Sory

Hi folks Short apology for lack of posts recently. To cut a long story short, life kinda went to shit. So I'm indulging in some quality of life for a few days. Back soon. Oh but before I go, I must tautoko what Olivia said: I hereby declare that should I be reduced to a persistent vegetative state I want my feeding tube taken out.

Eh?

Got some links to my site from Netguide, so thought I'd indulge in some self-indulgence and go buy it and see what they're saying about me. So I flick to appropriate page and there's the link alright, but some odd quote, which they've attributed to this site, but not one I ever wrote. I did rather like it but I certainly never wrote it. It was in speech marks. So now my dilema is a) get over b) email Nige and tell him that he should quote me corrcetly in future or c) change my site description to match the one they gave me. I think (a probably.

Yay the Bay

Aside from all the pensioners and christians I do rather love the Bay of Plenty. Especially since it cost me and my grandmother $3.20 to get a bus to Tauranga from the Mount. $3.20!! That is brilliant! Why aren't all bus services that cheap? If anyone's around these parts, there's some fantastic book sales in Tauranga shops at the moment. Sucks if you're travelling though, I wanted to buy heaps of books but I can't exactly carry them all... But I must say, the weather up here is such a treat. Especially after taking two days to get out of Wellington (fog grrr fog). Even though it's raining off and on, it's still lovely and warm. Aah, don't want to go back. It's sonice, I haven't even noticed the fact that I haven't read a paper or soon the news in days. In fact, someone could have blown up Parliament and it wouldn't have got anywhere near my radar. Aaah bliss. Back to the sun and my book...

The List

Jordan has the List. I apologise, I thought I was interested. What I am interested in knowing though is what their selection process is. I did read somewhere that there was 37 people on the committee (can you imagine being on that committee? It would be about as mind numbing as writing the code for a programme to determine how quickly paint dries...). But if anyone can answer the question of how their process works, I would be quite interested in that. UPDATE Six days have passed and noone can tell me what the Labour list selection process is, must be really open and democratic...

Blogging from the airport...

Funny thing about fog, it usually makes me rather sentimental for those early mornings in Hamilton when you're riding to school, and then arriving so saturated, you may as well of swam to school. But when you're sitting in an airport waiting for the fog to lift long enough to get a flight, it is rather frustrating. Thank goddess for laptops! I'm certainly not the only one effected. So is the announcement of the Labour Party List. Here's hoping it comes out soon... I'm certainly interested to see what it looks like. So now I can catch up on some blogging I wanted to do. Firstly, had a rather exciting weekend. I went to the anti-war rally from Civic Square to the US Embassy. There wasn't that much of a turn out, but those that were there were loud and proud. What was amazing however, was my first ever participation in a de-arrest. After the speeches at the embassy, a friend dressed up as George Bush offered himself up as stress relief and rotten fruit was offered to the crowd to throw at him. The Police quickly stepped in and informed people that they could throw fruit at each other but not at the embassy. They gave us all a warning and said if anyone threw fruit at the building, they would be arrested. Fair enough. So another friend picks up a piece of fruit and goes to throw it at the GWB character. I'm not too sure if the fruit actually left his hand or not, but he was immediately arrested and dragged down the road. He protested the arrest informing the police that he had followed their instructions and warning and had not thrown anything at the building. They appeared not to care and continued the arrest. The crowd was not having a bar at this blatant abuse of police power and proceeded to crowd the police, surround their car so they couldn't get their detainee in the vehicle, and once he got down on the ground, lay on top of him and linked up with various parts of his body so they couldn't take him anywhere anyway. The rest of the crowd then surrounded the action chanting "let him go" and "wrongful arrest". The Police soon realised this was a fight that they weren't going to win. And probably conscious of the number of cameras around and how bad it would look if they brought in reinforcements, decided to negotiate. Ten or so minutes later release without charge was successfully negotiated and our friend skipped off waving an anarchy flag. Inspiring stuff. I have seen so many incidents in protests where people have been arrested and shouldn't have been. Not only is this a blatant waste of police and court time (not to mention tax payer dollars) but doesn't do anything to instil respect for the police. Sure, if people break the law, then the police have grounds to send someone to court You can see pictures etc at Indymedia. You can also read about the less than appropriate Police behaviour in Auckland. Mr Farrar seems to think this is OK. Wonder how he would feel about being arrested for carrying a copy of a newspaper? In light of this ridiculous behaviour on the part of the Auckland Police, the GrAnarchists put together this must read for all police officers. Nice one. UPDATE I am now leaving the airport, it's closed, grrr. In other news. I see that NRT has noticed that the Greens are working on a new blog. I was aware of this and have been contributing to the discussions around how it will work. I'm pleased to see them doing this, I must say. So much of the work that the Greens do either a) gets ignored by the Press Gallery for not being controversial/confrontational/simplistic enough or b) ridiculed, yet it is work that people are calling for all the time. I hope this project gets the positive work that the Greens do in parliament out to the public more. Might also provide us with an entertaining gossip source...

