Anzac day gazetted
While digging out the poppy that graces our banner this weekend, I also dug out this bit of history. Anzac Day notice, New Zealand Gazette, 1916
Point 5 particularly intrigued me.
International
When a newspaper gets useful…
I’m not usually envious of Sydney, but they have a newspaper that actually researches the issues that matter to their local audience.
The Sydney Morning Herald has been researching transport issues in their city. If newspapers are to survive the transition into the networked era, they’re going to have to relearn how to focus on local issues. Otherwise why would we pay the pay-wall for material we can get elsewhere?
Stewart vs. Fox
When will conservative commentators stop picking fights with Jon Stewart? It never ends well for them.
The Eyjafjallajökull opportunity
European air travel has been grounded for four days and there is no end in sight. What will be the effect of further prolonged disruption? What if the eruption lasts a year or more? Can the current crisis be turned into a constructive opportunity for rail?
Lib Dems surge ahead in Britain
Just checked out the latest polling numbers over in the UK. It seems Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg’s performance in the first leaders debate is paying off. Clegg’s party has surged ahead at the expense of the Conservatives, taking the lead in several polls. (Latest BPIX poll, LDEM 32%, CON 31%, LAB 29%). This could have huge implications.
If smiles equaled FTAs Key wouldn’t be a do nothing PM
Journos. Obama didn’t meet Key before dinner on a big stage in front of the media because it was just practical. The leaders didn’t stand with awkward grins for the group photo because it was a crucial step in the diplomatic process. This is being done for you. Only you. It is meaningless apart from the fact they know the media will lap it up. They think you’re saps. And you keep proving them right.
2015 is closer than you think
A recent report from the US Joint Forces Command states that “By 2012, surplus oil production capacity could entirely disappear, and as early as 2015, the shortfall in output could reach nearly 10 million barrels per day”. Are you planning for a post oil future? Why not?
Whaling comic
Have you heard of Cyanide and Happiness? A web-comic that walks the line of funny and too far. They have an annual ‘depressing comics’ week. No punch lines. Given our Prime Minister’s aim to restore commercial whaling and the anti-whalers’ success in blocking the Japs from half their target of kills, thought this one would be appropriate [full comic]
NZ should be a proud world leader on nukes
How wonderful it is to have a US President that rejects the evil of nuclear weapons. Finally the world is catching up with us. While the powers were locked in the stand-off of Mutually Assured Destruction, New Zealand rejected the madness of that logic and we declared ourselves nuclear-free. Our Prime Minister should be celebrating that fact and pointing to our achievement as a model for the whole world.
Key accidentally calls open season on whales
We know John Key made up his commercial whaling policy off the cuff. His recklessness has left our allies aghast. Now things are really getting out of control. Korea has said that they want in on commercial whaling too. Key’s declared open season on whales. This is what you get from a government that has no vision, no plan, and no understanding of complex issues.
Big win for apple exporters
Labour governments are good at planning for the future. Something National has never managed. Taking Aussie to the WTO over the fireblight ban is an example of Labour’s forethought. They knew the results were years away. Had the guts to stand up against our best mates when they had it wrong. Looks like we won the case. Aussie’s going to have to let our apples in.
Nuke free US ships already welcome
Geoffrey Palmer needs a holiday. It’s bad enough that he’s acting as the mouthpiece for John Key’s pro-whaling policy that has the Japanese applauding and our allies shaking their heads in dismay. Now, he’s saying we should allow visits by US naval vessels. If the US wants to send navy ships for a visit then all it has to do is what other nuclear powers like the UK do: confirm that the vessels it sends don’t breach our country’s laws. Is that too much to ask?
British Tories won’t reduce income inequality
The British Tories wax on about a rise in income inequality under New Labour, but their line is a deliberate ploy that needs countering.
The Waihopai spy base
The Waihopai spy base is very much in the news. Last month the Waihopai Three were acquitted of charges, provoking a storm of controversy (and congratulations). Yesterday came the news that the Government is considering further action against the three. There was also a “very unusual” statement about the role of Waihopai from the GCSB. Who to believe?
Poll watching – the British elections
As we hit mid-term in our election cycle, political addicts are casting their eyes over to the UK. Now the latest Guardian poll shows that the gap between the two main parties is now at four points – the closest in an ICM poll for almost two years…
Allied with murderers
Wikileaks has revealed footage shot from a US Apache helicopter in Iraq in 2007 as they callously murder a dozen Iraqi civilians. Every time you read of some wedding convey being shot up or a houseful of ‘insurgents’ being bombed remember this video and remember that our soldiers are now part of the combat force that is committing these same barbaric acts in Afghanistan.
How’s that change coming? – Emigration
That Nice Mr Key promised that, through the power of tax cuts, he would stop so many Kiwi emigrating to Australia. Well, we had tax cuts so what happened to the number of Kiwis heading over the ditch? Must have dried up, right? Sorry kids, after a recession-induced lull, emigration is climbing as Kiwis seek greener pastures in the red country. Just one more promise Key couldn’t keep.
