Owen Glenn's Bribery Blues

On Saturday the 3 September, Sean Plunket interviewed Businessman and multi-millionaire Owen Glenn, on The Nation Program. During the interview he was asked a question concerning donations to political parties.

Owen Glenn stated that he would make a donation of $100 million to the government if the National and Act parties won the next general election. It was inferred that he would not make the donation if Labour won.

He was therefore encouraging people to support the National and Act parties by using a financial incentive to illicit votes from the public. This is strictly outlawed under the Elections Act 1993:

Part 7 – Corrupt and illegal practices – 216 Bribery

(1) Every person is guilty of a corrupt practice who commits the offence of bribery.

(2) Every person commits the offence of bribery who, directly or indirectly, by himself or herself or by any other person on his or her behalf—

• (a) gives any money or procures any office to or for any voter, or to or for any other person on behalf of any voter, or to or for any other person, in order to induce any voter to vote or refrain from voting; or

• (b) corruptly does any such act as aforesaid on account of any voter having voted or refrained from voting; or

• (c) makes any such gift or procurement as aforesaid to or for any person in order to induce that person to procure, or endeavour to procure, the return of any person or candidates at an election or the vote of any voter,—

or who, upon or in consequence of any such gift or procurement as aforesaid, procures, or engages, promises, or endeavours to procure, the return of any person or candidates at any election or the vote of any voter.

(3) For the purposes of this section,—

• (a) references to giving money shall include references to giving, lending, agreeing to give or lend, offering, promising, or promising to procure or endeavour to procure, any money or valuable consideration:

• (b) references to procuring any office shall include references to giving, procuring, agreeing to give or procure, offering, promising, or promising to procure or to endeavour to procure, any office, place, or employment.

(4) Every person commits the offence of bribery who—

• (a) advances or pays or causes to be paid any money to or to the use of any other person with the intent that that money or any part thereof shall be expended in bribery at any election; or

• (b) knowingly pays or causes to be paid any money to any person in discharge or repayment of any money wholly or in part expended in bribery at any election.

(5) The foregoing provisions of this section shall not extend or be construed to extend to any money paid or agreed to be paid for or on account of any legal expenses incurred in good faith at or concerning an election.

(6) A voter commits the offence of bribery if before or during an election he or she directly or indirectly, by himself or herself or by any other person on his or her behalf, receives, or agrees or contracts for, any money, gift, loan, or valuable consideration, office, place, or employment for himself or herself or for any other person for voting or agreeing to vote or for refraining or agreeing to refrain from voting.

(7) Every person commits the offence of bribery if after an election he or she directly or indirectly, by himself or herself or by any other person on his or her behalf, receives any money or valuable consideration on account of any person having voted or refrained from voting or having induced any other person to vote or refrain from voting.

(8) In this section the term voter includes any person who has or claims to have a right to vote.

Somehow I don’t think the corrupt Owen Glenn is going to be charged by the Police for breaching the Elections Act 1993... Mainly because of the one law for the rich and another for the poor rule that New Zealand is governed by.

However public opinion seems to be agreeing with the Elections Act. Here's the first five comments so far on the TV3 website of the interview video:


jj - 03 Sep 2011 8:27p.m.

This is a sure reason to get rid of those bastards in November, this is dirty politicking too say the least, when you have rich people supporting National to the theme of millions to help them win. It is about time that those with so much money stop supporting different parties at election time, as the time frame like this stands out like fins on a shark. They should start polling on even footing and no party is allowed to receive money as a carrot dangle, after all it is polls where your voting is done, all the voting booths are not segregated but all parties are held in one place.

Bob - 03 Sep 2011 8:13p.m.

The people will choose who wins this election... And majority of the population is poor... The rich trying to buy this election by parading their money around like its nothing!!! Bribing us kiwis into voting for National... Enough is enough!!! Vote Labour!!! 

Clarke - 03 Sep 2011 7:48p.m.

