President Obama has called Mandela a “personal hero” and said the imprisoned activist’s willingness to risk his life for the cause of equal rights helped inspire his own political activism.
“L’hypocrisie est un hommage que le vice rend à la vertu.”
—-François de La Rochefoucauld, Maxims
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Humbug Corner is dedicated to gathering, and highlighting, the most striking examples of faux solicitude, insincere apologies, and particularly stupid recycling of official canards. It is produced by the Insincerity Project®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc. More appalling humbug….
No. 5 John Key: “Yeah well the Greens’ answer to everything is rail, isn’t it.”
No. 4 Mike Bush: “Bruce Hutton’s… integrity beyond reproach…such great character…”
No. 3 Dean Lonergan: “Y’ know what? The only people who will mock them are people who are dwarfists.”
No. 2 Peter Dunne: “What a load of drivel and sanctimonious humbug…” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-09062013/#comment-645811
No.1 Dominic Bowden: “It’s okay to be speechless.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-02062013/#comment-642288
It does make me a little sicker than normal to see Obama attaching himself to Mandela. Obama barely manages to talk the talk, let alone walk the walk. The equal rights Obama seems most concerned about are the rights of GEC, Monsanto, and the other corporations. As far as humans go, an equal right to be spied on or whacked by a drone is not much of a right at all. Yuck.
As you read this item, bear in mind that Barack Obama is presently in Africa pretending to be a champion of democracy….
California chalk protester hit with gag order RT, June 28, 2013 20:56
A California man facing more than a decade in prison for writing with chalk on public sidewalks has been told he’s barred from discussing the details of his controversial case outside of court.
Judge Howard Shore issued a gag-order in a San Diego, California courtroom this week against Jeff Olson, a 40-year-old activist that used washable children’s chalk to scribble anti-bank slogans in public space last year. According to the San Diego Reader, the gag-order issued on Friday also applies to witnesses, members of the jury and potentially others, a measure that Truth-Out editor Mark Karlin said is “unprecedented” for a misdemeanor trial.
Olson has been charged with 13 misdemeanor counts of vandalism for chalking slogans such as “No Thanks, Big Banks” and “Shame on Bank of America” on the sidewalks outside of branches in the San Diego area throughout 2012. Now as the criminal trial against him wages on in Southern California, the defendant and anyone remotely involved in the case are reportedly muzzled by a ban that could…
“I’m am not going out on a limb to say that this is outrageous,” quipped Olson.
Comments from readers include these anonymous beauties….
“The prosecutors should be hanged as traitors.”
“You can talk vs. Blacks + poor in USA; but you can’t badmouth the rich.”
In Pretoria, Mr Obama said Mr Mandela’s example of “the power of principle, of people standing up for what’s right continues to shine as a beacon. The outpouring of love that we’ve seen in recent days shows that the triumph of Nelson Mandela and his nation speaks to something very deep in the human spirit; the yearning for justice and dignity that transcends boundaries of race and class and faith and country.”
“L’hypocrisie est un hommage que le vice rend à la vertu.”
—-François de La Rochefoucauld
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Humbug Corner is dedicated to gathering, and highlighting, the most striking examples of faux solicitude, insincere apologies, and particularly stupid recycling of official canards. It is produced by the Insincerity Project®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
More egregious humbug….
No. 6 Barack Obama: “Nelson Mandela is my personal hero…”
No. 5 John Key: “Yeah well the Greens’ answer to everything is rail, isn’t it.”
No. 4 Mike Bush: “Bruce Hutton’s… integrity beyond reproach…such great character…”
No. 3 Dean Lonergan: “Y’ know what? The only people who will mock them are people who are dwarfists.”
No. 2 Peter Dunne: “What a load of drivel and sanctimonious humbug…” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-09062013/#comment-645811
No.1 Dominic Bowden: “It’s okay to be speechless.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-02062013/#comment-642288
There is something quite gobsmacking about a white person pontificating about what one black man should think about another black man. I imagine Mandela has a far greater significance to someone like Obama who has experienced racism and oppression every day of his life, than he would to you, little angry white person.
Odd that you focus on the blackness of the two people in Morrissey’s comment, when that had nothing whatsoever to do with the point he’s making.
Or is it not a black thing at all that you’re bringing up? Is it that we’re not allowed to question the sincerity of a politician’s platitudes if they’re about someone significant to that politician in any way?
Cos I tells ya, there’s something gobsmacking about both those possibilities.
There is something quite gobsmacking about a white person pontificating about what one black man should think about another black man.
The only pontification on show here, other than your own, is the empty pontification, grandiose phraseology and monstrous insincerity of President Hopey Changey—gibbering on about “yearning for justice and dignity”, while pursuing America’s modern versions of Mandela with the zeal of a coon hound going after a fugitive slave in the swamps of Alabama.
I imagine Mandela has a far greater significance to someone like Obama who has experienced racism and oppression every day of his life, than he would to you, little angry white person.
If Mandela has “significance” to Obama, how come Obama shows absolutely none of Mandela’s moral and political courage?
When there are not enough jobs for those who are fit and well, how on earth are the mentally ill expected to find a job for 30 hours a week, and be able to work at it for all those 30 hours.
“And now the private agencies who WINZ will pass their clients with mental health issues to
Clipping the ticket, money for nothing and all that.
The private agencies also have the private records of mental health patients. Lawyers and the Human Rights Commission will surely have more jobs working out the privacy breaches. Extra well done NAct
Who are these “private agencies”? This is horrific stuff. Creating an underclass who will be forced to live with the stigma of having been transferred to a privately run mental health work charter programme. That is a sure bet their names and a description of their condition will eventually end up in the public arena.
Benny-basher Bennett has her footprints all over it of course. A “wrap around” service. Her favourite expression – doesn’t mean a thing.
I wish someone would wrap her around and see how she likes it!
Edit: I see rosy has already made the same points. No harm in re-stating them.
The conclusion I have come to about Bennett is, that if she did not get the help that she got from the state when she was struggling she would not be where she is today.
Bennett’s mind set is that those who are mentally unwell benefit from working. A person can only do what they can manage and what they can manage needs to be instigated by them and to be productive.
Further poverty (sanctions) and an increase in anxiety will occur when a person is forced by a policy which has unrealistic expectations.
“Mentally ill people will be moved off state-funded benefits and into work using private employment agencies who will earn hefty fees for the service.
The Herald on Sunday has obtained leaked Ministry of Social Development documents detailing plans to get people suffering from depression, stress and anxiety disorders into paid work.
Private providers are being lined up to deliver “wrap around” case management for sickness beneficiaries with common mental health conditions to help find jobs and co-ordinate clinical support so they stay in work.
If successful, private providers could earn up to $12,000 for placing a client considered to have “entrenched” mental health issues in a job where they are working for 30 hours or more a week.”
It seems the Herald on Sunday is onto something!
So it seems that “mad doctor” David Bratt, Principal Health Advisor for MSD and Work and Income is finally getting his way, and that Paula Bennett and her underlings are going to push the agenda all the way now!
As faithful “disciples” of the teachings of one Professor Mansel Aylward, former Chief Medical Officer of the Department for Work and Pensions in the UK (DWP), and later Unum Insurance sponsored boss of his own department at Cardiff University, pushing the agenda that most “common” mental and other health conditions are basically just not diagnosable and thus “in people’s minds”, they now seem to be trialling a plan to get this put into practice in little old New Zealand, the best real life laboratory already for social and economic “experinments” the developed world offers.
Mmmm….there are only a limited amount of employers offering jobs for envelope stuffers and none that I have seen over the past few years.
Experienced Case Managers often stuff up benefit entitlements. The idea of lay people trying to manage beneficiaries with serious mental health issues is very concerning and is likely to lead to many more people going without their full and correct entitlement. The contractors may be experienced with mental health consumers but it’s a big jump from there to figuring the ins and outs of the Social Securities Act.
Also disturbing is the amount of money – $12K! Holy heck. That’s enough for most people to boot their own grandma off welfare and into completely unsuitable work.
Not sure the contractors will be doing entitlements and beneficiary payments. Looks like they’re taking over WINZ’s job seeking functions, not the entitlement ones.
“If successful, private providers could earn up to $12,000 for placing a client considered to have “entrenched” mental health issues in a job where they are working for 30 hours or more a week.”
How long after the placement will the agency be paid? What happens if the client isn’t in the job a year later? Another $12,000?
weka – you are spot on. Queries I made prove, this has nothing to do with delivering extra health care in the way of psychological or other support, it is a new player being put into the agenda, to simply be commissioned to get those “sick” and supposedly “pseudo incapacitated” into work, nothing more or less!
It is a scheme to have some outside providers, and you will be well advised to read up on websites of Te Pou, and The Wise Group, for instance, to know that it is supposed to put another “link” into a “network” of services, so they will give the clients the bit of “extra motivational push”.
WINZ will pre-select, relying on the old network of “designated doctors”, and their internal “advisors” of the Bratt category, and then the short shift is onto a service, that will get paid rewards to get the buggers off the benefit and into “meaningful” employment, for hefty rewards, it seems.
Talk about the UK model hitting the ground here, Mansel Aylward (the Unum paid facilitator, and google UNUM, for god’s sake and Black Triangle, same as ATOS Victims Group also, to get a balance) has done a proper job for Bennett, it is ALL on now, full power ahead, sick or disabled, two thirds are considered to be “illness believers”, short “malingerers”, none else. Face the bloody music, dear folks, the war on beneficiaries has just begun, in little corner of the world islands called Niu Zilliland.
This has the fingerprints of Paula Bennett all over it.
You can imagine the policy document used to make this proposal. Stripped of all the diplomatic language and public serviceesque it would have read something like this:
“These lazy bludging *&^%s should get of their arse and toughen up and get real work. After all when I was a solo mum I pulled myself up by my shoestraps and look where I am today.”
The paper of course will make no reference to Paula’s removal of assistance for solo mums seeking education so they can get meaningful work and also the fact she is one of the best paid beneficiaries of public largesse in the country.
Mental health consumers who also happen to be single parents will be hit particularly hard due to the wide variation of support available to them (eg grandparents taking pressure off, difficulty accessing a GP or second tier health service, no further support from non custodial parent etc, etc)
I just realised that Dr Bratt’s own comments may contradict this new strategy. He did say that it wasn’t just work improved health, specifically he said that meaningful work was needed and that some jobs could be demoralising.
PLEASE, do not freak out, nor delude yourself. Dr Bratt did keep a relatively low profile while he was hired and employed under a Labour led government, but once the Nats took over, at least since 2010, he has been like “hell break loose”!
He delivered all this, and there has been no denial, regret, repentance or any withdrawal AT ALL!
Have a close look and read, he has gone under the radar, even after others and I raised various issues and aspects here and elsewhere. MSD and WINZ totally SUPPORT the man, and they believe Mansel Aylward, the “mad UK professor, yes, they want to cull people off benefits, same as ACC has tried and is to a degree successful in culling off people off claimants lists.
There will always be a few malingerers and cheats, but they carry it a hell of a lot further, to basically claim that up to two thirds of sick, disabled and injured just believe””or pretend in being ill or sick, while according to them there are NO physical symptoms or proof. So that means, they will declare a full war and hit out across the board, against you, me and many others, challenging them, prove you are too sick and cannot crawl to a job!
Wake damned well up New Zealand, stop sleeping and day dreaming, this is the most hostile attack on sick, disabled and incapacitated in modern day NZ history!!!
There’s a difference between being informed about what is going on and scaremongering. It seems that if you scaremonger, you are actually scaring beneficiaries more and not helping.
Rose, I cannot believe where you come from, you have no information that I and a fair few others have, it seems, this is very serious stuff here, you are irresponsible to comment as you have.
I do not want to scare people, I am damned well having a duty to WARN them, so they will not fall into traps to be conned into saying, hey, I would try to work, but end up with a profit focused, outsourced provider, who gets paid by WINZ to get benes off the payroll!
I bloody well know what I am talking about, and I have more info than you seem to have. This is bloody serious stuff, but in New Zealand the government always comes across cunning and pretending, once you are there to face the music, they offer you no back door, it will be all your fault to not keep up, and your benefit will be cut, unless you have a solid, supportive doctor or specialist support you.
I have been through the bloody MILL twice, my dear, they are cunning and dishonest bastards, the ones that run MSD and certainly also that is the top dog, called Bennett!
