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Nelson Mandela: A Jewish Perspective

Saturday, 7 December 2013, 12:55 pm | Tikkun

Jews love and loved Nelson Mandela. He inspired us with his insistence that the old regime of apartheid would crumble more quickly and fully when faced with revolutionary love and compassion than when faced with anger and violence. More >>

Better Six Billion than Six Trillion

Saturday, 7 December 2013, 12:00 pm | Franklin Lamb

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates—along with certain Arab League countries, plus Turkey and Israel, have this past week reportedly committed themselves to raising ... More >>

Stop Japan's Fukushima Censorship

Friday, 6 December 2013, 4:25 pm | Harvey Wasserman

At a critically dangerous moment, Japan is poised to take a giant step toward officially shrouding Fukushima in the deepest possible secrecy. At least two petitions are being circulated in opposition. One is addressed to the Japanese government and Prime Minister ... More >>

The Tally Room: Full Analysis Of Draft NZ Electorate Changes

Friday, 6 December 2013, 2:36 pm | Ben Raue

Last Thursday, the first round of draft boundaries for the next New Zealand election was released to the public. After extensive work, I have now produced a Google Earth map of the boundaries, as well as estimates of the vote for each party in the party ... More >>

The Iran Deal: Only Time Will Tell

Friday, 6 December 2013, 11:50 am | Alon Ben-Meir

In the wake of the interim nuclear deal with Iran, many questions have been raised by people from different backgrounds, government officials, and the media inside and outside the Middle East about the validity and importance of the agreement. More >>

Gordon Campbell on oil drilling permits, and Iris Dement

Friday, 6 December 2013, 11:46 am | Gordon Campbell

Yesterday, the government unveiled the latest round of oil permits. Five of them are located onshore in Taranaki and the East Coast, but five are located offshore, in the Reinga-Northland, Taranaki, and Great South Canterbury Basins. More >>

Google stack day seven: Living on a cloud

Friday, 6 December 2013, 8:02 am | Digitl

Spending the entire week working with an Android smartphone and a ChromeBook was as much a test of personal cloud computing as of Google software. More >>

House Rises

Thursday, 5 December 2013, 5:59 pm | ParliamentToday.co.nz

The House rose just before 6pm after completing the second reading of the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Bill by 109 to 7 with NZ First opposed. More >>

Judicature Reform Bill Sent To Select Committee

Thursday, 5 December 2013, 4:21 pm | ParliamentToday.co.nz

One of the largest bills of recent times has received unanimous support in Parliament this afternoon. More >>

Palestine: Einstein and the Prawer Plan

Thursday, 5 December 2013, 3:51 pm | Julie Webb-Pullman

Today is the 65th anniversary of the publication of a letter from Albert Einstein and others to the New York Times, denouncing United States support for Israeli terrorism manifested by welcoming Menachem Begin, at the time head of the Freedom party, to ... More >>

Bush Copied Hitler's Propaganda Technique

Thursday, 5 December 2013, 3:45 pm | Sherwood Ross

The "preventive war" propaganda used by President Bush to justify his attack on Iraq in 2003 copied that used by Hitler when he invaded Russia in 1941. Starting a preventive war was a foundation of the "Bush Doctrine." More >>

The Anti-Empire Report #123: December 3rd, 2013

Thursday, 5 December 2013, 3:41 pm | William Blum

What do you think of this as an argument to use when speaking to those who don’t accept the idea that extreme weather phenomena are man-made? Well, we can proceed in one of two ways: 1. We can do our best to limit the greenhouse effect by curtailing ... More >>

Samantha Shannon, author of The Bone Season & dreamwalker - Video Interview

Thursday, 5 December 2013, 2:57 pm | Alastair Thompson

22 year old UK Author Samantha Shannon is keeping herself busy making history in publishing. Her first novel The Bone Season was released in August in 20 languages and has now been translated into eight more. Three months after release 20th Century ... More >>

Govt’s Last Business Statement Of Year

Thursday, 5 December 2013, 2:32 pm | ParliamentToday.co.nz

When Parliament resumed at 2pm Deputy Leader of the House Anne Tolley outlined the Government’s priorities for the last sitting week of the year. More >>

Martin Doyle cartoon: Fixing New Zealand cricket

Thursday, 5 December 2013, 2:14 pm | Martin Doyle

Surely there are enough dips and turns already in the very nature of sport without money-makers sticking their dirty fingers into the honourable cricket bag and trying to put a sick spin on things. More >>

Bill Limiting Foreign Buyers Drawn

Thursday, 5 December 2013, 12:36 pm | ParliamentToday.co.nz

A bill seeking to limit the sale of rural land to foreign buyers was drawn from the Members Ballot today. More >>

Angola: A conspiracy to ban Islam?

