After a long time of little activity mostly due to travel and work pressures I thought it would be worth getting back into blogging proper. A lot has happened in this time with Helen Clark’s departure from Parliament, the issues surrounding the Auckland Supercity, the Mt Albert Byelection campaign, Christine Rankin’s appointment to the Families Commission, Tasers and even Pigs all raising a few eyebrows especially those of this author. Stay tuned!

Long time Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter has announced today that he is leaving the Republican Party, and intends to become a Democrat. Discussion around the reasons for Sen. Specter’s defection has, however been overshadowed by the change in the political landscape that his vote may well represent. Why?

The current Senate has 58 Democrats, 41 Republicans, and the (still unresolved) Minnesota seat. Add Sen Specter’s vote to the Democratic column, and that makes 59, and with a high likelihood of Al Franken (who is currently leading the final tally) winning the Minnesota seat, this makes 60 seats. 60 seats, (or 3/5 of 100) is significant as it allows the for the Majority leadership to invoke cloture, which leads to a vote, and restricts the ability of the Minority Party to filibuster legislation it finds particularly odious.

While the US party system is not as rigid as the Westminster tradition, members of the majority party are more likely to bloc vote as whole when their party is in control of Congress, because moderate Minority members can often be persuaded with popular regional projects paid for by federal taxes (porkbarrelling). Still, it remains highly unusual for Congressional members to switch parties, even in the less partisan Senate. Only 13 Senators have switched parties in the last 96 years, and this number includes those who have briefly become independents to effectively rejoin the fold only a few months later.

That the Democrats control 60 votes in the Senate does not necessarily mean that they will invoke cloture, but that a single party has the numbers to do this, for the first time since 1979, whilst also controlling the White House, will certainly curb the ability of the Republican minority to have any impact on legislation at a federal level. The Democrats will now be able to proceed with Barack Obama’s agenda with less roadblocks – improving his chances of making good his promise of bringing “Change” to the United States.

For Specter himself, he likely faced a tough primary battle against former House Rep. Pat Toomey, whom he almost lost to in 2004, and subsequently, a tough battle against any Democratic candidate, in an increasingly blue (pro-Democrat) state, which voted for Obama by 10 points in 2008, and more importantly, voted out conservative Senator Rick Santorum in 2006. By switching allegiances, his likelihood of remaining in the Senate in 2011 is greatly enhanced.
Specter was one of the last of a dying breed of Republican moderates whom faced with, a rump local Republican Party, whose likely primary opponent had already (and previously in 2004) received backing from a key economic group, and an electorate hostile to federal Republicans, chose to end the difference between his values, and that of Pennsylvanians more generally, and his party affiliation.

Normally I don’t give failed National Party candidate and TV shockjock Paul Henry much attention but this time he appears to have really outdone himself. After interviewing Greenpeace’s Stephanie Mills a group of thugs no doubt of the talkback variety sent in a barrage of rather bullying emails about the woman’s appearance. Paul Henry then preceded to read one of them commenting on the woman’s moustache and then added his own nasty brand of venom into the mix – despite pleas from his producer and co-host.

Frankly it disgusts me that many of the New Zealand public are so one-dimensional they fail to listen to what a person is saying and only remember the way that they looked. Light facial hair on women is a fact of life, just look at all of the hair removal clinics throughout the country. Excess facial hair growth on women can be caused by diseases such as Ovarian Cancer. Not that Paul Henry’s puny brain could understand that.

This is not the first time Paul has turned Breakfast into an utter shambles, remember last year how he laid into Clark’s government only minutes after interviewing her on the rail buyback? Paul’s latest escapade is a clear breach of Section 6b of the free-to-air code:

6b Contributors and participants in any programme should be dealt with fairly and should, except as required in the public interest, be informed of the reason for their proposed contribution and participation and the role that is expected of them.

http://www.bsa.govt.nz/codesstandards-freetv.php

TVNZ have already been receiving complaints on this matter, I’m sure a few more wouldn’t hurt. Lets get this prick sacked!

New Zealand’s youngest convicted killer, Bailey Junior Kurariki, lashed out at media on Friday morning after appearing in court for breaching bail charges.

The 19-year-old spat at photographers, pushing them out of his way as he left the Manukau District Court.

Kurariki was 13 when he was jailed for 7 years in 2001 after being convicted of the manslaughter of pizza delivery man Michael Choy.

He was paroled last May but has been back in court three times for breaching parole conditions.

In his latest appearance he was released on bail for all breaches until May.

