goNZo Freakpower Brains Trust

4:20 News

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:24:00 +0000

# The biggest news that has been in the headlines recently is the rolling storm after the sacking of the government's chief drugs advisor Professor David Nutt. The day prior to this news, David Nutt had appeared in the BBC headlines for accusing ex-Home Secretary Jacqui Smith of "devaluing" the copious evidence on drugs. An Op-Ed column from David Nutt also appeared in the Guardian, pointing out that in spite of all the skunk hysteria, the evidence doesn't back up the rhetoric.

Incidentally, Jacqui Smith resigned her ministerial office after a scandal involving parliament funds for porn.

The day after the dismissal, the Guardian launches a stinging editorial. The same day, scientists gather in support of Professor Nutt. The next day, Sunday 1st November, the Independent reports that six members of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs threaten to resign.

On Monday, the Home Secretary who had fired Nutt was revealed to have ordered a review of the ACMD. Actually, a review has been on the books for a while, but the search for more elastic yes men has been kicked up a couple of notches.

By Tuesday, the government's chief science advisor was publicly backing the sacked professor. Wednesday had Professor Nutt appearing in New Scientist. Clive James tackles the whole drugs trope on the Friday.

The following Monday, Kathryn Ryan catches up for a chat with Professor Nutt on NatRad's Nine to Noon. The next day, three more advisors quit in protest. Wednesday, it's back to Johann Hari at the Independent who draws strength from the controversy to push the whole war on drugs argument down to dust.

# Meantime in the US, President Obama has issued a directive to federal authorities not to prosecute drug users where state laws allow it:

In a sharp policy shift, the Obama administration told federal attorneys not to prosecute patients who use marijuana for medical reasons or dispensaries in states where it has been legalised.

# The federal pull-back gives these others chance to breathe easier. A NYT editorial backs the policy. Prior to this, the New York Times had looked at the only person in America who has a state license to distribute marijuana. There are other places which did so under constant threat of arrest, such as compassion clubs. This Heat Off card will give them some peace of mind.

# The American Medical Association has changed its policy and asked for the illegality of cannabis to be reconsidered:

The American Medical Assn. on Tuesday urged the federal government to reconsider its classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug with no accepted medical use, a significant shift that puts the prestigious group behind calls for more research.

# A Colorado newspaper has signed on a critic to exclusively review marijuana.

# According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), NZ gets the bronze medal for cannabis per capita usage. Only the United States and Australia beat us to the bong. Of the Europeans, the Danish are the biggest stars in the union:

We beat those Euros in the "ever used" department though. Over half of NZ has tried the wicked weed.

# Speaking of smoke-offs, Snoop Dogg has confessed that the only person he has met who can smoke him under the table is Willie Nelson. HT Boing Boing.

# The Daily Dish has the stats on the most deadliest drugs in the UK, courtesy of Information is Beautiful. Marijuana is less dangerous than aspirin:

# Speaking of drug deaths, the widespread use of anti-psychotics in rest homes has been linked to around 1,800 needless deaths.

# In the trippy department, scientists are looking at studying the health benefits of LSD and Ecstacy. National Geographic goes inside the head of a tripper. If our scientists in NZ are ever allowed to have a go with it too, I volunteer to be a lab rat.

# The Boston Globe's Big Picture looks at the graphic reality of the war on drugs. NSFW pictures are clickable, but it's all very vivid.

# And finally, Transform has released 'After the War on Drugs: Blueprint for Regulation'. Pdf here.

The man in the Faraday Suit

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:43:00 +0000

Dr Megavolt plays with his tesla up close. People, do not try this at home without a PhD in Physics. Someone should really get this guy over for the Wellington International Festival of the Arts.

Oh no, not again

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:50:00 +0000

Yes, dear readers. It is going to be yet another blog post about the Top Secret Copyright Treaty known as ACTA. Firstly, here's the only civil society observer who has actually read the proposed ACTA treaty in full explaining why this is all so important:

According to Michael Geist, participating countries in the ACTA agreement, including NZ, have agreed to signing the ratified document as early as next year.

If there's any more evidence required that ACTA is yet another underhanded over-zealous reaction by multi-national conglomerates to hold on to an extinct branch of the distribution model, have a read of Colin Jackson's guest post at Public Address:

If I come over as a little irritated about this, that's because I'm seethingly angry.

Colin Jackson's not wrong and he's not alone. The NZ Pirate Party, the Creative Commons Foundation, InternetNZ, Geekzone, and a fistful of ISPs are also seethingly angry at the lack of say that NZers have over this secret deal. The plebs with pitchforks and torches won't be far behind.

I'm surprised there's not more seething from Mike Moore, former head of the WTO, on the matter. The proposed treaty circumvents the World Intellectual Property Organisation, making it the most overt and least legitimate grab for power since Blackwater became the United States' preferred mercenary.

