Taxing news paper boys & girls to get into surplus.



Unless you are a paper boy or girl or live in a rest home



Well believe it nor not the Prime Minister turned up for work last Thursday, he normally doesn’t work on a Thursday, for he rarely enters parliament on a Thursday, it is thought that’s the day he heads of to Hawaii, or London or Singapore. But last Thursday he had to be there to support Bill English for the budget presentation. He may as well have headed off to Hawaii as usual for all the good he did.

This was a budget for the times screamed big John better known as smirky, its sensible and it’s a zero budget, he raved as he wiped the sweat from his brow. But in his budget speech he left out a few facts, he kept back a few dirty little secrets. Even though he had already drip fed the bad news over the few weeks leading up to the budget.

Key did not tell us that most of the Treasury predictions were wrong, out of date and not worth the paper on which they were written. But wait that’s not all, he didn’t tell us that he planned to tax paper boys and girls or that he was going to chop the rebates to the elderly who find themselves in a rest home. He treated the 56 thousand Kiwi paper boys and girls with the same distain that he treated the 200 plus employees he sacked at Merrill Lynch so as to get his bonus just before Merrill Lynch was bailed out because of its shocking management. That’s where he earned the nick name the smiling assassin, and he is our PM…

This budget was a typical Merrill Lynch document full of smoke and mirrors and shonky figures. And while he headed off to Auckland to his smoked salmon lunch he left behind a rag tag bunch of strange back benchers to pass under urgency the law that would steal from the poor school children and infirm and dieing elderly. A law, I might add, that no one knew about because they informed no one that these taxes were going to be introduced. Like a good lap dog bushy haired Peter Dunne stood on his hind legs and earned his ministers salary for about ten minutes telling us how much he cared for paper boys. At least he stood and let the wind move his tongue about, because later the Minister of Social Welfare sat on her ample backside and said nothing, I don’t think she even knew this theft from the elderly was even in the budget. Grey Power and Age Concern didn’t know until a few minutes before it was known via the budget release. This was a rotten sneaky trick to play on those who have worked all their lives paid their taxes, fought in our wars. They deserved better, just as did our paper boys and girls. We have:

270 000 children living in poverty with zero hope from this zero budget?
267 000 NZers unemployed and underemployed with zero hope from this zero budget?
500 000 NZers earning less than $16 an hour with zero hope from this zero budget? And we have 51 thousand leaving NZ this year, that’s the most ever!

Judging by the crap put forward by Key and English chopping NZ 7, sacking public servants and soldiers, selling off our assets, taxing newspaper boys and girls and having our elderly die in poverty is the answer to all our woes. When Key took over public debt was zero. Key still lacks the guts to tackle private debt. 

Louis Crimp a strange millionaire from Southland who backed the Act Party to the tune of $125 thousand dollars came out from under his rock and after washing the slime off his face, rattled on about Maori to the media. This old time and aged bigot had his ten minutes of fame. He was then ignored by all and crawled back under his rock. Thank God.

PN Guardian disagrees with my view on US Marines

This item was published in my latest Wheelers Corner

Last Thursday the Manawatu Guardian ran a front page that made me wonder if there is such a thing as editorial control. A baby faced US Marine Lt. Nishan Campbell was interviewed by Alecia Bailey. It was a shocking testimony to the idiotic behaviour of US military and was certainly not a model I’d like my grandchildren to follow. Statements like:

“We are prepared to die with honour”, shows clearly why the US needs continuing wars to satisfy its brain-washed junior officers. Campbell also stated …We want nothing more than to go to a combat zone”…beat that for stupidity, it might be OK to open ones mouth and let the wind blow ones tongue about, with what sounds like a racist red-neck bunch of KKK Republicans in some backwater state in the US. But hey this is NZ do we have to have this crap dished up in our local paper. It’s as if Rupert Murdoch or FOX news is running our local community paper. I hope that Lt. Campbell doesn’t get his wish to die with honour in the Middle East or South America, South Vietnam or Grenada or any of the dozens of countries where they have killed thousands of innocent citizens in the name of freedom and keeping the American military employed. If Lt. Campbell wants to die with honour he should resign his commission. The whole item was nothing more than propaganda.

This reaction was the sent by the senior reporter at the PN guardian:

 

Dear Mr Wheeler,

I am saddened by your response to the Guardian's article, "Date with a Devil Dog".

We are a community newspaper in an area where the Defence Force has a strong presence. The billeting of US Marines here was a good opportunity for us to let locals know a bit more about them. By presenting the interview with Lt Campbell, we did just that, allowing readers to form opinions based on what they read.

