Russel Norman king hits Key

At last someone has the honesty to tell it as it actually is, John Key is a Robert Muldoon reincarnation and he is correct for all Keys behaviours point to it.

Muldoon was like he was, especially in his later years, because he drunk too much fire water, and appearing bombed on the steps of Parliament announcing a early election was simply too much. But hey Key doesn’t have that excuse [I Think]. His problem goes deeper and won’t be fixed by a weekly visit to AA. Even counselling on a full time basis may fail to hit the mark…The Greens released this on Saturday and it’s not hard to accept their view because the facts speak louder than words:  

Saturday, 01 Jun 2013 | Press Release

The National Government is undermining our democracy by giving special treatment to its special friends, the Green Party said today.

In his key-note AGM speech, Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman took aim at the National Government’s crony capitalism and attacks on democracy.

“John Key’s National Government is arrogant and divisive, and only looking out for their mates,” said Dr Norman.

“If you want to be Prime Minister of this country you have got to work for everybody, not just for some.

“Under National, New Zealand is a country of crony capitalism where public money and benefits are showered on those who have the ear of the relevant minister.

“National abolished democracy in Canterbury to enable big dairy to increase pollution of rivers and aquifers. National rigged the tender process, handing SkyCity a sweet deal to build a national convention centre. National stopped protest at sea, after Shell Oil complained about protesters.

“Crony capitalism is not a smart way to run a Government or an economy. It sends the signal to businesses everywhere that the real money to be made in this economy is through lobbying Government for sweet deals, not by honest, hard work.

“This erosion of democracy and human rights matters. But it also matters because it is at the heart of every other economic, environmental and social debate we face as a nation.

“The Green Party believes that ordinary people should have a say in decision making in this country – ordinary people should have power.

“That’s why the Green Party will fight to restore our democracy.

“In Government, the Green Party will immediately restore democracy to Canterbury. We will close the door to lobbyists and special interests. We will keep politics honest by restoring public input to law making.

“National wants to take from us our collective belief that together we can create a better New Zealand, but we will not let them,” Dr Norman said.

The latest Fairfax Media-Ipsos poll shows 43.5 per cent of voters have a lower opinion of his [Key’s] truthfulness after a year of brain fades, and almost as many say their opinion of his trustworthiness has dropped in recent times.

The same poll also asked people for the first time whether it was time for a change of government - and 49.1 per cent said yes. That was surprising because even some people who said they would vote for National thought it was time for a change.

The poll asked voters whether their opinion of the Government and the Opposition had gone up, stayed the same or gone down recently, and revealed opinion toward the Government had moved markedly downwards.

Even people who voted National in the last election were revising their opinions of him downward, Mr Stuart said.

"Of course voters for other parties feel even less impressed lately toward John Key, but it are the lukewarm results amongst his party faithful that sound a warning."

Robert, a pensioner questioned by our pollsters, said he voted National last time but would vote Labour in 2014.

"I don't like the current prime minister, he seems like a dictator."

Another voter who supported National in 2011 said she was now reconsidering her vote.

"I think John Key has been shooting his mouth off without due consideration."

So I think the Greens have hit the nail on the head, scored a bulls eye and who knows soon the Labour Party may even start to tell it has it is…and develop more backbone and lets hope the Maori Party see the writing on the wall…the time has come for a realignment toward democracy, its too late for Act and Peter Dunne well who knows who he’ll stick with, but it will be whoever pays the highest wage…

Power Disconnections Sky Rocket

Have you had your power cut off this year?

Have you had to borrow to pay your powerbill?

Have you got behind with your powerbill?

If you have your not alone, the numbers having their power disconnected has sky rocketed, this year reaching 41.000 and rising?

That’s ten thousand more than last year, if fact the disconnections have grown every year since 2009. Forty-one thousand equals every house in Palmerston North, just imagine every house with no power in the middle of winter, that a bloody lot of chilly people.

Has electricity become a rich person’s property? Or has it become something you have when you’re not having food. Do you give up your secondhand Japanese import so you can heat the house? Are you one of the many thousands who now pay for their power as they go by using coin meters, if you do you have the option of buying food or heating for the family, that's so long as you've got some spare cash..

