w h o a r . c o . n z

“.. A couple of years ago while clicking around the Web site of a well-known travel retailer, I discovered a miracle product that has changed my life and caused some to question my commitment to my gender: The Urinelle “urination funnel for women” — or, as I affectionately refer to them, “pee cones.”

..This brilliant invention, obviously thought up by a female genius who hates public toilets as much as I do, is basically a piece of surprisingly thin paper rolled up like an ice cream cone.

The cones lie flat until you are ready to use them; a mere squeeze opens them up to their full potential..”

(and..)

“..Then there are the WhizBiz and the GoGirl, both reusable silicone (pink, of course).

These seem promising at first glance, but I don’t want a long-term relationship with a urination device.

If you’re not near water, you’re stuck carrying around a urine-soaked object.

If you lose it, you’re screwed, because it’s not like every two-bit drugstore the world over stocks these things near the register for impulse buys.

None of these issues plague the Urinelle, which allows one to simply cone and toss.

I became so enthralled with my discovery that I e-mailed the link to several female co-workers.

My colleagues were used to receiving all manner of strange e-mails from me, but this was different.

The responses came in two general categories: those who were scandalized by such a gender transgression, acting as if I were considering a sex change (”You’d actually use these? Freak.”) ..

.. and the practical gals who couldn’t believe something so simple could actually work. (”If they are just paper, won’t you piss all over yourself?”)

I am not a scientist.

I have absolutely no clue how a mere paper product can handle a full stream of lady pee and maintain its integrity, and I don’t care.

I would refer skeptics to paper towel commercials depicting a towel completely soaked, yet still able to hold various objects.

If we can put a man on the moon, we surely can allow women to pee standing up.

All I know is these babies work, and I love them.

They are the best thing to happen to vaginas since beltless pads..”

go to source/story>>Standing up like a man - Gender - Salon.com

“.. A recent study of brain activity in those thought to be in a “vegetative” state blurs the line between life and death.

When are you dead?

This is a tricky question, where science and religion often hide, or collide.

It’s answered in a diversity of ways by different cultures at different times, by different physicians in different hospitals, different shamans in different tribes.

Is it when your heart stops working (as in Japan and Shintoism)?

When your soul leaves your body (as in Tibet and Buddhism)?

When your brain stops working?

When a certain part of your brain stops working?

Who decides when you’re dead?

Can you be dead in body, but not in mind?

Vice versa?

Cogito ergo sum?

A new study just published in the New England Journal of Medicine adds intriguing neuroscientific fuel to the fires already ablaze around these questions.

Typically, when a severely head-injured patient is checked for consciousness soon after his or her accident, the physician might look for the ability to track a moving item with the eyes or say “lift a finger if you can hear me,” and then if answered in the affirmative, maybe “lift two fingers for yes, one for no.”

At some point over time, if there’s no response and apparent unconsciousness continues, the patient is considered to be in a ‘persistent vegetative state.’

Doesn’t sound too good, nobody’s happy.

What to do?

Challenging enough question.

But, now along comes Martin Monti and his colleagues in Belgium.

They add a new test for consciousness, applied to fifty-plus folks in a proclaimed vegetative state.

Monti et al., using an MRI machine (which monitors for active neurons in the brain), watch these folks’ brains when they are asked a question.

And, amazingly a handful of the patients’ brains light up ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ just like your brain or mine would if we were asked a question.

These folks are thinking—they are responding to a specific question.

They are not vegetables after all!

Or at least I don’t think so..”

go to source/story>>When Are You Dead? Science Just Made the Work of Religion a Bit More Difficult | | AlterNet

“..This beautiful 65-second, time-lapse video shows off how tiny the earth is in comparison to the rest of the Milky Way.

The video, taken from Hawaii’s Mauna Kea is simply breathtaking..”

go to source/story>>Video: Your Galaxy in One Minute

“..I’ve a fear of oceans.

Lakes—even the biggest ones—I don’t mind. I love them, in fact, having grown up in Chicago and attending college on the shores of Lake Superior.

But oceans, and their rip tides and undertows, have always struck me as sinister.

Ironically, just after returning from a week on a beach in Baja, where I started coming to terms with these fears, I watched The End of the Line, a newly released documentary that makes the case for why the oceans should be afraid of us.

The film, which Ted Danson narrates and Robert Murray directed, delves into the depravity we’ve brought to the world’s oceans through centuries of wanton fishing (and, obviously, consuming) fish from oceans around the world.

The film starts in Newfoundland, whose fishermen nearly fished Northern cod to extinction before the Canadian government placed a two-year moratorium on the fishery in 1992, when the once seemingly endless bounty of cod started to deteriorate.

As a result, 40,000 fishermen lost their jobs.

And, though the moratorium was extended, cod stock never recovered.

“The cod is gone, and I think within the context of cod—particularly in the Canadian perspective—is that this is a species that has been fished for centuries and centuries.

Cod was the reason that people migrated from the UK, from Europe—Northern France particularly—to Canada.

It was because of cod,” says Jeffrey Hutchings, a biology professor at Dalhousie University, who is interviewed for the film.

“The loss of the [cod] fish was basically akin to a loss of soul, and it still remains that 15 years later.”

go to source/story>>Film Exposes Overfishing Practices, Fishes for Answers |Triple Pundit

“.. The Government is moving to set up TVNZ 7 as a public service broadcaster .. leaving TV One and the other TVNZ channels to focus on making money.

Broadcasting Minister Jonathan Coleman has written to TVNZ chairman Sir John Anderson asking him to prepare a plan “demarcating” its commercial and public broadcasting roles and funding of public broadcasting.

Coleman yesterday confirmed his preference was to turn TVNZ 7 – and possibly TVNZ 6 – into public service-style channels.

“Everyone … could be a lot happier if they had that clear view where you go in TVNZ to find public broadcasting content and where you can expect to find frankly nakedly commercial stuff,” he said.

