Dear Australia – cut emissions or die (the choice is of course yours)

Don’t you love the ‘we can’t cut emissions because we might lose some jobs” – Bush has used it time and time and time again as to why he continues to use the rest of the planet as an open sewer (God forbid he ask his rich oil crony mates to cut back on their record profits AND save the planet). Well, America’s little wannabe – Australia – is now using the same bullshit excuse, except of course Australia is actually living through the consequences of global warming right now with the worst drought in recorded history – an unfortunate reality that overwhelms John Howard’s insistence that global warming seems to be a hoax cooked up by tree hugging pinkos.

You choose sucker – make the cuts and lose the jobs or lose the planet.

Cutting emissions may harm Australian economy
CANBERRA - Australia has to accept that cutting greenhouse gas emissions may harm the economy, federal frontbencher Tony Abbott said today. The health and ageing minister said it would be difficult to balance the fight against climate change with protecting jobs. "It's very hard do both and that's what we need to face up to," Mr Abbott told the Nine Network. "Particularly if we are going to do it soon, if we're going to dramatically cut emissions it is going to have an impact on the economy," he said. Prime Minister John Howard has frequently attacked Labor for threatening jobs in the coal and forestry industries with its climate change policies.

What a waste of time and how dare the cops get sanctimonious

So we are busting people for buying a tinny are we? What a waste of time in a legal system already clogged and jammed to bulging, and for the cops to get all sanctimonious about people buying a tiny amount of weed ‘during work hours’ you know what is worse than buying weed during work hours Mr Officer? Try gang fucking a woman with your handcuffs and batons while on duty in uniform with the police radio in the background.

Tinnie-house raiders vow to keep up fight
As police pull into Lappington Rd to raid an Otara tinnie house this week, two young women and a child are reversing out of the driveway. The front-seat passenger has just passed $20 through a window at the back of the house in exchange for a "tinnie" of marijuana. It is the fifth time the recently qualified legal secretary has bought drugs from the house. It should also be her last, but some people don't seem to learn. The young woman is one of more than 40 people who have been caught buying cannabis during the past few weeks in Otara. Many have been professionals and turned up in work vehicles; others have been mothers who have brought their children along for the ride.

Lying bastards

So let me get this straight – it’s not that GlaxoSmithKline are a lying pack of bastards when it came to the vitamin C content of their sugar syrup Ribena, oh no no no – apparently it is because the vitamin C ‘floated away’ because it had been on shelves for ages. This claim has been rubbished by food scientists.

I’m still pissed they only got a $200 000 fine – if the maximum is a million, what would a product have to do to get the top fine? Lie about what is in their product? Well that’s what GSK did – a $200 000 fine to a $60 Billion company is a bullshit fine, and remember it was an incident that the Commerce Commission only took up because the two brilliant teenage girls who tripped GSK up had to go to Fair Go to get anyone to take them seriously.

If GSK lied about the so called health properties of their sugar syrup – how many other junk food advertisers are doing the same? I mean allowing billions to be spent convincing kids to eat fat is one thing, but lying about your fatty foods is just an insult too far.

Drink deficient only in Australasia, says GSK
The makers of Ribena have told UK customers the problems with the product in Australia and New Zealand came from leaving the bottles and cartons on shop shelves too long - a claim rubbished by food scientists. GlaxoSmithKline, which had a worldwide turnover of $61 billion in 2005, was fined $217,000 this week after pleading guilty to 15 breaches of the Fair Trading Act. Through its lawyer, Adam Ross, the company accepted Commerce Commission allegations that claims ready-to-drink Ribena contained 7mg of vitamin C per 100ml, or 44 per cent of the recommended daily intake, were incorrect. The commission's testing found that ready-to-drink Ribena contained no detectable vitamin C. After the court decision, a spokeswoman for GlaxoSmithKline in London told the Daily Telegraph that the problem arose when Ribena in Australia and New Zealand was left on shop shelves for too long, causing the vitamin C to degrade. There was no such problem with Ribena sold in Britain, she said. "Our testing equipment in New Zealand and Australia was not sensitive enough to pick up the fact that the vitamin C was degrading," she said. The company later issued a statement: "GSK has conducted thorough laboratory testing of vitamin C levels in Ribena in all other markets. This testing has confirmed that Ribena drinks in all other markets, including the UK, contain the stated levels of vitamin C, as described on product labels." Professor John Birkbeck, from Massey University's Institute of Food Nutrition and Human Health, dismissed the spokeswoman's claims. "If they're properly sealed ... the vitamin C should be fairly stable. I'm not convinced by that argument at all. Anyhow, there's use-by dates on those things. If that is really the reason, and I seriously doubt that it is, then there's something wrong with the use-by date."

CIA intervention is the best kind of intervention

Wow, hasn’t the CIA intervention in Somalia gone well? Because the American’s can’t tell the difference between a nationalist movement that just happens to be Muslim and Islamo-Fascism – they have continued to fuck up Somalia, in a way that only the CIA can ever pull off. Apart from backing the warlords because they were anti the Islamic Courts, the CIA then got Ethiopia involved.

Welcome to a new war against ‘terrorism’.

Somali violence 'worst in years'
The Somali capital Mogadishu is being wracked by the worst fighting in 15 years, with dozens killed and thousands fleeing the violence, aid agencies say.
The bloodshed started on Thursday when Somali and Ethiopian troops launched an offensive against Islamist insurgents. On Friday an Ethiopian helicopter was shot down while attacking the rebels.

Campbell Smith is wrong, it’s not downloadable music that is killing NZ music, it died a couple of years ago!

I’ve been waiting for this news story for over two and a half years now, and suddenly that day has come! Campbell Smith has come out to say that NZ music is dying and top NZ artists have to get second jobs BECAUSE of digital music downloads.

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!

Yes NZ music has fallen over from the giddy heights of the early part of the decade – BUT THERE IS ANOTHER REASON WHY THIS HAS HAPPENED!!!!!!

I’m using big words because the last time I pointed out this exact fate, my friends in the music industry seemed to have their heads jammed firmly up their own arses and couldn’t hear me, so take a moment and listen this time, because there is a solution, and seeing as you are bleeding money right now, one could suspect that I can as much of a smarmy prick as I like, and you will desperately read whatever I have to write on the subject.

Good, now pay attention.

The reason NZ music has hit the doldrums has everything to do with Kiwi FM. Prior to Kiwi FM, Channel Z played 40% NZ music with its mix of mainstream alt punk. At its height Channel Z had 5% of the Auckland market (a huge rating), right up until of course Canwest decided to promote that awful ‘The Edge’ crap over and above Channel Z which started a decline. What Channel Z did was it brought NZ music to the attention of the other radio stations who being very cautious wouldn’t ever test out a song. What Channel Z did by playing 40% music was make it safer for stations to pick up NZ content into their playlists.

The decision for 40% NZ music was a mix of no one in management knowing and people within Channel Z who were passionate about NZ music and me (who just thought ideologically that we should play NZ music because it is our culture –but then again I was always the weirdo of the group.)

So out of this unplanned experiment, other radio stations had to start competing with our playlist, and by having Channel Z break music in for them, it reduced the risk for other radio stations.