Are you using your credit card, should you even have one, to pay your powerbill and therefore are paying even more for your power because of the up to 18% interest you pay on your credit card unpaid balance.

Do you have unheated rooms where your children sleep, are they damp, is your house insolated, if you rent can you get your landlord to insolate your rental property.

The present system stinks, power companies have been ratcheting up power charges at five times the rate of inflation for the last five years and paying those massive profits to the government so they can spend it on defence armaments or flying themselves to Hollywood etc.

Did you get the email or letter below from the PM? it appears to have been sent from his office and was signed by him.  

22 May 2013

The National-led Government's fifth Budget, which we released to New Zealand last week, has been extremely well received. That's because it delivers in the areas that matter, and it supports our families who need it most. When I spoke in Parliament on the Budget last week, it was great to have the chance to talk about our success in Government. I also took the opportunity to point out that the Opposition has adopted our mixed ownership policy as their own. Watch my latest video to see exactly what I said.

John Key
Prime Minister

   

If you have not got a computer, too bad, you won’t be able to view his PR video, but you might like to remember that your taxes and power bills are paying for his crap video, but hey what’s new…he just loves families that have computers. If you would like to send him a email telling him about your powerbill here is his address :

mailto:john.key@national.org.nz?subject=Response_to_KeyNotes

Operation Eight Stuff up

Americans or Kiwi Police 

Operation 8 carried out on October 15, 2007 will go down as a day of infamy for the New Zealand Police. It was the day the police pretended they were a hit squad as per the USA. It was as if they just had to get into the world wide act to prove to countries like the United States that they had the ability to save the world [well at least NZ] from the terrorist onslaught that the US had brought on itself.

Maybe they felt, like the US, that they could just roam at will beating up the so called bad guys.

But firstly they had to find some one to attack, for unlike the US who did all their practice using CIA operatives and foreign dictators in heaps of South American countries like Columbia and such like, where on the direct orders of the US President murdered thousands while flying drugs back to the US. [See Col. Oliver North trial]

The NZ Police, no doubt aided by the GCSB and the SIS picked a soft target, so after illegal phone tapping and the planting of listening devices they chose the small township of Ruatoki as their training ground.

Police raided the Bay of Plenty township of Ruatoki and executed search warrants around the North Island, arresting 18 people allegedly involved in military-style training camps in the Ureweras. It was later found that doubt about the execution of the search warrants was actually legal.

The police Commissioner then I think realised that the NZ Police were not like the CIA and had to act within the law…shock horror police have to obey the law! So on:

October 29 - Police Commissioner Howard Broad asks the Solicitor-General to allow Terrorism Suppression Act charges to be laid against 12 of the accused.

On November 8 - Solicitor-General David Collins announces he will not allow charges to be laid under the Act, calling it "complex and incoherent".

Then after a year of back peddling and procrastination the police realise their total stuff up and realise their terrorist bull shit was just that so on:

October 17, 2008 - Charges are dropped against one of the accused, Rongomai Pero Bailey. The remaining 17 are on bail facing firearms charges.

But they still try to link the failed terrorism theme and instead come up with a new charge, one that may resonate with their dwindling public support and to stop them from becoming the laughing stock of other police forces so they on:

October 28, 2008 - The Crown also charges five of the accused with participation in an organised criminal group.

Not content with that stupid act, they then procrastinate for a further two and a half years during which on July 8, 2011 - One of the 18 arrestees, Vietnam veteran Tuhoe Francis Lambert, dies,   He was a hero who had defended NZ and the US against the communist hordes, which was heaps more than most of the police had done. Then as unbelievable as it may sound on:

September 6 - Charges against 13 of the accused are dropped after the Supreme Court rules police gathered evidence illegally. However, the court allows the evidence to be admitted in four cases where the offending was serious enough.

Time rolls on but at last the police get some sort of final charges out of the twenty million dollar plus exercise at training themselves to meet NZ’s magical terrorist threat, looked at rationally it was not unlike the US and UK’s absolutely false beat-up of the Weapons of Mass Destruction claims as an excuse to attach Iraq. A smaller scale yes but full of lies and illegal behaviours. So on:

February 13, 2012 - the four remaining accused - Tame Iti, Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara, Emily Bailey and Urs Signer - go on trial in the High Court at Auckland.

