I have Hope - how about you?

The Green Party and LOOP Recordings Aot(ear)oa have collaborated yet again on the fourth and final Green Room album, Green Room 004: Hope. And it rocks. I managed to get my hands on a pre-release version and have been listening to it non-stop. Especially since it has my favourite song of all time (and sums up the reason I do politics) Hope by Fat Freddy's Drop on it. I am particularly impressed with Nandor's new track. Ten steps above the last one in terms of lyrical strength but the message is still strong, political and positive. You can listen to it here (MP3 4.8MB). There's rumours circulating of a couple of really good launch gigs coming up too, I'll post more when I get some more details. Go out and buy it, it's in stores today. UPDATE Sorry should have put this here when I did the post, but to answer Greg... Green Room 004: Hope 1. All We Be : Trinity Roots 2. Burning : Kora 3. Swans : Rhombus 4. Dust : Recloose feat Jo Dukie 5. Forward Dub : Cornerstone Roots 6. Immortal Lion : Confucius 7. One of Those Days : Illphonics 8. In Your Hands : Opensouls 9. Sylphlike : Solaa feat Ladi6 10. Child Standing : Hollie Smith 11. Turn It Around : Fly My Pretties 12. My Absolution : Rhian Sheehan 13. St Kevin : Phoenix Foundation 14. Hope : Fat Freddy's Drop 15. One Inity : Nandor and Module (Please send my links if any of these bands have websites that I couldn't find from a quick google search - ta)

Good shit!

Friend sent me this (sorry don't know source)

German police puzzled by Bush poo-flags Poo Baffles German Police Police in Germany are hunting pranksters who have been sticking miniature flag portraits of US President George W. Bush into piles of dog poo in public parks. Josef Oettl, parks administrator for Bayreuth, said: This has been going on for about a year now, and there must be 2,000 to 3,000 piles of shit (excrement) that have been claimed during that time. The incidents were originally believed to be some sort of protest against the US-led invasion of Iraq, but, when they continued, they were thought to be a protest against President George W. Bush's campaign for re-election. They're still going on, however, and the police say they are completely baffled as to who is to blame. "We have sent out extra patrols to try to catch whoever is doing this in the act," said police spokesman Reiner Kuechler. But frankly, he continued, we don't know what we'd do if we caught them red-handed. Legal experts say there is no law against using feces as a flag stand and the Federal Constitution is vague on the issue.

Can you imagine having the job of looking that one up in the rule books? He he. Can you imagine a Federal Constitution that wasn't vague on the issue? Clever campaign, think it would work here. Who wants to make little Brash flags?

What a weekend - and it hasn't even happened yet!

There's SO MUCH ON! I won't try and cover it all but two things I'm most excited about are: 1. Straight Jacket Fits reunion gigs at Bodega Friday and Saturday. Not sure if there's any tickets left, but I got mine! 2. It is of course May Day weekend! I must take a moment to say big ups to all the people involved with organising stuff around the motu. Wellington stuff here rest of the country at Indymedia. I'm definitely going to the PGA Hui, and probably some of the workshops, and the Cake Shop party (yay Cake Shop rules), and the March, oh fuck it, may as well go to everything! Got to get over this flu first...

Admin

After requests from some friends I have decided to change my policy and from now on will allow anonymous comments. I disallowed this a while back after it was being abused. So hopefully we have all matured now :o)

There's a global oil crisis stupid!

Sorry for quietness at my end, recovered from injury, now have the flu *sigh* OK but I was walking through town earlier and I saw something that really raised my ire. There's a new advertising service in Wellington (well, not sure how new) called AdonWheels and it makes me so angry. As a society, we are absolutely crap at efficient use of energy but this is just blatantly stupid. Driving around a vehicle not to deliver goods or people (which is a reasonably acceptable use of a fossil-fuel driven vehicle - for now) but to advertise stuff? Like we don't have enough advertising in our faces as it is, this is taking it too far IMHO. What really bothers me is that companies are actually paying for this service. Also, they say this on their website:

The services we offer includes: Customised Locations and Time Schedule The locations where our billboards are parked and the time-schedule are customized as per your campaign needs. We use pedestrian and vehicle statistics of respective cities to suggest the most suitable time schedule and locations for your campaign.

Does this mean they drive around during peak hour traffic, further adding to congestion on roads? I wouldn't be happy about that either if I was a car owner, especially in Auckland. So, my suggestion is: next time you see one of these vehicles cruising around, note what company is advertising on it and ring them and tell them that you do not appreciate them using such an environmentaly damaging form of advertising. And not only are you going to not use their services until they desist, but you will also be telling all of your friends to do the same. Don't be agressive about it, in fact be exceptionally polite about it. Just tell them you're a concerned consumer. Give them you're phone number so they can let you know when they've cancelled the contract. Also, if it's a company that you can be a patron of eg a restaurant or something, go out for dinner there after they cancel the contract and thank them for having a conscience. From their website they say Your ad is sure to become a talking point! so let's make it one, even if it's not the way this company was expecting. Finally to the people at AdonWheels, sorry, I'm sure you're really nice people and this is nothing personal. But I think you should try a new approach; one that's a bit more smart. Arohanui

Coffee with a conscience

Saturday the 14th of May is World Fair Trade Day. Trade Aid and Oxfam are doing fair trade coffee morning 'tea's' all over the country. Check here for more details.

