text:
- Introduction
- Measurement of time and types of calendars
- Ancient and religious calendar systems
- The Western calendar and calendar reforms
Babylonian calendars
In Mesopotamia the solar year was divided into two seasons, the "summer," which included the barley harvest in the second half of May or in the beginning of June, and the "winter," which roughly corresponded to today's fall–winter. Three seasons (Assyria) and four seasons (Anatolia) were counted in northerly countries, but in Mesopotamia the bipartition of the year seemed natural. As late as about 1800 bce the prognoses for the welfare of the city of Mari, on the middle Euphrates, were taken for six months.
The months began at the first visibility of the New Moon, and in the 8th century bce court astronomers still reported this important observation to the Assyrian kings. The names of the months differed from city to city, and within the same Sumerian city of Babylonia a month could have several names, derived from festivals, from tasks (e.g., sheepshearing) usually performed in the given month, and so on, according to local needs. On the other hand, as early as the 27th century bce, the Sumerians had used artificial time units in referring to the tenure of some high official—e.g., on N-day of the turn of office of PN, governor. The Sumerian administration also needed a time unit comprising the whole agricultural cycle; for example, from the delivery of new barley and the settling of pertinent accounts to the next crop. This financial year began about two months after barley cutting. For other purposes, a year began before or with the harvest. This fluctuating and discontinuous year was not precise enough for the meticulous accounting of Sumerian scribes, who by 2400 bce already used the schematic year of 30 × 12 = 360 days.
At about the same time, the idea of a royal year took precise shape, beginning probably at the time of barley harvest, when the king celebrated the new (agricultural) year by offering first fruits to gods in expectation of their blessings for the year. When, in the course of this year, some royal exploit (conquest, temple building, and so on) demonstrated that the fates had been fixed favourably by the celestial powers, the year was named accordingly; for example, as the year in which "the temple of Ningirsu was built." Until the naming, a year was described as that "following the year named (after such and such event)." The use of the date formulas was supplanted in Babylonia by the counting of regnal years in the 17th century bce.
The use of lunar reckoning began to prevail in the 21st century bce. The lunar year probably owed its success to economic progress. A barley loan could be measured out to the lender at the next year's threshing floor. The wider use of silver as the standard of value demanded more flexible payment terms. A man hiring a servant in the lunar month of Kislimu for a year knew that the engagement would end at the return of the same month, without counting days or periods of office between two dates. At the city of Mari about 1800 bce, the allocations were already reckoned on the basis of 29- and 30-day lunar months. In the 18th century bce the Babylonian empire standardized the year by adopting the lunar calendar of the Sumerian sacred city of Nippur. The power and the cultural prestige of Babylon assured the success of the lunar year, which began on Nisanu 1, in the spring. When in the 17th century bce the dating by regnal years became usual, the period between the accession day and the next Nisanu 1 was described as "the beginning of the kingship of PN," and the regnal years were counted from this Nisanu 1.
It was necessary for the lunar year of about 354 days to be brought into line with the solar (agricultural) year of approximately 365 days. This was accomplished by the use of an intercalated month. Thus, in the 21st century bce a special name for the intercalated month iti dirig appears in the sources. The intercalation was operated haphazardly, according to real or imagined needs, and each Sumerian city inserted months at will—e.g., 11 months in 18 years or two months in the same year. Later the empires centralized the intercalation, and as late as 541 bce it was proclaimed by royal fiat. Improvements in astronomical knowledge eventually made possible the regularization of intercalation, and, under the Persian kings (c. 380 bce), Babylonian calendar calculators succeeded in computing an almost perfect equivalence in a lunisolar cycle of 19 years and 235 months with intercalations in the years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19 of the cycle. New Year's Day (Nisanu 1) now oscillated around the spring equinox within a period of 27 days.
The Babylonian month names were Nisanu, Ayaru, Simanu, Duʾuzu, Abu, Ululu, Tashritu, Arakhsamna, Kislimu, Tebetu, Shabatu, Adaru. The month Adaru II was intercalated six times within the 19-year cycle but never in the year that was 17th of the cycle, when Ululu II was inserted. Thus, the Babylonian calendar until the end preserved a vestige of the original bipartition of the natural year into two seasons, just as the Babylonian months to the end remained truly lunar and began when the New Moon was first visible in the evening. The day began at sunset. Sundials and water clocks (clepsydra) served to count hours.
The influence of the Babylonian calendar was seen in many continued customs and usages of its neighbour and vassal states long after the Babylonian empire had been succeeded by others. In particular, the Jewish calendar in use at relatively late dates employed similar systems of intercalation of months, month names, and other details (see below The Jewish calendar). The Jewish adoption of Babylonian calendar customs dates from the period of the Babylonian Exile in the 6th century bce.
Other calendars used in the ancient Near East
The Assyrians and the Hittites
Of the calendars of other peoples of the ancient Near East, very little is known. Thus, though the names of all or of some months are known, their order is not. The months were probably everywhere lunar, but evidence for intercalation is often lacking; for instance, in Assyria. For accounting, the Assyrians also used a kind of week, of five days, as it seems, identified by the name of an eponymous official. Thus, a loan could be made and interest calculated for a number of weeks in advance and independently of the vagaries of the civil year. In the city of Ashur, the years bore the name of the official elected for the year; his eponym was known as the limmu. As late as about 1070 bce, his installation date was not fixed in the calendar. From about 1100 bce, however, Babylonian month names began to supplant Assyrian names, and, when Assyria became a world power, it used the Babylonian lunisolar calendar.
The calendar of the Hittite empire is known even less well. As in Babylonia, the first Hittite month was that of first fruits, and, on its beginning, the gods determined the fates.


text:
Easter Week in Ocaña
Käytännön tietoja
- Milloin:
- Mistä: 20.3.2016 mihin: 27.3.2016
- Missä:
- Ocaña
- Itsehallintoalue:
- Castile-La Mancha
- Maakunta/saari:
- Toledo
- Luokitus:
- Festivity of National Tourist Interest
Ocaña, in the province of Toledo, has been holding its Easter week celebrations in the streets of the town for 400 years. Its processions stand out for their order and silence, as well as for their colour. Especially noteworthy is the Good Friday procession – it has moving statues.
Easter week is one of the most heartfelt and deep-rooted fiestas celebrated in Spain. This commemoration has centuries of history and tradition, remembering the passion and death of Jesus Christ. The streets of the majority of Spain's cities, towns and villages become the stage for religious fervour and devotion, combining grief and meditation in memory of Christ's death. Music, art and colour come together in magical processions - solemn parades in which crowds of people accompany religious images on their route through the streets.
Käytännön tietoja
- Päivämäärä:
- Mistä: 20.3.2016 mihin: 27.3.2016
- Paikka:
- Ocaña (Toledo. Castile-La Mancha)
Aukioloajat ja hinnat
- Mistä: 20.3.2016 mihin: 27.3.2016
* Tiedot voivat muuttua

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The cupboard is bare, says Dear Leader
Prime Minister John Key is lowering expectations about measures to combat child poverty in this week's budget.
Mr Key says there'll be "some support" for those suffering material deprivation.
"But you'd appreciate that there's a limited amount of resources that we've got in very tight financial conditions," he told reporters on Monday.
Key has driven home the lack of "resources" (ie; money) in this year's budget. On the Paul Henry show – that great bastion of critical thinking –
– Key was his usual relaxed self as he casually informed his host;
"We don't have a lot of money. But again what I'd say to you is that we already do a lot, but there could be more we could do."
And just to drive home the point, again casually;
"When you go to a Budget, you don't have a lot of cash – and we haven't, because we've been wanting to get the books in order."
Of course National doesn't "have a lot of money".
Remember the tax cuts that Key promised during the 2008 general election? That was the money National gave away in 2009 and 2010.
2008 was election year, and National's aspiring leader, John Key, was pulling out all stops to win. His promises of tax cuts were the lynch-pin of National's campaign strategy.
On 2 August 2008, National announced;
National will fast track a second round of tax cuts and is likely to increase borrowing to pay for some of its spending promises, the party's leader John Key says.
But Mr Key said the borrowing would be for new infrastructure projects rather than National's quicker and larger tax cuts which would be "hermetically sealed" from the debt programme.
The admission on borrowing comes as National faces growing calls to explain how it will pay for its promises, which include the larger faster tax cuts, a $1.5 billion broadband plan and a new prison in its first term.
On 26 September 2008, the Herald reported;
GDP shrank 0.2 per cent in the June quarter, confirming what everyone already knew – that the country is in recession. The smaller than expected June quarter decline followed a fall of 0.3 per cent in the three months to March, so the country now meets the common definition of recession: two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.
Undeterred by the country entering into recession, on 6 October 2008, Key promised;
John Key has defended his party's planned program of tax cuts, after Treasury numbers released today showed the economic outlook has deteriorated badly since the May budget. The numbers have seen Treasury reducing its revenue forecasts and increasing its predictions of costs such as benefits. Cash deficits – the bottom line after all infrastructure funding and payments to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund are made – is predicted to blow out from around $3 billion a year to around $6 billion a year.