And, if you're still not convinced that the ACTA treaty will contain some very thorny thorns for everyone, here's BoingBoing with the latest news:

The MPAA has successfully shut down an entire town's municipal WiFi because a single user was found to be downloading a copyrighted movie.

A year from now, it might happen in a city near you.

UPDATE: This just in from Geekzone:

© kiwiright from fyminc on Vimeo.

Interesting rhyming couplets

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:14:00 +0000

# Sleepwalking into the surveillance state headlines - Woman Loses Job Due to Error in FBI Criminal Database sez Wired. The Guardian looks at how the UK state intelligence actively monitors political activism.

# Economist dolphins and Doctor sharks. HT DPF for the latter (that went global quick, eh?)

# Interweb wars - Gripping Hand and Aardvark take a couple of bites at the Orwellian Top Secret ACTA treaty. Steven Price's Media Law Journal points to a very interesting symposium. Next month, the Law Commission, InternetNZ and the Ministry of Justice are hosting a seminar on the Internet and the courts. It will be looking at issues such as:

• Undermining of suppression orders
• Lack of jurisdiction over material hosted outside NZ
• Online discussion of crimes and trials potentially being a contempt of court
• Jurors who “Google”
• How deleting a story doesn’t remove it from caches and syndication feeds
• How do media and Internet publishers find out what actually has been the subject of a suppression order?
• Online criminal offending databases, and the right to a fair trial
• Is education or incarceration needed for Internet publishers who commit contempt

# The collected unconscious - Jung's Red Book has finally been released. The New Yorker features some of Jung's fascinating drawings, while Charlie Kaufman interprets selected images from Jung's head live on stage.

# Goldman Squid - The improbably named Lloyd Blankfein, head beak of Goldman Sachs, has been on the charm offensive. He has classed his minions as the most productive people in the world and calling it all God's work.

# Speaking of squid, I had some time to kill yesterday. After I finished my cigarette at the waterfront while schoolgirls were celebrating the end of uniformity, I went to visit Te Papa's big squid. Sure, I was expecting it to be bigger, but it was an unexpected pleasure that old school TV star Roger Gascoigne was explaining that as underwhelming as it is, it is the biggest captured so far. Do you know how hard it is to catch a big squid?

All My Beltway Circuits

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:28:00 +0000

Next week on All My Beltway Circuits, Rodulon and HON-E share a drink and compare notes on how their unreserved apologies went down with the public.

Taser Wars

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:59:00 +0000

Consider a world where non-lethal ordnance makers such as Taser International mislead the public over public safety, just like Big Tobacco and Big Pharma have done in the past. Wired does a brief history of tasers. A bloody good read. Here's a taste:

A week later, he started complaining about chest pains. Saxon downloaded the memory of his pacemaker which revealed that his heart beat had synced up with each Taser pulse. For over 5 seconds, his heart beat 15 times per second, about five times faster than during vigorous exercise.

Police Commissioner Howard Broad is still a coward. Unlike every other head of police who has introduced the taser, Broad has yet to take a hit on one. Is it any wonder why?

Who bugs the buggers?

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:42:00 +0000

I've just been flicking through my newly arrived copy of NORML News. Then this story jumps out at me:

SIS denies NORML's file

New Zealand's Chief Spook has refused to release any files it may hold on NORML, the ALCP, or the NORML News Editor...

NORML News editor Chris Fowlie then wrote to the SIS requesting anything held on himself, NORML or the ALCP. After a lengthy delay SIS director Warren Tucker said he would "neither confirm nor deny the existence or non-existence of that information."

Read the full story in NORML News, on sale here. Needless to say this concerns me mightily. SIS director Warren Tucker is playing Shrodinger's cat silly buggers with my privacy.

I've been mulling a request to the SIS for a copy of my file for a while. Y'know, just to check it's accurate and all. There's a fine line between Buttle and Tuttle after all. But I keep coming up with the more profound question. Why would the SIS have a file on me?

I can understand that Baycorp/ Veda Advantage/ HueyDueyLouie Corp has found a profitable way to live off my credit history file, and they keep lobbying to make their job even more profitable at my expense. But why on Dagg's earth are the state spooks picking on the marijuana hippies?

When is the last time you heard of stoners overthrowing anything? Never. The Rugby Sevens, the Undie 500, and the Rugby World Cup will inflict more damage on the national wellbeing than anything a J Day could accomplish. On the contrary, one of the more non-violent ways to break up a riot is to douse them in marijuana smoke. It works like a bucket of water on fighting cats.

As I've pointed out a few days ago, there are more pertinent threats to keep the spook budget busy. Who else does the SIS keep a file on? David Farrar? No Right Turn? Russell Brown? Eric Crampton? Where does the SIS remit stop? Where is the accountability?