TVNZ’s charter, which defined its public service obligations, will be scrapped soon and the Government is keen to make decisions on the future shape of public service broadcasting this year.

“My view was if we could get that demarcation … once everyone has got access to digital television, which isn’t too many years away, if you know that if you go to 7 or maybe 6 and 7 you can get what most people could describe as quality broadcasting content..”

go to source/story>>Government signals big changes for TVNZ | Stuff.co.nz

“Fran O’Sullivan..But it’s arguable whether NZ should be cutting personal taxes while debt remains high..”..(!)

has (dry-as-dust) rightwinger o’sullivan had an epiphany..?

..here she does a compare and contrast with ireland..

..and she appears to call for higher personal taxes..(in fact..higher taxes all around..)

..and certainly not the tax cuts for the rich key is promising..(in fact..one-off..’special/windfall-taxes for them are her prescription..(!)..)

..and for all politicians/top civil servants..to take a pay cut..(!)

next she’ll be advocating raising the minimum wage/benefits..?

..using the rationale that all such increases feed straight back into the economy in consumer spending..

..and thus stimulate said economy..?

(good to see ‘o’sullivan thinking outside the usual rightwing-square tho’..eh..?..

..we need more of that..)

go to source/story>>Fran O’Sullivan: Lessons to learn from Irish - Opinion - NZ Herald News

“..If they’re not kidding themselves they’re the capital of culture, they are trying to convince the world they’re New Zealand’s events capital, its fashion capital, its earthquake capital, its architecture capital -

- the list is endless.

They’re so desperate to be better than Auckland that a few years back, Mayor Mark Blumsky’s council paid the Government-owned MetService $100,000 to shift the temperature gauge used to provide forecast material for television news to a warmer spot.

Mr Blumsky proposed the thermometer be shifted to the sheltered micro-climate on the lawn in front of the Michael Fowler Centre ..

.. a spot rival forecasters claimed was about 1.5C warmer than the traditional, more exposed airport and Kelburn hills sites.

We Aucklanders sighed rather pityingly, and resisted the temptation to shift our thermometer across to Waiheke where the average temperature is 3C warmer than the rest of Auckland.

In recent years, Wellington’s focus seems to be on selling itself as the Hollywood of the South Seas, riding in on the coat tails of film fantasist extraordinaire Sir Peter Jackson and Weta Workshop.

But at the risk of popping their make-believe bubble .. it isn’t true.

Statistics New Zealand’s Screen Industry Survey 2007-2008 underlines that whatever measure you use, the Wellington-based film industry is dwarfed by Auckland’s, and has been for years.

For example, in 2008, of the country’s 2223 screen industry businesses, 55 per cent (1212) were in Auckland against Wellington’s 29 per cent (648).

Nationally, the gross revenue from production and post-production for the screen industry totalled $1.266 billion ..

.. of which $878 million fed directly into the Auckland economy..”

(um..!..how about ‘welly-wankers’..?..y’know..!..for a more accurate sign..?..

y’know what is really funny about wellington..?..when things get really convoluted..?

when they try to tell you their anorexic-excuse for a daily rag..is a ‘good newspaper’..

..heh..!..

and yahafta ask:..’do they really believe their own (welly-wood) bullshit..?’..

..it would seem group self-delusion has gripped them..and they do..

and that is both funny..and sad..eh..?)

go to source/story>>Brian Rudman : Two cheers for Wellywood - they’re welcome to their wannabe sign - Opinion - NZ Herald News

“..New Zealand is awash with unsold houses which could take nearly a year to clear.

The Institute of Economic Research’s principal economist, Shamubeel Eaqub, said Real Estate Institute figures out yesterday showed the market had weakened considerably and he noted extremely low turnover - 5029 sales nationally last month compared with 10,145 in February 2005.

“According to realestate.co.nz there were 54,381 homes for sale in February.

There were 5029 sales in February - at that rate it will take 11 months to clear the current inventory.”

Last year, the market had seven to eight months of inventory.

“Sales are stuck at very low levels and the market is awash with unsold homes,” Mr Eaqub said..”

go to source/story>>Lots of houses, not enough buyers - Business - NZ Herald News

“..More than 40 per cent of New Zealanders think it’s time we talked about becoming Australia’s seventh state.

Research firm UMR asked 1000 New Zealanders and Australians questions to gauge their views on a possible union of their countries 110 years after New Zealand chose not to join the Australian Commonwealth.

Of the New Zealanders asked, 41 per cent said the prospect of New Zealand becoming Australia’s seventh state was “an idea worth debating”.

On the other hand, 58 per cent did not believe the discussion was worth having.

One per cent were unsure.

The survey, which has a margin of error of 3 per cent, found New Zealanders believed a union would bring big improvements in the ease of travel to Australia and to our defence status.

Those surveyed believed New Zealanders’ lifestyle might improve marginally but our environment might suffer somewhat.

The full results, including Australian attitudes to a union, will be released on Television New Zealand’s Q+A on Sunday morning..”

go to source/story>>NZ-Oz merger finds some mates - National - NZ Herald News

“..Paddle Pop icecreams have a few less licks in them after a size reduction their maker claims is for “nutritional” reasons.

The chocolate, banana and rainbow flavoured icecreams are now 15 per cent smaller than they were. But their $1.50 price hasn’t changed.

Streets’ parent company, Unilever, says the icecreams were downsized from 82ml to 70ml last year because they were sold in school canteens ..

.. and had to meet “nutritional guidelines for schools and our strict internal guidelines that govern what products we market for children”.

Unilever spokeswoman Jennie James said Paddle Pops’ fat and kilojoules had been cut by about 20 per cent ..

.. but still had other nutritional benefits such as being low GI, portion-controlled and a source of calcium.

But Wayne Attwell, a senior brand strategist with marketing consultants Bold Horizon, believes the company’s motive is financial.

