Thanks Draco for making this brilliant speech available to us. What other current politician could match such well constructed and inspiring words? Shearer will try, but come nowhere close. Imagine someone like Key attempting to deliver a speech of this quality! Laughable! Here is a way ahead, full of promise and policy. How is it that a man of such exceedingly high intelligence is not leading the Labour opposition?
I guess the media will not notice this event of today!
“Neo-Liberalism is based on the idea that itâs a dog-eat-dog world. Neo-Liberalism is based on the idea that greed is good, that weâre all locked in an economic life-and-death-struggle with each other. Neo-Liberalism says that compassion is for suckers. Neo-Liberalism says that if the world is going to the dogs, it might as well be the top dogs. Indeed, to borrow from Oliver Stoneâs Wall Street, not only is greed good, âitâs legal.âÂ
Nah mate I think your judgement is too harsh. NZ politics hasn’t seen this kind of identification and analysis of neoliberal failures for a long time.
Does it suggest the brand new paradigms that we need? Nope it does fall short there. Mimicking a strategy that scandanavian countries successfully used during a massive resource, financial and energy boom is not necessarily going to work for us, in this time.
And that’s where the likes of us come in to push and educate so that the citizens force the pollies to take heed. And to realise also that the pollies are never going to accomplish that much of the change required.
I look forward to the posts on Kiwiblog and Whaleoil condemning Aussie talkback host Alan Jones’s latest vicious attack on Julia Gillard. Won’t be long now …
After months of being massacred from the sky, rebel forces are encroaching on the borders of at least one government controlled airfield.
This has created a conundrum for the rebel fighters. Being close to the airfield allows them to shoot at these aircraft when they are the most vulnerable to light weapons, either on the ground, or at taking off and landing.
The rebels say they will overun the base eventually. But what should they do with the aircraft?
Destroy them?
Or use them against the regime?
And what would the Western Powers do if the revolutionary forces get hold of jet aircraft?
Already Western Powers have threatened to intervene if Assad’s gas weapons threaten to fall into rebel hands.
Western leaders have also expressed fears that if effective anti-aircraft weapons, particularly any potent shoulder fired anti aircraft heat seeking missiles, got into the hands of the rebel fighters that this could change the balance of power in the Middle East.
Because of these fears the West have been content to let Assad bomb and strafe defenceless Syrian suburbs and towns without mercy.
The huge civilian casualties doesn’t stir them but the thought of powerful anti aircraft weapons in the hands of the “Arab Street” sends a chill down their spine. The threat being that such a change in the balance of power could spiral beyond their control ending the long standing Western Imperium in the Middle East, toppleing all the well armed despotic puppet states that are the bolster to that power.
Jenny you were doing so well there for a while too, focussing on the local issues like PoAL.
Perhaps keep focus on what you understand clearly, and on which will have greater impact here in NZ.
I’m sure all the innocent Syrians executed by the FSA Death Squads (Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi, US/UK/French sponsored), would not miss your inability to comprehend what is nearer to the actual situtation in Syria, which pretty much means you condone their deaths!
I find it fascinating that Jenny is trying to position the Western military powers as being at least tacit backers of Assad. When all the arms and funding going to the foreign fighters who have infiltrated the “Free Syria Army” is coming through countries who have close military and financial ties with the US and UK.
As you state muzza, including Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and also Turkey.
Yep. Iran and Syria have very close ties. If the US and Israel is to increase their military and financial leverage over Iran, taking Syria down will be very helpful.
Suicide bombing against Syrian military HQ caught on camera
Notice how the van carrying the explosives is still being driven as it is detonated. Suicide bombings like this mark an ugly turning point in this conflict, and demonstrate the influence that foreign jihadi and islamist fighters are having on the tactics of the Free Syrian Army.
Poor bastards, Thanks Netenyahu, ya set another one off.
It’s his bloody words they would’ve been “programmed” by society too watch for.
In a moment of loss they spoke to the Taliban, and what would they be saying?
Suicide bombings like this mark an ugly turning point in this conflict, and demonstrate the influence that foreign jihadi and islamist fighters are having on the tactics of the Free Syrian Army.
Colonial Viper
More racist and Islamaphobic bullshit from you CV.
CV, where is your evidence of all the weapons and support you lyingly claim that the rebels are getting from the West? If the Syrian rebels were getting all the support and weapons you claim, they wouldn’t need suicide bombers.
In an asymmetric conflict between two heavily unequal forces, on one hand a powerful conventional modern army and on the other a poorly armed insurgent force – in desperation, the much weaker military force finding themselves at a serious military disadvantage in munitions and equipment, have resorted to suicide attacks. Examples of this can be cited in almost every major military conflict. In the invasion of Lebanon by Israel in 2006 suicide attacks have been cited as the main factor in the Israeli conventional army’s defeat at the hands of the paramilitary forces of Hezbollah. Hezbollah found through bitter experience that, in that heavily asymmetric conflict, if they sent ten fighters against a similar number of IDF, that they would lose 9 out of 10 Lebanese volunteers for 1 Israeli soldier, (if that). With the use of suicide bomber volunteers, that statistic could be reversed. These attacks were so effective, it was said that a column of modern Merkava tanks could be halted at the sound of an approaching dirt-bike.
Most of Israel’s casualties in that war were Merkava tank crews.
As a result in Lebanon these desperate suicide attacks against the Israeli invaders became known as “the poor man’s nuclear bomb“.
The reason this asymetric tactic was called the poor man’s nuclear weapon, is because while a professional army can afford to pay soldiers to kill for them. Professional armies can’t afford to pay soldiers enough to die for them.
Despite the racist depiction of this phenomenon as the result of fanatic religious fundamentalism unique to Islamists. In extremis it has also been practiced by largely secular forces as well. The mainly secular insurgents of Tamil Eelam of Sri Lanka relied heavily on this tactic.
In Syrian history, Jules Jammal a Christian Syrian naval officer who grew up near Homs was a defender in the invasion of the Sinai Peninsula by the combined Western forces of Israel, Britain and France. In 1956 Jules Jammal volunteered to become a suicide bomber, to sink a french war ship.
Jammal is considered a hero in both Syria and Egypt, receiving official military honours from both governments on his sacrifice.
For his actions Jamal was also awarded the medal of St Peter and St Paul from the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch.
Streets in Syria and Egypt are still named after this Arab Christian hero.
Unfortunately due to the sheer inhuman military brutality of the Assad regime and it’s reliance on it’s fully modernly equipped army and airforce to suppress the rebellion, pitted against the woeful lack of powerful weapons by the insurgents, this desperate tactic may become more common in Syria.
Sadly true, which is why society has to speek Life Positive messages.
War and Destruction will only amplify the situation.
They’d be better off building a “Homeless” muslim compund and trying to help these people.
But who’d trust them?
Not me at this point that’d be 4 sure.
The Christian ethic of Universal Understanding and acceptance has a lot of merit for the middle east in general.
I’d love to see some links to what you’re saying re suicide attacks against tanks by Hezbollah. especially the motorcycle thing. I’m not saying it’s not true, but it does seem unlikely. usually you’d use shaped charges or ambush with rpgs against tanks, neither of which things Hezbollah are short of.
Hezbollah are a serious outfit of course. The fear is that they will be getting involved in Syria soon, deeply uncomfortable with the rise of wahhibist organisation like AQ in the insurgency.
CV, where is your evidence of all the weapons and support you lyingly claim that the rebels are getting from the West? If the Syrian rebels were getting all the support and weapons you claim, they wouldnât need suicide bombers.
Keep pushing for and glamourising your war.
But what is happening in Syria is a proxy war and a foreign invasion, not a popular uprising. Unless its a popular uprising which isn’t that popular because the bloody thing has been going on for well over a full year now.
As for evidence of where the FSA is getting support from, I have posted multiple links previously, which you have patiently ignored. The conflict in Syria is essentially a power struggle and proxy war driven on by foreign powers and foreign fighters. That’s what you’re supporting Jenny.
Let’s try this now:
Syriaâs Secular and Islamist Rebels: Who Are the Saudis and the Qataris Arming?
What is remarkable is that this substantial strip of âfreeâ Syria has been patched together in the past 18 months by military defectors, students, tradesmen, farmers and pharmacists who have not only withstood the Syrian armyâs withering fire but in some instances repelled it using a hodgepodge of limited, light weaponry. The feat is even more amazing when one considers the disarray among the outside powers supplying arms to the loosely allied band of rebels.
Thanks for this CV.
Finally, you are starting to supply links to more than outright propaganda and lies, or half baked Washington beltway gossip and ignorant and bigoted smears. Maybe you are beginning to get an inkling into the real nature of this people’s revolt. Here’s hoping anyway.
Private Saudi and Qatari backers with some assistance from within the Turkish state, are trying to buy influence among the revolutionaries. Playing favourites, giving support to some and not others. Trying to influence the out come of the revolution.
There is no surprise here.
They realise that the rebels are on the right side of history, but they want to influence the rebels eventual victory, to retrieve the most gain for themselves. However their jockeying for position could be doing more harm than good to the resistance, and rather than end the war, prolong it.
…..as TIME reported in June, a secretive group operates something like a command center in Istanbul, directing the distribution of vital military supplies believed to be provided by Saudi Arabia and Qatar and transported with the help of Turkish intelligence to the Syrian border and then to the rebels. Further reporting has revealed more details of the operation, the politics and favoritism that undermine the task of creating a unified rebel force out of the wide array of groups trying to topple the Assad regime.
My emphasis
Apart from the disorganising effect of the “control room”, in supplying weapons to some and not others. Even the support they have given to their favourites is parsimonious at best.
âWe felt that the sides giving us support werenât on the same page,â says the control-room member from eastern Syria. âThey started having side meetings with some groups.â Still, he says, âwhat is most important is that the guys receive weapons. Whether that is via an operations room or directly, we donât care. Nobody knows the truth from the talk,â he says. âWe have been lied to [by the international community], and we have lied to the guys inside, saying weapons would arrive in a week, in 10 days, and months have passed and some areas havenât received supplies. So unless I see it, and see it distributed, even I donât believe it.â
In the town of Bdeeta in Idlib province â which happens to be the hometown of Riad al-Asâaad â rebel fighters complain bitterly about the lack of assistance. âWe are licking our plates. We beg for salt,â says Abu Marâiye, who heads the Martyrs of Ibditha group in the tiny town, home to some 2,000 people. âItâs not enough. Even the weapons that arrive, itâs like a drop, just enough so the fighting continues, so we can kill each other but not win.â
(The FSA is nominally headed by Riad al-Asâaad, who is based in Turkey. Neither Asâaad nor his chief FSA rival General Mustafa Sheikh are party to the Istanbul control room that supplies and arms rebels who operate under the FSA banner. The two men each have their own sources of funding and are independently distributing money and weapons to selected FSA units.)
WIMP -WALLOPING: Two Jackals tear apart David Shearer
Beleaguered Labour Party leader David Shearer made another dreadful, stuttering, bumbling, wandery appearance on TV3’s The Nation yesterday. In the face of a couple of aggressive young right wing journalists, Shearer was unconvincing and hesitant throughout. He often seemed confused and, fatally, seemed to be woolly-minded about economic policy and currency questions. This weakness only fed the aggression of his interrogators.
At one point, Shearer said, quite rightly, that the National Standards for primary and intermediate schools were not credible data.
“It’s just the UNIONS that say that!” scoffed the Fairfax journalist John Hartevelt.
Now, this was a perfect opening for a strong and confident politician to tear Hartevelt a new one; he could have pointed out that the group that Hartevelt sniffingly dismissed as “the unions” is actually comprised of virtually all of the nation’s teachers and educational theorists. In other words, “the unions” are people who, unlike John Hartevelt, are serious, informed and credible when it comes to talking about education.
But Shearer’s response was a lame, “That’s not true,” not followed up by any argument at all.
On Radio New Zealand National’s Mediawatch programme this morning, Hartevelt is currently getting a grilling by Colin Peacock over his shoddy release of the ropey National Standards figures. When he is contradicted and challenged, Hartevelt is anything but authoritative. What a pity the Labour Party lacks a leader prepared or able to do the same thing.
He didn’t even need to defend the unions, he just needed to say “Look, John, you yourself have stated that the data doesn’t reflect quality, isn’t moderated, and can’t be used to draw meaningful conclusions between different schools. So obviously that’s incorrect.”
But that would involve being quick off the mark and bolshy enough to defend your viewpoints.
And he should have defended the unions at the same time: “let’s not forget that our teacher unions were amongst the first experts to correctly point out the glaring flaws in National Standards, well before many other commentators caught up with the facts.”
Looking forward to hearing Shearer defending himself when his speechwriter gets on to it in that fantastic newsletter called “Shearer Stays”, oops, “Shearer Says”.
I’m calling “this week we held the government to account on National Standards data, and continued to champion the rights of parents and teachers and communities to do what’s best for their children and their children’s children.”
I wonder if he’s figured out why the sickness bene on the roof story was a gift to right wing nut jobs yet.
