The week that was 12 - 18 June

Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo was arrested yesterday, after boarding the Leiv Eiriksson oil drilling rig off Greenland.

Mr Naidoo carried the signatures of 50,000 supporters who have called for Cairn to explain how it would deal with a deep water drilling disaster similar to that which hit BP's Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico a year ago.

The arrests followed an injunction issued last week by a Dutch court, barring Greenpeace activists from approaching the drilling vessel. Greenpeace claims Cairn Energy have refused repeated requests to publish its oil spill plan. Speaking just before setting out to scale the platform, Mr Naido said:

"The Arctic oil rush is such a serious threat to the climate and to this beautiful fragile environment that I felt Greenpeace had no choice to return, so I volunteered to do it myself."

Ben Stewart, a Greenpeace associate onboard the Esperanza, said after Mr Naidoo's arrest that the activists were heading out of the area.

"After over a month of non-stop action to stop dangerous deep water drilling in the Arctic, which has seen 22 Greenpeace activists, including Kumi, arrested after braving freezing seas to protest against Cairn's reckless drilling, it is time to move the campaign up a gear and out of the Arctic. We are now leaving the area and taking the campaign against dangerous Arctic oil drilling to other places, and that's where we'll be for the rest of the year," he said.

The battle to stop Arctic oil drilling is far from over. 

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos declared a national disaster last Saturday for the flood and landslide-plagued country as intense rain continued to threaten homes and farmland. Initial reports said that 464 people had been killed with the flood affecting an area approximately 236,087 square kilometres in size. New Zealand's mainstream media incorrectly reported that there were no deaths from the flooding.

President Santos said nearly 1 million hectares (3,860 sq miles) of farmland was under water, describing the situation as a "great tragedy." The government estimates that the floods, which have affected swathes of the country, have caused damage to the value of NZ$6.2 billion.

Erupting volcanoes in East Africa and Latin America continued to disrupt flights this week over concerns that the spewing ash could jam aircraft engines. The Iceland volcano Grimsvotn threw ash hundreds of kilometres into the air. Last year, another Iceland volcano, Eyjafjallajoekull, grounded tens of thousands of flights and cost airlines millions of dollars.

Earlier this month, the Puyehue volcano in Chile began hurling plumes of ash over Latin America that spread to South Africa and Australia. In South America, the Nabro volcano in Eritrea, on the Red Sea spread ash as far as Australia as well.

Last week, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on all governments and peoples to play their part to ensure that the world’s oceans are protected for future generations, warning that they face major threats in the years ahead.

“Many severe challenges related to oceans. These range from depleted fishery resources, the impacts of climate change and the deterioration of the marine environment to maritime safety and security, labour conditions for seafarers and the increasingly important issue of migration by sea,” he said.

Louisiana regulators have been ordered by a state appellate court to thoroughly analyze possible contamination, including radiation, from dumping fluids used in drilling for oil and natural gas into the seas just off the New Orleans coast.

On Friday, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal ruled that the state must determine if the practice of dumping wastewaters from offshore drilling operations is harmful to the environment and humans. Before being deposited in the state's seawaters, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality said the fluids, known as produced waters must be treated.

The Louisiana Environmental Action Network, a Baton Rouge-based environmental watchdog group, sued the environmental quality department after it issued new waste water permits to drillers in 2009 without analyzing how harmful the produced waters are.

The appellate court said the department "abused its discretion" in issuing the new permits without more testing or monitoring for contamination. The court noted that the Environmental Protection Agency is studying whether people are at risk from eating seafood "exposed to produced water" containing radioactive materials. Stuart Smith, a lawyer for the watchdog group, said an in-depth review was long overdue.

"This should have been done 30, 40 years ago. There has never been a comprehensive environmental impact statement done on the huge amounts of radioactive material being dumped into the territorial seas of Louisiana on a yearly basis. There is evidence of heavy metals and radioactive materials accumulating in the food chain." he said.

Jessica Ernst, who lives near Rosebud Alberta, is vowing to continue her fight against the oil industry over fracking which contaminated her water supply with methane gas. Hydraulic fracturing, involves pumping water, nitrogen and chemicals into the ground at high pressure in order to cause a series of cracks to free up natural gas.