The smaller Paddle Pops join a growing list of shrinking products, which Mr Attwell said were usually downsized to cut costs.

“Some people would say it’s smart accounting, others would say it’s diddling the consumer,” he said..”

go to source/story>>Smaller Paddle Pop joins growing list of shrinking treats - National - NZ Herald News

“..Bishop Brian Tamaki is paid an average of $3000 each time he preaches at a Destiny Church outside of Auckland.

This helps boost his income to more than a million dollars a year.

The speaking fee is paid by the 20 church branches in New Zealand and Australia.

Individual payments range from $1000 to $12,000 depending on the size of the church.

The Weekend Herald understands the speaking fees would average $3000 a week, or $150,000 a year.

Lynda Stewart, who worked as a financial administrator for Bishop Tamaki for seven years until he became a bishop in 2005, said he preached at one of the regional Destiny branches nearly every week.

Before Pastor Andrew Stock led a walkout of Destiny Church in Brisbane, Ms Stewart said, he told her Bishop Tamaki was paid $12,000 to speak there.

She believed concern over money was one of the reasons for Mr Stock’s resignation..”

go to source/story>>Cash for preaching lifts Tamaki’s pay to $1m - National - NZ Herald News

“.. Strategic Finance’s trustee has appointed receivers to run the finance company.

Perpetual Trust said this afternoon PricewaterhouseCoopers partners John Fisk and Colin McCloy had been appointed receivers of Strategic Finance Limited and related companies Strategic Advisory Limited, Strategic Mortgages Limited, Strategic Nominees Limited, and Strategic Nominees Australia Limited.

Strategic froze repayments to about 13,000 investors owed $417 million in August 2008 and investors then agreed to a moratorium in December 2008.

However, in January it failed to make the first scheduled repayment to investors of 3.4 cents in the dollar, or $12m in total.

The missed payment triggered a “review event” under the moratorium and Strategic management has since been in talks with trustee Perpetual Trust about the company’s future.

“We will be talking to key stakeholders over the next few days to determine the best way forward,” Fisk said.

“As receivers of Strategic, we understand the uncertainty the recent situation has caused to investors and believe the receivership will now provide greater certainty.

It is too early to release any further details, but we are working as quickly as we can to determine the best option going forward to ensure maximised funds are distributed to investors.”

go to source/story>>Receivers appointed to Strategic Finance | Stuff.co.nz

“.. Former National MP and Children’s Commissioner Roger McClay is due in court today accused of fraud.

McClay, 65, will appear in Auckland District Court facing more than 50 offences of using a document to obtain a pecuniary advantage ..

.. relating his ex-MP perk of taxpayer subsidised flights..”

go to source/story>>Former Children’s Commissioner due in court | Stuff.co.nz

(this is a must-watch..!..)

go to source/story>>CNNBC | Breaking News, Weather, Sports, Tech, Opinions, and Multimedia | By You, For You, And About You

“..In the 1950s, more than half the U.S. population smoked.

Now that number is down to just 21 percent of adults.

As the domestic cigarette market shrinks, tobacco companies are taking their business to the developing world ..

.. where they don’t have to deal with pesky things like advocacy groups that oppose industry activity, smoking bans ..

.. or a populace that is aware of the health hazards of smoking.

Now Philip Morris (PM) is playing hardball in lesser-developed countries to try and preserve their ability to market cigarettes however they want.

On February 19, PM filed a lawsuit against Uruguay to try and force that country to withdraw a new law requiring 80 percent of each side of cigarette packs show graphic images depicting the health effects of smoking.

Laws requiring large, pictorial graphic warning labels on cigarette packs are not new.

Canada was the first to implement them, starting in 2000. Now 32 countries and the European Union require them.

Uruguay, in fact, already had a law requiring half of each side of cigarette packs to contain health warnings.

They just wanted to make the pictures a little bigger.

That was all it took to get Philip Morris to slap them with a lawsuit.

So why is Philip Morris coming down like a ton of bricks on less developed countries like this?

Because as cigarette makers lose their markets in the developed world .. they need poorer and less-educated populations to keep expanding their business.

That means moving into developing countries .. and how they market cigarettes there is often egregiously repugnant..”

go to source/story>>Philip Morris Pushing Smoking Hard in Foreign Countries | Center for Media and Democracy

“..All of this likely means little to the average American.

After all, we have our own economic problems.

But Americans should pay close attention to Mexico.

The United States, over the last several decades, has embraced monopolistic disaster capitalism .. and that is great for America’s 360 or so billionaires.

They are thriving even in the midst of the Great Recession/Depression.

But as they thrive the rest of America rots.

This is not an accident.

Capitalism, according to its system, will grow fantastic wealth at the very top.

The massive wealth of Carlos Slim in a terribly impoverished country is not an accident .. but a product of unregulated capitalism.

Alarmingly, though, America has embraced the exact same economy of Mexico .. and Americans expect different results than Mexico.

But that ain’t gonna happen.

I’ll let you in on a little secret.

The people at the top, America’s wealthy elite, know that ain’t gonna happen too.

By creating government policies to encourage the privatization of nearly all the wealth into the hands of the very few ..

.. and by taking away much of the wealth and resources for the public good ..

.. then you get what they have in Mexico .. and what we are beginning to see in the United States.

In short, you get a free market conservative’s dream or nightmare ..

.. depending if you are one of the hundreds of millions of people .. or one of the hundreds of the economic elite at the top.

The infrastructure of the country will decay, the cities will disintegrate, the citizens (or consumers as we like to call ourselves now) ..

.. will descend into poverty .. and the country will face civil unrest and turmoil.

So Carlos Slim is truly a success story of capitalism..”

go to source/story>>Capitalism: A Success Story–The World’s Richest Man in an Impoverished Country « Bodhi Thunder

“.. People who hate teens might consider them a dream come true - buzzers that adults cannot hear yet disperse loitering youngsters from public places faster than a cop in a squad car.