Chris Fowlie is taking the matter up with the Privacy Commissioner. I might just ping an OIA for my file from the SIS too. I challenge my fellow bloggers to do the same and see how far this thing goes.

Ryall refuses OIA request on Herceptin costs

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:19:00 +0000

The Otago Daily Times is reporting that Health Minister Tony Ryall has refused to disclose the cost of funding Herceptin as the information is apparently "not in the public interest":

In response to questions first raised by the Otago Daily Times on September 24, Health Minister Tony Ryall has now advised public interest in releasing the information about the cost of the breast cancer drug was considered, but it was determined this did not outweigh the reasons for withholding the information.

He cited a section of the Official Information Act as grounds for withholding the information, which referred to protecting information which was subject to an obligation of confidence.

That sounds like an appeal to Section 6 (b) of the OIA:

Conclusive reasons for withholding official information

Good reason for withholding official information exists, for the purpose of section 5, if the making available of that information would be likely—

(b) to prejudice the entrusting of information to the Government of New Zealand on a basis of confidence by—

(i) the Government of any other country or any agency of such a Government; or

any international organisation.

So Ryall is claiming that he can't release such politically sensitive information because of the commercial sensitivity of the Herceptin suppliers. The fact that the Herceptin exception flies in the face of the standard Pharmac model, a model created by the last National government, has nothing at all to do with it.

Keep digging ODT and good luck. The public deserve to be informed on the pricetag that this election promise is costing the health sector.

The men who stare at Americans

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:03:00 +0000

Wired has a few stories on The Men Who Stare at Goats, the movie about an Army squad training in the psychotropic and paranormal arts. Wired's movie review's fair to say that the square peg of Alternative Special Ops is forced through the round hole of Hollywood narrative structure a bit too forcedly.

The source material really does justice to it all with the stereotypical pale weedy Brit of John Ronson fronting it and outdoing Sacha Baron Cohen's deadpan:

Wired also pull out the old yarn of an old CIA plot to purchase ten kilos of LSD, as well as another report on the spook stash of thirty to forty pounds of LSD. The current exchange rate for one pound of LSD is $55 million (according to BERL, one kilo of LSD causes $1 billion of societal harm).

All the same, it'll be good to see Jeff Bridges' Dude again, albeit Parallel Universe Dude.

Watch out Bob

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Bob Harvey appears supportive of Tamaki's Briantology cult:

In a letter to the New Zealand Herald this week Bob Harvey compares the Destiny Church leader to the founders of the Salvation Army and Martin Luther, spearhead of the Protestant Reformation.

Harvey said he does "anything to cheer on people who are turning people's lives around".

As far as I'm aware, neither Martin Luther nor the Salvation Army require their do-gooders to swear an oath of loyalty to one man. Not the CEO, not the cause, but the man.

Sure, the Salvation Army employment contract and attached appendices do require some sort of position on god. They have a brand to maintain after all (and they have the bigshot lawyers to back it up). Fortunately for the plebs, this god bloke is very hard to pin down, so there's always plenty of wriggle room.

I mean, how many times have you heard someone say "as god as my witness" and that bugger Jesus never actually turns up? Him and his Mum appear on everything from burnt toast to semen stains on eBay. But according to Brian Tamaki, he has a signed character reference from Him and it pays the bills nicely.

Why is this Briantology thing a Bad Idea? Well, firstly there's that whole idea behind the anonymity of charity. The donors don't brag so the beggars don't starve. Whether it's the burden of guilt that comes with relying on the kindness of strangers, or the master slave relationship that threatens the character of the giver, it's fucked up.

Secondly, here's David Kilcullen saying it out loud:

The classical counterinsurgency theorist Bernard Fall wrote, in 1965, that a government which is losing to an insurgency isn’t being out-fought, it’s being out-governed.

It's how Hezbollah gained legitimacy in Lebanon, by feeding and sheltering the masses. It's what Al Quaida are doing in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And it is this threat that Tamaki poses with his flock.

Bob Harvey might just be in thrall of the marketing machine's beauty, but its purpose cannot be underestimated. Because the third reason is the most important. Financing. This is the hurdle, among many many others, that prevented Tame Iti's Flightless Circus from being a serious threat. Briantology has really really good financing.

The links between the Destiny Church and the US Southern fundamentalist barons make this an international affair. If you're looking for a branch of God's Warriors in this young country, you could do worse than keep an eye on those guys.

Once that disaffected X and Y lot come online from within, and more join up when this Supercity squid starts sucking, you've got a generation of people who have but one constant, Bishop Brian Tamaki, in their lives. The man who can move mayors.

Paul Holmes backs evidence based drug policy

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:42:00 +0000

MPs have tabled a motion in parliament calling for the government to adopt an evidence based approach to drugs policy. One of the co-signers is a Mr Paul Holmes.