Not born in New Zealand. Hasn't lived here in over 40 years. Donated also to the New Zealand first party in the past. Not eligible to vote here in New Zealand. Doesn't surprise me that he has lost his mind at 71, although in all honesty he has previously tried to swap donations to political parties for international political postings before. Wouldn't surprise me in the least if National have sold out and are planning on giving him a political posting that Labour weren't corrupt enough to give him.

Owen Glenn has also formerly donated money to the Maori party before... the man is quite fickle but what else can you expect at his age. I have seen many many National party supporters put Mr Glenn down over the years... lets watch them be hypocritical and sing his praises now though. That he is supporting National is meaningless since he seems to actually donate to more than one party during any given election campaign, I believe he donated to four parties in the last general election... left and right wing parties.. so he definitely hedges his bets and is inconsistent in his beliefs. 

jan.. - 03 Sep 2011 7:45p.m.

A generous offer, buying National Party like a lottery ticket is not appropriate, Labour Party can do better and looks like you might have to raise your generous offer millionaire.. 

KJ Moodie - 03 Sep 2011 7:16p.m.

This is really, really unfortunate for NZ politics.

P-lab Contaminated Houses Ignored

Those who are unfortunate enough to live in a house that has previously been used to manufacture the methamphetamine drug known as pure (P), have an uphill battle on their hands.

P lab contaminated houses are a serious problem as the residual chemicals are highly toxic and exposure can cause illnesses related to immunodeficiency and serious diseases like cancer. Therefore you'd think the government was getting serious about the problem, unfortunately not...

All responsibility falls on those living in the contaminated property. Firstly they have to associate the initial headaches, nausea and skin conditions to a thing that is often invisible. Even when the association is made, they have to convince authorities to test for toxic residual; if the Police are not involved, this process alone can take years.

Figures show that one third of people who are suspicious of the house they live in are proven correct. Even when a house tests positive, Regional Councils simply list it as a property with higher probability of contamination, leaving all relevant details aside. To make matters worse, the limited information is not easily accessible for anybody who believes the house they reside in is contaminated.

People renting contaminated houses have the option of moving on. But the property owner must take it on the chin or hide the fact that the house is no longer suitable for living in. Even when testing shows a house is contaminated, there are no laws to say the property owner can't simply rent it out to the next unsuspecting tenant.

Perhaps the property owner might even sell to an unsuspecting purchaser. The costs involved can be huge, especially if insurers decline cover or authorities condemn the house.



Once it has been established a home has been used as a P lab, an extensive decontamination process is required - which can cost from between $5000 to $35,000. But there is no national standard for what constitutes a satisfactory clean-up.

There is no open database of what houses have been checked and tested positive. That means contamination from the manufacture of P is quietly swept under the carpet, to protect property owners and insurers from potential losses, and this suits the drug industry just fine.

It’s not only chance involved in who is residing in these contaminated houses either. The drug dealers et al actively choose people to reside in houses previously used to manufacture P. The more average Jo Bloggs these people appear the better. That’s because the next knock at the door is usually the Police.

The transient nature of P labs means the number of contaminated houses is growing. Even if a doctor recognises the causes of their illnesses, which is usually not the case, those who are affected have little chance at any recompense.

What we need is an open and easily accessible database of houses that have been tested for contamination and a dedicated task force to start testing more houses. Without these things, innocent people will continue to bear many of the costs of New Zealand's P epidemic, and that's simply unfair.

Friday Fun With Photos #14

Don Cheadle is obviously the best person to play Captain Planet in the movie version of the popular cartoon, hopefully they make his character a nicer guy.

Don Cheadle is Captain Planet from Don Cheadle     

David May - Asshole of the Week Award

Not only has the Superannuation Fund Authority unethically invested into companies involved in tobacco production, they have also breached the Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987 by investing over $2 million into nuclear weapons development companies.

Unbelievably they have then completely ignored the International Convention on Cluster Munitions by investing $2.5 million into five different cluster bomb manufacturers.

