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TODAY’S TOP SCOOPS:
SCOOP IS IN THE HOUSE:
Comedy Festival: Programme Launched with Lollies for Laughs Bribe
Dance: Botox Becomes The Stuff Of Art -
Police: Change At Top Of Thin Blue Line -
Kiwi Pride: Capital's Depression Looking Good -
Crime: Crime rate drops slightly
The Numbers Game: Forest Destruction
Australia: PM Howard Has Spoof Website Closed Down
MORE INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES:
SCOOP COLUMNS:
Daily Telegraph Reports Secret Iran Attack Meetings
Will Pitt On The Fall Of "The Hammer" Tom Delay
When Killing The Innocent Is No Longer Newsworthy
911Truth Reports On A Breakthrough Week
Bonus Joules Considers The Departure Of David Parker
MORE SCOOP COMMENT & OPINION:
Katya Rivas's Passion: Serialised For Lent (Part 23)
OTHER NEWS (Just Politics):
Electricity: Fitzsimons Encourages NZ to Relinquish Power
Politics: Cullen And Key Set To Spar Over Finance For A While Yet
Tertiary Education: Low-Value High-Volume Courses Targeted By Cullen -
Governors-General: Satyanand Shelves Retirement For Queen -
MORE POLITICAL HEADLINES:
POLITICAL COLUMNS
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TODAY’S TOP SCOOPS
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[1] Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen has described the final report of the UN Special Rapporteur for indigenous issues as disappointing, unbalanced and narrow. "It's hardly surprising that Mr Stavenhagen has come to selective conclusions when he only spent about eight working days consulting in the country all up. "As a result he has failed to grasp the importance of the special mechanisms we have in place to deal with Maori grievances and the progress successive governments have made," said Dr Cullen. See... Response to UN Special Rapporteur report [2] ALSO:UNCHR Mission To NZ Report Addendum [3] Full Report (PDF) [4] National - File UN report in the dustbin - Brownlee [5] Maori Party - Party 'Astonished' at PM’s Dismissal of UN Report [6] NZ First - Special Rapporteur Report Disappointing – Peters [7]
SCOOP IS IN THE HOUSE:
Comedy Festival: Programme Launched with Lollies for Laughs Bribe
- The Wellington programme for the 2006 New Zealand International Comedy Festival was lauched today. The festival runs
from May 15 to June 3. In Cuba Mall Wellington comedians Steve Wrigley and Greg Ellis (aka"Helmut" and "Heinrich")
helped lauch the programme with their "Laughing Yoga" exercises. Their work involved offering sweeties to passers-by -
but in a "non-sleazy" way. See... Scoop Images: Comedy Festival Programme Launch [1] MORE HEADLINES:China must be given a human rights message - Locke [2] Apple Provides Volume Limit Setting for iPod [3] Binge Drinking - It's Everyone's Problem [4] Black Sticks Named for Womens World Cup Qualifier [5] National Climate Summary – March 2006 [6]
Dance: Botox Becomes The Stuff Of Art -
Makeovers get a makeover in a funny, insightful and questioning new dance work created by Raewyn Hill - one of New
Zealand's most innovative contemporary dance choreographers - and performed by Footnote Dance in the inaugural Footnote
Forte Season, opening in Christchurch this Thursday. A parade of cosmetic surgery procedures, eating disorders, body
waxing and Botox shots all get prodded and explored in Hill's new dance commission. See... Makeovers Get A Makeover In New Dance Work [1]
Police: Change At Top Of Thin Blue Line -
Prime Minister Helen Clark and Police Minister Annette King today announced the appointments of Howard Broad as
Commissioner of Police and Rob Pope as Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations). Both appointments are for terms of
five years, and the Government has also decided to re-appoint Lyn Provost for a further five-year term as Deputy
Commissioner of Police (Resource Management). See... Commissioner of Police & Deputies Appointed [1] ALSO: Scoop Audio - Minister And New Police Bosses Speak to Media [2] NZ Police - New Police Commissioner and Deputies Appointed [3] NZ Police - Acting Appointments Made [4] National - New police commissioner welcomed [5] Police Association - New Commissioner's Team Looks Vibrant [6] North Shore City - Wood praises police appointments [7] Lynley Hood - Howard Broad [8]