March 20 - Iti, Kemara and Bailey are found guilty of six firearms charges, while Signer is found guilty of five firearms charges. The jury is unable to reach a verdict on the charge of participation in an organised criminal group.

Way back in 2008 a complaint was laid with the Independent Police Conduct Authority and nothing had happened, it must be the longest ever inquiry in police history but at last they could delay it no longer and on:

May 24, 2012 - Facing pressure to apologise for the Ruatoki raid, Police Commissioner Peter Marshall says he's "very sorry that innocent individuals, families and a community, were frightened and inconvenienced".

And yet it was after yet another full year, a whole year! before at last the public got just small taste of how bad the whole operation on that fateful day. The police, their bosses, the GCSB and the SIS decided to play games with NZ’s laws by pretending to be photo copies of a Hollywood version of an American hit squad. The cost of making this Peter Jackson Hobbit style exercise in futility has been in my view close to a hundred million dollars, with more to come. For on:

  

May 22, 2013 - The Independent Police Conduct Authority finds roadblocks, searches, detentions and photographing by police during the Ruatoki raids were unlawful, but the operation overall was reasonable and justified.

‘But the operation overall was reasonable and justified’, Who ever wrote those strange words must be a good friend of the police, and decided to give the seven year police / taxpayer sponsored movie a happy ending, for the police anyway.

Our police force has a history that’s becoming infamous for long term horror stuff ups and does not deserve such an unreasonable and unjustifiable finding. But the operation overall was reasonable and justified’ is in my view there only to make any claims against the police in the courts more difficult to win.

The planting of evidence against Allan Thomas, then praising the very cop involved as a hero, the illegal actions at Taneatua and Ruatoki and the rape cases against three senior police officers, and the latest massive stuff up, the illegal raid on Kim Dotcom proves that the greatest training we could give the police in the future is understanding the law, and our people, and most importantly ignoring Hollywood movies.   

Eavesdropper X in the Beehive

Assets sales pay back.

My GCSB secret agent, better known as Eavesdropper X sent me a shocking revelation of a meeting held deep in the bomb proof bowels of the Beehive. There were only four players present besides a team of GCSB agents.

When the four arrived for the meeting they each wore camouflage of sorts:  The first wore a paper bag with the words ‘McDonalds Hawaii printed in black, he went and sat at the head of the table.

The second arrival was wearing a potato sack that ended up at his shoulders; he was a very large chap.

The third was wearing a dress and a string of pearls. Over her head she wore a Warehouse plastic bag with the carry handles wrapped around her ears.

The last person to enter was a skinny guy wearing a burker type head dress…Once the doors were sealed and all checked for hidden weapons or microphones they got down to business.

Here is a record of that meeting: I’ll leave to decide as to the legality of this disclosure.

“Right, said Paper Bag, Now that Labour got the sales price of shares for the MRP share float down so our mates, I mean supporters, I mean moms and dads, could buy heaps and heaps of them…we need to look at how we are going to do the same thing over and over again, how did your mates, I mean mums and dads, do? He asked.

Potato sack pulled his chair back a bit to allow his massive tummy room to move: “Most of my mates in Canterbury are not speaking to me at the moment, but in Otago they were overjoyed”, he said proudly.

String of pearls said, “Sky City sent an email saying thanks and that I may soon receive a paper bag full of you know what!

“They promised me that they’d never do that again, and to think we have put up with this for thirty-five years”, interrupted paper bag.

Burker said well I had each of my six kids; my two cats and our dog buy a hundred thousand shares each as part of our housing and educational trust fund…so I did my bit.

“None of you talked to Aaron Gilmore about this did you? Paper bag asked.

They all nodded, but it was hard work for potato sack…the sack itched something awful, judging by his scratching.

“We don’t have to worry about Solid Energy we couldn’t give those shares away free after we stripped them clean by demanding huge dividends from them over the last three years. Christ that board was dumb”, uttered Paper Bag. Burker nodded agreement.

