalin of the 21st century.
Now what. Shall we go to war with Russia?
Or shall we just settle for organising a “colour revolution” in Moscow and settle for regime change?
Go on then, support a colour revolution, maybe a Moscow Spring. The IMF, World Bank and Goldman Sachs are usually close behind helping wave the flags for “freedom”.
Russia has already had their neoliberal “spring” (aided by their own version of Rogernomics) and now the oligarchs are in control. Goldman Sachs would have trouble against the Russian gangster capitalists.
Indeed. It’s why I wonder about the complaints that Russia is a mafia plutocracy. After all, it’s exactly the way that the IMF, GS, JPM etc set it up in the 90’s. Their problem with it I believe is that they expected it to be THEIR mafia to be in charge, not Putin’s.
The newly-selected Labour candidate to stand against George Galloway in Bradford West, London-based Amina Ali, has suddenly pulled out citing the disruption it would cause to her family life if she moved north to Bradford. The councillor in London’s Tower Hamlets said that fighting for a seat 200 miles away in Yorkshire would have too great an impact on her children’s schoolwork.
She was only selected 4 days ago and, according to reports, said it was “a dream come true” to be picked. But according to The Times, Ms Ali had “a look of shock and horror on her face” immediately after learning she’d won the selection contest.
Bradford West had been comfortably held by Labour since boundary changes in 1974 (Labour held the seat with a 6000-vote majority in 2010). But at the 2012 By-Election, George Galloway won the seat in spectacular style, achieving a majority of more than 10,000 with the largest UK By-Election swing in 30 years (he has since referred to the win as the Bradford Spring).
Long may he continue to shame both the Tories/Coalition and UK Labour’s venal, Neo-liberal elite.
See, workers are basically terrorists who need to be broken to make the world safe for corporations.
Walker sought to address this gap Thursday evening at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference when he was asked a question on stage about how he would take on the threat of Islamic State jihadists. Walker claimed he was prepared to confront this threat because of his experience confronting thousands of protesters who gathered in Madison in 2011 to decry his push to undo collective bargaining for public employees in the state. “We need a leader with that kind of confidence. If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world,” he declared.
`
Linked: Matt Damon on civil disobedience.
The political elites of USA and Russia have more in common with one another than with their own people. Civil _obedience_ is in their best interests. Meanwhile poor people are jailed for petty infractions and wall street bankers remain at large.
USA and other financiers who play risk games and lose get bailed out but Kim Dotcom is to be roasted and stripped of money for his defence. I wonder whether Courts down here withh carry forward the alleged harsh controls on his reimbursement.
Great article and interesting comment below it Lies are to mass communication what bio-tech fraudulent substances are to agriculture. Both are being disseminated in such mad rushes as to taint the currencies of nutrition along with “food for thought.”
Exactly how dirty politics has polluted public discourse in NZ
There is an interesting article in the New York Times dealing with the fact that conservatives on the whole do not regard environmental issues as moral ones and therefore are less likely to support governments to make changes that are beneficial although possibly involving some cost.
“While the number of Republicans who say global warming is a serious problem has reached high levels, there remains a very large gap in moral engagement with the issue. We found that conservatives were less likely than liberals to describe pro-environmental efforts in moral terms, or to pass moral judgment on someone who behaved in an environmentally unfriendly way, for example by not recycling. Where liberals view environmental issues as matters of right and wrong, conservatives generally do not.”
“Our research points to a different factor in the moralization gap: the terms in which these issues are commonly discussed in the media. We enlisted a team of research assistants to code the moral content of 51 environmental public service announcements and 402 opinion articles appearing in major American newspapers. The arguments found in these messages most often discussed environmental issues like climate change in terms of the need to protect people and ecosystems from harm and destruction. Protection from harm is a moral concern that, past research finds, resonates significantly more with American liberals than conservatives. By contrast, moral concerns more unique to conservatives like patriotism, respect for authority, sanctity or purity rarely appeared in the environmental appeals we studied.”
“To assess this, we conducted a final study in which we constructed a pro-environmental message based in moral purity. This message emphasized the need to protect natural habitats from “desecration” so that our children can experience the “uncontaminated purity and value of nature.” We presented one group of self-identified conservatives with this message, another group with a more conventional message emphasizing the need to protect ecosystems from harm, and a third group with a neutral essay that didn’t mention the environment. The conservatives presented with the purity message reported significantly greater support for pro-environmental legislation than the other two groups — indeed, they were as supportive as a group of liberals we also surveyed. Conservatives who read the moral purity message even reported greater belief in global warming, though the message itself didn’t mention global warming, only environmental issues in general.” http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/opinion/sunday/is-the-environment-a-moral-cause.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region®ion=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region
I found this article very thought-provoking. It seems that the moral issues have to be spelt out if Conservative commitment to positive action is the goal. (Mind you, when I look at the way that National has abused the political donation system, why am I surprised? There seems to be a disengagement of the ethical /moral viewpoint on the justification that if it’s legal, then it is right.) Conservative support for the short term planning by this government, whereby resources are squandered and problems are foisted onto future generations, may need to be countered differently by highlighting the moral deficiencies of plundering on the future generations.
The way to forge back from the neoliberal NACT policy stronghold in NZ is to counter with ‘moral’ and ‘ethical’ messages from the left but in an emotional way. The emotion is missing often from the left. You do not change hearts and minds with ‘logic’ – you do it with passion. Russell Norman has passion such as his fantastic speech on sending troops to Iraq recently. In the previous election 2011? Greens had billboards with children on it. That was much more successful than the current ones from the Greens, which I actually don’t even remember.
The Labour MP’s need to be more visionary but not in a contrived way but from the heart. To my mind it feels like Labour are too scared to really speak out on real issues. This presents an unauthentic muddle like the 24 hr surveillance bill. You are either into surveillance or out on surveillance. It is not a time frame issue it is a human right moral issue. You believe it is ok for the CIA to torture or it is not ok for the CIA to torture. For an MP not being able to answer a moral question clearly or evading it just makes anyone look untrustworthy. Likewise with policy – what do you stand for?
saveNZ,
The missing million do not see it that way. They are important issues and starkly illustrate the moral lobotomization of our society. Dirty politics has polluted all parties, and corporate lies have corrupted the MSM. No wonder so many people have decided to ignore the whole farce.
TMM,
US Conservatives are a weird bunch, tied up in religious myths and apocalyptic fantasies, their moral compasses confused by terrible perversions from the pulpit. Most conservatives are lovely hospitable and kind people but they feel it’s their moral duty to feed their sons and daughters into the bloodthirsty military industrial machine. Jesus wept. Fred Clark of the “Slacktivist” blog dissects the religious mindset, it’s awful but fascinating reading.
I agree with you, Save NZ. Labour cannot simply copy Key’s technique of changing his tack every five minutes depending on the feedback from the focus group because progressives would be able to spot the lack of authenticity straight away. It seems that the moral importance of proposed policy has to be really spelt out in a way that gets through to the Conservative mind that seems to be able to accept anything that comes out of John Key’s mouth without subjecting it to any critical analysis for BS or comparison with previous utterings. There seems to be a faith-based belief in Key that bypasses the critical thinking parts of the brain for many people .
For those in Dunedin, Prof Jane Kelsey is giving a public talk at Dunedin Hospital, lunchtime Monday, on the TPP and its profound implications for public health.
Interesting article about how donations and voting in the internet age mean
Internet-era politics means safe seats are a thing of the past
In 2004, the Howard Dean campaign made electoral history by harnessing the power of the internet to raise more than any other Democratic contender: more than $25m raised, largely in small-money donations averaging $80 – a marked contrast to the usual way of doing things, which involves raising titanic sums from rich people whom you then owe a lot of favours to, whether or not you take office.
Tools such as I’ll Vote Green If You Do mean isolated pockets of resistance can unite to become effective agents of political change
I would just like to point out that the red climate change advertisement that is always on the right of the page, is not showing the full story.
It is missing context.
In order for it to be relevant, it must include the ACTUAL temperature readings of the earth as far back as we have been able to measure it, then also include the CURRENT temperature of the earth.
The only acceptable method of measurement is the ‘actual temperature percentage difference over time’. It’s the only figure which displays the actual story.
The method used on the advertisement is childish AND extremely misleading. On top of that it uses a negative connotation to express its point (Hiroshima). It seems like a fear inducing advertisement.
Am I the only technical savvy person who writes on The Standard? Because ALL technical minded people should be able to pick up on it.
If your not afraid of heating the Earth at the rate of 4 Hiroshima’s per second, then you should be. Remember – over 90% of that heat ends up in the oceans.
You might think your a technically savvy person, but you naivety suggests otherwise.
Imagine (as a technically savvy person) the effect on a pot of water sitting on a stove top that is on. What are the things that happen? That is just what we are doing to the Earth as we pour more and more GHG’s into the atmosphere.
Last year was the warmest on record (world wide). The past decade has been the warmest on record (world wide). This past month in Perth (where I am currently staying) has been (on average) 1 degree above the average for the past 30 years, and even warmer than that on the long term average. There are bush fires here on a daily basis. More importantly the minimum temperatures are on average at least 1 degree above average. That is one of the main signatures for an increasing Green House Effect (with no GHG the Earth would cool to – 18 degrees every night and become a snowball).
You might have noticed increasing winds around NZ over recent times. Have you observed that heating pot yet? Notice how the convection currents build up speed as more and more energy is transferred into the system. Wind speeds world wide have increased on average http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080903/full/news.2008.1079.html
and they will continue to increase as we continue to heat the Earth.
So the short answer is – this is a graphic way to continually bring to peoples attention the sad fact that the Western World is carrying out a very dangerous experiment which will affect all of humankind.
“So the short answer is – this is a graphic way to continually bring to peoples attention the sad fact that the Western World is carrying out a very dangerous experiment which will affect all of humankind.”
What about the eastern countries, China and India?
Do they see the problem?
As Macro pointed out – “Last year was the warmest on record (world wide). The past decade has been the warmest on record (world wide)”… and “More importantly the minimum temperatures are on average at least 1 degree above average. That is one of the main signatures for an increasing Green House Effect”
Yes the developing countries add to the total GHG
But ask yourself this question
who consumes the majority of India and China’s production?
Where is your wardrobe made? Where were the brake pads for your car produced? Where were the tyres manufactured? etc etc…
You know and I know that the Western World are the major consumers of the developing nations production. In other words we have EXPORTED our GHG production to these countries and now you are castigating them for it!
They would not have such escalating GHG totals if we didn’t buy so much stuff!
On the other hand China in particular is doing something about it! It’s GHG is actually declining in comparison to it’s GDP growth. Not substantially, but it is heading in the right direction – unlike NZ!
No, I wasn’t! How and why did you presume such a thing?
I was asking a simple honest question for your statement, “sad fact that the Western World is carrying out a very dangerous experiment which will affect all of humankind”, without substantiating what that dangerous experiment was!
Jeez!
Now that you have clarified what you meant, tell me clearly how do we stop people buying the cheap and essential stuff from China and other countries? What is your sensible, doable, practical, workable solution, and in what time, not just for the tiny New Zealand but for all the world? These are legitimate questions. Do not presume something else.
The dangerous experiment is the continuing unmitigated emissions of GHG by the continual burning of fossil fuels so that we can have cheap stuff. By continually raising the concentration of GHG in the atmosphere Humans are trapping more and more energy that would have been radiated back into space. That extra energy is being recorded at the rate of around 4 Hiroshima bombs every second. That is the numbers being shown on the widget at the top right of the page, and is an approximate record of the total additional energy that has been added to the Earth since 1979. The experiment is to find out what happens! Well we have a damn good idea of what will happen, and frankly its not very pretty.
We can go on demanding cheap stuff – and for a few more years we can carry on – but the longer we keep on demanding cheap stuff the worse it will get. The consequences of our demands will make life for our descendants very miserable indeed. My grandchildren will certainly live in a far poorer and depleted world than I have had the fortune to experience. I don’t think they will thank me for it.