Grow up Rodney

I just managed to witness some seriously pathetic behaviour in the House on the part of Mr Hide. Aside from using points of order for slightly dubious purposes; when the Speaker rules on a point of order, the Speaker has ruled. At that point you sit down and shut up. You do not continue to make the same point of order. And you certainly do not refuse to sit down when told to. Having to force the Speaker to get the Serjeant-At-Arms to get up and remove you is a gross waste of parliament time. Mr Hide needs to learn some respect if he wants to get any at all from the Speaker in return.

Zzzzz - so what!

OK, so David Benson-Pope had a wee nap in Parliament. So what? I mean, can we just remember that contrary to popular belief they are human beings? I agree that it's not really appropriate to be snoozing off in the House, but who hasn't nodded off in a lecture, or at work. I think we should just remember for a moment that (most) MPs do work exceedingly hard for incredibly long hours. If I was an MP and was so exhausted that I nodded off in the House, I would certainly prefer a gentle nudge from a colleague to wake up and maybe go have a nap in my office, than have my little snooze broadcast to the entire electorate and have my record as an MP judged on it.

Where are you marching this Saturday?

Saturday is the Global Day of Action to mark the 2nd Anniversary of the Occupation of Iraq. There are amazing events going on all over the world which you can read about at the global campaign site. To find out what you can do here, check the Indymedia site. I for one, will definitely be marching in Wellington. I received my monthly email from International Youth Parliament this week which always features reports from the Action Partners around the world. The contribution from an Action Partner in Iraq was both humbling and inspiring.

Nour Mosawy, OIYP 2004 Action Partner, Iraq. I have been facing lots of changes in our conditions here, every day is a different day in predictions, hopes and futures from the day before! Every day is different with its fears, hopes, dreams and prayers from yesterday. My action plan is now more directed towards youth empowerment of medical students, mostly to obtain the goals needed in health development. Water treatment requires lots of money to be spent, with no guarantees for sustainability as the situation is not yet settled and we don't know where bombs will be!!!! I would like to send medical students to medical conferences to get to participate and learn about the methods of achieving health projects, especially directed towards the Millenium Development Goals, as water improvement is one of these goals.

It's always amazing to read about how people still manage to stay focussed and positive, even when the empire is bombing the hell out of your country. Yay for youth I say!

National are a bunch of odd socks aren't they?

Although I'm sure it wasn't actually the National Party that put out this press release. Would be kind of entertaining if they did...