I left Channel Z when Grant Hislop (the new station manager) decided to turn it into ‘Kiwi - 100% NZ music’ – I was aghast, at first we were told it wouldn’t be much change at all, but I tried to argue that a 100% NZ music playlist would not work and it would damage the uptake of other radio stations as they wouldn’t bother competing with the playlist and would simply leave NZ music to kiwi. This in effect would lead to a massive down turn in the market because less NZ music would get air time and the very serendipitous success of Channel Z would come to an end. By playing a mix of music, Channel Z had been a lynchpin between the commercial radio and student radio worlds, drawing in new artists while supporting existing ones and forcing other commercial stations to compete by adopting NZ music into their playlists. Kiwi FM – by being 100% NZ music has become a dumping zone that other stations don’t bother to compete with, the effect is less NZ music gets heard from the total number of stations. Less music play means less NZers listening to NZ music.

Oh and did I mention after the change that Kiwi’s ratings dropped like a stone? It currently has .7% in the last radio survey. Oh and did I mention that the Labour Party are propping up Kiwi FM, this actual station (all best intentions aside) is KILLING NZ music. The format of Kiwi has to be changed, like I first suggested, to a mix of music rather than 100% NZ, Kiwi HAS to become the Youth Radio Network with that mix of music and you industry barons MUST start pushing for that.

I’d suggest letting National know this, and let Labour freak out and force their hand.

Otherwise you will have Bic flipping burgers.

Stop blaming digital downloads and accept Kiwi is the problem, and force Labour to hand the contract for those frequencies over to someone who can make it work.

Downloads force music stars to seek second jobs
The manager of top singer-songwriter Bic Runga says eight of his "high-profile" and "major" New Zealand artists have been forced to take second jobs as illegal digital downloads kill the music industry. Campbell Smith, who is also the Recording Industry Association chief executive, told Parliament's commerce select committee yesterday that the decline in CD sales had led many musicians to abandon the industry as a full-time career. Performers listed on Mr Smith's CRS Management website include hip-hop artist Scribe, singer-songwriter Brooke Fraser and Carly Binding, a former member of the made-on-TV group TrueBliss.

Personal responsibility huh?

Where are my Food Nazis at ? Whenever I blog about how outrageous it is that Ronald and his chums get to have unrestricted access through Television adverts to your child’s brain, thus explaining the explosion of obesity, the freedom bugle blowers rush in to decry any attempt whatsoever to blame advertising on rising obesity and will mantra chant ‘personal responsibility’ as if that is some type of intellectual QED.

Well the latest research on advertising junk food to children show (shock horror) that junk food advertising is increasingly becoming more and more intrusive.

I get that the right want to leave their precious unrestricted market forces to rape and pillage the world, but their attempt to justify what effectively is junk food producers molesting their children’s minds via TV advertising while their backs are turned seems to be a little thoughtless.


Kids Get Diet Of Junk Food Commercials
In a child's buffet of food commercials, more than 40 percent of the dishes are candy, snacks and fast food. Nowhere to be found: fresh fruit, vegetables, poultry or seafood. For years, health officials have warned that kids were being inundated with commercials about not-so-healthy foods. Now, researchers have put numbers to those warnings in the largest-ever study of commercials aimed at children. The study, the largest ever of TV ads for children, found America's kids are bombarded with commercials for unhealthy foods full of sugar, salt and fat, reports CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker. Children ages 2 to 7 see an average of 30 hours of such ads a year. Kids 8 to 12 see 50 hours annually, while teenagers see 40 hours every year. "The vast majority of the foods that kids see advertised on television today are for products that nutritionists would tell us they need to be eating less of, not more of, if we're going to get a handle on childhood obesity," said Vicky Rideout of the Kaiser Family Foundation, which conducts health research. Overall, the foundation's researchers monitored 13 television networks. The viewing took place primarily between late May and early September 2005. They saw 2,613 ads featuring food and drinks that targeted children and teens. "Since (preteens) are at an age where they're just becoming independent consumers, understanding what type of advertising they are exposed to is especially important," Rideout said. Of food ads aimed at children, 34 percent were for candy and snacks, 29 percent for cereal, 10 percent for beverages, 10 percent for fast food, 4 percent for dairy products, 4 percent for prepared food and the rest for breads and pastries and dine-in restaurants. In December 2005, the Institute of Medicine concluded that marketing practices from the food and beverage industry are out of balance with recommended diets for children and contribute to an environment that puts children's health at risk. The institute recommended that companies shift their advertising to emphasize food and drink that are substantially lower in calories, fats, salt and sugars.

Big Brother

Forget Amerika becoming the new fascist state – how about dirty little Britain. Blair has been edging Britain closer and closer to a Big Brother State and his desire to ‘monitor’ every child has a deeply disturbing ring to it. Watching how Tony lied and lied and lied about the Iraq war and has slavishly taken Amerikan Dick – isn’t it time Tony was stood down?

Blair wants to monitor all children for signs of criminality
LONDON - Tony Blair faced charges of taking a further step towards turning Britain into a "surveillance state" as he set out plans to monitor all children for signs of criminality, to allow police to collect more DNA samples and to expand the use of CCTV cameras. He also announced proposals to restrict the activities of career criminals after they are released from prison and to review the operation of the police service. Critics of the wide-ranging plan said it amounted to a further erosion of civil liberties under the cover of fighting crime. Most controversial was a proposal to "establish universal checks throughout a child's development" to help "identify those at most at risk of offending".

I’m sorry Cop – where is your moral authority

Cops busting people for buying weed – WEED FOR CRYING OUT LOUD – want to tell the buyers bosses because people were ‘buying weed during work time’.

1: Weed shouldn’t be illegal in the first place and chasing after people who are buying it is fucking bullshit!!!!!

2: I’m sorry, Cops want to dob in weed buyers because they were buying weed during work hours? You know what would be worse than buying weed during work hours? Oh I don’t know, how about orgy gang fucking women tied up with handcuffs and batons in Police Uniform, while on duty with the police radio playing in the background.

HEY PIG – You ain’t got no moral authority no more – so step down piggy, step down.

Police want to tell drug users' bosses
Police want to tell employers about the arrests of more than 40 people - including a nurse and a train driver - caught buying drugs from South Auckland tinnie houses. The arrests were made during Operation Beware, in which people from as far as Huntly, Tauranga and New Plymouth were among those buying cannabis at Otara tinnie houses in the past few weeks. Eastern area commander Inspector Jim Searle said they included a train driver, mortgage broker, nurse and tradespeople. Some turned up at tinnie houses during the day in company vehicles. As well as prosecution, police are investigating if there is any way of legally telling employers what employees have been up to during work hours.

Whitewash

What a surprise - nothing to see here - move along. What a whitewash.

Jail inquiry blames the few
The Rimutaka probe indicates some jailers are breaking their code of conduct. Possible mismanagement and unprofessional conduct - rather than corruption - have been the main findings of the independent inquiry into Rimutaka Prison, the head of the inquiry says. But barrister David Patten said yesterday the problems at the prison were the result of the actions of a few. "It would appear that there is a very small group of people that are breaching, quite fundamentally, the officers' code of conduct," he said

Hasn’t the war just gone amazingly

LOL – Hey remember all those right wingers who wanted us to get into Iraq? HAHAHAH, and remember how National and ACT wanted us to be in what amounts to the pack rape of Iraq because our ‘mates are going’ – no surprise that so many former cops went on to be National Party MPs is there?

I love how so many right wing voices only now quietly mutter what a great war this has turned out to be, no great apology from Kiwi Blog, no great climb down from ZB or Radio Live or Radio Pacific or the Herald, just quiet sweeps under the media carpet.