The bad news is, it is not NZ's own stunt dwarf Paul Holmes, but Paul Holmes MP and others in the UK legislature:

MPs from the Cross-Party Group on Drugs and Alcohol Treatment and Harm Reduction (DATHR) have today tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM) calling on the Government to base its drugs and alcohol policy on scientific evidence. The call comes in the wake of the forced resignation of Professor David Nutt as Chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD).

Nope, the NZ namesake still sits in Hypocrite Class with all those MPs who have used illegal recreational substances yet continue their flight of fancy at the public expense.

The polymath and the ayatollah

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:22:00 +0000

In what was first dismissed as a government hoax by some, a university maths student has criticised Ayatollah Khamenei, in public, to his face:

The session began with a speech in which Khamenei told the students the "biggest crime" was to question the results of the June 12 presidential election that returned hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power. Khamenei himself declared Ahmadinejad the victor despite opposition claims of widespread fraud.

After the speech, Vahidnia raised his hand, then for 20 minutes he criticized the Iranian leader over the fierce crackdown on postelection protests, in which the opposition says 69 people were killed and thousands were arrested...

"I don't know why in this country it's not allowed to make any kind of criticism of you," said the student, wearing a long-sleeved blue polo shirt and appearing calm.

"In the past three to five years that I have been reading newspapers, I have seen no criticism of you, not even by the Assembly of Experts, whose duty is to criticize and supervise the performance of the leader," he said, referring to the clerical body that chooses the country's supreme leader.

That's the thing about reformation. It has got to come from within. It's great to see signs of courage from Iranian civil society that has not diminished in spite of state intimidation, violence, torture and murder.

While trying to find a source clip on YouTube, I tripped over this. I hope it isn't true.

A bad report

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:16:00 +0000

Titus Furius Te Kaumatua
Headmaster
Bowen St Normal School
Molesworth St
Wellington

Dear Mrs Harawira,

Your son Hone's recent column for the school newspaper has caused dishonour and shame among his classmates and teachers. Hone's story describes his recent scholarship trip to Brussels, where he absconded from the field trip for a frivolous detour to Paris.

Instead of fostering the greater wellbeing of his whanau through intercultural exchange as per the terms of his scholarship, Hone asked his billeted host to write him a sick note excusing him from his duties.

Hone's lapse was bad enough. He then compounded this by bragging about it in the school newspaper. He has set a poor example that other impressionable and misguided children might mistake for a role model. The school cannot allow such flippant insubordination.

I won't detail the precise words Hone used to respond to Senior Master Mr Mikaere, who had attempted to get Hone to admit fault with his various deliquencies. Suffice to say that it was no way to address a kaumatua.

Hone's form teachers, Mrs Turia and Dr Sharples, are becoming exasperated with his behaviour. If his attitude remains uncooperative and abusive, the school will have no choice but to suspend Hone until such time that he does not disrupt the good reputation and learning environment that this school fosters.

Ka kite,

Furius Te Kaumatua

The Wedding Planners

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:47:00 +0000

When Rodney Hide and Hone Harawira leave parliament, they will probably become wedding planners. Rodney Hide is experienced at pulling out all the stops to make the perfect wedding and Hone Harawira can wax lyrical about Paris for potential honeymooners. The best part about this on-the-job training perk is that you get to root all the taxpayers.

Fuzzy numbers

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:42:00 +0000

The NZ Herald has a couple of stories highlighting the lacklustre performance, blurry accounting and sometimes downright wrong advice that many NZ small investors have to contend with. Consumer NZ has described many financial advisors as shoddy, while Massey banking wonk David Tripe has called Westpac's financial statements "scurrilous, nonsensical data".

Consumer NZ chief executive Sue Chetwin said only three out of 17 advisers produced plans that were rated "good" by the expert panel. The remaining 14 were rated as "disappointing" or were "rejected"...

Issues found by the investigation included poor analysis, unclear costs, advisers portraying themselves as independent when they were not, high costs and bad products.

You can almost see why property investment is so popular in NZ. At least it's a hands on tangible investment. A fool and his money may be soon parted. But more dangerous is the fool with someone else's money. Come on Securities Commission, pull finger.

They are coming to cut you off, oo argh

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:08:00 +0000

The Fantastic Judith Collins will be thrilled with provisions of the Top Secret Copyright Treaty that have leaked out from under the cone of silence. As Cory Doctorow from Boing Boing sez, it's bad. Very bad:

That ISPs have to proactively police copyright on user-contributed material. This means that it will be impossible to run a service like Flickr or YouTube or Blogger, since hiring enough lawyers to ensure that the mountain of material uploaded every second isn't infringing will exceed any hope of profitability.
That ISPs have to cut off the Internet access of accused copyright infringers or face liability. This means that your entire family could be denied to the internet -- and hence to civic participation, health information, education, communications, and their means of earning a living -- if one member is accused of copyright infringement, without access to a trial or counsel.
That the whole world must adopt US-style "notice-and-takedown" rules that require ISPs to remove any material that is accused -- again, without evidence or trial -- of infringing copyright. This has proved a disaster in the US and other countries, where it provides an easy means of censoring material, just by accusing it of infringing copyright.
Mandatory prohibitions on breaking DRM, even if doing so for a lawful purpose (e.g., to make a work available to disabled people; for archival preservation; because you own the copyrighted work that is locked up with DRM)