Great article you’ve linked to there AsleepWhileWalking, although the government is more likely to simply be copying something a bit closer to home: the ACC model. Some people will have been forced off compensation before they’re properly rehabilitated and are now facing the prospect of being forced off the appropriate benefit as well. So much for New Zealand being egalitarian.
Well, compliments, the Jackal is seeing the light also, what is going on. It was in humble ways started under Labour, the last term under Helen, and I suppose the intentions were good, but they hired the bloody wrong man to lead it all, one damned extreme, bizarre and irrational Dr David Bratt.
Yeah, thanks for seeing the light, Jackal, we are facing an onslaught, and as I am one suffering of serious health issues that they are also focusing on, it is to me a declaration of war. I already was years ago harassed and denied time and security to focus on needed treatment, leading to irreversible damage, now they simply ignore all warnings and want to push others through the same. The true agenda is COST SAVING, none else.
Wake up to the damned music and the truth, that is what it is all about, not about support and assistance. They may as well agree the Nazis “assisted” those struggling to get social acceptance to (forced) labour, that in the end “set them free”, yeah right!
Exactly how I imagined that this agenda would play out; still, only a 1000 clients (guinea pigs per year). Target is only half of selected clients have to remain in employment; money for jams (just a mental-health statistic). Sabotage
“I’m looking through a Hole in The Sky
I’m seeing nowhere through the eyes of a lie
I’ve watched the dogs of war enjoying the feast
I’ve seen the western world go down in the east.
The food of love become the greed of our time
But now we’re living on the profits of crime.”
This is just more troughfare for the scum who will set up the private services. It’s sick, sick stuff and probably violates any number of UN conventions we’ve signed up to. Do they want sick people to kill themselves? Silly question, of course. Sick sadists like WhaleSpew are loved by them.
And you make it sound like Hong Kong had a functioning democracy for decades under the British or something. Rather than giving them a wee taste, (but not too much), a few years before the handover.
But if you think that Thatcher’s efforts, such as they were, in Hong Kong trump her attitudes towards S.A., or South America, or the the fall of the Berlin wall even, then good for you I guess.
It was an observation on what may have justified such a statement on Obama’s part – nothing more than that. Unbunch your panties, you’ll live longer. And as for Hong Kong’s wee taste, it certainly seems to have been enough of a taste for Snowden.
Except you didn’t mention Obama at all. Speak for him do you?
Your comment seemed to be expressing your opinion, not some opinion Obama might have.
When asked to justify it, you move on to the attack, and claim that you were just imagining what Obama might reckon. What an arse you are.
And I thought it was your position that Snowden went to Hong Kong because treason or some such mind reading bullshit.
But of course, you can’t defend your claim that Thatcher ‘kept Hong Kong democratic even after the handover’ so you try and introduce some other bullshit as a distraction.
“Except you didn’t mention Obama at all. Speak for him do you?”
I would have thought that was perfectly self fucking evident to anyone capable of following a thread that it was in reference to North. Of course now that I know you have below average adult reading comprehension, in future I will spoon feed you.
“Your comment seemed to be expressing your opinion, not some opinion Obama might have.”
“When asked to justify it, you move on to the attack, and claim that you were just imagining what Obama might reckon. What an arse you are.”
Scroll down the thread, my justification is there. If I’m an arse then you are illustrating perfectly a certain proverb involving a pot and a kettle that is probably racially insensitive in this context.
“And I thought it was your position that Snowden went to Hong Kong because treason or some such mind reading bullshit.”
It’s called sarcasm
“But of course, you can’t defend your claim that Thatcher ‘kept Hong Kong democratic even after the handover’ so you try and introduce some other bullshit as a distraction.”
Ah, but I can, if you bother to scroll down the thread.
It’s not self evident at all Pop, hence the need for all this explanation, which seems to make you rather angry. For some reason.
People were talking about South Aftrica, and Thatcher’s thoughts about that in the 80’s. You piped in saying that
“Some people really can’t handle the fact that it was largely Thatcher’s political will that kept Hong Kong democratic even after the handover”
It isn’t self-evident what that means at all. It’s just another of your typically snide attacks.
I took it mean that you think Thatcher was a hero for democracy and liberty because whatever it is you think she did re Hong Kong trumps what she thought and did elsewhere around the world.
“It’s not self evident at all Pop, hence the need for all this explanation, which seems to make you rather angry. For some reason.”
Not self evident to you, and there was nothing aggressive in the first comment – does it occur to you that your endless focussed and rather pointless attacks are likely to provoke such a response? Or are you a sociopath?
“People were talking about South Aftrica, and Thatcher’s thoughts about that in the 80′s. You piped in saying that
“Some people really can’t handle the fact that it was largely Thatcher’s political will that kept Hong Kong democratic even after the handover”
It isn’t self-evident what that means at all. It’s just another of your typically snide attacks.”
Ok, I did promise I would spoon feed you so here goes –
North: “Oh hang on……..The Schmooz a few months back…….Maggot Thatcher a beacon for freedom and light.”
Now I trust that you do realise that this is the internet and I am perfectly at liberty to comment on whatever part of someone’s statement I choose – I really didn’t expect you to fly in on your broomstick of righteous indignation and deraill the thread entirely.
“I took it mean that you think Thatcher was a hero for democracy and liberty because whatever it is you think she did re Hong Kong trumps what she thought and did elsewhere around the world.”
Which I did not say – I provided a possible justification for the statemen and passed no more judgment upon it than that, however like all historical personages Thatcher’s career isn’t all black and white, and it is quite possible to interpret some of her acts in a more positive light. Especially as some of you have an unusually specific form of amnesia when it comes to anything involving the Cold War, the PRC or Central and South America.
I took it that you disagreeing with North. that you were saying that Thtacher was a beacon for freedom and light because of her actions in Hong Kong.
For that to be the case, it would have to outweigh her actions and beliefs in other areas. as you say, it isn[t all black and white, People have to make judgements based on the totality. But at the end of the day a judgement can still be made.
Yuo dragged in HK as if to say that it was a thing that people had to ignore in order to reach the conclusion she was not a beacon for freedom and light.
And passive aggression, is still aggression.
If you don;t want people to respond badly to you try not to write things like :
“Some people really can’t handle the fact that it was largely Thatcher’s political will that kept Hong Kong democratic even after the handover”
That’s apassive aggression is spades. Just because people don;t mention Thatcher’s HK record, (such as it is) doesn’t mean they haven’t factored it in to their judgement, If you think it balances out everything else she did, make that argument.
You don’t discuss, you badger, and then shriek with glee should I make an error – that sort of behaviour is guaranteed to piss me off and get the response you described.
“North was presumably speaking in reference to Obama’s statement: “She knew that with strength and resolve we could win the Cold War and extend freedom’s promise.” [link to article]”
What’s that old saying about presumption? Making a cunt of yourself and no-one else or some such.
You don’t suppose it’s more likely North was referring to this quote from Obama, do you?
“With the passing of Baroness Margaret Thatcher, the world has lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty”
… which contains a phrase very close to what North attributed to him, unlike the one you picked, from further down the same article, which bears no relation at all.
Stuff I’ve read indicate Thatcher’s heart wasn’t as much in the Hong Kong negotiations as they were in war mongering over the Falklands. And many think she c=got done over by the Chinese leaders.
Which would be to ignore the sterling efforts of the last governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, as Thatcher’s representative, in securing those vital agreements with Beijing, backed by Thatcher’s hard-nosed reputation, relationship with the US, and four state visits to China at the highest levels – it didn’t appear half-hearted to me. The reality was the British were always going to lose Hong Kong because, quelle surprise, the lease was up.
Also, what you call “war mongering” was the legitimate defense of British citizens against an illegal and unprevoked invasion.
Yes, much of what she did in the UK was horrific, but at least try to retain some objectivity.
There are multiple reasons why Thatcher wanted to renegotiate the lease – they are not mutually exclusive.
Hong Kong’s constitution was approved in 1990, but well before that, following the historic meeting in 1979 between Deng Xiaoping and then governor Murray MacLehose, a Green paper on development of representative government was issued by the colonial government in July 1984. It included proposals aimed at developing a system of more localised government, which included the introduction of indirect elections to the Legco the following year. The government proposed 12 legislators elected by nine trade-based seats, or ‘functional bodies’ – commercial, industrial, financial, labour, social services, education, legal, medical and engineering – the following year. Martin Lee and Szeto Wah were among those elected in 1985. Considerably more democratic that the PRC, no? There is a reason why Hong Kong wanted autonomy from the PRC, yes?
“Some people really can’t handle the fact that it was largely Thatcher’s political will that kept Hong Kong democratic even after the handover”
which implies that Hong Kong had a tradition of democracy under the UK to protect.
Also worth noting that the 90’s reform process didn’t go anywhere near as far as local democratic activists would have liked. Patten wasn’t as gung-ho at the time as later articles paint it. The indicative referenda around whther or not people wanted democractic representation, were controversial in how they were treated, to say the least.
And this:
Thatcher’s successor was John Major, annointed by her and something of a puppet for her – or at least was expected to be so. He might as well have not even been there, but I suppose I shouldn’t have elided them.
God, even I’m bored now. I would have thought that it was patently obvious to most people that there are degrees of democracy and that Hong Kong is more democratic than PRC, or are you just going to go on and on like a broken record because you don’t have anything better in your life to be getting on with?
Our good friend Populuxe1, has for the last few days been notable by his absence. Fans of the truly crazed will, like me, have been jonesing for more of our friend’s dependably daft yet always amusing ouput; the wait has just been killing this writer, i.e. moi.
And now, this gem suddenly appears under our friend’s aegis…..
…it was largely Thatcher’s political will that kept Hong Kong democratic even after the handover…
That’s Margaret Thatcher, not Tom Sawyer’s girlfriend Becky, that he’s holding up as a champion of democracy there! Yes, that’s right—MARGARET THATCHER, the friend and mentor and protector and advocate of (to name just a few off the top of my head) Pinochet, Saddam, Suharto, Reagan, Begin, Peres, Pol Pot and Osama Bin Laden himself! This monster of hypocrisy, this darling of dictators, this mortal enemy of protestors, unionists and human rights activists all over the world has been reborn in the fertile brain of Populuxe1 as another Nelson Mandela or Aung San Suu Kyi or Hugo Chávez.
Here it is again, fellas, in all it’s glory…
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
…it was largely Thatcher’s political will that kept Hong Kong democratic…
What is it with you pathetic people that you must leap on a simple, objective statement, and twist and pervert it into something else? I never said Thatcher wasn’t a nasty piece of work who brought untold suffering to the people of Britain, I said that she was quite significant in events in Hong Kong in 1997 and after regarding Hong Kong’s relative independance from the PRC. Possibly the fact that the two things aren’t neccisarily mutually exclusive is too much for your stunted intellect and Owen Glenn levels of self regard, but it is by no means a particularly fringe view. Specifically I refer you to Thatcher’s first September 1982 visit to meet with Deng Xiaoping on the matter. Throughout their meeting, she sought the PRC’s agreement to a continued British presence in the territory. Deng stated clearly the PRC’s sovereignty on Hong Kong was non-negotiable, but he was willing to settle the sovereignty issue with Britain through formal negotiations, and both governments promised to maintain Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity. You should read Michael B. Yahuda’s Hong Kong: China’s Challenge. (London: Routledge, 1996) – even you should be able to follow it.
“Some people really can’t handle the fact that it was largely Thatcher’s political will that kept Hong Kong democratic even after the handover”
Maybe you should phrrase your ‘simple objective statements ‘in ways that aren’t so arrogantly aggressive? Maybe try, simple and objective as guidlines?
You have a nerve to accuse me of being “arrogantly aggressive”, which is a subjective interpretation more honoured in spirit than in the breach around here. Spare me your sanctimonious hypocrisy. If you disagree with me then disagree, don’t latch on like a dog with a bone with your ad hominems and your oxygen-wasting attacks on the fripperies of style.
I don’t think I’ve seen you add much here at all beyond arrogant snide bullshit personal attacks on people.
I, on the other hand, regularly season my arrogant takedowns of folk like you with stimulating links to pieces of general interest. Also and too, jokes.
I can understand the family grieving but when the police tell you to stop and when you then shoot at the police theres only going to be one likely outcome
I feel for the cop whos going to have to carry the burden of taking someones life
I realise that the left have a problem with accepting the consequences of ones actions but I’ll make it real simple for you.