Well I don’t do sweeping under the carpet – here’s another great story from our beloved war for freedom and democracy from Iraq – proof that on top of the out right corruption of the virtual pillage of Iraqi resources comes news of jaw dropping incompetence. Electricity and oil and water supplies are now WORSE than when they were under Saddam. WORSE! Laugh with me folks, 655 000 Iraqis who are dead are, they are laughing and laughing and laughing. Of course they are dead, so the sound is a bit muffled coming from the grave, but shouldn’t we feel proud of the achievement towards democracy and freedom that Amerika has helped build.

Now here’s what I don’t want to hear – I don’t want to hear ‘but why us’ when some angry Muslim straps a bomb to themselves and detonates it in a Western capital.

Sabotage and scandal eat billions to rebuild Iraq
Even John Bolton, the neocon's neocon and former United States ambassador to the UN, now admits it. Mistakes were made in the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq. Not regime change - he is unrepentant about that - but what happened next. Some US$21 billion ($29.3 billion) in US reconstruction funds later, and despite President Bush's promises that the US would leave Iraq with a better infrastructure, the country produces less electricity and oil than it did before the invasion four years ago, according to the US special inspector-general for Iraq reconstruction (Sigir). Others go further than Bolton: it could never have gone to plan because there was no credible plan to reconstruct the country. Andy Bearpark, who worked for the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran the country for a year after the war, says: "The problem was fatally flawed planning, that was then completely overtaken by the collapse of the security situation. The CPA drew up plans in the Baghdad green zone with little appreciation of practicalities out in the country." There have been scandals aplenty in the aftermath of the war. Barely had hostilities begun when it was revealed that contracts to rebuild the country's infrastructure were being handed out without competition to companies such as Bechtel and the Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root, both of which had close ties to the Bush Administration. Rosemary Hollis, head of research at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, says: "It is scandalous that what little infrastructure there was before the war was not salvaged and that reconstruction has been so poorly planned." Bearpark adds: "The real scandal is that the output from the money that has been spent on reconstruction is only a fraction of what the Iraqi people had a right to expect."

Pig – get out of it!

Why the hell are the NZ Police stopping journalists from asking questions of the Chinese? Since when did the cops protect China– you know China, that totalitarian communist government that mass executes prisoners and reaps them of their organs for the Chinese body organ black market – those Chinese, why are the cops trying to protect them? And don’t the Police have better things to do like supposedly mass arrest parents for hitting their children and popping off for a quick orgy between emergency call outs?

Speaker steps in after police eject journalist
Parliament's Speaker, Margaret Wilson, wants to ensure an incident in which a journalist was stopped by police from covering Chinese officials at the Beehive is not repeated. Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen waded into the row saying the journalist was removed from a photo opportunity on Monday night because he was creating a disturbance. But footage shows Wellington-based journalist Nick Wang was stopped from doing his work at a meeting of Dr Cullen and a Chinese vice-premier by a Diplomatic Protection Squad officer acting on instructions from a Chinese official.

You lie and you pay Mr Man!

Great to see GlaxoSmithKline has to tell everyone they lied about how healthy their sugar syrup Ribena is and they have to pay over $200 000. Of course I would also argue that this shit shouldn’t be marketed to children anyway – always a bone of contention by some posters here who seem to want Ronald and his chums to have unlimited, unrestricted access to your children via the Television – what about this advert then? These guys LIED about what was in their product, do adverts that lie still get unrestricted access to your children, you freedom bugle blowing clowns for Ayn Rand? The thing that pisses me off is that they only were fined $200 000 - for a multi billion dollar company, this is chump change - what the hell would you have to do to get fined the full Million? This company lied about their product, and you can see how it happened, you know the maggoty PR types, 'Christ no one wants to drink sugar syrup any more - what do we do', 'Hey did you know blackcurrents have 4 times the Vit C of oranges', 'Wow, let's use that as our advert' - of course no one checked whether their product had any actual Vit C in it (they are after all maggoty PR people with no idea) and off GlaxoSmithKline went with their advert. $200 000 is chump change and the Commission is ball-less.

Judge orders Ribena to fess up
GlaxoSmithKline has been ordered to run an advertising campaign to provide the facts after it admitted misleading the public about the vitamin C component in its Ribena drink. The multinational company, which had a worldwide turnover of $61 billion in 2005, was also fined $217,000 after pleading guilty to 15 breaches of the Fair Trading Act.

Oh and from the – it has nothing to do with the mass marketing of junk food whatsoever, freedom personal choice, freedom personal choice, freedom personal choice brigade comes this little gem of a story…

Teenagers 'less healthy than their parents' generation'
Today's adolescents are the first generation to have grown up less healthy than their parents, doctors said yesterday. Alcohol, tobacco, drugs, obesity and sexually transmitted diseases have replaced childhood infections of the past such as tuberculosis and polio and are exacting a greater toll. The difference is that the modern threats to teenager's health are preventable. Between 1970 and 2000, obesity in adolescents has increased fourfold, sexually transmitted diseases have increased threefold, drinking has increased, smoking rates are unchanged since 1982, and suicide is slightly up, figures show.

97% of NZers frightened!

The latest clamor to point to every opinion poll and cry out ‘it’s anti-democratic’ over the ‘anti-smacking’ legislation is a bit of a yawn. As I posted yesterday, the tyranny of the majority dressed up as democracy isn’t democracy, what were the margins against the homosexual law reform bill, or Civil Unions or criminalising rape in marriage (that was only passed in the 1970s, previous to that you could rape your wife because no crime existed for it within the confines of holy matrimony) - did you see the unauthorized history of NZ last Monday? All those NZ blokes spouting open misogyny as cultural fact, it was a reminder that progressive legislation always frightens those who gain authority from the power imbalance that legislation enshrines.

I understand that a big chink of NZ are frightened because of the propaganda campaign National used this time around, the ‘It will criminalize good parents’ song is the same hysteria tune National whistled with ‘Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaris get too much’ (remember that song, that was fucking hilarious wasn’t it – turned out to be a big fucking lie though, but hilarious nevertheless).

Of course I think the best reason to beat your children came from some of our more whacky and zany Christian Brothers and Sisters, the ones arguing that you have to ‘beat the Devil’ out of your children, let’s just look at that again, because on first look, that seems fucking insane – the right to beat your children has to be enshrined in law BECAUSE one has to ‘beat the Devil out of them’. Hmmmm, I’m pretty sure what side of this debate I’m on.

You are the adult, it is the kid – you lose your rag so much so that you have to strike that kid to get your own way – you’ve failed the kid, and you’ve failed yourself – YOU are the adult, YOU have all the power in the Adult/Kid relationship. Grow up, take your responsibilities for raising kids with a bit more compassion and honesty than this debate is allowing and stop being in denial about the massive problem child abuse has become in this country.

Just stop hitting your kids.

Oh and arguing that the Police are going to suddenly run around arresting poor defenseless parents who have only smacked their child to push them out of the way of a hot stove is the most ridiculous fucking thing I’ve ever heard in my life. All those battered woman who have current restraining orders against their violent partners, those restraining orders which are hardly ever followed up on, must be laughing hysterically that the Police will find time to arrest parents, hell seeing as so many Cops are off having orgies on Duty, I’m surprised cops have any time to catch criminals at all. But they do have very interesting work stories.