Mauricio Freitas at Geekzone is ashamed that NZ has anything to do with this. Computerworld has early comment from InternetNZ rep Jordan Carter:

"If correct, this is cause for alarm and shows a significant change in ACTA's focus,” says InternetNZ spokesperson Jordan Carter.

"Instead of focusing on customs procedures and stopping large scale commercial piracy, it seems the negotiations are turning to areas that should be out of bounds.

"Because the ACTA process is secret, none of us can know the precise details of what is being discussed.

"New Zealand should take a stand against any attempt to hijack the negotiations."

I hope someone starts raising the idea of protecting citizens from this sledgehammer by doing a Finland and declaring internet connection a human right. I mean, it's not as if Judith Collins has a problem with trampling the Magna Carta.

That's it. I'm off to join the NZ Pirate Party.

Political Scientists

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:55:00 +0000

The backlash on the sacking of Professor David Nutt from the head of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs is snowballing, with the government's chief science advisor coming out in support of the fired advisor. While the Labour government close ranks around their own, little do they realise how much damage they are inflicting on themselves. Even opposition leader David Cameron doesn't quite grasp the nature of things.

The row over Prof Nutt followed a series of public comments including a view that alcohol and tobacco is more harmful than cannabis, ecstasy and LSD.

What Professor Nutt was allegedly dismissed for is nothing new. This harm index was devised some time ago, and even Paula Bennett could work out from the graph below that indeed, according to the government's science select committee, alcohol and tobacco are more harmful than cannabis, ecstacy and LSD:

Sciblogs has a look at Nutt's sacking too. Here's Peter Griffin and Grant Jacobs.

Interesting things

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:09:00 +0000

# I've just spent the best part of today re-installing a clean dual boot system, the better part of which is Karmic Koala Ubuntu 9.10. There has been a quantum leap forward from Jaunty, from file system through to software management. While the Synaptic Package Manager still lurks for the intermediate user, the new Ubuntu Software Center (sic) makes it so straight-forward even a Windows user could use it.

There's still a few things you need to know. Various lawyers have caused needy bits and bods to be excluded from Ubuntu point blank; Adobe, which is currently getting passive aggressive with Apple, has some exclusion principle with the Ubuntu distribution. Proprietary codecs have similar issues.

But where there's a law there's a loophole. The Silent Number has an excellent list of what is missing and where to find it. There's also a whole heap of stuff for everyone. OK, I don't have a need for an atomic clock widget, but the Restricted Extras are a must, the media centre gear is useful, and the real beauties are the Electric Sheep Screensaver and the Themes Kit. Very very nice.

# The Economist has a very good look at the multinational conglomerate of Nestle. It looks at the mass customisation of food, as well as the perils that can arise. It's not just milk powder in Africa that should be a worry, but also right here in NZ. Breast is best but stuff all Mums do it these days, seeing how convenient the formula is.

# Michael Coote at the NBR looks at another angle on the food commodity trade. It really amazes me how much of the world's diet is reliant on eight varieties of crop:

• Coffee
• Corn
• Lean hogs
• Live cattle
• Soybeans
• Soybean oil
• Sugar
• Wheat

Talk about putting all your bananas in one Cavendish.

# New Scientist has a beautiful and enlightening photo essay on the rise and fall of American mental asylums, including the Gothic inspiration for Arkham Asylum. Out of curiosity, I went looking for our little NZ experiment, Lake Alice.

# Johann Hari looks at two recent Ayn Rand biographies over at Slate, shedding light on what could only be described as a cult of personality. On the subject of deconstructed personalities, Ron Rosenbaum goes to town on Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger.

HT Andrew Sullivan.

Black and white and blue right through

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:07:00 +0000

Judith Collins' transmogrification into a 21st century Jenny Shipley is progressing nicely. To give the dwarf his dues, the transcript from last Sunday's Q+A program shows off nicely the black and white world that Collins lives in.

One particularly telling response has electrified a wide variety of the blogsphere, but there's many other blood diamonds in the interview:

PAUL Yeah but take the man on I think the front page of the New Zealand Herald yesterday. Now this is a fellow with tattoos on his shoulders, he wears a black singlet and he drives flash cars and the Police keep pulling him over. He won the Lotto. He won a million bucks in the Lotto but because the cops decide he doesn’t look like the kinda guy who should be driving these cars they keep pulling him over. Is that the kind of persecution we can start to get? If the Police don’t like the cut of your jib you're gonna get persecuted.
JUDITH Well that’s actually under the current law. What we're looking at with the Assets Recovery Unit is that they're going after big crime and big criminals.
PAUL Take my point, he doesn’t look right.
JUDITH I also noticed that the Police said there was another side to the story, but look Paul you're always going to get instances like that, but frankly the Police have got far better things to do than worry about people who are Lotto winners.