OK, so he stood around and looked the other way while Hartevelt put the boot into working people, but at least he managed not to spit in anyone’s face this time.
Yes I too watched in numb horror, Has no-one in the Labour party worked it out yet??? Or maybe they have. BUT when we have a pull apart after the 2014 debacle that will be the election where the NZ Labour Party comes a woeful 3rd with fuck all seats behind a confident Green Party and A thieving NACT party in for the final round of theft and incompetence.
We will be able to point the finger at OLD and PAST IT politicians clinging on with their fingertips. Pushing their own private agendas, just so they can suck at the public teat for another 3 years where they will have to do fuck all to get the money they are supposed to EARN!
Now we all know who these old and past it ones are, so a little nudging in to the retirement rather than defeat.camp would be good.
And will someone please please point out to shearer and his backers (Robertson) included is that he is not, and never will be, Prime Minister material, and neither are they, simply by the damage they have let happen to NZ, and it’s economy. By their self interest.
Again, refer to today’s speech by the enlightened Cunliffe – compare and contrast with Shearer and you will wonder what the hell has gone wrong with the Labour Party!
I think the “Delegation” style of leadership has definite merit
While David Shearer hasn’t hit his straps yet, the example they set for NZ is a formidable one.
Anyone of 5 different people should be able to step into his shoes without any qualms by the end of this year.
Which five do you have in mind? I can think of two with enough profile, skill and experience for the job but not five. I can’t even get as far as three.
Shearer has to carry the discussion regarding the exchange rate. I throw my hands up there has been an identified issue yet all the solutions are to give the responsibility to the RB for the solutions. If they have some ides how to correct the issue them come out and inform us. I think either that they have no idea of a solution or the consequences are as bad as the what they are trying to solve.
So by expecting the RB to fix the problem who directs them, especially as DS does not want “politicians to run the exchange rate.” !!! “Good grief” as Charlie Brown would say. After the GCSB being unrestricted in their actions now DS wants another govt. dept. in the RB to also be unrestricted.
US military documents categorise Assange and Wikileaks as “enemies of the United States”
THE US military has designated Julian Assange and WikiLeaks as enemies of the United States – the same legal category as the al-Qaeda terrorist network and the Taliban insurgency.
Declassified US Air Force counter-intelligence documents, released under US freedom-of-information laws, reveal that military personnel who contact WikiLeaks or WikiLeaks supporters may be at risk of being charged with “communicating with the enemy”, a military crime that carries a maximum sentence of death.
CV 7
On radionz this morning a report on food sharing and political discussion in the USA has presented an interesting picture of USA repressive attitudes. The group has a slogan food not bombs and this is making authorities extremely sensitive, saying that they can approve food distribution but there must be no banners with political messages. In fact one political commentator said they were a subversive influence that was undermining the USAs ability to get citizens to respond to possible attacks on the country from its enemies.
They started off giving out food, vegetarian and vegan only, in the park where the Occupy groups began their protest. Free speech and free food are at the least embarrassing, particularly to very liberal politicians who are quite negative because it draws attention to their inadequacies, and at the most regarded as highly dangerous by the fear and war exponents in the USA who want to occupy the hearts and minds of their people.
It’s a serious problem. 21st century NZ is going to have to walk a fine line between the interests and politics of two great Pacific powers. China and the USA. I’ve got little faith that our current crew can get it right for our magnificent, but very small, country.
Maybe. The unexpected is usually what happens though, and in retrospect it is seen as inevitable. Like the rise of Prussia – or England or Japan for that matter. Somewhere out there !
THE US military has designated Julian Assange and WikiLeaks as enemies of the United States â the same legal category as the al-Qaeda terrorist network and the Taliban insurgency.
Oh my giddy aunt. Nutmegs! Seriously, Assange has reason to be worried…
His short answer is that he believes that the four boxes needed can be ticked and that there will be a case to answer.
Will take a long time but interesting.
have a listen to Cat (Yusaf Islam) Stevens’ ‘The Very Best Of ‘…i can’t keep it in…no …i can’t keep it in…gotta let it out…oh..i gotta let it out…(sans grass, regretably, yet THIS TOO MUST PASS)
Murray McCully stands up in the UN and criticises lack of action to aid the Syrian people and refers to the veto which has been utilised by China and Russia. Wonder if we will ever hear a criticism of USA policies from him? Not now we are the dingy dinghy again.
Janice 9.1
McCully probably was better than Jokey as he might start a world war with some inappropriate remark. McCully I am sure, knows more about the issues than Jokey Hen who also doesn’t want to mess up his fine financial fund mind with annoying matters better left to other people. The responsibility on a NZ PM is sooo wide, heavy and stressful. You just wouldn’t have a clue!
I see that Murry McCully spoke on the importance of Israel and Palestine leaders talking again. They actually live very close to each other. Sounds a bit Sarah Palinish. Does that mean that I was wrong that he was a waste of time really because of biasing his speech on USA concerns. No, here is some background to the USA relationship and aid to Israel. Mostly google headings that offer the information I was looking for. The links don’t come up live.
First a Wikipedia summary of a book, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy on whether the USA lobby for Israel is mainly wealthy Jewish people. (There are likely to be some biased blogs on this subject so I think that a researched book would give a reliable view.) The book is by John Mearsheimer, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, and Stephen Walt, Professor of International Relations at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Israel_Lobby_and_U.S._Foreign_Policy
On military aid USA Israel –
**IsraelâUnited States relations – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IsraelâUnited_States_relations
Almost all U.S. aid to Israel is now in the form of military assistance, while in the past it … Strong congressional support for Israel has resulted in Israel’s receiving …
**US Aid to Israel and the Palestinians
ifamericansknew.org/stats/usaid.html
The U.S. is providing Israel with at least $8.2 million each day* in military aid and … Washington has provided Israel with a level of support dwarfing the amounts …
**Tempering Iron Dome: US may spend $680 million on Israeli missile …
rt.com/news/us-israel-military-aid-iron-dome-637/
21 Apr 2012 â The US could fork out $680 million on strengthening the Israeli Iron Dome rocket shield. …
(Obama and Israel)
**U.S., Israel Build Military Cooperation – WSJ.com
online.wsj.com/…/SB1000142405274870332100457542727255005…
14 Aug 2010 â U.S. military aid to Israel has increased markedly this year. … Obama felt the increased military support is necessary to assure Israel’s security …
(Jewish extensive reference to it) –
**http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/foreign_aid.html
Here’s an interesting item on how the USA paranoia about attacks has caused it to look for guidance from the paranoic Israelis.
**http://articles.latimes.com/2011/oct/31/opinion/la-oe-blackwill-israel-20111031
This one has moving pics on the topics and an academic opinion that the UN structure assists USA to act in Israel’s interests
**http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/09/29/264033/dozens-of-insurgents-killed-in-aleppo/
This one has interesting points
**http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/08/15/the_politically_incorrect_guide_to_us_interests_in_the_middle_east
I was reasonably pleased with McCully’s response on Syria and Israel/Palestine. I don’t think the latter was Sarah Palinish at all – perhaps a little flat-footed in a plain-spoken way, but not actually idiotic a la Palin.
Thanks Dv – good blog from Local Bodies. This quote from Dv link at 11.1
In the days when the Education Ministry was a Department, and had less political interference, it was managed by some astute and forward thinking individuals. Clarence Beeby and Bill Renwick were hugely instrumental in shaping the philosophies and pedagogical approach that led us to being one of the top education systems in the world.
That has all changed. We now have imports that haven’t the excuse of being cheap – Lesley Longstone recently in the news because of the shakeup of our school system is said to be receiving $600,000 p.a. You can’t help thinking that we have a cringe factor alive and well in NZ that we can’t find suitable candidates for such positions. And those working their way up in a Department with consequent institutional knowledge are likely to be elbowed out during some internecine change and so we lose our experienced people who care about NZ and get these moving generic managers who make us bow and scrape to their supposedly superior knowledge. (Must be, they’re from overseas you know.)
Here is some info on Ms Longstone. If you want source get it yourself, I’m tired.
“Lesley Longstone has 25 years’ experience in the education and employment sectors in the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia, and she understands the economic importance of education and its contribution to the broader skills agenda.
Ms Longstone has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Sheffield.
Ed Milliband, UK Labour Leader: Either the banking sector makes sweeping changes or we will force bank break ups
Frakkin’A. This is what we are talking about people. However, the City of London financial centre holds such vast political power and influence in the UK, I hope Milliband can stay the course.
By the way, it is no co-incidence that the Lehman collapse, Bernie Madoff’s multi-billion dollar ponzi scheme, the massive theft from MF Global account holders, near infinite leverage/shadow rehypothecation collateral rorts and many more frauds originated in City of London financial operating centres.
Ed Miliband will make his boldest, most controversial policy commitment since becoming Labour leader on Sunday when he pledges to force the break-up of Britain’s biggest banks unless they agree to revolutionise their operations and put ordinary customers first.
In an interview with the Observer, the Labour leader says he will confront the City of London with what is seen as the nuclear option for reform if the banks fail to separate their “casino” investment operations from services to account-holders, savers and businesses.
It’s not daylight savings this weekend is it? The clock on my computer has gone forward an hour but it uses an international clock and I’m not sure they’ve been right since the govt changed the date of DST and didn’t tell the rest of the world.Â
I suppose it’s a chance to reset all the clocks to the same time. I use five digital clocks and they all end up out of sync within 2 or 3 weeks. The computer is the only true one because it resets when I go online. Did time used to be this odd when we had analog clocks?
I’m perturbed that you’re finding that with your digital clocks. There is absolutely no reason for even a cheap digital clock to gain or lose more than 1 minute a month, and that is being generous.
I’d blame sloppy cheap electronics design or componentry. A good quality quartz mechanical watch will often perform to +/- 2 minutes per year.
Grant Wormald didn’t just give evidence that was inconsistent; he clearly perjured himself in a court of law. He said to his knowledge there was no other agencies involved in the surveillance of Mr Dotcom, knowing full well that the GCSB was involved. In fact he attended a meeting on December 14 with GCSB operatives. For him to say he wasn’t aware of their involvement is an obvious lie, made under oath, and the Detective Inspector should be held to account…
So now its the weekend and still no earthshaking distractions for Shonky to hide behind, He has got to working with Bennet on something, as Parata is now a liability.
About the best thing they could start with would be a “Closed Door” meeting with the captain of those men, and yeah I mean you bud.
If they know the ground you were walking they can direct their efforts properly.
Otherwise they can’t target the people in question.
(Understandably reticent I’d imagine ur response too be, but think about it, it may help
From the sound of things the two Geoffs from Labour and Cunliffe would be the men to talk too)
The problem is obviously at the top, and the only way to find the top is to start at the bottom.
(No Offense Brother)
Nothing has changed in 35 years when it comes to cops committing perjury in court as the police have not been made accountable even after Chief Justice Elias from the Supreme Court has become involved. An effing joke.
The Nuremberg defence has substantive problems both for Wormald and his boss.
If he invokes the ND he (Knowing it was incorrect) he still could have made a moral judgement, hence it only limits the remedies.The other part is it transfers accountability up the food chain (it increases the value of remedies to his superiors)
Fastest code in the West babe đ
Machine code ‘C’ if ya lookin for name.
Use a var to trigger the Daemon break…
if( brkVar ) break;
}
Remember 0 it true
All you Aucklanders enjoying the almost exclusively chemical skies today…go on, step outside, take a look up, and ponder the marvel that is the “clouds” up there today…Notice the textures and the shapes, really not quite right are they…
Oh, and yes I took the footage of the plane dumping over AKL again today at midday, heading south, right over the middle of the city…
Thats three times I have seen it, and twice I have filmed it. Someone on this island knows WTF is going on!
Yes I saw a narrow elongated ‘cloud’ over the North Shore – must have been around 2.30 -3.00pm. Took it to be the ragged remains of a contrail probably at around 20,000 ft.
I know an Air NZ flight captain (the partner of a family member) and was tempted to contact him for a bit of a razz… you’ve been dumping fuel have you?
Hey Marty, the only “theory” I subscribe to about it, is that somethings going on, we are not being told “in public” at least. I prefer to take the most obvious about a situation, which is, there is something being sprayed in our skies, only complete idiots would contest that now. The what and why, become the obvious next questions, and there is lots of stuff which can assist with that. Ive not done any lab tests etc so wont speculate on those….
I have filmed the planes 2 times now, and that is not any commercial arline route on a sunday. Just checked the official commercial routes again and times of arrivals and departures at Wellington and Christchurch today that might mean a flight heading southerly direction at such height could return on, and nothing would match, again this time either!
If you could see the sky up here today, even the hardest skeptic , would be doing well to explain the state of AKL’s skies!