I am concerned that you saw fit to characterise Lt Campbell in such a derogatory fashion. Your assertions are in no way supported by what he revealed in the article, and seem coloured by your own pre-conceived views.

Mentioning the acts of which you accuse the Marines was outside the scope of the article, and would in fact have introduced bias against them.

You also imply that the statements of Lt Campbell, because you find them objectionable, in turn degrade the quality of the article. This reveals a poor grasp of not only how reporting works, but also basic logic.

I take further issue with your comparisons between the Guardian and Fox News, which are, to put it mildly, hyperbolic. Again, you seem to be conflating Lt Campbell's outlook with that of the article. If you dislike an article's subject, it does not follow that the article itself is of a poor reporting standard, and to imply otherwise insults Miss Bailey's integrity and my own.

You are absolutely entitled to your view of the US Marines. However, to label the article "propaganda" because we did not deign to support this view is both inaccurate and intellectually dishonest.

A more appropriate response to the article would have been to discuss these issues in a letter to the editor, which I would have been more than happy to publish - indeed, this week's issue contains just such a letter. I am disappointed that you instead chose to make your overwrought and fallacious statements in your newsletter, where our readership cannot respond.

 

Yours sincerely,

Rob Mildon, Guardian Senior Reporter

I have asked the Rob Milton to allow me to publish his letter in the next issue of Wheeler's Corner...I await his reply.

 

 

Charter Schools in US, are we next?

CHARTER SCHOOLS FOREVER...

Truthout published this and I thought that it maybe good to read a US view rather than the grap put out by the ACT party and its supporter the Minister of Education...

From: MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

Perhaps it's a coincidence that the decline of the American empire is occurring as there has been an increasing advocacy for profit-driven charter schools and vouchers for corporate-run private schools.
But maybe it's really a symptom of a nation that once drew its ingenuity and creativity from the collective knowledge imbued through public education. As BuzzFlash at Truthout has noted before, there is no public education crisis in upper middle class and wealthy suburban public schools.
Saying there is a crisis in public education is like saying we have an immigration problem. We don't have a general "immigration" problem; we have a society that wants to make sure that more brown-skinned people don't enter the US and quicken the timetable for whites becoming a minority in America. Similarly, we don't have a public education problem; we have a problem of education in poor areas where there are no jobs and in areas that have endured social neglect, but is this anything new?
No, this nation just ignored its economically depressed urban areas for decades. Now, the for-profit school industry has given enough money to people in power to suddenly say: "Oh, it's not the poverty and multi-generational gridlock due to the lack of economic opportunity; it's the teacher's unions."
Maybe the teacher's unions aren't perfect; maybe some teachers get burned out from being punching bags for the result of society's neglect of the poor without economic opportunity. But putting in for-profit schools whose goal is to make big bucks off of public funds by hiring inexperienced teachers at rock-bottom salaries isn't going to change the cultural/economic context in which such public education takes place.
Charter schools and vouchers are just another way for the one percent to make a profit off of the poor. It's no coincidence that wealthy and well-off suburbs and neighborhoods don't have the "shock doctrine need" for charter schools and vouchers.
Today, Truthout has begun offering "Precious Knowledge: Arizona's Battle Over Ethnic Studies," a documentary by Ari Luis Palos and Eren Isabel McGinnis.  It is a brilliant detailing of how some white "Eurocentric" politicians in Arizona banned a Mexican-American curriculum that nearly doubled the graduation rate of students enrolled in the program in Tucson.
Since the Tucson public school system far exceeds 50% Mexican-American enrollment, with whites being only about a quarter of the school system students, you would thinking bringing the graduation rate for Latinos up to above 90% would be a cause for celebrating the power of public schools. Instead, it became a white power structure (for the one percent) reason to suppress the curriculum. Why, because the empowerment and education of minority young people is a threat to white Arizonans.
Like the privatization of prisons, charter schools and vouchers are meant to enrich the wealthy not to improve anything -- in this case the education of children who live in economically distressed communities -- but rather to improve the profits of "education" corporations who have bought off politicians.

Leader of NZ KKK speaks out...



Don Brash...Orena Speech King.

Here is an interview by one of Don Brash’s millionaire supporters, he pumped $125,520.00 into Acts failed campaign and cried all the way to the bank, as Brash and Act exploded leaving only John Banks who was brought out by the Nat’s…and we all know how honest John Banks is. Banks, Brash and Crimp would hold key spots in the KKK if they lived in the any one of the Southern States of the US. This is from the NZ Herald…and may God have mercy on them…

5:30 AM Saturday May 19, 2012

 “The biggest donor to the Act Party says he gave the money to Don Brash and John Banks so they could stop special treatment for Maori who were "either in jail or on welfare".