Public opinion says 'no', but Clark and Cullen say 'yes'
Labour may adopt Green MP Sue Bradford's anti-smacking bill as a Government measure to speed it past a parliamentary roadblock. Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen yesterday refused to rule out the notion, saying he preferred not to comment. Public opinion polls are strongly against the bill, but Labour has become increasingly in favour of it.

Radio Live (barely)

The problem with Radio Live (in my humble opinion) is that there was an expectation that it would be a counter to Talkback ZB – the home of red necked NZ (Christ isn’t Leighton Smith pompous arsehole). Problem is Radio Live is right wing lite – why go for the diet beer when you can have the full bodied version on ZB? Radio Live needed to have a strong liberal voice, that way it would have been an alternative to ZB (and don’t get me started about Radio Pacific – that’s for meths drinkers). With all the talkback stations going for the same right wing listeners, ratings can’t expand – get someone to take the liberal road and try something different – why must talkback be so fucking right wing?

How the hell can Michael Laws, that yapping dog of the right ever be considered ‘the new voice of talkback’ – it sounds just like the same old nasal redneck whine to me.

Oh and while we are one ZB – thank God Paul Holmes is leaving – his first interview on TV with Dennis Conner was his most amazing interview ever – he was on ‘our’ side and stick it to dirty Den – but since that point Paul Holmes has become more and more one of the boys, helping the powerful rather than hold the bastards to account. HOW DARE Paul Holmes interview Don Brash in the last election, when a week later Paul was being hired by National to coach Don for a interview with Kim Hill! Why weren’t the sheep of ZB told that? Why weren’t they aware that in a heated election, Paul is ‘grilling’ (hahahahahahahahahahahaha) Don Brash one week, and then getting paid to help him answer questions from hard as nails Kim Hill the next. The job of the media is to hold these bastards accountable – that is the function of a strong media in a strong Democracy, without it we get a dumb democracy and a sold out media.

Devlin quits Radio Live breakfast slot
Martin Devlin has quit Radio Live after months of speculation about his employment, saying his dislike of presenting hard news was to blame - not poor ratings. Devlin had been host of the talk-radio station's breakfast slot since it started two years ago.

Forcing Green

Awsome to see that green is making an impact at the very mouth vent of consumerisim, let's now start punishing those companies who aren't changing.

Consumers turning green
The number of people willing to put their money where their mouth is on green issues is growing, according to researchers. More than half the population - 50.9 per cent - have bought a product or service from a company because it supports a worthy cause or charity. This figure is up from 42 per cent two years ago, according to data collected by Nielsen Media Research Panorama and analysed by advertising company Nick Jones & Associates. The figures indicate that a hard core of about 8 per cent of consumers are making purchasing decisions based on green or social imperatives each week, says company principal Nick Jones. A further 19 per cent are making similar decisions each month. For those consumers, carbon neutrality is becoming the least of what they expect of the companies from which they buy goods and services, Mr Jones says. "The sort of questions these people are asking is, what are you doing about waste reduction, and so on. And companies that are on the ball these days are going to have to listen to what that 8 per cent market is saying, because they are the trailblazers. Carbon neutrality is great, but it's not enough."

No Miss King – you are wrong!

Annette King would have us believe that everything is going swimmingly at Police HQ, and that it’s a great time for further allegations of serving police acting out gang bang rape scenarios using batons and handcuffs while on duty to come out…..I’m sorry – what did Annette just say there? How can she put any positive spin on this latest eye popper? The woman is slick – but what she needs to be pushing for right now to regain the publics confidence is announce a new independent police complaints authority, someone from Labour point this out to her will you.

Time right to reveal all on police, says King
Police Minister Annette King wants any more allegations about police sexual conduct to come out now so they can be properly dealt with and the force can move on. Ms King said yesterday that far from being frustrated at the continued string of sexual allegations about police, she thought it was the "right time" for things to be brought out. "I'd much prefer that it all comes out, whatever there is there. This is the time for everything to come out, because this has to be dealt with, it has to be addressed, we have to move on from it - the police have to." Continuing allegations would be "crippling". The latest allegations concern serving police officers using batons and handcuffs in group sex while on duty.

The ‘anti-smacking’ Bill should go through

I am angry that the National Party – a supposed ‘mainstream party’ – should slip back into their ‘Maaaaaaaaaaaaari get too much’ mode when wanting to terrorize the population for populist reasons. Listening to Chester Burrows rant on about this piece of legislation ‘criminalizing’ parents is the most irresponsible bullshit I’ve heard from National since Don snarled white peoples lips with his ‘Maaaaaaaari get too much’.

This ‘anti-smacking’ law is a first step to saying we don’t want our children to grow up in a violent environment, and that starts at home with Mum and Dad. Are children a pain in the arse? Oh God they are, and do they need discipline – oh God they do, but should that be done by a frustrated whack when junior is misbehaving – no it should not. Listening to Talkback whine that this law will not do any good as it ‘won’t stop the people who really beat their kids’ is wrong, where as it won’t have an immediate effect on those kids at the bottom, it has forced all the ‘good’ parents in NZ to reflect on what they do to their kids and it will protect those kids as soon as the law passes – listening to all these parents admit they hit their kids while quickly reassuring us that it had no lasting effects is tedious, dull and should be done between you and the priest.

But what about the Police arresting poor innocent parents (sob sob) - this point must make all those women out there right now with restraining orders against their violent partners laugh their heads off - cops can barely enforce restraining orders and domestic violence is the biggest killers of woman - where cops are supposed to find the time to prosecute parents, especially seeing as so many cops are indulging in orgies while on duty, is beyond me,

But what about the claims that NZ society will fall to rack and ruin because our offspring will run amok, laughingly having their poor weak parents arrested because they were trying to knock their evil child away from a power socket and now the parent is looking at spending 5 years non parole!

Yawn, yeah we’ve heard about society ending when Domestic violence legislation went ahead, when homosexual law reform went ahead, when civil union law reform when ahead, when it was made illegal to rape your wife in marriage in the 1970s – isn’t that wacky – prior to that law, you could rape your wife anytime you liked and it was never considered rape – so now you can’t hit your kids.

Just try and not hit your kids okay, I’m putting money on most of those in prison right now had parents who hit them as well.

Last-ditch battle for smacking bill votes

The Smacking Debate
Supporters of the legislation will stage counter-demonstrations in both cities, but Ms Bradford conceded yesterday that "I don't think they are expecting to match the [opponents'] numbers". Two opinion polls yesterday showed strong public opposition to her private member's bill.

My invite must have gotten lost in the mail

I wasn’t able to join the swanky Auckland wanker bunch last week for their 40 below National Party humpfest, (can’t imagine why) but my spies tell me it was hardly a roaring success with the usual vacuous crowd mixing with the usual young billionaire wannabe crowd (watch them mix every weekend at spy bar). Thank god National will try and be cool to Auckland’s youth in a way that will only attract the people who would vote for them anyway, if John Key had brought his green credentials and championing the underclass tricks to Auckland’s Malls, he would have appealed to women in the suburbs, a place he needs to win if he wants to be Prime Minister.

Stop the Press: Studies in Britain Prove Alt Tv is the Smart Choice

Watching the music on Alt Tv, NZ’s only alternative music TV channel is proof that you are intelligent, but don’t take our word for it, take this story in the news.

Best and brightest tune into 'brutal' death metal and thrash bands, says study.

Heavy metal has long been saddled with a reputation for attracting admirers more interested in decibels than Descartes. New research however promises to rescue the genre from the mosh pit of intellectual obscurity.