I struggle with this one mainly because of explanations that are based on someone/group doing it to us for their sinister ends – but those ends, that I have heard, don’t make sense. Maybe I’m just not mad enough to comprehend their madness đ
Marty it need not be sinister in nature, but whatever they are doing, the results/expectations, may or may not be understood. They are spraying shit into the sky, and if you could see Auckland today you would know exactly what I am talking about, and if you saw what I saw, its likely the only way people can understand. I was not skeptical, but before I saw the planes, wondered if there was a simpple explantion, now having seen them so many times, and filmed it, there is not a shred of doubt they are spraying.
I hope you never see them down your way dude!
See my comment about the 320pm return srpay leg, and I have taken film and pics all afternoon from my area of AKL. The sky is an absolute mess of chemical shit today, grrrrr.
EDIT @ Weka – I’m not going to upload them, as have no facility that I would want to use. The May 6 footage I took, I gave to someone to pass on, who posted it online.
All good muzza, many have noted the same thing down here which is why I’ve heard a bit about it, and I’ve seen a few videos and seen them here and in Auckland. I’m not saying they aren’t true and I hope you crack it wide open – I just can’t work out any type of ‘why’ that makes sense to me. I spose I put it to one side really and concentrate on stuff like the proposed open cast mine on the Denniston Plateau, it feels like I might be able to work with others and stop that atrocity – not sure I can say the same about the spraying. Kia kaha.
Hey Marty, good on you with the mines and things, locally we all definitely can get “hands on” so to speak, and hands on, is whats required, not just at the keyboard either đ
Sorry muzza, but it’s not good enough. Fair enough that you have concerns, but without accessible evidence it’s all just another conspiracy theory. I have no interest in watching 2 minutes of the Auckland sky without any context or explanation. Someone needs to put together some credible information and present it in ways that people can read and understand. Not saying that has to be you, but I don’t really see the point in speculating about phenomena without any useful analysis that is backed up by evidence. Or at least not scarey phenomena. It just makes people worry but gives them nowhere to go.
No need to apologise for yourself Weka., I can understand your position, as I too would also like to know why planes are spraying, because the question has gone past, perhaps thats whats going on.
Why do you & others keep saying that someone should put together, and there is no evidence, there is plenty out there from all around the world Weka, what would you consider evidence or a well put togther case, over an above what is already being done…
Certainly I would agree that without seeing the planes for oneself, seeing what is coming from the planes are obvioulsy NOT vapour (con) trails, then seeing the clear blue day that was AKL yesterday, and on May 6, turning into a mesh of god knows what, followed by the predictable shit weather.
Perhaps there is nothing in it Weka, I can’t say either way, all I am saying is that I know what I saw, and have seen, and what it did to our days on May 6 and yesterday.
If what I post panics you, then don’t read it, and if you are not up to doing some reading etc about geo-enginerring, then youre not in any position to say there is no evidence or that someone should put some together!
The problem muzza is that most information presented about chemtrails is done so by either whackjobs or people who have almost zero critical thinking skills. I have an appreciation for whackjobs in society but they’re not people I go to for facts. People with very poor critical thinking skills bother me more, because they use the internet to push their ill formed ideas in ways that don’t help much and probably do some damage.Â
I don’t consider you to be either of those two things, and have been interested in your story of what you see in the skies (have read previous threads), but until you present some evidence it’s just an interesting story.
I’m not panicked by the chemtrail stuff, just pissed off at how it gets debated. We have enough stressful shit to deal with on the planet at the moment without adding to the load with information that is designed to alarm but has no back up.Â
“if you are not up to doing some reading etc about geo-enginerring, then youre not in any position to say there is no evidence or that someone should put some together!”
I disagree. Part of critical thinking is learning who to trust and why. I don’t have to understand every phenomena on the planet to such detail because I have the skills to read people who do have that detail and I can sift out the wheat from the chaff. That’s on both sides of an argument (I can point you to poor thinking on both sides of the Ken Ring debate for instance).Â
I also tend to not trust people who only reference youtube. Video is a good way of getting a message across, but it’s generally a crap way of providing verifiable evidence (not least because it can’t reference easily).
And I definitely have low opinion of websites that use obvious propoganda tecniques. This site, which pops up number one in google for ‘chemtrail’ is classic
It’s designed to appeal to people who think of themselves as woken up (the big banner), and to hook in other people by using emotive fearmongering. I’m much less likely to take something seriously that feels the need to SHOUT AT ME how stupid I am if I don’t believe what it says.
It’s also hard to take anything seriously that purports that human-made CC has been ‘exposed as a hoax’. Whatever one thinks about CC, ‘exposed as a hoax’ ain’t what’s been happening, and that phrase suggests that the website people don’t have a very good understanding of science or the politics of science.
That website also considers that a high number of google hits = proof of theory. That’s just stupid.
If the chemtrail crowd want to be taken seriously, how hard would it be to put up a website that explains the issues in a clear, rational way that lay people can understand?
Â
I also tend to not trust people who only reference youtube.
Weka, which way to you want it? – Asking me if I am going to post the video online but don’t trust people who post on YT. I would be happy to send you the raw footage if you like, but again its still my video with no context for you, because you were not here, and not see what was happening with your own eyes.
I do tend to agree with you, that seeing video gives little context, which is why I DONT post what I have, because its very easy for people to blow it off, as you have been doing. My contention is not to state what is going on, I can’t do that, because I don’t know for sure what they are spraying, only that I have seen, and filmed the spraying multiple times now, that I fly planes, and have spent most of my life looking at the sky, and that our skies have changed in a way that I can’t believe people in AKL do not notice!
You’re not in AKL either obviously, as otherwise you would have some more specific comments on my posts, and I notice that there was no response from anyone in AKL, (not that it means anything in hard terms, it would be good to hear other locals thoughts – If they saw it).
Out of interst, how do you develop your sense of who/what you can trust? – Here is a tip, if you think you can develop it as a skill, you don’t have it naturally, which has its limitations. Sure you will be able to sort the wheat from the chaff, the critical thinking and general intelligence will assist there, but instinctively there will always be a gap.
Muzza, I said I tend not to trust people who only reference youtube. And gave valid reasons why. This doesn’t mean video isn’t useful, just that it’s not usually in and of itself proof in situations like this.
I’m not in Auckland, hence my original question about posting your footage online. I really don’t know what you are talking about and the visuals would be interesting if you can post a comparison with what you think are not chemtrails.
 My contention is not to state what is going on, I canât do that, because I donât know for sure what they are spraying, only that I have seen, and filmed the spraying multiple times now, that I fly planes, and have spent most of my life looking at the sky, and that our skies have changed in a way that I canât believe people in AKL do not notice!
Yes, I’m aware that you are trying to just describe what you see, rather than post theory about what is going on and why. It’s one of the reasons I read what you write on this.
But if you keep doing that repeatedly without any further support people will get bored or annoyed and switch off. How will that help?
“(not that it means anything in hard terms, it would be good to hear other locals thoughts â If they saw it).”
You could for instance get methodical. Open a wordpress blog, without all the conspiracy dramatics, and post your observations and photos/stills. Ask Aucklanders to join you, and post what they are seeing. Give them times and directions of where to look. Moderate heavily to keep out the conspiracy theory stuff. Write short, easily accessible pieces about why you think x plane is doing y activity, and what is unusual about it. Likewise, post about the differences you are seeing the sky compared to 5 years ago, 10, 20 etc.
Â
I have never (and that means never EVER) seen any quantified evidence that would demonstrate that any CONTRAIL that appears in the sky is anything more than a normally over-expanded jet exhaust operating in an atmospheric area where the water density is already high (almost saturated), and the passing of the jet engine through that atmospheric condition has caused the high water density to be condensed into visible exhaust plumes.
That would be atmosphere that resembles Auckland’s most of the friggen time.
A “broad church”: we’ll make room for both Right Wing voters and Left Wing voters inside Labour
Great that’s been finally cleared up.
Mr Shearer said the party was doing well. âBut will we have some changes later on? Quite possiblyâ he said. He wouldnât say whether that would be before the end of the year. He said he disagreed with the claim earlier this year by Economic Development spokesman, David Cunliffe that voters who deserted Labour did so because they partyâs policies as not very different to Nationalâs.
However he said there was room for Mr Cunliffe inside Labour because it was âa broad churchâ.
âThere are many people who vote Labour from what you might call left and to the right as well.
âIt’s a broad church and what we’re looking for is to be a party for all New Zealanders, not just one of the other.â
Since the present lowering of crime rates can be connected to better social services and education provided to today’s teenagers over the period of the last Labour government, I am unfortunately confident in predicting rising crime levels in about five years or so as the rejected primary school children of today hit their teenage years under the punitive benefit and education policies of our wonderful present government. One can only hope the crime will hurt those presently benefiting from the low tax rates for the rich introduced by the same government, but crime always hurts the poor before it hurts those with big walls and money to hire security guards.
by John Edmundson The International Socialist Organisation (ISO) have recently reposted a February article, by Romany Tasker-Poland, explaining ISO’s position in the “trans rights” debate. It is available on their website and on their Facebook Page. The article sets out to explain why “socialists support trans rights”. It reads more ...
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Media Statement for Immediate Release 16th October 2019 “Fake News” from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers Despite comments from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers—Herald Newspaper Tuesday Oct 15th–there is very little evidence ...
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Nick Wilson, Leah Grout, Mereana Wilson, Anja Mizdrak, Phil Shoemack, Michael BakerProtecting waterways has the benefits of: (1) protecting water from hazardous microbes; (2) minimising cancer risk and other problems from nitrates in water; (3) avoiding algal blooms that are hazardous to health; (4) protecting mahinga kai uses (cultural ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women In a press release today Massey University announced it has decided to rebrand and reorientate after struggling to be a University for grown-ups. For some time the University has wanted to be a safe play space for wee-woke-misogynists who have been really badly triggered ...
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When they were running for election, Labour promised to overhaul the Employment Relations Act and introduce fair pay agreements to set basic pay and conditions on an industry level, preventing bad employers from undercutting good ones. They followed this up by establishing a working group, which reported back in January ...
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With an unfair voting system, uneven electorates and an un-elected upper house, the UK's "democracy" is barely worthy of the name. But now the government wants to make it worse:The government has been accused of suppressing voters’ rights with the potential disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of people after plans ...
Back in the 90's and early 2000's, the building industry was building leaky homes which should never have been granted consent. Now it turns out they've been building dodgy office blocks as well:New imaging technology has revealed hundreds of major buildings nationwide have defective or missing concrete or reinforcing steel. ...
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How could government evolve over the next decades? Reports of democracy’s imminent demise are greatly exaggerated. However, satisfaction with political systems in many countries is low, so there is much to do for governments of all political stripes to improve relevance and trust. Digital technologies are seen as one ...
Two years have now gone by since the Friday afternoon when my university-student son and I headed out of our Barcelona flat to a nearby primary school, designated as a polling station for the vote that was to be held the following Sunday: the referendum on Catalonia’s independence from Spain ...
Overruled: The joint decision of Finance Minister, Grant Robertson (Labour) and his Associate Minister, David Parker (Labour) arguably the two most powerful ministers in Jacinda Ardern’s government, to grant OceanaGold the consents which Land Information Minister, Eugenie Sage (Greens) had earlier denied them, offers bitter proof of how hard fighting ...
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...
A Statement on Abortion Law Reform by the Council of Disobedient Women On the eve of bringing an end to antiquated, anti-women abortion laws Green MP Jan Logie intends to write women out of the Bill. With a stroke of the pen, the woke are aiming for total erasure ...
Musings continue apace about “the experienced businessman!” soon to be taking up a National Party MP position. Or to be more accurate, being parachuted into a seat to shut down their former MP Jamie-Lee Ross, who despite his own shortcomings shed at least some more light on the inner workings ...
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Back in 2011, journalist Nicky Hager published Other People's Wars, an expose on NZDF's activities over the previous decade of the "war on terror". NZDF didn't like this, and especially didn't like the fact that it was base don leaks from their own. So, they had the SIS investigate him ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is due back from select committee in two weeks, and will likely pass its final stages in November. So naturally, farmers are planning a hate-march against it. But they're not just demanding lower methane targets so they can keep on destroying the planet; they're also demanding ...
Last year, California burned. This year, to stop it happening again (or rather, to stop themselves from being found liable if it happens again), Pacific Gas and Electric is cutting power to half the state for a week:Schools are closed. Traffic lights down. Tunnels dark. Businesses unopened. Hospitals running on ...
The Best Way: Missing from the on-line voting debate is any reference to the voting system that produces turn-out figures ranging from 77 to 93 percent of registered voters. The voting system used to collect and count the votes cast in our parliamentary elections. The system that involves citizens making ...
Among the great new bunch of political friends we have been making recently is the excellent Australian-based Marxist gender-critical site, Freer Lives. So we asked the comrade who set up that blog to write something for Redline on the blog, himself, his analysis of the rise of gender politics and ...
by Don Franks The Auckland City Mission is struggling with a 40 percent increase in demand for food parcels this year. A total of 23,020 were needed by June. Last month Missioner Chris Farrelly told the Herald the “cupboards are bare” and without an emergency food drive, he can’t see ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Massey Wellington Student Association had a sit-in today. Imagine a sit-in. On a campus. Against a women’s rights meeting. Did the ’60s really happen or did we fucking dream it? They gathered in the student square, an echo chamber. Sitting on soft pillows ...
