Irene sounds yet another warning
Irene is yet another example of the significant increase in extreme weather that we’re seeing all around the globe. But this warning will be ignored like all the rest.
International
Revolution and hunger
What provokes a populace to take to the streets in violent uprising? Is it the inexorable power of a demand for justice and democracy? Or is it something much simpler than that…
Interesting elections #3 – recall in Wisconsin
The recall elections in Wisconsin over Governor Walker’s attempt to remove collective bargaining for public servants had it all – Republicans running fake Democrats in primaries, massive spending by faceless outside bodies, and two Republican senators losing their seats in the subsequent ballot. Democrats did not succeed in overturning the Wisconsin Senate majority for Walker’s Republicans, but it is down to one and there is one Republican who voted against the anti-union law.
Time for the Robin Hood tax!
France and Germany are leading the way on the “Robin Hood” tax, and a Europe wide implementation could be the next step. Bring it on!
SAS soldier killed in Kabul
A New Zealand SAS soldier has been killed in a suicide attack on the British Council Offices in Kabul. The reports confirm what has become apparent in recent months: the SAS aren’t training Afghanis, they’re leading the combat response to Taliban attacks in Kabul. Our sympathies with the soldier’s family. It’s past time they came home.
Inciting a riot
Cases being tried in England raise the question – what is an appropriate punishment for inciting a riot on Facebook?
3370 comments
This editorial by Peter Oborne in the Telegraph on the riots and moral decay in Britain is up to 3370 comments. It’s worth a read.
Growing the economy
London riots: a guest post
A standard reader based in London has sent us this account of the riots.
Good to get some of the context the UK media doesn’t seem to want to talk about…
London riots
There have been two nights of rioting, looting and burning in London. The trigger was the police shooting of Mark Duggan. But the cause is the alienation of the permanent underclass, and the stresses of the current austerity programme.
Ready for round two?
The global financial system, which has never properly recovered from the recession, is poised on the brink of a second crash. The headlines are a parade of bad news…
Update: US credit rating downgraded from AAA to AA+ with negative outlook (same as NZ). Announcement was made after close of markets. It’s gonna hit the fan on Monday.
Economist on US debt politics
KAL (the cartoonist for The Economist) expresses my feelings about the political process over the last couple of months in the US. Their […]
Cooperation vs the tea party
Cooperation is one of the characteristics that defines humans in evolutionary terms. However true to their intellectually intransigent nature derived more from their enjoyment of a good old randian tantrum, the tea party is holding everyone to ransom. I suspect that the republicans are not going to like the consequences because voters value cooperation more.
Political crisis, not debt crisis
The media are reporting the chance of the US defaulting as a ‘debt crisis’, as if the problem is too much debt and people won’t lend to them. It’s not. The US is still borrowing at half the cost we borrow at. The problem is the debt ceiling. A purely political invention that lets lawmakers cut taxes, add spending, and then refuse to allow the resultant borrowing.
Utoya island – New Zealand connections
Two pieces of news have recently linked Anders Breivik’s Utoya island massacre of members of Young Labour and New Zealand.
American heatwave
US brinksmanship takes us all to the edge
The Republicans are playing chicken over the debt ceiling. The idea is to win as much as possible in spending cuts and permanently shrink the government by appearing more willing to go over the edge than the Democrats without actually going over. But does the Tea Party faction understand the game, or will they block the last minute compromise?
The violent right
The kind of racist right wing opinions held by the Norway shooter are shared by quite a few New Zealand bloggers and commenters. Many of the same bloggers are now claiming the massacre is somehow the Left’s fault. We should be concerned that there are people with such hatred and self-delusion among us.
Many a true word
Bill Maher on taxes, the deficit, and why 49% of Americans are voting away their future.
The answer to violence
The tragic events in Norway raise many questions, and there are no easy answers.
How empires end
The US is embroiled in the most extraordinary of crises. Unique among nations, the US has a legal debt ceiling. This artifice has allowed the Republicans to create the current ‘crisis’. For 30 years, Republicans have cut taxes and upped (defence) spending. Strategic deficits that now allow them to force a crisis by refusing the raise the debt ceiling.