In an extraordinary interview with the Weekend Herald, Louis Crimp said he believed he had the support of Brash, Banks and other "white New Zealanders".

Mr Crimp made the largest financial contribution to the Act Party for the 2011 election with a $125,520 donation.

His comments have appalled Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples.

But the Act Party last night affirmed Mr Crimp's right to have his say - and welcomed future donations if he was inclined to make them.

Mr Crimp, a multimillionaire businessman, said he was inspired by Dr Brash's controversial 2004 Orewa speech and supported Act when the former National Party leader took over as Act's leader last year.

"I supported Act because I thought Brash would go along the way for Maoris to be treated like equal New Zealanders ... they don't get any more than a normal New Zealander and we're all the same.

"The money I gave was to get Don Brash in to go with his things about the Maori.

I know white New Zealanders want the Maoris to be treated like ordinary New Zealanders."

Mr Crimp, 79, said he had met Mr Banks - now Act Party leader and a Government minister - within the past few days and was encouraged he would pursue the same goals.

"He's lonely. He needs somebody else in there [Parliament] with him."

Mr Crimp said Act should have taken a harder line on Maori during the election even if it led to public outcry. "All the white New Zealanders I've spoken to don't like the Maoris, the way they are full of crime and welfare."

He said he had asked Dr Brash why questions about special status for Maori were not pursued harder during the campaign. He said he was told the issue had been campaigned on but had been ignored by the media.

The campaign came after the Rugby World Cup, which showcased Maori in a way Mr Crimp opposed.

"It was an embarrassment at the Rugby World Cup, [Maori] coming to shore in canoes, with hardly any clothes on, waving spears and poking their tongues out, all painted up."

He said it was intended as a welcome but would have terrified visitors.

"Every opportunity the Maoris get they have to do this war dance, whether it is for a funeral or something happy or a wedding. They feel they have to take all their clothes off, stick tongues out and wave spears. That's not New Zealand."

He said New Zealand was poorer because of Maori claims, welfare, language revival, television and crime.

"The Maori language which is the biggest waste of money that New Zealand has ever spent on anything ... $500 million a year to promote the Maori language.

"It's making New Zealand poorer by paying the Maori out the welfare and the language."

He said that when he met Mr Banks, he complained about the cost of Maori TV.

"He agrees and so does Brash but somehow or another it didn't get across to the public."

Mr Crimp said the Labour Party had given Maori "special benefits" for 30 years to get votes.

He said the Act Party should not be in a coalition with the Maori Party. "What are they going to claim for next?"

He said the party had to be more direct, although it was not able to position itself as "anti-Maori".

Asked if his political views could be labelled racist, he said: "I don't give a stuff what I'm called. You have to look at the facts and figures. This is the problem with New Zealanders. Most of them dislike the Maoris intensely - I won't say hate - but they don't like to say so."

He said there was such nervousness among those he expressed his views to that he would ask if they had Maori blood.

"They don't like to say anything against the Maoris. They say it very quietly with their eyes looking around."

He said Maori were over-represented in crime statistics.

"I'm an Invercargill person and there's hardly any Maoris down there so this doesn't happen. But in Auckland, you pick up the crime page in the Herald; most of the faces in the Herald are brown in the crime page.

"The Maoris in jail are 51 per cent of the people in jail and yet they are only 13 or 14 per cent of the population. They're either in jail or on welfare."

According to the Department of Corrections, as at March 31 last year Maori made up 51.2 per cent of New Zealand's prison population. Maori make up about 15 per cent of New Zealand's total population.

Dr Sharples said Mr Crimp was "out on his own ... this guy - where does he get off?"

He said he had worked well with Act Party MPs.

"If Mr Crimp told the Act Party that's the reason he's giving them the money, they should have turned him down."

Act's president, Chris Simmons, said he disagreed with Mr Crimp on some areas but respected his right to have a view.

He said he saw Maori culture as "part of our culture".

"One of the beauties of the Act Party is we believe everyone should have their say.

"That's his view."

Mr Simmons said the party would take Mr Crimp's money again.

Mr Banks, Act's sole MP, did not respond to calls.

Shortly after Mr Crimp's donation, a squabble erupted inside the Act Party over its election advertising plans.



John Ansell...another strange John...



Advertising guru John Ansell quit the party after adverts he designed asking Kiwis if they were "Fed up with the Maorification of Everything" were cancelled".

Sale Yard conversation overheard.