For some reasons, my post about the mystery message from inside the Downing Street bunker seemed to catch people's attention. Quite a lot of hits from NZ (unsurprisingly) and the USA (a bit more puzzlingly, but hi there, USAians!!) and 76 views from the Ukraine.I've celebrated my Ukrainian readers in ...
First, almost a score of Labour MPs seem to have sent a letter to the EU basically begging them to accept a deal - any deal - just so Britain can get the Heck on with Brexiting instead of being trapped in limbo:
by Phil Duncan In 2016 the National-led government suspended the Parent Visa Category, through which migrants were able to bring their parents into New Zealand. Since then over 5,700 people have been in immigration limbo, stuck on the visa wait list. Labour is now bringing back the scheme. Well, sort ...
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This essay, on the political legacy of the eugenics movement, by Kenan Malik was originally published in the Observer on 6 October 2019, under the headline ‘The spirit of eugenics is still with us, as immigrants know to their cost’. Birth control. Intelligence tests. Town planning. Immigration controls. It’s striking how ...
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The Workshop is a charitable trust for public good. The Workshop undertake research to find ways of communicating that will build support for the solutions that work to solve complex social and environmental problems. See their Report on Talking about Poverty and Welfare Reform below. ...
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New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at National Party leader Simon Bridges who criticized the Coalition Government’s approach to crime, and said that the latter isn't credible in his attack on the Government over gang recruitment. "We've got as massive drug problem in this country. It is ...
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We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
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Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi,will invest nearly $600,000 to ensure work opportunities for locals in Turangia and Whanganui, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “I’m pleased to announce the PGF ...
An export-led economy is one of New Zealand First’s key principles, and our commitment to achieving this is shown by the continuing skyrocketing demand for our beef and sheep meat exports. Beef + Lamb New Zealand's New Season Outlook 2019-20 report forecasts beef, lamb and mutton prices to lift from ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today in Gisborne an investment of $17.27m into bringing “world-leading” food-growing technology and the creation of more than 100 new jobs in the East Coast city. The funding comes from the Provincial Growth Fund, and included a $15 million loan to LeaderBrand, a ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development More than 100 people in Tairāwhiti’s Tolaga Bay will benefit from two employment initiatives supported by the Provincial Growth Fund, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today. “Tolaga Bay is an incredibly tight-knit community, but one in ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is supporting Gisborne business Leaderbrand to produce salad vegetables year round and create more jobs in the Tairāwhiti region, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Our support for Leaderbrand will help them build large greenhouses ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has praised the promise by New Zealand’s biggest banks not to close any provincial branches while the Coalition Government trials regional banking hubs across the country. The Minister said the announce was the “first sign of hope for regional communities”, many of which have ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have delivered an upgrade of the SuperGold Card website and a new smartphone app, which will help unlock the full benefits of the SuperGold Card for 750,000 New Zealand seniors.Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters, ...
Delivering a key election campaign promise, New Zealand First is proud to have accomplished a long overdue upgrade of the SuperGold Card today. At an event in Auckland, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters joined Minister for Seniors Hon. Tracey Martin in unveiling the new website and smartphone app which ...
Government Ministers today welcomed the release of a marine environment report highlighting the four key issues affecting our oceans, estuaries and coastlines. The release underlines the importance of government proposals to combat climate pollution, ensure clean freshwater, protect biodiversity, make land use more sustainable, and reduce waste and plastic. Environment ...
The Government has approved funding for a new acute mental health facility for Waikato which will provide better care and support to people with mental health and addiction issues. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Health Minister Dr David Clark announced the $100 million project to replace the aging Henry Rongomau ...
The Government is making progress on its goal to integrate te reo Māori into education by 2025, with over 500 teachers and support staff already graduating from Te Ahu o te Reo Māori, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Kelvin Davis made the announcement at an awards ceremony in Waikanae today, for ...
Statistics Minister James Shaw has welcomed the first release of 2018 Census data. The first release of data today, 23 September, includes key data on population, regional growth, the number of homes and the size of different ethnic groups in New Zealand. Data from the 2018 Census will support the ...
Minister for Statistics James Shaw today announced a public consultation on a proposed algorithm charter for government agencies. The charter has been developed by the Government Chief Data Steward in response to growing calls for more transparency in government use of data. Computer algorithms – procedures or formulas for solving ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, Climate Change Minister James Shaw and visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte co-hosted a business roundtable in Auckland this morning focused on working together to address climate change. “The Netherlands is an important partner for New Zealand. We share a strong agricultural history. Sustainable agribusiness and ...
The Government is taking action to build an inclusive economy where more of us receive our fair share at work and businesses can compete on great products and services, not undercutting wages and conditions, Immigration and Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. Two consultations launched today seek feedback ...
The future for New Zealand’s threatened indigenous freshwater fish looks brighter with the passing of the Conservation (Indigenous Freshwater Fish) Amendment Bill in Parliament today said Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “Until now, our freshwater fish legislation has been 20 years out of date. We have lacked effective tools to ...
At 1.30pm tomorrow, hundreds of thousands of Kiwis will join about 65 million people around the globe in ShakeOut, the world’s biggest earthquake drill. The annual drill is to remind people of the right action to take during an earthquake which is to Drop, Cover, Hold, and to practise their ...
Kiwis are benefiting from higher wage growth and low inflation under the Coalition Government. Stats NZ data out today shows the rise in the cost of living remains low, as annual Consumers Price Index (CPI) inflation fell to 1.5% in September from 1.7% in June. “The low inflation comes as ...
New Zealand’s economic strength and resilience has been recognised in a major update on the state of the global economy. The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook released overnight shows a reduced global growth forecast over the next two years as issues like the US-China trade war and Brexit take hold. ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little has today introduced a new Bill to prevent terrorism and support the de-radicalisation of New Zealanders returning from overseas. The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill gives the New Zealand Police the ability to apply to the High Court to impose control orders on New Zealanders who ...
A Bill that proposes targeted changes to simplify the processes for Māori land owners when engaging with the Māori Land Court has had its First Reading today. “The approach taken by the Government is to ensure that the protection of Māori land remains a priority as we seek to improve ...
Let me first thank all the new unionists and members in the room. There is nothing more important to improving people’s working lives than people making the decision to care, to get on board and help, to take up the reins and get involved. Congratulations to you. You bring the ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark has signed a certificate exempting the activity of engine testing at Whenuapai Airbase from the Resource Management Act 1991. The Act gives the Minister of Defence the power to exempt activities for the purposes of national security. The certificate will mean the recent Environment Court ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced New Zealand will join the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action while attending APEC meetings in Chile. The objective of the 39 member Coalition is to share information and promote action to tackle climate change. It was formed in April this year, in ...
Ladies and gentlemen, NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff, members of respective unions – thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This might be preaching to the choir, but the importance of trade unions in New Zealand’s historical arch is difficult to understate. And it is my belief that ...
"Let’s start by acknowledging that it has been a huge year. " Police Association Annual Conference James Cook Grand Chancellor Hotel Wellington Nau mai, haere mai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, ka nui te mihi, ki a koutou katoa. President of the Police Association, Chris Cahill; Members of the Association and ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and Minister of Defence Ron Mark have announced the New Zealand Government’s decision to again deploy a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 (P-3) maritime patrol aircraft to support the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. New ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand continues to have serious concerns for peace and stability in north-east Syria. “Recent reports that hundreds of ISIS-affiliated families have fled from a camp are deeply concerning from a humanitarian and security perspective”, Mr Peters says. “While we acknowledge Turkey’s domestic security ...
Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor is warning travelling Kiwis to be vigilant as the high-season for the crop-eating brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is under way. “We’re on high alert to stop BMSB arriving in NZ. The high season runs until April 30 and we’ve strengthened our measures to stop stink ...
The Government is moving swiftly to change the law to improve the welfare and pastoral care of students living in university halls of residence and other tertiary hostels. Cabinet has agreed to several changes, including creating a new mandatory Code of Practice that sets out the duty of pastoral care ...
The Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage has launched a new comprehensive trapping guide for community trappers to help them protect our native birds, plants and other wildlife, at Zealandia in Wellington today. ‘A practical guide to trapping’, has been developed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), and was launched during ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter welcomes PHARMAC’s move to improve access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs). PHARMAC has today announced it will fund the full cost of Mirena and Jaydess for anyone seeking long term contraception, lifting previous restrictions on access to Mirena. “I welcome women having greater choices ...
The Government has approved the next stage of a major redevelopment of Taranaki Base Hospital, which will deliver new and improved facilities for patients. Health Minister Dr David Clark has announced details of a $300 million dollar project to build a new East Wing at the New Plymouth hospital. It ...
Extra funding will allow Rural Support Trusts to help farming families, says Minister for Rural Communities and Agriculture Damien O’Connor. “I know that rural families are worried about some of the challenges facing them, including the ongoing uncertainty created by the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. “Those concerns sit alongside ongoing worries ...
Thank you for the opportunity to be here to present certificates to the 16 graduates who have completed a beekeeping course delivered by the Howard League. Let us start by acknowledging Auckland Prison’s Deputy Prison Director Tom Sherlock, and Acting Assistant Regional Commissioner of Corrections Northern Region Scott Walker - ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson leaves this weekend to attend the APEC Finance Ministers meeting in Santiago, Chile. Discussions between APEC Finance Ministers at the meeting will include the effects of the current global economic uncertainty, risks for APEC economies and sustainable development of the region. While at APEC Grant Robertson ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says for Pacific people, language can be a source of strength. It can help ground us and give us confidence. When we speak them, our languages provide us with an immediate and intimate access to our identity and our story - and ...
The Coalition Government has announced an action plan to improve the wellbeing of disabled New Zealanders by addressing inequalities in play, active recreation and sport. The initiative includes training to develop a workforce that understands the needs of children and young people with a range of impairments, advocacy for fit ...
The construction sector is being freed up to allow more homes to be built more quickly as the Government cuts through some of the red tape of the Building Act. “Every New Zealander deserves a warm, dry, safe home and old inefficiencies in the Building Act make building slow and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed further details on the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s visit to New Zealand next month. Their Royal Highnesses will visit New Zealand from 17-23 November – their third joint visit to New Zealand and first in four years. They arrive in Auckland ...
Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth and Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, heads to Thailand today to attend the final Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial meeting, as negotiations enter their final stages. “The RCEP Agreement would anchor New Zealand in a regional agreement that covers 16 countries, ...
Pacific young people living in the Hawke’s Bay, Southland and Otago regions will have access to support services that have proved successful in helping young people find new earning and learning opportunities. “Tupu Aotearoa is about changing Pacific young peoples’ lives. Our young people are talented, they are smart, they ...
Introduction As the Minister for ACC I thank you all for the work that you do supporting New Zealanders in their literally most vulnerable moments. From those who hold people’s lives in their hands, to the people who research technique, technology and trends, your work is highly valued. A special ...
Notes prepared for speeches in Christchurch – Wednesday 9 October 2019 Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There ...
Minister of Health Dr David Clark and Associate Minister of Health Peeni Henare say this year’s World Mental Health Day theme is a reminder of why the Government’s work on mental health is so important. “This year the World Federation for Mental Health has made suicide prevention the main theme ...
Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni will represent the government at Australia’s Meeting of Cultural Ministers in Adelaide this week. “This year’s meeting is special because New Zealand is expected to become an International Member of the Meeting of Cultural Ministers at this Australian forum,” Carmel Sepuloni said. “The meeting is an opportunity to ...
The Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service has resolved 608 insurance and EQC claims in its first year in operation, Minister Megan Woods has announced. The government service, which celebrates its first birthday today, provides a one stop shop to help Cantabrians still battling to get their homes repaired or rebuilt ...
Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There has been an increasing amount of attention paid to the outlook ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Clayton Mitchell denies accusations around a night out, food insecurity on the rise, and UK PM Boris Johnson secures deal with dubious prospects.NZ First MP Clayton Mitchell has got himself in a spot of late night bother in a Tauranga ...
As the rugby world wrestles with the new reality that players can, and will, be dismissed for accidental contact with an opponent’s head it's worth pondering the fate of three All Blacks not selected for the Ireland quarterfinal. ...
A new exhibition in Raetihi offers a rare opportunity to see early, colonialism-focused works by Wellington artist Barbara Strathdee, writes Pat Baskett. ...
Italy's Ambassador to New Zealand Fabrizio Marcelli responds to Newsroom stories - and The Detail podcasts - questioning the price of imported tinned tomatoes in light of reports of slave labour in the industry in his home country. ...
A measles outbreak in Samoa suspected to be responsible for the death of a one-year-old was “inevitable”, according to an expert who thinks NZ could have prevented it. ...