More on sweatshops

I posted last month about Nike doing the 'look we're sustainable!' thing. And I read through frogblog that Salient pitted the left against the right on boycotting product from sweatshops. Good to see that the questions are being asked in more and more public forums. But it's not good enough to say 'don't buy something cause it's bad', you need to offer an alternative. The obvious example with shoes is the No Sweat range that you can get from Trade Aid shops nationwide. AND they're cheaper than most shoes of that kind. It's really important when you're a consumer activist to remember that when they tell you it costs more to care, it's not often the case. It might take a bit more time, and a bit more imagination, but that is usually much more radical anyway, so why not? Another example of doing something positive rather than negative came through my inbox today. I got sent one of those 'the evil petrol companies are being mean to us by charging heaps, let's stop them' emails. Now putting aside my intense dislike for car drivers that bitch and moan about the cost of their state-sponsored, planet-killing habit. The email I received was quickly responded to with this;

How about just USE LESS PETROL folks - * USE public transport * Get involved in local transport decision-making to make your community bike/scooter/pedestrian friendly * push for the development of "door to door" public transport solutions including development of "scoot on" and "bike on" buses and trains so everyone's children and Grannies can get ALL around the place * Walk! * business owners: make a conscious effort to make your business a low-fuel consumer by providing low-consumption SHARED company car(s)and encourage your staff to use public transport to get to and from work * push for public transport to be "shopping friendly" and supermarkets to be "public transport friendly" by them working together to come up with good solutions for us all * IMAGINE a society in which you can WALK out your door and get to wherever you want to go, with whatever luggage you need, WITHOUT having to own the vehicle...

And I went 'RIGHT ON SISTER, REPRA-FUCKIN-ZENT!'

yay for us

Microsoft have just announced that their new CFO is a NZer This from Computerworld mag

Kiwi to hold purse strings at Microsoft Former Carter Holt Harvey boss lands CFO job at Redmond David Watson, Auckland Former Carter Holt Harvey chief executive Chris Liddell has been appointed chief financial officer at Microsoft and will take up the position at Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington global headquarters next month. Liddell had been CFO at International Paper, the majority owner of Carter Holt Harvey, since March 2003. He was appointed chief executive at Carter Holt in 1999. Microsoft today issued a statement quoting Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer saying: “Chris brings great talent and skills both in finance and business leadership and having been both CEO and CFO of international companies gives him the ability to contribute broadly to our finance, operations and business strategy.” Liddell will officially begin his new job on May 9.

I feel ill.

New blog

A very dear friend of mine is on a plane today to go to Aceh to work with Caritas for two and a half weeks. He has set up a blog to document his travels and will hopefully be posting reasonably frequently. He will also be posting up photos. For those regular readers of this blog, you will know the struggle of the people of Aceh for independence is one I strongly support. I am so pleased that Cam is getting this opportunity and I know he will do a fantastic job. His blog can be found here. Goddess blessings for your travels Cam, you're a shining star and I am so proud of you.

Notices

Two things you should go to: decolonisation dialogue nite on this monday, 25th april @ 128 abel smith 6:30pm topic is 'talking decol with our relations' (whanau/people we're close to) see yous there arc and Meeting: Child Poverty Panel Time: 7:30pm Date: Thursday 28 April 2005 Venue: Newtown School Hall, Mein Street, Newtown Panel: Sue Bradford - Green Party MP Sue is a Green Party Member of Parliament with portfolio responsibilities including Children’s Issues, Community and Voluntary Sector, Disability, Housing and Social Services. Sue is a mother of 5 children and has been campaigning for a Universal Child Benefit for some time, including with her own Private Members Bill. Annie Judkins - GP at Newtown Union Health Service. Annie is part of a multi disciplinary team-based Primary Health Care Service. Her special interests are Child and Maternal Health, and IT in Primary Health Care. Her current projects are Vitamin D deficiency and the SECPHO Eczema Skin Care Project. Mike Coleman - on Every Child Counts project team. Every Child Counts is a new coalition of organisations and concerned citizens who are campaigning to encourage all political parties to put children at the centre of their policies. Its key policy is that children and families must be central to policy development and implementation if New Zealand is to thrive socially and economically. Placing children and families as the centre of policy will lead to: fewer children growing up in poverty, fewer children growing up experiencing violence and public policy being more child and family centred. It will also be an opportunity to meet Luci Highfield - the Green Party candidate in the Rongotai electorate for the coming general election. Luci will be chairing this meeting.