Thanks Mum

Mum sent me some quotes today. This was my favourite: My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first being, hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint. Erma Bombeck he he he

Relationships Bill

The Relationships (Statutory References) Bill is currently going through the third and final reading. Vote expected to take place any time soon. I will post the vote when it goes through. The speeches have been relatively entertaining, and remarkably factual! After the Civil Union Bill posturing, I was pleased to hear a number of MPs actually discussing the changes in the Bill from second to third reading. Sue Bradford's speech was particularly good. I will post the link to it when it's on the Green Party website. It's worth a read for a chuckle. Paul Adams made me laugh, he sounded just like he was preaching to a congregation; pontificating about how we'll all go to hell if this goes through and about how this Bill will destroy all the great heterosexual marriage relationships in this country. Bollocks. If the passage of a piece of law that does not take away any rights whatsoever can really destroy a marriage, it can't have been a very strong relationship to begin with... Anyway, vote count coming soon. UPDATE Relationships Bill has gone through 76 for, 44 against. UPDATE II I didn't quite get this but I now do... They split the Bill up and every amendement to other pieces of legislation is getting voted on individually eg couples and GST, couples and nose picking etc *yawn*. It will take hours. They have been going since about 5.45pm and I don't know how much longer it will go for, but hope they're not planning on doing much else this week. Cause it's a personal vote, each vote takes about 10 minutes... UPDATE III There was 26 amendments. I think they got through before the House rose at 10, but I lost interest... I'll find out tomorrow if there was anything exciting in the voting, although I do doubt it.

It aint easy being Green II - especially in Bulgaria

Further to my post a week or so ago, the latest one is that Bulgarian anti-nuclear activist Albena Simeonova has been getting death threats. Guess that's what happens when you try and have an opinion about the future of the planet that doesn't match with that of nuclear power companies. Silly woman, what was she thinking...

Talking about denying history

Lyndon Hood has a damn fine piece of witty writing over on Fighting Talk about this fullah who had a bit of a crap time getting in and out of Canada when he kept insisting on being a holocoust-denying raving anti-semitic. I'm enjoying Lyndon's writing, keep it up dude. Anyway, he does raise an interesting point that one day we're going to have to find ways of dealing with our own hating liars that doesn't make martyrs of them. It's a good point. I mean, I can't wait until the day when this nation finally fully grows up, recognises our colonialist heritage, starts properly learning our history, and founds a nation based upon Te Tiriti o Waitangi. (Think that might be white-liberal secret code for a revolution, shhh!). But the good question is what happens then to the people who fell through the cracks? What happens to the Littlewood Treaty supporters and the determined rednecks. You can't stop them from thinking dumb-ass stuff but then neither can you punish them. It's a type of discussion that raises up that lovely split in the left between the socialists and the anarchists/libertarians. Force them to do it, or create a society where they wouldn't even consider it (ask yourself which is more oppressive?). Or do we just continue to have a free-speech based society where people can stand up and say somehting stupid and just get laughed at. Personally, I advocate a restoration of a bit of traditional english culture and introduce public spaces in any town or city that wants one. Get them designed by local unemployed artists so they are beautiful places to hang out in. Bring back the tradition of people getting up and having their say in a public space. Without the need for politicians, media or the permission of city councils (you listening Kerry?). The main thing this nation is lacking is a bit of theatre, a bit more dialogue and a bit more costume would be nice..

A first!

I actually wanted to be a student at Canterbury University today. Never been jealous of them before, but look! Bomb Alert At Canterbury University Is Over Press Release by New Zealand Police The device at Canterbury University was exploded by the Army Bomb Squad at about 12.30pm says Senior Sergeant Rob Patterson. There will be another explosion to test it any moment now. Yippee explosions!! Maybe it's the revolution!!

Awesome news

BBC has reported that

India has won a decade-long battle at the European Patent Office against a patent granted on a product derived from the native plant neem. The EU Parliament's Green Party, India-based Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE) and the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) successfully argued that the anti-fungal properties of neem were part of the traditional knowledge of Indians, and that the patenting corporation, WC Grace, had engaged in "biopiracy."