 Patsy  question man Ian Mckelvie 



Overheard at the Feilding Sale yards, I got full value from my Sally Whites super hearing aids, without them the best kept secrets would never make the news.;

“Ian [McKelvie] who is the crowd in the green T shirts, asked John Key our PM.

“Hang on sir I’ll ask my office staff, said Ian.

The PM shook another farmer’s hand, and smirked at yet another ewe.

“Sir, they are striking workers from the local meat works”, said Ian lowering his eyes.

“Really, I thought they were locked out”, said John lowering his voice.

“Well some are and others are on strike supporting them”, uttered Ian sounding a bit like a ewe.

“Why would they do that, we live in an individual society now days, don’t we Ian”, said John.

“Oh yes Sir”, said Ian lowering his eyes even lower till he was looking at John’s shoes.

“I’m glad you agree Ian, I may now let you ask another patsy question”, said John.

“Oh that would be nice, could I ask one about Talley’s and their style of management”, begged Ian.

“No way”, said John you know the rules, we must not upset our big donors”, he added.

“Sorry Sir I forgot about that rule and I don’t want to end up like your mate John Banks” he whispered.

“You are aware that Talley’s have more money than me so we must stay on the right side of them and please don’t utter that name John Banks again, somebody might hear you”, OK what’s next on my agenda, I’m sick of talking to farmers and ewes”.

“Sure John Sir, next on the agenda is a cup of tea”, whimpered Ian.

“Who with”, asked John grinning once again at a farmer or was it a ewe.

“That religious guy who leads the Conservative Party, I can’t remember his name”, said Ian.

Delete TALLEY's Products from your shopping list!



Fighting Talleys Mafia style hit squad. 



On Wednesday I joined striking and locked out workers from AFFCO Feilding’s plant as they mounted their picket line yet again. The weather was cold and wet, but their spirit was strong, as was their resolution and solidarity for the battle they have been fighting against the meanest and greediest employer in NZ. 

“Talley’s” who are really a $500 million dollar family living in three mansions in Nelson and who are hell bent on power, greed and excess wealth. They’ve made their wealth off the backs of their employees but are unwilling to allow those employees their legal rights.

The legal right to collectively bargain and to belong to a union may be law, but the Talley Brothers are a law unto themselves. The Talley brothers hate unions and they donated big bucks to heaps of National Party Candidates and now they want their demands met, they want a pay back for those donations. But the evidence is obvious for all to see. Until Talley Brothers got 100% ownership of AFFCO industrial relations were managed on a good faith basis.

They are nothing more than an industrial mafia hit squad practicing a style of industrial relations that leads to a total corruption of the human aspects of relationships.

Put simply Talley’s stinks…and we should stop buying their products. If Talleys win the right to crush workers by destroying their representatives then who will be next, already the Nats are changing industrial law to suit Talley’s, is it because of their donations…after the Nats sold out NZ Law to please Warner Brothers we should not be surprised to learn that Talleys are the NZ equivalent to Warner Brothers…STOP BUYING TULLEY’S PRODUCTS…Don’t let the name “Talley” contaminate your super-market trolley

Should we let State Murderers train our military?



Legal Murder an everyday event for some. 



Training state murderers

How are we affected by the behaviour of others, at times it seems a hell of a lot? When does a terrorist become a terrorist and who decides? Is murder not murder when sanctioned by the state? When soldiers become murderers and these murderers become the teachers what is the affect on their students, do they too become legalised murderers?  

While our new Minister of Defence Jonathan Coleman gets dressed up in comic styled military gear and somehow then imagines he is suddenly a soldier or sailor or airman and proceeds to act accordingly, he is being not unlike a child with new toys, he play acts, he dreams. He supports closer connections to the big boys of the world military establishment and says it’s what our military need. He is wrong…

Because those big boys he seems to admire teach hate and mass murder to their students: the US Joint Forces Staff College had up until recently taught that the holy city of Mecca may have to be obliterated by using the bomb, so as to destroy al-queda and its basic religion Islam. There is nothing new in this attitude because it’s normal right-wing fundamentalist rhetoric. And it creates an attitude that leads to a destructive compulsion that ignores humanity. Throughout history these behaviours have created the bigotry and hate that brings down empires.

Mass murder has been used in the past to achieve domination. England used it to subjugate its Catholic population and destroy resistance in Scotland and Ireland, and in every country they conquered. Germany used it to destroy the Jewish people of Europe before and during world war two. The US used it when it dropped Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima even though the war was almost over and based on present information the bomb was dropped basically for training and scientific purposes. It was used in Vietnam, in Iraq and Afghanistan and failed in all three. It is rotten and corrupt and is the weapon of cowards.