The big shock of the results in the weekend’s local elections was the unseating of Justin Lester as Wellington mayor. We invited him to pen a sort-of-valedictory.My three years as the mayor of Wellington ended on Sunday and I will forever remain grateful for the experience.I’m also acutely aware of ...
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, Alex Braae reviews a night spent on the Intercity overnight sleeper bus getting from Wellington to Auckland.The most important thing to understand about long haul bus travel is that it’s all about getting exactly ...
Britain and the EU have agreed new terms for divorce. But with the Conservatives’ Northern Irish support party unimpressed, can the British prime minister at last put an end to the interminable shitstorm?At last, a deal! A palpable deal! A path out of the endless brain-melt!“Where there is a will, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Government sources insist shock jock Alan Jones didn’t drive Thursday’s announcement of a cash payment to drought-striken farmers about to be turfed off their household support because they’d reached the four year time limit. They ...
The proposition that global warming driven by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a risk that needs to be dealt with has achieved a large measure of agreement among policymakers. The proposition that it has to be dealt with right now and at great cost has no such consensus.One point ...
A bill to improve the pastoral care of students living in halls of residence has flown through its first reading in Parliament, thanks to cross-party support. ...
In this week's MediaRoom column: could MediaWorks close its TV operations altogether? And the Herald restructures its newsroom to remove a layer of management and shake up its investigative team. ...
Twenty-five young people who represent the future of the Asia-New Zealand relationship have been acknowledged as ‘ones to watch’, by the Asia New Zealand Foundation Te Whītau Tūhono. ...
The taboo that surrounds immigration and our refugee qouta, are two issues rising in New Zealand that need to start being given attention to challenge the fruit loops of the far left. ...
Winston Peters has been ordered to answer questions about whether he received a letter from MSD asking him to check details of his living arrangements, three years before discovering he'd been overpaid. ...
To celebrate 10 years since the start of New Zealand’s Next Top Model, our reality TV podcast The Real Pod is going to recap it week by week. Here are 10 of the most incredible revelations from the very first episode. 1) Colin Mathura-Jeffree was an emo kidThis was the moment ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Terrorism bill Lydia Lewis and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Security expert backs new terror law proposal ...
Occupiers of the disputed land at Ihumātao have been shut out of talks with the government about finding a resolution, saying they haven’t had any direct contact with ministers in more than a month, writes RNZ‘s Te Aniwa Hurihanganu and Meriana Johnsen.The Māori King announced in September mana whenua had ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bronwyn Fancourt, Adjunct Research Fellow, University of New England Feral cats are wreaking havoc on our native wildlife, eating more than a billion animals across Australia every year. But managing feral cats and reducing their impacts on our threatened species is challenging, ...
Later this month, the national commemoration of the New Zealand Wars, known as Te Pūtake o Te Riri, is to be held in Taranaki. Local community activist Vivian Hutchinson looks at how a history of conflict has shaped our sense of citizenship and describes how some people in Taranaki are ...
New Zealand First MP Clayton Mitchell is demanding an apology from security guards who booted him out of a Tauranga bar on Saturday night, describing them as politically-motivated "buffoons". ...
New Zealand First MP Clayton Mitchell is demanding an apology from security guards who booted him out of a Tauranga bar on Saturday night, describing them as politically-motivated "buffoons". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jerry Zhou, Lecturer, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.Does chewing gum stay inside you for years? – Olivia, aged 12, Australia. Great question, Olivia! ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liam Elphick, Adjunct Research Fellow, Law School, University of Western Australia In March last year, Frances McDormand won the Academy Award for Best Actress. In her acceptance speech, she drew attention to the female nominees in the room and left them with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peggy Kern, Associate professor, University of Melbourne The Portal follows six individuals who undergo a personal transformation from trauma and struggle to calmness, self-acceptance, and compassion towards others. These personal changes are intertwined with contemplations about the broader struggles facing humanity and ...
Many hill country farmers could be locked into low-return agriculture by government policy, with little chance of breaking the cycle, according to the main meat producers' lobby, Beef + Lamb New Zealand. ...
The Southern DHB has apologised and pledged to change practices after a report into a young woman’s complaint about treatment which included being stripped naked and left unattended in seclusion for 12 hours. Here she tells her story.I’d forgotten the Health and Disability Commission was about to publish its report. ...
In the Chief Ombudsman’s latest Annual Report, contacts for advice increased 29 percent, while more use was being made of guidance material, including the 23 new or updated guides that were published in the 2018/19 year. ...
Fletcher's new offsite home manufacturing facility could be producing two homes a day within a couple of years. But for the moment this high-tech factory is underwhelming. ...
National's leader Simon Bridges says his party will pull its support for the new anti-terrorism legislation if the minister doesn't meet with them next week and start negotiating in good faith. ...
For the latest episode of On the Rag, notorious prude Alex Casey enlisted the help of sex toy expert and pleasure therapist Teddy Curle. It sounds a bit like ingredients for an avant-garde stir-fry recipe. Cauliflower. Kūmara. A jar of Vegemite. But what it actually is, sex toy expert Teddy Curle ...
It is deeply concerning that the state of our marine environment has not improved in the last three years. Resilient coasts and oceans are essential to New Zealanders' health and wealth, so urgent action is needed to address the decline. ...
Something’s crowning this Christmas, and it isn’t King Richard of Aldovia in his favourite tiara. Tara Ward looks at what Netflix’s new movie A Christmas Prince: A Royal Baby could mean for us all. Yesterday Netflix announced they’re about to give birth to the third instalment in the legendary series A Christmas ...
In a new initiative, Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM) New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence is celebrating and recognising the careers of three Māori leaders and visionaries, who have a long history of bringing about major social change ...
The Environmental Defence Society (EDS) has welcomed the publication by the Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ of Our Marine Environment 2019 , the latest in the reports on the state of our environment. The report is available here . ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Campbell Brown, CEO of PredictHQ.This week we talk to Campbell Brown, the CEO ...
The Government has today released its discussion paper ‘ Designing a Fair Pay Agreements System ’ providing detail of what proposed law for Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs) could include. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Ruppanner, Associate Professor in Sociology and Co-Director of The Policy Lab, University of Melbourne The polls were wrong in the last US and Australian federal elections. Hillary Clinton was favoured to win at a margin of 85% to Donald Trump’s 15%. ...
Today is World Ecolabel Day and to mark the occasion New Zealand’s premier ecolabel has released a study showing the powerful environmental effect of ecolabelled products. ...
Family First's continued fight against attempts by the government's Charities Registration Board to deregister them is set to continue in the Court of Appeal in Wellington next week (Tues & Wed 22-23 Oct). In a significant development, the Charity Law ...
The actions of New Zealanders on land are increasingly harming the ocean’s ability to sustain life. Alex Braae looks at a worrying new government paper on the marine environment.What’s all this then?A new report from the Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ has sounded alarming warning about state of ...
Farmers for Positive Change (F4PC) congratulates environmental, recreation and public health groups for coming to a united position on the Government’s freshwater reform and finds significant areas of agreement with the Healthy Water, Healthy Future joint ...
In time for Auckland Artweek, Eloise Callister-Baker opens the door on a cluster of small Auckland art spaces, once off the beaten track and ephemeral, now finding cunning new ways to adapt and survive in the CBD property market. Auckland’s terrific documentor of art openings, Sait Akkirman of artdiary.co.nz, provides ...
Right to Life asks, why the Special Abortion Legislation Bill Committee is continuing to discriminate by refusing to hear the 2,740 submitters who have requested the right to make a ten minute oral submission on the highly contentious abortion Bill conceived ...
Winston Peters is calling on an old mate to give evidence in his landmark court case against government agencies over a leak of his personal superannuation details. ...
Government ministers are exulting over how the NZ economy is performing— and their own work in making it stronger. David Clark, standing in for Grant Robertson in Parliament on Tuesday, rejoiced at how solid the “underlying fundamentals of the NZ economy are”. He said the government accounts for the June ...
A campaign to ban the Forced Swim Test in New Zealand is in line with public opinion, according to a new survey commissioned by the New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society (NZAVS) and SAFE. ...
Environment, health, recreation, and water infrastructure groups have come together to support four essential policies to save fresh water in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Public Health Association, Forest & Bird, Fish & Game New Zealand, Environmental ...
"So many of our children are being violently harmed. Their innocence stolen and their bodies used for the sexual gratification and financial gain of those involved in the dark world of paedophillia. These innocent children are voiceless; nobody ...
There must be consternation within the upper ranks of the Labour Party at the performance of some of the Ministers in the coalition government. Every time the government looks like making some positive progress, one or other of these errant Ministers can be ...
Responding to Massey University’s decision to cancel the upcoming ‘Feminism 2020’ event, Free Speech Coalition member Melissa Derby (who had been scheduled to speak at the event) says: ...
New Zealand First's youth wing is at odds with leader Winston Peters over pill-testing at festivals and is working to overturn the party's position. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Byron, Lecturer in Psychology, University of Wollongong I am in year 11 and I like to listen to music when I am studying, but my dad says that my brain is spending only half of its time studying and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philippa England, Senior Lecturer, Griffith Law School, Griffith University Good planning needs integrity, and public participation should play a role in that. But a row over a high-rise development proposed for suburban Brisbane shows what happens when the public feels left out ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Mathmann, Lecturer (Assistant Professor), Queensland University of Technology When you wander down most supermarket aisles are you befuddled by too much choice? Do you feel overwhelmed when comparing new phone deals, insurance offers, energy provider plans? There’s a lot of research ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip C. Almond, Emeritus Professor in the History of Religious Thought, The University of Queensland In a speech in Albury last month, Prime Minister Scott Morrison told his audience that he was praying for rain in drought-affected areas. “I pray for that ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Prefab housing factory opened amid huge need, worrying new measles developments, and public shows common sense on drug testing.A new factory has been opened to produce building materials, which if scaled up could have a significant impact on construction time ...
The Police Association says the Police Minister will be breaking his promise if he doesn't include staff turnover in the government's police staffing target. ...
Open mike 30/09/2012 
Jo Swinson is doing even worse at this Being Sensible lark that I'd thought. I've just become aware of the following utterance
Today's IPCA report of police criminality: a police officer unalwfully tasered a fleeing suspect who posed no threat to anyone:The police watchdog has found an officer unlawfully tasered an Auckland man who broke his ankle jumping off a balcony to escape arrest. [...] To avoid arrest, the man jumped over ...18 hours ago
Media Statement for Immediate Release 16th October 2019 “Fake News” from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers Despite comments from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers—Herald Newspaper Tuesday Oct 15th–there is very little evidence ...19 hours ago
Would You Buy A Used Propaganda Video From This Man? Bridges and the National Party’s strategists have discovered that the ideas and attitudes considered acceptable by today’s editors and journalists are no longer enforceable. The rise and rise of the Internet and the social media platforms it spawned means that ...20 hours ago
John MacCormick Over the last 40 years, New Zealanders – and people in other countries – have experienced big changes in the jobs they do and where they live and work. These changes include: a decline in manufacturing jobs an increase in jobs in ‘information-intensive’ industries (which are better paid ...20 hours ago
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz There is a lot of discussion on the benefits of ...2 days ago
Thanks to a report from the Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security following a complaint by Nicky Hager, we have come to find out that the SIS illegally spied on Mr. Hager on behalf of the NZDF after publication of Hager’s 2011 book, Other People’s Wars. The NZDF justified ...3 days ago
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING MYTH 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate. FACT: The HadCRUT3 surface temperature index, produced by the Hadley Centre of the UK Met Office and the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, shows warming to 1878, cooling to 1911, ...3 days ago
The Royal Commission on abuse in care is very significant for the disability community. For many decades last century, thousands of disabled children, and adults who managed to survive, were locked away from families and communities. This was not for anything they had done, but for the perceived threat their ...3 days ago
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...6 days ago
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...1 week ago
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is predicting a hard Brexit for the United Kingdom, as he believes British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won’t be able to negotiate terms before the October 30 deadline. The Minister, who was one of the first to publicly come out and predict British voters would leave ...2 days ago
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...3 days ago
Government Ministers today welcomed the release of a marine environment report highlighting the four key issues affecting our oceans, estuaries and coastlines. The release underlines the importance of government proposals to combat climate pollution, ensure clean freshwater, protect biodiversity, make land use more sustainable, and reduce waste and plastic. Environment ...14 hours ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Clayton Mitchell denies accusations around a night out, food insecurity on the rise, and UK PM Boris Johnson secures deal with dubious prospects.NZ First MP Clayton Mitchell has got himself in a spot of late night bother in a Tauranga ...29 mins ago
As the rugby world wrestles with the new reality that players can, and will, be dismissed for accidental contact with an opponent’s head it's worth pondering the fate of three All Blacks not selected for the Ireland quarterfinal. ...2 hours ago
This week's biggest-selling NZ books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan NZ bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias. ...2 hours ago
A new exhibition in Raetihi offers a rare opportunity to see early, colonialism-focused works by Wellington artist Barbara Strathdee, writes Pat Baskett. ...2 hours ago
Italy's Ambassador to New Zealand Fabrizio Marcelli responds to Newsroom stories - and The Detail podcasts - questioning the price of imported tinned tomatoes in light of reports of slave labour in the industry in his home country. ...2 hours ago
A measles outbreak in Samoa suspected to be responsible for the death of a one-year-old was “inevitable”, according to an expert who thinks NZ could have prevented it. ...2 hours ago
Plans for Facebook’s proposed “stablecoin”, Libra, appear to be unraveling as awareness about its adverse effects grows. ...2 hours ago
Explosives were used to blast a millions-of-years-old rock overhang in a national park. ...2 hours ago
Medical issues, party leaks and a surprise resignation have taken their toll - but Winston Peters argues his party is as strong as ever. ...2 hours ago
What's different about what Donald Trump did this time to finally snap Democrats into action and launch an impeachment inquiry? ...3 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Government sources insist shock jock Alan Jones didn’t drive Thursday’s announcement of a cash payment to drought-striken farmers about to be turfed off their household support because they’d reached the four year time limit. They ...7 hours ago
E tū members in cleaning and security are welcoming the Government’s call for consultation on the development of Fair Pay Agreements. ...11 hours ago
A bill to improve the pastoral care of students living in halls of residence has flown through its first reading in Parliament, thanks to cross-party support. ...11 hours ago
In this week's MediaRoom column: could MediaWorks close its TV operations altogether? And the Herald restructures its newsroom to remove a layer of management and shake up its investigative team. ...11 hours ago
Judith Collins is filling the blackhole that is National’s climate policy with social media posts appealing to science deniers. ...11 hours ago
A Tom Sainsbury snapchat celebrating the genius of Dan Brown. ...16 hours ago
Many hill country farmers could be locked into low-return agriculture by government policy, with little chance of breaking the cycle, according to the main meat producers' lobby, Beef + Lamb New Zealand. ...17 hours ago
Sky Television's shareholders have approved its deal to retain the Sanzaar rugby rights for an undisclosed sum, making it unconditional. ...17 hours ago
Fletcher's new offsite home manufacturing facility could be producing two homes a day within a couple of years. But for the moment this high-tech factory is underwhelming. ...18 hours ago
Principals nervously wait for the final outcomes of the biggest education system review in 30 years. ...1 day ago
David Cunliffe is putting out a new speech today.
