Search Results

  1. Marking time: Darwin to Lincoln

    Written By:  Dancer -  Date published: 7:30 pm, February 13th, 2009 -  19 comments
    Categories: articles, science
    Tags:

    Today is the anniversary of two of histories great names – Darwin and Lincoln. Both men made significant (albeit different) contributions to our current understanding of the world. Simon Jenkins of the Guardian asks which was the greater? Was it the man who transformed our understanding of the human race, or the man who made […]

  2. Miro 2.0

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 7:14 pm, February 11th, 2009 -  26 comments
    Categories: uncategorized
    Tags: ,

    Opensource. Free. Cool.

  3. Sockpuppet of the right

    Written By:  IrishBill -  Date published: 1:10 pm, February 10th, 2009 -  13 comments
    Categories: roger douglas
    Tags:

    After yesterday’s early release of Roger Douglas’ Orewa speech set for 6pm this evening one of our (bafflingly tenacious) readers has sent us this: It seems this sockpuppet beat that sockpuppet to the punch.

  4. Who cares if it’s just PR?

    Written By:  IrishBill -  Date published: 10:09 am, February 9th, 2009 -  34 comments
    Categories: national/act government, rumour, wages
    Tags: , , , ,

    There is a rumour in the Dom Post and the Herald that the minimum wage will be announced today and the Nats are going to increase it to either $12.50 or $12.40 depending on whether it’s Fairfax or APN you’re reading. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was true as John Key knows full well […]

  5. Right desperate to sully Clark legacy

    Written By:  the sprout -  Date published: 10:41 am, February 8th, 2009 -  39 comments
    Categories: uncategorized
    Tags:

    When John Key was elected he was wise enough to be magnanimous in victory, acknowledging Helen Clark’s considerable skill and integrity throughout her term as one of our longest serving Prime Ministers. Since that time however, Key’s underlings have begun another death by a thousands cuts campaign – this time on the public’s memory and […]

  6. A musical interlude : Mary Poppins – a tale for our times

    Written By:  Dancer -  Date published: 8:35 pm, February 2nd, 2009 -  6 comments
    Categories: International
    Tags:

    The stage has often been the realm where society holds itself up for examination and consideration, but who amongst us would have picked Mary Poppins as a tale for our times? According to Harold Evans of the Guardian “the tale of the twinkly-eyed nanny is suddenly topical – because the father is a banker suspicious […]

  7. Standard writer in shock agreement with KBR!

    Written By:  IrishBill -  Date published: 10:57 am, January 25th, 2009 -  35 comments
    Categories: dpf, Media
    Tags:

    Over at Kiwiblog David and his rabid followers are screaming over the HoS’s treatment of National’s Social Development Minister Paula Bennett and the fact she has a defacto son in law who is a gang-member and who she took in while he was on bail. Shockingly, I think the Kiwiblog Right are right on this […]

  8. Watch Obama’s inauguration live

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 11:58 pm, January 20th, 2009 -  6 comments
    Categories: International, interweb
    Tags:

    The embedded stream below is meant to work even outside the US. Fingers crossed. If you find/know of another good live source drop the link in the comments. [UPDATE: 10:30am Live stream below removed – replaced with recorded oath and address] YouTube’s “inauguration” channel is here, but it’s probably not live. Might be good to […]

  9. Israel – a failed democracy

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 8:30 am, January 9th, 2009 -  86 comments
    Categories: activism, International, notices
    Tags: , ,

    The following quoted text is a e-mail response by Mike Treen from Global Peace and Justice Auckland to someone who was complaining about the campaign to boycott an Israeli tennis player. Hopefully Mike won’t get too upset with me for giving this a wider airing. It appeared in the GPJA NEWSLETTER #269, January 8, 2009 […]

  10. Police nurture a unwise form of direct democracy

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 10:00 am, January 7th, 2009 -  27 comments
    Categories: activism, interweb, police, scoundrels
    Tags: ,

     The Economist has an fascinating article “Rioters of the world unite“. It is partially about the demonstrations, protests, and outright riots in Athens and other parts of Greece at the end of last year. It is also partially concerned with a rising trend in new ways to not organize, and still be politically effective.  The […]

  11. Madoff, transparency, and electoral regulation

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 1:13 pm, December 28th, 2008 -  17 comments
    Categories: election funding
    Tags: , ,

    Reading about Madorf and the filching of USD 33 billion in a pyramid scheme from his select group of customers makes for interesting reading. It draws the attention (yet again) to the dangers of having a lack of transparency in financial markets. As the Economist says, it was “Dumb money and dull diligence“. What marks […]

  12. No Xmas

    Written By:  IrishBill -  Date published: 8:50 am, December 25th, 2008 -  4 comments
    Categories: humour
    Tags:

    And before anyone calls sour grapes I have to say even John deserves some xmas cheer but this was just too funny not to post today.