We are now being told that New Zealand military forces will be exercising with US forces that have taught mass murder to their officers as a part of their learning processes. When one is taught by a bully one becomes a bully, and the same applies to being taught by State controlled murderers. The result is legalised murder of the type presently used in Syria, Israel and in most dictatorships

When will we ever learn that murder begets murder, you don’t stop terrorism by murdering terrorists, you master terrorism by removing the need for that terrorism. You won’t solve unemployment by shooting the unemployed. The problem of using military force to solve social problems is well documented throughout history. The problem for the United States and others is that the military has become their biggest industry. And their wars are fought not for freedom and democracy but for power and money.

 We here in NZ should not fall into that same trap but sadly it would appear that we are ignoring the lessons of history by getting into bed and prostituting ourselves with those to whom freedom is in no way like that in which we believe.  

Urewera TV Reality Programme bites the dust.

The Raid;

The Police and the SIS have had their fun, after acting like junior members of the FBI and US Homeland Security bully boys; by dressing up in fancy combat uniforms and scaring the hell out of women and small children and by kicking down doors while armed to the teeth with automatic weapons, and while wearing face masks. Illegally filming NZ Citizens using illegally gained warrants. Their reality TV police / SIS pop show is all but over. Their case costing millions of wasted tax payer’s dollars has been sent off to the rubbish dump. Fortunately they didn’t murder anyone, but they have ruined NZ’s reputation and we are now seen as simply copy-cat bit players in the US style war on terror. They [The Police] were simply too blank to recognise that they were and still are pawns in the effort to gain a free trade agreement with a nation that sees permanent war as a part of its economic recovery and to hell with the rest of humanity.       

This from the October 15th Solidarity Newsletter No. 32 - May 9, 2012

NO RETRIAL! Sentencing date still set for 24 May on Firearms charges.

Wahoo! The Crown filed an application in the High Court this morning announcing that they will not seek a retrial of Taame, Emily, Urs and Rangi on the charge of 'participation in an organised criminal group.'

After nearly five years of stress and struggle, the crown case has well and truly fallen apart. We are thrilled that a retrial will not go ahead.

However, the sentencing date for the firearms convictions is still set for 24 MAY in the Auckland High Court. Please come along if you can.  We intend that these convictions will be thrown out but that may take another appeal before that happens. The Supreme Court decision must now be applied to the remaining firearms convictions and all the convictions must go!

MEDIA RELEASE: Urewera 4: State Nil
DATE: 8th May 2012 - for immediate release
FROM: October 15th Solidarity

"We are relieved," said Ana Cocker from the October 15th Solidarity  Group in response to the announcement that the Urewera 4 will not be  re-tried on Section 98a, 'Participation in an Organised Criminal Group.'

"This decision has been long overdue, in fact the whole case should never have gone ahead. It is now time the firearms convictions against Tame Iti, Rangi Kemara, Urs Signer and Emily Bailey to be thrown out as well."

The raids happened more than four years ago on October 15th 2007, after more than a year of surveillance. 17 people were arrested. On that day they were threatened with Terrorism charges, nearly a month later. Later they were charged with Arms Act offences, and then in October 2008 five people had the charge of Participation added.

"The jury could not be convinced that there was any organised criminal group, and that should have been the end of it."

On March 20th this year, on the third day of deliberations, the jury told the Court that they were hung. They were unable to reach a verdict on the main charge of Participation. The four defendants were convicted however, on approximately half of the Arms Act charges. "Those convictions are based on illegally gathered evidence," said Ms Cocker.

The Supreme Court ruled in September last year that that the covert police surveillance of the so-called camps was illegally obtained. Chief Justice Sian Elias described the police actions as 'extremely serious when assessed against the rights breached.... the deliberate unlawfulness of the police conduct in the covert filming, maintained over many entries and over a period of some 10 months, is destructive of an effective and credible system of justice.' (Chief Justice Sian Elias, Paragraphs 72 & 73 Supreme Court Decision 125 Hamed v. Queen) Shortly after the Supreme Court ruling, the 13 defendants charged only with Arms Act offences had all charges against them dropped. It was not in the public interest and the offending of the police outweighed the seriousness of any of the Arms Act charges.

"The charge of Participation was laid specifically in order that the crown could use the illegally obtained evidence. The crown needed to justify Operation 8 and their invasion and spying on Te Urewera, by bringing convictions at any cost.

"Nothing in this case has been about so-called justice; it is all about criminalising dissent and halting aspirations for Tuhoe autonomy.