This is awesome news. And precedent setting. Just because a multinational corp spots a piece of dna it likes, doesn't mean they can just decide to own it. And more often than not, those bits of dna are not special by accident but are a result of generations of selective breeding. As is knowledge about medicine and plants. I will note that the WAI 262 claim is still slogging it's way through the Treaty process. If people thought the Foreshore and Seabed court decision caused a stink, wait til this one gets further through the process. Only this time, multinational GE corporations will be the ones to suffer the ramifications, as opposed to the Government. It won't be pretty. Hopefully however, the people of Aotearoa will be a bit more educated about Te Tiriti and the history of colonisation in this land by that time. And will be more supportive of the position of tangata whenua, and against further confiscation. For thos of you who don't know much about Dr Vandana Shiva and her work on indigenous bioddiversity, check her out, one of my biggest heroes.

Yeah Grrl Power!

Yesterday was International Women's Day, or for those of us who like to be historically factual about these things, it was International Working Women's Day. But since the definition of women's work has been broadened to represent the actualities of life and the concept of the gendered division of labour has been deconstructed, the abbreviated version does now suffice. So in honour of IWD, I would like to share an article I have written about current manifestations of an old issue. The issue I have chosen to write about this year is the role of women in the movement and in particular how men support or diminish that role. Decision-Making Processes: Thoughts On One of the arguments I constantly find myself in these days is the debate around the use of violence as a means towards an end. Usually this conversation happens within the context of political situations, although recently I have had a couple of conversations with friends about the use of violence in domestic situations. The most public conversation about this occurred after the National Front demo last year. I wrote about that strongly at the time and I don't want to discuss my arguments about the logic of using violence in that particular situation. What I do want to discuss in relation to that, however, is how oppressive that conversation can be. I proudly describe myself as a pacifist. I do not believe it to be naive and idealistic to demand a world without violence against people and the planet. I believe that the human capacity for violence is not only controllable but indefensible. While I have never been the victim of major overt violence I have been affected by it. I have screamed and cried while I watched my father assault my mother. I have cried at the graveside of a friend of mine killed in a fight. I have had to interfere in physical assaults amongst my friends and within my family. The memories of every single one of these incidents makes me feel physically ill. But I don't see pacifism as choosing to lie down and die - to be a pacifist is to stand up and live. I also proudly describe myself as a feminist. I have dedicated, and will continue to dedicate, a large proportion of my activism towards the emancipation of women. When asked how I believe women are oppressed in our society, my number one answer will always be, “through violence”. Violence is the tool that is used by men to oppress women. A patriarchal society relies on violence against women as a way of trading and maintaining power. The idea that women are no longer considered possessions and are now people in their own right has not eliminated structural discrimination against women. In fact, many feminists will argue that the emancipation of women has enabled men (as a group, I'm not talking about you individual 'enlightened' men out there) to justify different and more insidious forms of violence against women – that one can wait for another day. In my life I have been involved in many women's groups. For those of you who have experienced women's groups, you will be familiar with conversations about how being within groups that condone violent behaviour can be an incredibly isolating experience. Covert threats of violence is something that affects women in a different way to men. And not only is covert violence a difficult thing to identify, but for some women it is an impossible thing to challenge. The normal response, in my observational experience, is for women to stop speaking. Now, many people within the left and within environmental movements think that, because they're 'progressive' or 'liberal' thinkers, they do not engage in sexist behaviour. But more often than not, it is those that staunchly defend their 'non-sexism' that are the most sexist. In my experience, some of the most sexist, misogynist men I have met have been within left wing movements. So to explain what I mean by sexist behaviour I would like to encourage you the reader to take a moment and think about the gendered dynamics within the groups that you operate in. Who holds the important roles? Who dominates the conversations? Who is most likely to be a spokesperson for your group? Who makes the decisions? These are questions you've probably all heard before, but that doesn't mean they're not important and it doesn't mean they can't be asked again. These questions are important because they relate to power structures. All groups, even anarchist groups, have formal and informal power structures. In situations where power structures exist, so does violence. But in particular I would like to discuss the issues of violence in discussion around strategy. I have participated in a number of discussions recently in which the topic has been strategy. Mostly the strategy has been in relation to how to engage with ideas or people that we find morally abhorrent. What has disturbed me is that the use of violence has constantly come up as an option. And even when it isn't explicitly mentioned, the language that is being used to discuss these strategies is inherently violent. I have found this to be incredibly exclusive and I am sure others have had this problem. What I have observed is that the gender balance in these strategy meetings and discussions is overwhelmingly male. I wonder if anyone else has noticed this. I have tried to challenge the violence in these discussions on a number of occasions and have met with a number of reactions. Sometimes positive, but mostly negative. When I have gone so far as to challenge the conversation from a women's perspective, I have been talked over, patronised, ridiculed and fobbed off. This is the insidious violence inherent in the movement that needs addressing. In fact, it is a demonstration of the very violence under discussion. The thing that is most frustrating is that more often than not, it is the role of women to make these challenges. To take the risks of putting yourself in an unsafe position to challenge your own oppression by people who are supposedly on ‘your side’ is hard for some women. And the questions that men in these groups need to ask themselves are, if a line is drawn between an acceptable and an unacceptable level of violence, where does that line get drawn and who draws it? In groups, who are the ones that are deciding where that end point is and are they the ones with the most power? My challenge today is to all those men in the movement to use today, International Women's Day, as an opportunity to take stock. Look around you in your groups and check out the gender dynamics and then have a think about the level of overt and covert violence within your groups. When you're thinking about your options for strategies, how many are you actually considering? Are your options only to confront or to ignore? Or are you using a bit more imagination and considering other options. If anyone tries to tell you that you can't be less sexist, racist, homophobic etc., they're lying. Until we learn to talk and listen to each other properly, we will always confront these issues. And even then we will continue to confront them. The only difference is, it won't be as difficult to reach solutions when we communicate with respect.