With a looming election only a month away, on 14 October 2008, National maintained it's commitment to tax-cuts;
National will not slash spending at a time when people are looking to the government for a sense of security. In developing our economic management plan, we have concentrated on the fundamentals of the economy, and particularly on laying the foundations for a future increase in productivity.
National's rebalancing of the tax system is self-funding and requires no cuts to public services or additional borrowing.
Over the next term of government the total cost of National's personal tax cuts is balanced by the revenue savings from:
• Changes to KiwiSaver.
• Discontinuing the R&D tax credit.
• Replacing Labour's proposed tax cuts.
Overall, our fiscal policy does not result in any requirement for additional borrowing over the medium term.
National won the election on 8 November 2008.
By 6 March 2009, the Global Financial Crisis had crashed New Zealand's economy;
Budget deficit worse than forecast; debt blows out by NZ$15.4 bln
The New Zealand government's operating balance before gains and losses (OBEGAL) for the seven months ended January 31 was NZ$600 million, which was NZ$800 million below the pre-election update and NZ$300 million below December forecasts, Treasury said. Tax revenue and receipts during the period were NZ$500 million lower than the pre-election forecast. Meanwhile, Treasury also disclosed a NZ$15.4 billion rise in Gross Sovereign Issued Debt to NZ$45.4 billion (25.3% of GDP) from the pre-election forecast. This included fresh Reserve Bank bill issuance to mop up the liquidity from lending to the banks against securitised mortgages.
Despite falling tax revenue, and increased borrowing by the government, the tax cuts went ahead regardless. First, on 1 April 2009. The second trance on 1 October 2010.
The cost of these tax cuts was in the billions.
According to Key, the 2009 tax cuts cost the government $1 billion;
"…The tax cuts we have delivered today will inject an extra $1 billion into the economy over the coming year, thereby helping to stimulate the economy during this recession. More important, over the longer term these tax cuts will reward hard work and help to encourage people to invest in their own skills, in order to earn and keep more money."
And according to information obtained from Parliamentary Library, and released by the Greens, the 2010 tax cuts cost the country an additional $2 billion;
The Green Party has today revealed that the National Government has so far had to borrow an additional $2 billion dollars to fund their 2010 tax cut package for upper income earners.
New information prepared for the Green Party by the Parliamentary Library show that the estimated lost tax revenues from National's 2010 tax cut package are between $1.6–$2.2 billion. The lost revenue calculation includes company and personal income tax revenues offset by increases in GST.
All up, National gave away an estimated $3 billion – per year – in tax cuts.
That is why John Key has reneged on his promise – made on 22 September 2014, on TV3's 'Campbell Live' – that his third term would be spent combating child poverty.
No money.
Not only will National abandon any serious work to alleviate growing child poverty in this Country of Plenty, but it seems that the viability of community organisations doing invaluable work are threatened by chronic under-funding.
These community groups are often the ones on the front-line, picking up the pieces after government programmes are cut back or cancelled entirely. Even as our Brave New Free-Market World widens the wealth-gap even further, year after year.
Since National came to office in 2008, their cuts to community organisations has been systematic and dire.
From Women's Refuge;
Then it was the turn of Rape Crisis;
To medical clinics serving our most vulnerable, in-need youth;
A Radio NZ report on 19 May revealed that yet another community organisation has become the latest victim of National's mania to starving community organisations of funding;
Relationships Aotearoa is facing closure as Radio NZ outlined on 19 May;
Relationships Aotearoa, New Zealand's largest provider of counselling services, says its funding has been cut by $4.8 million since 2012 and the situation is increasingly dire with no assurance of more government funding.
The organisation posted a $271,000 deficit for the year ended 30 June 2014.
Relationships Aotearoa spokesman John Hamilton said since 2012 its funding from government agency contracts had fallen by $4.8 million – a fall of about 37 percent from $13.1m to a forecast $8.2m.
"There's been no grants or injections to the bottom line … there's been no CPI increase for MSD services for seven years but there has been increasingly complex demands in reporting requirements."
Mr Hamilton said the situation was increasingly dire and more than 120 staff and 60 contractors would potentially lose their jobs if went goes under.
A funding cut of $4.8 million…
A deficit last year of $271,000…
Staff cuts of 46…
When interviewed on Radio NZ's Morning Report, Minister Anne Tolley's outright denial of any cuts to Relationship Aotearoa's funding – despite evidence presented to her – left seasoned journalist and interviewer, Guyon Espiner, frustrated with her moronic semantics game-playing;
Tolley's exercise in word-games beggars belief and if she thinks any intelligent person listening to her comments gave credence to her obvious avoidance-tactics, then she is delusional. There is a world of difference between Radio NZ's critical audience – and those who stare stupified and lobotimised at 'X Factor'/'My Kitchen Rules'/'The Block'.
As Key lamented,
"We don't have a lot of money. But again what I'd say to you is that we already do a lot, but there could be more we could do."
"When you go to a Budget, you don't have a lot of cash – and we haven't, because we've been wanting to get the books in order."
Though there is always cash for really important things that "matter to New Zealanders".
Things like corporate welfare;
Or like a flag referendum – $26 – $27 million;
And even spending $6 million of taxpayer's money to build a sheep farm for a Saudi millionaire;
Key will always find money for things that matter to his government.
Child poverty just doesn't happen to be one of them.
NZCity News: PM lowering expectations on child poverty
NZCity News: Child poverty targeted in budget
TV3 News: Child poverty targeted in Budget – John Key
NZ Herald: Nats to borrow for other spending – but not tax cuts
NZ Herald: Recession confirmed – GDP falls
NZ Herald: Key – $30b deficit won't stop Nats tax cuts
Jo Goodhew MP for Rangitata: Newsletter #41
Interest.co.nz: Budget deficit worse than forecast; debt blows out by NZ$15.4 bln
Parliament: Hansards – Tax Cuts – Implementation
Scoop media: Govt's 2010 tax cuts costing $2 billion and counting
Dominion Post: Women's Refuge cuts may lead to waiting lists
NZ Herald: Govt funding cuts reduce rape crisis support hours
NZ Doctor: Christchurch's 198 Youth Health Centre to close its doors as management fails to implement directives from CDHB
TV1 News: 'Devastating news for vulnerable Kiwis' – Relationships Aotearoa struggling to stay afloat
Fairfax media: Government may let Relationships Aotearoa fold
TV1 News: Relationships Aotearoa hanging on at 'awful' 11th hour
Radio NZ: Counselling service rejects claim it's badly run
Radio NZ – Morning Report: Min. Tolley responds to potential collapse of counselling (alt. link) (audio)
NZ Herald: PM defends $30m payout to Rio Tinto
NZ Herald: John Key defends cost of flag referendums
TV1 News: NZ Government gifts $6m to offended Saudi businessman
Other blogs
Local Bodies: Government Kills Relationships Aotearoa
Previous related blogposts
"It's fundamentally a fairness issue"- Peter Dunne
This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 20 May 2015.
= fs =
I have seen one future, and it is bleak
Way back in March, 2012, I wrote this story regarding a march to support striking workers at Ports of Auckland. It appears there was some prescience about some of my observations at the time…
18 March 2012 – I was looking at several images taken from the March 10 rally and the port picket lines, and for some reason, this one stuck in my mind. The more I look at the image of this young Kiwi girl (I hope I haven't got that wrong!), it eventually came to me.
In my mind, I was wondering; what will be her future?
Depending very much on what my generation ("Baby Boomers") and Gen X does now, in the Present, she probably has three likely futures ahead of her…
Future 1
More of the same. Casualisation of jobs; wages driven downward as businesses compete with each other, and overseas providers of goods and services; few job opportunities except in low-paid fast food, care-sector, cleaning, and suchlike. A wealth/income gap that has become so vast that even the Middle Class are now designated as the Shrinking Class. Top earners and asset-holders – the Privileged Class – are paying less and less tax; low income earners having to pay more and more; with fewer social services readily available. More user-pays; more alienation; less engagement with the electoral process.
This young lass cannot escape to Australia as she is either unemployed or under-employed. She is part of a growing Struggling Class that is resented by the Shrinking Class, and viewed with disdain by the Privileged Class, though grudgingly accepted as a useful pool of cheap labour.
The Shrinking Class know in their heart-of-hearts that they are living under a failed economic system that benefits only a few. But they are too frightened to vote for an alternative centre-left Party; they fear the back-lash from an angry under-class only too happy to exact revenge.
Meanwhile, the Baby Boomer generation has hit retirement – but there are few skilled care-workers left in New Zealand. So the government imports migrant workers from Third World countries under a bonded-system (so they cannot, in turn, escape to Australia). Taxation levels are now so low that government subsidies have ceased and full user-pays is now in effect for Rest homes. Baby boomers are selling up their residences and investment properties; the market is flooded with cheaper and cheaper houses – but with incomes so low, few can afford to buy them. Those that are sold reap less and less capital gains.
Future 2
More of the same, but she has been fortunate enough to be able to find resources and support from whanau over-seas – and she is of to Australia.
In Australia, she finds a relatively good job with decent pay. Her work conditions are protected by a strong Union; she has access to decent social services; and the government assists her and her new partner to build a house. They are both working; earning higher and higher incomes; and contributing to Australia's economy and tax-base.