Happy Earth Day everybody

Take a moment to reflect that it is a finite planet we live on. Cherish her, and she shall cherish us.

damn it

OK so I broke myself. Won't be posting for a while. Sorry. Have fun.

New book

Last night I started reading Cunt: A Declaration of Independence. One word, wow! I have read about a sixth of it (reasonably thick book) and I am astounded as to how cool it is. I came into it with an advantage of already having a deep political understanding of the word but it is blowing my mind with its beauty. I have laughed outloud, shed some tears and I'm constantly nodding my head in agreement as I read it. I have never read anything that so beautifully and accurately describes the relationship between a woman and her cunt. I recommend this book for every woman. I also recommend this book for men. Especially those concerned with the emancipation of women, it will provide you with some useful insights into the strength and power of women, without being scary or intimidating. Yay for cunts; beautiful things.

Another manifesto

This time it's the British Columbian Greens turn. You can read their election platform here (pdf)

Whaling Protest

The Green's are organising an urgent protest outside the Japanese Embassy, Majestic Centre, 100 Willis Street, tomorrow morning (Friday) at 10 am. It is in response to Japan expanding it's annual whale hunt. There 'research programme' will include two new species, fin and humpback whale, while doubling its planned catch of minke whales. Conservation Minister Chris Carter is planning on opposing this proposal at the International Whaling Commission meeting in a few months time. **** Please pass this onto all of your networks and come along with placards

That's pretty visionary

One of the main reason I like the Greens is the fact that when you pile all their policies together, it actually resembles a vision as to how we could run our human world differently ie, not running into the ground before we change our behaviour. As previously mentioned the British elections are coming up. The Green Party has now released their election manifesto (pdf) intro finishing with this line...

In short, the Greens promise a political programme for at least the next hundred years, not just the next hundred days. Green MPs will bring a strong Green voice to Westminster, changing the nature of politics for the better, for ever.

It's got some pretty radical stuff in it, and I'm expecting they will get an increase in votes this year due to the Blair Backlash. Who has incedently just released his election manifesto. It's very British!

I want some!!

World Changing has a story about solar powered wallpaper. That's seriously cool. Wonder if it comes in pink?

Ribbit

The Green's new blog frogblog has gone live today. Frog's release below:

Hopping around the corridors of power Well, I have to say that the Green Parliamentary Office is much more fun when all the MPs aren't here. I've finally worked out how to type with my pads, so now I can hop into my self-appointed role as the Greens' Everything Matters Spokesperson. So, I'll at last be able to let the world know what's really happening around here. You see, I've been keeping a diary of my musings for the last month. But, scared that the MPs wouldn't let me divulge them, I've had to keep it all very hush-hush. But now that I know how to get the word out, I can't be silenced anymore. I'll be able to eat as many flies, and flies on walls, as I like. The great thing about being a frog is that I can hop from subject to subject, unconstrained by official portfolios. I want to croak endlessly about anything and everything, and that's exactly what I intend to do! My musings'll be available at blog.greens.org.nz until I run out of flies.

Looks good, can't wait to see the discussions on there!

Red blooded men listen up

Here's a conference for you. Though I'd be interested to know if the first key note speaker will still be allowed to go.

My Unitarian Jihad name

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Sister Main Gauche of Mild Reason.

Get yours.

Thanks to The Green Knight

More on nitrous

Anderton's release here. Herald story. And Stuff story. So yeah it is the Medicines Act that this is happening under. This has come from a Crown Law decision that under the MA, nitrous for sale as a recreational drug is illegal. However, there are still other ways it can be sold, ie for food. Prosecutions will be discretionary. So we are looking at a similar situation to the sale of bongs, pipes, vapourisers etc. You can sell them but not for the purposes of consuming cannabis. Which is why there are a hell of a lot of bong-shaped incense holders around. So stores can continue to sell nitrous, but not for the purposes of inhalation. Now this is dumb. People will continue to use nitrous recreationally. I would much rather see it being sold in specialist 'party' stores where they enforce a R18 policy and have trained knowledgable staff. When I last purchased nitrous, I was able to ask the staff member about safe limits of consumption, the differences between products and what the side effects were. This was so I could make an INFORMED decision about what I was putting in my body. Now, if I was to go into my corner dairy and buy nitrous canisters, I would be pretending I wasn't going to inhale the contents, I wouldn't be able to ask any questions, and I wouldn't be informed. How does that contribute to the national drug policy's stated goal of harm reduction? I really hope one of the stores out there holds strong, continues to stock nitrous and contests this decision.