The crim chose to carry a firearm, the crim chose to break into the golf club, the crim chose to ignore the polices warnings and the crim chose to shoot at the police
The policeman gave the crim fair warning, chose to use the taser and fired after the crim fired first, the blame for this is squarely on the crim and he paid the for his actions
Unfortunately the cop is the one thats going to suffer the consequences
Yep, I’m certainly hoping the cop suffers the consequences, but the history of previous killer cops in Taranaki and elsewhere suggests otherwise. Two shots in the back. What a hero.
Its dark so we don’t know how well the cop could see the crim, whether the crim was reloading etc etc
What we do know is that the cop fired in self-defence (you know after the crim fired at him) also if the crim hadn’t been committing a crime, hadn’t had a firearm, had stopped when the cops told him to or not fired at the police he’d be alive today
But no call the cop carrying out his duty a killer…nice one
No, according to the article a friend said he was on his knees.
And according to the article, someone close to the police said he’d already been tasered and that the taser wasn’t working – implication is that despite being tasered, he was still a threat.
We don’t know if either of those things are true. The article is one long speculation, as is most of this discussion.
btw, just because someone with a shotgun is on their knees, it doesn’t mean they’re not capable of shooting someone else. It may be just as you say felix, but that you can’t consider another explanation is irrational.
“implication is that despite being tasered, he was still a threat.”
That’s not an implication, weka, it’s an inference on your part. And it’s an inference which relies heavily on a couple of dubious assumptions about the NZ Police.
The key word is “after”.
You can give these “close to police sources” (lolz) all the benefit of the doubt you like, but I’ve read enough of these reports to know better.
Police say Adam Te Rata Charles Morehu, 33, was first Tasered, then shot twice in the torso with a police-issue Glock handgun after he acted aggressively towards the officers, twice threatening to kill them and firing a shot from a rifle.
For what it is worth, I would tend to believe the family’s sources over the vague police ones, but my point was really that the article was full of hearsay and speculation so why debate as if it were fact?
“You can give these “close to police sources” (lolz) all the benefit of the doubt you like, but I’ve read enough of these reports to know better.”
Ok, so you have a preformed judgement irrespective of the facts. Just don’t pretend you are any better than chris (apart from the politics of course).
“Ok, so you have a preformed judgement irrespective of the facts.”
Bullshit weka. I’m just not going to play your silly game of pretending we have to look at this event in total isolation, devoid of any context, history, or long-established patterns of behaviour.
I’m not under any obligation to give equal weight to every statement, every opinion, every piece of information I encounter. That’s not having a preformed judgement, it’s having a functioning mind.
“Just don’t pretend you are any better than chris (apart from the politics of course).”
Nonsense, I’m considerably better than chris in every conceivable way.
Right, so the policeman should have waited until the man turned around and then shot him in the front, even though that puts the policeman’s life at risk?
Given we have no idea what happened, I do tend to agree that someone who shoots at the police can expect the possibility of being shot and killed. It’s not right or good, but it’s reasonable.
“Right, so the policeman should have waited until the man turned around and then shot him in the front, even though that puts the policeman’s life at risk?”
– Yes thats what should have happened because this situation is just like a hollywood movie where the cop would have then shot him in the hand to make him drop his weapon , at least thats what some of the posters on here are thinking
chris, not only are you a nasty piece of work, you’re also naive as all fuck.
The guy was on his knees, being tasered, and was shot twice in the back.
That’s an execution. And yeah you’re right, they likely executed him because he fired at them first. They do tend to take that personally. It’s an unwritten code that no-one shoots at the NZ Police and lives.
But drop the bullshit about “self defence” and “duty”. It’s revenge, plain and simple.
“The guy was on his knees, being tasered, and was shot twice in the back.”
With all due respect, none of us know what exactly happened. The crucial bit is whether the police were in danger. We can’t tell that from the report. Maybe they weren’t and the shooting was completely illegitimate. Or maybe not.
Morehu and Kevin Bishell were reportedly trying to flee the burglary on Morehu’s motorbike…
Police say Adam Te Rata Charles Morehu, 33, was first Tasered, then shot twice in the torso with a police-issue Glock handgun after he acted aggressively towards the officers, twice threatening to kill them and firing a shot from a rifle.
But they have refused to confirm to the Herald on Sunday that he was shot in the back, saying only that the officer believed he heard Morehu reloading his rifle in the darkness….
Another source, close to police, said: “The Taser wasn’t working properly. It just made him angry and he said he was going to shoot the police. He had already fired a shot.
“An officer tried to move around to flank him and it is quite possible that he was shot in the back.”…
A friend claimed Morehu was on his knees at the time…
“If individuals decide to make comments it does not change the fact that it is inappropriate for police to discuss details publicly until the investigation is complete and the findings have been tested by peer legal review, the Independent Police Complaints Authority and the coroner.”
It is understood that police have been candid with the family about the circumstances of Morehu’s death, though their account changed as more facts have emerged.
Diane Richardson said he was Tasered as many as four times, before and after he was shot, before a blow to the head with a police torch. The blow left a head wound visible to mourners at his tangi….
“It is important to us as a whanau that we, our friends and the community of Waitara, receive, listen and absorb these facts in understanding this tragedy,” said whanau spokesman John Niwa.
“Our conclusions and what we do about it are a long way off.”
Ok, so you’re not interested in the reality of someone who just got shot, or their family, or the police involved, you just want to score points in a useless debate. Good to know, thanks for clarifying.
Well felix, by your own words you just said that you are arguing with chris because he’s making out the Herald is gospel so you will too. How useful is that in the debate? You can’t have it both ways – either you are taunting chris for stating hearsay as fact, or you yourself believe that treating hearsay as fact is valid. Can’t do both (or you can and thus be a hypocrite).
Maybe there is some clever tactic here that is too subtle for me (which means it’s way to subtle for chris), but all I can see is that you are having a go at chris because you think him and his politics are a tosser. Or, which is what I first thought, you assume the police are evil and therefore chris is an arse for what he said.
“Sorry, I didn’t realise that the relationship between law enforcement and the citizenry was such a useless debate.”
It’s an important debate. I’m just not sure how you think you are contributing to it.
Also important is how the media report stories. I don’t think the Herald did a very good job on this one.
All this discussion proves is that police need to have cameras on them at all times as part of their uniform. Ones that they can’t manipulate and, if possible, stream live to several backup servers. With today’s technology it’s easily done.
I dunno. One good reason not to do a burglary with a loaded gun is you might end up getting shot dead by someone else with a loaded gun. This seems to be what happened. The best start of any argument about what shouldn’t have happened is probably the decision to do a burglary.
The existence of such an unwritten code certainly fits in with my experience and prejudices. Revenge, and even the spreading of fear, seem to play a huge part in the motivations of many police officers. We’ll never really know what happened, except for those who slavishly believe everything the boys in blue say, and those who self righteously portray every act as police brutality, barbarism, and murder. We need some method of holding them accountable. With the power to take life legally must come an extremely high level of accountability. What we have now is a joke.
Let me guess, you think Bains innocent and deserves compensation?
No, fool, I do not. You are simply incapable of construing intelligently from what I have written in the past. Nothing I have ever written would suggest I support Bain.
The real problem is that the police have a strange notion of “Reasonable force” and because of that and the fact that they keep getting away with obvious crimes of violence means that no-one trusts them. I certainly don’t.
… Yeah but bet you wish we had a festival like Glastonbury here though don’t you – with or without the Stones. What’s your problem? It’s a bummer having to go midweek to see the occasional stars (still crowd pullers) in New Zealand. Most of them only come as far as Australia.
Rabuka on National Radio
National Radio, Sunday 30 June 2013
Listening right now (11:34 a.m.) to Chris Laidlaw interviewing that reptile Sitiveni Rabuka. It’s unusual to hear Chris so clearly hostile to an interviewee; he obviously despises Rabuka.
It reminded me of the famous occasion in 2006 when Eva Radich pursued another politician who hated democracy: Tony Blair.
Rabuka is incapable of giving a straight or honest answer; he’s a South Seas version of Tony Blair.
I think Rabuka is more honest, civilised, and democratic than Tony Blair. For a start, Rabuka was a soldier, not someone pretending to be a democratic “socialist saviour”. One more point is that he is an indigenous Fijian, and was fighting for some distorted view of indigenous rights. To equal Blair here, he would have had to be an Indian unionist pro-democracy campaigner and still do the things he did.
Blair lowered standards and defined slipperiness to a level not beaten until Obama turned up, and if British military and economic power hadn’t decayed so much, Obama would probably only equal him.
I think Rabuka is more honest, civilised, and democratic than Tony Blair.
That is damning Rabuka with faint praise, as I’m sure you are aware, Murray. Yes, Blair has a body count that puts Rabuka, Speight and Bainimarama to shame, and he is despicable, but that doesn’t make those Fijian thugs any more acceptable, I am afraid.
Oh, I found Rabuka totally unacceptable at the time and nothing has happened to change my mind. Sorry if I didn’t make that clear. It’s just that I reserve a special level of hell for treacherous dogs like Blair, Douglas, Prebble, and Obama.
Millionaire businessshit Sir Owen Glenn’s inquiry into domestic violence and child abuse is under further pressure with revelations he was accused of physically abusing a young woman in Hawaii in 2002.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Humbug Corner is dedicated to gathering, and highlighting, the most striking examples of faux solicitude, insincere apologies, and particularly stupid recycling of official canards. It is produced by the Insincerity Project®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
More egregious humbug….
No. 7 Barack Obama: “…people standing up for what’s right…yearning for justice and dignity…”
No. 6 Barack Obama: “Nelson Mandela is my personal hero…”
No. 5 John Key: “Yeah well the Greens’ answer to everything is rail, isn’t it.”
No. 4 Mike Bush: “Bruce Hutton’s… integrity beyond reproach…such great character…”
No. 3 Dean Lonergan: “Y’ know what? The only people who will mock them are people who are dwarfists.”
No. 2 Peter Dunne: “What a load of drivel and sanctimonious humbug…” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-09062013/#comment-645811
No.1 Dominic Bowden: “It’s okay to be speechless.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-02062013/#comment-642288
Mozza, Owen Glenn has a past which is *underwraps*, a key component of the *Sir* title, is part of the *underwraps*.
The article you link to, is a very brief insight to him, and the forces, which control him. His history is *known*, and at a time, and with a purpose, it is used against him, or the investigation, to be more precise, wonder what the significance of the timing is…
The calling card of the puppet masters, is to take down the target, using something which is supposed to represent a positive aspect of the individual.
Note:
– Glenn *instigates/sponsors* an inquirey into abuse.
– Glenn has a past, which is used against him, by way of *abuse charges*
See how its done, its an occurance, which is as frequent, as it is transparent!
There are powers, which do not want this investigation to serve a positive function that much was always apparant. Its why Owen Glenn was given the go ahead to sponsor it, because they already knew he could be discredited, anytime!
do you think some of us have all day to sit around in front of a monitor? hmm? hmm? 😉
(although, it is fortuitous to have secured a three-day a week position with all the tools at one’s disposal) Nudge nudge, wink wink. 😉
Running a cable from the laptop to the amplifier and then streaming video/audio files while cooking or doing chores is a good way to get educated with these pieces 🙂
Look at dlna/upnp. I use minidlna on my Linux server and pick it up on the bluray attached to the tv (used to use an amp – but it had no visual listings), my tablet usually with headphones on, my phone, and amarok on my workstation. I can also pick it up at work via ssh.
Skifta on the nexus7 kind of acts as the universal remote. Select something off the server like a playlist or a movie, and then tell it what to play out off.
I have a pile of laminated plastic in the cupboard gathering dust. Kind of a waste of time transcribing from those DVDs and peanut sized CDs when they arrive.
To continue the thread you just click on the lowest reply button.
Yes as you say it’s just coincidental your views always align with those of the authoritarian Collins, the same Collins you want to have perform dominatrix acts on you.
And now for the “Big Con” (another one).
Wellington Electricity is trying to butter up ‘consumers’ for the possibility of a power price increase – because of damage caused by recent storms.
They apparently spent up to $5m fixing problems.
They really must be running their operation on a shoestring if $5m damage can cause such devastation to their ‘bottom line’ that they think they now have to go ‘groveling’ (NOT) to what will probably be compliant authorities.
No no no.
Admitedly WE, since its acquisition has invested in lamp post replacement, and various other improvements to improve the reliability of “THEIR” network.
