Scoop: Top Scoops + Just Politics
TODAY’S TOP SCOOPS:
Opinion: Peters Ought To Be Encouraged For 'Soft Criticism' Of U.S
Union: Young Workers Strike as Youth Rates Bill Debated
Politics: Prime Minister's Office Spoke Too Soon On Abizaid Visit
"Arrogant, Insensitive, Confrontational!" – That South Park Episode Causes Unrest
RECOMMENDED AUDIO
Health: Nurses Shortage Must Be Addressed By Better Pay: NZNO
Foreign Affairs: Peters Lays Down NZ's Five Year Policy Plan
MORE HEADLINES
Employment: Air NZ Steps Up Plans To Dump Staff -
Scoop Report: Tensions Come to Head for New Palestinian PM
UN Audio
MORE INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES
SCOOP COLUMNS:
Russell Brown posts long on telecommunications
William Fisher on the Guantanamo Evidence
Ramzy Baroud on the Western media and the Muslim world
Science: Brian Carter's The March Night Sky
MORE COMMENTARY
OTHER NEWS (Just Politics):
Security: Former Spook Head Dies
Drugs: Nats Say Anti-P March Must Be Listened To
Trans-Tasman: Downer Scheduled For Peters Meeting
MORE POLITICS NEWS
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TODAY’S TOP SCOOPS
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Opinion: Peters Ought To Be Encouraged For 'Soft Criticism' Of U.S
State Of It editorial Selwyn Manning writes that Criticisms by Winston Peters, of the USA' level of understanding of NZ's role in the Pacific is fully justified and indicates a shift in thinking – from that of an opposition MP to ministerial responsibility. It ought to be encouraged. But has Peters gone far enough? In time, one can imagine this foreign minister, armed with a box of facts, determining a view and aggrieve that recent history has relegated New Zealand's national identity, and indeed its international identity, down to that of third-way insignificance. See... Soft-Criticism Of Unappreciative U.S. Fair Comment [1]
Union: Young Workers Strike as Youth Rates Bill Debated
- KFC Henderson will be taking industrial action in support of their pay claim to abolish youth rates, today at 3.30pm,
Lincoln Rd. Unite Union organisers will be meeting KFC workers Ramit Kumar, 16, who earns $8.08 an hour and Colin
Fulton, 15, who earns $7.13 an hour, with school friends at Massey High School at 3.10pm. (At the 1st gate before the
main school entrance on Don Buck Rd.) Unite will then join the young workers as they walk to work and take their store
out on strike as a part of the SuperSizeMyPay.Com month of industrial action. See... Young Workers Strike as Youth Rates Bill Debated [1]
Politics: Prime Minister's Office Spoke Too Soon On Abizaid Visit
- Scoop Report: Selwyn Manning writes that Fairfax's Dominion Post reported the PM's office called around press gallery reporters on Monday requesting they
not report the Prime Minister had announced that United States general John Abizaid would be in New Zealand this week.
Scoop must report however, that the PM's office did not contact Scoop Media in an attempt to censor the mis-timed
announcement – presumably due to the fact that the cat was out of the bag (so to speak) by 5:08 pm! Clearly, Scoop was
fast off the mark in audio-streaming the PM's post-Cabinet conference and so alerting our fine audience to this most
sensitive news. See... PM's Office Announced Abizaid's Visit Too Early [1]
"Arrogant, Insensitive, Confrontational!" – That South Park Episode Causes Unrest
- Family Life International is outraged at the unbelievably arrogant, insensitive, and confrontational decision by
CanWest to advance the broadcast of the highly offensive Bloody Mary episode of the South Park cartoon series. See... Canwest Decision Quashes Right To Free Protest [1] ALSO: CanWest - In response to high levels of debate surrounding South Park’s “Bloody Mary” episode, C4 has decided to screen the
episode tonight (Wednesday 22 February at 9.30pm). See... South Park Episode To Screen Immediately [2]
RECOMMENDED AUDIO:
Scoop Audio: Selwyn Manning discussed on Radio Adelaide today:Winston Peters' MFAT 5-year-plan; South Park's
"Offensive" Bloody Mary episode; how 22,500 Kiwis left for Australia last year; and a Youth Rates bill designed to
abolish discrimination against youth in the workplace is to be read in Parliament today. See... Scoop Audio: Selwyn Manning on Radio Adelaide [1]
Health: Nurses Shortage Must Be Addressed By Better Pay: NZNO
- Results of a new survey of primary health nursing staff, conducted by the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, signal a
looming recruitment crisis in the sector, unless the pay gap is closed between them and their counterparts in public
hospitals (DHBs). See... Nursing Recruitment Crisis Looms in Primary Health [1]
Foreign Affairs: Peters Lays Down NZ's Five Year Policy Plan
Scoop Audio: Alastair Thompson reports that Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and National Foreign Affairs Spokesman Murray McCully today delivered
speeches to a seminar held at Victoria University. The speeches were billed as an opportunity for the two major parties
to explain the points of difference between their policy perspectives in the international arena. In the final result
however the audience learned that there is actually very little light between the foreign affairs policies of New