Thursday, 5 December 2013, 11:57 am | Tanveer Jafri

The continuous political and military interference by the West in Islamic countries is giving rise to violence and terrorism against the West. As a result, the religion of Islam and its followers are being looked upon with suspicion. More >>

Grilling Rusbridger: The Guardian in the Dock

Thursday, 5 December 2013, 11:55 am | Binoy Kampmark

A few things have happened since The Guardian decided to storm the Bastille of surveillance with its cultivation of such journalists as Glen Greenwald and the recruitment of Spencer Ackerman. (We might also place Julian Assange in that heady mix, though that ... More >>

Hospital Price-Gouging Widespread: N.Y. Times

Thursday, 5 December 2013, 11:46 am | Sherwood Ross

Quick, will somebody, anybody, please nominate The New York Times for a Pulitzer for yesterday's (Dec. 3) story "As Hospital Prices Soar, a Single Stitch Tops $500"! This is an expose about hospital profit-taking that has long deserved front page ... More >>

Impossible Dialogue: The Choice in Yemen

Thursday, 5 December 2013, 11:43 am | Ramzy Baroud

Chances are dim that elections will be held in Yemen next February. Yet without elections, the push for reforms and change that were inspired by the Yemeni revolution would become devoid of any real value. More >>

Solari Report: US Tax Issues for 2013-14 with Patty Kemmerer

Thursday, 5 December 2013, 11:41 am | Catherine Austin Fitts

During my first internship on Wall Street, I sat in the office of a senior banker as he puffed on his cigar at8am in the morning. He looked me in the eye and growled, “Kid, if you want to be successful in this world, find yourself a great accountant ... More >>

Review:Diana, Runner Runner, Camille Claudel 1915, Prisoners

Thursday, 5 December 2013, 11:36 am | Funerals and Snakes

Apart from the inescapable need to carve out a meagre living from an uncaring world, one of the reasons why these weekly updates have been something less than, well, weekly recently has been that most of the fare on offer at the pictures has been ... More >>

Gordon Campbell on John Banks, and blogging’s merits

Thursday, 5 December 2013, 11:05 am | Gordon Campbell

It is hard to feel sorry for John Banks. Sorry, I’ll start that again. It would be easy to feel sorry for John Banks in his current sorry plight...unless and until one re-reads the passage in David Fisher’s excellent book The Secret Life of Kim ... More >>

Mammoth Bill Up For Debate

Thursday, 5 December 2013, 10:56 am | ParliamentToday.co.nz

One of the largest bills of recent times will be debated in Parliament this afternoon. More >>

Members’ Day Eaten Away By Other Debates

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 8:37 pm | ParliamentToday.co.nz

There wasn’t much time for Members Bills on the last Members’ Day of the year when a number of debates and other business ate into the available time. More >>

Lobbying Elites: The Fast Track to Extinction

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 6:06 pm | Robert J. Burrowes

As we evaluate the outcomes of the recent UN climate negotiations in Warsaw, one lesson that we are invited to learn, again, relates to our strategy for getting effective action taken on the ongoing climate catastrophe and other critical environmental ... More >>

Public Address 4 December 2013 - John Banks: what next?

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 6:02 pm | Public Address

Justice Heath has released his decision on John Banks’ application for judicial review (.pdf), which, as anticipated, did not take long. There are a few points of note. The removal of the trial into the High Court has been confirmed, and it has ... More >>

Walks on moon and water

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 5:58 pm | Don Franks

Jesus walked on water, so the holy bible writ; He did it ‘cos his mates off shore were getting in the shit; The waves of Galilee were up, the skies were dark and dirty, although it looked ok when they’d set sail around six thirty. More >>

The Last Dead Nazi

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 5:55 pm | William Rivers Pitt