But European governments have been asked to ban them.

A parliamentary panel of the Council of Europe said the so-called Mosquito buzzers treat young people “as if they were unwanted birds or pests.”

It said exposure to their signal - audible to most people under 20 but hardly anyone over 25 - amounts to degrading treatment banned by the European Convention on Human Rights.

The culture, science and education committee of the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly said Mosquito buzzers violate the “right to respect for one’s private life” and violate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“Children and other vulnerable persons have the right to be protected from serious attacks against their physical and psychical integrity,” it said in a report.

The device emits a pulsating signal that is irritating, if not painful, to minors and drives them from shopping centres or street corners.

They are typically installed by public administrations and shops but also schools and private residents, said the panel..”

go to source/story>>Buzzers treat kids as ‘unwanted pests’ | Stuff.co.nz

“.. A tobacco giant has been told there should be a statue to commemorate dead Maori smokers killed by “the enemy that lies within our midst”.

Maori Party MP Hone Harawira told British American Tobacco’s managing director Graeme Amey at a select committee hearing on the tobacco industry yesterday ..

..that as many Maori died each year because of tobacco as died in World War II.

He said a submission to the committee on Wednesday spoke of the 600 Maori Battalion soldiers who died in World War II.

“We recognise that contribution every year.

“Six hundred Maori die every single year from tobacco yet there is no recognition of that anywhere.”

He said a friend had suggested a giant statue was needed to commemorate the “unknown smoker” as “a way of recognising that the losses in the battalion are replicated every single year ..

.. by an enemy that lies within our midst .. and continues to kill our people”.

Mr Amey repeatedly rejected Mr Harawira’s questions saying: “We sell a product that is legal.”

The tobacco firm controls about 75 per cent of all cigarette sales in New Zealand.

Mr Amey told the MPs that tobacco was an already highly regulated product, and any further regulation or ban would only increase an already active black market.

“We believe that a black market exists already.” He then offered to provide evidence to the panel outside of the meeting.

Mr Amey said the illicit trade of tobacco in Ireland made up 30 per cent of the market and 12 per cent in Australia.

Under current legislation, it was legal to grow up to 15 kilograms of tobacco for personal use each year.

That equated to about 25,000 cigarettes per individual, or 60 cigarettes a day.

British American Tobacco accepted there were significant risks with smoking but adult consumers were making adult choices, Mr Amey said.

He admitted he had quit smoking after 10 years.. saying he did so as a personal choice..”

go to source/story>>Harawira fires a volley for the smoking battalion | Stuff.co.nz

“.. The Department of Internal Affairs’ (DIA) internet filter is now operational and is being used by internet providers (ISPs) Maxnet and Watchdog.

Thomas Beagle, spokesperson for online freedom lobby Tech Liberty says he’s “very disappointed that the filter is now running, it’s a sad day for the New Zealand internet”.

He told Computerworld the filter went live on February 1 but DIA has delayed announcing that until it held a meeting with its Independent Reference Group.

He says he’s disappointed the launch was conducted in such a “stealthy mode”.

The manager of the Department of Internal Affairs’ Censorship Compliance Unit, Steve O’Brien, denies any subterfuge in the launch, saying the trial has been going on for two years and that has been communicated to media for “quite some time”.

“The Independent Reference Group has met and the filter system processes were demonstrated as set out in the code of practice, that is that the website filtering system prevents access to known websites containing images of child sexual abuse,” says O’Brien.

Beagle says the DIA refuses to say which other ISPs will be joining the filter, claiming the right to negotiate in secret.

However, Tech Liberty understands that Telstra Clear, Telecom and Vodafone have said they will implement the filter, with Orcon, Slingshot and Natcom saying that they won’t.

Vodafone spokesman Paul Brislen says Vodafone took part in the filter trial and is awaiting word from the DIA about the next steps.

The company will likely use the filter, he says, and when it does customers will be informed.

Orcon CEO Scott Bartlett says it is not true to say Orcon will not be taking part.

“We are still working with officials to fully evaluate this and ensure it doesn’t impact on our customers’ experience,” he says.

O’Brien says there is no compulsion for ISPs to tell their customers their internet service is being filtered.

“It’s a voluntary system and there’s no legislation,” he says, adding he understands the ISPs currently on the system have informed their customers.

David Zanetti, technical spokesperson for Tech Liberty, says he fears the stability of the New Zealand internet will be at risk..”

go to source/story>>New Zealand’s internet filter goes live | Stuff.co.nz

“.. A man whose wife ran over him twice in a four-wheel-drive has been flown to hospital with head, chest and back injuries.

Earthmoving contractor Terry Telford, 69, was run over yesterday morning when his wife Sandy reversed the vehicle down their long driveway near Opoutama, in northern Hawke’s Bay.

Lowe Corporation rescue helicopter marketing manager Louise Harvey said it appeared Mrs Telford, not realising what had happened ..

.. then drove forward, running over her husband again.

He suffered moderate head, chest and back injuries..”

go to source/story>>Wife accidentally runs over husband - twice | Stuff.co.nz

“.. But it will not identify which schools are being considered for a Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

Under the plan, a private company will build and own the school but the Crown will own the land and its board of trustees will retain governance and operational responsibility.

However, according to official papers, the school’s owners could use the school outside normal school hours and school boards would have to negotiate an “occupancy agreement” with the private owner.

Teachers’ unions say they have not been told about the project and want to be consulted before it is formally announced.

Education Minister Anne Tolley signalled last year that the Education Ministry was exploring using private sector capital to build new schools.

Just released Official Information Act papers show the ministry and Treasury have plans well advanced for the construction of a trial PPP school.

Others are planned if it is a success.

The ministry spends $500 million a year on school buildings, and must build three new secondary schools over the next four years to cater for roll growth.