Earth hour tonight
Tonight, 8:30 – 9:30pm is Earth Hour 2010. New Zealand is among the first in the world, kicking off the event. Turn off, tune out, drop in.
Mining our national parks for the US war-machine
Most of the world’s supply of the key rare earth metals comes from China. That’s a strategic problem for the US, which needs rare earths for high-tech military equipment. They don’t want to be dependent on the world’s other superpower, and potential adversary, for their military hardware. Is it a coincidence that the Nats are so keen to let foreigners mine for rare earths in our national parks?
Obama delivers change
It has taken nearly a year and cost President Obama a lot of his popularity, thanks to the spineless behaviour of many House […]
Crossbreed a dumb mistake with wingnuts
An amusing tale of how Rush Limbaugh screws up, and a pile of wingnuts immediately jump to the wrong conclusions.
American wingnuts at their most ridiculous. But we have the angry and irrational breed here as well.
The Greatest Show on Earth: Richard Dawkins
World Renowned evolutionary biologist and atheist, professer Richard Dawkins, presents the case and evidence for evolution. His New Book, The Greatest Show on Earth, explores the evidence for evolution and why it should be considered fact, not theory. Links to the Podcast of his talk in Christchurch.
Financial regulation in USA?
The recent recession represented a spectacular failure of unfettered capitalism. One of the main causes in America was a picking apart of financial regulations. This allowed the “innovative” products and practices that brought the system down. Perhaps America has learned the lesson. A new Democratic proposal outlines “the biggest overhaul of regulations since the New Deal”.
Glenn Beck’s theatre of the absurd
Check out this video of Fox News talk host Glenn Beck. It’s a compilation of his week-long series on how “America is burning to the ground”.
I think he’s trying to argue that Barack Obama is plotting some sort of communist-inspired coup, but it’s hard to know what he’s on about between his confused rants about “THE MACHINE” and the paranoid blackboard scrawlings.
Carter leads on whaling
Good on Chris Carter. He’s the only politician on Left taking some leadership in opposing the National Government’s abandonment of New Zealand’s anti-whaling […]
Sovereign debt
The world’s economy has not truly recovered from the recession, it has just been artificially reanimated by vast injections of Government bailout money.
What happens when taxpayers get the bill? The people of Iceland just voted not to pay. This may be the first in a cascading series of failures of “sovereign debt”. If so, the next crash will make the recent recession look like child’s play.
Whaling proposal not realism, it’s a sell-out
John Armstrong has chucked John Key’s promise to end whaling down the memory hole and, instead, comes out swinging against those who don’t […]
International Women’s Day
Happy International Women’s Day. If only there was something to celebrate.
“We are deeply concerned about the current attacks on workers’ rights that will badly impact on women,†said CTU President Helen Kelly…
Ashcroft – “dead horse pong gets worse”
Only days ago, British Conservative leader David Cameron told journalists they were “flogging a dead horse” when asking about Tory deputy chair Lord Ashcroft’s donations and tax status. Now new information has come to light about destruction of documents, tax avoidance, and offshore funding of the Conservative party.
Goff calls for SAS to come home
The Nats put the SAS in Afghanistan out of a Boy’s Own worldview that glamorises war and violence by authority. But war isn’t a game and we shouldn’t be fighting unless it’s for a good cause. Our solders shouldn’t die or kill to prop up Hamid Karzai’s corrupt regime.
Ashcroft owns up to “non-dom” tax status
Lord Ashcroft, the British Conservative party’s major donor, has admitted that while he is “permanently resident” in Britain he is not domiciled there for tax status.
As a result the Conservative party may have to repay donations totalling several million pounds.
Poll shows race closing in Britain
Britain could be heading for a hung Parliament, according to the latest Guardian poll.
With no more than three months to go until polling day, the Conservatives have fallen to 37%, down three, while Labour’s support, at 30%, is up one. The Lib Dems are unchanged on 20%.
Abbott laughingstock for saying Aussie should copy Key
The new Aussie Liberal leader, Tony Abbott, has been widely derided for saying Australia should ape National’s economic policies. “Abbott’s remark came the day that Australia’s unemployment rate fell from 5.5 to 5.3 per cent. The NZ rate? It’s 7.3 per cent.” We should copy their stimulus policy, not the other way round.
Clark on RNZ
Have a listen to today’s interview of Helen Clark by RNZ’s Kathryn Ryan on the UNDP and aid strategies during times of international […]
South Africa honours Nelson Mandela’s walk to freedom
Twenty years ago, on 11 February 1990, after 27 years of incarceration, Nelson Mandela walked out of Victor Verster prison on a hot Sunday afternoon. And history changed.
Corporation to run for US Congress
Following the recent Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission to allow unlimited corporate funding of federal campaigns, Murray Hill […]