That’s only because it had been left to run down since privatisation because of deferred maintenance and quick-fix mickey mouse solutions by previous owners.
What that tells us is that they’ve either not adequately considered their risks (they need to find another shaista ‘risk management’ consultant maybe), OR they paid too much for a dog in the first place, and now they want consumers to pay for it so they can keep getting their ‘adequate return on investment’.
Now …. if they increased my line charge 1 cent per day ….. you do the maths, BUT given the number of households and businesses in their jurisdiction, $5m could be recovered within a very short time – at which time there could/should be a line charge DEcrease. Does anyone seriously think that is going to happen?
.. I could go on, but these buggers try it on at any opportunity! (sad thing is that they often get away with it)
Now I think about it … they could probably clip a CEO and underlings salary and benefits a little, and come up with about 10% of that $5m. Justify it because of obvious poor performance – they cudda shudda wudda taken account of the potential for severe damage – just as old Power Boards and MEDs used to do
The location and topography of Wellington is going to be increasingly problematic in these disruptive times. ( a quote from a geographical scientist informing RNZ listeners following the recent storm).
When the state rolls up to reduce real access to state allowances for those parenting, or introduce new measures to allow employers to pay less than a living wage for parents, or sells off state assets meaning essential services like power cost more, what we are really doing is treating some children as less important than other children.
It’s got a prettier face than Torchwood. But the psychological process is the same, make no mistake. Distance. Othering. Outright denial. Killing off empathy.
do you think / find that the feeds duplicate the International news sites / International journals such as IBT, Bloomberg etc? Feck, considering the data channeling / siphoning from mobile devices (as below) , think I’ll buy a flat-screen to watch films before I’d buy a cell-phone.
The “twitter feed” is just what the people I follow consider interesting. This includes news items, pictures of babies/cats and random thoughts that don’t really connect with anything.
Humbug, n., a person or thing that tricks, deceives, talks, or behaves in a way that is deceptive, dishonest, false, or insincere, often a hoax or in jest. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
Humbug Corner is dedicated to gathering, and highlighting, the most striking examples of faux solicitude, insincere apologies, and particularly stupid recycling of official canards. It is produced by the Insincerity Project®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
Constitution Conversation.
Ranginui Walker was talking on Radionz Te Ahi Kaa this evening on how the Conversation meetings are going. He made a point that with an unwritten constitution people who consider change is needed can press for it through certain processes, whereas a written constitution is relatively fixed (there may be matters of interpretation) but consider ‘The Right to bear Arms’. What a difficulty there is in trying to govern this dangerous culture. How many years ago was that piece of legislation drawn up and how can a restrictive piece of legislation that governs over all be relevant over centuries, even over decades in our fast moving environment and culture.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/teahikaa
Ranginui Walker ( 21′ 15″ ) 18:31 What’s becoming glaringly apparent to Constitutional Advisory Panel member
Ranginui Walker, is that New Zealand’s education system is in need of a solid civics and history revamp. He discusses that and more with Maraea Rakuraku.
Rogue T
Don’t know Rogue. I went to a CC meeting and left as the second speaker bombarded us with a lot of revisionist stuff against Maori, questioned the Treaty, and seemed to want to have a Constitution that would allow overturning all the conciliatory and justice work that has been done.
I was angry to have to listen to these old male pakeha who seemed to want to shatter what we have – not build on the good, and get something that is not so distributed throughout the legislation.
But I thought Ranginui Walker would have something wise to say, and in commenting that we should be careful in thinking whether we actually want a written prescriptive constitution, I believe that he made a good point.
I had a little nut tree, / Nothing would it bear.
I have tried twice to put something on the solar cycle and a warning on a science program on how sun extreme cycles can cut out whole electronic systems. There is an 11 year cycle. Let’s see if my nut tree will bear something now. It’s driving me nuts – first I lost it and the second gave me the fingers with ‘not a good http address.’
Q+A this morning.
One of the panel had a Cheshire cat smile on the issue of the big transport U-turn.
Did he say, “It’s great really, my company has already done some work.”
What would he have been privy to “already”, when Key only announced the plan on
Friday.
ALL I want is to get out of this SHIT COUNTRY that is NEW ZEALAND, I have no MORE time for cowards and shits that inhabit these lost islands, I HATE YOU LOSERS, I spent years fighting for your interests, I worked even to get YOUR shit into the media that most of you people would never know to organise or do, the revolution is NEVER going to happen in this country, it is a dumb country a shit country, not worth even thinking about!!!
I just before wrote a long post, to get some thinking, and what fucking happened? The website and system crashed. So get on with your damned life in this damned country, that I wish I never had come back to, I HATE NEW ZEALAND, A TOTAL LOST PLACE OF LOSERS AND ARSEHOLE BACK STABBERS AND OPPORTUNISTS.
You will NEVER SEE AND HEAR FROM ME AGAIN ON THIS WEBSITE. I put hope into this site, but you are all losers, a minority and not even communicating, i.e. getting anything across, this country is there for the capitalist vultures to clean and rape, and they are doing it. I t is the gutlessness of ordinary Kiwis to just blog and ponder, and do NONE else to sell your own damned country out under your own arses!!!
Bye. You’re not the first left wing messiah to lose patience with the masses and blame them for the evils of capitalism, and you won’t be the last. Meanwhile, I’ll keep doing what I can.
Is it a coincidence that Owen Glenn’s anti violence campaign has started going downhill ever since he received his knighthood? Maybe that’s all he was interested in.
Come back…We are listening to you!. ( Don’t throw a tantrum!…the website is under crash attack from bad bots…Dont take it personally because it is happening to everyone….shows just how scared is the opposition of the collective voice of the Standard)
You have a valuable voice and important thoughts ….You speak for the underdog and those at the very bottom who have no confidence and hence have lost their voice….We all have bad days….Take a breather and come back stronger…The Labour Party must represent New Zealanders like you , or it is doomed!!!!… Historically the people you are talking for have been the backbone of the Labour Party…Maybe you could also forge links with the activist Mana Party….But keep speaking out!
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The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
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Humbug Corner
No. 6: BARACK OBAMA
President Obama has called Mandela a “personal hero” and said the imprisoned activist’s willingness to risk his life for the cause of equal rights helped inspire his own political activism.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/obama-paying-tribute-mandela-africa-19530636#.Uc6QFuD7JFQ
“L’hypocrisie est un hommage que le vice rend à la vertu.”
—-François de La Rochefoucauld, Maxims
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Humbug Corner is dedicated to gathering, and highlighting, the most striking examples of faux solicitude, insincere apologies, and particularly stupid recycling of official canards. It is produced by the Insincerity Project®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
More appalling humbug….
No. 5 John Key: “Yeah well the Greens’ answer to everything is rail, isn’t it.”
No. 4 Mike Bush: “Bruce Hutton’s… integrity beyond reproach…such great character…”
No. 3 Dean Lonergan: “Y’ know what? The only people who will mock them are people who are dwarfists.”
No. 2 Peter Dunne: “What a load of drivel and sanctimonious humbug…”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-09062013/#comment-645811
No.1 Dominic Bowden: “It’s okay to be speechless.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-02062013/#comment-642288
It does make me a little sicker than normal to see Obama attaching himself to Mandela. Obama barely manages to talk the talk, let alone walk the walk. The equal rights Obama seems most concerned about are the rights of GEC, Monsanto, and the other corporations. As far as humans go, an equal right to be spied on or whacked by a drone is not much of a right at all. Yuck.
But then again I’m assuming you’re not black. Methinks you might want to check your white privilege there.
Do blacks love Obama and privileged whites dislike him? You are so informative. Thanks.
But then again I’m assuming you’re not black. Methinks you might want to check your white privilege there.
???!!??
He’s not malicious this time, simply bewildered.
As usual.
As you read this item, bear in mind that Barack Obama is presently in Africa pretending to be a champion of democracy….
California chalk protester hit with gag order
RT, June 28, 2013 20:56
A California man facing more than a decade in prison for writing with chalk on public sidewalks has been told he’s barred from discussing the details of his controversial case outside of court.
Judge Howard Shore issued a gag-order in a San Diego, California courtroom this week against Jeff Olson, a 40-year-old activist that used washable children’s chalk to scribble anti-bank slogans in public space last year. According to the San Diego Reader, the gag-order issued on Friday also applies to witnesses, members of the jury and potentially others, a measure that Truth-Out editor Mark Karlin said is “unprecedented” for a misdemeanor trial.
Olson has been charged with 13 misdemeanor counts of vandalism for chalking slogans such as “No Thanks, Big Banks” and “Shame on Bank of America” on the sidewalks outside of branches in the San Diego area throughout 2012. Now as the criminal trial against him wages on in Southern California, the defendant and anyone remotely involved in the case are reportedly muzzled by a ban that could…
“I’m am not going out on a limb to say that this is outrageous,” quipped Olson.
http://rt.com/usa/chalk-olson-diego-san-404/
Comments from readers include these anonymous beauties….
“The prosecutors should be hanged as traitors.”
“You can talk vs. Blacks + poor in USA; but you can’t badmouth the rich.”
Yep, we’re seeing a return of Lèse-majesté with the rich as the new aristocrats.
Unfreakin’ believable : Thanks for the link too, Draco.
Humbug Corner
No. 7: BARACK OBAMA
In Pretoria, Mr Obama said Mr Mandela’s example of “the power of principle, of people standing up for what’s right continues to shine as a beacon. The outpouring of love that we’ve seen in recent days shows that the triumph of Nelson Mandela and his nation speaks to something very deep in the human spirit; the yearning for justice and dignity that transcends boundaries of race and class and faith and country.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-23109574
“L’hypocrisie est un hommage que le vice rend à la vertu.”
—-François de La Rochefoucauld
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Humbug Corner is dedicated to gathering, and highlighting, the most striking examples of faux solicitude, insincere apologies, and particularly stupid recycling of official canards. It is produced by the Insincerity Project®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
More egregious humbug….
No. 6 Barack Obama: “Nelson Mandela is my personal hero…”
No. 5 John Key: “Yeah well the Greens’ answer to everything is rail, isn’t it.”
No. 4 Mike Bush: “Bruce Hutton’s… integrity beyond reproach…such great character…”
No. 3 Dean Lonergan: “Y’ know what? The only people who will mock them are people who are dwarfists.”
No. 2 Peter Dunne: “What a load of drivel and sanctimonious humbug…”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-09062013/#comment-645811
No.1 Dominic Bowden: “It’s okay to be speechless.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-02062013/#comment-642288
There is something quite gobsmacking about a white person pontificating about what one black man should think about another black man. I imagine Mandela has a far greater significance to someone like Obama who has experienced racism and oppression every day of his life, than he would to you, little angry white person.
Odd that you focus on the blackness of the two people in Morrissey’s comment, when that had nothing whatsoever to do with the point he’s making.
Or is it not a black thing at all that you’re bringing up? Is it that we’re not allowed to question the sincerity of a politician’s platitudes if they’re about someone significant to that politician in any way?
Cos I tells ya, there’s something gobsmacking about both those possibilities.
There is something quite gobsmacking about a white person pontificating about what one black man should think about another black man.
The only pontification on show here, other than your own, is the empty pontification, grandiose phraseology and monstrous insincerity of President Hopey Changey—gibbering on about “yearning for justice and dignity”, while pursuing America’s modern versions of Mandela with the zeal of a coon hound going after a fugitive slave in the swamps of Alabama.
I imagine Mandela has a far greater significance to someone like Obama who has experienced racism and oppression every day of his life, than he would to you, little angry white person.
If Mandela has “significance” to Obama, how come Obama shows absolutely none of Mandela’s moral and political courage?
What the hell is ShonKey Python up to ?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10893823
A charter for abuse and dehumanisation ?
PPP – private profit from punitivism (surprise surprise).
Cheers ShonKey Python. Your Ceaucescu Club colleague David Cameron in Britain has tutored you well.
When there are not enough jobs for those who are fit and well, how on earth are the mentally ill expected to find a job for 30 hours a week, and be able to work at it for all those 30 hours.
All is fine. Even Judith Collins, JonKey, et al have a job. Pays well too. Thanks TAXPAYERS.
And now the private agencies who WINZ will pass their clients with mental health issues to, have jobs as well. Well done NACT.
“And now the private agencies who WINZ will pass their clients with mental health issues to
Clipping the ticket, money for nothing and all that.