Hopefully something that starts to show what Labour-Green economic management might look like.
Cool. Where?
Laingholm Community Hall 2:30 pm.
Thanks, Micky. Pity I’ll be working then.
If someone going along would be kind enough to give us the after-action report đ
It’s here.
Thanks Draco for making this brilliant speech available to us. What other current politician could match such well constructed and inspiring words? Shearer will try, but come nowhere close. Imagine someone like Key attempting to deliver a speech of this quality! Laughable! Here is a way ahead, full of promise and policy. How is it that a man of such exceedingly high intelligence is not leading the Labour opposition?
I guess the media will not notice this event of today!
I enjoyed David’s comments about neo-liberalism.
“Neo-Liberalism is based on the idea that itâs a dog-eat-dog world. Neo-Liberalism is based on the idea that greed is good, that weâre all locked in an economic life-and-death-struggle with each other. Neo-Liberalism says that compassion is for suckers. Neo-Liberalism says that if the world is going to the dogs, it might as well be the top dogs. Indeed, to borrow from Oliver Stoneâs Wall Street, not only is greed good, âitâs legal.âÂ
No it’s not. It’s just more BaU and we know, or we should anyway, that BaU doesn’t work as the increasing poverty in this country proves.
Nah mate I think your judgement is too harsh. NZ politics hasn’t seen this kind of identification and analysis of neoliberal failures for a long time.
Does it suggest the brand new paradigms that we need? Nope it does fall short there. Mimicking a strategy that scandanavian countries successfully used during a massive resource, financial and energy boom is not necessarily going to work for us, in this time.
And that’s where the likes of us come in to push and educate so that the citizens force the pollies to take heed. And to realise also that the pollies are never going to accomplish that much of the change required.
Go David Cunliffe !
It’s probably the first truly definitive attack on neo-liberalism world wide.
The problem with labels in general is they detract from the core thinking that derived them.
Add a couple of years and it becomes the label that drives them, when that happens it’s time to whatch out for the “Evil Ones”.
interest politics? minority politics? particular politics? singular politics? classification politics?
equation politics
-Excalibur (like the palm of our hands)
oops, forgot the categorical imperative in hurry-Kant
(work in progress)
now, Soren Kierkegaard; there is a thoughtful man.
I look forward to the posts on Kiwiblog and Whaleoil condemning Aussie talkback host Alan Jones’s latest vicious attack on Julia Gillard. Won’t be long now …
You hate Alan Jones too? Then you might like to watch him getting publicly humiliated on television by Chopper Read….
NOT!
Syria
http://kiaoragaza.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/rebels-make-gains-in-blunting-syrian-air-attacks/
After months of being massacred from the sky, rebel forces are encroaching on the borders of at least one government controlled airfield.
This has created a conundrum for the rebel fighters. Being close to the airfield allows them to shoot at these aircraft when they are the most vulnerable to light weapons, either on the ground, or at taking off and landing.
The rebels say they will overun the base eventually. But what should they do with the aircraft?
Destroy them?
Or use them against the regime?
And what would the Western Powers do if the revolutionary forces get hold of jet aircraft?
Already Western Powers have threatened to intervene if Assad’s gas weapons threaten to fall into rebel hands.
Western leaders have also expressed fears that if effective anti-aircraft weapons, particularly any potent shoulder fired anti aircraft heat seeking missiles, got into the hands of the rebel fighters that this could change the balance of power in the Middle East.
Because of these fears the West have been content to let Assad bomb and strafe defenceless Syrian suburbs and towns without mercy.
The huge civilian casualties doesn’t stir them but the thought of powerful anti aircraft weapons in the hands of the “Arab Street” sends a chill down their spine. The threat being that such a change in the balance of power could spiral beyond their control ending the long standing Western Imperium in the Middle East, toppleing all the well armed despotic puppet states that are the bolster to that power.
The consequences could be far reaching
Trouble is, Jenny, they do nothing about Israel’s continual bombing of Gaza; it’s a bit much to expect them to do anything about Syria.
Sad, but true, Morrissey.
Jenny you were doing so well there for a while too, focussing on the local issues like PoAL.
Perhaps keep focus on what you understand clearly, and on which will have greater impact here in NZ.
I’m sure all the innocent Syrians executed by the FSA Death Squads (Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi, US/UK/French sponsored), would not miss your inability to comprehend what is nearer to the actual situtation in Syria, which pretty much means you condone their deaths!
I find it fascinating that Jenny is trying to position the Western military powers as being at least tacit backers of Assad. When all the arms and funding going to the foreign fighters who have infiltrated the “Free Syria Army” is coming through countries who have close military and financial ties with the US and UK.
As you state muzza, including Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and also Turkey.
You forgot Iran.
Yep. Iran and Syria have very close ties. If the US and Israel is to increase their military and financial leverage over Iran, taking Syria down will be very helpful.
Suicide bombing against Syrian military HQ caught on camera
Notice how the van carrying the explosives is still being driven as it is detonated. Suicide bombings like this mark an ugly turning point in this conflict, and demonstrate the influence that foreign jihadi and islamist fighters are having on the tactics of the Free Syrian Army.
I’d say that was accidental. That was definitely not the place anyone would want to set off a bomb.
Poor bastards, Thanks Netenyahu, ya set another one off.
It’s his bloody words they would’ve been “programmed” by society too watch for.
In a moment of loss they spoke to the Taliban, and what would they be saying?
More racist and Islamaphobic bullshit from you CV.
CV, where is your evidence of all the weapons and support you lyingly claim that the rebels are getting from the West? If the Syrian rebels were getting all the support and weapons you claim, they wouldn’t need suicide bombers.
In an asymmetric conflict between two heavily unequal forces, on one hand a powerful conventional modern army and on the other a poorly armed insurgent force – in desperation, the much weaker military force finding themselves at a serious military disadvantage in munitions and equipment, have resorted to suicide attacks. Examples of this can be cited in almost every major military conflict. In the invasion of Lebanon by Israel in 2006 suicide attacks have been cited as the main factor in the Israeli conventional army’s defeat at the hands of the paramilitary forces of Hezbollah. Hezbollah found through bitter experience that, in that heavily asymmetric conflict, if they sent ten fighters against a similar number of IDF, that they would lose 9 out of 10 Lebanese volunteers for 1 Israeli soldier, (if that). With the use of suicide bomber volunteers, that statistic could be reversed. These attacks were so effective, it was said that a column of modern Merkava tanks could be halted at the sound of an approaching dirt-bike.
Most of Israel’s casualties in that war were Merkava tank crews.
As a result in Lebanon these desperate suicide attacks against the Israeli invaders became known as “the poor man’s nuclear bomb“.
The reason this asymetric tactic was called the poor man’s nuclear weapon, is because while a professional army can afford to pay soldiers to kill for them. Professional armies can’t afford to pay soldiers enough to die for them.
Despite the racist depiction of this phenomenon as the result of fanatic religious fundamentalism unique to Islamists. In extremis it has also been practiced by largely secular forces as well. The mainly secular insurgents of Tamil Eelam of Sri Lanka relied heavily on this tactic.
In Syrian history, Jules Jammal a Christian Syrian naval officer who grew up near Homs was a defender in the invasion of the Sinai Peninsula by the combined Western forces of Israel, Britain and France. In 1956 Jules Jammal volunteered to become a suicide bomber, to sink a french war ship.
Jammal is considered a hero in both Syria and Egypt, receiving official military honours from both governments on his sacrifice.
For his actions Jamal was also awarded the medal of St Peter and St Paul from the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch.
Streets in Syria and Egypt are still named after this Arab Christian hero.
Unfortunately due to the sheer inhuman military brutality of the Assad regime and it’s reliance on it’s fully modernly equipped army and airforce to suppress the rebellion, pitted against the woeful lack of powerful weapons by the insurgents, this desperate tactic may become more common in Syria.
Sadly true, which is why society has to speek Life Positive messages.
War and Destruction will only amplify the situation.
They’d be better off building a “Homeless” muslim compund and trying to help these people.
But who’d trust them?
Not me at this point that’d be 4 sure.
The Christian ethic of Universal Understanding and acceptance has a lot of merit for the middle east in general.
I’d love to see some links to what you’re saying re suicide attacks against tanks by Hezbollah. especially the motorcycle thing. I’m not saying it’s not true, but it does seem unlikely. usually you’d use shaped charges or ambush with rpgs against tanks, neither of which things Hezbollah are short of.
Hezbollah are a serious outfit of course. The fear is that they will be getting involved in Syria soon, deeply uncomfortable with the rise of wahhibist organisation like AQ in the insurgency.
They disable the track with hand grenades, and they are charging a tank, one way trip usually.
And then shoot the rpgs’s etc
đ the ‘tide is turning’
Jenny said:
Keep pushing for and glamourising your war.
But what is happening in Syria is a proxy war and a foreign invasion, not a popular uprising. Unless its a popular uprising which isn’t that popular because the bloody thing has been going on for well over a full year now.
As for evidence of where the FSA is getting support from, I have posted multiple links previously, which you have patiently ignored. The conflict in Syria is essentially a power struggle and proxy war driven on by foreign powers and foreign fighters. That’s what you’re supporting Jenny.
Let’s try this now:
Read more: http://world.time.com/2012/09/18/syrias-secular-and-islamist-rebels-who-are-the-saudis-and-the-qataris-arming/#ixzz27vx9txpb
Still no effective anti-aircraft weapons
Thanks for this CV.
Finally, you are starting to supply links to more than outright propaganda and lies, or half baked Washington beltway gossip and ignorant and bigoted smears. Maybe you are beginning to get an inkling into the real nature of this people’s revolt. Here’s hoping anyway.
Private Saudi and Qatari backers with some assistance from within the Turkish state, are trying to buy influence among the revolutionaries. Playing favourites, giving support to some and not others. Trying to influence the out come of the revolution.
There is no surprise here.
They realise that the rebels are on the right side of history, but they want to influence the rebels eventual victory, to retrieve the most gain for themselves. However their jockeying for position could be doing more harm than good to the resistance, and rather than end the war, prolong it.
Apart from the disorganising effect of the “control room”, in supplying weapons to some and not others. Even the support they have given to their favourites is parsimonious at best.
(The FSA is nominally headed by Riad al-Asâaad, who is based in Turkey. Neither Asâaad nor his chief FSA rival General Mustafa Sheikh are party to the Istanbul control room that supplies and arms rebels who operate under the FSA banner. The two men each have their own sources of funding and are independently distributing money and weapons to selected FSA units.)