Storms will be more severe. Drought will be more severe, as will rainfall. Seems contradictory doesn’t it. But every 1 degree increase in atmospheric temperature increases the capacity of air to hold water vapour by 4%. Water is an even more potent GHG than CO2 – so that feeds back into increasing the solar energy trapped by the Green house effect. Winds are increasing and damage caused by extreme weather events will escalate. Many economists (Including Lord Stern) have considered this problem and concluded that the cheapest solution is to stop emitting GHG’s – not wait until we are forced to do something.
The first solution should be a direct tax on Carbon. British Columbia introduced such a tax some years back. It is the only Province in Canada to record a reduction in GHG emissions. Not only that, BC is still growing its Wealth. Regretfully this is through mining and exploitative industries such as exporting unsawn logs to China, but the fact is that by reinvesting that tax in improving Public transport (The Vancouver sky train from the airport to the city is amazing) and promoting electric cars etc (I travelled with a venture capitalist who was working with Tesla on one occasion – very informative). The carbon tax gives the province the wherewithal to invest in an alternative and more sustainable future.
Because the Western World has predominantly caused this sad state of affairs, and has had the lions share of the benefits, it has the moral responsibility to do more than others to deal with the outcomes. This is not something that NZ Australia and USA etc want to face up to. And NZ to our shame has been one of the worst players (along with Australia) in the recent past in owning up to this – indeed our “contribution” at the recent Lima COP talks were downright appalling. But that is another issue in this sorry affair.
You did not really respond to my last part of the comment, “Now that you have clarified what you meant, tell me clearly how do we stop people buying the cheap and essential stuff from China and other countries? What is your sensible, doable, practical, workable solution, and in what time, not just for the tiny New Zealand but for all the world? These are legitimate questions. Do not presume something else”
Your solution was carbon tax, electric cars and may be rails. I agree with those.
But is that it in reply to my query about cheap stuff from China etc and sensible, doable, practical, workable solution immediately now around the world?
But no worries if you can’t or don’t wish to answer that very difficult issue.
Sorry I have just been rewatching the cricket 🙂
Very enjoyable watching over here you understand. and got carried away.
As for the cheap stuff from China etc. I believe we have to rethink the free trade deals and globalisation. I’m not opposed to trade as such, I just believe trade should be fair trade.
Take for instance the export of logs to China. I see logging trucks day after day carrying thousands of logs to Tauranga for shipping to China. In Vancouver I saw the same thing – vast numbers being towed by tugs to the ships for loading – acres of them. But China only wants logs and refuses sawn timber. I say if they want the wood – then we saw it too! If you don’t take that – you don’t get.
NZ used to be the world leader in forestry and timber production. In WW2 the Mosquito (a wooden aircraft) was made possible to be produced by a battalion of the NZ Army – Foresters. The Brits didn’t know how to cut down and mill the timber fast enough! The NZers reduced the spruce forests of Cirencester in short order…
Until recently wine was not only produced in NZ but also the bottles were manufactured here. We now import our wine bottles from China!
How do we change this? Its reactionary I know – but we have to – as the First Labour Govt did place import quotas on goods. NZ is foolish to think that it can be so pure in this when elsewhere other nations place restrictions on their boarders.
Not only do we restrict the importation of cheap and often unreliable goods but we improve the employment prospects for many. WE used to clothe ourselves until we started to import cheap clothing from offshore. Thousands lost their work as factories closed. Hoping that people will buy locally produced doesn’t work. Cheap always wins out over quality.
But with more people in employment there is more buying power as there is more money to go around. Local products, though more expensive at first, become more affordable because people have more money and maybe are not having to buy so frequently.
That is only one suggestion – there are many others but I have a g’son to put to bed. So I’ll leave my suggestions there. I’m sure others can offer even better ideas.
I’d say I’m reasonably technically savvy and I see nothing wrong with it. You don’t seem as knowledgeable as you think, though. As an example, what is the temperature of the Earth, and why is it relevant to climate change? Let’s see if you know what you’re talking about.
As for not showing the full story – it shows one measure among many that are possible. Personally, I think the amount of heat being added to the climate is a very apt measure, although what exactly this means is left unclear. It shows that we are adding a lot of heat, and that is scary.
I can’t jump in on the discussion above with regards to the murder of Nemtsov in Russia. The reply buttons were missing!
What gets me is that for some reason people are more than willing to contemplate murderous conspiracies when it concerns Putin but stay in total denial of the real and proven manipulation of Russian politics by the NATO/UN.
Here is a telephone conversation from Victoria Nullen (The United States’ top diplomat for European affairs) with the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine stating that, as the US had spend $ 5 billion on destabilizing Ukraine to get their puppet in place (she names the one she wants) the EU could go fuck themselves because the US wanted their man in power.
As I write this every country around Russia is being armed to the teeth and we are being primed with all kinds of Propaganda to hate Russia once again and the idea that we have to go to war with them. When will people beging to see that we are on the side of the bastards not the good guys.
Oh, and by the way Putin yesterday announced that his administration would get a 10% cut in their salary. I call that leadership by example!
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Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs Fletcher Tabuteau is travelling to the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu this week to continue toadvance important bilateral relationships in our region consistent with thePacific Reset. Mr Tabuteau will engage in a range of bilateral meetings and visit New Zealand development ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is predicting a hard Brexit for the United Kingdom, as he believes British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won’t be able to negotiate terms before the October 30 deadline. The Minister, who was one of the first to publicly come out and predict British voters would leave ...
Speaking at the Council of Trade Unions' (CTU) biennial conference, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters told unionists that any future attacks on the Government won't work. "Now, we are being attacked by the union movement in this country. You can have your views but I'm here to say standing ...
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...
Defence Minister Ron Mark has used his powers to overrule a noise complaint ruling against Whenuapai airbase on the grounds of "national security". The Environment Court last month released a ruling in favour of a private developer, declaring the Auckland airbase had to comply with noise restrictions when it performs ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has opened fire against "unreconstructed morons" after NZ First MP Shane Jones was photographed on holiday holding an AR-15 rifle. Mr Peters is defending Mr Jones, telling Magic Talk host Peter Williams that his MP was just having fun "like most people do". "The ...
New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau was in attendance during the morning blessing of the Rotorua Lakefront development project. Around 60 people gathered on the shores of Lake Rotorua, including city mayor Steve Chadwick and deputy Dave Donaldson. The Lakefront development is a ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in on conversions of farmland to forestry, and also issued a warning to foreign-owned forestry companies that make up nearly 75 per cent of the industry. He said too many foreign companies had not provided enough access for domestic processors to get timber. ...
Speaking to Radio NZ, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the tightening of the parental category visa is a direct result of the Party’s coalition negotiations with the Labour Party. He said the new changes switch the financial onus from the parent moving to New Zealand to the child ...
The Coalition Government is set to cut red tape in the building and construction sector in an effort to allow more houses to be built, including prefabricated houses. The changes will enable the mass factory production of "high quality" buildings, slash the likely number of building inspections for factory produced ...
Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to tackle homelessness and make sure everyone has a warm, dry home. And today, on World Homeless Day, we want to report back and update you on our progress so far. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at National Party leader Simon Bridges who criticized the Coalition Government’s approach to crime, and said that the latter isn't credible in his attack on the Government over gang recruitment. "We've got as massive drug problem in this country. It is ...
New Zealand Mānuka honey exporters have welcomed an initiative by the Coalition Government to help secure the term “mānuka honey” to be used exclusively by Kiwi exporters, ensuring that our multimillion-dollar industry is protected. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had recently announced that a Provincial Growth Funding of $5.7 ...
Political commentator Mike Hosking has labelled New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as “the voice of reason in a government soft on drugs”, for the Party’s stance on drug testing at music festivals. “If common sense is worth a vote, Winston Peters is quids in,” Mr Hosking said. The Labour ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau has announced Provincial Growth Funding to ensure work opportunities in Turangi and Whanganui, through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi. A fund of $500,000 will go to Rafting NZ in Turangi for a 16-week river guide training course to train ...
Treasury has shown that the Coalition Government has a $7.5 billion surplus, which is $4 billion higher than what was expected in the 2019 Budget unveiled last May. It is also $2 billion higher than the actual surplus unveiled this time last year, and at a size that has not ...
Official Information Act figures released to NZME show there were 350 assaults on officers in the year to the end of June, 79 more than the year before. The increase in attacks have sparked calls for more legal protection for first responders to be enacted. The assaults included officers being ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson departs tomorrow for events and meetings in Japan and Vietnam. While in Japan, he will discuss economic and fiscal issues including meeting with the Minister of Finance, Taro Aso, and Minister of Economic and Fiscal Policy, Yasutoshi Nishimura. He will meet with the Minister of Education, ...
The Government’s Housing Dashboard released today confirms record numbers of state houses are under construction and shows the Government build programme is gaining momentum. “After nine years of inaction, and a hands-off attitude from the previous government we’re starting to see things move in the right direction for housing,” says ...
Mr Speaker, I wish to make a ministerial statement relating to the Auckland fire. The Government is closely monitoring the situation with the fire at the NZ International Convention Centre and is thankful that everyone is now safe. Firefighters are doing an incredible job managing the fire and bringing it ...
The Government is investing in ambitious research that will digitise Te Reo, grow the low-carbon protein efficient aquaculture industry, help interpret environmental trends, and large data sets says Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods. The four projects range from teaching Siri to speak Te Reo to crunching large environmental ...
A new education-to-employment brokerage service to strengthen connections between local employers and schools. Funding for more trades focused ‘speed-dating’ events to connect schools with employers. Promotional campaign to raise profile of vocational education. The Government is taking action to increase the number of young people taking up vocational education and ...
A Bill to improve prison security and ensure the fair, safe, and humane treatment of people in prison while upholding public safety has passed its third reading. Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says the Corrections Amendment Bill makes a number of changes to ensure the Corrections Act 2004 is fit for ...
Minister for Māori Development, Nanaia Mahuta, has selected Arihia Bennett MNZM, Chief Executive Officer of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, as the Te Puni Kōkiri appointed representative on the New Zealand-China Council. The New Zealand-China Council (the Council) was established in 2012 as a New Zealand led and funded organisation ...
Responsibility for processing the small number of Southern Response claims still to be settled will be transferred to EQC by the end of the year. “As claim numbers reduce, it no longer makes sense for the Crown to have two organisations processing the remaining Canterbury claims,” Grant Robertson says. “Since ...
Health Minister David Clark is encouraging Whanganui residents to take up the opportunity for free bowel screening, which can detect cancer early when it’s easier to treat. Over the next two years 12,000 Whanganui locals, aged 60 to 74 will be invited to participate in the National Bowel Screening ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio, heads to Oslo today to represent New Zealand at the sixth Our Ocean Conference, which is being hosted by the Norwegian Government from the 23-24 October. “The Our Ocean Conference mobilises real action on issues like marine plastic pollution and the impacts of ...
Two secondary-school initiatives are being expanded as part of the Government’s plan to see more young New Zealanders take up a trade to help close the skills gap. This includes the largest single increase in Trades Academy places in recent years. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Education Minister Chris ...
Session 4: Pacific Connectivity – Youth, Media and New Opportunities Kia ora tatou katoa and Warm Pacific greetings to one and all. Representatives of Tainui, the local people of the land, or manawhenua – the indigenous peoples of this area – have welcomed you this morning in accordance with ...
The Government today announced its support for a project that could substantially reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions from cattle. The announcement was made as part of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor’s visit to Nelson’s Cawthron Aquaculture Park. The Cawthron Institute will receive $100,000 from the Government’s ...
Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni has welcomed the first reading of the New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension Legislation Amendment Bill. “Every New Zealander has a stake in New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension,” says Carmel Sepuloni. “They are our most common form of social assistance – nearly 800,000 New ...
Babies in Auckland aged six months and over can receive a free vaccination and children will all have access to vaccines, Associate Minister of Health Julie Anne Genter announced today at Papatoetoe High School. The move comes as part of Government efforts to step up the fight against measles. ...