A study of some of Britain's most intelligent schoolchildren has revealed that death metal and thrash bands such as Slayer and Slipknot produce the music of choice for today's best and brightest.

A survey among students at the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth, a cohort drawn from the top 5 per cent of the nation's youngsters, drew praise for metal's "visceral brutality" with more than a third rating it among their favourite styles.

Researchers admitted they were surprised to find that "intelligent" genres traditionally associated with the bright, such as classical and jazz, were the least popular.

What they discovered was that youngsters liked to let off steam to hardcore sounds, particularly if it had an emotionally charged or overtly political message behind it.

One respondent said: "You can't really jump your anger into the floor and listen to music at the same time with other types of music."

According to Stuart Cadwallader of the University of Warwick, who conducted the survey, heavy metal was found to provide a form of "catharsis", particularly among those suffering from low self-esteem. They found the aggressive music a useful conduit for their frustrations and anger, according to the findings revealed at the British Psychological Society conference in York.

"It is a popular misconception that gifted students are listening to classical music. When they were feeling stressed, a surprising number said they liked to listen to heavy metal," he said.

Mr Cadwallader said: "Perhaps the pressure associated with being gifted and talented can be temporarily forgotten with the aid of music. As one student suggests, perhaps gifted people may experience more pressure than their peers and they use the music to purge this negativity."

While traditional musical forms such as rock, pop and RnB were rated as the most popular, students said they felt particularly attracted to the "thrashiness" of heavy metal.

Answering questions in an on-line survey, one student said Systems of a Down's anti-war track Bring Your Own Bombs particularly appealed. Another track, Aenima by Tool, was praised for its subject matter - "the stupidity of the celebrity culture".

Another praised the "the visceral brutality offered by metal bands like Slipknot and Machine Head". The student added: "The cathartic release offered by heavy music played loud, either by my hi-fi or myself on guitar, is a wonderful thing when it's needed."

Others responded on a more aesthetic level. One said: "The first time I heard Tears and Shadows by a band called From Grace I was just amazed. In the midst of all the swearing and screaming, there was this beautiful guitar solo."

One student concluded: "As with most music, it depends heavily on the person's mood at the time. So whilst there probably is your "average Metalhead fan", there will also be a lot of other fans who just feel "Metalheady" every so often. Which I guess goes some way to justify my play lists being named after emotions."

- INDEPENDENT

PS - Weekends at alt tv are unofficially launching this weekend

Sobering stats on slavery

We like to think we have come far as a civilization. We are wrong, despite our insignificance to the planet (if you stood with your arms spread out to represent the life span of the 4 billion year old Earth, recorded history would be your fingernail), we haven’t really progressed very far in terms of the way we treat eachother. I found these stats on slavery very sobering

More slaves than ever despite world ban
Slavery is officially banned by all countries yet there are more slaves than ever before. Today there are an estimated 27 million slaves: people paid no money, locked away and controlled by violence. An estimated 218 million children are used for labour, United Nations Children's Fund Unicef says. Millions work in especially horrific circumstances, including the virtual slavery of bonded labour. An estimated 126 million children work in the worst forms of child labour - one in 12 of the world's children aged 5 to 17. Around 300,000 child soldiers, some younger than 10, are involved in more than 30 areas of conflict.

ANOTHER woman getting the police baton?

So Shipton (that charming Police Officer convicted of pack rape once, but couldn’t be convicted on two other cases because there wasn’t enough evidence, even though our law clearly allows past crime signatures to be heard by a jury - just to bring you up to date), so Shipton has just been busted in a video gang banging and using police batons and handcuffs with other former cops (what is it with this weird sexual bonding thing these cops seem to love so much? Is it that once you are part of the ‘group mindset’ you can’t do anything on your own anylonger? Is this what the Police recruitment people meant when they advertised ‘Get better work stories’ –

“What did you do today honey”
“Why I gangbanged a bitch who was gagging for it, you sweetheart”

- isn’t that group dynamic a bit fucked up?)…so he’s on this video gang banging another woman and using police batons on her (you know what I mean) and in my mind this is evidence that Shipton loved this stuff, and it was his clear sexual signature, and it was this clear sexual signature that was hidden to the Jury’s in the Louise Nicholas and third trial.

On another point entirely – congratulations to the Sunday News – this story was a total scoop that floored Sunday Star Times and Herald on Sunday and shall make me keep an eye out each Sunday to their news paper. If Shipton was the sexual power addict he appears to be there must be MANY other stories floating around in Rotorua, congrats to the Sunday News for not turning their backs on the Shipton story after the other newspapers had decided the story was past its used by date.

Police to launch sex-tape inquiry
Police have promised a thorough investigation into potentially highly damaging new allegations that serving officers used batons and handcuffs in group sex - with a police radio blaring in the background. Deputy Police Commissioner Rob Pope said last night, after Police Minister Annette King called for an urgent report, that an investigation would be conducted as soon as possible. The allegations, by a woman who claims to have had sex with uniformed officers introduced to her by convicted rapist and former detective Brad Shipton, have emerged just days before findings of the Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct are due to go public.

Although the woman told Sunday News she considered those encounters consensual at the time, on reflection she thought Shipton and the others had exploited her "like a circus seal".

The Sunday newspaper published images of a lurid, hour-long homemade videotape allegedly featuring Shipton and two other men involved in an orgy with the woman at the centre of the new allegations. The soundtrack of a music television show playing in the background indicates the video was made after September 2001. Although those men were both described as former police officers, the newspaper reported claims by the woman that:

* She had sex with serving officers while they were on duty, in uniform, and within earshot of a police radio.

* The officers used police handcuffs and batons on her during sex.

* She has a photo of a baton being used on her sexually.

* She was the victim of a "controlled rape" sex role-play involving a serving officer.

* She was shackled to the ceiling of a building by Shipton, who bit her before having sex with her.

If it hadn’t been for those meddling kids…

Don’t you love the story of two NZ girls who stood up to GlaxoSmithKline over their lies regarding Vitamin C in Ribena? Don’t you love how GlaxoSmithKline arrogantly blew them off when they tried to tell GlaxoSmithKline that they were lying about their Vitamin C content? And isn’t it interesting that the Advertising Standards Authority wouldn’t listen to them either and it wasn’t until the highest court in the land, ‘Fair Go’, took up the story and GlaxoSmithKline finally got their head kicking.

Funny how no one wanted to listen to the kids, bloody adults – great to see such a hard crutch kick to such a large pharmaceutical company over their outright marketing lies. To allow children to be marketed to for unhealthy food is one thing, but lying about how healthy your unhealthy food is, is just careless.

Schoolgirls' study nabs food giant
A high school science experiment by two 14-year-old girls has embarrassed the world's second-largest food and pharmaceutical company. GlaxoSmithKline will appear in Auckland District Court on Tuesday to face charges alleging 15 breaches of the Fair Trading Act. The charges, brought by the Commerce Commission, arose from an investigation by Pakuranga College students Anna Devathasan and Jenny Suo into the vitamin C levels of the popular Ribena drink, which has sales of about $8 million a year. The company faces a maximum fine of $200,000 on each charge.

Oh the Irony

The multi-millions spent on advertising booze has no negative social effect on society – except when the advertising manager gets drunk and drives into a bunch of foreign diplomats.

Ad boss says 'I'm so sorry'
The advertising guru whose company helps market alcohol to the masses was caught drink-driving when his high-powered sports car crashed into a group of foreign diplomats after a liquid lunch in Auckland.