In a year or two, she helps other members of her family escape from New Zealand.
They leave behind a no-longer-smiling Prime Minister who is promising to "revitalise the economy" to "entice overseas Kiwis to come back" – then cuts another 1,000 workers from the State Sector and sells the last remaining profitable State Owned Enterprise.
Future 3
New Zealanders' appetite for New Right, minimalist government, that has produced very few gains or benefits – has come to an end. The Smile & Wave Prime Minister is thrown out at the next election where he retires to his Hawaiian beach house, and is forgotten.
Meanwhile, a new centre-Left government takes stock and adopts a Scandinavian model of governance, taxation, and social services. The new government starts off with a crash programme of building 10,000 new state houses. Free school meals for breakfast and lunch starts in the first year. Free doctor's visits and boosting immunisation rates up to 99% follows. New Zealand returns to a system of free education. (Howls of protest from a few remaining New Right supporters are either ignored or ridiculed. Some are offered a free plane flight to a Libertarian-run state of their own choosing – if they can find one.)
Amongst this "radical" social democratic reform, the young girl above is supported by well-resourced local community groups and by strengthened state social services to journey through the education system. A new "Social Contract" requires that all young people will be in education; a job; or serving in a new New Zealand Civic Corp, which involves fair pay for working on major infra-structure projects and ongoing tertiary/polytech education.
A Capital Gains Tax and Financial Transactions Tax, is a first step toward capturing heretofore un-taxed wealth and assets. As returns from these taxes kick in, the government makes the first $11,000 of income tax free. As incomes increase, government looks at Gareth Morgan's "negative tax" system.
The young girl has grown, graduated, and is now working in the community in the children's health sector. Her education is on-going, as the State encourages workers to undertake further tertiary education. This increases her productivity and value to society, and she is paying more in tax as her income rises. She is a saving some of her pay in an expanded Kiwisaver Account; spending more; and local businesses are benefitting from her expenditure. She meets a young man who is finishing his Builder's Certificate through the NZ Civic Corp.
Together, they have a family. One stays at home to care for the family, the other remains in paid work. The negative taxation system advocated by Gareth Morgan has been implemented and the stay-at-home parent still recieves an income from the State. People are not disincentivised to have children; raise a family; who then grow up to be the next generation of tax-paying citizens.
With none of the pressures that young families are currently facing, their home is not stressed because of financial pressures and job uncertainty/insecurity, and the children are raised in a stable, relaxed environment. The children's future ahead of them is reassured; early childhood education; schooling; tertiary education; and finally tax-paying citizens.
In this reformed society, children are number one on the list and will always have first recourse to resources. The Prime Minister is Minister for Children.
In school, civics is part of the curriculum, and young people are taught recent history of our country; the mistakes we have made; and how they can hold politicians to account.
Meanwhile, she has persuaded some of her whanau to return to New Zealand. They like what they see and can feel themselves ready to become a part of a true, inclusive New Zealand Society.
The best thing about the three futures I've described above? The power to choose which one we'll have is entirely in our hands. No one else can give or take it away from us.
Which is it to be, I wonder?
Perhaps nothing better illustrates the three possible futures for the toddler pictured above than the all-too real – and thought-provoking – story of Aroha Ireland, formerly of low-income area, McGehan Close.
In February 2007, Key shamelessly exploited Aroha's situation to attack the then-Labour-led government;
As I further reported on 23 November 2012 on Key's cynical publicity stunt,
It's somewhat disturbing to note that National list MP Jackie Blue, who had a close personal relationship with Aroha's family, played along with the photo-op. That was despite reservations expressed by some,
"Labour list MP Dover Samuels was the only one publicly labelling Mr Key's invitation a stunt yesterday, but others quietly voiced similar concerns."
The family, though, seemed blissfully unaware that they were little more than pawns in National's pre-election grand strategy and expressed their comfort with events,
"…Mrs Nathan told Close Up last night that the invitation had given her daughter a good opportunity.
She continued to disagree with some of Mr Key's views on McGehan Close, but she believed he was trying to push for positive changes."
The 2007 episode ended badly for Aroha and her mother, as the NZ Herald reported on 10 February 2010,
The mother of the 12-year-old girl John Key took to Waitangi three years ago says she has been let down by the Prime Minister, and her daughter now wants nothing to do with him.
Joan Nathan said she and her family were worse off since National won the election.
She'd lost her job with National list MP Jackie Blue, arranged by Key, and a training allowance she received had been cut.
"They gave me the job to sweeten the deal, and then as soon as they got elected I got the sack," she said.
"I'm pretty anti-Mr Key at the moment"..
"He's just made everything worse for us and made it easier for ones that are higher up. I'm struggling every week."
On 7 September this year, Fairfax Media published this up-dated story on Aroha Ireland, formerly of McGehan Close, and now residing comfortably in Australia;
In his story above, Fairfax reporter Simon Day wrote,
Three years later Aroha, now 20, feels she was used by Key – and the Prime Minister won't be getting her vote.
"The last time I spoke to him was when he took me to Waitangi Day. After that I have never heard from him again. I absolutely believe that I was used as a publicity stunt," she says. "I wouldn't vote for National."
Now, she says, the opportunities she has in Australia just aren't available here.
"I have a full time job that pays good, $38 an hour," she says. "I have a house, rent is cheap, about $265 a week for 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, double garage, me and my husband are close to buying our own house. Life couldn't be any better. There was nothing left in New Zealand.
"All this from someone who came from a 'dead end' street, right?"
She recently returned home to visit her mother. She couldn't believe how expensive the price of living in New Zealand was compared to Australia.
"Petrol has shot up – $2 for petrol, really? I also brought about seven or eight items from one of the supermarkets and it came to a total of $78. No wonder people can't fill their fridges. I'm glad I got out of New Zealand when I did."
Over the past four years she has seen her mother's financial situation worsen. "My mum works full time and she is still struggling really bad," she says. "It is like she is worse off."
"I have everything that I would never ever have in New Zealand. I would probably still be on the benefit if I lived in NZ right now."
It seems that for Ms Ireland, of the three possible futures I outlined in 2012 – voters have chosen this path to follow;
Future 2
More of the same, but she has been fortunate enough to be able to find resources and support from whanau over-seas – and she is of to Australia.
In Australia, she finds a relatively good job with decent pay. Her work conditions are protected by a strong Union; she has access to decent social services; and the government assists her and her new partner to build a house. They are both working; earning higher and higher incomes; and contributing to Australia's economy and tax-base.
In a year or two, she helps other members of her family escape from New Zealand.
They leave behind a no-longer-smiling Prime Minister who is promising to "revitalise the economy" to "entice overseas Kiwis to come back" – then cuts another 1,000 workers from the State Sector and sells the last remaining profitable State Owned Enterprise.
The economy in Australia may be slowing – but it still offers job prospects, housing opportunities, and social services that we here in New Zealand seem to be losing on a daily basis.
Especially when our housing crisis is worsening; child poverty continues to be a blight on our society; wages and wealth disparity continues to widen; social services are being pared back; and government is planning to introduce so-called "labour market reforms" that will further drive down wages, conditions, safety, etc.
This is what voters chose on 20 September.
However, be that as it may, there is one thing that every student of Quantum Theory understands – the future is never set in concrete.
The future can be changed.
Because it must.
Fairfax media: Aroha of McGehan Close flees NZ
NZ Herald: A Day Out with Friends In High Places
NZ Herald: Family still on struggle street after Key leaves
Scoop Media: Employment Relations Amendment Bill
NZ Herald: 'No point' in new state houses – Bill English
Liberation blog: NZ National Party ersatz magazine cover
Election Commission: Orange Guy
Previous related blogposts
John Key: When propaganda photo-ops go wrong
National Housing propaganda – McGehan Close Revisited
Other Blogs
The Daily Blog: Chocolate milk shortage and creepy Santa? Let's talk about real news
The Daily Blog: Ideological Blitzkrieg – Privatization of state housing, more charter schools & more union crushing employment law
The Standard: Poverty and the need to belong
The Standard: No point in state houses
This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 27 October 2014
= fs =
Deep thought vs Deep prejudice
This letter to the editor appeared in The Listener, on 27 September, and caught my attention;
Mr Dawson wrote in response to one of those typically unthinking comments which condemned the poor for their "unbridled, reckless breeding". The previous letter writer, a Mr Smith, parrotted the usual prejudice,
For too long, family numbers have blown out of control, because the state, funded by people who took a responsible attitude towards family numbers, has been there to pick up the tab, and this has bred a culture of entitlement
The problem with people like Mr Smith is that no thinking is required when making such puerile statements. He just repeats what he's heard from elsewhere.
It's worthwhile recalling that before the Global Financial Crisis – caused by well-educated, white old men (and predominantly, they are usually always White Old Men) – unemployment in New Zealand in the September 2007 Quarter stood at 3.5% – or around 79,000 people.
By 2012, that had rocketed to 7.3% – or 173,000 of our fellow New Zealanders.
That's 95,000 men and women who went from wage and salary earners – to the "lifestyle choice of luxury living on unemployment" .