Maybe we should have given her a private jet.. or did we

Nat Radio just ran a story to say the PMs plane (we can assume, the plane she was on, since she doesn't have one) has made an emergency landing at Paraparaumu airport after losing a door. I think the word for that it is: bugger. UPDATE Nat radio just interviewed Helen (who sounded quite shaken up), apparently it was a small plane, only people aboard were Helen, pilot, press secretary and a couple of cops. Apparently turbulence shook the door open, the two police officers leapt to shut it, couldn't, so held it shut until they landed. I think I should retract earlier comment about her not having a plane. What's the story there eh?

The relevance of kids

Span has a thread going about the relevance of breeding habits. I must say I totally agree. If it is such a big deal, how come it's only now we have a female PM? And I must say, the argument that being childless means your out of touch of the realities of parents doesn't hold. Now I have decided that I never want to have children (for various reasons) but that doesn't mean I never see the little critters. It doesn't mean I don't take my friends kids into account when organising social activites. It doesn't mean I don't consider parents when organising community events. It doesn't mean I don't think about the effects of decisions on children and young people. In fact, I think about the effects of decisions on children and young people more than I do about 'old people'. Have to say, this is another reason why I like the Greens, no way you'd ever hear any of them calling someone unqualified to have a policy position because of their personal circumstances.

No Tour

Sign the Petition

What the hell?

Newstalk has this story about Anderton announcing the prohibition of Nitrous Oxide. This is about one of the most ridiculous things I have heard in a long time. Now I would certainly support restrictions on sale and promotion, but banning it? What the hell is he doing? I understand that One News ran a story on their late news (didn't see it myself) stating that this has resulted from a Crown Law decision. I am unsure about how this actually works as the way I read it nitrous isn't scheduled under the Misuse of Drugs Act. The news apparently reported that this decision is effective immediately, which I also don't get. So if I wandered down to my local shop selling nitrous canisters and bought a box, would myself and the shop be breaking the law? Even though I can't even find a Ministerial Statement about it, and I'm sure no one would have told a) store owners or b) any law enforcement types. Now I am not a regular nitrous user, nor would I ever be, but I'll be damned if you could convince me that being a regular nitrous user should make me a criminal. If someone has such a substance abuse problem that they are damaging themselves on nitrous (and I challenge anyone to find me a group of people in that category), what the hell kind of conviction would you give them and how the hell would that help them? There's more people damaging themselves on spraypaint than on nitrous, is he going to ban that? It's a hell of a lot worse for you. I could tolerate Mr Anderton's posturing on drugs when he was refusing to acknowledge sensible arguments for changing cannabis laws, but banning a drug outright? When he won't go near banning alcohol - by far the most harmful drug in our society - even if there was a Ministerial post in it for him? This smacks of hypocrisy. Mr Anderton is being a reactionary pure and simple. If young people weren't having fun on nitrous, he wouldn't have even noticed. I will get to the bottom of this tomorrow. In the meantime, if you see this guy: Ask him what the hell he's up to!!

NZ Greens 1, Jakarta Post 0

So last week the Jakarta Post ran this story:

Separatist protest mars Susilo visit to NZ Rendi A.Witular, The Jakarta Post, Wellington President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono began his two-day visit on Wednesday to New Zealand aimed at boosting trade and regional security, amid two separatist protests against Indonesia that marred his arrival. During their talks, Susilo and New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark agreed to improve bilateral cooperation in economic issues, trade and combating transnational crimes. "The meeting with the President was very constructive, with a number of outcomes. We would like to focus our relationship more on economic and trade issues as well as on transnational crimes," Clark told a joint news conference with Susilo. In the economic sector, Clark said New Zealand and Indonesia agreed to seriously follow up the existing joint Trade and Economic Commission to formulate effective and practical ways to boost trade activities. Although geographically Indonesia is located near New Zealand, trade and economic activities between the countries were fairly insignificant, with Indonesia ranked only 16th in last year's list of New Zealand's largest partners -- even smaller than Malaysia, which ranked 12th. Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirajuda said the commission was scheduled to meet in November to lay the ground for more serious trade and economic talks. The two countries are also willing to initiate direct flights to help support the mobility of businesspeople and tourists. They signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at preventing people-smuggling and trafficking. The MOU includes a plan to step up cooperation between the Indonesian and Zealand police forces. A joint declaration to fight terrorism and improve interfaith dialog was also signed. In the field of education, New Zealand pledged to boost its scholarships for Indonesians to study in the country. Susilo meanwhile expressed his disappointment to Clark over two separatist protests in Wellington, which marred the first day of his visit. "Clark apologized, but said she could not ban freedom of expression," Minister Hassan said after the Indonesian and Zealand leaders' meeting. As Susilo walked into parliament upon his arrival in Wellington, two Green Party lawmakers waved flags urging independence for Papua and Aceh province, where separatist rebels have long been fighting for a separate state. The flags, waved by the two protesters -- Green Party co-leader Rod Donald and rastafarian MP Nandor Tanczos, were of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Free Papua Organization (OPM). The lawmakers also called for the prosecution of Indonesian Military personnel involved in gross human rights abuses in the two provinces and East Timor before the latter voted to break away from Indonesia in 1999. "We are pleased that the New Zealand government won't be reinstating a military cooperation and free trade agreement with Indonesia until the violator of human rights is brought to justice, and Aceh and Papua become independent," said Donald. The issue of military ties with New Zealand was not discussed during Susilo's visit. New Zealand police officers briefly spoke to the lawmakers but refrained from taking action to end their peaceful protest. In response, Hassan said Indonesia understood the New Zealand government's stance since both New Zealand and Indonesia were democracies. In the joint media conference with Susilo, Clark reiterated her government's support for Indonesia's integrity and said special autonomy granted to Aceh and Papua was the best solution to address the separatist problem. A similar demonstration also erupted involving dozens of people, during a state dinner hosted by the parliament in honor of Susilo. Protesters carried banners with anti-Indonesia slogans. At the same place however, dozens of Indonesians living in Wellington as well as locals staged a rival protest in support of the integration of Aceh and Papua with Indonesia. While the pro-separatist supporters cursed Susilo, the pro-integration protesters sang the Indonesian national anthem and other songs. A student who joined the pro-Indonesia protest accused the Green Party of paying demonstrators to protest against Susilo. "I know they were paid because one of my college friends told me that the Green Party gave him NZ$30 to join the protest," argued the Indonesian student.