As a taxpaying New Zealander who has money invested into the Superannuation fund, I am disgusted at my hard earned dollars funding despicable companies that cause untold death and mayhem around the world.

Some sobering facts about where our money is being invested:

Approximately 5.4 million deaths worldwide are caused per year by tobacco. This is set to rise to 8.3 million by 2030. Approximately 2000 civilians are killed each year from detonating unexploded cluster bombs.



As of August 2011 the memorials recorded the names of more than 430,000 deaths from the US nuclear attack on Hiroshima (275,230) and Nagasaki (155,546).

However the conditions related to radiation exposure as a direct result of nuclear weapons testing and deployment make an exact figure difficult to quantify. Figures for those killed with newer small nuclear weapons in Iraq for instance are not available.

Because of nuclear weapons testing in the south pacific, every New Zealander has strontium 90 in their bodies. That historic testing will pollute this country and its people for many years to come. Nuclear weapons are a plague on the earth, and should receive no R&D funding from a nuclear free country.

By investing in the war machine, the Superannuation Fund Authority have shown themselves to be scum sucking leeches! Floating on the top of that scum (just below the Minister in charge, Bill English) is the Chairman of the board of trustees, David May. I can think of nobody more deserving of this weeks Asshole Award.

Aotearoa New Zealand Cluster Munition Coalition.

The National Business Review's Biased Reporting

Last Friday I blogged about the National Business Reviews article on Hone Harawira that was inaccurate and misquoted what the Mana party leader said. Unfortunately similar cases of incorrect reporting are not isolated.

The main stream media is awash with inaccuracies, discrimination and subterfuge that discourages proper debate and ensures the public is not properly informed.

I'm personally fed up with this, and will complain to the Press Council whenever I come across similar misreporting. As an added extra I'm going to highlight the worst examples of crappy journalism. I hope that my efforts are not in vain, and it creates more accountability within journalism that should hold fairness, accuracy and balance above all else.

Which brings my attention once again to the National Business Review.

In an article published on Tuesday entitled Oil and gas could pay royalties of $13 billion, the NBR make some seriously absurd claims about the oil and gas industry. This is not helped by the fact the article provides an unbalanced opinion without any counter viewpoint.

Like the only person quoted in the piece, Associate and Acting Minister of Energy and Resources Hekia Parata, the NBR have simply made shit up.

What's more, National is completely ignoring the consequences of more CO2 in the atmosphere, which is scientifically proven beyond a doubt to cause climate change, as succinctly pointed out in this article by Bryan Walker over at Hot Topic. It's well worth a read.

Polar Bear stranded on a shrinking iceberg in Greenland

Besides the NBR's article not being balanced, and because it makes no clear distinction between factual information and comment or opinion, therefore being incorrectly labelled, there are a number of other more concerning examples of subterfuge within Niko Kloeten's inaccurate propaganda piece: 

The Woodward report shows the government will take more than $3 billion from oil and gas fields already in production, potentially rising to $12.7 billion, which the government says will help pay for schools, hospitals, broadband and roads.

The headline says $13 billion, but then the article says the amount is $12.7 billion. $300 million is a hell of a lot to round up. But it gets worse... it's the Ministry of Economic Development's website that says $12.7 billion, not the report. The report states that:

We view the prudent valuation for the Crown’s royalty from future discoveries as $5,545 million, being the Swanson blend of the P90, P50 and P10 for the Mid valuation case.

The High valuation case illustrates the additional value the Crown could capture from exploration activity accelerating by 50% over the next 10 years, in a setting of slightly faster rising petroleum prices than in the Mid valuation case.

The maximum amount of increased royalty cashflow, according to the report, is $10,269 million. How on earth this gets rounded up twice to $13 billion, I will probably never know.

There's a sinister reason behind the subterfuge... Overvaluation is a tactic used by dishonest companies to gain more investment capital and to drive up share prices. It's one of the reasons for the 87 stock market crash and is currently outlawed in New Zealand.