As everyone knows, people in suits cannot commit crimes. Besides, the cops had their reasons. What more excuse do you need?

PAUL Yeah but the truth is, under the Criminal Proceeds Act, the Police can take your property if they suspect you're dodgy.
JUDITH But you’ve got the right to get it back, you’ve got the right to claim it

The Police have a right to confiscate property and the citizen has a right to request its return..? Are our Police being trained by Somali pirates?

PAUL Yeah but then you’ve got a whole matter of procedure to go through because the cops have decided they suspect you got the property criminally.
JUDITH Well actually Police would lose all credibility if they went round doing that unnecessarily.

THAT's a check and balance? That the cops might be worried about losing credibility? Who needs credibility when you have the monopoly on extortion?

PAUL No, but what has been proposed in this is an extension of powers for those people and I wonder how can you possibly think that these people should have the same powers as the Police, to detain you, to use reasonable force, to rub you down, have a search?
JUDITH Well you might well think that the Child Youth and Family Inspectors might want to.

Collins considers CYF might have a right to detain, search and restrain people forcibly. Isn't this the sort of stuff the National opposition used to accuse Clark's Labour of? Ah, but the jackboot is on the other foot now.

PAUL You're also proposing an end to the right to silence from groups of three or more people thought to be involved in a single criminal activity. Now obviously that’s aimed at gangs, get them all in a room and make them talk, but the right to silence goes back hundreds of years.
JUDITH Yes, and obviously we've got to constantly be looking at the tension between the individual's rights and those of the State in terms of trying to keep people safe, and that’s what all our law and order policies are about Paul. There's on theme, it's about trying to actually deal with crime and keep New Zealanders safe

Hey Jude, who keeps people safe from the State? The State is not some all-knowing, all-seeing benevolence machine y'know.

JUDITH Well people should be always concerned about our freedoms because we are a free country. However having said that DNA is the modern version of fingerprints and the Police will not be keeping samples if people are not actually convicted.

DNA is like fingerprints, and charcoal sketches are like MRIs. There is a great divide between reasonable information and too much information.

PAUL It's the law. The Police are now able to take a sample of DNA from people they intend to arrest for an imprisonable offence.
JUDITH Yes.
PAUL Why not make them wait till after they’ve arrested you, anyone can say I intend to arrest you for an imprisonable offence.
JUDITH Well obviously they need to have the evidence before they arrest people, and this is one of the things we're trying to do is to make sure they’ve got the right person

Oh, so DNA is not like fingerprints! The Police have no right to one's fingerprints until arrest. But DNA can be taken before arrest. This is done to ensure that there might be at least some evidence before Police arrest someone.

PAUL Is it inevitable that we're gonna have to move towards becoming something almost of a Police state if we want to crack these?
JUDITH I don’t think we need to do that at all.

We're already there, aren't we?

The squid has landed

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:20:00 +0000

Artist's impression of the new Auckland Supercity

Ripped from the NBR:

Corporate services facing change/centralisation:

Strategy
Policy and planning
Maori relations
HR
Democracy services
Communications and PR
Project management
Property
treasury
Procurement
Legal services
Risk and assurance
Chief executive/Mayoral offices
Executive group support staff

Services not likely to be reviewed:

Libraries
Parks
Recreational facilities
Social housing
Local community development and funding
Youth, safety and other community programmes and initiatives
Local events
Infrastructure services (stormwater, transport and water services)

Democracy services being centralised. How apt.

Public servant paradise

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:06:00 +0000

Stop the presses, I've found a valid beneficiary to bash; public sector superannuation scheme recipients. While Lindsay Mitchell takes aim at drug abusing invalids beneficiaries (no, I'm not taking it personally), perhaps a look at the Labour Cost Index might show where a lot of public spending growth has gone. The trend is Billy bolded.

From the June 2004 quarter to the June 2005 quarter:

Surveyed labour costs rose 2.7 percent.
Non-wage labour costs rose 3.0 percent.
Annual leave and statutory holiday costs rose 2.9 percent.
Superannuation costs rose 7.3 percent.
Workplace accident insurance costs rose 7.2 percent.
Other non-wage labour costs (vehicles, medical insurance and low interest loans) fell 2.8 percent.
These results are final and revisions have been made to the indexes. Please see the Commentary for further details.