“So it’s Meridian then that’s next on the block, I doubt that the Labour / Greens will fall into the trap a second time, we will have to have a strategy and not simply rely on luck”, said String of Pearls, sounding really proud.

“Gee’s woman, we’ve already decided that you idiot, it was in the budget”, said potato sack.

“Shut your fat mouth, screamed string of pearls.

“Now children, lets not resort to name calling, your not in Parliament now”, intervened paper bag, we’ve decided on Meridian energy because once our trusts have build our holiday homes, along with our mun and dad mates, on the lake side down south the values will sky rocket”, he added sounding really relaxed.

“Don’t forget we have to do a deal with that aluminum smelter”…said string of pearls.

“Not to worry, said paper bag, “Well get Steven on the job, like he did with Sky City Casino, he’ll workout a sweet deal for them, he did it for Media Works and Novo Pay, the road contractors, but we may have to bring him into our inner-team”.

Unfortunately the GCSB agents were changed around at this point; their union agreement entitles them to a twenty minute break after thirty minutes of listening to idiotic type secret discussions and their union on the job delegate is very strict about compliance with their industrial agreement. The government is considering changing the law to stop this behaviour by stopping the GCSB from having a collective agreement and only having individual contractor deals like they did for the Warner Brothers.

So this report from New Zealand’s top whistle blower will be delayed until a future date, but he promises to report further on the inner-workings of our top security Beehive team.

I’ll leave to work you is wearing the paper bag, potato sack, the string of pearls and lastly the burker. If you send me the names and they are correct you will receive a prize consisting of a half a million shares in Solid Energy…  

Thank God the budget is over.

State of the Nation:

To understand what a crap budget Bill English presented one has to understand just exactly what the state of the NZ economy actually was: Firstly it is important to understand that the Government has been reducing ‘Government dept, when they took over the governments books from Labour in 2008 government debt was zero. Between 2009 and 2010 it shot up rapidly because of the tax giveaways and the Christchurch earthquake, ever since then the government has clawed back government debt via increasing tax increases and cut backs to government services etc. They even upped tax for paper boys and girls, home care givers, cut benefit entitlements, chopped assistance to a huge number of community groups like Age Concern, racked up power charges via the SOE’s.

All but one of the Power Companies simply upped ther charges to pay the governments demand for greater profits so in real terms these are really nothing more than ‘tax increases’ of course solid energy had the guts ripped out of it by government demand for bigger payments was fatal and Simon Power ripped the SOE to bits and then buggered off to work for one of the big overseas owned banks hoping to follow in the blood stain foot prints of John Key.

The demanding of massive profit taking from SOE’s like Solid Energy helped to lower government debt, to read the full and year by year story of that huge stuff up and rip off, one full of lies, lies and more lies, corruption and shocking business skills, go to:[ http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/05/17/solid-energy-a-solid-drama-of-facts-fibs-and-fall-guys/ ]

Increasing GST and fuel taxes, reducing health and social spending has helped get government spending down, at a hell of a cost to those, on lower incomes whose wages and incomes plus working conditions have taken a battering over the last five years. The government keeps telling us that the government books will be back in surplus by 2014/15 and they would be no matter which government was in power, why because the government has increased taxation on the 80% on mid or low incomes. Hence the 3 cents a litre fuel tax increase per year for the next three years. Without that increase we wouldn’t have a hope in hell of getting into surplus by 2014/15. You can only get so much blood out of a stone!

The second leg of the nations economic state is ‘private debt’ and NZ is the second worse indebted nation in the first world, only Turkey is worse and we are forecasted to take over from them in 2014. Our businesses, if one can call them that, are just overflowing with a mountain of debt and the massive monthly interest being paid on that debt is almost all going overseas mainly via our almost completely Australian and foreign owned banks. Five of our smaller banks like the TSB have now [last week] been placed on negative watch because of their massive lending to the top end housing market and the credit rating companies are suggesting that the housing bubble is about to burst.

The government has two clear options available to it: One; raise taxation for those on high incomes or two, introduce a tax that will take the sting out of the housing bubble.