***Check against delivery*** Good morning. It is a pleasure to be here, and to have the honour of opening this important conference on behalf of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. Let us take the opportunity to acknowledge all the people who have helped make today possible, including our special ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash says the safety of frontline officers and members of the public will be the focus of a new trial of specialist Police response teams in three of our largest urban centres. Police have this morning released details of an initiative to be trialled in Counties Manukau, ...
The Minister of Fisheries is calling for entries for a new public award to celebrate innovation in our seafood sector. “I have established the Seafood Sustainability Awards to recognise and celebrate those throughout industry, tangata whenua and communities who demonstrate outstanding dedication and innovation towards the sustainability of New Zealand’s ...
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter welcomes leaders in the private sector taking action on closing their gender pay gaps to ensure a fairer workplace for all New Zealanders. Ms Genter today launched a new report, Addressing the gender pay gap and driving women’s representation in senior leadership, from the Champions for ...
Government Ministers today welcomed the release of a marine environment report highlighting the four key issues affecting our oceans, estuaries and coastlines. The release underlines the importance of government proposals to combat climate pollution, ensure clean freshwater, protect biodiversity, make land use more sustainable, and reduce waste and plastic. Environment ...
The Government has approved funding for a new acute mental health facility for Waikato which will provide better care and support to people with mental health and addiction issues. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Health Minister Dr David Clark announced the $100 million project to replace the aging Henry Rongomau ...
The Government is making progress on its goal to integrate te reo Māori into education by 2025, with over 500 teachers and support staff already graduating from Te Ahu o te Reo Māori, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Kelvin Davis made the announcement at an awards ceremony in Waikanae today, for ...
Statistics Minister James Shaw has welcomed the first release of 2018 Census data. The first release of data today, 23 September, includes key data on population, regional growth, the number of homes and the size of different ethnic groups in New Zealand. Data from the 2018 Census will support the ...
Minister for Statistics James Shaw today announced a public consultation on a proposed algorithm charter for government agencies. The charter has been developed by the Government Chief Data Steward in response to growing calls for more transparency in government use of data. Computer algorithms – procedures or formulas for solving ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, Climate Change Minister James Shaw and visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte co-hosted a business roundtable in Auckland this morning focused on working together to address climate change. “The Netherlands is an important partner for New Zealand. We share a strong agricultural history. Sustainable agribusiness and ...
The Government is taking action to build an inclusive economy where more of us receive our fair share at work and businesses can compete on great products and services, not undercutting wages and conditions, Immigration and Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. Two consultations launched today seek feedback ...
The future for New Zealand’s threatened indigenous freshwater fish looks brighter with the passing of the Conservation (Indigenous Freshwater Fish) Amendment Bill in Parliament today said Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “Until now, our freshwater fish legislation has been 20 years out of date. We have lacked effective tools to ...
At 1.30pm tomorrow, hundreds of thousands of Kiwis will join about 65 million people around the globe in ShakeOut, the world’s biggest earthquake drill. The annual drill is to remind people of the right action to take during an earthquake which is to Drop, Cover, Hold, and to practise their ...
Kiwis are benefiting from higher wage growth and low inflation under the Coalition Government. Stats NZ data out today shows the rise in the cost of living remains low, as annual Consumers Price Index (CPI) inflation fell to 1.5% in September from 1.7% in June. “The low inflation comes as ...
New Zealand’s economic strength and resilience has been recognised in a major update on the state of the global economy. The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook released overnight shows a reduced global growth forecast over the next two years as issues like the US-China trade war and Brexit take hold. ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little has today introduced a new Bill to prevent terrorism and support the de-radicalisation of New Zealanders returning from overseas. The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill gives the New Zealand Police the ability to apply to the High Court to impose control orders on New Zealanders who ...
A Bill that proposes targeted changes to simplify the processes for Māori land owners when engaging with the Māori Land Court has had its First Reading today. “The approach taken by the Government is to ensure that the protection of Māori land remains a priority as we seek to improve ...
Let me first thank all the new unionists and members in the room. There is nothing more important to improving people’s working lives than people making the decision to care, to get on board and help, to take up the reins and get involved. Congratulations to you. You bring the ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark has signed a certificate exempting the activity of engine testing at Whenuapai Airbase from the Resource Management Act 1991. The Act gives the Minister of Defence the power to exempt activities for the purposes of national security. The certificate will mean the recent Environment Court ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced New Zealand will join the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action while attending APEC meetings in Chile. The objective of the 39 member Coalition is to share information and promote action to tackle climate change. It was formed in April this year, in ...
Feedback sought– Lyttelton commercial zone parking The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal to remove on-site car parking requirements for new developments in the Lyttelton commercial zone. The proposal, by Christchurch City Council, asks that powers under section 71 of the Greater ...
Hon Minister Poto Williams Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration MEDIA STATEMENT Tuesday 15 October 2019 Feedback sought – Hagley Oval The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal about Hagley Oval. The proposal was developed by Regenerate Christchurch ...
Ladies and gentlemen, NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff, members of respective unions – thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This might be preaching to the choir, but the importance of trade unions in New Zealand’s historical arch is difficult to understate. And it is my belief that ...
"Let’s start by acknowledging that it has been a huge year. " Police Association Annual Conference James Cook Grand Chancellor Hotel Wellington Nau mai, haere mai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, ka nui te mihi, ki a koutou katoa. President of the Police Association, Chris Cahill; Members of the Association and ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and Minister of Defence Ron Mark have announced the New Zealand Government’s decision to again deploy a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 (P-3) maritime patrol aircraft to support the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. New ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has finally seen off John Setka from the ALP, with the militant construction union leader capitulating and quitting the party. Setka, who lost a court case he brought in his fight ...
New Zealanders will almost certainly face a referendum next year on whether to legalise voluntary euthanasia after a make-or-break vote in Parliament cleared the way. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Nationals leader Michael McCormack has admitted his party should have handled better agriculture minister Bridget McKenzie’s bring-forward of the planned dairy code. Some Nationals were furious when McKenzie suddenly sped up the code’s preparation in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra While the drought continues to hit the Nationals’ constituents hard, the party faces a testing terrain on a political level. In this episode of Politics with Michelle Grattan, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack acknowledges the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy – in the job for for just weeks after moving across from the department of infrastructure last month – has dismissed talk of spending big on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Downie, Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow, Australian National University It’s time we started talking about the principal opponents to action on climate change – fossil fuel industries. If history has taught us anything, it is when oil, gas and coal industries ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jodie Grigg, Research Associate at the National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University My friends are taking ecstasy at raves and music festivals. Is it safe? — Anonymous Key points no drug use, including ecstasy, is 100% safe festivals can present ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Transport Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland Light Rail: Goff says it’s the Government’s call Richard Harman ...
It isn't the first time Tiwai Point's owners have warned they may close the aluminium smelter, but this Government is unlikely to be handing out financial assistance. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says APEC will definitely still be held in Auckland in 2021, despite the destruction caused by the fire at the NZ International Convention Centre. ...
The headline said it all. Stats NZ has released 2018 census data on New Zealanders’ commuting habits and, guess what, we love a motorised polluter. “Car streets ahead for travel to work and education” was the heading. It should have been “cars rule, all other options drool”.New cycleways are under construction ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Liu, Chancellors Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Fashion and Textiles Designer, University of Technology Sydney The tech giants Amazon, Google and Facebook have all begun to use machine learning to give you tips on what to wear. Is fashion styling the next field ...
Prime Minister is meeting with officials at the scene of a massive blaze in Auckland's CBD. Watch a live video of a media stand-up with FENZ and the PM. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vanessa Bowden, Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Newcastle It is becoming increasingly possible that sea-level rise of a metre or more will occur this century. You might expect this threat to preoccupy coastal homeowners. But many deny the need to act, for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chloe Watfern, Scientia PhD scholar, UNSW At Studio A, on the fourth floor of the Crows Nest community centre, a group of artists is working quietly. An occasional burst of laughter erupts from a corner of the studio. It makes its way ...
In response to Meghan Markle’s admission that she’s finding it a struggle to be a new mother in the media spotlight, columnists across the globe have banded together to launch a charity to support all those women who ‘have it worse’, Emily Writes can exclusively reveal.Meghan Markle – duchess, new ...
Will New Zealand’s largest construction firm have to write off yet more money over the troubled International Convention Centre project?Both Fletcher Building and SkyCity’s share prices have felt the impact of the devastating fire that has raged at Auckland’s half completed convention centre for over a day now. More than ...
The new and spectacular atlas We Are Here is page after page of haunting, hella beautiful visual data, each chapter introduced with an essay. This one, Lost in the Forest, opens the section on people. At some point in the 1990s, one of the creators of this book tried to impress ...
Kassie Hartendorp (Ngāti Raukawa) has been looking to Māori stories and storytellers to learn more about our gender identities before colonisation. There’s a lot to be read between the lines, she writes.Te ao Māori can be a very gendered place to be. In some settings, your gender can tell you ...
The Shouting Valley is a powerful group exhibition at the Gus Fisher Gallery in Auckland that interrogates and gives voice to the people caught between borders. But is the real paradox of this politically charged show the limit of what art can do? Lana Lopesi reviews. “What’s bad about borders?” asked ...
The future of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter is under question again as majority owner, mining giant Rio Tinto, is reviewing the plant's future. ...
There will be another crucial vote for the voluntary euthanasia bill later today - whether or not a referendum will be held at the 2020 general election. ...
It was never intended that state owned enterprises should use their monopoly commercial or regulatory power to stifle competition, yet it is at least arguable that is what has happened says Peter Dunne. ...
Go Bus drivers in South Auckland will continue refusing to collect fares tomorrow as their protest continues with the intent of avoiding disruption to passengers while highlighting the need for fair wage negotiations with their employer, FIRST Union ...
Smoke continues to billow in downtown Auckland 24 hours after fire broke out in the incomplete complex.Shortly after 1pm yesterday came the first reports of a fire on the site of the SkyCity New Zealand International Convention Centre in central Auckland. That brought a massive mobilisation of emergency services, evacuations ...
He Kākano Ahau is a podcast by writer and activist Kahu Kutia (Ngāi Tūhoe) that explores stories of Māori in the city, and weaves together strands of connection. In episode one: the legacy of urban marae Tapu te Ranga.I grew up where the tarseal on the road crumbles away into ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Australians are divided over whether the nation’s universities have too many foreign students, according to the Australian National University’s ANUpoll, released Wednesday. In the polling, 52.8% said the mix between foreign and domestic students was ...
National's leader Simon Bridges says a bill imposing restrictions on people returning after fighting for extremist groups would only keep New Zealanders "half safe". ...
Alex Casey talks to Leigh Hart about the return of Late Night Big Breakfast, the finest morning TV parody show New Zealand has ever made. Late Night Big Breakfast is set to return to TVNZ in 2020 after a five year hiatus, creator and comedian Leigh Hart has confirmed. Filmed in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tom Gordon, PhD candidate. Sydney University Physics Education Research (SUPER) group, University of Sydney If you want to get good marks in your exams, there’s no substitute for study. So do past exams, go over your notes, read what you need to ...
Otago University academic Chris Brickell wonders whether his new book on LGBT objects ought to be the sort of thing bookshops would want to have on their shelves. ...
South Aucklanders from Mangere to East Tamaki will be riding their Go Bus services to work for free tomorrow morning, as FIRST Union bus drivers opt out of collecting fares for their employer in an industrial action designed to show the wider public ...
What do we make of the Air New Zealand decision to quit the Auckland-Los Angeles-London route? Nothing much as it simply reflects the changing dynamics of the airline industry. Gone are the days when Air NZ took the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 into the fleet and began flying Los Angeles, then ...
Was the SkyCity Convention Centre construction site at higher risk of fire than any other construction site or building? Alex Braae asks the experts.A fire at the SkyCity Convention Centre construction site has continued to burn this morning, after a night of lighting up the Auckland CBD sky.The fire, which ...