Zealand's two major Parliamentary parties. See... Scoop Audio: Peters & McCully Talk Foreign Affairs [1] ALSO: Peters - Peters: "Foreign Policy: The Next Five Years" (Text) [2] Nats - McCully: NZ Institute of International Affairs (Text) [3]
MORE HEADLINES:
Good news for Maori in vaccination figures [1] Benson-Pope must explain 'no-show' [2] Didymo could cut hydro generation and boost prices [3] Forestry industry counters Anderton comments [4] Int. Arts Fest Opening Night Friday! [5]
Employment: Air NZ Steps Up Plans To Dump Staff -
Air New Zealand today announced it will proceed with its plan to outsource wide body aircraft heavy maintenance after
union members failed to ratify their own counterproposal. Around 507 ANZES positions will be made redundant on top of
the 110 announced in December, when the decision was made to outsource wide body aero engine maintenance. Of the total
617 positions affected by outsourcing 121 are licensed aircraft engineers and the remainder are trades people, sales and
customer support, clerical staff, planners and cleaners. See... Air NZ To Outsource Wide Body Heavy Maintenance [1] ALSO:Alliance - Labour Government PM blames workers for job losses [2] EPMU - Don’t be rash, unions tell Air NZ [3] EPMU - Engineers Ballot Results Regarding Air NZ [4]
Scoop Report: Tensions Come to Head for New Palestinian PM
- Ismail Haniyeh, a prominent Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, was nominated Sunday to be Palestinian prime minister…
IDF establishes 'Israeli-only' entry points that bar Palestinians… Israel blocking Hamas members from PLC swearing-in…
Israel 'has annexed Jordan Valley and shut out Palestinians'… Emptying the Jordan Valley… See... Tensions Come to Head for New Palestinian PM [1] ALSO: UN agency aiding Palestinians says Israeli operation hinders its work [2] Israeli Military Blocks Emergency Medical Aid [3]
UN Audio
UN Envoy Objects to Israel's Withholding Palestinian Tax Funds - UNRWA Reiterates its Continuing Commitment to Aid
Palestinians - Annan Welcomes Moscow Talks on Uranium Enrichment - Egeland Expresses Fears of Renewed Conflict in Cote
d'Ivoire - Talks on Kosovo's Future Open in Vienna - UN Envoy Discusses Expanding UN Activities in Ramadi. See... UN Audio [1]
MORE INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES:
Member States' obligations to help Horn of Africa [1] UN team arrives in Philippines after landslide [2] Afghan Jehadi commanders to surrender arms to UN [3] World water crisis worse by corruption, repression [4] Chad: Darfur Conflict Spills Across Border [5]
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SCOOP COLUMNS
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Russell Brown posts long on telecommunications
- I'm inclined to believe that the Business Roundtable's submission of a column by its chairman Rob McLeod arguing
against regulation of Telecom - without the fairly important declaration that McLeod is a director of Telecom - was an
error, rather than an attempt to mislead the public. I'm less inclined to credit McLeod's argument. See... Public Address 22/02/06 - Telecommunications & God [1] ALSO:Business Roundtable - The Itch to Regulate Broadband [2] Business NZ - Call for facts in broadband debate [3] ANDPublic Address 21/2 - Tomorrow Is Another Scarlett [4]
William Fisher on the Guantanamo Evidence
- Last June 17, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters, "If you think of the people down there (at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba), these are people, all of whom were captured on a battlefield. They're terrorists, trainers, bomb
makers, recruiters, financiers, (Osama bin Laden's) bodyguards, would-be suicide bombers, probably the 20th 9/11
hijacker." Yet two recent reports, based on the Defense Department's own documentation, reach conclusions that are
dramatically different than Mr. Rumsfeld's. See... A Tale Of Two Gitmos: Where Was The MSM? [1] ALSO:US Force-Feeding Prisoners in Torture Camp [2] No Right Turn: Welcoming A War Criminal [3]
Ramzy Baroud on the Western media and the Muslim world
- In Arab and Muslim media, few condoned the aggressive protests, embassy burnings and threats of violence awakened by
the global cartoon campaign. Except of a few holier-than-thou Arab and Muslim journalists, however, there seemed to be
consensus among most commentators that both appreciate the enormity – and harm- of the inherent anti-Muslim bias in
Western societies and acknowledged the need to respond to such vilification of Muslims and Arabs on a collective level,
even if it includes modes of pressure and muscle flexing. See... Ramzy Baroud: Cartoon Awakening: A Positive Media Strategy [1] ALSO:Meditations: Cartoons and Human Consciousness (II) [2] Cartoon Issue: Is It A Freedom Of Expression? [3]
Science: Brian Carter's The March Night Sky
- We are moving into Autumn now with the Sun visible for half the day. This means that the nights for astronomy are
rapidly getting longer. Planets - March is a good month for viewing the planets. Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will be
visible for the whole of the month. Mercury will be visible for the last half of March. Mars will be visible for the
first third of the night. Mars is in the constellation of Taurus. Its magnitude fades from 0.7 to 1.2 during the month.