And is anyone really surprised by any of this. Lock a child away with criminals during his impressionable and formative years and it is no surprise that you get someone out the other end who is likely to go onto commit further crimes. We as New Zealanders must wake up to the fact that he is a product of a system we designed, one that has a long history of making young men angrier and more disengaged from society. Furthermore we’ve subjected Bailey to a hate campaign driven by the frankly racist and medieval Sensible Sentencing Trust and widely reported on by the media.

Kurariki committed a disgusting and horrible crime and I cannot even begin to imagine how it effected Michael Choy’s family. It must be said that keeping crime free once out of prison is a difficult task – our recidivism rates prove that. However it would be even more difficult for Kurariki considering the constant media attention and harassment he is receiving from the likes of the media and the special interest groups who have no interest in ensuring his successful integation back into society.

In the past few weeks, this government has significantly departed from the “change, but no change” mantra upon which it was elected last November. Both the 90-day probationary employment period, and the “nine day fortnight” are significantly different from what a re-elected Labour led government would have introduced. Perhaps then more hypocritically than ironically, the new government has attempted to appeal to the socialist feelings of the workers, in the spirit of “helping our mates keep their jobs”. When in fact, both of the above policies are likely to harm the very working people that they implore to help each other. How?

“Moral hazard is the prospect that a party insulated from risk may behave differently from the way it would behave if it were fully exposed to the risk. Moral hazard arises because an individual or institution does not bear the full consequences of its actions, and therefore has a tendency to act less carefully than it otherwise would, leaving another party to bear some responsibility for the consequences of those actions.” – Wikipedia

Keeping the above in mind, the 90-day bill, which permits the introduction into the employment contract of a 90-day probation period, in which new staff have no access to a personal grievance case, even possibly under exceptional circumstances (the law has yet to ajudicated on), has significant moral hazard attached – which typically runs counter to the claim of the purveyor that it would help vulnerable workers, in fact will likely condemn many to long periods of casual employment. Employers are more likely now to fire staff than previously – for a reason as simple as joining a union.

The “nine-day fortnight”, which effectively results in those workers in the employ of companies which take it up becoming 90% employed and 10% unemployed, i.e. a 10% cut in wages – with a slap in the face that the dole would be provided on a pro-rata basis to some participating employers. To even receive the pro-rata benefit, will employees be required to go to Work and Income, show their CV, and demonstrate their willingness to look for work, i.e. provide evidence of interviews etc etc? Again, this is moral hazard. More companies, now that it has been made an acceptable commonplace, will undertake this route, even if they were not previously inclined to do so. So in fact, to save 20 jobs, you are asking 200 staff to cut their wages by 10% – and there is no guarantee in these cases that redundancies will not occur, just that it is unlikely to be due to outsourcing.

Whilst it may be a matter of contention of what exactly is a moral hazard, and what constitutes a natural state, it is without a doubt that the Prime Minister and his government are acting in a manner which poses a threat to public decencies, and the morality of a fair go.

Helen Clark has been shortlisted for a coveted position at the UNDP – a position that would place Clark in charge of one of the largest budgets of any UN department. Excellent, Helen Clark proved herself to be an incredibly competent Prime Minister and I have no doubt that she will do an excellent job at heading the UNDP.

Sadly there are some who don’t want to see Clark move on to bigger and better things and will continue to dog her for many years to come. This hatred is for the most part driven by ideology and sometimes even blatant misogyny. There are some who are so backwards in their views that the idea of a woman in a position of power absolutely terrifies them. Unfortunately such people make up some of the current administration’s base and this is why a victory in 2011 is so important – for the sake of equality and progress.

Am currently out of the country but was delighted to hear that Section 92A has been deferred for a month. I am still cynical as to whether anything could be done to improve a piece of legislation that is fundamentally flawed especially when it’s being left to the politicians of this country who have shown us time and time again their knowledge of technology or lack thereof.

This post has been sitting in my drafts tray for a couple of days now. Let me just say now that the sentence handed down to Emery was a disgrace and in my view makes an utter mockery of our justice system – but how does one approach this? Perhaps I could try to sum it up from both sides but in all honesty that will only be giving validation to a very nasty, perhaps even racist section of our society by legitimizing their position. No I’m going to tell it how it is. I’m saddened by how what seems like a large proportion of this country have approached this case. The rhetoric has been strong, reprehensible and incredibly archaic. The reality is that New Zealand is a liberal democracy that espouses values such as love, compassion and inclusiveness – the conduct of many in recent weeks over the Emery case has been anything but.