Damn the Baby Boomer Sales Manager!

How many times do we see dumb baby boomer sales managers who end up running media networks fuck it up time after time after time? Take for example TVNZs sudden desire to put their content on line for download – what the baby boomer sales managers don’t get is that GenXers and Gen Y went on-line to escape the mediocrity and bland crap the mainstream media serve up. For those baby bomber sales managers to now try and get their mediocrity on-line and scratch their heads when they don’t get why it isn’t working shows how out of touch they are with how bad their own product has become, and it will hopefully herald the decline of the Baby boomer and the rise of the GenXer into positions of creative control. Their on-line content has to be UNIQUE not the same old slop they dish up each day and it has to be content that is purposely designed for a small screen rather than a standard TV screen.

Don’t believe me about Baby boomer sales managers fucking it up? Look at this example…

Price of RNZ ads
Radio New Zealand has spent more than $170,000 for one of the world's top advertising agencies to devise a series of TV ads that will be played only 40 times. The Faces campaign, created by Clemenger BBDO, is part of an overall campaign partly canned after the station's host Kim Hill slagged it on air this year. Figures show that $198,237 was budgeted for the campaign; $171,626 was paid in consultancy fees to produce three 30-second and one 45-second commercial; and since January, $64,577 has been spent on advertising spots for the commercials. RNZ said the spending was appropriate because the non-profit state-owned network needed rebranding.

Dude, the chick was lucky (it is the NZ Police after all)

Seeing as we’ve just come out of a police pack-rape-for-kicks trial, news that the NZ Police tasered a woman twice on the wet floor should come as great news for many women in NZ, let’s be honest ladies – we all know what cops are capable of now, getting tasered twice in the back is a lot preferable to ‘the baton’ – you know what I’m talking about Willis.

Unarmed woman Tasered twice in wet bathroom
The use of high-voltage stun guns is again in the spotlight, after an unarmed woman was shot twice with a Taser gun within the space of just a few seconds. The woman broke into a Titirangi home and barricaded herself in a bathroom on Tuesday evening, and although three officers were in attendance, police decided the best way to overpower and subdue her was with a Taser. The first shot hit the woman in the leg, and she fell to the ground, and then police confirm she was Tasered again, seconds after they failed to properly handcuff her. The Taser stun gun fires two barbed metal darts at the victim and delivers a 50,000 volt electric shock.

Although previously police have said victims only risk injury from being Tasered, they now admit there is a one in 870 chance of a fatality.

Hey look, there’s that one in 870 stat again, remember when the cops told everyone that Tasers were never lethal EVEN THOUGH the Police had been told that exact same statistic prior to stating that it wasn’t lethal? Or the fact that the cops kept hidden all the ‘accidents’ Police have had while trialing the Tasers?

Hahaha, and you want me to just accept all of this WITHOUT an independent Police complaints authority? Rednecks are so funny ain’t they?

America admits it let Lebanon suffer Israeli aggression

Ever wonder why during that bullshit pre-planned brutal military excursion to stamp down on Hizbollah, why America took so long to actually step in and drag their little violent mate Israel off the battered and bloodied Lebanon? Well, John Bolton just let it slip during an interview that it was because America wanted Israel to succeed and so let them do what they wanted.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha and so many of Israel’s apologists were all trying to tell us this was about a couple of Israeli soldiers getting kidnapped!

Hahahahahahahahahaha.

Bolton admits Lebanon truce block
A former top American diplomat says the US deliberately resisted calls for a immediate ceasefire during the conflict in Lebanon in the summer of 2006.
Former ambassador to the UN John Bolton told the BBC that before any ceasefire Washington wanted Israel to eliminate Hezbollah's military capability. Mr Bolton said an early ceasefire would have been "dangerous and misguided". He said the US decided to join efforts to end the conflict only when it was clear Israel's campaign wasn't working.

Why we need to put pressure on China

It is totally unacceptable for the ‘Government’ of Sudan to block UN envoys from attempting to visit the wretched millions in Darfur to see with his own eyes the intense human suffering that Darfur has now become. The only country with any trade deal with Sudan is China and the call must go out again and again that the only way to put pressure on a country desperate to get the attention a super power wannabe craves is to threaten a boycott of the China Olympics.

UN envoy barred from Darfur camp
The UN's new emergency relief coordinator John Holmes has been turned away from a camp in Darfur for those fleeing the Sudanese conflict.
The UN envoy was refused entry by Sudanese soldiers to Kassab camp in northern Darfur, says the BBC's Karen Allen, who is travelling with him. In the past six months the BBC has reported on mass rapes of women and young girls at the camp.

Has it occurred to anyone that Iran is right?

There are all sorts of suggestion that the recent taking of 15 British troops by Iran yesterday is an attempt to rise tensions just before another important UN vote on their nuclear defiance.

Yeeeeeah, but there is also the even simpler explanation that the British were in Iranian waters, and with everyone as terrified of each other and with all the pressure building up there, these stupid macho events can suddenly escalate into people shooting at eachother. Remember the Gulf of Tonkin incident? The USS Turner Joy and the USS Maddox ‘thought’ they were under attack from North Vietnamese naval forces. During a violent electrical storm both captains misread the instruments and believed they were under attack – based on this absurdity, the US President escalated Vietnam to the full on killing machine we fondly remember it to this day as.

This event highlights why it is stupid to build up forces in a region with as much tension out there as this one is now exhibiting, it’s time to admit there isn’t a military solution to this problem and redouble our diplomatic efforts, the Iranian people want peace as much as we do.

Sailors admitted incursion – Iran
Royal Navy personnel seized at gunpoint by Iran in the Gulf have admitted being in the country's waters, an Iranian general has claimed. Gen Ali Reza Afshar told Iranian media the 15 personnel were being interrogated, but were in good health. The Foreign Office could not say where the group was being held. It insists they had not been in Iranian waters. Earlier, minister Lord Triesman met with the Iranian ambassador in London to demand their immediate release.

You are going to do what with genetically modified mosquitoes?

Ummm, help me out here folks – Western GM research companies want to release genetically modified mosquitoes resistant to malaria into sub-Saharan Africa to SAVE poor brown people????????

GM mosquito 'could fight malaria'
A genetically modified (GM) strain of malaria-resistant mosquito has been created that is better able to survive than disease-carrying insects.
It gives new impetus to one strategy for controlling the disease: introduce the GM insects into wild populations in the hope that they will take over. The insect carries a gene that prevents infection by the malaria parasite.

To SAVE brown people from malaria huh??

A million children die from malaria, who would say no to wanting to help poor brown children from death?

Apparently the massive Genetically Modified Industry want to save a million poor brown children every year by releasing into the wild a Genetically Modified living organism.

Ummm.

No. How many billions upon billion upon billion has the GM industry already gobbled up in science research? If we actually cared about poor brown people dying in Sub-Saharan Africa we would pay the $3 Billion annually that Time magazine estimated it would cost to protect the people of Africa from the blight of malaria.

Considering the costs of the nets, medicines and other components of malaria control, a comprehensive program would cost about $4.50 per African at risk, or about $3 billion a year for the whole continent. This is an amount that is too large for Africa but truly tiny for the rich world.
Time Magazine

Oh and before I hear you decry “Where are we supposed to find $3 Billion annually then bomber” – I’d like to point out that Joseph Stiglitz has estimated the actual cost of the war in Iraq is now about $2 Trillion, oh and before my right wing friends decry Joseph Stiglitz, he was the chief economist at the World Bank and won a Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001, the World Bank is not known for its fuzzy wuzzy love of communism. If America is serious about countering Al Qaeda’s recruitment of poverty wrecked Africa, spending a measly $3 Billion from their $2 Trillion is money well spent!