She's suing Encana, Alberta Environment and the Energy Resources Conservation Board. Ernst says she knows what she's up against, and her chances of winning her legal battle are slim. But she vows to fight it out to the end and says she will not settle out of court because she wants the truth about hydraulic fracturing to be known.

Three New Zealand reports published by the Ministry of Health and the National Health Board this week, include maps showing that Northland, Waikato, Lakes, Taranaki, Bay of Plenty, Tairawhiti, Whanganui and Otago DHBs have more cancer deaths than the national average.

Cancer remains the leading cause of death in New Zealand, accounting for 29% of all deaths. The most commonly registered cancer in 2008 was prostate cancer, but lung cancer was the deadliest, followed by colorectal, breast and prostate cancer. New Zealand has one of the highest rates of cancer in the World.

Whale Blubber

I read something on Gotcha the other day that I thought was rather amusing, Cameron Slater’s 13 rules of politics. Number six states; "Don’t mess with The Whale or Cactus Kate." Really! Why is that I wonder? This is the usual drivel we've all come to expect from the blogger known as Whaleoil. I was amused because his arrogance is obviously in excess of his capabilities, and I’m not just talking about his physical and mental limitations here.

Slater’s deductive and researching skills are woefully lacking when it comes to providing factual information, which in my opinion is the basis of a decent blog. Therein lies the divide between good journalism and blogging I guess, with Slater giving us all a bad name with his diatribe of disinformation.

Recently Slater claimed Labour used parliamentary services to run their websites in what he terms “Whaleleaks,” attributing his muckraking to the well known and prestigious organization Wikileaks.

The truth of the matter is that there’s been no inappropriate use of public money to run Labours websites. The problem Slater has developed for himself is one of the boy who cried wolf. This is just as problematic within the animal kingdom as it is within the bloggosphere, where credibility is king.

While having the pretense of a political attack, Slater's main motivation is one of self-promotion. This leads me to question exactly what he's promoting of himself that is worthwhile as a topic that the public might be interested in? The pontifications of a lying fool perhaps? In my opinion, muckraking is not a particularly effective method when it’s based entirely on half truths and disinformation.

Slater claimed that he unearthed credit card details of Labour Party supporters and was going to release them to the public, which would be in breach of New Zealands Privacy laws. However this is a complete fabrication as an entirely different server than the one Slater accessed holds transaction details. He couldn’t hack that server in a million years even if you paid him.

Now we have Slater claiming that Labour has lots of email addresses of people involved in teaching because they've been "harvesting" emails from petitions. Stop the presses... Labour's got some email addresses, it's the crime of the bloody century.

What Slater fails to understand is that Labour has a lot of support from teachers because National has royally fucked up the implementation of National Standards and plans to cut ECE subsidies into dust. Slater's grandiose assertions are trivial, and shows that his claims of being comparable to Wikileaks are seriously unintelligent at best. Now that's some damn fine slating.

While a few people might believe Slater’s claims over and above what Labour has stated, the fact of the matter is that Slater has taken the opportunity that a breach of security has enabled to throw a whole lot of bullshit around, with most of it sticking to the muckraker himself I might add.

The only advantage Slater has is that his credibility couldn't be damaged much anyway, being that it's non existent. Something is definitely a bit stinky within the New Zealand blogosphere, with all evidence pointing towards the dead beached whale AKA Cameron Slater.

It’s a common theme of dirty tactics that Slater is no stranger to. A couple of weeks ago he blogged about the Jackal publishing the 25 Rules of Disinformation, attacking my writing capabilities amongst other ineffectual arguments.

He states within his oozing toxic cesspool that is the Gotcha bog, that I'm associated with the Labour Party, which is entirely untrue. I've never even voted Labour before. Nor do I have anything to do with his pathetic Twitter parody. This gives us a clue as to the extent of "evidence" within his so called Whaleleaks documents. Next he'll be publishing his shopping list and blaming Labour for him forgetting to buy some Antacids.

Slater's pitiable blog post about the Jackal was entirely developed from comments made on The Standard's re-post of the 25 Rules of Disinformation. In my opinion his hypocritical argument is not very effective with Slater often plagiarizing other peoples work. He really should be more concerned about his own blogging etiquette than mine.