Sky City and Fletcher Building see another "material delay" to opening of International Convention Centre as fire still rages. Plan B needed for APEC in November 2021, says Goff ...
First it was KiwiBuild, now it’s Auckland’s light rail that’s looking increasingly shambolic. Jenée Tibshraeny from Interest asks what’s going on, and how thin is that ice that transport minister Phil Twyford is skating on.The Opposition’s latest attack phrase aimed at the government is set to be one of its ...
At last, a break in the clouds for NZ’s dairy farmers : Fonterra suppliers could be looking at a sharp lift in income, as the co-op revises its forecast range for the milk price to $6.55-$7.55 kg/MS.And the signals are strong enough to underpin projections the milk price will rise ...
Members of the Indian community are angry at an immigration policy change making it harder for to bring spouses to NZ - but Shane Jones says anyone not happy should "catch the next flight home." ...
On October 7, New Zealand’s Labour Party-led coalition government announced draconian class-based restrictions on immigration. From February 2020, the government will reopen the Parent Category visa nearly four years after the previous National Party ...
Organise Aotearoa joined a rally held by the Chilean expatriate community on Tuesday outside the Chilean Embassy in Wellington, following widespread repression and brutality against protesters by President Sebastián Piñera’s armed forces. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Shine, Robinson Fellow, University of Sydney Have you ever sat down to complete your morning crossword or Sudoku and wondered about what’s happening in your brain? Somewhere in the activity of the billions of neurons in your brain lies the code ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mehmet Ozalp, Associate Professor in Islamic Studies, Director of The Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation and Executive Member of Public and Contextual Theology, Charles Sturt University The five-day ceasefire negotiated by US Vice President Mike Pence and Turkish President Recep Tayyib ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne The unprecedented blackout of front pages by Australia’s newspaper publishers this week is a highly significant event in Australian political and media history. It represents the completion of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Hansen, Chief of Staff, The Conversation In recent years coconut water has left the palm-treed shores of tropical islands where tourists on lounge chairs stick straws straight into the fruit, and exploded onto supermarket shelves – helped along by beverage giants ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Petterson, Professor of Geology, Auckland University of Technology CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability, Curtin University A Greenpeace video of me plugging a trackless tram that went viral with 4 million hits has caused a few eyebrows to be raised over whether I think light rail is dead. So let me ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Asher, Associate Professor, UNSW Here’s the boldest idea the government’s inquiry into retirement incomes should consider but might not: no longer exempting all of the value of each retiree’s home from the pension assets test. The test would merely exempt part ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Sernack-Chee Quee, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Design, Architecture & Building, University of Technology Sydney 1973 was a remarkable year for Sydney, with the opening of two major cultural icons. The first was the Sydney Opera House. The second, possibly more important ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: In today’s edition: Serious ramifications likely from SkyCity fire, dozens of partnership visas being denied, and yet another police pursuit death.The fire at the SkyCity Convention Centre construction site has continued to burn overnight. Fire crews were forced to abandon the roof, ...
Orange-fronted parakeets will still get protection but some mohua populations miss out as DoC reduces the area of forest being covered by 1080 poison. ...
The main way small countries like New Zealand can lead on climate change is through our ideas. Policies developed here may help other countries with similar issues, writes David Frame. ...
By Rebecca Ananian-Welsh Australians picked up their morning papers yesterday to find heavily blacked-out text instead of front-page headlines. This bold statement was instigated by the “Your Right to Know” campaign, an unlikely coalition of Australian media organisations fighting for press freedom and source protection. A key reform advocated by a ...
Surrounding sites evacuated and one reported hospitalised in serious condition as blaze rips through two floors of the under-construction building in the Auckland CBDLast updated: 6.30pmParts of central Auckland have been brought to a standstill this afternoon after a major fire broke out shortly after 1pm at the Sky City ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Phil McManus, Professor of Urban and Environmental Geography: Head of School of Geosciences, University of Sydney In the wake of a shocking ABC report on the dismal end of many racehorses’ lives in slaughterhouses, many Australians are questioning whether the horse racing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mohiuddin Ahmed, Lecturer of Computing & Security, Edith Cowan University Machines and the internet are woven into the fabric of our society. A growing number of users, devices and applications work together to produce what we now call “big data”. And this ...
After an unusually nasty campaign for their country, Canada has gone to the polls. They’ve decided that Justin Trudeau will continue as prime minister, but just like in New Zealand, he’ll have to work with coalition politics. What’s happened?After a brutal and at times humiliating campaign, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has ...
“The Prime Minister must publicly support an immediate ban on Gay Conversion Therapy . If I was Jacinda I would feel morally obligated to give more confidence on where I stand, when I have asked for, and received, support from that community.” ...
New abortion law marks significant and needed progress for reproductive rights in New Zealand Amnesty International has today made its submission to the Abortion Legislation Committee in Wellington. The rights at stake in the legislation include the rights ...
Open mike 28/02/2015 
Tiwai Point's electricity contract is up for renewal. And as usual, they're sticking their hand out, demanding a government subsidy, and threatening to close if they don't get one:The owners of the aluminium smelter said on Wednesday that there were seeking talks with the Government amid a strategic review which ...8 hours ago
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz Everyone is going on about reducing our carbon footprint, zero ...10 hours ago
One of the key arguments used by trans ideologists is that some male-bodied people (ie men) are women because they ‘feel’ they are women. To make this hocus-pocus sound a bit more credible, some will argue that such men have a ‘female brain’. But this is thoroughly anti-scientific too. . ...15 hours ago
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by the Council of Disobedient Women We call on the Council of Trade Unions to show some fortitude and take a stand with your sisters. Unionists know that there is a material world, otherwise workers could simply identify out of poverty. They could declare themselves Well Paid. Why stop ...2 days ago
Keir Starmer has hinted that Labour might vote in favour of the Johnson government's shoddy deal, with the proviso that a second referendum is attached:Speaking to BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, he said: “We will see what that looks like but it makes sense to say that by whatever ...3 days ago
In 1994, I was the editor for an issue of Planet magazine focused on cannabis, its culture and the prospects for the end of its prohibition. Part of that issue was an interview with 'Ringo', an experienced cannabis dealer.I recently posted my essay from that issue, and I figured it ...4 days ago
Media Statement for Immediate Release 16th October 2019 “Fake News” from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers Despite comments from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers—Herald Newspaper Tuesday Oct 15th–there is very little evidence ...7 days ago
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz There is a lot of discussion on the benefits of ...1 week ago
Thanks to a report from the Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security following a complaint by Nicky Hager, we have come to find out that the SIS illegally spied on Mr. Hager on behalf of the NZDF after publication of Hager’s 2011 book, Other People’s Wars. The NZDF justified ...1 week ago
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING MYTH 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate. FACT: The HadCRUT3 surface temperature index, produced by the Hadley Centre of the UK Met Office and the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, shows warming to 1878, cooling to 1911, ...1 week ago
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R.I.P.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11409519
So Sad.
Great final tweet:
Respect.
http://www.idigitaltimes.com/leonard-nimoy-dies-83-20-best-quotes-remember-star-trek-actor-418149
R.I.P. Mr Nimoy
um..!..these were lines penned by his scriptwriters..eh..?
..let’s not get too conflate-y..
really phillip? That is your contribution to people honouring a legacy that expresses the rare symbiosis of a great actor and a globally respected character? 🙄
too soon..?
🙂 apparently! It’s too soon to give an opinion unless positive.
Just checking tho’. We are allowed to call out Magaret Thatcher on her BS, yes? How about Frank Bainimarama and his Esmeralda jaunts?
Any timeframe on when Sabin is a fair, dignified pluck?
Christ! I HOPE like hell when it comes time for me to fertilise the fig tree, people won’t hold back. I already know who the false arsehole pretenders are anyway – and I’m picking they won’t have the guts to show up.
Comparing Leonard Nimoy to Thatcher and Bainimarama: such respect. So tasteful. Very classy. 🙄
fools don’t get it and never will – rest in peace leonard
V/
Ekshully @ Phil ….. just the sort of attitude ….. nah I’m thinking they can’t cope! – better I STFU, but the comment was to do with the reason cnuts like that BBC icon and a few Kethlick priests got away with things for as long asa they did.
I’m talking about attitude btw – NOT suggesting Nimoy was in that bracket (someone I actually admired) – Just your right to expression without people clutching their pearls in horros.
Indeed – apparently its too soon to call a spade a spade. Get some fukkin learnings will ya!
my most (in)famous ‘too soon’..
..was @ bfm the mon morn after diana copped it in that tunnel in paris…
.all around me was wailing and gnashing of teeth…
..in the regular op-ed piece i did…i took the opportunity to curse the fact that her death/motherless-sons would revive the british royal family..
..(which at that stage was seriously on the back-foot..republicanism as an option was widely discussed at that time..
..and that all ended with that death..)
..the looks of horror on the faces of the inhabitants of this ‘radical’ radio station after i finished..
..were a sight to behold..
..(and the switchboard ‘lit up’..as they say..)
..and as it turned out..i was correct..eh..?
..just ‘too soon’…
so street and edgy lol – it’s called empathy and sensitivity – think about it and feelings of loss you may have felt recently
we are talking princess diana..and spock..
..a breeder for the royal family..
..and a character from a crap tv show..(!)
..figures of stature/real-change…?
..as in mandela ?….yes….’empathy/sensitivity’..
..them..?..no…
(i once got to shake mandelas’ hand..and he put his other hand on my shoulder at the same time..
..it was like a shock of electricity..he was one seriously ‘there’ dude..and yep..!..i cried when he died..)
(and i dare say some of those diana-grievers wd now feel a tad embarrassed about the significance they attached to that at that time..
..my general loathing of the royal family..and all they stand/stood for..
..just meant i just got there sooner than them..)
(and really..all i pointed out in my initial comment..
..was that the ‘revered’-lines are not his..
.surely people didn’t believe they were…?
..did/do they..?..)
“a breeder”
God you’re an awful human being. Be as republican as you like, but I’m going to link to this comment next time you try to attack feminists for not caring about animal rights.
Gosh phil you’re so staunch.
With such attitudes it surprises me that you didn’t make biltong out of your recently deceased pooch and sell it on the side of the street along with some potted herbs.
horrible comment – shows a lot about you – what a nasty shit you are
Giving Phil a taste of his own medicine, well, I suppose it’s rather nasty medicine and so-on.
goose and gander I always think. I feel sorry at the passing of Nimoy like many others. I’m just not going to clutch my pearls if others feel differently or try to inflict my values on them. Nor do I expect them to inflict their values on me.
When there are assholes like (say) Whaleoil and his accomplices about, I’m not about to waste my energy on them. There are far better causes to worry about.
As I say, I’ll miss Nimoy (and many others), but I don’t EXPECT others to feel the same and if they drop a clanger or two from time to time, I’m not about to string ’em up.
(It never ceases to amaze me how quick some are to give PU a hard time over his attitude to various things, and his campaigning, whilst all the while harping on like a stuck record themselves.)
and um..!..the reality is that star trek was a pile of corny schlock when it was first made..
(the ‘thorn birds’ of space-opera..(kim hill listeners will get that one..)
..and i couldn’t bring myself to watch it for those critical reasons…
..and i put down our fascination with spock down to our longtime/ongoing fascination with the possibilities of alien-life..
..and what that wd mean for us..
..and he was the first one we had that wasn’t green and issuing noxious gases..
..and one who seemed – to be ‘better’ ..in some ways – than us miserable humans..
..spock/trek-fandom is a manifestation of an existential-yearning..
..and it’s obvious glaring faults are glossed-over/ignored for those reasons..
Yeah, Phil doesn’t like Star Trek so no-one else should care either.
no..just don’t expect me to..
(and i don’t even care enough to ‘not like’…
..i am totally agnostic on the subject of nimoy..)
“and i don’t even care enough to ‘not like’…”
Yeah you care so little you have made several different posts on it
i noted that scriptwriters were involved..
..everything since then has been backlash..
