Posts by Steve Barnes
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Even Microsoft is pissed.....
Microsoft: US government is an 'advanced persistent threat'"Many of our customers have serious concerns about government surveillance of the Internet."
Lest we forget that this started with the illegal surveillance of Kim Dot
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Hard News: Circumstance and coincidence, in reply to Paul G. Buchanan,
There are plenty of Republicans in Hollywood and pseudo-libertarians like Rand Paul who would jump at the opportunity to exploit some Obama/movie mogul cronyism for political gain. Yet none of that has happened.
How about CPAC/movie mogul cronyism? Its all in the TPPA and how you hold your tongue.
Movie Industry, In a Switch, Is Courting the GOPLast year, the MPAA replaced its longtime lead lobbying firm, considered to be close with Democrats, with a lobbyist with ties to key GOP lawmakers. Its political-action committee now gives more donations to Republicans than Democrats. And it has sent money to a GOP super PAC, a conservative antitax entity and a business lobby helping Republicans in the 2014 elections.
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Hard News: Circumstance and coincidence, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
+1. I have always thought this.
No you haven't.
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Hard News: Circumstance and coincidence, in reply to Bart Janssen,
Seriously, if he has a bad memory then we don’t want him running the country, surely it is one of the basic requirements for such a job.
Not at all. The most powerful defence to all things is plausible deniability, if you have the attention span of a mosquito and everybody knows it, then who will question the "brain fades", the MSM certainly finds it acceptable but we all know how dangerous mosquitoes are.
All to do with perception. Take Jkey's short one word answers in the house, half the time you can't tell a yes from a no, just some hissing/grunting sound and its all over. People are so stunned by this that they blame themselves for not listening properly and generally just nod and move on, its an old trick. -
Hard News: Circumstance and coincidence, in reply to MxDEJ,
Random thought crossed with a genuine question: Was there some pressing reason to move Mateparae out of NZDF, even if it meant bouncing him in and out of the GCSB?
I see where you are going with that but I see it the other way round. They needed to put someone in there after the “resignation” of this guy…
Former spy agency boss Sir Bruce Ferguson says Prime Minister John Key must be “smoking dope” for linking failings at the bureau to him and other former directors with a military or defence background.
Why would he say such a thing?.
Retired commander signals abuse cover-upLast night, Sir Bruce joined a panel on TVNZ’s Media7, seated alongside author Nicky Hager, author of the recently released book Other People’s Wars.
The controversial book claims military officials have not revealed the true extent of their operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
During the recording of an online segment, Media7 host Russell Brown asked Sir Bruce what he thought of Kiwi soldiers blowing the whistle on prisoner abuse in Afghanistan.Well Russ? What did he have to say?
Does this go far deeper than we know?.
Still fits with drone attacks…
Sir Bruce would have frowned on that, ungentlemanly don’t you know. -
Hard News: Circumstance and coincidence, in reply to Pete George,
They often don’t answer. It’s a bit hard finding out what the PM says…
"Well, I can't tell you about that because I don't know but I will tell you this.... [insert bullshit blaming everything on Labour here]
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Hard News: Circumstance and coincidence, in reply to Alfie,
I expected to see followups this story on our mainstream media front pages this morning. But there's nothing!
Well there was... This yesterday
I would consider Scoop to be mainstream these days, they publish the entire press release instead of pretending its a story one of their "journalists" has ritten (yes, I studied the 3 R's at school, I'm pretty good at rithmetic too so I am as qualified as they) like the Herald or one of the other tabloids we have posing as " 'papers".
To dismiss Campbell's story, as DPF has done, dismisses the fact that most people in this country only read the headlines and fail to see timelines and connections between, seemingly separate stories (excuse the allusion to alliteration, although analysis of average awareness amongst any average adult to add 1+1 avoids accurate assumption, ay?)
So I was really quite pleased to see the facts laid bare for the voting public. He actually does some good work, that Campbell. -
two tragedies are likely to spring to mind: the Canterbury earthquakes and Pike River Mine. Both struck the nation by surprise: prior to the first Canterbury quakes, no one even knew there was a fault line sitting restlessly below the Canterbury plains.
No one?
How about eCan back in 2008?CANTERBURY’S SHAKY HISTORY
It is 80 years since Canterbury experienced a large,damaging
earthquake. However, in the 70 years between 1860 and 1930, eight earthquakes caused significant building or contents
damage in Canterbury.
04 JUNE 1869
NEW BRIGHTON
DESCRIPTION Magnitude 5, epicentre around New
Brighton, MM intensity 7-8 at New Brighton,
intensity decreased rapidly away
from Christchurch.
DAMAGE Widespread chimney destruction,
damage to stone buildings.31 AUGUST 1870
LAKE ELLESMERE
DESCRIPTION Magnitude 5.5, epicentre in the
vicinity of Lake Ellesmere, MM intensity 6 in
Christchurch, Lake Ellesmere and as far
south as Rakaia, felt in Oamaru, Greymouth
and Dunedin.
DAMAGE Most damage in Christchurch and
Lyttelton – household contents broken, chimneys
destroyed, minor structural
damage, rock falls.5 DECEMBER 1881
CASTLE HILL
DESCRIPTION Magnitude 6.2-6.3, MM intensity 7-8
at epicentre, MM intensity 6 in Oxford and MM
intensity 6-7 in Christchurch.