And this weekend they ran this:

Payment for protest claim an outrageous lie National News - April 09, 2005 JAKARTA (JP): Claims reported in The Jakarta Post that the New Zealand Green Party paid protesters to rally outside New Zealand's Parliament are an outrageous lie, the party's Co-Leader Rod Donald says. The article, run on the Post's website on Thursday, reported that an Indonesian student in New Zealand claimed the Green Party had paid his college friend NZ$30 to join a protest in support of the independence of Aceh and West Papua. "The Green Party certainly did not pay people to engage in a protest about the Indonesian Government's treatment of people in Aceh and West Papua," Donald said. "While in Indonesia it may be common practice for protesters to be paid, in New Zealand this is unheard of. In New Zealand people protest over things they believe in, not for financial gain. "With and election coming up the Green Party is saving its limited funds for the campaign," Donald said. (**) Note: We apologize to the Green Party of New Zealand for failing to present their viewpoint in regards to accusations made by a Green Party protester during a visit by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to Wellington. -- Editor

I understand there was quite a lot of terse phone calls between a certain Parliamentary office and a certain Indonesian newspaper on Friday... He he!

Weird search results

Occaisionally bloggers like to share the odd ways people get to their blog. Oddly enough, the most common search term for people getting to this site is "Riff Raff Statue", which I am quite chuffed about. But the most bizarre one came through today "Homophobia Peru". Eh? how odd.

Statement from Tamihere

Statement from John Tamihere Press Release by New Zealand Labour 12:30 PM, 12 Apr 2005 John Tamihere said today: "I am grateful that the Labour Party caucus has given me the opportunity of rehabilitating myself. I will be focussed solely on winning the election for the Labour Party." END

Here come the sparks...

Apparently JT is coming to caucus today, even though he's been advised not to. I'd pay to be a fly on the wall... UPDATE John Tamihere has been formally censured by the Labour Party caucus. Left after 15 minutes without making comment to media.

Bring Back Birds!

OK my new campaign of the day. I just read a LTE in the Herald that bemoans the loss of the bird call on National Radio. If this is true, I'm outraged! Bring Back the Birds! As an urban dweller, it's about the only chance I get to hear native birds. And when I actually do get anywhere native bush, it has helped with my bird identification. Bloody hell, what's the world coming to?

I don't like (undemocratic) cricket

Rod's call for the NZ cricket team to boycott Zimbabwe is picking up steam, and seems to have quite a broad level of support (although I understand that there's a few Green cricket fans who are slightly miffed...). NRT has some good lobbying suggestions if you agree.

Um...

I'm quite intrigued by this whole idea of slashing public servant numbers (apparently we're overrun by them). What I am confused about is the idea that we need to get heaps more police at the same time eg Alexander's latest call for 1300 more cops. What really cracked me up was Brash's latest outburst that National will "treat the symptoms of crime earlier" Symptoms? What about causes? Now I can understand that the idea of hordes of beauracrats running around trying to figure out ways of reducing unemployment, improving the education and health system etc mught be an anethema to some. But I for one would prefer that we did something original like tried to tackle the causes of crime rather than crime itself. Maybe addressing the fact that a third of our kids are living in poverty? Maybe recognising the fact that most petty crime is related to economic oppression? Maybe doing somehting real to address the high levels of domestic violence in our communities? Maybe we should introduce Dr Brash to some of the women in our prison system who got there by stealing to feed their kids. The majority of whom have been either violently or sexually abused as children or by their partners... Hey and then we could get really radical and start putting the real criminals in jail. The people that bound into communities, convince people that they should participate in the development of factory X, drain the community of its resources and bugger off once people start getting sick cause they can't drink the water or swim in the river anymore cause it's full of dioxins... Oh, that's right, that's development and that's good. *Sigh*