Saturn will be visible for the first two thirds of the night. Saturn is in the constellation of Cancer, in which it
remains until September 2006. Its magnitude slightly fades from –0.1 to 0.1. See... The Night Sky [1]
MORE COMMENTARY:
Sam Smith: The Real Holocaust Denial [1] Jimmy Carter: Don't Punish the Palestinians [2] Sol Salbe: Something A Bit Different: An Israeli TV Review [3] Flashback: Beginning of the Final World War [4] Sam Smith: How Washington Thinks And Why It Doesn't Work [5] Bernard Weiner: Slicing Away Liberty: 1933 Germany, 2006 America [6] Leopold: NSC, Cheney Aides Conspired to Out CIA Operative [7] Mark Drolette: Living the American Ream [8] Satire: President Bush's Next Speech [9] William Fisher: National Security Whistleblowers [10] Doug Giebel: The George Bush Mulligan [11] Pringle: Vaccinating for Profit - From Cradle to Coffin [12] Pringle: Whistleblowers Reveal Medicating For Profit Scam [13] Protection of Canada's Great Bear Rain Forest [14] Narconews: Subcomandante Marcos Meets The Braceros [15] Narconews: Subcomandante Marcos Goes to Jail [16] Josse: Recent Developments In Nepal's Maoist Insurgency [17] Norm Dixon: Australia’s 'Greenhouse Mafia’ Exposed [18] Book Review: How To Grow Your Business [19] The Letter – Monday, 20 February 2006 [20]
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OTHER NEWS (JUST POLITICS)
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Security: Former Spook Head Dies
- Prime Minister Helen Clark today paid tribute to Paul Molineaux, a former Director of Security, who passed away on
Thursday in Christchurch aged 85 years. “Paul Molineaux was Director of Security from 1976 to 1983. He oversaw a period
of expansion in the Service. Before becoming Director of Security, he worked as a lawyer, served as a Magistrate and
District Court Judge, and for a period as Chief Justice in Western Samoa. Following his term as Director of Security, he
served as Privacy Commissioner for ten years." See… Paul Molineaux [1]
Drugs: Nats Say Anti-P March Must Be Listened To
- National Party MP for Port Waikato Paul Hutchison says the anti-P march from Pukekohe, in his electorate, to
Parliament should receive nationwide support and attention. "The organisers of the campaign, some of whom have had
family members suffer from P addiction, should be congratulated for bringing increased attention to a problem that
affects every sector of our society," says Dr Hutchison, who is also National's spokesman for Policy on Children. See... Anti-P march deserves nationwide support [1] ALSO:Anderton welcomes 'P' Awareness March [2]
Trans-Tasman: Downer Scheduled For Peters Meeting
- Foreign Minister Winston Peters will host a visit later this week by Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. Mr
Downer is coming to Wellington for the six-monthly New Zealand and Australian Foreign Ministers' consultations. "The
relationship between New Zealand and Australia is as close a relationship between countries as can be found anywhere in
the world", said Mr Peters. See... Peters to host Australian Foreign Minister [1] ALSO: Govt - Costello meeting to progress single market issues [2]
MORE POLITICS NEWS:
Govt - Bill clears way for four-nation trade agreement [1] Govt - Supreme Court Judge appointed [2] Govt - Court of Appeal president appointed [3] Govt - Benefits of trans-Tasman scientific co-operation [4] Nats - Labour should listen to parents [5] Nats - Govt not taking forestry industry seriously [6]