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Today’s Daily Blog Watch Round-Up of matters that have attracted the attention, assessments, and articulations of this country’s leading bloggers…
NZ Left Blogosphere
Will Hamiltonians finally get a voice on fluoridation asks Open Parachute? With the flouridation debate hijacked by the Tinfoil Hat brigade, you have to wonder what part – if any – science had to play in the decision-making. Not much. I’ll wager. Open Parachute sez,
“Disaffection with the Hamilton City Council decision to stop fluoridation has resulted in an attempt by at least one councillor to get the decision reversed and submitted to a referendum.”
Basing a decision on junk science, mis-information, and outright lies is not a good way to promote democracy. Conspiracy nuts, on the other hand, are positively wetting themselves.
On Red Alert, David Cunliffe writes On Marlins and Long fins. Marlin and eels are threatened with extinction with over-fishing – another attack on our 100% Pure, Clean & Green image. If either of these species become extinct on Key’s watch – what will be his excuse. Oh yeah, “it happened under the previous Labour government”…
It will be interesting how an incoming Labour-led government deals with this issue.
It’s Old News, writes
“The corporate media’s ‘bombshell’ that the US government is engaged in a massive cyber-surveillance operation is old news. The alternative media has been broadcasting and writing about it for years...
… What is most shocking, but not exactly surprising, is that the corporate media has again been asleep at the wheel. A dumbed down media besotted with ratings and advertising revenue has continued to feed its audience with tabloid news headlines and trivia – at the expense of coverage of the issues that do matter. ”
Well said, Steve. Read Steven’s full blogpost to get the full story on this issue.
Phillip Ure on Whoar sez, “..Edward Snowden Tells South China Morning Post: U.S. Has Been Hacking Hong Kong And China Since 2009..”
The Police surveillance state is global.
And yet, lone individuals like Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning are prepared to stand up to the power that has the entire world in it’s tentacles. Depressing? No. We still outnumber them by 7 billion.
On the same issue, Travellerev on Aotearoa: A Wider Perspective gives us 27 Edward Snowden Quotes About U.S. Government Spying That Should Send A Chill Up Your Spine. Travellrev points out,
“Chances are that if you are reading this blog, you are on the list. ”
Mickey Savage on Waitakere News gives a Big Kia Kaha to Fonterra Harlem Shake workers at Fonterra who were sacked (but later ordered to be reinstated by the Employment Relations Authority) for something so incredibly trivial as to begger belief. Dancing.
Whoa.
Can’t have happy workers now, can we?
Message to Fonterra management: being arseholes is not cool.
Tim Selwyn on Tumeke blogs on the De-commissioning of NZ Police Deputy Commissioner Bush by Labour’s Trevor Mallard. Labour’s decision to question Bush’s on-going appointmentcalls into question the police officer’s ongoing career after a change in government.
In the Fifth corner of the PRISM, Tim writes,
“It is rather telling that both the PM – the Minister in charge of the NZ spy agencies – and the former head of the GCSB are clueless about the PRISM metadata trawling undertaken with dubious legality by the American government. ”
The Hand Mirror has has great posts from Scuba Nurse and LudditeJourno,
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Winners can’t be victims, or victims cant be winners? – writes Scubanurse about the conflation of online gaming and attitudes about rape. Why am I not surprised that young, socially-challenged (predominantly) males have difficulties understanding why rape isn’t funny? Why “it’s only a joke” is a poor justification about something that just ain’t funny.
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Rugby without the side order of queer-bashing, thanks – Homophobic comments from rugby-heads? Why am I not surprised Of course “heterosexual” men in the crowd scream homophobic abuse… Just to reasure each other.. After all, this is where “heterosexual” men go to watch other men grapple with each other, after which, it’s communal shower-time. Homophobia and repressed sexuality much? Yeah, just a smidgin. But easily wallpapered over by a few well-aimed homophobic barbs.
On Socialist Aotearoa, Linda M writes about what lurks Behind the Silicon Curtain,
“Peaceful revolution ultimately brought down the Stalinist surveillance states of Eastern Europe and tore down the Iron Curtain. Now the challenge is to pull down the Silicon Curtain.”