Which brings me back to justifying Genetically Modified living organisms being released into the wild, there are better, cheaper options to deal with malaria that are minus the unknown risk of releasing GM organisms into the wild, a situation where we have no idea what the knock on consequences of that will be and to use the image of 1million dead brown babies to justify this seems a total mockery. The only real reason the GM industry want to test this out in sub-saharan Africa is because we don’t care what happens to these people now (otherwise we would have found the $3 billion to eradicate malaria) and if something does go wrong, no ones going to notice, and please don’t try and tell me the GM industry cares about Africa, they have been actively working hand in hand with USAID to weaken GM laws in Africa since the late 90s….

For instance, USAID funds the African Agricultural Technology Foundation, which is also supported by the Rockerfeller Foundation, OECD, Monsanto, Dow Chemicals, Dupont and Syngenta. Passing of as an 'African initiative' because its headquarters is in Sierra Leone, the role of the AATF is to use poverty and the urgent need for food security strategies in Africa to push for the opening of markets by sharing patents and seeds. However, this initiative is aimed at ensuring the firm control of African research institutions in Africa. Take note also, that because the initial predictions of the GE industry have not materialized, huge amounts of money is now being invested in the so-called 'second generation' of crops. Nigeria based International Institute for Tropical Agriculture and its parent body the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) recently announced its "Harvest Plus Plan" to embark on resources for second-generation GE crops (maize, cassava, and sweet potatoes). The Plan has received a cash injection of $US 100 million. These are only but 2 examples.
African Conservation.Org

George Bush was right! Chemical Weapons Found in IRAQ!

Can everyone please just take a delicious moment to savor the irony of Bush lying about chemical weapons (that only existed because his Daddy had sold them to Saddam in the first place) finally becoming a reality because insurgents are now using chemical weapons to end American occupation? What a way to prove that Chemical weapons do exist, invade a country first, and then let them develop chemical weapons to prove you were right. That’s pre-emptive pre-emption.

IRAQ: Insurgents adopt new terror tactics
BBSNews 2007-03-20 - BAGHDAD, (IRIN) -- Anti-US insurgents in Iraq are using new methods of attack four years after US forces invaded Iraq to oust the government of former president Saddam Hussein. Their latest weapon of choice is poisonous chlorine gas, which they use in bomb explosions to cause more casualties and spread panic, say specialists.

WE HAVE NO BANANAS TODAY!

Oh wacky little Chiquita, up to their old tricks again – you’ve heard of blood diamonds, welcome to blood bananas! Their dirty tricks of paying American backed dictators in South America all for cheap access to bananas has evolved since they last pulled this stunt in the 70’s to simply backing right wing paramilitary death squads, that way it looks a lot less officially sanctioned by corporate America, things like that can damage a brand don’t you know.

Here’s how the chief prosecutor Mario Iguaran had to say about the recent case of Chiquita’s corporate sanctioned private murder scam, “It was a criminal relationship, money and weapons in exchange for the bloody pacification of Uraba”.

American corporate muscle at work!

Colombia may extradite Chiquita execs on militia pay-offs
BOGOTA - Colombia may seek to extradite employees from Chiquita Brands International after the US banana giant pleaded guilty to charges a subsidiary paid protection money to illegal paramilitary gangs, the country's top prosecutor said today. In US District Court, Chiquita admitted paying off the United Self Defence Forces of Colombia or AUC, a paramilitary organisation branded a terrorist group by Washington and accused of some of the worst atrocities in a four-decade-old guerrilla war.

There is no corruption in our prison system

Hahahahaha, remember when the Corrections chief executive Barry Matthews furiously attacked claims that corruption was widespread throughout the prisons system and even went so far as to suggest it was the nasty, nasty gang members who were threatening the poor little prison workers? I found it funny that we could give prison workers that level of ‘understanding’ but we would never give prisoners that level of understanding – as awful as it is for the poor little prison workers getting bullied by the nasty, nasty gang members, imagine how much worse it is for the actual other prisoners locked in those cells with those nasty, nasty gang members.

But that would take an imagination, something our usual friends on the right who bay for public lynchings don’t seem to have much of. As the over stretched prison system grinds to a halt under the weight of its own corruption from the sheer increased volume of people we now lock up (don’t we just love to lock people up without thinking through the knock on effects? God bless knee jerk talkback NZ), the public seem to be getting a wee bit ill with the whole thing, you know, all a bit ashamed of their previous years bloodlust, NZers are now realizing that the awful soul destroying prisons they want everyone to be thrown in actually destroy souls and make the prisoners put through it even more bent and out of shape. The problem is that we live in a country where even mentioning the fact that the prison system isn’t working is akin to hating the victims who have been hurt by the criminals, the debate has been conquered by the sensible sentencing knee jerkers, fuelled by a Corrections Department riddled with corruption because those working in the system know that the outside world doesn’t give a toss what happens inside prisons and fanned by conservative politicians like Simon Power who paints prison as an adult Disneyland.

We have to rethink the prison system and we have to eliminate the lynch mobs from having a say.

Jail chiefs ordered to stamp out corruption
Jail bosses have been told to do some "sniffing around" as signs emerge that corruption may not be unique to Rimutaka Prison. Corrections chief executive Barry Matthews said yesterday other prisons were being scrutinised for a Rimutaka-like culture, in which corruption had been allowed to fester. He is certain the inquiry into Rimutaka will snare further staff for corruption - two have already been suspended - and may even lead to a shake-up of the prison's management. Since the department admitted problems at the prison, it has faced allegations that corruption is widespread in the country's jails. Mr Matthews and Corrections Minister Damien O'Connor have rejected that and resisted starting further inquiries. But Mr Matthews said yesterday there were signs of corruption at other prisons and he had asked managers to do some "sniffing around".

Hahahaha the underclass

Underclass, underclass where fore art thou Underclass? I wonder where National party supporters think the Underclass comes from? Are they found at the bottom of ones garden? Are they made everytime a civil union is performed? Perhaps they live under John Key’s bed at night and pop out to whisper their dreams into his ear late at night?

Here is where the underclass come from – but don‘t tell our right wing friends, the second you mention benefit, they want to cut and slash it and then we’d see all those warm fuzzy images of John Key championing the underclass up for what they always were – a pr charm offensive.

Single benefits falling far behind wages
Welfare beneficiaries without children are now worse off in relation to the average worker than at any time in the past 26 years, and probably in the last 60 years. Auckland University research shows that the net dole for a single adult without children has dropped from a recent peak of 45 per cent of the net average wage in 1986 to 28 per cent today. The current rate is the lowest since the university data started in 1981, and economist Brian Easton said it seemed to be the lowest since the average wage was created in 1948. His data, based on the benefit rate for couples, shows that the previous lowest rate for couples was 54 per cent of the net average wage in 1972.