The average secondary school costs around $70m.

Cabinet appears to have earmarked one of the three schools for a PPP .. but sections of the report have been blanked out..”

go to source/story>>Privately built state school near | Stuff.co.nz

“..as the cost of the scheme mounts.

Transport Minister Steven Joyce said the travel subsidy under the SuperGold card was set to exceed its $18 million-a-year budget, with the Wairarapa to Wellington train service and the Waiheke Island ferry singled out.

“The highest priority of the review process is to consider how to keep the scheme within the available budget of $18 million a year, while continuing to provide improved mobility for older people,” Mr Joyce said.

The Waiheke ferry cost $2 million and the operator was paid $13 a ticket.

Officials are also considering the level of reimbursement to operators and councils, and what services are eligible.

The review is also looking at how “off peak” is defined.

A discussion document notes that after the first 12 months “it has become clear that in its present form, the scheme is not financially sustainable with the funding available”.

But the card’s architect, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, said yesterday the changes could hit the elderly hard ..

.. and would be a breach of National’s assurances in 2008 that the elderly would not lose what they had..”

go to source/story>>Budget bust hits free rides for elderly | Stuff.co.nz

“..Labour MP Carol Beaumont is pushing a private member’s bill to limit interest rates charged by fringe lenders or “loan sharks” ..

.. which she says is the opening shot in a campaign against predatory lenders.

But Consumer Affairs Minister Heather Roy is sticking with advice from officials that interest rate caps have failed overseas and the Government will not support the bill.

Ms Beaumont has picked up colleague Charles Chauvel’s Credit Reform (Responsible Lending) Bill, which was introduced to Parliament last August.

The bill would allow maximum interest rates to be set, a power that doesn’t exist in New Zealand law.

While it does not define what constitutes the type of lending it is targeting, Ms Beaumont envisages the cap would still be effective at a level that would have no influence on bank or other mainstream lending.

The bill would also require lenders to “reasonably believe” the borrower will be able to repay the loan and seeks to limit the ability of loan sharks to recover more than they initially lent in the event of a default.

The bill is due to go before the House on April 28 and Ms Beaumont said she would be writing to all MPs seeking support for it..”

go to source/story>>Loan sharks targeted by Labour MP’s bill - Politics - NZ Herald News

“..Mr Power will face a grilling over two days from the committee of 18 countries on those and other issues relevant to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The minister will be supported by officials from Corrections, the Department of Labour, Crown Law, the Ministry of Justice, and UN-based Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials.

He will also be joined by New Zealand’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Jim McLay, a former National Party leader and Justice Minister.

Mr Power said it would be a robust discussion and something akin to an “international question time”.

“You front up, you make your statement and you are not quite sure what your supplementaries are going to be..”

go to source/story>>NZ human rights record under UN microscope - Politics - NZ Herald News

(all in all..if you cut the crap..you’d get about twenty minutes from any hour-long bulletin now..so a much ‘tighter’ 30 min bulletin..

..containing ‘real’ news..cd/wd be a blessing in disguise..

at the very least..we’d be spared some of that cheery-chappys’ mindless blathering..eh..?..)

“..Television New Zealand is looking at radical solutions to trim $30 million to $40 million from budgets - including halving the 6pm news hour.

It is understood that TVNZ has sounded out TV3 advising: “If you go half an hour, we’d go half an hour too.”

“It would be a question of who blinks first,” said a TVNZ source who would not be named.

The idea of halving the news hour - creating a 30-minute bulletin followed by Close Up or Campbell Live - has been considered plenty of times..”

(and while they are at it..they can stop treating us like we are target-viewers of playskool..

..and you really only need one person to read the news…eh..?

there’s a big ’saving’..just there..

y’know..in the course of my days’ work..i see/read a lot of media..

and really..both of our hour-long main news bulletins..are far from anything to be ‘proud’ of..eh..

..and they often/mostly fail/fall at the task of being barely serviceable..)

go to source/story>>Media: News half-hour an option for TVNZ - Business - NZ Herald News

“..At least $15 million is now believed to be missing from an Auckland financial advisory firm, according to investigators probing the collapse of the company.

They have widened their investigation to include other businesses also linked to Remuera couple Mike and Jackie Bradley.

Liquidators sifting through the accounts of B’On Financial Services, which traded as Bradley & Bradley, have identified 40 investors in Auckland, Kerikeri and Tauranga who are owed money by the firm.

But they believe there may be more who have not come forward.

Serious Fraud Office head Adam Feeley said investigators had been working closely with the Companies Office and the liquidators on the Bradley case since late last year, and had “significant concerns” about the Bradleys’ business practices.

“Those concerns are such that we have now extended our inquiries beyond the original companies involved in the liquidation.”

Mr Feeley said the SFO was keen to hear from anyone who had invested with the Bradleys, and he urged anyone else considering doing business with the couple to seek independent legal and financial advice “which is always prudent anyway”.

One investor has told the Herald he already accepts he may never recover his life savings.

The man, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he has been told by investigators that international funds he thought he was investing in did not appear to exist..”

go to source/story>>$15m missing, say investigators probing couple’s finance advice company - National - NZ Herald News

“..Lower internet prices and unlimited downloads for home connections are predicted to be the result of a new high-speed link planned between New Zealand, Australia and the United States.

The project would build a $900 million, 13,000km high-speed link within three years.

The “Pacific Fibre” project is backed by some of New Zealand’s best-known businessmen, including high-flyers Sam Morgan, Sir Stephen Tindall and Rod Drury.

It would provide a broadband connection with five times the capacity of the current connection, part-owned by Telecom.

“Businesses love very high resolution multi-party video conferencing while grandparents expect to be able to Skype video their grandchildren - and that, too, will be in HD [high definition] or better,” said another Pacific Fibre founder, Mark Rushworth.