Stalinism – just more overt than Washington’s strategy. The Soviets used police surveillance and suppression to defend against Western capitalist aggression. The West uses police surveillance and idiot-TV to defend against “Eastern Islamic terrorism”. The bullshit factor is high on both sides.
No Right Turn’s Idiot Savant writes,
“According to the Parliamentary website, submissions on the Government Communications Security Bureau and Related Legislation Amendment Bill have been Extended for a week to 21 June 2013.”
Get your submission in, folks. Ok, the Nats may not listen – but if they’re swamped with opposition to the growth of the Police surveillance state here in New Zealand, they may think twice. And make sure your submission is addressed to the Labour MPs on the Select Committee. Ask them; “What would Jesus do?” And “what would Labour do”?
How very British, writes Savant, that there was ethninocide of the Diego Garcia inhabitant’s culture and subsequently endorsed by a British Court. Even a democracy can be guilty of vile acts – made all the much worse as citizens do nothing to reign in their governments.
Jami-Lee Ross’s Employment Relations (Continuity of Labour) Amendment Bill, has been Drawn.
“Despite the innocuous title,” writes Savant, “the bill allows employers to use scabs to break strikes. When that was last permitted, back in the C19th and early C20th, it led to widespread industrial violence (as people naturally don’t like having their jobs stolen by a scab).”
This will be the next industrial battleground.
And this author predicts that there will be violence. And tragedy.
Savant presents his Submission the Government Communications Security Bureau and Related Legislation Amendment Bill. It’s pretty common sense stuff. Which means, of course, that the Nats will ignore it. Common sense and National – not concepts that sit easily in the same sentence.
On Frankly Speaking, Frank shares his experience at Backbenches last night. Check out; Judith Collins, Peter Dunne, & Backbenches. Nasty piece of work, that woman.
QoT on Ideologically Impure appreciates that It is a gift! A gift of … Alasdair Thompson? Evidently, Mr Thompson doesn’t know when to STFU and move on.
Note to Mr Thompson: people have short memories (it’s the flouride or chemtrails or somesuch). They will forget your fuck-up. But only if you let them.
The Jackal writes Loose lips sink ships – and sheets home some of the blame for our ailing tourism industry, on Key’s insensitive comments that insulted a certain famour footballer.
Domestic tourism is also on the decline. Not surprising, as wages are static and disposable incomes are not as high as they used to be.
Lack of evidence based policy reform – Jackal condemns the Prisoners and Victims Claims (Continuation and Reform) Act, calling it “morally corrupt”. He adds “unfortunately the current governments moral compass doesn’t look like being fixed anytime soon by an evidence based argument“.
Is Mallard a bully asks Jackal? Deputy commissioner Mike Bush is on record for his glowing eulogy of corrupt policeman, the late detective inspector Bruce Hutton, back in April. As Jackal points out, Bush’s excuse that his eulogy was meant “only for Hutton’s family” is sheer bullshit. As Jackal wrote,
“I don’t think Trevor was being a bully in this instance… He simply appears to be standing up against police corruption and saying that those who promote it should not be in the force.
Of course the manner in which Mallard went about making his point could probably have been a bit more diplomatic, but a lack of diplomacy isn’t the making of a bully. If that was the case, then the bully label could be widely applied, especially across the current governments benches.”
The Standard is on form today with a wealth of intelligent discourse (unlike the Hamilton flouride debate or Kiwiblog),
- DPF oops –
- With a nice little poke at Farrar by Imperator Fish; National Party MP goes on mass murder rampage
- Networks of influence: Key, Peter Thiel & the GCSB –
- Classy right wing politics – reminds us how crass and pig-ignorant right wingers can get. Of course, they always default to “freedom of speech”. They forget that free speech is not bad manners and foul language.