Demonstrations to get involved with

Demonstrate your inner softie For those of you who can only go to protests if it's about something warm and fluffy... Protest Against The Canadian Seal Hunt This week, hundreds of thousands of baby seals will be clubbed, shot and skinned by canadian fisherman eager to make a profit by selling their fur. Most of the seals are under 3 months old when they are clubbed or shot to death. Many are skinned while they are still alive. Canada has continued to support this barbaric hunt despite world wide opposition. Animal rights activists who attempt to expose the cruelty by filming the hunt are being arrested while the hunt continues. Its time to show the Canadian government what we think of the mass murder of seals. Noon, Tuesday 12th April 2005 Canadian High Commission, 61 Molesworth Street, Wellington For info on the protest contact Mark at Wellington Animal Rights Network, 04 385 6728 or 021 073 8114 More info on the seal hunt Sea Shepherd Boycott Canada Protect Seals Demonstrate your inner class war freedom fighter For those of you who are either a) health workers or b) quite like health workers being healthy and happy... Next Wednesday 13 April NUPE rally for 30% catch-up for all health workers on corner of Bowen St and Lambton Quay then march up to Parliament 12 15 to 12 45 to give a letter to Helen Clark. See you there if you can come along and support our Wellington NUPE health workers. It is the same argument for all State workers! Demonstrate your inner hippy For those of you who believe we don't have time to sit around waiting for a global oil crisis to happen, we need to start living sustainably now (oh, and live in Island Bay)... 'COMMON GROUND' COMMUNITY GARDENS PUBLIC MEETING When: Thursday, April 28th @ 7 pm Where: Home of Compassion, Marcel Lounge 2 Rhine St. (off Murray St.) Island Bay Common Ground Community Gardens Public Meeting Interested in helping set up a Community Garden and Sustainability Education Centre here in Wellington? Committed to Wellington becoming a model city? Interested in learning more about sustainable land use design and organic food production? Looking for an opportunity to grow food with others? If any of these sound like you then come and co-create with us !!! On Thursday April 28th we are holding a public meeting to help establish a community of people committed to developing a community permaculture garden and Sustainability Education Centre at Home of Compassion in Island Bay. If you are interested or just curious please come along. Everyone is welcome !!! Demonstrate your inner sloth For those that don't give a toss about anyone or anything anywhere, please spend every night between now and the end of your life, on the couch watching tv, concerning yourself with such crucial matters like who's screwing who on Shortland Street. Note: the above demonstration is exceptionally important if you have no interest in leaving this planet in a state where our grandchildren have fresh air to breathe, clean water to drink, clean food to eat and freedom to play.

Blow me down

DPF agrees with the Greens, and doesn't even try to disguise the fact ;o) I for one, was pleased to see Rod's call for a boycott. It's been ages since we've participated in a good ol fashioned sporting boycott protest. Aah, they don't do nostalgia like they used to... Oh yeah, and it's a good cause too!

Advice from a front bum

I have resisted discussing John Tamihere's inability to pull his foot out of his mouth. Personally, the man makes my skin crawl. I have had a bit to do with him and every time I have been near him I have felt suffocated by his room-filling ego. So that's my attempt at a disclaimer before I say, can we get rid of him now? Now, I think he should have been removed from cabinet when he engaged in that whole black fullah, fat fullah, pimple-faced fullah (whatever) spat with Brownlee at the beginning of last year. At the time JT was Minister for Youth Affairs, so theoretically should be setting a positive example for young people. And given that bullying is one of the biggest factors of youth suicide, the Minister of Youth Affairs should be expected to maintain the HIGHEST level of behaviour in the House. So now he's gone and offended every sector group imaginable (oh no, he didn't make fun of people with disabilities, yet), I for one, am looking forward to seeing the back of him. JT was great with the Waipareira Trust. I have the upmost respect for the work he was doing there. However, JT is crap as a politician, and until he learns a bit of humility will only continue to have a career in parliamentary politics if he joins the National Party. Which he may as well given the nature of some of his comments as of late. So my advice John: Go back to your roots, go amongst your community and remind yourself what it's all about. Go sit on the beach and breathe some fresh air. Go sit in a forest surrounded in mighty podocarps and feel the strength of age and patience. Open your heart and the world will love you for it.

Latest Wrench comic

This is quite the good series, bit preachy at times, but still there's nothing wrong with being enjoyable as well as educational! The Wrench

AAARGGHHHH I REALLY WANT TO POST THIS OK BLOGGER?