“But mostly we want to unleash that creative talent New Zealand has, and be on a level footing with the rest of the world.”

go to source/story>>$900m plan to open NZ internet tap - Business - NZ Herald News

“..New Zealand internet entrepreneurs Sam Morgan and Rod Drury have joined up with retailing entrepreneur Stephen Tindall to announce plans for a NZ$900 million optic fibre cable linking New Zealand, Australia and United States by 2013.

They said the 13,000km link would be five times bigger than the existing Southern Cross cable ..

.. and could unleash billions of dollars of economic potential .. by connecting New Zealand businesses to global markets by the internet.

They said they aimed to provide unlimited high speed broadband for Australasian consumers that challenged existing cables, including the current single Southern Cross system controlled by Telecom New Zealand.

Such a new cable across the Tasman and the Pacific would cost upwards of NZ$900 million.

Other founders include former Vodafone Chief Marketing Officer Mark Rushworth, tech industry veteran John Humphrey and tech entrepreneur and consultant Lance Wiggs.

Pacific Fibre is in talks with cornerstone investors and customers..”

go to source/story>>Entrepreneurs announce $900m fast broadband plan - Business - NZ Herald News

“..Adelaide is Australia’s festival city.

Its arts festival is currently in swing.

Polite debate, aesthetics and high-octane wine are putting the world to rights.

With one exception.

Adelaide is where Rupert Murdoch began his empire.

The voracious trail starts here.

No statue stands; his is a spectral presence, controlling the only daily newspaper, even the printing presses.

Across Australia, he owns almost 70 per cent of the capital city press and the only national newspaper, and Sky Television, and much else.

Welcome to the world’s first murdochracy.

What is a murdochracy?

It is where the fealty and augmentation of Murdoch’s editors and managers are undisguised, an inspiration to his choir on seven continents ..

.. where even his competitors sing along .. and wise politicians heed the Murdochism: ..

..“What’ll it be? A headline a day or a bucket of shit a day?”

While the veracity of this celebrated remark is sometimes disputed, its spirit is not.

Stricken with pneumonia, the former prime minister John Howard dragged himself out of bed to pay obeisance to the man to whom he owed many empty buckets.

His successor, Kevin Rudd, scurried to an obligatory audience with Murdoch in New York prior to his election.

This is standard across the planet.

Before he took power, Tony Blair was flown to an island off Queensland to stand at the blue Newscorp lectern and pledge Thatcherism and media de-regulation to the jowled figure nodding in the front row.

The next day, the Sun lauded Blair as one who “has vision [and] speaks our language on morality and family life”.

Murdoch knows that little separates the main political parties in Australia, Britain and America.

He plays the man.

In 1972, he backed Australia’s Gough Whitlam who revealed a radical reformer, even threatening to expose America’s spy bases.

A furious Murdoch swung his newspapers against Whitlam with stories so outrageously skewed that rebellious journalists on The Australian burned their newspaper in the street.

That has never been repeated.

Dominant themes in the Australian murdochracy, sport and celebrity gossip aside, are the promotion of war and jingoism, American foreign policy, Israel and a paternalism toward Aborigines ..

.. the world’s most impoverished indigenous people, according to the UN.

This antiquated cold warring is not due entirely to the Murdoch press, of course .. but the agenda is..”

go to source/story>> Welcome To The World’s First Murdochracy : Information Clearing House - ICH

“..A global Internet oversight agency is reopening discussions about whether to create a “.xxx” domain name as an online red-light district ..

.. where porn sites can set up shop away from the wandering eyes of children and teenagers.

Parents would be able to use the system to help block access to porn sites, though because its use would be voluntary ..

.. the “.xxx” suffix wouldn’t keep such content entirely away from minors.

Religious and other anti-porn groups worry that “.xxx” would legitimize porn sites ..

.. and the proposal has already been rejected three times since 2000..”

go to source/story>>‘.XXX’ Web Address For Porn Sites Could Create Online Red-Light Districts

“..Matthew Bishop, the U.S. business editor of The Economist, has described himself as a “card-carrying capitalist,” so it’s a little surprising to pick up his new book, The Road from Ruin, turn to the cover flap and read the opening salvo (served up in bright blue lettering): ..

..”We Have a World Class Mess…Now What?”

Having a business editor of The Economist start things off with such a frank admission of “the fundamental flaws in the way we do capitalism” ..

.. is one of the main reasons I’ve picked The Road From Ruin as this month’s HuffPost Book Club selection.

An open, orthodoxy-free conversation about how we can fix our broken financial system is exactly what we need.

Reading The Road From Ruin — and joining in our month-long discussion about it — is a great way to start..”

go to source/story>>Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post

“..Lead slips in marginals that donor’s money was meant to secure

For years, Conservative Party officials argued that any controversy surrounding Lord Ashcroft was worth it ..

.. because his operation in marginal seats would deliver the party its first election victory for 18 years.

When the Tories’ lead in the opinion polls started to slip in January, party strategists declared that national figures did not really matter ..

.. because their deputy chairman’s blitz had ensured they were further ahead in the crucial seats that would decide the election.

Such arguments appear to be wearing thin.

Some Tory MPs and parliamentary candidates are wondering whether the “Ashcroft effect” is all it has been cracked up to be ..

.. after three polls in marginal seats suggested that the battle with Labour is too close for comfort.

Although surveys in marginal seats are viewed with caution by polling experts, the three polls suggest that a hung parliament is more likely than the outright Tory victory the key seats initiative was supposed to cement.

The Tories have spent £6m over two years in their target seats.

Some Tory MPs now fear that the row over Lord Ashcroft’s “non-domicile” tax status may be partly responsible for narrowing the gap between the parties.

“It would be the final irony,” one said.

“The ‘Ashcroft effect’ was supposed to be positive .. not negative.”