Corruption and bullshit smell like this

The $560 million contract for medical testing that the Auckland District Health Board had awarded to a company called Labtests has been thrown out by a High Court ruling that had been taken by the previous contract holder Diagnostic Medlab. The shocking thing about this case and the almost near silence from the mainstream media on it is that the Chief Executive of Labtests is Tony Bierre, who just happens to be on the Auckland District Health Board, which just happened to award the contract to Labtests. How the hell a man who is running the company who gets awarded a contract can also be involved in the decision making process is beyond me, the Court heard that Tony Bierre had been privy to information that helped shaped his proposal, such a conflict of interest is completely unacceptable, why isn’t the media demanding heads to roll? Is there a different kind of Auckland at play here? The Auckland business boards, all full of rich entrepreneurs ready to rip off the health bureaucracy – that’s not a story? We’ll get headlines about a no collar worker who steals $20 000 off social welfare, but when a white collar worker scams $560 million – it’s all a technical issue. Funny that.

Blood feud over lab testing
Competing companies could be forced to work together to provide medical testing for Auckland after the High Court scrapped a contract awarding the $560 million service to newcomer Labtests Auckland. Auckland District Health Board chief executive Garry Smith yesterday refused to rule out the possibility that the present provider, Diagnostic Medlab, and Labtests would have to share the testing work until a new tender could be awarded. Medlab's contract expires on June 30. "This is not an ideal situation," he said. "It is certainly not how we planned it to be." Justice Raynor Asher ruled the joint Auckland, Waitemata and Counties-Manukau district health boards did not conduct a fair tender process before awarding the contract to Labtests. He ruled that information acquired by Labtests chief executive Tony Bierre - an Auckland District Health Board member throughout the tender process - "greatly advantaged the Labtests bid and thereby damaged the integrity of the tendering process".

Rock Against War marks Iraq Anniversary in Auckland

For Immediate Release
Monday 19 March

Rock Against War marks Iraq Anniversary in Auckland

Martyn ‘Bomber’ Bradbury, Chris Knox and Nandor Tancos are among the many community leaders and musicians lending their services to The Rock Against War this Friday, 23 March - upstairs at the Bluestone Room on Durham Lane from 7pm.

The event marks four years since the US-led illegal invasion of Iraq, during which time there has been an estimated 655,000* Iraqi civilian casualties.

"It's as much about raising awareness as it is about raising money”, says Rock Against War organizer and seasoned anti-war protestor, Ryan Sproull. “New Zealand is small and remote, but Kiwis are decent people, and whatever influence we can have for a fairer world will require people getting together. So they're getting together for this. And, you know, music", says Sproull.

Local musicians Chris Knox, Body Corporate, Cerveza and Captain Hammer & the Gold Stars will perform live sets at the event, and well-versed media terrorist, Martyn ‘Bomber Bradbury’, will speak.

Bomber says: “Its time New Zealanders remember their New Zealand history – we are known internationally as being champions of human rights, our apathy towards Iraq has to stop now.”

Green Party MP, Nandor Tancos, will also speak at the event.

All proceeds from the suggested $5 entry fee will go to charities in Iraq and Afghanistan and there will be opportunities at the venue to sign up for mailing lists if people are interested in being involved in future social-justice efforts.

Principle sponsors: The Bluestone Room and Auckland University Students Association

Special thanks to: Fleet FM, bFM and Craccum magazine.

-Ends-

For further information and interview opportunities contact:

Ryan Sproull wataki@gmail.com

Happy Birthday Mr President

Happy Birthday Iraq war, you’ve turned 4! A war that has claimed as many lives as 655 000 Iraqis, displaced over a million internal refugees, has seen living standards worse than when under Saddam, has seen torture increase to Saddam levels, a war that it turns out wasn’t just illegal, but it was based on an entire case of lies, a war where a butcher like Saddam actually showed more dignity in death than his victors.

I was breathless to hear what Mr President had to tell the world on the 4th Birthday of his Iraq War, and he didn’t fail to look like he always has – confused and out of touch with reality.

I wonder how our inaction in the face of such perverse American aggression will be viewed by future generations.

Bush calls for patience on Iraq
US President George W Bush has said the US-led security push in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, will take "months, not days or weeks" to show results.
In a speech to mark four years since the 2003 invasion, he said those on the ground were seeing "hopeful signs". But he warned it would be disastrous for US security if Washington decided it was best to "pack up and go home". His comments came as a BBC/ABC News poll suggested Iraqis are increasingly pessimistic about the future. Less than 40% of those polled said things were good in their lives, compared to 71% two years ago.

Sedated justice

Seeing as David Hicks is being held using the testimony of another tortured Guantanamo Bay prisoner who has since been released and recanted their confession, I would want to be sedated when being informed of the latest window dressing that passes for a justice system in America these days as well

US probes Hicks 'sedated' claim
The US Pentagon is examining allegations that David Hicks, the Australian detainee at Guantanamo Bay, was forcibly sedated last month.
The Pentagon has argued that past claims have often been exaggerated. David Hicks is due to appear before a US military commission next week on a charge of providing military support for terrorism. Ahead of his appearance, protestors in Sydney have unveiled a life-size replica of his cell. This will then go on a national tour of Australia. The allegation that David Hicks was forcibly sedated has come from his US military defence lawyer, Major Michael Mori. He claims the Australian was given medicine last month just before being informed about the new charge levelled against him.

New York Cops Charged

American’s love their guns, no other civilian population in history has been marketed into the terrified paranoia of gun ownership sold to them as some sort of ‘constitutional right’ like the American’s, and it is this might is right over kill and their reliance of mass carpet bombing solutions to any sign of resistance that wins them friends and admirers around the planet. Take the recent case in New York of Sean Bell, where NY cops opened fire and shot his car 50 times – Sean was unarmed and seems guilty of being a black man after dark in a built up urban area. It was the cops arrogant super reliance on their firepower to solve any perceived resistance to them that led them to pump 50 unchallenged shots into Sean Bell, hours before he was to marry. My bet is that if Sean Bell was white from a well to do family, it wouldn’t be just two cops being charged right now.

NY police in manslaughter charges
Two New York policemen have been charged with manslaughter and assault over the shooting of an unarmed man just hours before he was to be married.
A third officer was charged with assault by a grand jury in Queens. Sean Bell, a 23-year-old black man, was killed last November when police fired nearly 50 shots at his car as he left a club after celebrating his stag night. The shooting prompted outrage in the city and triggered accusations of racism against the police. Two other police officers present at the time of the shooting have not been indicted on any charges.

Why I can't care about the black caps

I love cricket - and I'd love to get into NZ winning at the World Cup - but ever since the Black Caps decided to tour Zimbabwe - I've refused to support them. How we could have decided to take a tour of a dictator like Mugabe over and above a fine makes me feel ill. I've often wondered where America's much vaunted love of democracy disappears to when we talk about Zimbabwe- the only reason America doesn't invade Zimbabwe is because Zimbabwe doesn't have any oil. I also think it is time for South Africa to get over themselves and publicly move against Mugabe, there is an understandable deep resentment for the white world in South Africa and that plays into the reason why South Africa have done little to aid the white world in decrying Mugabe, but that is no excuse for doing what South Africa are doing.

Zimbabwe: 'They beat us with truncheons, metal bars, rifle butts, sjambok'
Morgan Tsvangirai lies in his hospital bed after being attacked by police. Nelson Chamisa, one of the opposition MDC members attacked last week, tells of his ordeal at the hands of the police: "I began protesting Robert Mugabe's Government nearly 10 years ago when a student. I was very young then, but I am bearded now and my voice has deepened. But still I was shocked by the savagery. "They were not beating only me, they were beating the 30,000 people who voted for me, who voted for change."