The private agencies also have the private records of mental health patients. Lawyers and the Human Rights Commission will surely have more jobs working out the privacy breaches. Extra well done NAct
Who are these “private agencies”? This is horrific stuff. Creating an underclass who will be forced to live with the stigma of having been transferred to a privately run mental health work charter programme. That is a sure bet their names and a description of their condition will eventually end up in the public arena.
Benny-basher Bennett has her footprints all over it of course. A “wrap around” service. Her favourite expression – doesn’t mean a thing.
I wish someone would wrap her around and see how she likes it!
Edit: I see rosy has already made the same points. No harm in re-stating them.
The conclusion I have come to about Bennett is, that if she did not get the help that she got from the state when she was struggling she would not be where she is today.
Bennett’s mind set is that those who are mentally unwell benefit from working. A person can only do what they can manage and what they can manage needs to be instigated by them and to be productive.
Further poverty (sanctions) and an increase in anxiety will occur when a person is forced by a policy which has unrealistic expectations.
So Phil Goff, Trevor Mallard, and Annette King.
If the party members ranked the list, they could end up 60, 61, and 62.
The dead hand of the past versus LP democracy.
How would they get so high? I think those three would be happier in National, not on the Labour list at all.
And the band played on….
These are very sick , dangerous people *in charge*. No its not John Key, in charge!
The Mad Doctor is hell bent on getting everyone better, or at least off welfare. Suicide = success!
A recent article on the successful UK model which WINZ are now following:
http://scriptonitedaily.wordpress.com/2013/06/25/atos-boss-earns-44k-a-week-while-disabled-fight-to-keep-just-131/
AsleepWhileWalking –
The MAD doctor is coming to YOU!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10893823
“Mentally ill people will be moved off state-funded benefits and into work using private employment agencies who will earn hefty fees for the service.
The Herald on Sunday has obtained leaked Ministry of Social Development documents detailing plans to get people suffering from depression, stress and anxiety disorders into paid work.
Private providers are being lined up to deliver “wrap around” case management for sickness beneficiaries with common mental health conditions to help find jobs and co-ordinate clinical support so they stay in work.
If successful, private providers could earn up to $12,000 for placing a client considered to have “entrenched” mental health issues in a job where they are working for 30 hours or more a week.”
It seems the Herald on Sunday is onto something!
So it seems that “mad doctor” David Bratt, Principal Health Advisor for MSD and Work and Income is finally getting his way, and that Paula Bennett and her underlings are going to push the agenda all the way now!
As faithful “disciples” of the teachings of one Professor Mansel Aylward, former Chief Medical Officer of the Department for Work and Pensions in the UK (DWP), and later Unum Insurance sponsored boss of his own department at Cardiff University, pushing the agenda that most “common” mental and other health conditions are basically just not diagnosable and thus “in people’s minds”, they now seem to be trialling a plan to get this put into practice in little old New Zealand, the best real life laboratory already for social and economic “experinments” the developed world offers.
http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2013/04/18/welfare-reform-the-hidden-agenda-by-mo-stewart/
This is stuff to follow, I presume. “Work sets you free”, getting a whole new meaning, a presumably more “humane” one, right here in New Zealand!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbeit_macht_frei
Mmmm….there are only a limited amount of employers offering jobs for envelope stuffers and none that I have seen over the past few years.
Experienced Case Managers often stuff up benefit entitlements. The idea of lay people trying to manage beneficiaries with serious mental health issues is very concerning and is likely to lead to many more people going without their full and correct entitlement. The contractors may be experienced with mental health consumers but it’s a big jump from there to figuring the ins and outs of the Social Securities Act.
Also disturbing is the amount of money – $12K! Holy heck. That’s enough for most people to boot their own grandma off welfare and into completely unsuitable work.
Not sure the contractors will be doing entitlements and beneficiary payments. Looks like they’re taking over WINZ’s job seeking functions, not the entitlement ones.
“If successful, private providers could earn up to $12,000 for placing a client considered to have “entrenched” mental health issues in a job where they are working for 30 hours or more a week.”
How long after the placement will the agency be paid? What happens if the client isn’t in the job a year later? Another $12,000?
weka – you are spot on. Queries I made prove, this has nothing to do with delivering extra health care in the way of psychological or other support, it is a new player being put into the agenda, to simply be commissioned to get those “sick” and supposedly “pseudo incapacitated” into work, nothing more or less!
It is a scheme to have some outside providers, and you will be well advised to read up on websites of Te Pou, and The Wise Group, for instance, to know that it is supposed to put another “link” into a “network” of services, so they will give the clients the bit of “extra motivational push”.
WINZ will pre-select, relying on the old network of “designated doctors”, and their internal “advisors” of the Bratt category, and then the short shift is onto a service, that will get paid rewards to get the buggers off the benefit and into “meaningful” employment, for hefty rewards, it seems.
Talk about the UK model hitting the ground here, Mansel Aylward (the Unum paid facilitator, and google UNUM, for god’s sake and Black Triangle, same as ATOS Victims Group also, to get a balance) has done a proper job for Bennett, it is ALL on now, full power ahead, sick or disabled, two thirds are considered to be “illness believers”, short “malingerers”, none else. Face the bloody music, dear folks, the war on beneficiaries has just begun, in little corner of the world islands called Niu Zilliland.
yeah, it makes my (admittedly overactive) cynicism bell ring like the clappers.
This has the fingerprints of Paula Bennett all over it.
You can imagine the policy document used to make this proposal. Stripped of all the diplomatic language and public serviceesque it would have read something like this:
“These lazy bludging *&^%s should get of their arse and toughen up and get real work. After all when I was a solo mum I pulled myself up by my shoestraps and look where I am today.”
The paper of course will make no reference to Paula’s removal of assistance for solo mums seeking education so they can get meaningful work and also the fact she is one of the best paid beneficiaries of public largesse in the country.
Mental health consumers who also happen to be single parents will be hit particularly hard due to the wide variation of support available to them (eg grandparents taking pressure off, difficulty accessing a GP or second tier health service, no further support from non custodial parent etc, etc)
I just realised that Dr Bratt’s own comments may contradict this new strategy. He did say that it wasn’t just work improved health, specifically he said that meaningful work was needed and that some jobs could be demoralising.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-2C6qL4eAs
I hope that the work they find is meaningful but given the UK example I think I’ll just sit back and watch those comments bite him in the arse.
AsleepWhileWalking –
PLEASE, do not freak out, nor delude yourself. Dr Bratt did keep a relatively low profile while he was hired and employed under a Labour led government, but once the Nats took over, at least since 2010, he has been like “hell break loose”!
He delivered all this, and there has been no denial, regret, repentance or any withdrawal AT ALL!
http://www.gpcme.co.nz/pdf/GP%20CME/Friday/C1%201515%20Bratt-Hawker.pdf
http://www.gpcme.co.nz/pdf/2012/Fri_DaVinci_1400_Bratt_Medical%20Certificates%20are%20Clinical%20Instruments%20too%20-%20June%202012.pdf
http://accforum.org/forums/index.php?/topic/12615-dr-david-bratt/
Have a close look and read, he has gone under the radar, even after others and I raised various issues and aspects here and elsewhere. MSD and WINZ totally SUPPORT the man, and they believe Mansel Aylward, the “mad UK professor, yes, they want to cull people off benefits, same as ACC has tried and is to a degree successful in culling off people off claimants lists.
There will always be a few malingerers and cheats, but they carry it a hell of a lot further, to basically claim that up to two thirds of sick, disabled and injured just believe””or pretend in being ill or sick, while according to them there are NO physical symptoms or proof. So that means, they will declare a full war and hit out across the board, against you, me and many others, challenging them, prove you are too sick and cannot crawl to a job!
Wake damned well up New Zealand, stop sleeping and day dreaming, this is the most hostile attack on sick, disabled and incapacitated in modern day NZ history!!!
There’s a difference between being informed about what is going on and scaremongering. It seems that if you scaremonger, you are actually scaring beneficiaries more and not helping.
Lighten up.
Rose, I cannot believe where you come from, you have no information that I and a fair few others have, it seems, this is very serious stuff here, you are irresponsible to comment as you have.
I do not want to scare people, I am damned well having a duty to WARN them, so they will not fall into traps to be conned into saying, hey, I would try to work, but end up with a profit focused, outsourced provider, who gets paid by WINZ to get benes off the payroll!
I bloody well know what I am talking about, and I have more info than you seem to have. This is bloody serious stuff, but in New Zealand the government always comes across cunning and pretending, once you are there to face the music, they offer you no back door, it will be all your fault to not keep up, and your benefit will be cut, unless you have a solid, supportive doctor or specialist support you.
I have been through the bloody MILL twice, my dear, they are cunning and dishonest bastards, the ones that run MSD and certainly also that is the top dog, called Bennett!
Great article you’ve linked to there AsleepWhileWalking, although the government is more likely to simply be copying something a bit closer to home: the ACC model. Some people will have been forced off compensation before they’re properly rehabilitated and are now facing the prospect of being forced off the appropriate benefit as well. So much for New Zealand being egalitarian.
Is this coming from the Jackal, really?
Well, compliments, the Jackal is seeing the light also, what is going on. It was in humble ways started under Labour, the last term under Helen, and I suppose the intentions were good, but they hired the bloody wrong man to lead it all, one damned extreme, bizarre and irrational Dr David Bratt.
Yeah, thanks for seeing the light, Jackal, we are facing an onslaught, and as I am one suffering of serious health issues that they are also focusing on, it is to me a declaration of war. I already was years ago harassed and denied time and security to focus on needed treatment, leading to irreversible damage, now they simply ignore all warnings and want to push others through the same. The true agenda is COST SAVING, none else.
Wake up to the damned music and the truth, that is what it is all about, not about support and assistance. They may as well agree the Nazis “assisted” those struggling to get social acceptance to (forced) labour, that in the end “set them free”, yeah right!
Given that the Naz1s were more about euthanising people with disabilities, I am not sure you want to be giving them ideas.
Just part of their plan to give our wealth to the rich few.
Exactly how I imagined that this agenda would play out; still, only a 1000 clients (guinea pigs per year). Target is only half of selected clients have to remain in employment; money for jams (just a mental-health statistic).
Sabotage
“I’m looking through a Hole in The Sky
I’m seeing nowhere through the eyes of a lie
I’ve watched the dogs of war enjoying the feast
I’ve seen the western world go down in the east.
The food of love become the greed of our time
But now we’re living on the profits of crime.”
This is just more troughfare for the scum who will set up the private services. It’s sick, sick stuff and probably violates any number of UN conventions we’ve signed up to. Do they want sick people to kill themselves? Silly question, of course. Sick sadists like WhaleSpew are loved by them.
Here, from Britain, the Artist Taxi Driver’s take on the Ceaucescu Club.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBXlKqPEBcI
Morrissey…….you gotta give it to Schmooz Obama. He’s good…….
In Pretoria, Nelson Mandela a “beacon” says The Big O. “My personal hero” says he.
Chur Bro’. Mine too.
Oh hang on……..The Schmooz a few months back…….Maggot Thatcher a beacon for freedom and light.
What ??? The fetid sociopath Thatcher who denounced Nelson Mandela as a terrorist ?
Faaarrk ! How does he do it ?
Some people really can’t handle the fact that it was largely Thatcher’s political will that kept Hong Kong democratic even after the handover
That’s a weird thing to say.
What’s it got to do with S.A for starters?
And you make it sound like Hong Kong had a functioning democracy for decades under the British or something. Rather than giving them a wee taste, (but not too much), a few years before the handover.
But if you think that Thatcher’s efforts, such as they were, in Hong Kong trump her attitudes towards S.A., or South America, or the the fall of the Berlin wall even, then good for you I guess.
It was an observation on what may have justified such a statement on Obama’s part – nothing more than that. Unbunch your panties, you’ll live longer. And as for Hong Kong’s wee taste, it certainly seems to have been enough of a taste for Snowden.
Except you didn’t mention Obama at all. Speak for him do you?
Your comment seemed to be expressing your opinion, not some opinion Obama might have.
When asked to justify it, you move on to the attack, and claim that you were just imagining what Obama might reckon. What an arse you are.
And I thought it was your position that Snowden went to Hong Kong because treason or some such mind reading bullshit.
But of course, you can’t defend your claim that Thatcher ‘kept Hong Kong democratic even after the handover’ so you try and introduce some other bullshit as a distraction.