Biggest rises in Super and ACC.The commentary sez:

Employer superannuation costs increased 7.3 percent from the June 2004 quarter to the June 2005 quarter. This follows no change in the previous June year. The latest increase in superannuation costs was influenced by a 2.6 percent increase in salary and ordinary time wage rates.

In the public sector, superannuation costs rose by 15.2 percent, mainly due to the introduction of the State Sector Retirement Savings Scheme (SSRSS) and greater membership by teachers of retirement savings' schemes. From the June 2003 quarter to the June 2004 quarter, public sector superannuation costs decreased 3.1 percent.

Superannuation costs for the private sector increased 1.3 percent from the June 2004 quarter to the June 2005 quarter. This follows an increase of 2.5 percent in the previous June year.

From the June 2005 to the June 2006 quarter:

Surveyed labour costs rose 3.7 percent.
Non-wage labour costs rose 6.2 percent.
Annual leave and statutory holiday costs rose 7.1 percent.
Superannuation costs rose 6.6 percent.
Workplace accident insurance costs rose 4.8 percent.
Other non-wage labour costs (vehicles, medical insurance and low interest loans) rose 0.7 percent.

The two biggest rises that year were Holidays and Super. The commentary sez:

Employer superannuation costs increased 6.6 percent from the June 2005 quarter to the June 2006 quarter. This follows an increase of 7.3 percent in the previous June year. The latest increase in superannuation costs was influenced by a 3.3 percent increase in salary and ordinary time wage rates.

In the public sector, superannuation costs rose 12.3 percent, mainly due to the increase in the employer contribution rate of the State Sector Retirement Savings Scheme (SSRSS), which took effect from 1 July 2005. From the June 2004 quarter to the June 2005 quarter, public sector superannuation costs increased 15.2 percent, mainly reflecting the SSRSS, which was introduced from 1 July 2004.

Superannuation costs for the private sector increased 1.7 percent from the June 2005 quarter to the June 2006 quarter.

Can you spot the trend yet? Twenty-seven percent increases in public sector superannuation bonuses over two years and counting... Here comes another one...

From the June 2006 to the June 2007 quarter:

All labour costs rose 3.9 percent.
Salary and wage rates rose 3.2 percent.
Non-wage labour costs rose 8.1 percent.
Annual leave and statutory holiday costs rose 9.3 percent as a result of an increase in minimum annual leave entitlement.
Workplace accident insurance costs rose 9.3 percent.
Superannuation costs rose 4.2 percent.
Other non-wage labour costs (vehicles, medical insurance and low interest loans) rose 1.8 percent.

Super takes a break from blowing out the costs. This was the year that annual leave was raised from three weeks to four. The commentary explains:

Annual leave and statutory holiday costs increased 6.3 percent for public sector employees, down from the record 7.8 percent increase in the year to the June 2006 quarter. For the private sector, annual leave and statutory holiday costs rose 10.6 percent, the largest increase recorded for the private sector since the series began in the December 1992 quarter. One reason for the private sector increase being greater than the public sector increase was that fewer employees in the private sector were previously entitled to four weeks or more annual leave than in the public sector.

One thing to note about those ACC levies by the way, which in those three years have risen by 25 percent. Public sector pay level negotiations would not be nearly as affected by these levies half as much as their private sector counterparts. This is solely because public sector employers (the gummint) have the biggest taxpayer-augmented tits in the country. As for the private sector, it's much more zero sum for the workers, seeing as their smaller employers have less tit to hand around.

OK, back to the numbers. From the June 2007 quarter to the June 2008 quarter:

All labour costs rose 3.7 percent.
Salary and wage rates rose 3.5 percent.
Non-wage labour costs rose 4.1 percent.
Annual leave and statutory holiday costs rose 4.7 percent.
Workplace accident insurance costs rose 4.7 percent.
Superannuation costs rose 2.7 percent.
Other non-wage labour costs (vehicles, medical insurance and low interest loans) rose 0.3 percent.

Blah. Costs in line with the CPI. Not surprising seeing how there's a recession and an election year on the plate. KiwiSaver was also introduced, and the commentary makes an interesting observation on that:

In the four months from April 2008 to July 2008, employers reclaimed, on average, about 70 percent of their contributions to KiwiSaver schemes. In some industries, the proportion of contributions reclaimed averaged about 90 percent, and in other industries, only about half was covered by tax credits.

That doesn't sound like a very egalitarian outcome! Anyway, on to this year. From the June 2008 quarter to the June 2009 quarter:

Surveyed labour costs rose 2.8 percent.
Non-wage labour costs rose 2.6 percent.
Annual leave and statutory holiday costs rose 0.3 percent.
Superannuation costs rose 30.8 percent.
Workplace accident insurance costs fell 2.5 percent.
Other non-wage labour costs (vehicles, medical insurance, and low interest loans) rose 1.7 percent.
The LCI (all labour costs) indexes have been reweighted. For more information see the commentary section of this release.