Glad I don't have to sleep with any of them..

For those that care, parliament is currently debating the Relationships (Statutory References) Bill for the second time. The debate is making me want to go down to parliament and vomit all over their faces! The debate is ludicrous. Frankly, I have also followed the advice of my mother; if you don't have anything worthwhile to say, don't say anything. Maybe they should meet my mum. I don't want to hear crap about 'those orrid gay people'. I want to know what the select committee did to the bloody bill! Is that not too much to ask? Bastards. UPDATE: The bill just passed second reading and will go to Committee Stages tomorrow.

Just tryin it

World Changing reports a new line of shoes from Nike called Nike Considered. I will try really hard to put the cynical side of me aside for a second and congratulate Nike on this move. This is a really good sign for the mass manufacturing industry. Hell, if Nike can see the market value in minimising the amount of waste created in production processes, and if consumers support this venture, then this kind of mind-set can become mainstream. I was interested in seeing how far they were taking this idea and was pleasantly surprised to see they are even taking product transportation costs into account. Nice one. Now if they could do that with all of their products and maybe release a sweatshop-free labour range of shoes, I might even consider buying a pair of their shoes... I will allow my cynical side out for a second and say I hope that this isn't all bullshit. Nike doesn't exactly have a great reputation for honesty.. Last year the Greens supported a tour raising awareness about the issues surrounding a possible Free Trade Agreement with Thailand (pdf of flyer here, which included bringing over Sripai Nonsee, who is a worker from Thailand. Rod Donald took her into Rebel Sport and she showed him the clothes that she used to make in her factory and told us all about how much they get paid to make them compared to how much they sell for in the stores. At the same time Nike were vehemently denying any involvement with sweatshop labour. *cough* bullshit *cough* I think for now, you're still better off buying No Sweat shoes. You can get them from a Trade Aid store near you.

Does anyone bother using explorer anymore?

Slowly plugging my way through the list of things to do to my computer (her name's Max by the way) and got to the action item titled 'download Firefox'. OMG it rules. If you aren't using it, you're mad. Download it now!

It aint easy being Green - especially in South America

Got this in the email today. Bit scary really to think how much danger you can put yourself in when you stand up for the rights of the environment, indigenous people and other minorities. Makes me even more thankful I live in this country. And it makes me more determined to do the activism I do. If I don't take advantage of my relative security to be able to stand up and demand a safer world and a cleaner environment, how the hell can I expect people like Flor to do so?