WIMP -WALLOPING: Two Jackals tear apart David Shearer
Beleaguered Labour Party leader David Shearer made another dreadful, stuttering, bumbling, wandery appearance on TV3’s The Nation yesterday. In the face of a couple of aggressive young right wing journalists, Shearer was unconvincing and hesitant throughout. He often seemed confused and, fatally, seemed to be woolly-minded about economic policy and currency questions. This weakness only fed the aggression of his interrogators.
At one point, Shearer said, quite rightly, that the National Standards for primary and intermediate schools were not credible data.
“It’s just the UNIONS that say that!” scoffed the Fairfax journalist John Hartevelt.
Now, this was a perfect opening for a strong and confident politician to tear Hartevelt a new one; he could have pointed out that the group that Hartevelt sniffingly dismissed as “the unions” is actually comprised of virtually all of the nation’s teachers and educational theorists. In other words, “the unions” are people who, unlike John Hartevelt, are serious, informed and credible when it comes to talking about education.
But Shearer’s response was a lame, “That’s not true,” not followed up by any argument at all.
On Radio New Zealand National’s Mediawatch programme this morning, Hartevelt is currently getting a grilling by Colin Peacock over his shoddy release of the ropey National Standards figures. When he is contradicted and challenged, Hartevelt is anything but authoritative. What a pity the Labour Party lacks a leader prepared or able to do the same thing.
god, that’s depressing.
He didn’t even need to defend the unions, he just needed to say “Look, John, you yourself have stated that the data doesn’t reflect quality, isn’t moderated, and can’t be used to draw meaningful conclusions between different schools. So obviously that’s incorrect.”
But that would involve being quick off the mark and bolshy enough to defend your viewpoints.
And he should have defended the unions at the same time: “let’s not forget that our teacher unions were amongst the first experts to correctly point out the glaring flaws in National Standards, well before many other commentators caught up with the facts.”
Looking forward to hearing Shearer defending himself when his speechwriter gets on to it in that fantastic newsletter called “Shearer Stays”, oops, “Shearer Says”.
I’m calling “this week we held the government to account on National Standards data, and continued to champion the rights of parents and teachers and communities to do what’s best for their children and their children’s children.”
I wonder if he’s figured out why the sickness bene on the roof story was a gift to right wing nut jobs yet.
OK, so he stood around and looked the other way while Hartevelt put the boot into working people, but at least he managed not to spit in anyone’s face this time.
Yes I too watched in numb horror, Has no-one in the Labour party worked it out yet??? Or maybe they have. BUT when we have a pull apart after the 2014 debacle that will be the election where the NZ Labour Party comes a woeful 3rd with fuck all seats behind a confident Green Party and A thieving NACT party in for the final round of theft and incompetence.
We will be able to point the finger at OLD and PAST IT politicians clinging on with their fingertips. Pushing their own private agendas, just so they can suck at the public teat for another 3 years where they will have to do fuck all to get the money they are supposed to EARN!
Now we all know who these old and past it ones are, so a little nudging in to the retirement rather than defeat.camp would be good.
And will someone please please point out to shearer and his backers (Robertson) included is that he is not, and never will be, Prime Minister material, and neither are they, simply by the damage they have let happen to NZ, and it’s economy. By their self interest.
Again, refer to today’s speech by the enlightened Cunliffe – compare and contrast with Shearer and you will wonder what the hell has gone wrong with the Labour Party!
I think the “Delegation” style of leadership has definite merit
While David Shearer hasn’t hit his straps yet, the example they set for NZ is a formidable one.
Anyone of 5 different people should be able to step into his shoes without any qualms by the end of this year.
Which five do you have in mind? I can think of two with enough profile, skill and experience for the job but not five. I can’t even get as far as three.
Realistically I guess it’ll be all the major portfolios or shadow portfolios.
Shearer has to carry the discussion regarding the exchange rate. I throw my hands up there has been an identified issue yet all the solutions are to give the responsibility to the RB for the solutions. If they have some ides how to correct the issue them come out and inform us. I think either that they have no idea of a solution or the consequences are as bad as the what they are trying to solve.
So by expecting the RB to fix the problem who directs them, especially as DS does not want “politicians to run the exchange rate.” !!! “Good grief” as Charlie Brown would say. After the GCSB being unrestricted in their actions now DS wants another govt. dept. in the RB to also be unrestricted.
True, it comes back to that bleedin “Open Market” crap, needs to rethink that one pronto
US military documents categorise Assange and Wikileaks as “enemies of the United States”
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/us-calls-assange-enemy-of-state-20120927-26m7s.html#ixzz27cjH9qSk
CV 7
On radionz this morning a report on food sharing and political discussion in the USA has presented an interesting picture of USA repressive attitudes. The group has a slogan food not bombs and this is making authorities extremely sensitive, saying that they can approve food distribution but there must be no banners with political messages. In fact one political commentator said they were a subversive influence that was undermining the USAs ability to get citizens to respond to possible attacks on the country from its enemies.
They started off giving out food, vegetarian and vegan only, in the park where the Occupy groups began their protest. Free speech and free food are at the least embarrassing, particularly to very liberal politicians who are quite negative because it draws attention to their inadequacies, and at the most regarded as highly dangerous by the fear and war exponents in the USA who want to occupy the hearts and minds of their people.
It’s a serious problem. 21st century NZ is going to have to walk a fine line between the interests and politics of two great Pacific powers. China and the USA. I’ve got little faith that our current crew can get it right for our magnificent, but very small, country.
Maybe. The unexpected is usually what happens though, and in retrospect it is seen as inevitable. Like the rise of Prussia – or England or Japan for that matter. Somewhere out there !
yes, and no. nothing new under the sun
Oh my giddy aunt. Nutmegs! Seriously, Assange has reason to be worried…
Graeme Edgler on Public Address has an intriguing dissection of the charge brought to the Police over the “spying” on Kim Dotcom compared to the investigation of teapot tapes.
http://publicaddress.net/legalbeagle/kim-dotcom-vs-the-teapot-tapes/
His short answer is that he believes that the four boxes needed can be ticked and that there will be a case to answer.
Will take a long time but interesting.
now, here is an empathetic point of entry..:)
SCHOPENHAUER ROCKS
just in case one is hard of hearing,
SCHOPENHAUER ROCKS
so do Led Zeppelin and Patti Smith.
have a listen to Cat (Yusaf Islam) Stevens’ ‘The Very Best Of ‘…i can’t keep it in…no …i can’t keep it in…gotta let it out…oh..i gotta let it out…(sans grass, regretably, yet THIS TOO MUST PASS)
Murray McCully stands up in the UN and criticises lack of action to aid the Syrian people and refers to the veto which has been utilised by China and Russia. Wonder if we will ever hear a criticism of USA policies from him? Not now we are the dingy dinghy again.
Other countries had their head of state speaking, but I guess as there wasn’t a suitable baseball game Key sent the poisonous dwarf.
Janice 9.1
McCully probably was better than Jokey as he might start a world war with some inappropriate remark. McCully I am sure, knows more about the issues than Jokey Hen who also doesn’t want to mess up his fine financial fund mind with annoying matters better left to other people. The responsibility on a NZ PM is sooo wide, heavy and stressful. You just wouldn’t have a clue!
I see that Murry McCully spoke on the importance of Israel and Palestine leaders talking again. They actually live very close to each other. Sounds a bit Sarah Palinish. Does that mean that I was wrong that he was a waste of time really because of biasing his speech on USA concerns. No, here is some background to the USA relationship and aid to Israel. Mostly google headings that offer the information I was looking for. The links don’t come up live.
First a Wikipedia summary of a book, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy on whether the USA lobby for Israel is mainly wealthy Jewish people. (There are likely to be some biased blogs on this subject so I think that a researched book would give a reliable view.) The book is by John Mearsheimer, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, and Stephen Walt, Professor of International Relations at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Israel_Lobby_and_U.S._Foreign_Policy
On military aid USA Israel –
**IsraelâUnited States relations – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IsraelâUnited_States_relations
Almost all U.S. aid to Israel is now in the form of military assistance, while in the past it … Strong congressional support for Israel has resulted in Israel’s receiving …
**US Aid to Israel and the Palestinians
ifamericansknew.org/stats/usaid.html
The U.S. is providing Israel with at least $8.2 million each day* in military aid and … Washington has provided Israel with a level of support dwarfing the amounts …
**Tempering Iron Dome: US may spend $680 million on Israeli missile …
rt.com/news/us-israel-military-aid-iron-dome-637/
21 Apr 2012 â The US could fork out $680 million on strengthening the Israeli Iron Dome rocket shield. …
(Obama and Israel)
**U.S., Israel Build Military Cooperation – WSJ.com
online.wsj.com/…/SB1000142405274870332100457542727255005…
14 Aug 2010 â U.S. military aid to Israel has increased markedly this year. … Obama felt the increased military support is necessary to assure Israel’s security …
(Jewish extensive reference to it) –
**http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/foreign_aid.html
Here’s an interesting item on how the USA paranoia about attacks has caused it to look for guidance from the paranoic Israelis.
**http://articles.latimes.com/2011/oct/31/opinion/la-oe-blackwill-israel-20111031
This one has moving pics on the topics and an academic opinion that the UN structure assists USA to act in Israel’s interests
**http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/09/29/264033/dozens-of-insurgents-killed-in-aleppo/
This one has interesting points
**http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/08/15/the_politically_incorrect_guide_to_us_interests_in_the_middle_east
I was reasonably pleased with McCully’s response on Syria and Israel/Palestine. I don’t think the latter was Sarah Palinish at all – perhaps a little flat-footed in a plain-spoken way, but not actually idiotic a la Palin.
Perhaps they needed to get McCully out of the country so Trev could have an uninterupted couple of days with Murray’s ex girlfriend?
đ
Murray McCully is a non-entity
I DO NOT accept Keys apology about the govt behavior in the dot come fiasco.
Dy – the point is that Key DID NOT apologise for himself, he generously apologised for his own minions!
Her Tui Billboards are surrounded by neon lights!
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/09/hekia-parata-is-listeningyeah-right.html
This is an earlier blog by Dave that is worth reading as well about the way the ministry treated Moera school in the north over ‘poor’ NCEA result.
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/04/lesley-longstone-management-style.html
DV 11.1 (By the way its Moerewa spell it right.)
Thanks Dv – good blog from Local Bodies. This quote from Dv link at 11.1
That has all changed. We now have imports that haven’t the excuse of being cheap – Lesley Longstone recently in the news because of the shakeup of our school system is said to be receiving $600,000 p.a. You can’t help thinking that we have a cringe factor alive and well in NZ that we can’t find suitable candidates for such positions. And those working their way up in a Department with consequent institutional knowledge are likely to be elbowed out during some internecine change and so we lose our experienced people who care about NZ and get these moving generic managers who make us bow and scrape to their supposedly superior knowledge. (Must be, they’re from overseas you know.)
Here is some info on Ms Longstone. If you want source get it yourself, I’m tired.
“Lesley Longstone has 25 years’ experience in the education and employment sectors in the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia, and she understands the economic importance of education and its contribution to the broader skills agenda.
Ms Longstone has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Sheffield.
Good Work P.; freakin Philistines!
Ed Milliband, UK Labour Leader: Either the banking sector makes sweeping changes or we will force bank break ups
Frakkin’A. This is what we are talking about people. However, the City of London financial centre holds such vast political power and influence in the UK, I hope Milliband can stay the course.
By the way, it is no co-incidence that the Lehman collapse, Bernie Madoff’s multi-billion dollar ponzi scheme, the massive theft from MF Global account holders, near infinite leverage/shadow rehypothecation collateral rorts and many more frauds originated in City of London financial operating centres.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/sep/29/ed-miliband-british-banks
What they really need to so is to stop the banks creating money. Do that and they’ll collapse all by themselves.
Excellent Viper
It’s not daylight savings this weekend is it? The clock on my computer has gone forward an hour but it uses an international clock and I’m not sure they’ve been right since the govt changed the date of DST and didn’t tell the rest of the world.Â
Yep it is, clocks moved forward at 2am.
Thanks. Are they tying that to the last weekend in Sept?
I suppose it’s a chance to reset all the clocks to the same time. I use five digital clocks and they all end up out of sync within 2 or 3 weeks. The computer is the only true one because it resets when I go online. Did time used to be this odd when we had analog clocks?
I’m perturbed that you’re finding that with your digital clocks. There is absolutely no reason for even a cheap digital clock to gain or lose more than 1 minute a month, and that is being generous.
I’d blame sloppy cheap electronics design or componentry. A good quality quartz mechanical watch will often perform to +/- 2 minutes per year.
yeah I find it weird myself. One is a cheapo clock but there is a cell phone and car stereo both of a decent enough quality to keep time properly.
personally, i do not wear a watch. Time đ
and Being (emancipate ourselves)
No excuse for police perjury
Grant Wormald didn’t just give evidence that was inconsistent; he clearly perjured himself in a court of law. He said to his knowledge there was no other agencies involved in the surveillance of Mr Dotcom, knowing full well that the GCSB was involved. In fact he attended a meeting on December 14 with GCSB operatives. For him to say he wasn’t aware of their involvement is an obvious lie, made under oath, and the Detective Inspector should be held to account…
…and if he was ordered to lie, then that is a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Ouch! Duck and fucking cover John Key.