Kiwi Pride: Capital's Depression Looking Good -
Part of Wellington's business district was quarantined on Sunday and transformed into a rain-slicked city avenue
straight out of the 1930s, decked out with gleaming classic cars, chaps with natty spats and Errol Flynn moustaches, and
girls resplendent in Louise Brooks curls and fox-fur coats. See... 'Wellywood Goes 1930s For The Day' [1]
Crime: Crime rate drops slightly
- The total volume of recorded crime in the last calendar year remained at a similar level to 2004, rising 0.3% in the
total number of offences. This equates to a 0.6% reduction per head of population, the Acting Commissioner of Police,
Steve Long, said today. The total number of offences in 2005 was 407,496, compared with 406,232 in 2004 and 442, 489 in
2003. This drops New Zealand's recorded crime rate below the 1,000 offences per 10,000 population mark to 994.2,
compared with 1,000.5 in 2004 and 1,103.7 in 2003. See... Recorded Crime Remains Steady [1] ALSO:NZ Police - Overall Crime Static In City District [2] NZ Govt - Crime statistics steady [3] National - Labour fails again on crime promise [4] National - Labour has head in sand over violent crime [5] ACT - 16 Violent Offences Every Day In Wellington [6] ACT - New Crime Stats Show East Auckland Suffers 5 Violent Crimes A Day [7] ACT - Political Patronage Plans For Tertiary Education [8] Family First Lobby - Media and Lack of Discipline to blame for crime [9]
The Numbers Game: Forest Destruction
- Imagine a football pitch as you've seen it many times. It's a bit less than one hectare in area. Now imagine that
same football pitch packed end-to-end with a pile of wood around twice the height of Mt. Everest. That's the amount of
forest that is imported into China every year, and the pile is getting higher. The developed industrial economies of
North America, Europe, Japan and South Korea are timber gluttons and consume more timber than the planet can sustainably
provide. That's the bad news. The worse news is that… See... The Numbers Game: Forest Destruction [1]
Australia: PM Howard Has Spoof Website Closed Down
- Reporters Without Borders voiced shock today at the methods used by the office of Australian Prime Minister John
Howard to censor parody website johnhowardpm.org, on which political commentator Richard Neville posted a spoof speech
by Howard about the presence of Australian troops in Iraq. The prime minister's office had the website closed down on
March 14 by going to Melbourne IT, the company that administers its domain name. "All the world's leaders are subject to
parody and the Australian prime minister should learn to live with it rather than banning it," Reporters Without Borders
said. See... Australia: PM Howard Has Spoof Website Closed Down [1]
MORE INTERNATIONAL HEADLINES:
Iranians inflict another slap to face of regime [1] Howard and Wen duck nuclear weapons question [2] Timor Leste: Press Essential In Building Identity [3] Busted in Brazil: Environmental Crimes [4] Zambia uses G8 debt for health care free for poor [5] Northern Uganda: Death rate is higher than Iraq [6]
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SCOOP COLUMNS
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Daily Telegraph Reports Secret Iran Attack Meetings
- The [UK] Government is to hold secret talks with defence chiefs tomorrow to discuss possible military strikes against
Iran. A high-level meeting will take place in the Ministry of Defence at which senior defence chiefs and government
officials will consider the consequences of an attack on Iran. See... UK Govt. In Secret Talks About Strike Against Iran [1]
Will Pitt On The Fall Of "The Hammer" Tom Delay
- Stone the crows. Tom DeLay is checking out. "I'm going to announce tomorrow that I'm not running for reelection and