You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do you want to be? Up Your Ass by Valerie Solanas, you can't buy it now so I can't imagine it would be terribly easy to track down if they were burning books left, right and centre. Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character? Nah, actually, can't say I have... The last book you bought is? This morning's answer was Crime and Punishment and Hard Times (two for $10!) but I just bought Y the Last Man #2 (graphic novel) - very happy excited me. The last book you finished is? Living My Life Vol 1 - Emma Goldman The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks (finished both on same day - not in the same minute) What are you currently reading? Disclaimer: I read lots at the same time Living My Life Vol 2 - Emma Goldman History of Anarchism - Peter Marshall DiY Culture: Party & Protest in Nineties Britain - Edited by George McKay There is one other but I can't remember what... Five Books you would take to a deserted Island? The Bible - cause I haven't managed to get round to reading it yet SAS Survival Handbook: How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea - the SAS may as well be good for something... Wild Politics by Susan Hawthorne - cause it's my favourite bit of post-colonial, eco-feminist text ever and will keep me sane Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker - For assistance when I set up my wild woman sect, which is inevitable... Up Your Ass by Valerie Solanas - cause it's the funniest thing ever! Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why? Damien - cause he likes telling us about his life - but hasn't talked about reading in a while Joe Hendren - to help his web stats. ESP - to try and gte this damn thing out of the country - here Canada, your turn. or maybe the USA, which is actually where he lives, oops, my bad!

While I was away...

A wee gem... Rod Donald: Can the Prime Minister confirm that during this term of Parliament more Government bills have been passed solely as a result of Green Party support rather than the support of any other party, and that the passage of 16 pieces of legislation on issues such as occupational safety and health, accident compensation, climate change, civil union, and the Supreme Court have helped to fulfil the goals of the cooperation agreement between the Labour-Progressive Government and the Green Party? Rt Hon HELEN CLARK: For the record, I wish to confirm that the support of the Greens on many critical pieces of legislation has been part of achieving strong, stable Government.

Reversing the trend

Now, in this day and age of mass consumerism and declining product quality, it's always nice to hear about something that lasts a bit better than it's originally designed to. Even better when something designed to last three months has already outlived projections by 12 months! So I was delighted to read that Opportunity and Spirit, the two Mars Rovers will be continuing operations. Now if only they had better names...

Listening John?

Maiden Speech - Lesley Soper MP Speech To The House Wednesday 6 April 2005 Tena Kotou, Tena Kotou, Tena Kotou Katoa Warm greetings to all my parliamentary colleagues and to my family and friends here today. I stand here as a proud Southern woman, a feminist, a socialist and a trade unionist, committed to Labour Principles and values, to Te Tiriti o Waitangi as a covenant between two peoples; to the causes I believe in; a New Zealand which is strong, fair-minded, inclusive, proud of itself and its place in the world. snip

Easily spooked

So Nandor and Rod decided that they would welcome the President of Indonesia to Parliament by standing on the steps next to the red carpet with an Acheh flag and a West Papua flag. They weren't going to say anything or try and hug him or anything silly. Just a quiet, civilised, non-violent demonstration in support of the people of Acheh and West Papua. You can read their release here. So how funny was it to see the Prez get drive straight past the steps, round the corner and rush in through the back door! HA HA HA! Needless to say the Indonesian media weren't too impressed (took them a while to figure out what was going on) that they didn't get to get lots of pretty pictures. But they did interview Rod and Nandor extensively so that means it will be making the news there. Awesome stuff! But again wondering what the need for an extensive police force was, given today's media. I took pity on one of them cause he looked so bored so politely hassled him for a good ten minutes just to make him feel valued.

Is there such a saying as 'only in Columbia'?

Popeman

Protest tonight at Parliament

Wednesday, 6 April 2005 The Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is visiting Wellington today. There will be a demonstration in support of the people of Aceh and West Papua at 7pm at Parliament. The President is expected to arrive before 8pm to attend a state dinner. Organised by Peace Action Wellington, contact email peacewellington@hotmail.com For information about the situation in West Papua see here and in Aceh here.

Grrr technology

OK so when I synched my phone with my computer yesterday, it took bloody ages cause I hadn't done it in so long. Then it reset my clock to daylight savings time. So of course yesterday I was all busy and didn't get around to changing it back again, just consciously remembering that it was wrong. That was of course until this morning, when I woke up, looked at time, panicked, leapt up screamed into work to discover that it was 7.30, and the place was pretty much empty. *yawn*

British Election

Right folks, (especially NRT) Tony Blair has announced the General Election will be on the 5th of May. It will be interesting to see how the Blair Government support for the war affects the results. I for one, am looking forward to watching how the Green campaign pans out. They will be launching their campaign Manifesto on the 12th, I look forward to seeing it.