“Except you didn’t mention Obama at all. Speak for him do you?”
I would have thought that was perfectly self fucking evident to anyone capable of following a thread that it was in reference to North. Of course now that I know you have below average adult reading comprehension, in future I will spoon feed you.
“Your comment seemed to be expressing your opinion, not some opinion Obama might have.”
North was presumably speaking in reference to Obama’s statement: “She knew that with strength and resolve we could win the Cold War and extend freedom’s promise.”
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/obama-thatcher-america-lost-true-friend-150124594.html#0514ggU
I was offering another example
“When asked to justify it, you move on to the attack, and claim that you were just imagining what Obama might reckon. What an arse you are.”
Scroll down the thread, my justification is there. If I’m an arse then you are illustrating perfectly a certain proverb involving a pot and a kettle that is probably racially insensitive in this context.
“And I thought it was your position that Snowden went to Hong Kong because treason or some such mind reading bullshit.”
It’s called sarcasm
“But of course, you can’t defend your claim that Thatcher ‘kept Hong Kong democratic even after the handover’ so you try and introduce some other bullshit as a distraction.”
Ah, but I can, if you bother to scroll down the thread.
It’s not self evident at all Pop, hence the need for all this explanation, which seems to make you rather angry. For some reason.
People were talking about South Aftrica, and Thatcher’s thoughts about that in the 80’s. You piped in saying that
“Some people really can’t handle the fact that it was largely Thatcher’s political will that kept Hong Kong democratic even after the handover”
It isn’t self-evident what that means at all. It’s just another of your typically snide attacks.
I took it mean that you think Thatcher was a hero for democracy and liberty because whatever it is you think she did re Hong Kong trumps what she thought and did elsewhere around the world.
“It’s not self evident at all Pop, hence the need for all this explanation, which seems to make you rather angry. For some reason.”
Not self evident to you, and there was nothing aggressive in the first comment – does it occur to you that your endless focussed and rather pointless attacks are likely to provoke such a response? Or are you a sociopath?
“People were talking about South Aftrica, and Thatcher’s thoughts about that in the 80′s. You piped in saying that
“Some people really can’t handle the fact that it was largely Thatcher’s political will that kept Hong Kong democratic even after the handover”
It isn’t self-evident what that means at all. It’s just another of your typically snide attacks.”
Ok, I did promise I would spoon feed you so here goes –
North: “Oh hang on……..The Schmooz a few months back…….Maggot Thatcher a beacon for freedom and light.”
Now I trust that you do realise that this is the internet and I am perfectly at liberty to comment on whatever part of someone’s statement I choose – I really didn’t expect you to fly in on your broomstick of righteous indignation and deraill the thread entirely.
“I took it mean that you think Thatcher was a hero for democracy and liberty because whatever it is you think she did re Hong Kong trumps what she thought and did elsewhere around the world.”
Which I did not say – I provided a possible justification for the statemen and passed no more judgment upon it than that, however like all historical personages Thatcher’s career isn’t all black and white, and it is quite possible to interpret some of her acts in a more positive light. Especially as some of you have an unusually specific form of amnesia when it comes to anything involving the Cold War, the PRC or Central and South America.
I took it that you disagreeing with North. that you were saying that Thtacher was a beacon for freedom and light because of her actions in Hong Kong.
For that to be the case, it would have to outweigh her actions and beliefs in other areas. as you say, it isn[t all black and white, People have to make judgements based on the totality. But at the end of the day a judgement can still be made.
Yuo dragged in HK as if to say that it was a thing that people had to ignore in order to reach the conclusion she was not a beacon for freedom and light.
And passive aggression, is still aggression.
If you don;t want people to respond badly to you try not to write things like :
“Some people really can’t handle the fact that it was largely Thatcher’s political will that kept Hong Kong democratic even after the handover”
That’s apassive aggression is spades. Just because people don;t mention Thatcher’s HK record, (such as it is) doesn’t mean they haven’t factored it in to their judgement, If you think it balances out everything else she did, make that argument.
And on the ‘sarcasm’ thing.
Are you saying that Hong Kong doesn’t have much in the way of democracy then? What is your point exactly?
You always resort to sarcasm and ad hom attacks (see above, or pretty much any other discussion we’ve had) in place of actually explaining yourself.
It’s quite revealing.
You don’t discuss, you badger, and then shriek with glee should I make an error – that sort of behaviour is guaranteed to piss me off and get the response you described.
I usually just ask for clarification of what you mean.
You usually respond in the way people can see in this thread. With sarcasm and abuse.
Get. a. hobby.
“North was presumably speaking in reference to Obama’s statement: “She knew that with strength and resolve we could win the Cold War and extend freedom’s promise.” [link to article]”
What’s that old saying about presumption? Making a cunt of yourself and no-one else or some such.
You don’t suppose it’s more likely North was referring to this quote from Obama, do you?
… which contains a phrase very close to what North attributed to him, unlike the one you picked, from further down the same article, which bears no relation at all.
Stuff I’ve read indicate Thatcher’s heart wasn’t as much in the Hong Kong negotiations as they were in war mongering over the Falklands. And many think she c=got done over by the Chinese leaders.
How Mrs Thatcher lost Hong Kong
Graceless and reluctant Thatcher stumbling her way through Hong Kong negotiations.
Which would be to ignore the sterling efforts of the last governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, as Thatcher’s representative, in securing those vital agreements with Beijing, backed by Thatcher’s hard-nosed reputation, relationship with the US, and four state visits to China at the highest levels – it didn’t appear half-hearted to me. The reality was the British were always going to lose Hong Kong because, quelle surprise, the lease was up.
Also, what you call “war mongering” was the legitimate defense of British citizens against an illegal and unprevoked invasion.
Yes, much of what she did in the UK was horrific, but at least try to retain some objectivity.
Patten was appointed in 92. Thatcher left office in 90.
Thatcher’s meetings with China were to try and renegotiate the lease, and she wanted to not give up various areas.
Her agreement around one countryu two systems was about Hong Kong retaining capitalism, not democracy, which HK had none of under Thatcher.
Thatcher’s successor was John Major, annointed by her and something of a puppet for her – or at least was expected to be so. He might as well have not even been there, but I suppose I shouldn’t have elided them.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/major-has-every-right-to-shop-lady-thatcher-1112948.html
There are multiple reasons why Thatcher wanted to renegotiate the lease – they are not mutually exclusive.
Hong Kong’s constitution was approved in 1990, but well before that, following the historic meeting in 1979 between Deng Xiaoping and then governor Murray MacLehose, a Green paper on development of representative government was issued by the colonial government in July 1984. It included proposals aimed at developing a system of more localised government, which included the introduction of indirect elections to the Legco the following year. The government proposed 12 legislators elected by nine trade-based seats, or ‘functional bodies’ – commercial, industrial, financial, labour, social services, education, legal, medical and engineering – the following year. Martin Lee and Szeto Wah were among those elected in 1985. Considerably more democratic that the PRC, no? There is a reason why Hong Kong wanted autonomy from the PRC, yes?
Yes, but it’s along way away from :
“Some people really can’t handle the fact that it was largely Thatcher’s political will that kept Hong Kong democratic even after the handover”
which implies that Hong Kong had a tradition of democracy under the UK to protect.
Also worth noting that the 90’s reform process didn’t go anywhere near as far as local democratic activists would have liked. Patten wasn’t as gung-ho at the time as later articles paint it. The indicative referenda around whther or not people wanted democractic representation, were controversial in how they were treated, to say the least.
And this:
Thatcher’s successor was John Major, annointed by her and something of a puppet for her – or at least was expected to be so. He might as well have not even been there, but I suppose I shouldn’t have elided them.
Jesus wept man. Show some pride.
Or had a democratic tradition compared to the PRC, which had begun to evolve and grow from 1984 onwards.
“kept Hong Kong democratic”
God, even I’m bored now. I would have thought that it was patently obvious to most people that there are degrees of democracy and that Hong Kong is more democratic than PRC, or are you just going to go on and on like a broken record because you don’t have anything better in your life to be getting on with?
laugh.
Our good friend Populuxe1, has for the last few days been notable by his absence. Fans of the truly crazed will, like me, have been jonesing for more of our friend’s dependably daft yet always amusing ouput; the wait has just been killing this writer, i.e. moi.
And now, this gem suddenly appears under our friend’s aegis…..
…it was largely Thatcher’s political will that kept Hong Kong democratic even after the handover…
That’s Margaret Thatcher, not Tom Sawyer’s girlfriend Becky, that he’s holding up as a champion of democracy there! Yes, that’s right—MARGARET THATCHER, the friend and mentor and protector and advocate of (to name just a few off the top of my head) Pinochet, Saddam, Suharto, Reagan, Begin, Peres, Pol Pot and Osama Bin Laden himself! This monster of hypocrisy, this darling of dictators, this mortal enemy of protestors, unionists and human rights activists all over the world has been reborn in the fertile brain of Populuxe1 as another Nelson Mandela or Aung San Suu Kyi or Hugo Chávez.
Here it is again, fellas, in all it’s glory…
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
…it was largely Thatcher’s political will that kept Hong Kong democratic…
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Gotta say that, even for Populuxe1, this is one for the ages. It was worth the wait!
What is it with you pathetic people that you must leap on a simple, objective statement, and twist and pervert it into something else? I never said Thatcher wasn’t a nasty piece of work who brought untold suffering to the people of Britain, I said that she was quite significant in events in Hong Kong in 1997 and after regarding Hong Kong’s relative independance from the PRC. Possibly the fact that the two things aren’t neccisarily mutually exclusive is too much for your stunted intellect and Owen Glenn levels of self regard, but it is by no means a particularly fringe view. Specifically I refer you to Thatcher’s first September 1982 visit to meet with Deng Xiaoping on the matter. Throughout their meeting, she sought the PRC’s agreement to a continued British presence in the territory. Deng stated clearly the PRC’s sovereignty on Hong Kong was non-negotiable, but he was willing to settle the sovereignty issue with Britain through formal negotiations, and both governments promised to maintain Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity. You should read Michael B. Yahuda’s Hong Kong: China’s Challenge. (London: Routledge, 1996) – even you should be able to follow it.
“Some people really can’t handle the fact that it was largely Thatcher’s political will that kept Hong Kong democratic even after the handover”
Maybe you should phrrase your ‘simple objective statements ‘in ways that aren’t so arrogantly aggressive? Maybe try, simple and objective as guidlines?
You have a nerve to accuse me of being “arrogantly aggressive”, which is a subjective interpretation more honoured in spirit than in the breach around here. Spare me your sanctimonious hypocrisy. If you disagree with me then disagree, don’t latch on like a dog with a bone with your ad hominems and your oxygen-wasting attacks on the fripperies of style.
Not really.
I don’t think I’ve seen you add much here at all beyond arrogant snide bullshit personal attacks on people.
I, on the other hand, regularly season my arrogant takedowns of folk like you with stimulating links to pieces of general interest. Also and too, jokes.
Impossible to argue with that view, Pb.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10893846
I can understand the family grieving but when the police tell you to stop and when you then shoot at the police theres only going to be one likely outcome
I feel for the cop whos going to have to carry the burden of taking someones life
“I feel for the cop whos going to have to carry the burden of taking someones life”
Well, at least he didn’t have to look him in the eye before executing him.
Seriously? Its dark, the crim was told to surrender, the crim shot at the cop, the cop fired back and you call it an execution…
Seriously? Its dark, the crim was told to surrender, the crim shot at the cop, the cop fired back and you call it an execution…
I think he was serious. Unlike you, you complacent fool.
I realise that the left have a problem with accepting the consequences of ones actions but I’ll make it real simple for you.
The crim chose to carry a firearm, the crim chose to break into the golf club, the crim chose to ignore the polices warnings and the crim chose to shoot at the police
The policeman gave the crim fair warning, chose to use the taser and fired after the crim fired first, the blame for this is squarely on the crim and he paid the for his actions
Unfortunately the cop is the one thats going to suffer the consequences
Yep, I’m certainly hoping the cop suffers the consequences, but the history of previous killer cops in Taranaki and elsewhere suggests otherwise. Two shots in the back. What a hero.
