Archive for September, 2009

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  Brickbats and Bouquets for Tropical Timber retailers - by frog

  
  
  
  Catherine Delahunty visited Rotorua on Tuesday to highlight issues around the import of illegal and unsustainable forestry. The central North Island town was the latest whistle stop on an awareness tour that has already visited Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Catherine visited The Warehouse, with Rotorua Green Party members and an “orang-utan” (a supporter dressed in [...] read more
  September 10, 2009 5:28 pm - 11 Comments
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  Labour culpable on RMA chainsaw massacre - by frog

  
  
  
  The chainsaws are warming up for the first of October, as National’s rushed RMA deforms come into effect even earlier than originally proposed. What irks me no end is Labour’s Phil Twyford grandstanding on the axing of tree protection, when he and his Labour Party voted in favour of the very RMA changes he is complaining about. read more
  September 10, 2009 2:27 pm - 69 Comments
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  Victims of the White Death - by frog

  
  
  
  To hear Allan Crafar tell it, he’s a victim.  The courts say he’s a criminal. The media wants it both ways. Recently convicted of dumping tonnes of cow shit into New Zealand’s rivers (again (and yes Aucklanders, you’re drinking some of that water)), and also the subject of several prosecutions as well as a TV [...] read more
  September 10, 2009 10:41 am - 54 Comments
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  Sue’s Truth: Jumping Sundays to be celebrated – all welcome - by Sue Bradford

  
  
  
  My regular column in the Truth Weekender this week recalls the liberation of Albert Park and the Jumping Sundays that followed its liberation, and looks forward to the 40th Anniversary event on September 19: Anyone remember Jumping Sundays in Albert Park? Forty years ago, several thousand young people – including Truth contributors Tim Shadbolt and [...] read more
  September 10, 2009 10:38 am - 22 Comments
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  What’s up and wrong with the Supplementary Member System - by frog

  
  
  
  Image by Lyndon Hood Just when we have started to get our heads around MMP, people are now kicking around the supplementary member electoral system (SM) as an alternative (Key and the anti-MMP campaigners seem to like it). So what’s wrong with SM? The amount of votes you get does not determine the number of [...] read more
  September 9, 2009 1:10 pm - 60 Comments
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  Share the pain of toxic clean-up - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  The public has a right to know the degree of risk from contaminated sites and Councils alone cannot be expected to fund all the assessment work required. This issue has been highlighted by the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council informing 350 families in Onekawa Park that they may be living on a former dump site.  The [...] read more
  September 9, 2009 12:25 pm - 4 Comments
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  Sense of Place - by frog

  
  
  
  Green Party Co-Leaders Metiria Turei and Russel Norman had a ball at the Westfield Style Pasifika New Zealand Fashion Awards and Show in Auckland on Friday night.  They were impressed by Stan Wolfgramm’s 16th annual show.  It wasn’t just the fashion that appealed to the Co-Leaders. Metiria was rapt to hear  classic Aotearoa music acts [...] read more
  September 9, 2009 11:14 am - No Comments
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  Launch of anti-MMP moves selectively leaked - by frog

  
  
  
  According to NZ Herald Columnist Fran O’Sullivan the issue of a referendum on MMP was discussed at cabinet on Monday 31 August 2009.   Yesterday Ms O’Sullivan informed Newstalk ZB drive time host Larry Williams of how this information was conveyed to her – presumably by Mr Key – and how the parliamentary press gallery was [...] read more
  September 8, 2009 6:35 pm - 47 Comments
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  Casting about for leadership - by frog

  
  
  
  Those silly gnomes have been at work again – casting about for leadership on climate change. I needn’t tout the Green’s credentials on the matter, but I do question how our government can so callously dismiss the need for emissions reductions without doing even the most basic analysis as to how we might achieve them. [...] read more
  September 8, 2009 1:25 pm - 8 Comments
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  The time has come to say fair’s fair - by frog

  
  
  
  The time has come To say fair’s fair To pay the rent To pay our share The time has come A fact’s a fact It belongs to them Let’s give it back How can we dance when our earth is turning How do we sleep while our beds are burning How can we dance when [...] read more
  September 8, 2009 8:43 am - 25 Comments
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  NZ must take a stand on human rights abuse in Iran - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  All eyes were on Iran during its presidential elections on June 12. The re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was seen as fraudulent by many, and set off a spate of protests in following weeks. The crackdown by the Iranian government shocked the world. Many protestors and bystanders were killed or injured; over a thousand were detained. [...] read more
  September 7, 2009 5:47 pm - 51 Comments
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  General Debate, September 6, 2009 - by frog

  
  
  
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  September 6, 2009 6:42 am - 102 Comments
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  “No Limits” to civilian suffering in US bombing - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  Images courtesy of Radio Live ***** The three Kiwi soldiers in Afghanistan might have seen it as a bit of harmless fun. To help a drink promotion they slapped a Demon sticker reading “No Limits, No Laws” on a 2000 lb bomb attached to the undercarriage of a [presumably] American plane at [presumably] Bagram airbase. [...] read more
  September 4, 2009 6:22 pm - 112 Comments
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  Primary Health Care must be a priority - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  The Government’s announcement that they are moving to achieve the unrealised goals of the Primary Health Care Strategy needs to be taken with a grain of salt. So far the National Government has virtually ignored primary health and in some areas actively undermined it – so while  it would normally be great news to hear [...] read more
  September 4, 2009 12:28 pm - 28 Comments
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  Kevin Hague reports back from the Banking Inquiry - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  I had a really interesting morning yesterday standing in for Russel on the banking inquiry being held by Opposition parties. I had also been standing in for him on the Finance and Expenditure Committee when the Reserve Bank presented its analysis of the margins banks have on short and long term interest rates that they [...] read more
  September 4, 2009 10:40 am - 11 Comments
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  Beehive hums with banking inquiry while Govt looks the other way - by frog

  
  
  
  With financial systems crashing around the world earlier this year our parliament’s allegedly most powerful select committee the Finance and Expenditure Committee looked into New Zealand’s financial stability and concluded: Overall, we share the Reserve Bank’s concern about the role of the banking sector in responding to the current recession. While we recognise the need [...] read more
  September 3, 2009 1:59 pm - 11 Comments
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  A Tale of Two Depressions - by frog

  
  
  
  To sum up, globally we are tracking or doing even worse than the Great Depression, whether the metric is industrial production, exports or equity valuations. Focusing on the US causes one to minimise this alarming fact. The “Great Recession” label may turn out to be too optimistic. This is a Depression-sized event. read more
  September 3, 2009 6:40 am - 27 Comments
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  Telecom’s great wealth transfer - by frog

  
  
  
  The 2025 Taskforce need to spend less time pondering digging up the Doc estate and more time looking at how Australian workers enjoy better workplace protections than their New Zealand counterparts – especially during the 1990s when Australian workers pulled far in front of their New Zealand counterparts. read more
  September 2, 2009 1:41 pm - 32 Comments
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  Gerry The Dinosaur - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  Once upon a time there was a large hungry dinosaur called Gerry who loved eating rocks more than anything else.   He lived near a beautiful forest but he had never been allowed to enter and eat the rocks and pull out the trees. He had been told he couldn’t tramp through the clear shining rivers [...] read more
  September 2, 2009 10:44 am - 91 Comments
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  General Debate, September 2, 2009 - by frog

  
  
  
  They’re gutting the ETS, have cancelled all work on vehicle fuel efficiency standards, and want to mine the conservation estate.  Can this National government get any worse on the environment? read more
  September 2, 2009 6:26 am - 85 Comments