Slater's motivation was one of retaliation for the Jackal giving him an Asshole Award back in March. From his recent conduct, he's nominated himself for the Asshole of the Year award as well. Places are filling fast with the winner being chosen in October.

Asshole of the Year Nominee

Now we have Catcus Kate cynically awarding Slater with the Air New Zealand Best Blog Award 2011. Perhaps we should change that to the Best Muckraking Bog Award, which seems far more appropriate. Slater's been slagging off Air New Zealand recently, so I very much doubt they'd give him anything more than a kick up the backside.

Being that there was no nomination process, just one judge (Catcus Kate) and the entire premise of Slater’s slander was based on lies, a belief that he’s instigated any change to the political landscape is premature, especially with five months still to go before the next general election.

The fact that National was digging around in Labour’s servers well before Slater is just as damaging to National’s credibility as Labour leaving their door open. In this respect Slater has scored a social media own goal (SMOG), by showing just how underhanded the rightwing are in their pursuit of power.

Don’t mess with The Whale or Cactus Kate… or what? Slater will undertake yet another campaign of slander and personal attacks based on lies? Don't make me laugh!

Friday Fun with Photos #5

I knew the Royals often overindulged, and that Obama had a penchant for Guinness... but this is ridiculous!

An Excuse for GE

We should all know by now that climate change will affect crops that we humans rely on for sustenance. Changing seasons and fluctuating weather patterns could be devastating for food production, which is essential to maintain current population levels.

The side effects of unchecked industrialisation could grow further in scope with diseases, viruses and bacteria all finding more favourable conditions under a warmer and unstable climate. So what is the answer to this threat?

Horticulturalists have been developing new crops and cultivars through plant breeding for a long time now. How effective this relatively slow process will be at negating the unprecedented adverse effect from climate change on plant crops is debatable. However it's assuredly one of the best methods to use to advance agricultural security.

Can plants be changed to such a degree in this way as to contend with climate change at all? One can only hope so. What is required is a large undertaking of horticultural research to find specific plant crops that will suit the projected conditions. Migrating suitable crops around the globe as conditions change could help maintain production to ensure mass starvation is mitigated.

Moves to undertake such things as crop diversification are very slow to get organised to a degree that will have much effect. Unfortunately a good deal of the focus has been on genetic engineering, which has been touted as a saviour but has delivered very little in terms of increased production or resistance to pests and diseases, which are likely to increase dramatically under climate change conditions.

Research and development into suitable crops with an intelligent variety redistribution system, proper water management and decentralizing production areas is in my opinion the best methods to use. Canada made a start on just such an endeavour stating:

The applicability and success of different adaptation options will vary greatly between regions and farm types. To determine whether an adaptation option is appropriate for a given situation, its effectiveness, economic feasibility, flexibility, and institutional compatibility should be assessed. In addition, the characteristics of the producer and the farm operation should be considered, as should the nature of the climate change stimuli. Possible economic and political constraints are also important considerations.

Most importantly, however, the adaptation option should be assessed in the context of a broader decision-making process. Researchers agree that agriculture will adapt to climate change through ongoing management decisions, and that the interactions between climatic and non-climatic drivers, rather than climate change alone, will direct adaptation.

The question for New Zealand politicians is whether they're happy for the agriculture sector to be reactive to the effects of climate change, or will they undertake a plan to protect the hugely profitable sector by researching and developing pre-emptive adaptation measures to ensure the effects of climate change are minimized? With John key being a climate change denier, such a worthwhile endeavor is unlikely to gain Governmental support at all.

Hero of the Week Award - Cameron Leslie

Most able-bodied people wouldn’t have a clue about the challenges and difficulties disabled people face on a daily basis. It’s not just the physical barrier that the disabled need to overcome; people’s attitudes are often as great a barrier to achieving independence. There’s a fantastic program called Attitude that helps to promote and enable the participation of the disabled in society as full and equal citizens. The appropriately named show helps to break down the barriers that inhibit equality within New Zealand.