Farewell to space
I think our exploration of space is effectively over. The end of the shuttle programme is the end of that era.
Condolences to Norwegian Labour
Key’s sickening opportunism over Norway attacks
The bombing and shootings in Norway overshadowed Key’s meeting with Obama. But he was quick to exploit Norway’s tragedy for political gain saying: “I think what it shows is no country large or small is immune from risk [of ‘global’ terrorism] and that’s why New Zealand plays its part in Afghanistan.” Truth is, the attacker was a rightwing Norwegian.
[Update: more than 80 dead at the camp]
Teetering on the brink
Over the last couple of months two potential crises have been unfolding in two very different countries. Greece and America both looked to be in danger of defaulting on their huge debts and triggering a cascade of disastrous consequences. The situation is still unfolding…
I never inhaled “inappropriately”
When David Cameron was asked did he ever discuss the BSkyB bid with News International, he said “I never had an inappropriate conversation.” It would be interesting to know whether he had an “appropriate” conversation about it with Rupert Murdoch when they met after the recent British election. Murdoch, who was asked by Cameron to go in the back door, said they had a cup of tea and no other conversation took place”. He was asked to go in the back door and they just chatted about the weather?
National security
Were a group of Israeli spies operating in Christchurch? The question has emerged as a result of the death or an Israeli national and the events that followed in the aftermath of the February quake. In the name of “national security” we’ll probably never be told the truth.
Go Gillard!
I’ve been impressed with Labour on both sides of the ditch lately. Here of course Phil Goff’s Labour party has moved very boldly on the CGT. But across the ditch in Oz, Labor leader and PM Julia Gillard is fighting an even tougher battle on carbon pricing. Go Gillard!
The refugees
National Contributes to Africa’s Misery
The Jackel draws attention to National’s cuts to aid spending. It’s politically easy for the Nats to slice a few mil here, a few mil there from money that doesn’t end up being spent in New Zealand, but it’s morally bankrupt. As famine once again strikes the Horn of Africa, we are failing in our moral duty and international commitments to help.
Elitist watch: Wayne Mapp
Wayne ‘Tipple’ Mapp went to Crete recently with veterans to commemorate our heroic defeat there in World War 2. Naturally, the old fellas who risked their lives and lost their mates 60 years ago got pride of place, like their Australian counterparts, eh? Nope. Mapp stayed in 26K of luxury while the vets had to fend for themselves.
Newscorpse
Murdoch-watchers have long known there’s something rotten in the Newscorp media empire. The extent and reach of the phone hacking scandal in Britain has finally seen the biter bit by its own corruption. Murdoch sought power over governments around the world to entrench his extreme right-wing ideology. From Thatcher to Cameron, all were supported by Murdoch’s tabloid papers into Parliament. Now Murdoch may need the BSkyB deal to provide enough cashflow to stay alive as Miliband proposes to introduce legislation to stop it.
It gets much much worse
New revelations out today that hacker Glenn Mulcaire who bugged celebrity phones for Murdoch’s News of the World also hacked into the phone of murdered teenager Milly Dowler after she went missing. NoW journalists deleted messages which gave Milly’s parents false hope that Milly might be alive. This happened when Rebekah Brooks, friend of David Cameron was the paper’s editor, and Andy Coulson, later Cameron’s communications director was deputy editor. This won’t stay under the carpet.
Bring the SAS home
First, Key denies the SAS were in the Kabul hotel gunfight. Then, media reveals they were there and were injured. Key admits that but denies it was friendly fire. Now, media says SAS got an apology. Key ‘can’t rule out’ friendly fire and is launching an investigation. Goff says its time for the SAS to leave Afghanistan. He’s right.
Frack off
Bravo France, the first country in the world to ban fracking. But for every step forward in this world, we seem to take two steps backwards…
River of Kiwis now flood to Oz
3300 Kiwis left for Australia last month, breaking a 32-year-old record. Remember when John Key promised to stop the flow of Kiwis across the Tasman? Well, now it’s a flood…
[and mostly it’s not from Christchurch either]