However there's another reason for the over inflation of potential earnings from new oil and gas exploration. If National can convince the public that oil and gas drilling is a bonanza, more people will accept the environmental consequences of the destructive process.

A Dead Whale washes up after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, March 1989

Niko Kloeten goes on to write:

Currently companies can apply to explore any area in NZ.

While technically correct, the article completely ignores the fact that there are many areas in New Zealand that cannot be exploited for mineral wealth. Cities, private property and public reserves all have additional laws that preclude oil and gas exploration. There is no point in applying for permits in those areas. The article therefore misrepresents.

Furthermore the article omits relevant information like the time frame of royalty payments of 10 years and the required increased exploration rates of 50% to get an average moderate increase of valuation to $5,545 million. The increase of 50% accelerated exploration activity is mere speculation. Many people would incorrectly assume that the figures quoted are yearly without that information.

Subterfuge by the way of omission is another tactic often used by the dishonest reporter. It is disappointing to see New Zealand's government utilizing disinformation to promote it's defunct policies. 

The National Business Reviews Managing Editor, Todd Scott is studiously ignoring my formal complaint concerning the NBR's biased and inaccurate article. Will keep you informed.

David Farrar's Birthday Bash

Now you might think that David Farrar has plucked the 11-09-2032 (for when people are no longer banned from Kiwibog) out of his rather large posterior. Not so... it happens to be his 65 birthday.

Being that Farrar said the ban from Kiwibog was forever, the compromise of 11th September 2032 seems rather strange. I can’t imagine Kiwibog will even exist by then, as the derelict administrator's blogging is already becoming rather crusty.

I usually respect my elders, but in this case I'm prepared to make an exception. Mainly because Farrar hasn't grown wise or enlightened in his old age and there's simply nothing to respect. In fact he's lost whatever small semblance of logic and reasoning he used to have.

Farrar's writing has become a bore of inaccurate rhetoric, fabricated opinion and cut and pasted plagiarism targeted at Nact lemmings who wouldn't know the truth if it slapped them in the face. It's no wonder Farrar has had to ban a large number of commentators from Kiwibog.

Here's the "banned forever" people Farrar's bothered to list:

    Greenfly/Village Idiot - Trolling/Impersonating DPF
    Roger Rabbit/Jock/Harry - 10 abusive e-mails to DPF
    Racer - Vandalism/Wikipedia smears
    Robert Owen - Gross abuse to owner, multiple ids
    Robinson/Robinsod - slander and lies
    Rocket Boy - Sheer nastiness
    Roger Nome - His visceral loathing of me
    Sam Dixon/Daedulus/Steve Pierson - Wikipedia smears
    Swiftman/Scum Sucker - anti-semite
    Todd - non stop trolling plus threatening to sue me
    Tom Gould - Offfensive Troll

I particularly like Roger Nome’s one: “His visceral loathing of me."

Poor Farrar... it must be hard being a National party propagandist that gets picked on all the time. At least he has an ever-dutiful ventriloquist dummy to echo his every word and re-shovel the Kiwibogs bullshit! Their inane muckraking is akin to dactylorrhea.

 

Ironically I attribute Farrar's arrogance to being my motivation for starting the Jackal blogsite.  My blog’s been a thorn in the RWNJ’s side since February, and I’m just getting started. However unlike other right wing blogger's, and despite repeatedly showing Farrar up to be a fool, he has remained quieter than a church mouse.

Even when I highlighted Kiwibog's LSO cookie that illegally infects people’s computers, Farrar fails to engage. I presume he's previously triggered the NO DUMB FUCKS policy on other websites, and learned his lesson.

Farrar's sheepishness is not only due to an even playing field... he doesn’t defend his honour because he simply has none. The capitalist cretin is just another vacuous hollow-man, and evidentially a coward as well.

Anyway, I'm sure you'll mark the date on your Calender, and count down the 7,681 days in anticipation to a royal rumble at Kiwibog in 2032. I can’t wait.