"The whole case has been a story of harassment of Ngai Tuhoe, the defendants, their communities, families and supporters," said Ms Cocker.

"It is time to completely end this farce now and for the Arms Act convictions to also be thrown out."

PNCC Fails to take real step forward...again!



Michael Cummings Editor MSN. 



This was from the editor of the Manawatu Standard [Saturday 5^th May 2012. “$17 million was spent on gaming machines in Palmerston North in 12 months The city's mayor, Jono Naylor, described it as "incredibly sad"; Hospitality Association chief executive Bruce Robertson said it was "good". Both were commenting on the reliance of community groups on the grants funded by pokie profits, and their conflicting views reflect the moral conundrum at the heart of the issue” He went on to say. “At what point does the sadness inflicted by pokie-fuelled problem gambling outweigh the good the money from the machines does in the wider community? Good question Michael…Michael went on to give his opinions on the issue, and I suggest you read the editorial. Here are my thoughts…

Dear sweet benevolent and kind Uncle Bruce. Robertson doesn’t care a hoot about the community as you and I understand it. Community for him represents a money making machine for his members and if they had their way they wouldn’t give a cent back.

They only do so because it’s the law and they have to, their public relations spin attempts to create a different picture. Pokies are as we all know directly linked to booze and booze and pokies are a deadly mix.

The Salvation Army demonstrates clearly the hypocrisy of the Hospitality Association when they stated at the last PNCC committee meeting, “That taking money from the creators of the problem to fix the very problem they create is just plan wrong! And they are spot on, for they are telling the truth.

Before banning the death creating tobacco companies from sponsoring events heaps of sporting bodies took money from that source, did they die after its withdrawal; no they did not. Did community groups exist and survive before one armed bandits came on the scene, yes they did and they will do so again. The community here in Palmerston North alone  would have $17 million available for community groups rather than a small percentage of that via pokies and this figure may well be much higher when you take into account what its also spent on booze in these misnamed ‘Hospitality’ centres.

Pokie machine winners are only the owners of those pokie machines, no one else wins, and they can’t for the machines are geared to win, that’s why they are called One Armed Bandits and their owners and suppliers are Bandits. While the word hospitality sounds a little like hospital but their roles are directly the opposite, one heals while the other creates harm and spreads epidemic sized mayhem across whole communities. 

As to the view expressed by the Mayor Jono Naylor I’ll wait to see which way he votes before passing judgment. If he votes for the sinking lid policy in full he will have proven that he is willing to put his vote where his mouth is, and that would be most refreshing.

The Council committee has met and by a small majority reduced the lid on pokies from 430 to 400 but still failed to take the progressive step taken by other councils to introduce a real sinking lid policy that would see this figure decline each year automatically. Councillors who are scared that they may lose the blood money they receive from the pokie bandits abstained from voting indicating clearly that they place their need for income both for themselves and the organisations they work for, above that of those harmed by the relentless pressure put on those who are addicted. Unlike the Salvation Army which rejects the un-Christian behaviour of accepting money from those who wreck lives and families, they feel they can have a bob-each-way. Lew Findlay and Adrian Broad [who both get money from the Street Van operation] Vaughan Dennison, who works for the YMCA, and Billy Meehan all abstained on the grounds of a conflict of interest. Funny that don’t you think? If they are opposed to pokies and one could be forgiven for thinking that Findlay and Dennison because of their close connection to religious organisations would be against pokies and the evil that accompanies it, and would vote against it. Are they suggesting that a sin is only a sin so long as it doesn’t affect you in the pocket?

John Banks minister of Amnesia / corpruption



John Amnesia Banks. 



I know you are most likely sick of hearing about John [forget-me-not] Banks but it’s not every day that you see a possum caught in the headlights fighting for his life. This is even more shocking than normal since this possum set his own trap then walked into it…funny that don’t you think?

This idiot should go…now! Have you ever heard such tripe come out of the same mouth?

Question: Who is Mr. Kim Dotcom?

Answer: I don’t know him…what money…$50.000, gee I forgot that…

Question: What about the chopper ride to the biggest mansion in Auckland…

Answer: I can’t remember that.

Question: But your name is on the passenger list…

Answer: Hmmm.

Question: And what about the discounted holiday in the flashy and most expensive hotel in Hong-Kong?

Answer: Oh was that discounted, well I never knew that.

Later at Banks’ mansion, the down stairs maid overheard an interesting chat, and passed it on to eavesdropper…its satire by the way.

“You’re a liar John, you told lies”, said his wife sounding really angry.

No way, a fib or two maybe and don’t forget I paid the Hong Kong bill with your credit card!