21 February 2005 URGENT - THEY WANT TO ASSASSINATE HER NOTICE TO THE FEDERATION OF GREEN PARTIES OF THE AMERICAS AND THE GLOBAL GREENS The Partido Alternativa Verde of Peru wishes to report to the member parties of the FPVA the grievous assassination attempt on the life of the National Secretary General of our organization, Flor de María Hurtado Valdez, by two unknown armed individuals as she was leaving her home last Friday afternoon. Flor de María Hurtado Valdez is leading a significant mobilization in the Amazon area of Peru in defense of the Amazon jungles and the indigenous and native communities. This struggle is taking place in the following setting: l. The State of Peru and the regional government of Loreto have undertaken a process of exploitation of the Amazon forests without conducting environmental impact studies and without the ecological zoning set forth in the laws of Peru, thereby violating their own laws, without giving recognition to the ancestral right of the indigenous people to their own territory in accordance with Agreement 169 of the OIT. 2. Mafioso groups of traffickers in illegally cut timber have taken advantage of an irregular process of auctioning the Amazon forests in order to continue enriching themselves through "laundering" lumber. 3. Thanks to the determined participation of the Secretary General of the Partido Alternativa Verde, the regional headquarters of the Peruvian justice system has just issued a pronouncement, through a transcendental resolution that favors the native community, to exclude 700,000 hectares of Amazon forest. 4. Twenty-seven million hectares of the Amazon territory have already been deforested. This over-exploitation has resulted in abandonment and poverty for the peoples of the Amazon area of Peru and is an assault on the rights of the indigenous communities, who have not been contacted [regarding the deforestation of their lands]. 5. The handing over of the Amazon forests to mafiosos trafficking in lumber has expelled indigenous men and women from their lands, infringing on their ancestral right to use their own natural resources for subsistence, which amounts to genocide. For these reasons, we call on all our colleagues in the FPVA and the GLOBAL GREENS to initiate a solidarity chain, requesting respect for the life our green leader, Flor de María Hurtado Valdez, as well as to repeal the Ley Forestal Number 27308 of the Forest Concessions in the Amazon area of Peru and to call a halt to the nonsensical action of auctioning an additional 14,000,000 hectares, leaving the planet without its green lungs. We will greatly appreciate your addressing your feelings about this situation to the following e-mail addresses, and we hope for a pronouncement fom the various green parties and from the Federation requesting guarantees for the life of Flor de María Hurtado. Green blessings, Alex González President alexrolfidgonzales@yahoo.com.mx --------------------------- Presidente Alejandro Toledo Presidente de la Republica del Perú (President of the Republic of Perú) Palacio de Gobierno - Lima atoledo@presidencia.gob.pe Señor Félix Murazzo Carrillo Ministro del Interior (Minister of the Interior) Plaza 30 de Agosto N° 160 - Lima ministro@mininter.gob.pe fmurazzo@mininter.gob.pe Eduardo Bruce Montes de Oca Presidente Ejecutivo, Instituto Nacional de Radio y Televisión del Perú (Executive President, National Institute of Radio and Television) Av. José Gálvez N° 1040 Santa Beatriz - Lima presidencia@irtp.com.pe ebruce@irtp.com.pe Sr. Robinson Rivadeneyra Reatigui Presidente del Gobierno Regional de Loreto (President of the Regional Government of Loreto) Av. Abelardo Quiñones Km. 1.5 - Iquitos rrivadeneyra@gorel.gob.pe Sr. Alvaro Quijandria Salmon Ministro de Agricultura (Minister of Agriculture) Pasaje Francisco de Zela 150 - Lima aquijandria@minag.gob.pe

Are you an activist?

This guy isn't. AAA posted an article on Indymedia about this guy's attempts to infiltrate various activist circles. While we may think we have a democratic right to protest in this country, the police still think they have a state given right to engage in constant surveillance and harrassment. Oh but don't worry if you're concerned about the decline of morals in our society, or an overbearing tax burden. They'll leave you well alone. If you're into challenging the status quo however...