..(and awww..!!..a rightwing trekkie..?..how cute..!..
..and what an anomaly..!..
..do give us the rightwing reading of star trek..!
..did the authoritarianism/strong-leader appeal..?..)
I’m not a right winger nor do have any love for Star Trek.
So you ain’t got shit and have spent most of this thread making comments about something you don’t even care about.
it’s all about the journey..
(now that could almost qualify as a new spockism..)
If you don’t care, then why comment at all, other than to be a shit.
Worry not Tim you won’t be mourned or mocked, you’re not that interesting. Fuck off with your shabby self.
Oh sorry Realblue – I wasn’t aware we knew each other – not even in the virtual reality sphere until now. Is there somewhere I can give you a ‘like’?
Would have been good to read the link first, Phil. Half the quotes are Spock and half are Leonard Nimoy.
sorry murray..
..i just don’t care enough to read the link..
..and why should i..?
..83 yr old bit-player in a camp/corny tv series from the 60’s..
..he had a long life..good on him..!
..he lived long and prospered..
..but that is about it..
I preferred coming home from skool in Oz to watch George Reeves in Superman – now that was camp/corny. Nimoy was a bit of humour tho’ I must admit. It seems he’s been elevated to the opium of the people status though. Nothing wrong with a bit of escapism tho eh PU? Sanity is becoming more expensive these days.
“..i just don’t care enough to read the link..
..and why should i..?”
Because if you had, your ignorant comment about the quotations being from scriptwriters may not have been made. Or is accuracy just another literary affectation that you feel constrains your creativity?
And when and where did you shake Mandela’s hand?
@ st matthews in the city in ak….
@ the ‘thank you’ gathering of anti-tour protestors..
..when he came here in the mid-90’s..
d’ya wanna hear about yoko onos’ birthday party too..?
(i’m having an attack of the ‘skinnys’ here..
..name-dropping like a snowstorm..)
Cool. It’s a shame that South Africa only had one of him. One hundred and it might be a better place today.
and of course..nimoy s gone..
..but we do still have his doppelganger..
..green mp david clendon..eh..?
i guess if politics doesn’t work out for him..
..clendon cd have a second-career as a nimoy-tribute-act..
🙁
RIP Mr Spock/Nimoy and thanks for the dreams and memories.
btw, saw this interview a while ago, fascinating.
https://archive.org/details/LeonardNimoy15Oct2013YiddishBookCenter
And then there’s this.
RIP Leonard Nimoy, LLAP Spock.
Nimoy talks about social justice, diversity, jewish identity, being an outsider and the origins of Spock’s greeting.
“..Bill Maher Blasts NFL Ban on Weed..
..Real Time host Bill Maher accused the National Football League on Thursday of hypocrisy –
– for promoting efforts against domestic violence –
– after years of doing the same for ‘official beer’ maker Anheuser-Busch.
‘We appreciate your sudden awareness of domestic violence’ – Maher said.
‘But then – right into the Budweiser commercial?
Are you kidding me?
Beer is responsible for more violence against women than the Taliban’..”
(cont..)
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/bill-maher-blasts-nfl-ban-weed-maybe-its-because-pot-doesnt-make-you-violent
(ed:..a great line from maher:..’the only sport marijuana-use cd improve –
– wd be a hotdog-eating contest’..)
Clint Eastwood’s English Snipper should be a hit
I can’t wait for the Clint Eastwood hagiography of this hero….
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/26/isis-murderer-is-londoner-on-m15s-radar-since-2009?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2
Less than two years earlier, the heroic London Snipper would have been tolerated, or even lauded as a hero, if only he’d stuck to killing official enemies, like this bloke did….
Here’s a transcipt you’ll find funny, Moz: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/27/phone-transcript-reveals-sara-netanyahu-rant-at-political-rivals-wife
Funny? It’s hilarious! Thanks very much.
I love the comment by one JackJay: “Sarah shows she is not a classy person.”
“..You’re Not the Boss of Me! – Why Libertarianism Is a Childish Sham..
..Libertarians believe they’re rebels –
– but they are really political children who scream through tears..”
(cont..)
http://www.alternet.org/youre-not-boss-me-why-libertarianism-childish-sham
A cartoon that puts it in a nutshell:
http://leftycartoons.com/2008/07/10/if-housepets-were-libertarians/
heh..!
gower just set a new benchmark in ‘soft’-interviews..
..letting key bullshit at will…
I see he’s from Taranaki (according to his “for me it’s 3” crap). I hope like hell I’m not related
is everyone related in taranaki..?
whoar..!
(cue ‘dueling banjoes’…)
Are they both right?
One side of the Key War from Fran O’Sullivan “…Committing the New Zealand military to Iraq is the right thing to do.
Not simply from a moral purpose – although that is highly important – but also because it is rational….
…The Prime Minister hadn’t helped himself when he said that joining the coalition against Islamic State was “the price of joining the club”.
If he had just added a rider that the “club” was that group of nations who had already committed troops to assist Iraq to repel Isis he may have achieved greater carriage for the Government’s argument that committing military to train Iraqi soldiers and provide support behind the wire was necessary.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11409263
And then John Armstrong’s very different one: “..If last Monday’s “misguided” decision by the Cabinet to dispatch a contingent to Iraq was the price of New Zealand’s membership of the exclusive Five Eyes intelligence-gathering “club” – as the Prime Minister admitted a month ago – what did that say about the transparency and credibility of the country’s supposedly “independent” foreign policy?…..
The Cabinet decision has rather made nonsense of a core selling-point in New Zealand’s successful campaign for a seat on the United Nations Security Council”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11409236
John Key is increasing terrorist risks… totally agree with
http://www.norightturn.blogspot.co.nz
There’s no question that Emwazi was an extremist – that’s why MI5 was interested in him. But in this case, as in others, their heavy-handed tactics seem to have made things worse, not better, and pushed him over the edge into murder. Its the war on terror in miniature, where the US/UK’s abuses simply drive more people to terrorism. we’ve seen it over US torture, which is a recruiting poster for radicals. We’ve seen it over Iraq and Afghanistan, where the US invasion provided an endless stream of atrocities. And we’re seeing it in Australia at the moment, where Tony Abbott’s war on Muslims is fuelling rather than quenching domestic radicalism. And sadly, John Key seems to be marching us down exactly the same path. And the only people who do well out of such tactics are spies and terrorists, who seem to paradoxically need each other to survive.
ON 3 NEWS last night there was talking up that IS would notice us and may do something like a video OR ….
Sort of seemed like ‘Hey guys here we are here we are down here.”
It seems to me the best thing now is to shut up.
Has The Wetiko Finally Arrived In New Zealand Or Why John Key Lost It!
That photo trav! Wetiko in full power. Was that a real pic or has it been touched up. Even watshisname behind Key seems whipped up as well.
These are stills from the video made by a facebook mate! Nothing retouched there!
scary shit that photo – the mask slipping – ugly revealed, and dangerous
Yup!
`
What a horrible bloodthirsty rant by Key. And his reeling off the number of Labour parties around the world that are pro war was just disturbing. The USA is doubling down on its mission to fuck up the Middle East.
Here’s rationalwiki on ‘progressive’ parties in the anglo club:
travellerev
It’s a good read and cerainly a creepy image. However, there are a couple of typos. Firstly; “politicians where dubious at best”, where “where” should be; “were” (it’s always the ones that make it through the spell-checker that are hardest to catch!). Secondly; omitting the macron on Māori (which I wouldn’t mention except you managed the umlaut on naïve just fine). Personally; I’d add more commas and semi-colons too, but that’s just individual style.
Thanks for pointing out the typos. My first language is Dutch and yes, some of them slip through. Let me return the favour. Cerainly should be certainly! 😆
By the way the macron does not come easy in even my international keyboard whereas the umlaut does!
cut and paste from the Māori dictionary http://www.maoridictionary.co.nz/ – build up a file of common words – that is what i do – very simple which is good for me
The twisted contortions seen operating as the political class in the western sphere are souls who have been corrupted by negative harming energy
The faces and eyes tell all you need to know
This is interesting [WARNING linked article contains descriptions of torture; do not read if eating, or easily distressed]:
http://www.theguardian.com/law/2015/feb/27/nepalese-colonel-faces-torture-trial-in-uk
I think we are signatories to the same treaty, so any torturers who settle here in future will be liable to prosecution in a similar manner. What does this mean for our troops in Afghanistan who handed prisoners over to US soldiers for “enhanced interrogations”? How about those NZ soldiers may end up being in charge of ISIL prisoners who Iraq?
I remember that the entire Nepal royalty was assassinated/massacred sometime ago. Was this torture incident related to that?
Do the royals still rule or they finished and the communists in control now?
If you know…
This alleged torture was four years after the massacre:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepal#Republic
Thanks for that. I gasped when I read this bit from your link:
“Factionalism inside the royal family led to a period of instability. In 1846 a plot was discovered revealing that the reigning queen had planned to overthrow Jung Bahadur Kunwar, a fast-rising military leader. This led to the Kot Massacre; armed clashes between military personnel and administrators loyal to the queen led to the execution of several hundred princes and chieftains around the country. Jung Bahadur Kunwar emerged victorious and founded the Rana Lineage and was later known as Jung Bahadur Rana”
Shows that the wholesale mass murders of royal families is not a recent phenomenon there!
I have not been to Nepal. I have been to the Himalayas and Darjeeling and met many Nepalese there. The common people of Napalese origin are very nice people.
Have you visited there?
`
Murray Deaker’s comments on “Team” New Zealand:
Team nz represents elitism and jobs for the boys typified by the arrogant dalton who deemed himself good enough to still be crew, we blew it in sanfranciso yet nobody got sacked.
Just like rugby world in 07, boys club members like dalton and graham live a charmed life.
Alinghi vs. Team New Zealand: (how things have changed since 2003 — consumerism & corporations have won the public sphere)
Main sponsor:
A: Swiss billionaire’s personal fortune,
NZ:`Family-of-five’ N.Z. companies
Estimated Cost:
A: $150 million,
NZ: $85 million
Boat name:
A: Postmodern signifier; Brand with no meaning
NZ: Country
Logos/branding:
A: Postmodern swirls
NZ: Silver Fern
Staffing:
A: Worldwide headhunting
NZ: Mostly N.Z. nationals
Relationship to nation-state:
A: None
NZ: Considerable
Operational foci:
A: Individual `excellence’
NZ: Team building
Motivation:
A: Money/Global Marketing
NZ: Country/Pride
Leadership Orientation:
A: Great men
NZ: Team
Syndicate Organisation:
A: Corporation
NZ: Whanau [Extended family]
Links to Indigenality:
A: None
NZ: Considerable
Historical Consciousness:
A: None
NZ: Considerable
Focus of rewards:
A: Private interests
NZ: Public good
Meaning of `home’:
A: Poorly defined
NZ: Well-defined
Socialism for the rich.
Thankfully Mr Putin has taken personal control of the investigation.
/
Polly Mosendz ✔ @pollyNYC
Follow
“I’m afraid #Putin will kill me,” Boris Nemtsov told an independent Belarusian television channel two weeks ago. http://www.newsweek.com/report-boris-nemtsov-critic-russian-president-vladimir-putin-killed-moscow-310330 …
https://twitter.com/pollyNYC/status/571438577139236864
I suppose your implication is that Putin had the former deputy Prime Minister Nemtsov killed. Shot multiple times while he was walking not far from the Kremlin.
Seriously, even if Putin on 80% popularity ratings could be bothered to order such a thing, I think as an ex KGB Colonel he would have made it a tad more subtle and deniable.
Coincidence is a wonderful word.
/
Lorcan Roche Kelly @LorcanRK
Boris Nemtsov, shot in Moscow tonight, speaking about Putin in yesterday’s @FT http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/4ecd1a04-bd1d-11e4-b523-00144feab7de.html?siteedition=intl#axzz3Symnp0l1 …
https://twitter.com/LorcanRK/status/571437251714019328/photo/1
No, I didn’t say that it was a coincidence.