“Oh John does that mean I could go to jail too, I mean we did get a massive discount”

“No way, they don’t jail rich people’s families”

“But they are jailing heaps of financial crooks these days”, she uttered then asking “your not a financial crook are you?

“I don’t think so, but really I can’t remember, It is said that I’m a good money manager, an ex minister of police and National Party cabinet Minister for so many portfolios that I’ve forgotten what they all were, and I was the Mayor of Auckland, wasn’t I?

“Yes dear you were, once upon-a-time”, she said as she patted his head.

“Don’t do that he cried, both Key and Dotcom do that and it makes me so angry!

“Sorry dear, I forgot, so Dotcom is your friend?

“Oops I’ve done again”

“Don’t worry dear I don’t think you’ll get jail time…but if you do I’ll be here waiting to comfort you when you are set free”.

Coin Craig...minister of civil unions?

Banks has now made the pop charts via Dotcoms rap tune, ’Amnesia’ and Colin Craig that born again wee chap who spent $1.5 million at the last election on the Conservative Party and who says prayers forcibly at staff meetings and allows you to join any union so long as it’s not a Civil Union and who invites you to smack your kids with immunity and who took over the defunct Christian Heritage Party from that strange fellow who was convicted of naughty acts with young persons…a perfect replacement for John Banks. If Craig is elected, Key will make him the puppy dog Minister of Police and Charter Schools and all things religious.   

TV3 exposes Key Dotcom connection...

What the US demands we give. 

Life is funny at times John Campbell on TV3 interviews John Key [Friday 4^th May 2012 on Campbell Live] about his relationship with Mr. Dotcom: John Key states "that he had never heard the name till the night before", the CIA / FBI using our police riot-squad, a helicopter, and about thirty cops raided Dotcom’s mansion. Rushed him off to prison, and stole his private property [confirmed by a NZ judge just last week].

He didn’t know that Mr. Dotcom paid for and organised the greatest fire-works display in Auckland. The rest of NZ did because it was in all the papers and on TV.

He also stated that: He wasn’t told when Dotcom was given NZ residency by buying ten million dollars worth of NZ Bonds, nor when Minister Maurice Williamson gave him a big tick, he didn’t know when or why the minister of justice Simon Power turned him down when he [Dotcom] wanted to buy another large property.

He didn’t know him or of him nor what was happening to him when he had dinner with Warner Brothers in the US.

Nor did he know that Warner Brothers were one of the US movie makers requesting that the FBI arrest Dotcom so as to put him out of business…now if you can believe all that, then Father Christmas must still be on your mailing list. John Key makes John Banks look honest

Talley's New Zealands worst employer

SPECIAL ISSUE on Talley’s disgusting treatment of its staff as they chop wages and employment security, just imagine how you would feel if you had no security of future income and you couldn’t get the pension or assistance via the welfare system. So I plead with you to read carefully the fact sheet, and forward it to your friends. Consider carefully its requests. Good people standing together can achieve wonders…  

As you may be aware, Talleys Affco are determined to destroy the MWU by any means and that the MWU have been and still are attempting to assist their members…Unions in NZ are legal, New Zealanders have a right to bargain collectively with employers.

Talley’s are using the old but standard practice of divide and rule…and they do that by locking out some while allowing others to work…but hundred of those being allowed to work have decided to strike to stand alongside those locked out. Below is a fact sheet that covers what is happening right now.

Talley’s/AFFCO Fact Sheet

2 May 2012

The Meat Workers Union (MWU) has over 1300 workers in AFFCO meat plants located in:  Moerewa, Horotiu (near Hamilton), Rangiuru (near Te Puke), Wairoa, Whanganui, and Feilding.  It also has a membership in two small leather processing plants in Wiri (Auckland) and Napier.

AFFCO is owned by the Talleys.  This is one of the biggest privately owned companies in the country and the Talley family have interests in meat, dairy, fish and horticulture.  Combined it employs up to 4500 New Zealand workers.  The NBR rich list has the family wealth estimated at $300 million.

On 24 February this year after only 10 hours of negotiations for a new Collective Agreement, the company gave the MWU notice of an indefinite lockout for 770 of its 1300 members leaving the remaining to continue working.  The MWU subsequently issued a number of limited days strike action for those remaining in the plants and these non-locked out workers have now been on an indefinite strike in support of those locked out in an effort to renew the collective agreement since 13^th April.  As at 2 May the locked out workers have been locked out for 65 days without pay!  Some locked out workers are entitled to an emergency Winz benefit – those on strike are not.