Even with unemployment currently at 5.6%, there are still 137,000 people unemployed – 58,000 more than seven years ago. Factor in a growing problem of under-employment, and it becomes apparent very quickly why we have growing child poverty in this country. Especially when the definition of being 'employed' is working only one hour a week (or more), whether paid or un-paid.
When public or media attention is focused on high unemployment and poverty and government policies – the causation of these problems is slated home to the GFC.
But taken in isolation, when the focus is on families suffering the effects of unemployment and poverty – the problem is slated home to "individual responsibility".
The ignorance of people like Mr Smith is a kind of self-inflicted, Orwellian, double-think. No brain-power required.
By blaming individuals, and pointing to a so-called lack of 'personal responsibility for indulging in irresponsible sexual activity', Mr Smith is saved from the task of having to think through the issues. (Or else he's just jealous he's not 'gettin' some action', as our American cuzzies phrase it so eloquently in ghetto/under-class idiom?)
The next time Mr Smith or one of his clones parrots the same preconceived prejudice, they should be posed the question; what do we do with the children of workers who were in work, but now aren't?
Do we;
Option A: Adopt the Eastern European gangster method and sell them into sexual slavery?
Option B: Adopt the Asian method, and chain them to sewing machines in sweat-shops, churning out Nikes and trendy t-shirts bearing witty social-justice slogans for Western consumers?
Option C: Or just go with the ISIS technique of mass extermination?
Once we sort out that little "issue" (because actually calling these things problems then demands solutions – an 'issue' only requires a cuppa tea and a chat), we can turn our attention to more pressing matters, according to our esteemed Dear Leader;
Damn. Which one?
Maybe we should ask Mr Smith. Perhaps it's something he has thought deeply about?
The Listener: Letters to Editor 20 September 2014
Statistics NZ: Household Labour Force Survey: September 2007 quarter
MoBIE/Dept of Labour: Labour Market Reports – Employment and Unemployment – March 2008 Quarter
NZ Herald: Unemployment up to 7.3pc – a 13 year high
Reserve Bank NZ: Employment
Statistics NZ: Labour market statistics for the June 2014 quarter – Media Release
Statistics NZ: Household Labour Force Survey – Definitions
Statistics NZ: Introducing new measures of underemployment
Irregular Times: Celebrate Labor Day Without Outsourced Sweatshop T-Shirts – wear a sweatshop-free shirt instead
Fairfax media: Key moves for poll on change to flag
Above image acknowledgment: Francis Owen/Lurch Left Memes
This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 27 September 2014
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Teflon Man No More
On 26 August, as Nicky Hager's expose on New Zealand's right wing politics hit public consciousness and confirmed our worst fears, I wrote,
"Dirty Politics" has achieved more than simply revealing unwholesome machinations between National party apparatchiks, ministers, and halfway-insane right-wing bloggers. The book has explained the nature of Key's seemingly "Teflon" nature. The secret is revealed; the mystery is stripped away; and now, when Key is confronted by a media pack, the brown smelly stuff is sticking to him.
Two days later, I repeated my belief that Key's seemingly air-of-invulnerability had been swept away;
The Teflon Man is no more. He has been terminally weakened by his own 'kryptonite' – truth.
My perception of Key's new status as just another garden-variety politician has been born out by this extraordinary exchange between TV3's Lisa Owen, and our soon-to-be replaced Prime Minister;
Until 7.05, the rather routine discussion between Owen and Key centers around National's options to govern, post election. Coalition options and minority government are discussed, and Key confidently handles each scenario thrown at him by the host.
At 7.05, however, matters take a turn for the worst for Key when Lisa Owen raised the subject of child poverty and asked Key,
"One of the big issues this election has been child poverty. And you have said, just last year, you said 'we are proud of the government's record tackling child poverty. Do you stand by that?"
Key replied,
"I absolutely I do."
At Owen's further questioning, Key responded by saying that he was proud of his government's track record in dealing with child poverty.
Owen then lobbed this "grenade" at him, namely a quote from John Key himself, reported in the Sydney Morning Herald on 6 September.
"Our opponents say more children are living in poverty than when we came into office. And that's probably right."
"Lisa, don't be silly!"
Since Nicky Hager's revelations and the sacking of Judith Collins, Key's preternatural teflon-shield has been stripped away. He is now just another politician, and if by some miracle he successfully leads the next government post 20 September, he will find his interactions with journalists becoming harder and harder.
It may not be what he says that lowers his esteem in the public eye. It will be the way he says it.
Lisa Owen was simply the first.
TV3: John Key – Minority government possible
Sydney Morning Herald: The Key factor
Youtube-BBC: John Key on Hardtalk (Part 2)
Previous related blogposts
The Rise and Fall of John Key – who will be the next Leader of the National Party?
"Dirty Politics" – the fall-out continues
Above image acknowledgment: Francis Owen/Lurch Left Memes
This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 14 September 2014
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Letter to the Editor – fiscal irresponsibility by National
from: Frank Macskasy <email@example.com>
to: "The Wellingtonian" <email@example.com>
date: Wed, Aug 27, 2014
subject: Letter to the editor
.The Editor"The Wellingtonian"
At a time when the Capital Coast DHB is so strapped for cash that it is cutting back on services for the mentally unwell (see: Fears for mentally ill forced to streets), our esteemed Prime Minister – or the "Prime Minister's office – there is evidently a distinction – is once again attempting to bribe New Zealanders with tax cuts.Never mind that, collectively, as a nation, we have a $69 billion dollar debt that accrues millions in interest payment, and must be paid back.Never mind that we have 250,000-plus children living in poverty as the jobless and working poor cannot afford the high cost of living.Never mind that people in Christchurch face a housing shortage and massive rent hikes. Evidently, according to earthquake-minister Gerry Brownlee, the free market will sort that out.It beggars belief that we have a major political party so irresponsible with finances that it is willing to spray money around to win votes, rather than address our multi-billion dollar debt and critical social problems confronting our nation.They do not deserve to be re-elected government.
-Frank Macskasy
[address and phone number supplied]
Fairfax media: Fears for mentally ill forced to streets
Fairfax media: Christchurch rent crisis 'best left to market'
Above image acknowledgment: Francis Owen/Lurch Left Memes
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Protest against National Party soiree results in one arrest – for bugger all!
Acknowledgement: Garrick Tremain
NZ, Wellington, 29 June 2014 – About one hundred people took part in a peaceful – if noisy – protest on a Saturday night outside Wellington's sea-front museum, Te Papa. The National Party had booked Te Papa for a cocktail evening, with flash tuxedos and expensive frocks de rigueur for the evening.
Needless to say, low-income families and beneficiaries were not overly represented at this exclusive soirée.
The protest action was organised by Pōneke Action Against Poverty, a recently formed grass-roots pressure group fighting the widening gap between rich and poor in Aotearoa-New Zealand.
In a widely distributed statement, PAAP spokesperson, Kassie Hartendorp, said,
"While the Government has been lauding a drop in the number of people receiving the benefit, real unemployment has stayed the same. Instead of lifting people out of poverty, this Government has been refusing to support those who need help."
The group statement condemned National current economic, social, and environmental policies;
While previously refusing to acknowledge the reality of being poor in Aotearoa, in May of 2013 Finance Minister Bill English declared "We don't believe there is a solution to poverty in general."
At the same time this Government is supporting the wealthy to become richer. From tax cuts in 2010 to asset sales and the ongoing expansion of mining, drilling, and fracking, this government is supporting big business while ignoring those who need help.
Pōneke Action Against Poverty stated that they wanted to see a Government working to support the most vulnerable in our society. Kassie Hartendorp said,
"We want to see a rise in the benefit (for the first time in decades), and the introduction of a decent Living Wage which is tied to the average wage in this country."
Judging by the style of clothing worn to the Te Papa cocktail party, poverty was not a problem for attendees.
Many of the attendees had to walk the gauntlet between two rows of protesters. In case anyone believes that is "unfair" – consider that 250,000-plus children living in poverty is also unfair. Let this be a reminder to National Party members of the consequences of the policies they support;
This was a salient reminder to those middle class aspirationists and One Percenters that there is real, palpable anger out in the community.
There was sustained, loud, enthusiastic chanting from the crowd;
"One, two, three, four! Stop the war on the poor!"
"Shame! Shame!"
"What's the story, filthy Tory?"
"Whose streets?Our streets!"
"When workers rights are under attack – Stand up fight back!
If those National supporters think sixty protesters were too noisy, imagine 250,000 children all screaming out for help. Something that Minister and National Party campaign strategist, Steven Joyce, might bear in mind, as he walked by;
Some clear messages for the National Party, and it's supporters;
(Acknowledgement: Mick McCrohon)
When the Prime Minister himself puts down the poorest of the poor in this country, is it any wonder that people will react accordingly? These signs say it all;
Even the cetaceans aren't safe from this government;
Co-administrator of the 'John Key has Let Down New Zealand' Facebook group (current membership: 14,605), Karen Jones (R), with her two daughters, Katie (L) and Tracey (centre). Karen is the very proud mum of two very sharp, and dedicated, young activists;
And speaking of young people, these teenagers – not part of the protest – were curious to know what was going on;
We explained to them that it was a protest against National's social, economic, and environment policies. They immediately wanted to know if it related to mining on the Denniston Plateau and drilling in marine reserves! They were thoroughly clued up on contemporary environmental issues,
"New Zealand's such a unique landscape, why ruin it, just for money?"