- Spies and lies – can anyone trust Key? – – writes – “The angles and implications of the GCSB / PRISM / Palantir story are multiplying at a frightening rate, and only a mug would trust anything coming out from the government about it. How’s this for starers:
Report on GCSB changed from ‘sensitive’ to ‘sanitised’
The senior lawyer appointed by the Prime Minister to investigate the GCSB wrote a report which was more detailed and highly classified than the one released.
The existence of the highly classified version of the report was revealed by Air Marshal Sir Bruce Ferguson, who was a former director of the GCSB and consulted on a draft of the report. He said the report released was “a sanitised version”.”
Right wing filth masquerading as “humour”, and the growth of the Police State. All in another day under National…
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On The Daily Blog
For Honour, Principle Or Personal Gain – Will The Real Leakers & Moles Step Forward?– Selwyn Manning writes,
“RIGHT NOW OUT THERE AMONG US are a number of New Zealand Government officials who, at the peak of the United States’ war in Iraq, sold New Zealand’s national interests down the river. It was a breach far in excess of any other, that if it involved the Chinese or the Russian Federation embassy diplos would have been the New Zealand equivalent to Britain’s Profumo affair.”
There is more to his explosive story, and it gives a behind-the-scenes insight as to what’s going on with our spy agencies.
You won’t read this in the msm any time soon.
Tax Reform: It’s Time To Investigate A Land Tax – Stuart Nash writes,
“I think that if we seriously view investment in housing as an economic / structural problem, then we should at least investigate a land tax. This is an idea recommended by Key’s own tax working group, but rejected by English. Evidence and modeling shows that such a tax would have the effect of depressing the housing market slightly, but it is a very easy tax to collect and administer, and it does only target those who own land.”
It’s not our job to be the PC Police – epic fail for Eden Park – Martyn Bradbury writes,
“Seeing as all NZ taxpayers and Auckland ratepayers have contributed hundreds of millions to Eden Park for its world cup revamp, why shouldn’t those very same taxpayers and Auckland ratepayers feel safe and comfortable at the Park minus homophobic insults?”
Homophobia and rugby? Do we really want to link those two together? C’mon, NZ Rugby, you wouldn’t tolerate an AB threatening to bash his wife – so what’s with tolerating homophobia?
And best for last,
Citizen A: Martyn Bradbury, Chris Trotter & David Slack On Dunne + PRISM + GI Evictions
In this week’s Citizen A Martyn Bradbury, Chris Trotter and David Slack debate why Labour and the Greens are clobbering Peter Dunne as hard as they can – shouldn’t Dunne be given some slack for assisting a journalist to report on a matter of huge public interest?
Your weekly dose of intelligent current affairs anaylis. You won’t find this on Seven Sharp!
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Blogpost of the Day
Idiot Savant, on No Right Turn blogs on Labour’s hypocrisy on SkyCity.
Un-fucking-believable.
I mean, really? What were Labour MPs thinking. If Labour loses this election, it will only be because they snatch defeat from the jaws of Defeatosaurus. Any more dumb ideas, guys? What about a sex orgy with sheep with the media invited to film it?
Thank god we have alternative parties to vote for; Mana and the Greens.
Idiots.
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Action of the Week
Homelessness – The Big Sleepout 2013 Appeal – Martyn Bradbury writes,
On the 4th July I will be going homeless. For one cold night in the dead of winter I will be stripped of my creature comforts, exposed to the elements and given insight into what it means to sleep rough.
I live in the central city and I have for almost two decades. The homeless problem in central Auckland, has to my eyes steadily increased.
If we don’t bring attention to the poverty that is driving this homelessness, we won’t ever generate the solutions necessary to solve homelessness.
EVERY dollar I fundraise will be directly applied to Lifewise’s unique “no band aids” approach to homelessness. The Lifewise response continues to be Auckland’s most successful answer to the issue of homelessness. So before I bed down on a slab of concrete I’d love to ask if you might sponsor me. Please back me and please back this worthy cause by digging deep today.
Thank you.
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Thought for the Day
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~ Joe Blogger
“The Daily Blog Watch” Editor, Imbiber of Fine Sugary Drinks, & Cat Herder
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~oo~