  13. Animal right activists, farming and the police

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 4:06 pm, December 21st, 2008 -  44 comments
    Categories: activism, police
    Tags:

    On ABC last night there was a excellent video “Animal rights campaigner spreads message“. It is worth watching for people who (unlike me) haven’t been seen some of the material before. It concerns a animal rights activist in aussie, wealthy backers, and a certain amount of bloody silly self-righteousness from groups that don’t enforce their […]

  14. The Big Three

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 11:41 pm, December 18th, 2008 -  4 comments
    Categories: capitalism, music
    Tags:

    I was listening to some of the old White Stripes when I got home this evening when this song came on. Given the all the talk around the bailout of the Big Three car manufacturers I figured it was kind of appropriate. Enjoy.

  15. Estonians to vote by mobile phone

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 2:05 pm, December 15th, 2008 -  23 comments
    Categories: interweb
    Tags:

    Last Thursday, while our new government was making it easier for businesses to fire employees, politicans in Estonia were making it easier for people to vote. In Estonia’s 2011 parliamentary election people will be able to vote via mobile phone. The system apparently “requires that voters obtain free, authorized chips for their phones” which are used […]

  16. From clean and green to grey and grubby

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 1:52 pm, December 15th, 2008 -  39 comments
    Categories: climate change, youtube
    Tags: ,

    Tourism New Zealand has recently launched its dedicated YouTube channel – Have Your Say – where tourists can post video messages about their experiences while visiting here via a mobile studio. Here’s what our new PM, Minister of Tourism, and veteran YouTube user John Key had to say. But while John’s out there on YouTube doing the hard […]

  17. US ‘shoes-for-guns’ program in Iraq backfires

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 12:05 pm, December 15th, 2008 -  15 comments
    Categories: humour, International, iraq, youtube
    Tags:

    [The shoe-thrower is a journo from a Baghdad newspaper taking his opportunity to make his feelings known during Bush’s surprise farewell visit to Iraq. In Arab culture, the sole of the shoe, being dirty, is insulting.]

  18. Rod Oram: The global crisis is real

    Written By:  Dancer -  Date published: 11:47 am, December 15th, 2008 -  5 comments
    Categories: articles, economy
    Tags:

    As usual an insightful analysis from Rod Oram on the need for our political and business sector leaders to better come to grips with what the international economic situation means domestically. He says: Every sector of this economy has its own set of structural challenges forced on it by global conditions. Yet, we’re hearing nothing […]

  19. Back in another life

    Written By:  lprent -  Date published: 2:49 pm, December 13th, 2008 -  14 comments
    Categories: uncategorized
    Tags:

    I’ve actually had time to start reading blogs again. As some people are probably aware (mostly the climate change deniers), my first degree was in science. Now while some people seem to think that business is what makes the world work, this isn’t correct. It is the science and its derived sister, technology, are what […]

  20. Minister of Education lies to teachers

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 2:55 pm, December 11th, 2008 -  36 comments
    Categories: education, national/act government, workers' rights
    Tags: ,

    Here’s Anne Tolley telling teachers before the election that they would not be covered by the fire at will legislation. Turns out she was lying. Teachers at at least 800 schools nationwide will now have no work rights in their first 90 days on the job. Whatever it takes to win, eh National?