The fact is that NZ is no-longer a manufacturing nation as such; we pay massively more for our imports than what we make from our exports. Let me put it this way, if all our imports ceased, we could feed ourselves and that’s about it. Within three weeks our fuel supplies would run out, those of us who remember cars less-days know how true that is.

The government could move to balance the taxation system so that it was once again fair, they know that they can’t simply raise the taxation rate by a percentage across the board because those at the bottom would be plunged even further into poverty and more middle class citizen would join the bottom of the heap. They could raise the tax rates for those on higher incomes say one hundred thousand plus, they could tax trusts and corporate bosses at a higher rate but they wont because that’s where they get their financial and voter support from.

The Labour party has yet to lose its heritage of the Roger Douglas insane view that the market is the answer but it is undergoing a sort of a minor rebirth in its acceptance of the Greens NZ Power scheme and the introduction of a capital gains tax on all capital gains other than the family home. Did you know that of all the members of the National Party in Government own two homes on average, [some in fact own three, four or six or more] and the capital tax gains they make and others like them is massive, they also drive up rentals in fact, so much so, that most people cant afford them.

The value of tax evasion in NZ is simply huge, as it is around the world. The blog No Right Turn tells the story in a paragraph or two and it is worth a read if you haven’t already done so: http://www.norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/the-cost-of-tax-evasion.html

Anyway now that the ranting and raving about how good the budget was by our massively indebted business experts, who seem to spend most of their time refinancing and increasing CEO’s salaries have stopped for a breath.

You and I can now work out how you are going to pay the ever rising power bill, the rates, massively increased insurance bills and still put food on the table and I hope... help get the Feed The Kids Bill to a select committee.   

Sky City Steven Joyce and a Paper Bag

 

Steven Joyce is lunching with the Sky City boss [CEO] in a secret sound proof room that has been scanned for bugs. At the same table is a shadowy figure dressed in black with a paper bag over his head, also in the room are members of the GCSB they are dressed as waiters with bow ties and dark, dark sun-shades, they all have military styled crew cuts. One of those Waiters is an Eavesdroppers informant who recorded the conversation and reported back so all could be revealed to you.

“Thanks for inviting me here today”, said SJ to CEO.

“Welcome Steve baby, but who is your paper bag friend”, asked CEO looking toward figure X.

“Look I’d hoped you wouldn’t ask that question, lets just pretend that he isn’t here, if that’s OK”, mutters SJ.

“OK, but do we need all these security stiffs here as well, they scare me a little, they look even more spooky than my bosses from New York and Chicago”, said CEO.

“Please don’t mention your bosses, we are not supposed to know about them”, said SJ.

The paper bag nodded agreement, and the GCSB crew looked the other way.

“Right here’s the deal Steve baby; we built the super new Convention Centre [covert word for casino] and you give us exclusive permission to operate without competition until 2037 and allow us to install 230 more pokie machines and 40 more gambling tables and we also agree not to give John Banks any more donations in brown paper bags and pay for a good lawyer if he ends up in jail”, said CEO all in one breathe.

Paper bag shook his head and leaned toward SJ. They whispered and we couldn’t pick up the actual words spoken…

“Well what do you think Steve baby”, pressed CEO.

“We, I mean me, agree completely with your demands, I mean plans, is there anything more we can do for you”, said SJ.

“There is one other thing you could do old buddy and that is, could you ease up even further on the rules regarding our ‘High Rollers’ scheme and get rid of the criminal checks for those coming in from foreign countries like the US, that would help my owners, I mean share holders.

Discussion between paper bag and SJ took place…

“Done, said SJ adding, “But there is one further thing you could do for us”, said SJ

“What’s that, said CEO.

“Could you give a job to Aaron Gilmore”.