This is potentially part of a deliberate programme to increase political instability and discontent in Russia.
Putin doesn’t gain a thing from that; other players do.
Tsars don’t need to make things particularly subtle or deniable.
Obviously the CIA did it. Putin and his fellow group of thieves clearly have no form doing this sort of thing in the past.
Apparently Nemtsov was going to release a dossier of info showing the extent to which the Russian army has been operating in Ukraine.
Perhaps Putiin was doing hiis best Henry 2 impression?
You mean the CIA wants to make putin look bad by covering up his crimes for him via murder?
Sounds legit 🙂
No, you’re both wrong. He was the final obstacle to a grand alliance between the HAARP Cabal and Buzz Aldrin.
Say that to Buzz’s face. He’d smack you right on the kisser.
Not since people have started asking questions: it’s quite likely that right hook killed JFK. Those pesky Youtube kids, eh.
Yep. The CIA is responsible for all of the problems in Russia. Without their meddling Russia would be a civilised, democratic paradise that didnt rank close to last in the world of unimportant things like freedom of the press, income inequality, harassment of dissidents, corruption, judicial corruption, murder of journalists etc. And their leadership would never have stolen several hundreds of billions of dollars without being forced to by the CIA.
The Russians are bad, the Russians are bad, the Russians are bad. Heavy Metal band line from a USA group called From the Bottom of the USA.
So criticism of John Key extends to all New Zealanders? This is exactly the sort of thing I’m talking about: Buzz’s mind control techniques are messing with your head.
nadis – I’d simply note that Russia doesn’t destabilise nations and start wars in faraway lands killing hundreds of thousands. And then head in for seconds and thirds because it fucked up those places so badly to begin with.
And yes, Russia has many of the hallmarks of a plutocracy, but so has the UK and USA.
Yeah, they don’t destabilise nations at all.
Just one question: how would you know, science denier?
Ahhhh the blinkered Scientism Acolyte calls me a heretic. How it hurts lol
Apparently if you rub a dead cat on your face it will heal the pain. According to an alternative healer (who carefully did not claim to bea medical practitioner, just a healer) on the interwebz
McFlock
Do you remember if he/she said that it also worked with toy cats (sort of dead)? Does it have to have real fur or not? If you can’t get a dead cat, or a toy cat in real fur, would a koala bear made out of kangaroo skin work?
Waiting in anticipation while my head and tooth aches. Please hurry and advise.
I think I saw a dead cat in the local reservoir, so rubbing the ultra-diluted tapwater on your head and rinsing your mouth with it should have the same healing properties as the cat itself.
Koalas are good for chlamydia, because most of ’em have it, the dirty buggers.
Tell us again about the effectiveness of homeopathy and how it is devastating modern science.
the modern world is decimating modern science quite well enough, don’t you think.
What part of “the modern world” is decimating “modern science”?
You’ll actually have to define what you mean
It only works with a Schrödinger cat.
And yes, Russia has many of the hallmarks of a plutocracy
Let me fix that for you:
And yes, Russia has many of the hallmarks of a fascist mafia kleptcracy…
I’m sorry, unless you are deluded and have a complete blindspot/hard-on for Russia, the political systems of Russia versus the USA and UK arent even on the same planet.
Oh I think they are moving closer together as we speak. The FVEY nations have learnt to bring all the techniques of the East German Stasi into the 21st century, for instance. US government torture programmes used techniques detailed in SS/Gestapo handbooks from WWII. And of course, it is natural to prefer the governmental systems of the USA – if you aren’t poor and black.
CR
There is a one man show on in Wellington written about Paul Robeson and how it was to be a black in free advanced USA. And how they in gummint felt free to oppress USA citizens. At one time he was forbidden to sing and his passport was withheld so he couldn’t leave the USA. He suffered a bit of depression around that time I think.
No joyride living there!
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20169090
Playing Favourites with Tayo Aluko ( 53′ 35″ )
10:08 Nigerian-born, UK-based writer and performer of Call Mr Robeson: a Life with Songs, based on the musical career and political activism of the US singer Paul Robeson.
You need a better example of US fascist tendencies than Paul Robeson. Maybe someone who was alive for at least part of the last 40 years.
Paul Robeson in New Zealand.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/spectrum/audio/20169062/spectrum-remembering-paul-robeson
Thanks fellas.
On another note, the US still has Black Panther political activists locked up from the 1970s, most likely on trumped up/falsified charges. Those men are American political prisoners and will never see a free day in their lives again.
The noble western ideals of democracy, freedom, fraternity and equality have, in practical terms, been altered as freedom for the wealthy and the powerful minority to do as they wish in their own special interests, while the poor, the under privileged and the ordinary people get to enjoy neither equality nor fraternity nor true democracy in effect.
I also can’t believe the number of Lefties who get sucked into the idea of waging war, droning ‘bad guys’, overthrowing governments and impoverishing nations all in the righteous name of freedom, democracy, equality and human rights.
It’s like a Kafka play in real life.
Anything is possible we will never know
Speculation is all we have and in the absense of knowing then one guess is as valid as another
In a complete absence of knowledge, one guess is as valid as another.
As knowledge grows, some guesses are more valid than others.
Not to mention that they reveal something of the agenda behind the speculation.
Unless you’re privy to higher levels of classified information all speculation remains equally valid
I speculate that you did it, then, you jason bourne chappy…
As valid as any other speculative response
Some of your best work McFlock
Apart from the fact that I have knowledge of your absurdist denial of all knowledge, so really there’s a 50/50 chance that you’d have looked down the long end of the gun before pulling the trigger, so you’re not competent enough to have done it, so the speculation of your guilt is not as valid as putin having ordered someone else to do it.
But then the weak anthropic principle comes in, that maybe you’re just one incredibly lucky imbecile…
Ex-cep-tion-al : Being an exception
Your speculation does not counter my original statement
citation pls.
As in, for your rather naive and convenient definition.
My speculation points out that your original statement is farcical, because we do have some knowledge.
Q. Why are you still stalking my comments ?
Without ‘truth’ of any given event all you are have is speculation hence all are valid
My use of the word equal was to emphasise that all speculation will be equal because they are not truth
There is only one truth but no human involved will have it or know it
Everything else is speculation everything else is wrong
Arguing degrees of wrong is foolish and indicates a limited ability to reason
SNAFU
Lol
So you replied to me with a passive-aggressive reference to a previous argument that you completely failed to understand, and any reply I make after that is stalking? Piss off.
As for the rest, your acataleptic doubt is amusing, but leaves you fucking useless.
I thought I had replied to a comment from Nadis
If i had replied to your comment it was unintentional but would signal a retraction of that particular stalking enquiry is necessary in this instance
Q. Had i replied to your comment ?
Retraction or not the insults amplify your inability to counter my contention and the empty comments speak for you
Q. Is saturday night drinking night ?
Keep at it McFlock you might even manage to become an exception to your own rule of failing to counter one of my comments 😉
Your first comment replied to nadis. whats your excuse for the other four?
Indeed, that seems to be the “exception”, although unexceptional in itself.
Your first comment replied to nadis. whats your excuse for the other four?
You admit to hijacking (stalking) yet another of my comments with the obligatory profanity based insults and then ask what my excuse is …
Q. Is there any possibility of picking your game up ?
0pen mike, doofus. FWIW, I ignore most of your idiocies unless you reply to me. But every so often one of your comments is so spectacularly pretentious and useless that I feel the need to point out the gaping hole to you.
And being told to pick up my game by someone who invents definitions to suit their delusional claims of victory is just funny.
I feel the need to point out the gaping hole to you
Q. Are you going to provide examples the same way I continue to for your benefit ?
And being told to pick up my game by someone who invents definitions to suit their delusional claims of victory is just funny.
Being that you are fixated on providing a repetitive case study in irony and mentioning definitions
Q. You don’t know the definition of the word ‘question’ eh ?
question |ˈkwesCHən|
noun
a sentence worded or expressed so as to elicit information
e.g ‘Is there any possibility of picking your game up’ ?
This one you know intimately
Ex-cep-tion-al: Being an exception
🙄
That explains a lot.
Putin gains zero from having an unelectable unpopular politician killed outside the Kremlin.
Is it your position that he does sane, rational things on a regular basis?
Citation needed.
Oh yes the Putin is the crazy, irrational, blood thirsty one out of the the current set of world leaders meme.
You scientism acolytes are surprisingly weak minded to fall for this kind of thing.
Tell you what, take a look at the 3 hour plus no questions barred annual pressor he did last year and ask yourself why you’ll never see Obama, Cameron, Abbott or Key fielding unscripted questions from the global media like that.
Yeah nah: you’re the one asserting that he’s different, better, special, not me.
I thought you were the one asserting Putin is very special, and hence deserving of special attention to be sorted out. Sorry I must have mistaken your intent.
Like many liberals, you’re a sponge for propaganda messaging from authority figures.
Sure I am, science denier. No skepticism or curiosity here whatsoever.
I accept your label of heretic proudly. You scientism acolyte you.
nothing to gain, except their silence.
That’s not a gain, and further, it foments political dissatisfaction with the Kremlin. As I said earlier, it’s other players who would benefit from that but it seems that you’re not listening.
It depends entirely on what the guy was about to say. Putin might well be much better off with enemies in fear and no disturbing revelations than he would be if the guy were left alive.
Your suggestion that “other players” would manage an elaborate plan to increase Russian instability by eliminating putin’s opponents, in secret, with massive geopolitical blowback if the slightest legitimate suspicion were raised, is incredibly unlikely for the simple reason that anyone dumb enough to try it would not be competent enough to achieve it.
… so, apart from silence, and the intimidation of other opponents, and an increased reputation as a ‘strong man’*, what has Putin ever gained from this?
*terms and conditions apply.
Citation please.
Again: you are the one making the assertion: that Putin has gained nothing. I’m just your friendly peer-reviewer.
OK well he gained more airtime in the western media. And I bet he loves that, being a sociopathic narcissist etc etc.
What has Putin gained from OAB’s comment? Or another this? If so what this is that?
Putin will blame “Dark western forces” or “chechen gangsters” or “Ukrainian fascists”. The majority of Russians will lap it up becasue that is the only narrative they will get (complete state control of TV, complete state censorship of the internet)
The small opposition that the message is directed at will understand completely. Criticising Putin in Russia as a journalist or politician is generally a death sentence, or prison at best.
Q. Are you sure that is what will happen or is that your guess?
Q. Have you been to Russia ?
Q. How many Russians do you know well ?
I have been to Russia though that was some time ago – 1997-2003 – on multiple visits for business, though they didnt give me a huge lot of insight into how average russians lived or thought. Though I do have some great anecdotes about how business was done and who was doing it.
Subsequently I have read a lot of books both by Russians and outsiders. You want a reading list? Defending Russia without having read at least some of the books I could recommend makes you look a bit stupid.
Q. How was I defending Russia ?
Q. Why did you not answer the first question ?
Q. Why are you making assumptions ?
Again you have got ahead yourself similar to the way you did the last time we engaged
Q. Are you a slow learner ?
A. Don’t care specifically. My you was plural not singular. If you are offended by my presumed assumption I apologise.
A. Don’t know what your question referred to. Of course I don’t know what the Russian govt will do, but I do know many of the thing they have done.
A. I’m not making assumptions without making it obvious they are assumptions.
A. Not usually unless it is dancing, or listening to my wife.
Yes I agree that’s worse than the US, where they generally only fire journalists for printing unpalatable stories about US government or Israeli government activities.
Mind you, the US does tend to spy on, intimidate, prosecute and imprison journalists sources and whistleblowers of conscience, sometimes for decades at a time.
Then there’s things like the extra-judicial exiling of people like Edward Snowden.
Ahhh well, that’s Empire for you.
“Then there’s things like the extra-judicial exiling of people like Edward Snowden.”
Funny way to describe being on the run. Snowden can go home any time he wants so he’s not actually exiled extra-judicially. Or judicially, for that matter. It’s entirely a self-exile.