Its dark so we don’t know how well the cop could see the crim, whether the crim was reloading etc etc
What we do know is that the cop fired in self-defence (you know after the crim fired at him) also if the crim hadn’t been committing a crime, hadn’t had a firearm, had stopped when the cops told him to or not fired at the police he’d be alive today
But no call the cop carrying out his duty a killer…nice one
I have no problem with the police acting in self defence, or in the defence of others. Two shots in the back suggests that is not the case here.
“Two shots in the back suggests that is not the case here.”
– Why?
We know the crim fired at the police and:
The crim could have still been armed
The crim could have been reloading
The crim could have surrendered
instead the crim chose to shoot at the police and the police fired back
According to the article you linked to he had already been tasered and was on his knees.
No, according to the article a friend said he was on his knees.
And according to the article, someone close to the police said he’d already been tasered and that the taser wasn’t working – implication is that despite being tasered, he was still a threat.
We don’t know if either of those things are true. The article is one long speculation, as is most of this discussion.
btw, just because someone with a shotgun is on their knees, it doesn’t mean they’re not capable of shooting someone else. It may be just as you say felix, but that you can’t consider another explanation is irrational.
“implication is that despite being tasered, he was still a threat.”
That’s not an implication, weka, it’s an inference on your part. And it’s an inference which relies heavily on a couple of dubious assumptions about the NZ Police.
The key word is “after”.
You can give these “close to police sources” (lolz) all the benefit of the doubt you like, but I’ve read enough of these reports to know better.
you mean this ‘after’?
Police say Adam Te Rata Charles Morehu, 33, was first Tasered, then shot twice in the torso with a police-issue Glock handgun after he acted aggressively towards the officers, twice threatening to kill them and firing a shot from a rifle.
For what it is worth, I would tend to believe the family’s sources over the vague police ones, but my point was really that the article was full of hearsay and speculation so why debate as if it were fact?
“You can give these “close to police sources” (lolz) all the benefit of the doubt you like, but I’ve read enough of these reports to know better.”
Ok, so you have a preformed judgement irrespective of the facts. Just don’t pretend you are any better than chris (apart from the politics of course).
“Ok, so you have a preformed judgement irrespective of the facts.”
Bullshit weka. I’m just not going to play your silly game of pretending we have to look at this event in total isolation, devoid of any context, history, or long-established patterns of behaviour.
I’m not under any obligation to give equal weight to every statement, every opinion, every piece of information I encounter. That’s not having a preformed judgement, it’s having a functioning mind.
“Just don’t pretend you are any better than chris (apart from the politics of course).”
Nonsense, I’m considerably better than chris in every conceivable way.
Right, so the policeman should have waited until the man turned around and then shot him in the front, even though that puts the policeman’s life at risk?
Given we have no idea what happened, I do tend to agree that someone who shoots at the police can expect the possibility of being shot and killed. It’s not right or good, but it’s reasonable.
“What a hero.”
Why should the police be expected to be heroes?
“Right, so the policeman should have waited until the man turned around and then shot him in the front, even though that puts the policeman’s life at risk?”
– Yes thats what should have happened because this situation is just like a hollywood movie where the cop would have then shot him in the hand to make him drop his weapon , at least thats what some of the posters on here are thinking
You have to laugh at these sad old Che Guevara wannabes trying to act all bad ass and revolutionary.
At their age, It’s just sad and pathetic.
That’s no way to talk about the NZ Police. Two shots in the back for you.
chris, not only are you a nasty piece of work, you’re also naive as all fuck.
The guy was on his knees, being tasered, and was shot twice in the back.
That’s an execution. And yeah you’re right, they likely executed him because he fired at them first. They do tend to take that personally. It’s an unwritten code that no-one shoots at the NZ Police and lives.
But drop the bullshit about “self defence” and “duty”. It’s revenge, plain and simple.
“chris, not only are you a nasty piece of work, you’re also naive as all fuck.”
– and you are as played as easily as a puppet on a string
“The guy was on his knees, being tasered, and was shot twice in the back”
– Lets have some evidence on that please
“Lets have some evidence on that please”
You linked to the article, dick.
“played as easily as a puppet on a string”
Says the guy who believes everything the police say because they always tell the truth.
“The guy was on his knees, being tasered, and was shot twice in the back.”
With all due respect, none of us know what exactly happened. The crucial bit is whether the police were in danger. We can’t tell that from the report. Maybe they weren’t and the shooting was completely illegitimate. Or maybe not.
Morehu and Kevin Bishell were reportedly trying to flee the burglary on Morehu’s motorbike…
Police say Adam Te Rata Charles Morehu, 33, was first Tasered, then shot twice in the torso with a police-issue Glock handgun after he acted aggressively towards the officers, twice threatening to kill them and firing a shot from a rifle.
But they have refused to confirm to the Herald on Sunday that he was shot in the back, saying only that the officer believed he heard Morehu reloading his rifle in the darkness….
Another source, close to police, said: “The Taser wasn’t working properly. It just made him angry and he said he was going to shoot the police. He had already fired a shot.
“An officer tried to move around to flank him and it is quite possible that he was shot in the back.”…
A friend claimed Morehu was on his knees at the time…
“If individuals decide to make comments it does not change the fact that it is inappropriate for police to discuss details publicly until the investigation is complete and the findings have been tested by peer legal review, the Independent Police Complaints Authority and the coroner.”
It is understood that police have been candid with the family about the circumstances of Morehu’s death, though their account changed as more facts have emerged.
Diane Richardson said he was Tasered as many as four times, before and after he was shot, before a blow to the head with a police torch. The blow left a head wound visible to mourners at his tangi….
“It is important to us as a whanau that we, our friends and the community of Waitara, receive, listen and absorb these facts in understanding this tragedy,” said whanau spokesman John Niwa.
“Our conclusions and what we do about it are a long way off.”
“With all due respect, none of us know what exactly happened.”
chris is quoting one version of events as fact so I thought I’d quote another.
Both versions are from the article he linked to, so he can’t have a problem with me doing that.
Ok, so you’re not interested in the reality of someone who just got shot, or their family, or the police involved, you just want to score points in a useless debate. Good to know, thanks for clarifying.
Sorry, I didn’t realise that the relationship between law enforcement and the citizenry was such a useless debate.
I’ll let you get back to your useless posturing now.
Well felix, by your own words you just said that you are arguing with chris because he’s making out the Herald is gospel so you will too. How useful is that in the debate? You can’t have it both ways – either you are taunting chris for stating hearsay as fact, or you yourself believe that treating hearsay as fact is valid. Can’t do both (or you can and thus be a hypocrite).
Maybe there is some clever tactic here that is too subtle for me (which means it’s way to subtle for chris), but all I can see is that you are having a go at chris because you think him and his politics are a tosser. Or, which is what I first thought, you assume the police are evil and therefore chris is an arse for what he said.
“Sorry, I didn’t realise that the relationship between law enforcement and the citizenry was such a useless debate.”
It’s an important debate. I’m just not sure how you think you are contributing to it.
Also important is how the media report stories. I don’t think the Herald did a very good job on this one.
All this discussion proves is that police need to have cameras on them at all times as part of their uniform. Ones that they can’t manipulate and, if possible, stream live to several backup servers. With today’s technology it’s easily done.
good idea. apart from the civil rights issues.
I dunno. One good reason not to do a burglary with a loaded gun is you might end up getting shot dead by someone else with a loaded gun. This seems to be what happened. The best start of any argument about what shouldn’t have happened is probably the decision to do a burglary.
“all I can see is that you are having a go at chris because you think him and his politics are a tosser.”
I’m sorry that’s all you can see, weka. Your problem though.
The existence of such an unwritten code certainly fits in with my experience and prejudices. Revenge, and even the spreading of fear, seem to play a huge part in the motivations of many police officers. We’ll never really know what happened, except for those who slavishly believe everything the boys in blue say, and those who self righteously portray every act as police brutality, barbarism, and murder. We need some method of holding them accountable. With the power to take life legally must come an extremely high level of accountability. What we have now is a joke.
+1
Two shots in the back. What a hero.
If this cowardly shooting lands him in court, Dirty Harry from Taranaki will no doubt get a glowing character testimonial from Deputy Police Commissioner Mike Bush…..
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-18062013/#comment-650248
You must have inside information on this case, care to share it with the rest of us?
Yep!
I realise that the left have a problem…
You realise nothing, you fool. You read nothing, and know nothing.
Is your name….Leighton Smith?
Ok so educate me on what happened oh wise and all-knowing purveyor of truth and enlightenment
Let me guess, you think Bains innocent and deserves compenation?
Let me guess, you think Bains innocent and deserves compensation?
No, fool, I do not. You are simply incapable of construing intelligently from what I have written in the past. Nothing I have ever written would suggest I support Bain.
You are simply incapable of construing intelligently from what I have written in the past
– Ever consider that, maybe, what you write is particularly intelligent?
Nothing I have ever written would suggest I support Bain.
– My bad, its just that I don’t follow what you write (see above)
Your sick Judith Collins fantasy has clouded your thinking soldier.
My fantasies towards Judith Collins aside, tell me how my thinking (on this matter as we don’t have all day) is clouded
You said: “Let me guess, you think Bains innocent and deserves compensation?”
I’m suggesting your Collins fetish determines your stance, and it’s sick.
The real problem is that the police have a strange notion of “Reasonable force” and because of that and the fact that they keep getting away with obvious crimes of violence means that no-one trusts them. I certainly don’t.
I certainly trust them more than the family of the career crim
I don’t.
So the Rolling Stones are headlining Glastonbury… over 35 years since they last released a half decent record.
This is like having Bing Crosby headline Woodstock.
… Yeah but bet you wish we had a festival like Glastonbury here though don’t you – with or without the Stones. What’s your problem? It’s a bummer having to go midweek to see the occasional stars (still crowd pullers) in New Zealand. Most of them only come as far as Australia.
Nailed it, apparently. And with a guest appearence from Mick Taylor. Nice.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/jun/30/rolling-stones-glastonbury-debut
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23111268
Nailed it, eh? Well done those lads, keep at it and they could really go places 😉
Rabuka on National Radio
National Radio, Sunday 30 June 2013
Listening right now (11:34 a.m.) to Chris Laidlaw interviewing that reptile Sitiveni Rabuka. It’s unusual to hear Chris so clearly hostile to an interviewee; he obviously despises Rabuka.
It reminded me of the famous occasion in 2006 when Eva Radich pursued another politician who hated democracy: Tony Blair.
Rabuka is incapable of giving a straight or honest answer; he’s a South Seas version of Tony Blair.
I think Rabuka is more honest, civilised, and democratic than Tony Blair. For a start, Rabuka was a soldier, not someone pretending to be a democratic “socialist saviour”. One more point is that he is an indigenous Fijian, and was fighting for some distorted view of indigenous rights. To equal Blair here, he would have had to be an Indian unionist pro-democracy campaigner and still do the things he did.
Blair lowered standards and defined slipperiness to a level not beaten until Obama turned up, and if British military and economic power hadn’t decayed so much, Obama would probably only equal him.
I think Rabuka is more honest, civilised, and democratic than Tony Blair.
That is damning Rabuka with faint praise, as I’m sure you are aware, Murray. Yes, Blair has a body count that puts Rabuka, Speight and Bainimarama to shame, and he is despicable, but that doesn’t make those Fijian thugs any more acceptable, I am afraid.
Oh, I found Rabuka totally unacceptable at the time and nothing has happened to change my mind. Sorry if I didn’t make that clear. It’s just that I reserve a special level of hell for treacherous dogs like Blair, Douglas, Prebble, and Obama.
Don’t know if business goobermensch ‘yes’ is around today, but he won’t like this:
http://union-news.co.uk/2013/06/union-wins-landmark-case-after-company-refuses-to-allow-worker-to-be-represented-at-disciplinary/
Humbug Corner
No. 8: “SIR” OWEN GLENN
Millionaire businessshit Sir Owen Glenn’s inquiry into domestic violence and child abuse is under further pressure with revelations he was accused of physically abusing a young woman in Hawaii in 2002.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/sir-owen-glenn-defends-decision-not-reveal-abuse-claim-5481044
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Humbug Corner is dedicated to gathering, and highlighting, the most striking examples of faux solicitude, insincere apologies, and particularly stupid recycling of official canards. It is produced by the Insincerity Project®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
More egregious humbug….
No. 7 Barack Obama: “…people standing up for what’s right…yearning for justice and dignity…”
No. 6 Barack Obama: “Nelson Mandela is my personal hero…”
No. 5 John Key: “Yeah well the Greens’ answer to everything is rail, isn’t it.”