“No way, we have our standards, they may not be high, but we do have them, and besides that any one of our waiters would punch him in the face once they recognised him, and we don’t encourage violence”…

The meeting was over and SJ and CEO toasted the meetings successful conclusion…paper bag used a straw…

My informant says he never learnt the identity of Paper Bag, but he was shaped like the PM, walked like the PM, had highly polished shoes like the PM but he couldn’t guarantee the identity of Paper Bag, but he did notice small print on the bag reading ‘McDonalds Hawaii…

Peter Dunne and Feeding the kids

Hone Harawira, Leader of MANA and MP for Te Tai Tokerau is introducing a bill named, ‘Feed the Kids’, it’s a simple and straight forward bill with the real purpose of doing exactly what the name implies.

It contains no crap just a simple obvious logical and human response to the overwhelming and proven situation regarding thousands and thousands of kids in New Zealand today.

And as strange as it might sound John Keys before he was elected had a plan, or he said he did, to feed the kids, but within days of being elected the plan suddenly disappeared into thin air and the kids no longer needed feeding, instead the wealthy needed tax cuts so that took priority, and kids have suffered ever since. Hone said;

“Along with the organisations that are launching a community campaign for food programmes in schools, I’m again urging my parliamentary colleagues to support my Feed the Kids Bill”, said Hone Harawira, Leader of MANA and MP for Te Tai Tokerau.

“Making sure all of our kids are fed and well and ready to learn at school should be our first priority as a nation – not the last.”

Mr Harawira’s Member’s Bill to introduce government-funded breakfast and lunch programmes in decile 1-2 schools is due to come up for first reading next month. If passed at first reading, the Bill will be considered by a parliamentary select committee.

Now to get that bill before the select committee he needs to get the votes of a majority of the parliament, no easy task that, but the Labour Party, the Greens, the Maori Party and New Zealand First have agreed that they will vote for it to go to a select committee. The National Party has said they will not, the Act party poodle followed suit, but of John Banks may in jail and not be able to vote [Who Knows] and of course Peter Dunne of United Future, [not really a party] holds the vital vote.

Hone Harawira has stated publicly that all he wants to do is to get the bill to a select committee and if that committee decides to use other means to quickly achieve the bills goal of feeding the children, then so be it. What he doesn’t want is for it to disappear into thin air as John Keys promise did five years ago.

Who is supporting this bill outside of political parties well here a just a few organisations and they grow larger by the day:

Organisations involved in the community campaign include:

 

Anglican Church;

Auckland Action Against Poverty;

Barnardos;

Caritas Aotearoa NZ;

Child Poverty Action Group;

CTU Rūnanga;

Every Child Counts;

IHC;

Methodist Church;

NZEI;

NZ Nurses’ Organisation;

NZ Principals’ Federation;

Plunket;

Poverty Action Waikato;

PPTA;

Salvation Army;

Save the Children;

Te ORA (Te Ohu Rata o Aotearoa):

Māori Medical Practitioners’ Association;

Te Rōpū Wāhine Māori Toko i te Ora (Māori Women’s Welfare League);

Te Waka Huia;

The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners;

UNICEF NZ;

Unite Union;

And Women’s Refuge

Now that list is not exactly a bunch of communist terrorists, in fact no nicer bunch of community minded people could you find if you searched for a hundred years…but Peter Dunne thinks otherwise, naturally he does not simply come out and say why he opposes the bill going to a first reading, he does express how much he feels for the children, how he understands their plight, how being fed helps children learn…and he says all this crying in his gin and tonic…The reason for his refusal to vote for this logical, urgency needed and hugely supported bill…is money, he is the so-called Minister of Revenue and he is absolutely wrapped with his salary, in fact he is so wrapped with being a Minister that he changes side whenever the government changes, in fact he is absolutely famous for it. The picture shows him playing the lead bad guy in Oliver…to learn more about Peter Dunne ever changing principles and his love of money go to: Dunne, Peter  Here are his comments on feeding the kids:

Feeding hungry children is…‘Superficially attractive’?

Feeding hungry children is ‘palliative’??

“That is why I take the view that a much more realistic and workable approach is to target directly, through early identification by community agencies, at risk families and to work with them to help them  get the support they need to properly feed their children.”