Some Tory candidates report that the headlines about the Ashcroft affair may have contributed to the voter disenchantment that they encounter on the doorstep –

- already at a record high after the MPs’ expenses controversy..”

go to source/story>>Have Ashcroft’s millions fatally wounded Tories? - UK Politics, UK - The Independent

“..Forget the laptop:..

.. Filofaxes, once synonymous with yuppies, have been modernised as a stylish and useful accessory

Remember the Filofax?

Sure you do — along with double-breasted suits, striped shirts and boxer shorts, it was a symbol of Eighties chic ..

.. a way to demonstrate that you meant business ..

.. lunch was for wimps .. and you were ready to go for it.

That it was basically a diary and address book is neither here nor there:..

.. everyone had a Filofax..”

go to source/story>>Flip back to the organised Eighties - Times Online

“..Wall Street and the City did little to deserve their record profits.

A Robin Hood tax is the only fair solution..

Banking occupies a unique niche in the economy.

Both vital and prone to crisis, Wall Street and the City of London are the beating hearts of the economy, pumping liquidity through the arteries of industry nationally and globally.

When they suffer a financial arrhythmia, as in the dire crisis of September 2008, the entire world economy risks sudden death.

Life support systems are wheeled in.

The Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, the ultimate providers of liquidity, not only save the banks but pad their profits too.

The seignorage of the central banks (income earned by the privilege of money creation) is, in effect, shared with leading banks ..

.. by lending them funds at near-zero rates .. that they lend out at a higher rate.

Thus were Wall Street’s record profits of 2009 concocted by the Fed .. despite the banks’ terrible balance sheets and record of reckless behaviour.

The Fed pumped more than a trillion dollars of new liquidity into the system .. and Wall Street netted an estimated $55 billion or more of profits.

With a knowing smirk, the bankers helped themselves to their share of the seignorage as well ..

.. to the tune of $20 billion in bonuses .. not even counting unrealised stock options.

The big financial institutions, notably the primary dealers for the central banks, such as Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs, therefore occupy a blessed position.

By all rights they are public utilities, vital organs for the economy .. that owe their financial rewards and lifelines to their proximity to central bank printing presses.

The mega-bonuses flow year in, year out, rain or shine, boom or bust.

Far-sighted bankers long ago figured out that they too should share the seignorage — not with the public but with the public officials who oversee the Fed and the Treasury.

The financial sector is the biggest lobbying industry in America .. and the biggest campaign donor.

The Fed’s money gets spread around.

The same occurs in London, Paris, Tokyo and beyond.

We are told that bankers’ bonuses are needed so these skilled technicians — who nearly bankrupted us all — do not jump ship.

But where would they go?

What economists would call the “opportunity cost” of bankers — their next best salary outside banking — would be a sharp step down without the seignorage.

Ouch.

Even as they feed on Wall Street largesse .. politicians have finally had to face the brazenness of these arrangements.

The White House and 10 Downing Street recently called for a new banking tax to recoup some of the seignorage, as have other G20 governments.

And none too soon , with the public up in arms about the injustice of it all .. and national budgets haemorrhaging mega-deficits..”

go to source/story>>Rob rich bankers and give money to the poor | Jeffrey Sachs - Times Online

“..There is no simple way to battle public hostility to climate research.

As the psychologists show .. facts barely sway us anyway

There is one question that no one who denies manmade climate change wants to answer: what would it take to persuade you?

In most cases the answer seems to be nothing.

No level of evidence can shake the growing belief that climate science is a giant conspiracy codded up by boffins and governments to tax and control us.

The new study by the Met Office, which paints an even grimmer picture than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will do nothing to change this view.

The attack on climate scientists is now widening to an all-out war on science.

Writing recently for the Telegraph, the columnist Gerald Warner dismissed scientists as “white-coated prima donnas and narcissists …

.. pointy-heads in lab coats [who] have reassumed the role of mad cranks …

..The public is no longer in awe of scientists.

Like squabbling evangelical churches in the 19th century, they can form as many schismatic sects as they like, nobody is listening to them any more.”

Views like this can be explained partly as the revenge of the humanities students.

There is scarcely an editor or executive in any major media company – and precious few journalists – with a science degree ..

.. yet everyone knows that the anoraks are taking over the world..”

go to source/story>>The trouble with trusting complex science | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian

“.. Senior church leaders have spoken out against conditions at New Plymouth prison, labelling the cramped cells a “source of shame and disgrace”.

They also say a 22-hour-a-day lockdown instituted in the prison is “disturbing.”

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu – who was imprisoned by dictator Idi Amin – and former Governor-General Sir Paul Reeves visited the city prison last week, along with the Bishop of Taranaki, Philip Richardson.

Their 3 1/2-hour visit was part of a week-long stay in the region, leading up to the consecration of St Mary’s Church as the Taranaki Cathedral.

In a statement released to the Taranaki Daily News yesterday, they commented on the professionalism, courtesy and humanity of the staff they met and the way they related to prisoners.

They found the work of the two chaplains, Sister Margaret and The Rev Judy Clark, a source of inspiration.

They also understood the importance of New Plymouth retaining a local prison, which allows prisoners from the region to maintain links with family.

However, they described the lack of resources which forces a 22-hours-a-day lockdown, as disturbing.

Physical conditions in the older part of the prison attracted special concern, with the bishops saying cramped cells built 150 years ago were “a source of shame and disgrace for us all”.

“In our view, to house men in such claustrophobic conditions for months at a time, some of them as young as 17, many of them still on remand ..

.. is dehumanising for inmates and staff alike.”

go to source/story>>Bishops shocked by New Plymouth prison - national | Stuff.co.nz

“..The time is rapidly approaching when we discover whether Steven Joyce has what it takes.

Whether he is a communications minister with mettle ..

.. or whether he travels the way of so many communication ministers before him - to the realm of the spineless jellyfish.