No. 4 Mike Bush: “Bruce Hutton’s… integrity beyond reproach…such great character…”
No. 3 Dean Lonergan: “Y’ know what? The only people who will mock them are people who are dwarfists.”
No. 2 Peter Dunne: “What a load of drivel and sanctimonious humbug…”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-09062013/#comment-645811
No.1 Dominic Bowden: “It’s okay to be speechless.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-02062013/#comment-642288
Mozza, Owen Glenn has a past which is *underwraps*, a key component of the *Sir* title, is part of the *underwraps*.
The article you link to, is a very brief insight to him, and the forces, which control him. His history is *known*, and at a time, and with a purpose, it is used against him, or the investigation, to be more precise, wonder what the significance of the timing is…
The calling card of the puppet masters, is to take down the target, using something which is supposed to represent a positive aspect of the individual.
Note:
– Glenn *instigates/sponsors* an inquirey into abuse.
– Glenn has a past, which is used against him, by way of *abuse charges*
See how its done, its an occurance, which is as frequent, as it is transparent!
There are powers, which do not want this investigation to serve a positive function that much was always apparant. Its why Owen Glenn was given the go ahead to sponsor it, because they already knew he could be discredited, anytime!
Glen Greenwald – Presentation At Hampshire College
Massively important presentation by Glen Greenwald. This will change the way you look at what is happening both internationally and locally.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edOYR79pL-w
PS this is a different presentation to the one I linked to last night.
do you think some of us have all day to sit around in front of a monitor? hmm? hmm? 😉
(although, it is fortuitous to have secured a three-day a week position with all the tools at one’s disposal) Nudge nudge, wink wink. 😉
Just plug it into the stereo and listen, as I did while doing some chores. Was an excellent presentation, thanks for the link CV.
Always welcome. The more we learn, the more powerful we are. That’s why they prefer to keep the masses dumb and distracted.
Running a cable from the laptop to the amplifier and then streaming video/audio files while cooking or doing chores is a good way to get educated with these pieces 🙂
Look at dlna/upnp. I use minidlna on my Linux server and pick it up on the bluray attached to the tv (used to use an amp – but it had no visual listings), my tablet usually with headphones on, my phone, and amarok on my workstation. I can also pick it up at work via ssh.
Skifta on the nexus7 kind of acts as the universal remote. Select something off the server like a playlist or a movie, and then tell it what to play out off.
I have a pile of laminated plastic in the cupboard gathering dust. Kind of a waste of time transcribing from those DVDs and peanut sized CDs when they arrive.
Think I’ll just plug the lappy into an amp, thanks.
You said: “Let me guess, you think Bains innocent and deserves compensation?”
I’m suggesting your Collins fetish determines your stance, and it’s sick.
– I thought Bain was guilty long before Judith Collins came on the scene, its just coincidence we both appear to have the same views
To continue the thread you just click on the lowest reply button.
Yes as you say it’s just coincidental your views always align with those of the authoritarian Collins, the same Collins you want to have perform dominatrix acts on you.
the same Collins you want to have perform dominatrix acts on you.
– that made me chuckle
The day you said you wanted Collins to whip you made me chuckle too, but that was quickly followed by an urge to chuck-up!
I may not have been speaking figuratively…
With your wife looking over your shoulder that’s probably the best response.
Personally I have no respect for Collins as either a lawyer, politician or sex-symbol. But I’m sure Adolf would have welcomed her onto his side.
wottabout all those DueDiff ‘concerns’ (34) that the Collinic one sent to Robert Fisher, QC?
I for one assumed that you weren’t speaking figuratively. Thanks for confirming it.
And now for the “Big Con” (another one).
Wellington Electricity is trying to butter up ‘consumers’ for the possibility of a power price increase – because of damage caused by recent storms.
They apparently spent up to $5m fixing problems.
They really must be running their operation on a shoestring if $5m damage can cause such devastation to their ‘bottom line’ that they think they now have to go ‘groveling’ (NOT) to what will probably be compliant authorities.
No no no.
Admitedly WE, since its acquisition has invested in lamp post replacement, and various other improvements to improve the reliability of “THEIR” network.
That’s only because it had been left to run down since privatisation because of deferred maintenance and quick-fix mickey mouse solutions by previous owners.
What that tells us is that they’ve either not adequately considered their risks (they need to find another shaista ‘risk management’ consultant maybe), OR they paid too much for a dog in the first place, and now they want consumers to pay for it so they can keep getting their ‘adequate return on investment’.
Now …. if they increased my line charge 1 cent per day ….. you do the maths, BUT given the number of households and businesses in their jurisdiction, $5m could be recovered within a very short time – at which time there could/should be a line charge DEcrease. Does anyone seriously think that is going to happen?
.. I could go on, but these buggers try it on at any opportunity! (sad thing is that they often get away with it)
Now I think about it … they could probably clip a CEO and underlings salary and benefits a little, and come up with about 10% of that $5m. Justify it because of obvious poor performance – they cudda shudda wudda taken account of the potential for severe damage – just as old Power Boards and MEDs used to do
The location and topography of Wellington is going to be increasingly problematic in these disruptive times. ( a quote from a geographical scientist informing RNZ listeners following the recent storm).
Torchwood
How many blogs you follow in flight Draco? Have your own ‘looking glass’?
More often than not these days I pick up interesting reading from the Twitter feed.
do you think / find that the feeds duplicate the International news sites / International journals such as IBT, Bloomberg etc? Feck, considering the data channeling / siphoning from mobile devices (as below) , think I’ll buy a flat-screen to watch films before I’d buy a cell-phone.
The “twitter feed” is just what the people I follow consider interesting. This includes news items, pictures of babies/cats and random thoughts that don’t really connect with anything.
The Germans are not happy,
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/nsa-spied-on-european-union-offices-a-908590.html
The Slatest
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/06/29/edward_snowden_nsa_leaks_glenn_greenwald_on_the_guardian_s_next_scoop.html
Greenwald on how the NSA direct 1 Billion cell-phone calls a day into their data sup / repositories.
Forbes on Greenwald
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnmcquaid/2013/06/29/why-glenn-greenwald-drives-the-media-crazy/
Question: “What is journalism” (today).
Humbug Corner
No. 10: “SIR” OWEN GLENN
“I do care that every person, especially children, have [sic] the right to feel safe.”
—-“Sir” Owen Glenn, Herald on Sunday, 9 June 2013
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10889282
Humbug, n., a person or thing that tricks, deceives, talks, or behaves in a way that is deceptive, dishonest, false, or insincere, often a hoax or in jest. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
See also: fraud, gaff, impostor, spoof, swindle, bastard, brummagem, duffer, shoddy.
Humbug Corner is dedicated to gathering, and highlighting, the most striking examples of faux solicitude, insincere apologies, and particularly stupid recycling of official canards. It is produced by the Insincerity Project®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
More horrifying humbug….
No. 9 “Sir” Owen Glenn: His abuse inquiry is floundering after revelations he was accused of physically abusing a young woman in 2002.
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-30062013/#comment-655616
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10889282
No. 8 Barack Obama: “…people standing up for what’s right…yearning for justice and dignity…”
No. 7 Barack Obama: “Nelson Mandela is my personal hero…”
No. 6 John Key: “Yeah well the Greens’ answer to everything is rail, isn’t it.”
No.5 Dr. Rodney Syme: “If you want good, open, honest practice, you have to make it transparent.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-09062013/#comment-645826
No. 4 Mike Bush: “Bruce Hutton’s… integrity beyond reproach…such great character…”
No. 3 Dean Lonergan: “Y’ know what? The only people who will mock them are people who are dwarfists.”
No. 2 Peter Dunne: “What a load of drivel and sanctimonious humbug…”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-09062013/#comment-645811
No.1 Dominic Bowden: “It’s okay to be speechless.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-02062013/#comment-642288
just Clowning around – “constantly search and persist”
The AML (and Countering Financing of Terrorism) Act
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10893662
-Enhanced due diligence of the “politically exposed”.
Constitution Conversation.
Ranginui Walker was talking on Radionz Te Ahi Kaa this evening on how the Conversation meetings are going. He made a point that with an unwritten constitution people who consider change is needed can press for it through certain processes, whereas a written constitution is relatively fixed (there may be matters of interpretation) but consider ‘The Right to bear Arms’. What a difficulty there is in trying to govern this dangerous culture. How many years ago was that piece of legislation drawn up and how can a restrictive piece of legislation that governs over all be relevant over centuries, even over decades in our fast moving environment and culture.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/teahikaa
Ranginui Walker ( 21′ 15″ ) 18:31 What’s becoming glaringly apparent to Constitutional Advisory Panel member
Ranginui Walker, is that New Zealand’s education system is in need of a solid civics and history revamp. He discusses that and more with Maraea Rakuraku.
What do you think about it? Make a submission.
http://www.ourconstitution.org.nz/search.html?q=meetings
Some info from the Media Centre
http://www.ourconstitution.org.nz/Media-Centre
tell us do, Rosetinted, what is becoming glaringly obvious? Another ‘living document” proposal.
Rogue T
Don’t know Rogue. I went to a CC meeting and left as the second speaker bombarded us with a lot of revisionist stuff against Maori, questioned the Treaty, and seemed to want to have a Constitution that would allow overturning all the conciliatory and justice work that has been done.
I was angry to have to listen to these old male pakeha who seemed to want to shatter what we have – not build on the good, and get something that is not so distributed throughout the legislation.
But I thought Ranginui Walker would have something wise to say, and in commenting that we should be careful in thinking whether we actually want a written prescriptive constitution, I believe that he made a good point.
I had a little nut tree, / Nothing would it bear.
I have tried twice to put something on the solar cycle and a warning on a science program on how sun extreme cycles can cut out whole electronic systems. There is an 11 year cycle. Let’s see if my nut tree will bear something now. It’s driving me nuts – first I lost it and the second gave me the fingers with ‘not a good http address.’
Some interesting links.
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/01mar_twinpeaks/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cycle
http://www.auroraborealispage.net/solarmax.html
Interesting links .Thanx
“Attacks from America” – EU missions in Washington DC and New York targeted by NSA
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/nsa-spied-on-european-union-offices-a-908590.html
Right I see Poisson already posted this link…
Q+A this morning.
One of the panel had a Cheshire cat smile on the issue of the big transport U-turn.
Did he say, “It’s great really, my company has already done some work.”
What would he have been privy to “already”, when Key only announced the plan on
Friday.
ALL I want is to get out of this SHIT COUNTRY that is NEW ZEALAND, I have no MORE time for cowards and shits that inhabit these lost islands, I HATE YOU LOSERS, I spent years fighting for your interests, I worked even to get YOUR shit into the media that most of you people would never know to organise or do, the revolution is NEVER going to happen in this country, it is a dumb country a shit country, not worth even thinking about!!!
I just before wrote a long post, to get some thinking, and what fucking happened? The website and system crashed. So get on with your damned life in this damned country, that I wish I never had come back to, I HATE NEW ZEALAND, A TOTAL LOST PLACE OF LOSERS AND ARSEHOLE BACK STABBERS AND OPPORTUNISTS.
You will NEVER SEE AND HEAR FROM ME AGAIN ON THIS WEBSITE. I put hope into this site, but you are all losers, a minority and not even communicating, i.e. getting anything across, this country is there for the capitalist vultures to clean and rape, and they are doing it. I t is the gutlessness of ordinary Kiwis to just blog and ponder, and do NONE else to sell your own damned country out under your own arses!!!
Bye. You’re not the first left wing messiah to lose patience with the masses and blame them for the evils of capitalism, and you won’t be the last. Meanwhile, I’ll keep doing what I can.
Is it a coincidence that Owen Glenn’s anti violence campaign has started going downhill ever since he received his knighthood? Maybe that’s all he was interested in.
xstasy
Come back…We are listening to you!. ( Don’t throw a tantrum!…the website is under crash attack from bad bots…Dont take it personally because it is happening to everyone….shows just how scared is the opposition of the collective voice of the Standard)
You have a valuable voice and important thoughts ….You speak for the underdog and those at the very bottom who have no confidence and hence have lost their voice….We all have bad days….Take a breather and come back stronger…The Labour Party must represent New Zealanders like you , or it is doomed!!!!… Historically the people you are talking for have been the backbone of the Labour Party…Maybe you could also forge links with the activist Mana Party….But keep speaking out!