"Money is such a short time thing but then, like, our environment is a long time thing, and you can't really replace [it]."
It would be a mistake to believe that young people are disinterested in the critical issues of the day. They were knowledgeable, and they were articulate. They were firm in their opposition to mining and drilling in our national parks and marine reserves.
They are the future hope for our country.
Greenpeace's envoy from the arctic, the polar bear, tried to pass on the message of global warming threatening our world. Predictably, National Party supporters were more interested in cocktails and canapés, rather than climate change, as they hurried by;
Police presence numbered around ten to a dozen, with additional private security guards to boost numbers. The One Percent must be very afraid of their tenuous hold on power.
The protesters re-grouped to face the courtyard in front of Te Papa. By this time, their numbers had swelled to around a hundred. They were no less vocal, as National Party members, Ministers, and assorted MPs kept arriving.
When Tony Ryall walked by, I asked in a fairly loud voice,
"Mr Ryall, do you have anything to saying about a quarter of a million children living in poverty?"
I asked the question three times. He walked past, with no answer.
Towards the end of the protest, Police arrested one person – Darren – for "Offensive Behaviour". Darren had allegedly used a can of "spray string", aimed at National Party members. As this blogger was present and witnesssed the incident, Darren did not "spray paint" the museum, and reports to that effect are untrue.
Police were quick to move in and arrest Darren seconds after he discharged the can. As the photos clearly show, Darren was relaxed, smiling, and at no time offered any physical resistance;
Several dozen of the protesters – many holding various electronic recording devices (including this blogger, 'armed' with a camera and Voice Recorder) – looked on. At this point I asked one of the constables,
FM: "Are you arresting this gentleman, are you?"
Policeman: "We're just speaking with him at this stage."
People were watching and perhaps this kept Darren's arrest restrained and non-violent;
As this image clearly shows, Darren was not only not resisting, but stood casually beside them and made no attempt to flee;
After being questioned, Darren was led to a 'paddy wagon', some few metres away;
Three minutes after my first query, as policemen held Darren's arms behind his back, I asked,
FM: "Excuse me, is he under arrest?"
Policeman 1: "That's up to him. That's up to him if he wants to tell you that."
I asked again;
FM: "Excuse me, is this gentleman under arrest?"
Policeman 2: "Are you his lawyer?"
FM: "Sorry?"
Policeman 2: "Are you his lawyer?"
FM: "No, no I'm not."
Policeman: "Well don't interfere with them, while they're doing their job."
FM: "No, no. No, no. Not doing anything [to interfere]."
I persisted,
FM: "Can anyone tell me what he's being charged with? Can anyone tell me what he's being charged with?"
[No reply from police.]
Darren: Offensive behaviour apparently.
FM "Offensive behaviour? [to police] Is that correct?"
[No reply from police.]
Darren: "Offensive behaviour."
Policeman: "Hey look, if you want to video, I'll take it that's fine, but what I'll just ask you to do is keep your distance while we're dealing with this? "
FM: [holding my hands up]: "Not going to touch you guys, not coming anywhere near you guys."
Policeman: "If you could just, yeah, like I say.. that'll be great -"
FM: "Yep, yep, arms length."
As Darren was handcuffed, I asked, I asked Police,
FM: "Is it necessary to handcuff him? He wasn't being violent."
Policeman: "Standard procedure -"
FM: "It's what, sorry? Standard procedure is it, to handcuff him?"
Policeman: " – when we're dealing with him."
There seemed no apparent reason for hand-cuffing Darren. He gave no resistance, and he fully complied with their instructions.
The following three images have been brightness-enhanced, but otherwise un-retouched. They show Darren hand-cuffed; and led into the paddy-wagon;
About half an hour later, as it became apparent that no further guests were arriving to the function, the protesters packed up and moved away without further incident.
On Sunday evening, following Darren's arrest and release, I interviewed him on-line to ascertain what had happened.
Frank: Firstly, can you tell us what happened last night [Saturday]?
Darren: I was at a protest against the 2014 National Party Conference outside of Te Papa, where National Party Members were meeting for an evening function.
Frank: Can you tell us what the protest was about?
Darren: The protest was about a number of issues that people are angry at the National based government for pushing through despite public opposition, including the selling of prospecting rights on marine reserves to foreign multinational oil companies. At approximately 7:30pm I was arrested for 'Offensive Behaviour'.
Frank: I was present when you were arrested. You used one of those party "string" spray-cans. You weren't spray painting Te Papa, as some reports have stated, were you?
Darren: Yes at one stage I was holding a "string" spray-can. I did not spray paint the building. I, like other protesters, was offended by the behaviour of our so-called National Museum Te Papa that allowed an undemocratic right-wing political party, who I as a Citizen of New Zealand am opposed to, to book their premises.
Frank: Indeed, many people present can vouch that the spray can you were holding was not a paint can. So, what happened when you were arrested? You were handcuffed?
Darren: When I was first arrested a police officer took hold of my arm, I did not resist. They 'patted me down to search me and confiscated all my personal items, wallet, cellphone, flat keys etc. I was ordered to put my hands behind my back and they put metal handcuffs on me. I was then told to enter the police van, where I sat for what felt like about ten minutes. Then I was let out and told to get into the back of a police car.
Frank: I was present when that happened, Darren. There seemed to be some uncertainty that the police charged you or not. Did they say they were charging you with anything?
Darren: I asked then what they were arresting for and was told the offense was 'Offensive Behaviour'. They started asking me questions and I told them that I was remaining silent, which is one of my 'Miranda Rights'.
Frank: Were you still handcuffed when they transferred you into the police car?
Darren: Yes, by that stage my wrists were bruised from the cuffs. The office sitting next to me attempted to put a seat belt on me, which would not fit because of the cuffs. I told the police that the cuffs were hurting my wrists but they would not take them off until I was processed at the police station some minutes later.
Frank: Ok. So all up, how long do you think you were handcuffed for? And can you confirm that you offered no resistance whatsoever? Because when I was present from the moment they caught you, using the "string" spray can, to the point they put you in the paddy-wagon, you showed no resistance at all. Was that your behaviour later, after they transferred you to the police car?
Darren: I think I was handcuffed for about twenty minutes, although it was hard to tell exactly as one of the first things that they confiscated was my wrist watch. The only time during the whole ordeal in which I showed any resistance was near the beginning when you were nearby, the policeman took hold of my right arm, which was technically an assault. I simply shrugged to get him to loosen his grip, which did not work. From then on I offered no resistance whatsoever and I remained silent for most of the time except to answer questions about my identification and residence etc and to make some general references, ie about the weather etc which had no bearing on my conviction.
Frank: Did they take you to the station to be formally charged and processed?
Darren: Yes, to my limited knowledge, it was done by their 'book'. They processed me, gave me the formal charge of 'Breach of the Peace', photographed me, asked my intimate questions about my physiological and mental health, took my shoes, my belt and my ear rings and said that all my possessions would be kept in their safe while I was put into a holding cell for two hours. I was not allowed a telephone call or to contact legal representation, even though they mentioned that the police could provide me with 'free lawyers'.
Frank: Did you ask to contact a lawyer or anyone else?
Darren: They briefly mentioned a lawyer when they were reading me my 'rights'. I chose to remain silent except when an officer was padding me down and confiscating all my remaining property. I told the officer that when people are that intimate with me that they normally buy me a restaurant meal and a few drinks. The offer of a lawyer was not made again, and I was photographed and then marched into a holding cell, where I was left with no food, drink or telephone for about two hours, despite me telling them that I am diabetic.
At not time during the two hours did I have access to a telephone or my cellphone, even though I do remember asking for my cellphone back
Frank: So what time were you finally released? And have you been given a date to appear in Court?
Darren: It was about 9:40pm when they returned my watch and all my possessions. I think that they were annoyed that I remained silent and did not provide any resistance. According to my Breach of Peace Release Notice: "Subsequent enquiries have now established that: *(a) No charge will be laid against you in court and you are now free to leave the Police Station, OR" (sic) The notice was signed by the officer in charge. I was then marched out the vehicle entrance of the police station and told to go directly home.
Frank: How are your hands, after being handcuffed?
Darren: I did some wrist flexing exercises in the holding cell, that I remembered from going to a gym, to get the circulation back, but they are still bruised.
Frank: Any other observations you'd care to share with us about your Police experience? Do you think their detention of you was excessive?
Darren: Yes it was excessive. They didn't need to handcuff me, they didn't need to take every single personal item off me – what harm could I have done with my ear rings, for example. They could have asked if I wanted a glass of water or to make a telephone call. I had an ice coffee in my satchel, which they could have asked if I wanted to drink etc. The cell had a thin rubber mattress and a metal toilet, but that was all. They also didn't need to hold me for two hours after processing me.
Frank: Will you lay a complaint with the Independent Police Complaints Authority, do you think?
Darren: Probably not. No photos were taken of my wrists and the cuffs did not draw blood or cut off the circulation. No charge was laid against me and I don't want to aggravate the police to change that decision.
Frank: Ok. Lastly, has this put you off taking further protest action do you think?