This from another blogger; http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/05/10/why-peter-dunne-wont-feed-the-kids/

If Dunne is opposed to feeding hungry children from this nation’s poorest families, because he would find it difficult to reconcile extra expenditure with revenue, he should at least have the intestinal fortitude [I would have said guts] to publicly admit it. Tell us, straight up. Hiding behind faux excuses is obscene. Especially when, with every word he writes, there are children with empty bellies turning up at our schools. Peter Dunne writes, “That is why I take the view that a much more realistic and workable approach is to target directly, through early identification by community agencies, at risk families and to work with them to help them  get the support they need to properly feed their children.”

So what has he done to achieve this? Because all I can see is a cleverly-worded fob-off. To the people of Ohariu – this is your MP. Is this what you voted for?

If you want to learn more go to: http://feedthekids.org.nz/

     

  

Noam Chomsky stirs the brain.

I have just finished reading ‘Power Systems’ which is a series of questions put to Noam Chomsky by David Barsamian. This is not a review of that book instead it is a request even a plea, that all those interested in the growing and ever rising power that has created present day United States and its hugely damaging effect on the US and our country and world. Once upon a time we clearly knew who our enemies were, i.e. Hitler etc, now its kind uncle corporation x or y. This book is a need to read…Go to your library get a copy and read. [Power Systems, Noam Chomsky published by Hamish Hamilton 2013.]

Chomsky asked this question,

‘Why should, corporations be granted personal rights? He then went on to say, ‘By now corporations have rights way beyond persons of flesh and blood. They are immortal; they are protected by state power. In fact, the basis of a corporation is limited liability, meaning as a participant in a corporation you’re not personally liable if it, say, murders tens of thousands of people at Bhopal. He was referring to the Union Carbide explosion in Bhopal, India which killed about twenty thousand people in 1984.

The US has created its corporations as untouchable and uncontrollable within the US and by the use of international treaties such as NAFFA and the TPPT and such like means that weak governments like ours hand over legal power to foreign owned corporations, who can and will sue the government which in turn means our citizens become serf’s under US laws. This subject has been well covered by various blogs and organisations.

Thinking about this subject led me to think about human values and the link to possible negative changes in our social value beliefs:

Who is the most valuable; a person who builds a house or the corporation that owns the bank that lends the money to finance that build? Today it’s obvious that the bank or corporation is in the more powerful position. It seems to me that while the builder is absolutely vital to the construction of a house and without whom no building could take place. So it appears that we have sold our very souls to corporations who have no social agenda or conscience. The obvious fact is that corporations seek to and do control all aspects of our existence, from the food we eat to the air we breathe.  They’ve covertly taken over elected governments, often by buying individuals, the main stream media, and universities; all without citizen consent.

A good example took place while I was writing this, Radio NZ was talking about the downward trend of wage increases and to whom did RNZ go to for comment on this issue, they went to the banks and discussed the issue with some unknown chief bank economist, who naturally pushed the usual line, that once business picks up wages will pick up, which is just crap. What would he know about the effect on wage earners…yeah right! No contact was made with real working people so it would appear that they don’t really count.

The main stream media gave massive coverage to Phil O’Reilly chief PR man for Business NZ in his condemnation of the Greens and Labour plan to take over power supply to bring prices down. O’Reilly believes that higher prices will lead to higher wages…and this is simply corporate propaganda pushed by a corporate stooge and who is paid hundreds of thousands to do so. What does O’Reilly do for NZ, he does absolutely nothing. It was ironic that the same RNZ interviewed the boss of the WareHouse where he said they are working to get everyone of their retail staff [about ten thousand] on $18.75 per hour which agrees with the Unite Unions livable wage campaign that this should be the minimum wages. The only real problem with this smart move by The WareHouse is their dependence on the deaths of thousands in the sweat shops of Bangladesh. They Warehouse is without doubt a part of the criminal chain that rips off workers via the contracting with the corrupt owners or backers of massive sweatshops all around the world. But that’s OK what we can’t see means we can pretend that it doesn’t exist.

So get the book by Noam Chomsky, its in the library, clear your mind and digest, be critical and consider the words, but even more importantly think about what you might do, what action you might take, because if we don’t take some action in thirty years time we might be another Bangladesh.