  21. Arrogant and out of touch

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 6:25 pm, December 10th, 2008 -  55 comments
    Categories: articles, national/act government, workers' rights
    Tags: , , , ,

    The Manawatu Standard has a good op-ed piece today on how National has squandered its honeymoon with its arrogant and out-of-touch behaviour on the fire at will bill. The National party rose to power on the back of, among other things, scathing accusations that a supremely arrogant Labour party had “lost touch” with the people. […]

  22. Will Hone keep his oath?

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 10:25 am, December 10th, 2008 -  22 comments
    Categories: maori party
    Tags:

    Yesterday, the MPs were sworn in. After the section ‘pledge true allegiance to Queen Elizabeth the Second, her heirs and successors, according to law’, some of the Maori Party MPs (reading the oath in Maori) inserted, ‘and the Treaty’. They were asked to repeat the allegiance without the reference to the Treaty. Hone Harawira went […]

  23. Spin-busting: Probationary periods

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 2:20 pm, December 9th, 2008 -  22 comments
    Categories: national/act government, workers' rights
    Tags: , , ,

    National has been working hard to push the idea that its fire at will policy introduces a ‘probationary period’ of employment. This is not true. The Employment Relations Act already allows for probationary employment periods, it simply requires that workers are given the right to fair process and natural justice. All National’s proposed legislation would […]

  24. Bringing it home

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 1:02 pm, December 9th, 2008 -  16 comments
    Categories: national/act government, workers' rights
    Tags: , ,

    These ads made by the ACTU to oppose John Howard’s removal of unfair dismissal rights sure bring home what National’s fire at will law will mean for working families. No wonder National wants to curtail any real debate by ramming it through under urgency. Part two is here.

  25. The ethical considerations of Christmas trees

    Written By:  Dancer -  Date published: 4:20 pm, December 7th, 2008 -  12 comments
    Categories: articles, International
    Tags:

    Christmas is coming. We want to feel like we’re part of the sustainable, clean and green in action movement. So what sort of Christmas tree should be twinkling? Leo Hickman of the Guardian asks these questions and more: Aren’t they just a colossal waste of money? Can such a decadent waste of resources be justified in our […]

  26. It’s 3am again

    Written By:  all_your_base -  Date published: 11:49 am, December 3rd, 2008 -  10 comments
    Categories: john key
    Tags: , ,

    Armstrong’s a little more charitable in relation to National’s dithering on the evacuation of Kiwis from Bangkok than I would have been. Yes, Key got there in the end but we had to endure yet more of the painful “there are a range of options that we’re considering” BS he’s so prone to. I’m sure […]

  27. Anatomy of a honeymoon piece

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 8:50 pm, November 30th, 2008 -  33 comments
    Categories: Media, national/act government
    Tags:

    Most of our political journalists are more than capable of producing informative, insightful pieces. For instance, Claire Trevett wrote an excellent series of pieces that confirmed John Key had stolen Coldplay’s ‘Clocks’ for his ‘Ambiguous for NZ’ DVD. She researched the legalities of the issue, consulted a musicologist on the tune, brought forward a confession […]

  28. PPPs? No, please

    Written By:  Steve Pierson -  Date published: 12:15 pm, November 26th, 2008 -  24 comments
    Categories: economy, national/act government, transport
    Tags:

    I’ve never seen the sense in Public-Private Partnerships. How is it ever going to be cheaper to get a private profit-making company to come on-board and take the risk for developing a piece of public infrastructure? The Government has to give them a good deal so they can make a profit, and the Government has […]

  29. Work choices

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 4:48 pm, November 24th, 2008 -  48 comments
    Categories: australian politics, workers' rights
    Tags: ,

    Watching this new ad from the Australian Council of Trade Unions on employment law reform was kind of depressing – while the Aussies are looking forward to getting their work rights back under a new government, ours is drafting up legislation to take them away. Time for a change eh? Guess we should have read […]

  30. X-rated

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 3:01 pm, November 21st, 2008 -  13 comments
    Categories: history, racism
    Tags: , ,

    There’s a lot of fuss about at the moment over Ayman al-Zawahri’s labelling of Barack Obama as the kind of “house negro” described by Malcolm X. It’s a rather absurd comparison, and in my view probably more a sign of Al-Qaeda’s increasing irrelevance than anything else. But as it turns out, I was listening to […]

  31. Delaying tactics

    Written By:  Tane -  Date published: 4:49 pm, November 19th, 2008 -  73 comments
    Categories: climate change, national/act government
    Tags: , ,

    The National Party’s decision to resurrect the idea of a carbon tax is one of the most cynical plays I’ve seen in a while, coming from a party that opposed a carbon tax from day one. In fact, for all their hollow attacks on Labour’s climate change record it’s been National that has campaigned harder […]

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