A piece of history died on Monday. Heinrich Boere was 92 years old when he passed away in a prison facility in Froendenberg, Germany, where he was being treated for dementia. More >>

Comic Relief: Capitalising on the Useful Poor

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 5:49 pm | Binoy Kampmark

Comic relief has become an industry, its own self-justifying premise. In January this year, BBC2 hosted its Great Comic Relief Bake Off. It had four million viewers, meaning that 16.3 percent of the audience was nabbed between 8pm and 9pm on one specific ... More >>

Saudi America and the State of Denial

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 5:40 pm | Michael Collins

Well, I guess that means every thing will be just fine. We’ll have plenty of cheap fuel to drive gas-guzzlers and lots of walking around money from out new status as oil suppliers to the world. We might even have enough money to fund health care, ... More >>

OECD PISA Survey: Infographic And Analysis Of NZ Results

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 5:35 pm | OECD

The graphic below allow comparison of country results. It is followed by a video discussion of factors relating to New Zealand's performance in an international context. More >>

Palestinian lost opportunities

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 5:35 pm | Jamal Kanj

Just over a week ago Palestine had a chance to cast its first vote at the UN General Assembly appointing a Judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. More >>

Violence Worsens in Bangkok's "Insurrection"

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 5:31 pm | Richard S. Ehrlich

Violence worsened on Monday (Dec. 2) between anti-government mobs using a hijacked bulldozer, fire engine, garbage truck and homemade explosives to attack police who responded for the first time with rubber bullets after the prime minister rejected ... More >>

Undernews: December 4, 2013

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 5:28 pm | Undernews

Led by phenomena like the opposing political hysterics of Fox and MSNBC, we have come to assume that what is dividing the country is deep political ideology. What is far more likely, however, is that the ideology is just the visible manifestation ... More >>

The Corruption Tango

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 5:11 pm | Abukar Arman

Any unchecked authority or power—especially when involving monies—ultimately leads to corruption. That is why it is necessary to put in place mechanisms to monitor, audit, reward, and, when necessary, punish. All laws stemming from a moral or a legal ... More >>

War on Christmas? The Corrosive Power of Cheer and Commerce

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 5:05 pm | John Brueggemann

Here we go again. “School Bans Santa over Religious Concerns.” ”Christmas Concert Cancelled in Hawaii.” “Charlie Brown Violates U.S. Constitution?” The War on Christmas is afoot! Fox News is correct—there is a sustained effort under way to ... More >>

Spiritual Hope on Christmas & Chanukah

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 5:01 pm | Rabbi Michael Lerner

Christmas and Chanukah share a spiritual message: that it is possible to bring light and hope in a world of darkness, oppression and despair. The miracle of Chanukah is that so many people were able to resist the overwhelming "reality" imposed by ... More >>

CIA's "Clout" In White House Suggests Agency Is Running US

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 4:55 pm | Mike Palecek

Who really runs America? One way to answer that question is to see if there is any person, group or organization that is above the law. One entity's name that comes up immediately is the Central Intelligence Agency(CIA), which breaks laws all over ... More >>

The Karzai Dilemma: The Puppet Who Refused to Move

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 4:52 pm | Binoy Kampmark

Afghan leader Hamid Karzai is not conforming to his puppet status. He was meant to be the marionette of Washington’s confused and often incompetent policy in Afghanistan. With Karzai at the helm of a broken and mutilated state, the Coalition forces demonstrated ... More >>

Opposition Parties Critical of TPPA

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 3:41 pm | Hamish Cardwell

Members of the Mana, Māori, Labour, Green, and NZ First Party are highly critical of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) which could be agreed upon in a meeting of trade ministers in Singapore this weekend. More >>

Adjournment Debate Next Wednesday

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 2:12 pm | ParliamentToday.co.nz

An adjournment debate will be held next Wednesday, Leader of the House Gerry Brownlee said today. More >>

Martin Doyle cartoon: 125K and counting

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 1:34 pm | Martin Doyle

Nothing will bring back the people who have died in Syria under Bashar al-Assad, but United Nations Human Rights shows not everyone is happy to 'forget'. More >>

John Banks to Step Down as ACT Leader, MP for Epsom

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 12:22 pm | Hamish Cardwell

John Banks will step down as ACT Party Leader, and will not contest the Epsom electorate in the 2014 general election. At a press conference in Wellington today Mr Banks said he would stay on as representative for Epsom until the election, and will remain ... More >>