On 1 May in an effort to split the workforce further, Talleys lifted the lock out on 300 workers leaving them subject to the union strike notice and cutting off their access to a benefit.  None of the 300 were union delegates or officials and nor did those “unlocked” have seniority in the plants. 

We estimate up to 5000 children are impacted by the lockout.

What are the issues?

Talleys /AFFCO workers are covered by a core collective agreement with site agreements determining additional terms and conditions.  The core pay rates range from $13.48 to $15.76 per hour.  On top of this workers are paid a rate based on the number of animals killed.  If the “tally” for the day is reached, wages range from $27 to $31 per hour.  The work is seasonal (2 to 11 months per year, with many short days and short weeks even during the season).

To secure wages set by tally, manning levels and tally rates are agreed.  The company wants the right to change these unilaterally stating the need to manage the plants according to changing circumstances.  The union has agreed they should manage the plant but want provisions in the agreement to continue to secure the large part of wages that are currently determined by tally and manning numbers.  They agree that AFFCO should manage but not manipulate!  The company is saying it won’t use the changes to reduce pay but will not put this in writing.

On 1 and 2 May further mediation took place.  After a relatively constructive day on 1 May, the company returned on 2 May with an entirely new collective employment agreement demanding it now be agreed.  This agreement removes all seniority and entitlement to reappointment in a new season.  It allows the company the right to dismiss union members it determines “incompatible” even if no misconduct has occurred, it removes several regular payments from agreements and makes a number of other significant changes that will reduce pay and employment security significantly.

Seniority is extremely important in seasonal work.  It means that between seasons and when work opportunities are reduced during a season (due to declining stock), those with the most service are given preference for work.  It removes any “arbitrary” decision making by employers about who they retain etc, and ensures workers are able to raise issues with their employer during the season (e.g. health and safety) without fear that they will be laid off without cause. 

Without seniority protection, between seasons workers have no guarantee that they will be re-employed.  In the case of AFFCO, the company has expressed a preference for non union members on individual agreements.  If it can ignore seniority, it can give work to non union workers and new workers ahead of those longest serving that chose to stay in the union and refuse to sign IEAs.  Season to season the company can use the threat of loss of employment to reduce and change conditions of employment at will.

The company has said it wants reduced Union presence in the plant.  It is offering workers the ability to return to work if they leave the union and sign an IEA.  The company is notoriously anti-union and has de-unionised in many its other businesses.  The Meat Workers Union believes this to be a major driver in the companies’ aggressive approach to this bargaining.

Where to from here?

There is further mediation set down for 7 and 8 May in Auckland.  There is also a Court hearing booked for 16 May to hear the unions claim that the lock out is not lawful and the employment authority has agreed to facilitation for the parties.  The workers are continuing to picket and campaign and organise community support. 

The major needs are for support at the protests and pickets and for donations of food and money.  To sustain such a large group of workers requires large amounts of regular funds.  It costs $50,000 per week to provide as little as $40 per member for food – much more is needed.

Economic pressure is also needed.  We are calling on AFFCO suppliers to send stock to other companies.  We are seeking any support around ensuring this company operates a triple bottom line including being a good employer before it has access to water and other natural resources.  We are asking customers to consider other products than those produced by the Talley Group Ltd.  We are not encouraging anyone to breach contracts with the company but where there is discretion, we are asking that it be exercised!

There is a website at http://www.mwu.org.nz/  for more information. 

Hikoi = Family = democracy...

They march to save OUR assets.

Thousands of thousands of people marched in Auckland against the sale of their assets by the Key led government. They joined those marching on the Hikoi that’s heading toward Wellington which commenced in the far North. The Maori concept of holding a Hikoi on serious issues is one that must be picked up by non Maori. Why because it is a highly effective method of making a point, and you don’t have to be rich to take part. It is a great leveler and governments do take notice because they are scared of the numbers. The mining of public owned land was halted because of the massive numbers that marched on that issue. Jerry Brownlee and Smirky Key broke out in a cold sweat and back peddled at a rapid rate once they were forced to recognise the power of the people. In many respects it is the modern method employed to express public opinion especially since the news media seems hell bent on only supporting the financial empires that control right-wing politics. Maori have proven the power of people is doubled or trebled when used in this manner, and they should know because they have used this people process for a hundred years.

Part of The Hikoi arrived at Palmerston North on Tuesday afternoon where they were welcomed by around four hundred supporters. If you weren’t there you missed a clear and concise demonstration of what collectivism means in behaviour terms. Maori know what the word family or whanau means but more than that they understand what is emotionally felt when the word is used, the Hikoi proves that fact.