Darren: Not at all.
Frank: So we'll see you on the next protest action then?
Darren: It depends upon what the next action is, but if the issue is important enough I will be there.
Frank: Thanks, Darren!
Ministers really should car their ministerial limousines in legal car-parks – not just anywhere it suits them. These two were parked on a pedestrian plaza and across a motorcycle parking bay;
But I guess National ministers pretty well do whatever they like these days. The law doesn't apply to them, obviously.
As I took these photos (on my way to my legally parked car, for which I had to pay a car-parking fee), Darren was still locked in the police paddy-wagon.
For him, the law meant hand-cuffs.
Note: apologies for poor quality of images. The camera I was using was not the one I usually use. – Frank Macskasy
Scoop media: Pōneke Action Against Poverty to protest National Government
Dominion Post: National Party protester arrested
Aotearoa Independent Media Centre: PAAP takes on Nats
NZ Herald: Food parcel families made poor choices, says Key
Copyright (c) Notice
All images stamped 'fmacskasy.wordpress.com' are freely available to be used, with following provisos,
» Use must be for non-commercial purposes.
» Where purpose of use is commercial, a donation to Child Poverty Action Group is requested.
» At all times, images must be used only in context, and not to denigrate individuals or groups.
» Acknowledgement of source is requested.
Above image acknowledgment: Francis Owen/Lurch Left Memes
This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 1 July 2014.
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Review: TV3′s The Nation – When current affairs gets it right
After my uncompromising critique of an episode of TV's The Nation, broadcast on 24 May, I was gratified and relieved that the producers and hosts of the programme had returned to a degree of journalistic/media professionalism that we should expect as the norm for current affairs in this country (and which is too often lacking).
The Nation, broadcast on 14 June, was good, solid, current affairs which left the viewer better informed after watching it. Hosts Lisa Owen and Patrick Gower, and reporter Torben Akel, were on form with their respective interviews.
First up; Hekia Parata, on what is rapidly devolving into another of National's disastrous, ill-considered attempts to insert neo-liberal "reforms" into our education sector. National's $359 million so-called "Teaching & leadership career pathways" has been roundly condemned by the primary school staff union, NZEI, and the Principals Federation asserting that it is unacceptable and unworkable.
Parata responded to questioning from Patrick Gower;
[FULL TRANSCRIPT: Hekia Parata]
A decidedly 'robotic' performance from an automaton-like Hekia Parata. (Have National Party strategists and contract scientists actually built a look-a-like android replacement replacement for Parata, to minimise potential stuff-ups from the mishap-prone education minister? And how did they make the android more realistic than the original?!)
Whether she actually convinced teachers and parents watching her performance is doubtful. When politicians avoid giving direct answers to questions, the inescapable conclusion is that they're hiding something.
What is Parata hiding?
Perhaps the very real likelihood that the so-called "Teaching & leadership career pathways" policy is National attempt to introduce performance-pay-by-stealth?
In fact, my money is precisely on that call: performance-pay-by-stealth.
At any rate, she stayed on-message, and it was fairly obvious that Parata had been well-schooled by her tax-payer funded media-minders. She passed National's Standard for evasiveness to questions.
Next up, a serious look at one of this country's worst pressing social problems – child poverty. The Right can bleat on about "SkyTV aerials"; ill-informed moralists who lead 'saintly lives' can pass judgement on "poor parenting", and the middle classes can turn a blind eye – but none of that will diminish a growing social crisis in our midst.
Prior to the introduction of neo-liberalism; the "free" market; de-regulation; and "more choices", the term "child poverty" was unknown. Food banks barely existed, as this 2005 Child Poverty Action Group report pointed out;
There have always been foodbanks in Auckland, but until recently these were small- scale operations and, like the soup kitchens, were there to deal with emergencies and the requirements of the handful of indigents that have always been present in the urban areas of New Zealand. Data from the Presbyterian Support Services Foodlink Directory5 shows there were 16 foodbanks in Auckland in 1989. By 1994 this had mushroomed to over 130 (Mackay, 1995).
Nationally, the number of foodbanks exploded following the 1991 benefit cuts, and the passage of the Employment Contracts Act (ECA). For those in already low-paid and casual jobs, the ECA resulted in even lower wages (McLaughlin, 1998), a situation exacerbated by the high unemployment of the early 1990s (11% in 1991). The benefit cuts left many with debts, and little money to buy food (Downtown Community Ministry, 1999). In 1992 the introduction of market rents for state houses dealt another blow to state tenants on low incomes. By 1994 it was estimated that there were about 365 foodbanks nationally, one-fifth of which had been set up in the previous year (Downtown Community Ministry, 1999). This figure was an estimate, based on information from the 1994 foodbank conference. There were no nationally collated figures, a weakness that persists in the sector today.
Regarding what in some cases was a quadrupling of demand for food parcels after 1991, Mackay cautiously hypothesizes that "it is likely that much of it was driven by the benefit cuts of April 1991" (Mackay, 1995). Foodbank workers themselves were unequivocal that the 1991 benefit cuts were the key driver of increased foodbank use. Reflecting those most likely to be unemployed or on low wages, up to 90% of foodbank users were dependent upon some form of income support, and Maori and Pacific Island families were over- represented among those seeking assistance (Mackay, 1995).
Lisa Owen interviewed Jonathan Boston (Professor of Public Policy at Vic, co-chair of Child Poverty Expert Advisory Group), who has written New Zealand's first book on Child Poverty in this country. That interview was followed up by Commissioner for Children, Dr Russell Wills.
[FULL TRANSCRIPT: Jonathan Boston & Russell Wills]
Both interviews made for compelling, informative viewing.
Dr Wills and Prof Boston are professionals; academics; with a deep understanding of problems and issues confronting our society. Neither men have a political agenda – theirs is simply to inform anyone who will listen that child poverty is a problem we can no longer afford to ignore.
Dr Wills made this simple statement in a level, calm tone – but which was nevertheless dramatic for it's content;
"My weekend will be full of poor mostly Maori and Pacific preschool children with infectious diseases that our English registrars often haven't even seen before. Now we see acute rheumatic fever. We see tuberculosis. We have admissions to intensive care with children with illnesses that should have been treated in primary care but they couldn't afford to go. We just don't see those kinds of issues in our elderly people and I think that's a great shame."
OWEN: But these are tight financial times as you would appreciate; you have said previously the questions is: are we prepared to give up something for the vulnerable. So who is the 'we' that has to give up something?
WILLS: It's people like us Lisa. The fact is that we have large numbers of poor children in New Zealand who are missing out on things that our kids take for granted. So the kids that I see on the children's ward often live in cold, damp, crowded houses. They often can't afford to go to the GP. They commonly don't have their own bed. They frequently all crowd around together in the living room to sleep.OWEN: I appreciate what you're saying there but when you say it's people like us, that's a nebulous concept. Don't we need to pin down where this money is going to come from? Isn't super or capping or raising the age, isn't that a place where we can get a certain lot of money?
It's almost as if Lisa Owen had taken Margaret Thatcher's dogma ("there is no such thing as society") and applied the notion to the question. Has New Zealand society become so individualised; so fragmented – that it is now a "nebulous concept"?
[FULL TRANSCRIPT: Colin Craig]
Gower started the interview with this bizarre exchange – almost reminiscent of a school Head Master dressing down an errant pupil;
Patrick Gower: I want to start with this extraordinary political cry for help that you made this week, effectively asking the Prime Minister to pull a candidate out of a seat for you.
Colin Craig: I didn't do that.
Gower: Yes you did.
Craig: No, I didn't.
I was expecting an impatient, testy, Gower to stand, pick up a nearby cane, and instruct Craig,
Gower: Right boy, that'll be enough fibbing! Bend over for six of the best!
Craig, of course, supports beating children, so this scenario would not be entirely implausible. And no one would have blamed Gower in the least.
Gower then asked Craig this salient question;
Gower: So which one of those could you beat? Which one of those three candidates could you beat? And tell the truth.
To which Craig responded;
Craig: Well look, I don't think I could beat any of them unless we run a fantastic local campaign and people get behind us. Last time I –
Interesting because of what was not said, rather than what was. No outrage over "dirty deals" in this interview, as Mr Gower expressed recently regarding the Mana-Internet alliance;
I suspect, however, that the difference in style in Gower's critiquing the deals between the Right – and that between Mana and Internet (no deals in recent times have been proven between Labour and other parties on the Left, despite claims) – is not so much a matter of bias, rather one of common acceptance.
In short, we are used to an ex-trader Prime Minister doing behind-the-scenes deals so it is the 'norm' when the Right does it.
But not the 'norm' for the Left because, to date, such deal-making has been rare.
Yes, of course it is.
But nothing will ever change because (a) the public have more or less accepted such political wheeling-and-dealing as par-for-course amongst right-leaning politicians and their parties; (b) it serves the interests of the Right, and (c) the media can get stuffed (in the eyes of the Right) because in the end, what matters is political power – not chest-thumping from a few media talking-heads.
That's the way it is.
The Left can (a) adapt and engage in their own deal-making or (b) remain "above it all"; maintain a holier-than-thou attitude; and hope the voting public notice and duly reward them with their votes. Option 'B' is like going to a gunfight armed with a knife and hoping the gun misfires. There is no Option 'C'.