   

    

Solidarity is the key word

In 1984 the corruption started, the plan was simple; it wasn’t new because it had been around since the beginning of that century. The aim was to destroy solidarity amongst the working population. This strategy succeeded throughout the world and New Zealand was no different although in NZ it took a little longer, because we were a more equal society in some respects and we had not always followed slavishly the American way. More importantly between 1935 and 1945 we actually had a government elected by the people for the people.  

In modern times [84 till today] here in New Zealand the steps downward into poverty gained rapid momentum with the introduction of a so-called ‘partnership’ deals in the Public Service and later across the whole union movement. Hundreds of thousands accepted the lie of partnership, and it was a lie, that employers, be they government or private sold us.

Those in power have never accepted that people are equal, they fully realised that since the removal of slavery in the old traditional sense the masses of the population needed to be controlled by other means and those means were economic in nature. Two steps were important in creating this situation to develop the mass control over the rank and file.

• Firstly they had to control the value/cost of labour and

• Secondly they had to lead those working into dependence on loans and debits via selling the concept of individual asset ownership rather than community ownership, especially in regard to collective bargaining, housing and such like.

Here in NZ the destruction of unions both public and private was vital and in reality has for the most part been almost fully achieved. They [Unions] are now weak and fail to protect the various gains once achieved. Equal pay is going backwards; wages for the young are being lowered at a rapid rate, and collective bargaining has been diluted to such an extent that in many industries no longer exists. But more importantly collectivism and community strength has been weakened to the level that governments can divide and rule with ease, since the 1980’s governments and businesses have been able to negotiate wages downward other than for those at the top. The government changed the language by calling people who used their services customers or clients and customers or clients have a lot less power than citizens in regard to changing systems. The government backed by private business need to continue with the absolute ability to lock the bulk of citizens into a no-win situation in regard to effecting economic and social change. Hence we see the rapid and growing widening gap, between those who have and those who don’t. Those who don’t have, have no power to even negotiate slight improvements in their overall economic conditions. Changes to the taxation system of late have supported the dumbing down of resistance to the control by mainly overseas controlled vital activities such as banking, trade and commerce.

The next covert step now underway by both government and business is in my view to spread the net wider and bring under control other elements of civil and community society or life and the first of these is without doubt Education with a capital E.

The business/market model has already been forcibly applied in our universities and the result has not been better outcomes for students or teachers or communities or individuals. This is clearly obvious by the huge student debt and millions if not billions are being spent on advertising in private overseas mass media with silly Vice Chancellors of universities appearing on mass media pushing their public relations wares at the expense of academic standards.

The government would have you believe that the Charter Schools introduction is because there is an agreement between the Act Party and National…that is just plain rubbish…it is National Party and Business NZ policy. We all know that the ACT party ceased to exist once Key had a cup of tea with law breaker John Banks and decided to throw him a rotting bone. John Key has a cup of tea [or something stronger] with Auckland Boys Grammar and Whanganui Collegate and the next thing you know they are receiving millions in extra funding, there is nothing unclear about where the PM’s sympathy rests when it comes to aiding private schools.  

So why is the government picking on public schools. The answer is obvious; for schools are the last bastions of rallying points for communities to come together to argue against or fight against the privatisation agenda of both business and government. Schools represent communities and communities represent a danger point in the strategy of divide and rule. The selection of Heke Parata as minister of education is clear evidence that the government in conjunction with private interests fully intended to stir up the education sector, she is so bad a manager and so lacking in intellect that she can’t even retain staff in her own office…and she brought off the Secretary of Education at the cost of half a million dollars and sent her back to England in a huff, in fact she makes Paula Bennett and Aaron Gilmore look bright.

Of course another key factor, if you will excuse the pun, are the various teachers unions, they are simply too organised and too wise to accept the crap about Charter Schools. You see public education is based on solidarity and solidarity is dangerous in a privatised world and in New Zealand without doubt teachers lead in the solidarity stakes. They have yet to call their pupils customers or clients and so they recognise when they are being fed a load of crap by the hundreds of public relations leaches that surround this government.
Teaches simply don’t buy into the view that by maximising profit for a few means education is improved. Our universities are living proof that profit equals learning is simply untrue no matter from which direction you approach it.