Posts by Katharine Moody
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Even more significant were the Prime Minister’s comments to the BBC, where he stated that he could always provide another academic to give a counterview.
Not quite – you missed the important bit. What the PM actually said is this:
Sackur: Yeah but he’s a scientist, it’s based on research, it’s not an opinion he’s plucked from the air.
Key: He’s one academic, and like lawyers, I can provide you with another one that will give you a counterview.
The key words here being “like lawyers” – meaning, I can buy whatever science I need to defend what it is I want to do
And that is exactly what he is doing to scientists within our CRIs. He is buying both their scientific integrity and their silence.
Note how Sackur refers to Mike Joy as a scientist, but Key refers to him as an academic. Why? I suspect, because in the back of his mind he subconsciously knows he can buy most NZ scientists at the moment, but can’t quite (yet) buy most NZ academics.
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I then received, in particular from CRI scientists who are, as one correspondent reported, “gagged from talking to the media on topics that might seem critical of government policy from 2 months out from the election”.
If this is the case, the best thing scientists across all sectors can do to restore trust in science (and to save the profession) is to become whistleblowers en masse in a petition to Peter Gluckman and the PM.
It is what the UCS did in the US in 2004 to fight the Bush Administration’s corruption and gagging of scientists;
Your profession is in exactly the same position – the threat is immense and the prospect if nothing is done urgently is very, very dim. The moneyed-up multinational forces working against you are ruthless.
Unity of the profession without fear or favour is vital, not only for science but for democracy.
The time for conciliatory proposals has passed. Time to organise.
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OnPoint: Sunlight Resistance, in reply to Jan Rivers,
Jan Rivers
Small organisations and trusts with these sorts of common objectives need to amalgamate under one banner. The key to any movement toward better democracy is to motivate, educate and enthuse those without vested interests – which means the young and the disenfranchised. This new organisation is to my mind the best I’ve seen in that regard;
http://www.actionstation.org.nz/
If I were you, I’d talk to them.
Many years ago in NZ when environmental interest groups began to form there was a state of similar small independent factions who recognised that one banner-one movement had a better chance of making an impact. A number of these joined together to form ECO;
That is the model to follow. A high level of on-going funding is critical and Action Station recently crowd-funded a full page ad in the NZ Herald calling for a Royal Commission into Dirty Politics .. so they have proven impact and potential. They are also the same people behind RockEnrol – again an initiative that brings with it a 4,000 odd people database (folks they newly enrolled for this year’s election).
They also did a blog post here about their experience in that regard.
Best of luck with the initiative – might come across you if you join forces with Action Station.
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OnPoint: Sunlight Resistance, in reply to ,
And we already sold of half the electricity generation. So who knows where the government going to get the farm subidys from.
To pay the interest bill and to defend our int'l credit rating, the Government's only choice I suspect will be to sell more assets, as I doubt they can reduce outgoings or increase revenue (through expanding the tax base) fast enough.
Options are Landcorp and Conservation Estate lands, possibly the partial or full privatisation of ACC or alternately a cave in on the TPPA in exchange for US support on our dollar and borrowing?
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OnPoint: Sunlight Resistance, in reply to Creon Upton,
The answer to the media question doesn’t lie in a return to honorable public broadcasting and increased regulation around the Official Information Act.I think Jon Stewart is a better model.
Brilliant commentary. Yes, but when the Jon Stewart watchers want substance over sensationalism for the rest of their viewing/listening week - an alternate outlet needs to be an available landing spot in the sea of propaganda.
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OnPoint: Sunlight Resistance, in reply to Steve Barnes,
Well thank you! The fact of the matter is – there is so much to be said about John Key’s ethical approach/worldview that he makes an excellent subject for ‘real world’ case study examples for my students. I teach ethics to environmental science students at tertiary level. It’s amazing how few have been exposed to the subject.
I’ve written an entire lecture around this interview with John Key;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/hardtalk/9480610.stm
Money can buy him anything – even his very own “facts”, in fact!
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OnPoint: Sunlight Resistance, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,
There hasn’t been a question time in a while. Surely it’s at least possible that this will come up? :-)
Yes, it is a shame that Nicky couldn’t get the book out prior to Parliament rising. But it will most certainly be pursued with vigour, I’m sure.
In fact, I’d put some money on a by-election in Helensville inside 12 months. Anyone for iPredict?
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OnPoint: Sunlight Resistance, in reply to Rob S,
I think that when it was first announced that the Labour computer had been rifled through and data taken [illegally I think] they should have been proactively finding and bringing the perpetrators to justice instead of being made to look guilty for their [admittedly lax] security and issuing an apology.
That's what I thought too - particularly given it was reported that the credit card details of their membership was also downloaded.
I recall thinking at the time - if I had been on that membership database and my credit card details had been obtained by someone I had not intended to have them - I'd have expected notification from the Party that my CC number was compromised.
I wonder if they did do that? And if so, you'd think at the same time as advising you that you might want to cancel the card, you'd think they'd also tell you that they intended to inform the Police of the matter so that forensic investigation could be commenced.
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OnPoint: Sunlight Resistance, in reply to James W,
even comparing it to something the All Blacks would do to the Wallabies.
Not "would do" - he actually said they "did do".
I was stunned by the statement, as he said it within the context of the All Blacks looking at the Wallabies accidentally unprotected confidential website data and downloading it for their own strategic gain. His words were something along the lines of 'they would do it, because I know they did do it'.
So, naturally I thought sure that the next thing I'd see on the telly or read in the newspaper was the All Blacks management being interviewed with a confirm or deny explanation. But never saw them questioned once.
Eventually, I came across some article that said it had nothing to do with accessing data using a computer system - rather the Wallabies had not erased some drawing on a whiteboard in a room somewhere - and the All Blacks (or their management, it wasn't made clear) looked at the whiteboard when passing by the room which had an open door.
I felt Key's use of the All Blacks behaviour to legitimate Jason Ede's dirty work - just appalling. He basically said they were cyber-spies when nothing could have been further from the truth.
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OnPoint: Sunlight Resistance, in reply to Felix Marwick,
Felix, as an aside, I do hope when Dame Beverley undertakes her investigation about allegations of Ministerial directives regarding OIA content/releases, that journalists will be better served in future as a result. And I got really queasy when I read your comment about the IGIS appearance;
” I did find it mysterious that all the email correspondence I’d saved on my computer regarding my IGIS hearing mysteriously went missing while I was out of the office covering the election campaign. ”
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/opinion/felix-marwick-sis-slater-25-sept-2014
Enjoy your time off.