Some progress has been made in this area over the last few years, however disabled people feel that change is not rapid enough and fundamental barriers to their participation in society still exist. Some of the main issues are:

Removing peoples discrimination, improving access for disabled people, meeting the changing expectations of disabled people and their families, sustaining disability support services, supporting people's growing aspirations and ensuring the needs of future generations are planned for.

People of all ages and ethnicities have impairments that range from intellectual, psychiatric, physical, neurological and/or sensory impairments. These may be temporary, intermittent, or ongoing. Society further disables people over and above their impairments by excluding them from participation or from having independence. This often takes the form of service design, communication channels, buildings and attitudes, which makes aspects of society inaccessible.

That’s why the hard work of Cameron Leslie is so important. This young man shows that through goal setting and effort nearly anything is achievable. His example breaks down those societal barriers that are often far more debilitating than any physical condition.

Cameron overcame a quadruple limb deficiency to win the 2008 paralympian Individual Medley gold medal, setting a world record in the process. The journalist, advocate and wheelchair rugby player won the prestigious Attitude Sportsman of the Year Award in 2008. He also received the NZ Order of Merit in 2009. It’s no wonder he’s the Jackal's Hero of the Week Award winner. Well done young man.

John Boscawen - Asshole of the Week Award

The Act Party Leader John Boscawen was literally frothing at the mouth in Parliament yesterday. I’ve embedded the video below for you to watch if you’ve got the stomach. Amongst his largely ineffectual ramblings were a number of gaff’s that made the frothing old fool look even more pathetic. “Rome burns while Nero feel’s,” is not the saying. Although the leader of the fascist Act Party corrected himself, his ineptitude isn't particularly helpful within Parliament.

New Zealand’s Government is an institution that’s meant to be leading the country into a brighter future, not helping fools spout rubbish. What a waste of everybody’s time and money people like Boscawen are. Why doesn’t he go and get a proper job?

According to Act there’s plenty of work out there in the real world, I’m sure he could work as a pig farmer for Roger Douglas or something. That particular occupation would seem far more appropriate for the bumbling and barely understandable Boscawen.



Did you see the goober? Note the gesture towards his crotch area when he said the word "fiddles." The frothing Boscawen also said; “Good on Maryan Street for raising the cost of living.” WTF is he on about?

Could somebody please explain to me why a subsidy to plant trees to offset carbon is going to increase our power bills? I’m at a total loss to understand what Boscawen was on about? 

He’s right about one thing though; we do face serious times and issues, which Act like National have no answers for. Has anybody else been hearing the uproar from Christchurch re the Governments failure to help those affected in the earthquakes? Shameful!

Information was revealed recently that showed National borrows $100 million a week when it doesn’t need to. National was happy to use that high rate of borrowing as a reason for making cuts all over the place... Not to mention that around $56 million is being borrowed each week to pay for the tax cuts for the already wealthy. 

National use our high rate of borrowing as an excuse to fire thousands of public servants, cut Kiwisaver and WFF, all the while over half of that borrowing is based on bullshit! However I digress, John Boscawen from the Act Party is the subject of this blog post.

What was even more telling of Act’s total lack of consistency was Hilary Calvert’s speech yesterday that chastised Labour for getting New Zealand “hugely in debt” while commending National on doing a great job at managing the countries finances. Silly cow!

John Boscawen then attacked National over the $17 Billion debt they've managed to accrue in an attempt to justify asset sales. So what is it Act, is that $17 billion debt a good or bad thing? These people obviously wouldn't know their arses from their elbows. Read from the same goddamn page you idiots!

Let’s not forget the atrocious handling by Rodney Hide of the David Garrett debacle... there’s probably a lot more dirt to dig there with the criminal Garrett potentially facing charges for misleading a court of law. Apparently he’s not the only one who couldn’t remember if he had a criminal conviction prior to becoming an MP... Hilary Calvert couldn’t recall if she has convictions either. How dumb is that?

Don’t even get me started on Roger Douglas and Don Brash. I haven't got all day to sit around blogging you know. So for double standards, stupidity, corruption, beneficiary bashing, racism and homophobia, this week’s asshole award goes to the leader of the Act Party, John Boscawen. What a goober!