The US government cancelled his passport when he arrived in Moscow to prevent him from fleeing to Ecuador (or anywhere else). That was effectively exiling (stranding) Snowden in Russia.
How? And regardless, he’d never get a fair trial if the secret grand jury has charged him with crimes under the Espionage Act.
Revoking his passport doesn’t stop him going home. He can return any time he wants so he’s not exiled.
As for his trial, he knowingly broke the laws of his country. I think he did it for the greater good, but he still chose to do so. On the up side, he doesn’t appear to have raped anyone, so good on him for showing some restraint 😉
Who is going to issue him a passport?
Yep. Just like freeing slaves or helping Jews escape across the border broke the laws of those lands. Or sitting in White only sections of the bus, restaurant or movie theatre.
Yeah, you’re a prick. And again, a prime sponge for smearing propaganda.
He doesn’t need one to go home. Neither do you, actually.
Re: breaking the law, he actually can mount a defence that the lawbreaking was for the greater good. Just not from Moscow.
Not a permissible defense for charges brought under the Espionage Act.
But hey, don’t let that get in the way of endlessly excusing and apologising for authority, while slamming any ingrate who dares question, undermine or challenge it. I mean, we all know authority is to be revered at all times and in all circumstances.
Bill, you might be well be a suck up to authority, but I really don’t revere it the way you claim to. So let’s focus on the facts, eh?
Snowden knew what he was doing was illegal and while it’s an uphill struggle to get a not guilty verdict (what with him being guilty an’ all) he is entitled to use the public good defence in both the case itself and the sentencing aspect, if convicted.
Whether it works for him is entirely another matter.
Bill is right of course, and TRP you are wrong. The problem TRP is that you have assumed that Snowden would have natural justice on return to the USA. That is not the case. Even Daniel Ellsberg has said that Snowden is right to not return to the USA, given how much conditions have deteriorated since he leaked the Pentagon Papers.
Snowden would not be permitted to use a public good defence, he also would not be able to use a defence that no material harm was done to the interests of the United States.
Nope, he can mount any defence he wants. Whether it succeeds is another matter.
PS, not knowing what natural justice is doesn’t help your argument.
What is it that you’re not getting about ‘the public good’ (or whatever) not being permissible grounds of defense for charges brought under the Espionage Act!?
The Espionage Act is kinda somewhat like trespass is in this country. There is, to all practical purposes, no fcking possible defense if the Act is used against you.
Well, you’re almost there, Bill. It is permissible as a defence, but whether it works is another matter. Kinda like you think the trespass Act that you mentioned works.
The best defence is a) don’t break the law, b) don’t broadcast what you’ve done if you do. Snowden’s defence is weak not because the public good defence isn’t available to him (it is), it’s just that he has already admitted knowingly breaking the law. If he’d been more selective in what he released, he would have more of a chance of using that defence. ie he could say “I only released specific things such as incidents of lawbreaking that the public had a right to know about”. But a general dumping of the info he took substantially weakens any defence he might have had.
If he’s found guilty, he can still plead the public good in mitigation during the sentencing phase. But again, non specific dumps don’t support that either.
CR is right. A public interest defence is prohibited for charges brought under the Espionage Act. However, Hilary Clinton agrees with you. She doesn’t seem to know US law either.
http://www.edwardsnowden.com/frequently-asked-questions/
As for the best defence being to not break the law, wow. You really are authoritarian. This is one of the reasons the Labour Party is becoming increasingly irrelevant in making the needed changes in the way things are run.
trp has now transitioned from being ignorant of the facts to being deliberately obtuse. He has no idea how US “justice” has been compromised.
This. No wonder he wants to send Kiwi troops over to Iraq with no plan for victory, nor any chance for victory, simply on Obama and Key’s say so.
A killing like this of a high profile opponent sneds a pretty clear message to other opponents.
Lets be honest. Putin doesnt and never has given a shit about appearances, except those ones that make him look like a Stalin-esque leader.
He’s never cared in the past when as mayor of St Petersburg he personally signed thousands of import export licenses in return for 30% kickbacks, didnt care when killing journalists in moscow, didnt care when dosing tea with polonium, doesn’t care when arbitrarily stripping assets from opponents.
He may not have anything to do with it, but I think it is unlikely the hand of the Russian state is either directly or indirectly involved. Russian organised crime doesnt do anything in Russia without a nod from the FSB, so the chances of an organised hit within Russia happening without state input is low. I guess we’ll see on the aftermath. If no-one or only a patsy is captured then you know it was a state hit.
OK let’s say it was a state sanctioned hit. Let’s even say that Putin personally signed off on the assassination to make a public point ahead of the upcoming opposition protest march. Let’s even say that the power of being perpetual president has gone to his head and he’s decided he might be the New Stalin of the 21st century.
Now what. Shall we go to war with Russia?
Or shall we just settle for organising a “colour revolution” in Moscow and settle for regime change?
Are you saying there are no Russians who want a progressive democracy?
Or that we should do nothing to help them?
Or is your whole position twisted by personal bias much?
Go on then, support a colour revolution, maybe a Moscow Spring. The IMF, World Bank and Goldman Sachs are usually close behind helping wave the flags for “freedom”.
Russia has already had their neoliberal “spring” (aided by their own version of Rogernomics) and now the oligarchs are in control. Goldman Sachs would have trouble against the Russian gangster capitalists.
Indeed. It’s why I wonder about the complaints that Russia is a mafia plutocracy. After all, it’s exactly the way that the IMF, GS, JPM etc set it up in the 90’s. Their problem with it I believe is that they expected it to be THEIR mafia to be in charge, not Putin’s.
And just like those (allegedly) crazy, conspiratorial and seemingly aimless cabbage whites, CV lands bang on target in the end. 🙂
I had to laugh.
The newly-selected Labour candidate to stand against George Galloway in Bradford West, London-based Amina Ali, has suddenly pulled out citing the disruption it would cause to her family life if she moved north to Bradford. The councillor in London’s Tower Hamlets said that fighting for a seat 200 miles away in Yorkshire would have too great an impact on her children’s schoolwork.
She was only selected 4 days ago and, according to reports, said it was “a dream come true” to be picked. But according to The Times, Ms Ali had “a look of shock and horror on her face” immediately after learning she’d won the selection contest.
Bradford West had been comfortably held by Labour since boundary changes in 1974 (Labour held the seat with a 6000-vote majority in 2010). But at the 2012 By-Election, George Galloway won the seat in spectacular style, achieving a majority of more than 10,000 with the largest UK By-Election swing in 30 years (he has since referred to the win as the Bradford Spring).
Long may he continue to shame both the Tories/Coalition and UK Labour’s venal, Neo-liberal elite.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/generalelection/george-galloways-labour-opponent-in-bradford-west-amina-ali-resigns-as-candidate-ahead-of-general-election-10069560.html
See, workers are basically terrorists who need to be broken to make the world safe for corporations.
Walker sought to address this gap Thursday evening at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference when he was asked a question on stage about how he would take on the threat of Islamic State jihadists. Walker claimed he was prepared to confront this threat because of his experience confronting thousands of protesters who gathered in Madison in 2011 to decry his push to undo collective bargaining for public employees in the state. “We need a leader with that kind of confidence. If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world,” he declared.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/02/scott_walker_compares_unions_to_isis_the_wisconsin_governor_thinks_fighting.html
The only good result from this insanity is that the republicans are making themselves unelectable, only Fox News koolaid drinkers will buy that shit.
Mwahahaha!! – they’re eating their own.
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-02-27/the-man-who-led-the-jeb-bush-walkout-wore-a-tricorn-hat
Howard Zinn: a just cause doesn’t mean it will be a just war
`
Linked: Matt Damon on civil disobedience.
The political elites of USA and Russia have more in common with one another than with their own people. Civil _obedience_ is in their best interests. Meanwhile poor people are jailed for petty infractions and wall street bankers remain at large.
USA and other financiers who play risk games and lose get bailed out but Kim Dotcom is to be roasted and stripped of money for his defence. I wonder whether Courts down here withh carry forward the alleged harsh controls on his reimbursement.
My latest Blog post on MMJ, the science of Pot VS Pain Part 2…
http://yournz.org/2015/02/28/pot-and-pain-part-2/
Alternate address.
https://mmj4chronicpain.wordpress.com/2015/02/28/pot-and-pain-part-2/
Reading the Greek Deal Correctly
Was the Brussels Deal really “a humiliating defeat for Greece” ?
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/02/24/reading-greek-deal-correctly
Thanks for that. Galbraith is one of a limited number of economists worth listening to, and I am glad he has been helping the Syriza government.
Great article and interesting comment below it
Lies are to mass communication what bio-tech fraudulent substances are to agriculture. Both are being disseminated in such mad rushes as to taint the currencies of nutrition along with “food for thought.”
Exactly how dirty politics has polluted public discourse in NZ
There is an interesting article in the New York Times dealing with the fact that conservatives on the whole do not regard environmental issues as moral ones and therefore are less likely to support governments to make changes that are beneficial although possibly involving some cost.
“While the number of Republicans who say global warming is a serious problem has reached high levels, there remains a very large gap in moral engagement with the issue. We found that conservatives were less likely than liberals to describe pro-environmental efforts in moral terms, or to pass moral judgment on someone who behaved in an environmentally unfriendly way, for example by not recycling. Where liberals view environmental issues as matters of right and wrong, conservatives generally do not.”
“Our research points to a different factor in the moralization gap: the terms in which these issues are commonly discussed in the media. We enlisted a team of research assistants to code the moral content of 51 environmental public service announcements and 402 opinion articles appearing in major American newspapers. The arguments found in these messages most often discussed environmental issues like climate change in terms of the need to protect people and ecosystems from harm and destruction. Protection from harm is a moral concern that, past research finds, resonates significantly more with American liberals than conservatives. By contrast, moral concerns more unique to conservatives like patriotism, respect for authority, sanctity or purity rarely appeared in the environmental appeals we studied.”
“To assess this, we conducted a final study in which we constructed a pro-environmental message based in moral purity. This message emphasized the need to protect natural habitats from “desecration” so that our children can experience the “uncontaminated purity and value of nature.” We presented one group of self-identified conservatives with this message, another group with a more conventional message emphasizing the need to protect ecosystems from harm, and a third group with a neutral essay that didn’t mention the environment. The conservatives presented with the purity message reported significantly greater support for pro-environmental legislation than the other two groups — indeed, they were as supportive as a group of liberals we also surveyed. Conservatives who read the moral purity message even reported greater belief in global warming, though the message itself didn’t mention global warming, only environmental issues in general.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/opinion/sunday/is-the-environment-a-moral-cause.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region®ion=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region
I found this article very thought-provoking. It seems that the moral issues have to be spelt out if Conservative commitment to positive action is the goal. (Mind you, when I look at the way that National has abused the political donation system, why am I surprised? There seems to be a disengagement of the ethical /moral viewpoint on the justification that if it’s legal, then it is right.) Conservative support for the short term planning by this government, whereby resources are squandered and problems are foisted onto future generations, may need to be countered differently by highlighting the moral deficiencies of plundering on the future generations.
The way to forge back from the neoliberal NACT policy stronghold in NZ is to counter with ‘moral’ and ‘ethical’ messages from the left but in an emotional way. The emotion is missing often from the left. You do not change hearts and minds with ‘logic’ – you do it with passion. Russell Norman has passion such as his fantastic speech on sending troops to Iraq recently. In the previous election 2011? Greens had billboards with children on it. That was much more successful than the current ones from the Greens, which I actually don’t even remember.
The Labour MP’s need to be more visionary but not in a contrived way but from the heart. To my mind it feels like Labour are too scared to really speak out on real issues. This presents an unauthentic muddle like the 24 hr surveillance bill. You are either into surveillance or out on surveillance. It is not a time frame issue it is a human right moral issue. You believe it is ok for the CIA to torture or it is not ok for the CIA to torture. For an MP not being able to answer a moral question clearly or evading it just makes anyone look untrustworthy. Likewise with policy – what do you stand for?
saveNZ,
The missing million do not see it that way. They are important issues and starkly illustrate the moral lobotomization of our society. Dirty politics has polluted all parties, and corporate lies have corrupted the MSM. No wonder so many people have decided to ignore the whole farce.