The media hasn’t helped the situation labeling fifteen year old Pihema Cameron as a “tagger”, a drunk, a druggie while framing the killer a “businessman”, a “father” and even a “community figure. We’ve also seen statements from the so-called “Sensible Sentencing Trust” apparently in support of Emery even going as far as to say that the four years he received was too long. This from a group who claims to want tougher sentencing also maintaining an online database of violent offenders – something that Emery would most definitely be on if the SST were what they claim to be. The actions of Emery in court can best be described as schizophrenic with the killer claiming to feel remorse for his actions while at the same time saying Cameron walked into his knife. Word is he might even try to appeal his sentence. His lawyer even told the Cameron family to “get over it”. An incredibly arrogant and offensive thing to say to a family in grieving from someone who could never understand the hell the Cameron family must’ve been through over the past year.

In my mind a four year sentence is nowhere near being adequate to both punish and rehabilitate Emery for his crimes. It also sends a powerful message that vigilante justice is acceptable in New Zealand and that you will not only receive a light sentence but you’ll get to keep your two houses and business through donations from the nut jobs that think that the killing of a child is perfectly acceptable in this country. The victim’s family gets nothing.

Green MP Keith Locke is upset that the SIS continued to keep a file on him even after he became an MP.

Locke, a former far-left Marxist campaigner, found that the spies had watched him since he was 11 years old – and kept his file open after he was elected to parliament in 1999.

“Monitoring a sitting MP, purely because of the views he espouses, is an affront to our parliamentary system,” Locke told the Sunday Star-Times.

Locke’s personal file includes an SIS report from 2003 criticising the MP’s proposed visit to Sri Lanka, where he was to visit both sides involved in the civil war, including areas controlled by the Tamil Tigers (LTTE). Some governments have deemed the Tamil Tigers a terrorist organisation.

“It would suggest a level of naivety if Locke did not consider that the organisation and payment for this trip to war-affected areas in the north and east of Sri Lanka was not in some way connected with the LTTE,” says the report.

” . . . In fairness to Locke he most likely does want to meet both sides of the conflict to get a better idea of the situation but needs to raise this delicately with his hosts.”

This file is not included in the dossier the SIS gave to Locke, but is quoted by SIS director Warren Tucker in a covering letter. He notes that Locke was not the subject of the 2003 report.

The files also include newspaper clippings from Locke’s time as an MP, and an extract from Hansard, the parliamentary record, of a speech he gave in support of his bill to provide greater oversight of the SIS.

And it includes a letter to a newspaper criticising Locke, with a hand-written annotation that says “Eeeexxcellent!”

An SIS spokesman told the Star- Times that the SIS “recognises that it must function within a parliamentary democracy and sees one of its fundamental roles as safeguarding that democracy”. It was “not actively investigating any current members of parliament”.

Locke said the SIS might not have been actively investigating his trip to Sri Lanka, “but they are passing judgement on me and transferring that to my personal file. They are monitoring my activities and that is of concern”.

An SIS file was maintained for someone “of continuing security interest – that is, there is some danger to the state in terms of their activities. It suggests they still consider me, to some degree, as someone to be kept an eye on”.

There was a twisted logic to the SIS monitoring him as an MP, “because I am a parliamentary voice for some of the global peace and justice groups the SIS is monitoring”.

But the SIS should know from his file, which covered 51 years, that he had never been a security threat, said Locke. A former leading member of the Trotskyite Socialist Action League, Locke first came under surveillance when he was 11, when he attended a social function with his mother Elsie Locke, the well-known writer and communist.

Locke’s file includes detailed information about his political activities and personal life. None of the groups he was involved in were responsible for law-breaking, Locke said, “with the exception of some civil disobedience by anti- Springbok tour groups in 1981″.

Prime Minister and Minister in Charge of the SIS John Key told the Star-Times there was a difference between the investigation of someone and merely keeping a file on them.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4841373a6160.html

I remember once riding my bicycle down Bangor street and out alongside the Avon River, past Elsie Locke’s former residence and then onto Elsie Locke park just down the street. Little did I know that a former resident of this leafy suburb, much less her son were persons of interest to the SIS. Back then the fingering an author of such classics as the Runaway Settlers would’ve seemed unreal, now it has been confirmed as reality. Worse still, her son has been a person of interest since he was 11.

New Zealand has always been a country that people relate very strongly to the principles of freedom and democracy. We were the first country to give women the vote, we abolished the death penalty (twice!), we stood up to the Americans on the world stage. None of this would’ve happened if it weren’t for grass roots activists – people who today would be watched very closely by the SIS, and who knows – be forced to stop! It is this writer’s opinion that the SIS have overstepped their mandate invading the privacy of many who quite frankly pose no more of a threat to this nation than those attending a vegan cookoff.