Maurice Williamson went there, championing the ideology of the light-handed regulator, but consigning the country to the slow lane of telecommunications for more than a decade in the process.

Paul Swain went there too. Faced with the big decision - whether to open monopoly services to competition - poor Paul didn’t have the bottle.

He’ll forever be known as the minister who the dropped the unbundling bundle.

He too set the country back another decade in the process.

Then came brave David Cunliffe, the minister who lived up to his name and slew the Goliath, Telecom.

It wasn’t a slingshot to the forehead.

Cunliffe used the twirling bolas of operational separation around the ankles to fell the giant and curb its rampant monopoly power.

Sadly, Cunliffe was weak on the mobile front - where duopoly rather than monopoly rips off consumers.

By machinations too tedious to mention, Vodafone conspired, with the help of Bill English, to force the minister, in 2007, to step aside from adjudicating in the arcane arena of mobile termination rates.

Basically, these are fictional fees mobile operators pay each other for calls terminating on one another’s network.

In truth they shouldn’t exist at all, but such is the power of telecommunications companies, they can make fiction reality and rort the hapless consumer.

Which is why New Zealand has one of the most expensive mobile services in the world..”

go to source/story>>Chris Barton: Joyce near high noon of communications portfolio - Opinion - NZ Herald News

“..Dozens of directors who run Auckland’s cultural and sporting facilities look set to be dumped by the Government for a handful of directors to control everything from ballet in the Aotea Centre to rugby fixtures at North Harbour Stadium.

The agency designing the Super City is working on winding up 16 major arts and other regional facilities to create a single major regional facilities council-controlled organisation for the Super City.

The new CCO, with a board of about eight directors, will be responsible for most of Auckland’s iconic facilities, such as Auckland Museum, Auckland Zoo ..

.. and Motat, cultural facilities like The Edge and Bruce Mason Centre, and major stadiums, including Mt Smart and North Harbour.

The directors will need to make calls on risky musicals, decide on a new herd of elephants at Auckland Zoo, deal with the Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium ..

.. and manage controversial museum director Vanda Vitali..”

go to source/story>>Ballet and rugby under one roof - National - NZ Herald News

“..Is reality TV finally living up to its name?

Most of what we are served up under that rubric is actually the farthest thing from reality.

The exploits of Snooki, Jake the Bachelor, and all those Real Housewives hardly reflect life as most of America knows it and lives it.

The real America is hurting — not jetting off to an exotic location for Fantasy Suite canoodling.

But no matter how sobering the statistics we are getting on a regular basis (and I’ll offer up some bracing ones in a moment), ..

.. the hardships and suffering tens of millions of Americans are experiencing are almost entirely absent from our popular culture.

Which is a shame, because drama and narrative have the ability to move people’s perceptions in a way that raw numbers never can.

Enter Undercover Boss, the new CBS reality show in which corporate CEOs don disguises and spend a few days experiencing what it’s like to be a low-level worker at their companies.

Watching the show — including the episode in which the CEO of a waste management company vacuumed out port-a-potties ..

.. and learned that one of his employees, a woman who drives a garbage truck, has to urinate in a cup ..

.. because her productivity requirements leave her no time for a bathroom break — I thought of Benjamin Disraeli.

Before becoming Prime Minister of England, Disraeli wanted to issue a wake up call about the horrible state of the British working class.

So, in 1845, he wrote a novel, Sybil, which warned of the danger of England disintegrating into “two nations between whom there is no sympathy, as if they were inhabitants of different planets.”

The book became a sensation .. and the outrage it provoked propelled fundamental social reforms.

In the 19th century, one of the most effective ways to convey the quiet desperation of the working class to a wide audience was via a realistic novel.

In 2010, it’s through reality TV.

And Undercover Boss has clearly touched a nerve with viewers.

Last week, only the Olympics and American Idol scored higher in the ratings.

It’s the kind of popular entertainment that can start out as one thing — a fun, high concept reality show —

– but morph into something that affects the zeitgeist .. by turning a spotlight on just how out of touch America’s corporate chiefs are.

And their cluelessness is not just about the jobs their workers do — it’s about the lives their workers lead.

Ever since Roseanne went off the air, network TV has not been the most welcoming place when it comes to telling the stories of working class Americans.

But now, week in and week out, millions can see what downsizing and Wall Street’s demands for ever-greater productivity and earning margins did to the lives of so many Americans, even before the economic crisis.

The chasm between America’s haves and have-nots has reached Grand Canyon-esque proportions.

Thirty years ago top executives at S&P 500 companies made an average of 30 times what their workers did —

– now they make 300 times what their workers make.

That’s the kind of statistic a show like Undercover Boss can put flesh and blood on.

Here are a few others:..”

go to source/story>>Arianna Huffington: Is Undercover Boss the Most Subversive Show on Television?

“..The Government’s wholesale funding guarantee, introduced during the 2008 global banking crisis, will be shut down at the end of next month, says Finance Minister Bill English.

The wholesale funding facility was set up in November 2008 when the liquidity crisis hit global credit markets.

Speaking at a meeting in Auckland today, English said the scheme had helped the banks access funding during the crisis, but international conditions had now improved.

“New Zealand banks are now raising funds without using the guarantee, which was always envisaged as a temporary measure for extraordinary times,” he said.

Today’s announcement follows confirmation last month that the Australian wholesale funding guarantee will end on March 31.

Other countries have also ended their guarantee schemes .. or are in the process of doing so.

English said the wholesale guarantee facility was separate from the retail deposit guarantee scheme.

No changes are planned for the retail deposit scheme beyond those announced last year, which take effect from 13 October 2010.

Since the wholesale guarantee was set up, 24 guarantee certificates have been issued, covering $10.3 billion of borrowing by banks.

The scheme has made no payouts and the Government will receive almost $290 million in fees..”

go to source/story>>Bank guarantee scheme will end in April, says English - Business - NZ Herald News