TMM,
US Conservatives are a weird bunch, tied up in religious myths and apocalyptic fantasies, their moral compasses confused by terrible perversions from the pulpit. Most conservatives are lovely hospitable and kind people but they feel it’s their moral duty to feed their sons and daughters into the bloodthirsty military industrial machine. Jesus wept. Fred Clark of the “Slacktivist” blog dissects the religious mindset, it’s awful but fascinating reading.
I agree with you, Save NZ. Labour cannot simply copy Key’s technique of changing his tack every five minutes depending on the feedback from the focus group because progressives would be able to spot the lack of authenticity straight away. It seems that the moral importance of proposed policy has to be really spelt out in a way that gets through to the Conservative mind that seems to be able to accept anything that comes out of John Key’s mouth without subjecting it to any critical analysis for BS or comparison with previous utterings. There seems to be a faith-based belief in Key that bypasses the critical thinking parts of the brain for many people .
http://www.otago.ac.nz/healthsciences/news/publicevents/otago087374.html
For those in Dunedin, Prof Jane Kelsey is giving a public talk at Dunedin Hospital, lunchtime Monday, on the TPP and its profound implications for public health.
Interesting article about how donations and voting in the internet age mean
Internet-era politics means safe seats are a thing of the past
In 2004, the Howard Dean campaign made electoral history by harnessing the power of the internet to raise more than any other Democratic contender: more than $25m raised, largely in small-money donations averaging $80 – a marked contrast to the usual way of doing things, which involves raising titanic sums from rich people whom you then owe a lot of favours to, whether or not you take office.
Tools such as I’ll Vote Green If You Do mean isolated pockets of resistance can unite to become effective agents of political change
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/27/internet-era-politics-means-safe-seats-are-a-thing-of-the-past
In case you haven’t caught up with John Oliver do his bit about Tobacco and PM cigarettes.
He gives it good coverage and lively as well.
Go the Black Caps!
And the Black Caps win 🙂
Very stressful to watch!!! A win is a win though!
I would just like to point out that the red climate change advertisement that is always on the right of the page, is not showing the full story.
It is missing context.
In order for it to be relevant, it must include the ACTUAL temperature readings of the earth as far back as we have been able to measure it, then also include the CURRENT temperature of the earth.
The only acceptable method of measurement is the ‘actual temperature percentage difference over time’. It’s the only figure which displays the actual story.
The method used on the advertisement is childish AND extremely misleading. On top of that it uses a negative connotation to express its point (Hiroshima). It seems like a fear inducing advertisement.
Am I the only technical savvy person who writes on The Standard? Because ALL technical minded people should be able to pick up on it.
There’s a difference between heat and temperature mate.
If your not afraid of heating the Earth at the rate of 4 Hiroshima’s per second, then you should be. Remember – over 90% of that heat ends up in the oceans.
You might think your a technically savvy person, but you naivety suggests otherwise.
Imagine (as a technically savvy person) the effect on a pot of water sitting on a stove top that is on. What are the things that happen? That is just what we are doing to the Earth as we pour more and more GHG’s into the atmosphere.
Last year was the warmest on record (world wide). The past decade has been the warmest on record (world wide). This past month in Perth (where I am currently staying) has been (on average) 1 degree above the average for the past 30 years, and even warmer than that on the long term average. There are bush fires here on a daily basis. More importantly the minimum temperatures are on average at least 1 degree above average. That is one of the main signatures for an increasing Green House Effect (with no GHG the Earth would cool to – 18 degrees every night and become a snowball).
You might have noticed increasing winds around NZ over recent times. Have you observed that heating pot yet? Notice how the convection currents build up speed as more and more energy is transferred into the system. Wind speeds world wide have increased on average http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080903/full/news.2008.1079.html
and they will continue to increase as we continue to heat the Earth.
So the short answer is – this is a graphic way to continually bring to peoples attention the sad fact that the Western World is carrying out a very dangerous experiment which will affect all of humankind.
“So the short answer is – this is a graphic way to continually bring to peoples attention the sad fact that the Western World is carrying out a very dangerous experiment which will affect all of humankind.”
What about the eastern countries, China and India?
Do they see the problem?
As Macro pointed out – “Last year was the warmest on record (world wide). The past decade has been the warmest on record (world wide)”… and “More importantly the minimum temperatures are on average at least 1 degree above average. That is one of the main signatures for an increasing Green House Effect”
Yes the developing countries add to the total GHG
But ask yourself this question
who consumes the majority of India and China’s production?
Where is your wardrobe made? Where were the brake pads for your car produced? Where were the tyres manufactured? etc etc…
You know and I know that the Western World are the major consumers of the developing nations production. In other words we have EXPORTED our GHG production to these countries and now you are castigating them for it!
They would not have such escalating GHG totals if we didn’t buy so much stuff!
On the other hand China in particular is doing something about it! It’s GHG is actually declining in comparison to it’s GDP growth. Not substantially, but it is heading in the right direction – unlike NZ!
” now you are castigating them for it!”
No, I wasn’t! How and why did you presume such a thing?
I was asking a simple honest question for your statement, “sad fact that the Western World is carrying out a very dangerous experiment which will affect all of humankind”, without substantiating what that dangerous experiment was!
Jeez!
Now that you have clarified what you meant, tell me clearly how do we stop people buying the cheap and essential stuff from China and other countries? What is your sensible, doable, practical, workable solution, and in what time, not just for the tiny New Zealand but for all the world? These are legitimate questions. Do not presume something else.
The dangerous experiment is the continuing unmitigated emissions of GHG by the continual burning of fossil fuels so that we can have cheap stuff. By continually raising the concentration of GHG in the atmosphere Humans are trapping more and more energy that would have been radiated back into space. That extra energy is being recorded at the rate of around 4 Hiroshima bombs every second. That is the numbers being shown on the widget at the top right of the page, and is an approximate record of the total additional energy that has been added to the Earth since 1979. The experiment is to find out what happens! Well we have a damn good idea of what will happen, and frankly its not very pretty.
We can go on demanding cheap stuff – and for a few more years we can carry on – but the longer we keep on demanding cheap stuff the worse it will get. The consequences of our demands will make life for our descendants very miserable indeed. My grandchildren will certainly live in a far poorer and depleted world than I have had the fortune to experience. I don’t think they will thank me for it.
Storms will be more severe. Drought will be more severe, as will rainfall. Seems contradictory doesn’t it. But every 1 degree increase in atmospheric temperature increases the capacity of air to hold water vapour by 4%. Water is an even more potent GHG than CO2 – so that feeds back into increasing the solar energy trapped by the Green house effect. Winds are increasing and damage caused by extreme weather events will escalate. Many economists (Including Lord Stern) have considered this problem and concluded that the cheapest solution is to stop emitting GHG’s – not wait until we are forced to do something.
The first solution should be a direct tax on Carbon. British Columbia introduced such a tax some years back. It is the only Province in Canada to record a reduction in GHG emissions. Not only that, BC is still growing its Wealth. Regretfully this is through mining and exploitative industries such as exporting unsawn logs to China, but the fact is that by reinvesting that tax in improving Public transport (The Vancouver sky train from the airport to the city is amazing) and promoting electric cars etc (I travelled with a venture capitalist who was working with Tesla on one occasion – very informative). The carbon tax gives the province the wherewithal to invest in an alternative and more sustainable future.
Because the Western World has predominantly caused this sad state of affairs, and has had the lions share of the benefits, it has the moral responsibility to do more than others to deal with the outcomes. This is not something that NZ Australia and USA etc want to face up to. And NZ to our shame has been one of the worst players (along with Australia) in the recent past in owning up to this – indeed our “contribution” at the recent Lima COP talks were downright appalling. But that is another issue in this sorry affair.
Thanks Macro for your nice detailed reply.
You did not really respond to my last part of the comment, “Now that you have clarified what you meant, tell me clearly how do we stop people buying the cheap and essential stuff from China and other countries? What is your sensible, doable, practical, workable solution, and in what time, not just for the tiny New Zealand but for all the world? These are legitimate questions. Do not presume something else”
Your solution was carbon tax, electric cars and may be rails. I agree with those.
But is that it in reply to my query about cheap stuff from China etc and sensible, doable, practical, workable solution immediately now around the world?
But no worries if you can’t or don’t wish to answer that very difficult issue.
Sorry I have just been rewatching the cricket 🙂
Very enjoyable watching over here you understand. and got carried away.
As for the cheap stuff from China etc. I believe we have to rethink the free trade deals and globalisation. I’m not opposed to trade as such, I just believe trade should be fair trade.
Take for instance the export of logs to China. I see logging trucks day after day carrying thousands of logs to Tauranga for shipping to China. In Vancouver I saw the same thing – vast numbers being towed by tugs to the ships for loading – acres of them. But China only wants logs and refuses sawn timber. I say if they want the wood – then we saw it too! If you don’t take that – you don’t get.
NZ used to be the world leader in forestry and timber production. In WW2 the Mosquito (a wooden aircraft) was made possible to be produced by a battalion of the NZ Army – Foresters. The Brits didn’t know how to cut down and mill the timber fast enough! The NZers reduced the spruce forests of Cirencester in short order…
Until recently wine was not only produced in NZ but also the bottles were manufactured here. We now import our wine bottles from China!
How do we change this? Its reactionary I know – but we have to – as the First Labour Govt did place import quotas on goods. NZ is foolish to think that it can be so pure in this when elsewhere other nations place restrictions on their boarders.
Not only do we restrict the importation of cheap and often unreliable goods but we improve the employment prospects for many. WE used to clothe ourselves until we started to import cheap clothing from offshore. Thousands lost their work as factories closed. Hoping that people will buy locally produced doesn’t work. Cheap always wins out over quality.
But with more people in employment there is more buying power as there is more money to go around. Local products, though more expensive at first, become more affordable because people have more money and maybe are not having to buy so frequently.
That is only one suggestion – there are many others but I have a g’son to put to bed. So I’ll leave my suggestions there. I’m sure others can offer even better ideas.
+100 Macro…and now we are allowing the Chinese to cut us out of our own milk baby food production
An interesting article outlining the science with regards a warming world and increasing extreme weather events.
http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/02/extreme-weather-events-in-our-future-climate/
I’d say I’m reasonably technically savvy and I see nothing wrong with it. You don’t seem as knowledgeable as you think, though. As an example, what is the temperature of the Earth, and why is it relevant to climate change? Let’s see if you know what you’re talking about.
As for not showing the full story – it shows one measure among many that are possible. Personally, I think the amount of heat being added to the climate is a very apt measure, although what exactly this means is left unclear. It shows that we are adding a lot of heat, and that is scary.
I can’t jump in on the discussion above with regards to the murder of Nemtsov in Russia. The reply buttons were missing!
What gets me is that for some reason people are more than willing to contemplate murderous conspiracies when it concerns Putin but stay in total denial of the real and proven manipulation of Russian politics by the NATO/UN.
Here is a telephone conversation from Victoria Nullen (The United States’ top diplomat for European affairs) with the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine stating that, as the US had spend $ 5 billion on destabilizing Ukraine to get their puppet in place (she names the one she wants) the EU could go fuck themselves because the US wanted their man in power.
As I write this every country around Russia is being armed to the teeth and we are being primed with all kinds of Propaganda to hate Russia once again and the idea that we have to go to war with them. When will people beging to see that we are on the side of the bastards not the good guys.
Oh, and by the way Putin yesterday announced that his administration would get a 10% cut in their salary. I call that leadership by example!
Appears the actual telephone conversation is here.
The banality of tone of both Victoria Nuland and Geoffrey Pyatt, and the final “If God is willing” signoff from Nuland, is quite revealing.
Ethical voids.