Anti-corporate activism can be so much fun

So anyway, Wal Mart in the US were getting pissed off about all the people stealing their trolleys so they got this new high tech trolley. It's great. It has a little box that sits over the front left wheel, containing a sensor. When ever it goes over something bright yellow, it sets of the trigger which drops down the box in front of the wheel, thus stopping the trolley. So anyway, this clever, clever young boy decided this was all a bit funny but instead of figuring out how to override this function (like any mediocre hacker would), he snuck down there one night and painted a bright yellow line outside the door of the shop. HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!! I can just imagine all these people walking out of Wal Mart with their trolley full of local income killing, sweatshop promoting, crap, destined for landfill products, heading to their SUV to empty their purchases, when THUMP. Sorry buddy, you're not going any further. HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!! I would pay to watch that.

In solidarity brother!

I saw the funniest thing earlier. Some guy got his car nudged by a bus. So he decided to park his car in the middle of an intersection, get out to abuse the bus driver, stand in FRONT of the bus so it couldn't move while he sat on his cell phone, presumably ringing cops/bus company/insurance company. In the meantime, he managed to grind the whole of Lambton Quay to a standstill. It was great! We were thinking about going and joining in in his protest and having a sit in. I probably could have got a bunch of activists to come down and join in. I'm sure an uptight, stressed out guy in a suit and a shiny red sports car would LOVE a bunch of stinky hippies on his side! Or it might have helped encourage him to pull the carrot out of his ass, move his car and let the fifteen or so busses and countless cars backing up behind him get on their way.

Another great day for the lesbian feminist takeover

Congratulations to Maragaret Wilson for becoming this country's first woman Speaker. Newstalk report as follows:

Women now occupy the three top political jobs in the country, with the election of Margaret Wilson as the country's first female Speaker of Parliament. Ms Wilson has had a meteoric rise to the top, becoming a Cabinet Minister on entering Parliament just over five years ago and now being elevated to Parliament's top job. She says outgoing Speaker Jonathan Hunt gave her two cards, a yellow one and a red one, with which she says she is familiar. As a keen follower of sport she says she has a growing sympathy and respect for referees, and she will use the cards with judgement. The other two top jobs are, of course, held by Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright and Prime Minister Helen Clark. It was a three way vote in Parliament this afternoon for the Speaker's job but the outcome was never in doubt. Ms Wilson, a former professor of law before entering Government, was elected with a clear majority over National's Clem Simich and ACT's Ken Shirley. Prime Minister Helen Clark says Ms Wilson's succession to the Speaker's job is a significant one. She says Ms Wilson is the country's first woman Speaker in a nation where there are not many firsts left for women to achieve. Cross-party MPs have congratulated Margaret Wilson. Greens co-leader Rod Donald says her election is a milestone in New Zealand's evolution as a democracy. National's Don Brash described the number of women in top jobs as an impressive list of extraordinary women. ACT's Rodney Hide feared for the future of the male of the species, joking that he hopes Ms Wilson still sees a place for men in the House. And Progressive's Jim Anderton pondered an inferiority complex. Margaret Wilson will reconvene the House for the first time on Tuesday.

I for one am really stoked to see Margaret in this role. She is an amazingly staunch woman, ardent feminist, brilliant academic, and has an absolute cracker of a sense of humour. Poor Rodney for being worried, he should be! One step closer to smashing the patriarchy...

He he, love clever pants people!

Russell Brown has a link to this Trade Me spoof. Always need chuckles like that to start the day. he he he he he he

How cool is that?

Another reason not to use Micros$$t... Why wait for MS Maori when it takes less than 30 seconds to download a dictionary for free? Yay Mozilla

Nice cartoon

For thos of you who don't know of The Wrench a good (although not neccessarily extensive) source of politically aware and educational cartoons. I particularly like the latest on oil. (Sorry a bit big to show here)