Sweet Zombie Jesus in aspic, a 30 percent increase in superannuation costs. The commentary explains:

The main reason for the large increase in employer superannuation costs was the changes to employer contributions to employees' KiwiSaver schemes which took effect on 1 April 2009. Part of these changes involved an increase from 1 percent to 2 percent in employer compulsory minimum contributions to their employees' KiwiSaver schemes.

So it was the big switcheroo from tax credit to tax cut, which will be back out the door again as next year's ACC levy increase. Back to the commentary:

In the public sector, superannuation costs rose by 14.2 percent. Superannuation costs for the private sector increased 40.0 percent from the June 2008 quarter to the June 2009 quarter.

OK, public sector superannuation is a bit like the ACC story; largely unaffected by the tax cut swaparoo. Even so, the public sector still managed a 14 percent increase in super costs.

Over five years, public sector superannuation costs have risen over 50 percent cumulatively. When will the Benny bashers tame public sector superannuation? There's no PERFect storm of disapproval with this rort, just the usual easy targets.

The Benny bash is back

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:16:00 +0000

Walking through Wellington city, you might be forgiven for thinking that we're still in thick of recession. Willis St has vacant shops a go-go, Thorndon is awash with colourful For Lease signage, and the queues outside the WINZ office are as long as ever. However, Bill English is assuring the nation that the worst is over and it's time for all those bludgers on the sickness and invalids benefits to head back to work:

The Government is poised to implement a key election pledge requiring parents on the domestic purposes benefit to find work or training once their youngest child turns six.

Sickness and invalid beneficiaries are also in the Government's sights, with plans to make it tougher to sign up and stay on either benefit indefinitely.

It's not all stick, according to the Nats. Beneficiaries will now be able to earn an extra $20 a week before their benefits are abated. That's one hour of cleaning Bill English's non-residence in entitlement-speak, although I don't imagine many Nat MPs will be hiring me to do their dirty work.

That's right dear readers, I am an invalid beneficiary. Hire me. Yes, I'm half deaf and have a mind that is part fluffy duck, part gin trap, but the Nats think I'm up for work. Yes, I have been on the dole before and been turned down as under- or over-qualified, or just plain not-what-we're-looking-for. But, like Tolley's testicles, the Nats want to tick the boxes more often to see if I am still strange.

I tell you what, Nats. You can introduce your Benny bashing bolicy once you get WhaleOil a job and off the disability pension. Go on, he's just one man. If you can't do well with one of your own, what hope do you have with all the others apart from locking them up in jail at three times the price of an out of town MP allowance?

The NIMBYed gentry

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:57:00 +0000

Deborah Coddington is appalled that a wind farm in the Wairarapa is going to wreck the world around her:

With 45 turbines twice as high as the Auckland Harbour Bridge, and blades twice as large as the Westpac Stadium, sited 8km from the town square, this could be the end of Martinborough as we know and love it. The tourism industry our economy depends on - wine festivals, outdoor concerts, homestays, weddings, cycling - will they continue with noise from these turbines?

The township of Martinborough (population 1,300) is home to a lot of well-off Wellington part-timers, not just Deborah Coddington. Madame Prawn has a pad out that way, as does Dick Griffin, who made his displeasure known on an otherwise jovial Panel with Mike Mora on Friday.

Quite how cyclists will be affected by wind turbines up a mountain range has not been made clear. And aren't wine growers fond of using low flying helicopters to keep frosts away in winter? So much for the noise factor. Are the gentry really arguing that you won't be able to hear outdoor concerts becuase of wind turbines 8 kilometres away from the town centre?

Pah. I've got acquaintances in Ashhurst who say the 103+ wind turbines near them are not a noise problem. Even on the very rare occasions when an Easterly hits them, the noise is no louder than a dishdrawer in the next room. Most of the time there's no sound at all.

I put wind turbine opponents in the same category as opponents of cell towers; hypocrites who want all the benefits of the technology without any of the negatives.They are the fairweather mates of the Little Red Hen, wanting the bread without all the effort.

Yet I bet those rich cluckers will raise a hell of a stink and Meridian will end up ditching this choice windy spot for electricity harvesting because of them. What the rich and powerful want, the rich and powerful get.

Signs of the apocalypse on Sunday

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:02:00 +0000

Kerre Woodham is the Top Story on Google News, beating Abdullah Abdullah and motorcycle protests:

Michael Lhaws talking sterilisation tops the New Zealand headlines, beating power cuts and scrub fires:

Shuddering Judd

zippygonzales@gmail.com (Will de Cleene) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:40:00 +0000

What is it with some faded singers and young kids? Gary Glitter, Michael Jackson and now former Split Enz artist Phil Judd:

Split Enz founding member Phil Judd, who lives in Eltham, has admitted stalking the children since 2004, when the youngest was in year 2 and the eldest in year 6.