Ouch indeed. Big blast zone on this one.
So now its the weekend and still no earthshaking distractions for Shonky to hide behind, He has got to working with Bennet on something, as Parata is now a liability.
At this point I’d be inclined to bring an Army General in to arbitrate it all.
There’s too much confusion about the command structure and what can and can’t be said.
If these men are indeed playing “Board Room” games, then as u say we have a very serious problem.
About the best thing they could start with would be a “Closed Door” meeting with the captain of those men, and yeah I mean you bud.
If they know the ground you were walking they can direct their efforts properly.
Otherwise they can’t target the people in question.
(Understandably reticent I’d imagine ur response too be, but think about it, it may help
From the sound of things the two Geoffs from Labour and Cunliffe would be the men to talk too)
The problem is obviously at the top, and the only way to find the top is to start at the bottom.
(No Offense Brother)
Nothing has changed in 35 years when it comes to cops committing perjury in court as the police have not been made accountable even after Chief Justice Elias from the Supreme Court has become involved. An effing joke.
The Nuremberg defence has substantive problems both for Wormald and his boss.
If he invokes the ND he (Knowing it was incorrect) he still could have made a moral judgement, hence it only limits the remedies.The other part is it transfers accountability up the food chain (it increases the value of remedies to his superiors)
Exaclty, the buck stops with Key if he uses that defence.
More code snipets I remembered for LPRent …
While( true ) {
for( *var=*inVar; *var!=’ ‘; var++){ … } /*simple word finder */
}
switch( true ) {
case( *var=='<' && (*var+1=='a' ||*var+1=='A') : /*A Tag*/
{ … }
default: /* Anything else */
{ … }
}
Fastest code in the West babe đ
Machine code ‘C’ if ya lookin for name.
Use a var to trigger the Daemon break…
if( brkVar ) break;
}
Remember 0 it true
Which means if( var==0 ) {} runs faster than if( var==1 ) {}
1 = voltage = heat = slower cylcles in cpu/memory
And if you don’t have “True” use 1 i.e while(1) {}
All you Aucklanders enjoying the almost exclusively chemical skies today…go on, step outside, take a look up, and ponder the marvel that is the “clouds” up there today…Notice the textures and the shapes, really not quite right are they…
Oh, and yes I took the footage of the plane dumping over AKL again today at midday, heading south, right over the middle of the city…
Thats three times I have seen it, and twice I have filmed it. Someone on this island knows WTF is going on!
And at 320pm, just seen and filmed the return leg of the spray plane, was out over the Waitemata Harbour heading north.
I can’t have been the only Aucklander on here to have seen this today, its that bloody obvious…
Yes I saw a narrow elongated ‘cloud’ over the North Shore – must have been around 2.30 -3.00pm. Took it to be the ragged remains of a contrail probably at around 20,000 ft.
I know an Air NZ flight captain (the partner of a family member) and was tempted to contact him for a bit of a razz… you’ve been dumping fuel have you?
Hey muzza which theory do you subscribe to
to dumb down
to reduce libido
other
Hey Marty, the only “theory” I subscribe to about it, is that somethings going on, we are not being told “in public” at least. I prefer to take the most obvious about a situation, which is, there is something being sprayed in our skies, only complete idiots would contest that now. The what and why, become the obvious next questions, and there is lots of stuff which can assist with that. Ive not done any lab tests etc so wont speculate on those….
I have filmed the planes 2 times now, and that is not any commercial arline route on a sunday. Just checked the official commercial routes again and times of arrivals and departures at Wellington and Christchurch today that might mean a flight heading southerly direction at such height could return on, and nothing would match, again this time either!
If you could see the sky up here today, even the hardest skeptic , would be doing well to explain the state of AKL’s skies!
I struggle with this one mainly because of explanations that are based on someone/group doing it to us for their sinister ends – but those ends, that I have heard, don’t make sense. Maybe I’m just not mad enough to comprehend their madness đ
Marty it need not be sinister in nature, but whatever they are doing, the results/expectations, may or may not be understood. They are spraying shit into the sky, and if you could see Auckland today you would know exactly what I am talking about, and if you saw what I saw, its likely the only way people can understand. I was not skeptical, but before I saw the planes, wondered if there was a simpple explantion, now having seen them so many times, and filmed it, there is not a shred of doubt they are spraying.
I hope you never see them down your way dude!
See my comment about the 320pm return srpay leg, and I have taken film and pics all afternoon from my area of AKL. The sky is an absolute mess of chemical shit today, grrrrr.
EDIT @ Weka – I’m not going to upload them, as have no facility that I would want to use. The May 6 footage I took, I gave to someone to pass on, who posted it online.
All good muzza, many have noted the same thing down here which is why I’ve heard a bit about it, and I’ve seen a few videos and seen them here and in Auckland. I’m not saying they aren’t true and I hope you crack it wide open – I just can’t work out any type of ‘why’ that makes sense to me. I spose I put it to one side really and concentrate on stuff like the proposed open cast mine on the Denniston Plateau, it feels like I might be able to work with others and stop that atrocity – not sure I can say the same about the spraying. Kia kaha.
Hey Marty, good on you with the mines and things, locally we all definitely can get “hands on” so to speak, and hands on, is whats required, not just at the keyboard either đ
Kia kaha to you too bro
muzza, I don’t understand your reason for not uploading these pictures.
Can you explain the problem? I’m sure someone here will help.
Hi Felix, I didn’t give a reason – Ill most likely forward todays stuff on again for posting, same as I did with the May 6 footage.
I wont have been the only person in AKL who saw it today, from your posts your not in AKL??
No not in AKL but have seen some interesting stuff in the sky here too. Is the May 6 footage still online somewhere we can see it?
Edit: Just google or youtube search Auckland chemtrails, you will find some stuff
ta
Sorry muzza, but it’s not good enough. Fair enough that you have concerns, but without accessible evidence it’s all just another conspiracy theory. I have no interest in watching 2 minutes of the Auckland sky without any context or explanation. Someone needs to put together some credible information and present it in ways that people can read and understand. Not saying that has to be you, but I don’t really see the point in speculating about phenomena without any useful analysis that is backed up by evidence. Or at least not scarey phenomena. It just makes people worry but gives them nowhere to go.
No need to apologise for yourself Weka., I can understand your position, as I too would also like to know why planes are spraying, because the question has gone past, perhaps thats whats going on.
Why do you & others keep saying that someone should put together, and there is no evidence, there is plenty out there from all around the world Weka, what would you consider evidence or a well put togther case, over an above what is already being done…
Certainly I would agree that without seeing the planes for oneself, seeing what is coming from the planes are obvioulsy NOT vapour (con) trails, then seeing the clear blue day that was AKL yesterday, and on May 6, turning into a mesh of god knows what, followed by the predictable shit weather.
Perhaps there is nothing in it Weka, I can’t say either way, all I am saying is that I know what I saw, and have seen, and what it did to our days on May 6 and yesterday.
If what I post panics you, then don’t read it, and if you are not up to doing some reading etc about geo-enginerring, then youre not in any position to say there is no evidence or that someone should put some together!
Kia kaha
The problem muzza is that most information presented about chemtrails is done so by either whackjobs or people who have almost zero critical thinking skills. I have an appreciation for whackjobs in society but they’re not people I go to for facts. People with very poor critical thinking skills bother me more, because they use the internet to push their ill formed ideas in ways that don’t help much and probably do some damage.Â
I don’t consider you to be either of those two things, and have been interested in your story of what you see in the skies (have read previous threads), but until you present some evidence it’s just an interesting story.
I’m not panicked by the chemtrail stuff, just pissed off at how it gets debated. We have enough stressful shit to deal with on the planet at the moment without adding to the load with information that is designed to alarm but has no back up.Â
“if you are not up to doing some reading etc about geo-enginerring, then youre not in any position to say there is no evidence or that someone should put some together!”
I disagree. Part of critical thinking is learning who to trust and why. I don’t have to understand every phenomena on the planet to such detail because I have the skills to read people who do have that detail and I can sift out the wheat from the chaff. That’s on both sides of an argument (I can point you to poor thinking on both sides of the Ken Ring debate for instance).Â
I also tend to not trust people who only reference youtube. Video is a good way of getting a message across, but it’s generally a crap way of providing verifiable evidence (not least because it can’t reference easily).
And I definitely have low opinion of websites that use obvious propoganda tecniques. This site, which pops up number one in google for ‘chemtrail’ is classic
http://chemtrailsnorthnz.wordpress.com/opinions-regarding-the-functions-of-chemtrailsstratospheric-aerosol-geoengineering/
It’s designed to appeal to people who think of themselves as woken up (the big banner), and to hook in other people by using emotive fearmongering. I’m much less likely to take something seriously that feels the need to SHOUT AT ME how stupid I am if I don’t believe what it says.
It’s also hard to take anything seriously that purports that human-made CC has been ‘exposed as a hoax’. Whatever one thinks about CC, ‘exposed as a hoax’ ain’t what’s been happening, and that phrase suggests that the website people don’t have a very good understanding of science or the politics of science.
That website also considers that a high number of google hits = proof of theory. That’s just stupid.
If the chemtrail crowd want to be taken seriously, how hard would it be to put up a website that explains the issues in a clear, rational way that lay people can understand?
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Are you going to put the video and details up online?
Weka, which way to you want it? – Asking me if I am going to post the video online but don’t trust people who post on YT. I would be happy to send you the raw footage if you like, but again its still my video with no context for you, because you were not here, and not see what was happening with your own eyes.
I do tend to agree with you, that seeing video gives little context, which is why I DONT post what I have, because its very easy for people to blow it off, as you have been doing. My contention is not to state what is going on, I can’t do that, because I don’t know for sure what they are spraying, only that I have seen, and filmed the spraying multiple times now, that I fly planes, and have spent most of my life looking at the sky, and that our skies have changed in a way that I can’t believe people in AKL do not notice!
You’re not in AKL either obviously, as otherwise you would have some more specific comments on my posts, and I notice that there was no response from anyone in AKL, (not that it means anything in hard terms, it would be good to hear other locals thoughts – If they saw it).
Out of interst, how do you develop your sense of who/what you can trust? – Here is a tip, if you think you can develop it as a skill, you don’t have it naturally, which has its limitations. Sure you will be able to sort the wheat from the chaff, the critical thinking and general intelligence will assist there, but instinctively there will always be a gap.
I’ll check the website out, i’ve not heard of it.
Muzza, I said I tend not to trust people who only reference youtube. And gave valid reasons why. This doesn’t mean video isn’t useful, just that it’s not usually in and of itself proof in situations like this.
I’m not in Auckland, hence my original question about posting your footage online. I really don’t know what you are talking about and the visuals would be interesting if you can post a comparison with what you think are not chemtrails.
 My contention is not to state what is going on, I canât do that, because I donât know for sure what they are spraying, only that I have seen, and filmed the spraying multiple times now, that I fly planes, and have spent most of my life looking at the sky, and that our skies have changed in a way that I canât believe people in AKL do not notice!
But if you keep doing that repeatedly without any further support people will get bored or annoyed and switch off. How will that help?
“(not that it means anything in hard terms, it would be good to hear other locals thoughts â If they saw it).”
You could for instance get methodical. Open a wordpress blog, without all the conspiracy dramatics, and post your observations and photos/stills. Ask Aucklanders to join you, and post what they are seeing. Give them times and directions of where to look. Moderate heavily to keep out the conspiracy theory stuff. Write short, easily accessible pieces about why you think x plane is doing y activity, and what is unusual about it. Likewise, post about the differences you are seeing the sky compared to 5 years ago, 10, 20 etc.
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Or you could just with basic physics:
That would be atmosphere that resembles Auckland’s most of the friggen time.
A “broad church”: we’ll make room for both Right Wing voters and Left Wing voters inside Labour
Great that’s been finally cleared up.
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/shearer-hints-front-bench-shake-ck-129842
Very Sad.
” I’ll publish right or wrong: Fools are my theme, let satire be my song.”
-Byron
“What all the wise men have promised, has not happened, and what all the damn fools said would happen has come to pass”
-Lamb (ironically enough)
“Thus hath the candle singed the moth. Oh, these deliberate fools!”
-The Merchant of Venice
“And all our yesterdays have lighted fools”
-Measure for Measure
“oh this ship of fools”
-Bob Seger
Since the present lowering of crime rates can be connected to better social services and education provided to today’s teenagers over the period of the last Labour government, I am unfortunately confident in predicting rising crime levels in about five years or so as the rejected primary school children of today hit their teenage years under the punitive benefit and education policies of our wonderful present government. One can only hope the crime will hurt those presently benefiting from the low tax rates for the rich introduced by the same government, but crime always hurts the poor before it hurts those with big walls and money to hire security guards.