Stop dumb ass car races

Car Race or Human Race? Creative City or Car City? V8 Race - It’s the Pits! Public Meeting to help stop the V8 Race Next Thursday 7th April, 7.00pm St John’s Hall Dixon St – just up from Willis St Whatever you reasons for questioning the V8 race proposal, find out more information and learn what you can do to help stop the race. Its the wrong idea in the wrong place. We need to show the Council that there is real opposition to this race and help get organised to stop it. Submission close in just over two weeks so now is the time to act! PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD TO YOUR FRIENDS AND NETWORKS – We don’t have time for extensive publicity so we are relying on networks to inform people about this meeting. A good turnout is a key part of showing that Wellington cares about this issue. Come, bring a friend, and get activated.

Rumours I like!

Apparently Sony is looking at having movie iTunes. Their goal is to have 500 films available digitally in the next year. Cool, have to say I do miss the convenience of having Aro Video two seconds away. Hardly seen any movies since I moved.

That Foundation with so much membership...

I was rather amused to hear that the notorious Flannagans have reinvented themselves as a Foundation. I have such fond memories of those two from when I was a young student at Waikato University. My favourite memory would have to be having Mr Flannagan tutor one of classes in Social and Moral Philosophy. When we covered the abortion topic, we had the lovely delight of having Matthew's Masters paper as our compulsory reading (which I wish I still had a copy of...). Anyway, in my enthusiastic, first-year naievity I assumed that my essay on the topic would be marked on the merits of my argument, not whether I agreed with my tutor or not. Silly me. Incidentally, this was just after the scandal errupted after the Flannagans went to the States to protest against abortion, alledgedly using student union funds, but I can't quite remember the details of that one. I remember a couple of years ago running into some execcies from OUSA and they said to me 'hey, have you ever heard of the Flannagan's?', I chuckled and said 'yeah, why?' to which they replied 'they've moved to Dunedin...'. I think I managed to stop laughing long enough to console them and wish them luck.. And again talking about Dunedin, I have not yet said how impressed I am by the Critic website. Take note other student mags, this site is great.

High Times back to being High

Alternet is reporting High Times return to being a cannabis focussed magazine. Good thing I reckon. They had this whole rebrand attempt to try and focus on general civil liberties/rights rather than just cannabis prohibition related issues. I think this is sensible. I'm not the most regular reader of High Times but when I have read it I have enjoyed the excellent quality of the articles. It fills a niche and trying to go beyond that only served to let down their supporters. I only saw one copy of the rebranded issue and to me it looked like High Times pretending not to be High Times. Bit pointless really. I was amused to read that the DEA has three subscriptions to High Times. Put money on the fact that it isn't just for research...

Why? Why? Why?

Actually, don't answer that question, I'll figure it for myself. Now I'm not the kind of person who is easily disturbed but is Wiki After Dark really neccessary? I now open bets for how long it takes for this site to get taken over by hormone-plagued teenagers. UPDATE Thanks to some feedback (which made me chuckle), I should have put an adult content warning on this post. So IF YOU ARE AT WORK AND THEY DON'T LIKE YOU LOOKING AT DODGY ADULT STUFF DON'T CLICK THE LINK. WAIT UNTIL YOU GET HOME... UPDATE II Having now had a decent read of this wiki, it is rather good. My flatmate and I (of various differing degrees of the sexuality spectrum) both recommend the section on how to please your special lady friend in that special warm spot. In fact, I would go so far as to say, it should be part of the national curriculum, but I doubt UF would like that much...

Hoo hoo

That is the funny sound I make when my sides are splitting. United Future decided to respond to Jeanette's response to their Transport policy, with a cycle lane to accompany the four lane highway. How sweet of them. But I have to say I believe that UF would actually advocate for the cycle lane thing as much as I believe that the Pope will be resurrected.

A couple of things that made me laugh

Other than Mr Capill... Jeanette put out a rather witty response to United Future's recently announced Transport Policy. But don't try and find it on their Election 05 Policy Page. Try here instead. Oh and Terri's blog is so one of the funniest things I have seen in ages. The comments just make it.

And for those wondering

Yes, I did spell sory wrong on purpose. Yes, I am recovering. Things are on the up and the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel has just turned itself on again. Now there are a number of you out there who I have promised coffees and teas and other various diffreent catchup type activities with. So you know, I need to sort life firts. Don't take it personally. Will be in touch when all systems are go again. xox

Blogging isn't that hard to understand surely?

Just read this on Committee To Protect Bloggers:

In the past two months, three bloggers have been questioned by authorities for posting information on their personal web diaries. On 14 March 2005, Mack Zulkifli was questioned in his home by police officers and unidentified government officials who asked him to help them "understand the latest developments of weblogs," according to the independent online news service Malaysiakini. Zulkifli was asked how the content of blogs can be controlled and why he ran a blog when he appeared to derive no income from it. Zulkifli's blog BrandNewMalaysia is a non-political and non-religious site that receives up to 3,000 hits a day.

The Malaysion officials asked a bloody good question wondering why he ran a blog when he appeared to derive no income from it I ask myself that quite regularly.