The Whereabouts of the Dorak Treasure Monograph

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 12:10 pm | Suzan Mazur

Arlette Mellaart has died, the beloved wife of the late British archaeologist James Mellaart -- who gave us the fabulous story of the Dorak Treasure. Although I've seen no notice in the media about the passing of Mrs. Mellaart, her son Alan told me by ... More >>

Darling, Which of Us Is the Robot? -- Slawek Nasuto

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 12:01 pm | Suzan Mazur

Cyberneticist Slawomir Jaroslaw Nasuto has a radiance that can only be Polish. He was born in eastern Poland, in Lublin, during the Soviet years (Stalin was embraced by the post-WWII provisional Polish government headquartered there) and is now doing ... More >>

Gordon Campbell on New Zealand’s PISA education rankings

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 11:25 am | Gordon Campbell

Perhaps a bit more scepticism about the PISA results could be healthy. Surely, shouldn’t we should feel misgivings about a test that claims to measure the relative competence of reading writing and maths skills by students within the education systems of the ... More >>

A Question Of Privilege

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 10:36 am | ParliamentToday.co.nz

The Privileges Committee report into how private information was handed over to a prime ministerial inquiry will be debated in Parliament this afternoon. More >>

Fibre, VDSL customers use more data: Telecom NZ

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 8:49 am | Digitl

Customers with VDSL or fibre plans chew through almost three times as much data per month as people with an ADSL account. More >>

Curran blasts Key misleading on Chorus

Wednesday, 4 December 2013, 8:43 am | Digitl

Labour communications spokesperson Clare Curran says Prime Minister John Key has been caught out making misleading statements on Chorus. More >>

Stalled Consumer Law Reform Bill Gets Moving

Tuesday, 3 December 2013, 10:01 pm | ParliamentToday.co.nz

After a 12 month wait Parliament debated the committee stage of the Consumer Law Reform Bill this evening. More >>

Does 2degrees have a point about spectrum and mobile competi

Tuesday, 3 December 2013, 6:15 pm | Digitl

Third-place mobile carrier 2degrees wants the Commerce Commission to step in to the 700 MHz spectrum auction. More >>

GCSB and SIS Directors at Intelligence Committee Meeting

Tuesday, 3 December 2013, 6:06 pm | Hamish Cardwell

Tempers flared between the Chris Finlayson and the Green's Russel Norman during the first ever public hearing of New Zealand's agencies in Wellington. More >>

Drink Driving Bill Supported By All Parties

Tuesday, 3 December 2013, 4:45 pm | ParliamentToday.co.nz

A bill lowering the drink driving limit has been sent to a select committee for consideration. More >>

Papers and Petitions

Tuesday, 3 December 2013, 2:19 pm | ParliamentToday.co.nz

A large number of papers and other items were tabled after Parliament resumed at 2pm following the adjournment. More >>

Public Address 2 December 2013 - Media, Data and the Judge

Tuesday, 3 December 2013, 12:22 pm | Public Address

I've been too busy in the last week or so to cover three reports I'd normally have been all over: NZ On Air's annual report, the 2013 World Internet Project New Zealand report and The New Zealand Media Ownership Report 2013 published by AUT’s Centre ... More >>

India: The AAP phenomenon and what it means for us

Tuesday, 3 December 2013, 12:07 pm | Rahul Pandey

In the past several days I have been a part of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s campaigning in Matiala constituency of Delhi. In this small period I have been witness to some inspiring processes and moments – motivation and hard work of persons volunteering ... More >>

David Cunliffe: Chch By-Election | Chorus | GCSB

Tuesday, 3 December 2013, 11:54 am | Hamish Cardwell

At his weekly pre-caucus standup Labour leader David Cunliffe introduced Christchurch by-election winner Poto Williams, accused Telecommunications minister Amy Adams of “backtracking” over the release of an independent assessment of Chorus copper ... More >>

Gordon Campbell on asset sales, and the Cameron Slater case

Tuesday, 3 December 2013, 11:54 am | Gordon Campbell

Much of the criticism of the asset sales programme has focussed - quite justifiably - on how it will increase income inequality in this country, with all its social ills. Less evidently, the partial asset sales also doubles down on an earlier exercise ... More >>