…

The Herald on Sunday reported today Viliami Halaholo, the partner of Ms Bennett’s daughter Ana, and father of her child, was bailed to Ms Bennett’s west Auckland address for 10 months, up to July 2007, while awaiting trial on charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Halaholo, whom the newspaper said was a member of the Thugs of Canal street gang, was sentenced four months later to 4½ years jail.

Ms Bennett was an opposition MP at the time.

The newspaper suggested the relationship with Halaholo presented a security risk as Ms Bennett could be subjected to undue influence by Halaholo or his fellow gang members.

…

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4829004a6160.html

Rough and tumble minister of Social Development Paula Bennett is in the news again with the Herald on Sunday revealing that she had a gang member bailed to her house several years ago. The individual was awaiting trial of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Many on the left are trying to make excuses for this woman pushing the “we’re not like the right” angle however I believe in this instance Bennett deserves criticism for an obvious lapse of judgment that runs contrary to National’s much trumpeted tough on crime stance.

Conferences where health professionals meet to discuss ways of improving the health of our nation are a good thing however Tony Ryall’s decision to cancel an upcoming meeting of 300 health professionals smacks of right wing ideology, not common sense. The three day conference would’ve bought 300 health professionals from around the country together at a cost of $123,000, or a mere $410 dollars per delegate. The benefits of having such a conference would far exceed the cost which is less than a third of John Key’s salary. Once again National has demonstrated it cares not about common sense and is willing to blindly follow it’s own ideology no matter what.

I say, what a wonderful way to teach our kids how to be conformist do this, do that citizens.

From the manufacturer:

The woman traveler stops by the security checkpoint. After placing her luggage on the screening machine, the airport employee checks her baggage. The traveler hands her spare change and watch to the security guard and proceeds through the metal detector. With no time to spare, she picks up her luggage and hurries to board her flight!

But why stop there? What we need next are the bomb sniffing dogs, devices for testing the meth content of my cellphone and just for the Arabs – a white CIA aircraft fueled up for a trip to Cuba!

http://www.amazon.com/Playmobil-3172-Security-Check-Point/dp/B0002CYTL2

He’s already had his last press conference, awarded his mates a couple of medals and in a matter of days will be gone. Meanwhile President Obama will be taking a train ride from the old capital of Philidelphia to his inauguration in Washington – following in the footsteps of his idol, President Abraham Lincoln. I’m looking forward to seeing what Obama does in office, not only is he an intellectual but I also believe he will help rebuild some of the credibility the United States lost on the world stage over the past eight years.

While it is true that history will have the final verdict on the presidency of George W. Bush it is an undeniable fact that he has been one of the most polarising political figures in recent memory. For the first time in years we had large street protests in cities all over the world decrying the invasion of Iraq, we’ve seen a dramatic rise in anti-Americanism around the world, particularly in the Middle East. According to the international Pew Poll the view of the United States in the eyes of the international community has taken a hit falling from 58.3 per cent favourable to 39.2 per cent favorable. While I don’t expect Obama to change much in terms of American foreign policy I believe he will be a bit more pragmatic when it comes to diplmacy. Obama has stated that he is in favour of a new approach towards diplomacy with countries such as Iran saying that there will be a “new emphasis on respect and a new willingness on being willing to talk”.

As the new President Obama will not only inherit two wars in the Middle East but also some major problems at home. Domestically Bush’s presidency could be considered disasterous. Since he took office US foreign debt has increased by three and a half trillion dollars, health insurance premiums have more than doubled, the number of Americans living in poverty has increased by five million and GDP growth has almost halved. How far Obama will go to fix this is still not certain but with one of Obama’s first laws expected to be more health funding for impoverished children it does look promising.

While The New York Times and some other news organizations have local or Gaza-based Palestinian correspondents, any Israeli citizen or Israeli with dual citizenship has been banned for more than two years from entering Gaza, and any foreign correspondent who did not enter the territory before a six-month cease-fire with Hamas ended last month has not been allowed in.

Israel has also managed to block cellphone bandwidth, so very few amateur cellphone photographs are getting out of Gaza.

But Israeli tactics have caused civilian casualties that have created an international uproar, both in the Arab world and the West. In one widely reported episode, 43 people died when the Israelis shelled a street next to a United Nations school in northern Jabaliya where refugees were taking shelter. The United Nations says no militants were in the school.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/world/middleeast/11hamas.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&em

That’s interesting. The other night on BBC World a spokesman from the Israeli Army claimed that the Israeli Army was the “only army in the world to SMS the occupants of a target before launching an airstrike”. Since SMS text messages are sent using the same bandwidth used for phonecalls and MMS messages it would be a bit difficult for such text messages to get to their destination. If they were even sent at all.