DAMAGE Christ Church Cathedral spire damaged,
broken windows, household contents, chimney
damage, Avon River stopped fl owing.1 SEPTEMBER 1888
NORTH CANTERBURY
DESCRIPTION Magnitude 7-7.3, MM intensity 9
at epicentre, MM intensity 5-7 in Christchurch,
felt from Taranaki to Southland, surface rupture
of the Hope Fault.
DAMAGE Landslides and severe damage to
buildings in the Amuri area, damage
to Christ Church Cathedral spire,
contents damaged.16 NOVEMBER 1901
CHEVIOT
DESCRIPTION Magnitude 6.5-7, epicentre near
Parnassus, MM intensity 9 in Cheviot, MM
intensity 6 in Christchurch, felt from New
Plymouth to Dunedin.
DAMAGE Widespread damage to contents, cracks
to stone work, broken windows, damaged
chimneys and damage to Christ Church Cathedral
spire, liquefaction and lateral spreading reported
along the Pegasus Bay coast, particularly in
Kaiapoi.
REPORTS “A terrible earthquake this morning at
a quarter to eight. There is a mass of ruins at
Cheviot…shook a traction engine over and a man
out of his coffin.”As for Pike River…
It was well known from previous mining disasters in the area, Brunner; 1896 and Strongman; 1967, that the seam was gaseous, hence; “A major feature of the underground works is a 110-metre (360 ft)-deep ventilation shaft. After local ground conditions were found to be worse than expected,” Here
Worse than expected? you would have thought that would be the end of it but…one of the most telling features of the report is when it talks about an underviewer in April 2010 dealing with the amount of gas venting in the mine and writing an email to the board saying “methane showed no mercy’’.
"Virtually nothing is a surprise here, except the emphatic nature of the conclusions reached.
A gas blast at a mine in New Zealand that killed 29 workers was preventable, an investigation has found, with multiple warnings ignored.
Health and safety systems at the Pike River mine were inadequate, and reports of excessive methane levels were “not heeded”.
A drive for production “before the mine was ready” created the circumstances for the tragedy, the report found.
"In the last 48 days before the explosion there were 21 reports of methane levels reaching explosive volumes, and 27 reports of lesser, but potentially dangerous, volumes,” the report said.
“The reports of excess methane continued up to the very morning of the tragedy. The warnings were not heeded."
(ref. as above)
He said had he still been chief inspector of coal mines in 2008, he would not have allowed tunnelling through the Hawera fault line with only one entry to the mine.
“PRC (Pike River Coal) did not seem to understand the seriousness of the gas risks in the mine, and how essential ventilation was, even at this early stage,’’ Mr Bell said.
Here
But that coal was worth so much money…. now that is a class act eh?. -
Hard News: Softly, softly, in reply to Kumara Republic,
“what if it was your kid at the Boston Marathon?”
Well indeed, what if?
With the death of a runner in the Little Rock Marathon two weeks ago, as well as deaths in the 2007 Chicago Marathon and the 2007 US Men’s Olympic Trials, a number of people have recently asked the question, “why do runners die during marathons?”
This is terrible, damn those terrorists…..
Oh, hang on…A 2012 analysis of almost 11 million runners in marathons and half-marathons from 2000 to 2010 found that just 59 had a heart attack while running. Most of them had pre-existing heart disease. The men (and they were almost all men) were 42 years old on average; 42 of the 59 died.
Just 42 eh?
Now, how many died of terrorist bombings?. Just 3So, terrorists 3, lack of preventive health care 42.
I can see where the real problem is, can you?.And that’s not all folks…
Most Common Marathon Injuries..1. Blisters
2. Black Toenails
3. Chafing
4. Runners Trots and Nausea
5. Dehydration
6. Hyponatremia
7. Sunburn and Windburn
8. Muscle Cramps
9. Hitting the Wall
10. Sprains, Strains and Stress FracturesI note there is no mention of bombings in there but I suppose you might "hit the wall" if you get blown into one.
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Hard News: Softly, softly, in reply to Kumara Republic,
I’m even more antsy that a sizeable chunk of people among us actually support this kind of judge, jury & executioner doctrine.
Especially when that includes our Pry Mincer and other sizable chunks on the front bench.
And I am not alone in condemning this shit as Murder..."The US drone war has no legal basis under international law. The UN´s Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, has said that the use of drones is not combat as much as `targeted killing´. He has repeatedly tried to get the US to explain how it justifies the use of drones to target and kill individuals under international law. The 2011 murder of US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki and his son in Yemen caused serious debate in the US, and the murder of Daryl Jones should do the very same here."
"John Key obviously thinks the US government has the right to decide who - including NZ citizens - is allowed to live and who has to die."
He shrugged off responsibility for New Zealand's role in the programme.
"That is a matter for others because we are not the individuals that are conducting those drone strikes ... maybe, in the odd instance we might be [Murdering them] or we might not be, it depends on the circumstance."
Key will travel to Washington next month for talks with US President Barack Obama - but drone strikes, or mass murder by the NSA, won't be on the table.
"Yip, President Obama has used drones, that's a matter for them really but I think under the circumstances in which I can see they are being used for the most part I'm comfortable with it," Key said.
Yippee ki yay Muffuker
Well, he's already paid Warner Bros to make the movie...
"JK- The Smiling assassin"Some co-workers called him "the smiling assassin" for maintaining his usual cheerfulness while sacking [murdering] dozens (some say hundreds) of staff after heavy losses from the 1998 Russian financial crisis.
Doncha Kiwis feel proud to have such a man as your leader?.
* italics all mine but yip,what the hey!