The last interview, by Torben Akel, with Todd Barclay – the National candidate replacing outgoing MP, Bill English in Southland – was perhaps the most curious.
At only 24, Todd Barclay is one of Parliament's youngest MPs. In itself, this not a negative factor, as we need representation from and for young people in our House of Representatives.
What was at issue was Barclay's relative lack of life experience.
As Torben Akel asked in a introduction voice-over,
"But age aside, does Barclay have the real world experience to be an MP. Or does he represent the rise of an insulated careerist political class?"
National's own website highlights Barclay's limited life-experience;
Working in Wellington and then Auckland, Todd worked for Bill English and cabinet ministers Hekia Parata and Gerry Brownlee. He left Parliament to work for one of New Zealand's leading public relations consultancies, before taking on a role as Corporate Affairs Manager for Philip Morris.
To be fair, one has to wonder just how much life experience a person can achieve by age 24. Though Barclay's experience, thus far seems constrained to working for various ministers in Parliament and for a tobacco company that peddles products that kill people.
Not exactly a CV to be proud of.
In fact, it could be said that politics and public relations revolve around manipulating reality rather than living in it.
All up, a good interview; low-key and yet illuminating. Torben Akel did a good job presenting the person and his record, and then let the viewer decide for him/herself what to make of this young man.
Now it's up to Southlanders if this is who they want as their representative.
Postscript #1
The parameters "child poverty" nz on Google returns 178,000 results;
Not exactly something to be proud of, eh, New Zealand?
Postscript #2
It is has been said before and it is worth repeating again; the greatest disservice that TVNZ and TV3 programming managers have done to the viewing public; their own staff; and to their entire network is to 'ghettoise' "The Nation" and "Q+A" on early morning and late night time-slots in the weekends.
Maori TV schedules "Native Affairs" on Monday evenings at 8.30pm. This suggests that the management at Maori TV have sufficient faith in their 'product' that they are willing to give it a prime time viewing slot.
Sadly, the same cannot be said for TVNZ and TV3.
(And no, we will not settle for "Seven Sharp" or "The Paul Henry Show".)
Postscript #3
National's media release on it's "Teaching & leadership career pathways" was published on it's on party website; the Beehive website; and on Scoop Media. There's a slight 'risk' in publishing an official party policy communique on an independent website – you never quite know what else is going to appear alongside the text;
I'm sure Parata, Key, et al in the National Party would be "delirious with joy" at having a political advert for Kim Dotcom's Internet Party nested within their pride and joy educational policy statement release…
… Not!
Beehive: $359m for teaching & leadership career pathways
Radio NZ: NZEI, principals unite against policy
TV3 The Nation: Interview – Education Minister Hekia Parata
TV3 The Nation: Interview transcript – Education Minister Hekia Parata
Salvation Army: Hard to swallow – Child Poverty Action Group
BWB Books: Child Poverty in New Zealand
TV3 The Nation: Interview – Jonathan Boston & Russell Wills
Wikiquote: Margaret Thatcher
TV3 The Nation: Interview – Conservative Party leader Colin Craig
Twitter: Patrick Gower 29 May 2014
TV3 The Nation: The new breed of career MPs
National Party: National Selects Todd Barclay For Clutha-Southland
National Party: $359m for teaching & leadership career pathways
Beehive: $359m for teaching & leadership career pathways
Scoop Media: $359m for teaching & leadership career pathways
Previous related blogposts
Review: TV3′s The Nation – "Let them eat ice cream!"
Patrick Gower – losing his rag and the plot
Doing 'the business' with John Key – Here's How
Facebook: Inside Child Poverty
Bryan Bruce: How to vote strategically improves children's lives
Tuesday 17 June, 5.30pm
Panel discussion with Jonathan Boston,
Damon Salesa, Susan St John and Russell Wills. Chaired by Tracey McIntosh.
Fale Pasifika, University of Auckland
26 Wynyard St, Auckland
Thursday 19 June, 8.00am – 4.00pm
Inequality: Causes and Consequences
Student Union Memorial Lecture Theatre
Victoria University of Wellington
Friday 20 June, 5.30pm
Lecture and book launch
Speakers include: Justine Cornwall, Jonathan Boston, and Cathy Wylie
Royal Society of New Zealand
11 Turnbull St, Thorndon, Wellington
Above image acknowledgment: Francis Owen/Lurch Left Memes
This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 16 June 2014.
= fs =
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Japan blasts Chinese bid for UN recognition of Nanjing massacre
Published on Jun 11, 2014 3:51 PM
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan protested to China on Wednesday after Beijing applied for the inclusion of the 1937 Nanjing massacre and the "comfort women" forced to work in wartime military brothels in a Unesco programme, in the latest flare-up of tensions in relations.
Ties between China and Japan, the world's second- and third-largest economies, have been strained by a territorial row over a group of East China Sea islets and Chinese allegations that Japan has not properly atoned for wartime aggression. "It is extremely regrettable that China is trying to play up a negative legacy from a certain period in Sino-Japanese history by using Unesco for a political purpose, when effort needs to be made to improve ties between Japan and China," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular news conference. "Today, we made a protest, and asked China for a withdrawal."
China's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Beijing had submitted an application to Unesco to include the issues of the "comfort women", many from Korea and China, who were forced to work in Japanese military brothels, as well as the 1937 mass killings in Nanjing.
Beijing said the submissions were part of a need to"remember history, cherish peace and avert similar atrocities from happening again".
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I'm afraid the page you're looking for went missing!
Since you're here, why don't you go ahead and check out my Udemy course?
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text:
-By Erik Wilson
The Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center held the 2010 Celebrity Waiter Dinner over the weekend to raise funds for the Adult Daycare Respite Program and Supporting Services.
The event was sponsored by Union Bank, which offered major support to the event.
'Senior Prom' was the theme of the dinner. Some attendees got creative with their costumes, representing a variety of decades from the 50's to the present. There was even a senior court, made up of seniors from the Senior Center.
Local high schools got involved and provided entertainment during the event. High school dance teams performed, and many other high school students volunteered their time to help decorate and create the prom atmosphere.
So how exactly are the funds raised from this dinner? Along with sponsorships and donations, the celebrity waiters are working hard to raise more money during the dinner. Each waiter is assigned to a table. Guests are expected to "tip" the waiters for any service they provide. Whether it's laying out the silverware, delivering the food, or refilling a drink, the idea is to continue to donate through out the night.
Each year the most generous table is awarded with the Stanley Award. Steve and Diane Arklin took home the award this year. City Council candidate David Gauny was their waiter.


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Content count153,290
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About bfarber
- Birthday 03/07/1983
Contact Methods
Website URL
IPS Marketplace
- Resources Contributor Total file submissions: 9
Profile Information
- Gender Male
- Location Southwest VA
- Interests This is my interests, just for "Rikki" :)
bfarber's Activity
bfarber added a comment: Albumslider doesn't make senseA similar issue exists with the next/previous arrow items at the same level as the image itself, in addition to the slider below the image.
bfarber added a bug in Bug TrackerPost multiselection not working for restricted moderatorIf you have a moderator and that moderator does not have all permissions, there is no checkbox to multi-moderate the posts in the topics.
My moderator only has moderator permissions selected under the Forums tab when managing the moderator, and only in one forum. I did not select unhiding topics or posts, viewing hidden topics or posts, or deleting topics.
If I go to a topic in this forum, the moderator options dropdown shows for the posts, however there is no checkbox to select multiple posts to hide, delete, etc.
- 0 replies
- 24 views
bfarber added a bug in Bug TrackerSelect all rows in ModCPIf you go to the hidden content section of the moderator CP, i.e. for Posts, the "select all rows based on type" does not work.
Locally I visit /index.php?/modcp/content/&type=forums_topic_post and then I try to select all 'read' rows and nothing is selected. Reported in ticket 915336
- 1 reply
- 44 views
bfarber added a bug in Bug TrackerExtra exif data in gallery not showing
Uploaded a photo with exif data and it shows the summary on the photo. If I click to view all photo exif information, however, the modal is empty. I can confirm in the database there is a lot more exif data stored.
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bfarber added a comment: Gallery video thumbnailsThis appears to apply to ALL details. If during submission you enter a title for an image and save, this is not applied to the image after you submit. I believe I've seen other bug reports about this, but just wanted to point out it's not specific to the video thumbnail - no details are retained.
bfarber added a comment: [4.0.3] custom.css is automatically loaded in admin panelChanged Status to Closed
bfarber added a comment: [4.0.2] minimum member password length hardcoded to "3"Changed Status to Closed
bfarber added a comment: [4.0.2] minimum member password length hardcoded to "3"Please post feedback on our forums.
bfarber added a comment: 4.0.3 Saving skin files gives errorWhat is the ticket number?
bfarber added a blog entry in IPS NewsIP.Board 3.3.x, 3.4.x Security Update04-30-2015
We are releasing a patch for IP.Board 3.3.x and 3.4.x to address three cross-site scripting (XSS) issues.
It has been brought to our attention that specifically crafted URLs may allow an attacker to adjust another user's ignored user preferences and private message options.
To apply the patch
Simply download the attached zip for your IP.Board version and upload the files to your forum server.
IP.Board 3.4.x:
IP.Board 3.3.x:
If you are an IPS Community in the Cloud client running IP.Board 3.3 or above, no further action is necessary as we have already automatically patched your account. If you are using a version older than IP.Board 3.3, you should contact support to upgrade.
If you install or upgrade to IP.Board 3.4.7 after the date and time of this post, no further action is necessary as we have already updated the main download zips.
We would like to thank rack911labs.com for bringing the private message to our attention.
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bfarber added a comment: sitemap reset missing in fixUrl.phpThis came from ticket 913163 - it wasn't specifically the changeUrl script. The client reported that they updated their URL (or rather, I believe we did for them) and the sitemap included out of date URLs in it still. Perhaps if we detect the base url has changed compared to what is included in the sitemap we need to wipe it and rebuild automatically.
bfarber added a comment: [4.0.1] Commerce: Prices after upgradeChanged Status to Pending
bfarber added a comment: [4.0.1] Commerce: Prices after upgradeI have reproduced a problem in the ticket where locales that use commas as the separator do not work well for number fields. When I edit the "6,68" value and change to "6,69" when I blur out of the field it is turned into "669". I cannot use periods here either (they are also swapped out),
I'm seeing some discussion of this online
I believe this is due to either us using val() (instead of the valueAsNumber that is recommended) or due to our validation in ips.ui.form.js.
bfarber added a comment: [4.0.2] Gallery upgrade errorChanged Status to Fixed


text:
HoopsHype Cory Joseph rumors
Zach Lowe: On my potential free agent steals list today. RT @JMcDonald_SAEN: Pop says CoJo has "played his ass off" and has "earned the time." Ryan Wolstat: @ZachLowe_NBA @JMcDonald_SAEN Expect Cleveland and Toronto to take long looks … Twitter @WolstatSun
Ryan Wolstat: ie. Don't expect to see Tristan Thompson or Cory Joseph with Canada this summer, unless extensions done far sooner than anyone expects. They do expect Andrew Wiggins to play, Tyler Ennis, Stauskas, Anthony Bennett, Olynyk, Nicholson, etc. Twitter @WolstatSun
Paul Garcia: Funny moment from Tim Duncan tonight: Purposely moved the entire media scrum in Cory Joseph's locker area while Cojo was getting ready. Twitter @PaulGarciaPS
What they say is true. The Spurs have an ego you can't see with an electron microscope. A favorite story is the time Cory Joseph, struggling with his game, called his coach and asked, "Pop, can I go back to the D-League?" I wrote: "There was, Joseph recalls, two or three seconds of silence. It isn't often a first-round NBA pick asks to be reassigned to the D-League. It may be unprecedented for a first-rounder to make the request after four previous D-League stops in the same season." Therein lies a secret to this team. NBA.com
Paul Garcia: The Spurs announced Cory Joseph is questionable for Kings game Friday. Patty Mills, Tiago Splitter remain out. Twitter @PaulGarciaPS
Paul Garcia: Coach Messina said Cory Joseph is still day-to-day, but there's a chance he could return as soon as Friday vs. Kings. Twitter @PaulGarciaPS
With the deadline for members of the 2011 draft class to reach a contract extension having come and gone Friday, Joseph — the Spurs' 23-year-old backup point guard — is set to become a restricted free agent in July. He is neither surprised by this development, nor is he daunted by it. "It's definitely an opportunity for me," Joseph said. "I can control my destiny, so that's the good thing about it." San Antonio Express-News
You know you made it when an entire rap song is honoring you. San Antonio Spurs' Cory Joseph has an entire rap song dedicated to him by Canadian rapper "C Black featuring Mike Black." ProjectSpurs.com
John Schuhmann: 5 NBA guys (Joseph, Nicholson, Olynyk, Powell & Sacre) going with Canadian NT on exhibition tour in Europe: bit.ly/1jTZAs4 Twitter @johnschuhmann
Dan McCarney: Popovich said he cited Joseph at film session today at the approach he's looking for: "Everybody has to take the attitude of Cory Joseph kind of a take-no-prisoners, bunker mentality. He was fantastic, and he did that better than anybody on our team." Twitter @danmccarneysaen
From the earliest days of the fabled Zarko Paspalj era in the late 1980s, the Spurs have been at the forefront of international scouting. No surprise, then, that they once again have the most players born outside the continental United States, breaking their own NBA record with 10: Tim Duncan (U.S. Virgin Islands), Manu Ginobili (Argentina), Tony Parker (France, by way of Belgium), Tiago Splitter (Brazil), Boris Diaw (France), Marco Belinelli (Italy), Nando De Colo (France), Patty Mills (Australia), Cory Joseph (Canada), Aron Baynes (Australia, by way of New Zealand). San Antonio Express-News
The San Antonio Spurs today announced that they have exercised their fourth-year options on forward Kawhi Leonard and guard Cory Joseph. Both players are now signed through the 2014-15 season. NBA.com
If the Spurs opt to extend Joseph's rookie-scale deal, the 29th pick will receive a raise of $280,502, to $1.36 million. Though he doesn't consider the 2013-14 season as "make or break," Joseph approaches it with a degree of urgency. "They haven't told me if a fourth year is for sure yet, so obviously you've got to look at it as your last season right now," Joseph said Monday after a long session at the team's practice facility. "I'm going to be playing hard and playing confident and hopefully make a jump in the right direction." San Antonio Express-News
Any rumor missing? E-mail us at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
Governance and Information Technology: From Electronic Government to Information GovernmentHardback
List price $43.44
Unavailable - AbeBooks may have this title.
- Publisher: MIT Press
- Format: Hardback | 352 pages
- Dimensions: 178mm x 229mm x 19mm | 635g
- Publication date: 9 October 2007
- Publication City/Country: Cambridge, Mass.
- Illustrations note: 19
Product description
Experts discuss moving beyond the notion of electronic government and its focus on technology and efficiency to a broader concept of "information government" that incorporates the role of information flows within government, between government and citizens, and among citizens themselves.Developments in information and communication technology and networked computing over the past two decades have given rise to the notion of electronic government, most commonly used to refer to the delivery of public services over the Internet. This volume argues for a shift from the narrow focus of "electronic government" on technology and transactions to the broader perspective of information government - the information flows within the public sector, between the public sector and citizens, and among citizens - as a way to understand the changing nature of governing and governance in an information society.The chapters discuss the interplay between recent technological developments and evolving information flows, and the implications of different information flows for efficiency, political mobilization, and democratic accountability. The chapters are accompanied by short case studies from around the world, which cover such topics as electronic government efforts in Singapore and Switzerland, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency's effort to solicit input on planned regulations over the Internet, and online activism "cyberprotesting" globalization.
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Author information
Viktor Mayer-Schonberger is Associate Professor of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and chairs the Rueschlikon Conferences on Information Policy. David Lazer is Associate Professor of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and Director and founder of the Program on Networked Governance at Harvard University. He is the editor of DNA and the Criminal Justice System: The Technology of Justice (MIT Press, 2004).
Review quote
"The e-governance revolution has transformed the way that government commonly delivers basic services. But has it transformed democracy? This is a first-class study of the complex processes of information flows between citizens and government. Drawing upon well-known experts and a diverse range of cases, the study provides provocative and important insights into processes of political communications, the uses and limits of information technologies, and the transformation of modern governments."--Pippa Norris, Director, Democratic Governance Group, Bureau for Development Policy United Nations Development Programme


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Tennessee Plates
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Beastly Adventurer
Joined: Jan 2007
Location: Tennessee
Oddometer: 8,940
need some great roads in Middle TN? Try Hwy 99 in Lewis County. Get your map out and find Napier Lake and Big Chief Creek. Absolutely gorgeous through there. Just about any road in Williamson County. They have more dollars than sense in W County, so they paved every goat path they could find. Most of it is nice two lane black top - but there are lots of driveways leading to houses so far off the road you can't see them. The area around Leipers Fork is great, and Pucketts Grocery and the Country Boy restaturant across the road are popular places for bikers to meet on a Saturday morning. Check out Big East Fork Road in W County, one of my favorites but there is some rough pavement in there. Your V-Strom will not mind it though.
There's a road that runs south from Lawranceburg to Iron City. That one is real pretty.
246 south out of Columbia...
129 from Lynnville to Lynchburg is lots of fun...
247 from Spring Hill to Hwy 50. and from there it's just a hop skip jump to the Natchez Trace or to more great roads in Hickman County. Leatherwood Road. Primm Springs Road. Hwy 230 through Littlelot, to Bucksnort and Only. Highway 438 through Coble over to Hwy 13 will have you coming back for more. Be sure to stop at the Cane Creek Market, but bring cash because they don't want your credit card. It's a great place to stop for a cold drink and a snack. Oh yeah, it's Mennonite Country so watch out for the horse biscuits in the road! If you notice the place with the giant chain link fence near the Hickman/Perry county line, you may want to stop to see of the elk are out in the yard.
Yeah, I'm serious!
I would love to show you around sometime!
2013 Suzuki DL650 Adventure
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