that I'm going to leave Congress," said DeLay on Monday. "I'm very much at peace with it." This is the man who once
said, in a debate about the minimum wage, "Emotional appeals about working families trying to get by on $4.25 an hour
are hard to resist. Fortunately, such families do not exist." See... William Rivers Pitt: He's Gone [1]
When Killing The Innocent Is No Longer Newsworthy
- US soldiers killing innocent civilians in Iraq is not news. Just as it was not news that US soldiers slaughtered
countless innocent civilians in Vietnam. However, when some rare reportage of this non news from Iraq does seep through
the cracks of the corporate media, albeit briefly, the American public seems shocked. Private and public statements of
denial and dismissal immediately start to fill the air. We hear, "American soldiers would never do such a thing," or
"Who would make such a ridiculous claim?" See... Dahr Jamail: How Massacres Become the Norm [1]
911Truth Reports On A Breakthrough Week
- We always knew that one good news event exposing the official deception of 9/11 could be the catalyst to unravel the
Big Lie. We didn't know there would be several news events in one week! Now we see what it looks like when the truth
breaks loose. See... The Week The USA Went Down The 911 Rabbit Hole [1] MORE: UQ Wire: San Fran. Chron. On David Ray Griffin [2] UQ Wire: Edmonds Moves to Dismiss Judge Walton [3] UQ Wire: Mark Morford - The 9/11 Conspiracy! [4]
Bonus Joules Considers The Departure Of David Parker
- New Zealand – land of the long white cloud. Or should that read land of the long dark shroud. Our Parliament is
cloaked in ignorance, confusion, obscuration and pure nastiness and the statistics of our carbon emissions form a pall
over the nation. The sacking of the Minister for Transport, Energy and Climate Affairs deepens the murk. See... Bonus Joules: Suffocating Images [1]
MORE SCOOP COMMENT & OPINION:
Russell Brown & Ors. - Public Address 05/04/06 - Not Good Enough [1] & Public Address 04/04/06 - Contempt [2] Scoop Image - RNZN's Project Protector Takes Shape [3] Chaff - Massey University Senior Management Dysfunctional [4] John Roughan (Honiara) - The Youth's Election! [5] Bruce Clark - Bring Back Saddam [6] Good Returns - Book Review: Saving and Investment: A Primer [7] Jason Leopold - Enron's Kazillion Dollar Bash [8] & Fitzgerald Knew Identity of Leaker From Start [9] Mark Curtis - The Myth Of The ‘Honest Broker’: Britain & Israel [10] Allie Deger - In New Orleans, a Second Freedom Ride [11] Sam Smith - No Dreams On H Street [12] David Swanson - Not One More Death [13] Tanveer Jafri - Indo-Pak Prisoners Issue: Forgive The Forgivable [14] Jay Shaft - The US Army Is Persecuting & Harassing My Husband [15] Bernard Weiner - Bush's Grand Game: A "PNAC Primer" UPDATE [16] William Fisher - Bush's Mixed Signals [17] William Rivers Pitt - An Average Joe's Spectacular Lies [18] Greg Palast - The New World Oil Order [19] Cindy Sheehan - Cindy Sheehan Responds to Congressman's Attacks [20]
Katya Rivas's Passion: Serialised For Lent (Part 23)
- Holy Friday was followed by the glorious dawn of the Sunday of the Resurrection. If I have decided not to destroy the
world, it means that I want to renew it and rejuvenate it. The old trees need to lose their leaves and be pruned so that
they can give new sprouts. And the old branches, the dry leaves, are to be burned. See... Katya Rivas: The Resurrection of Jesus [1] SEE ALSO: Part 22 - Katya Rivas: Jesus Pronounces His Last Words [2]
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OTHER NEWS (JUST POLITICS)
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Electricity: Fitzsimons Encourages NZ to Relinquish Power
- With winter just around the corner now is a good time to remind ourselves to use electricity carefully, Government
Spokesperson on Energy Efficiency Jeanette Fitzsimons says. "Hydro lake levels have been falling steadily since early
February and are now below average for this time of year." See... Now is the time to save energy for a rainy day [1] ALSO:Genesis Energy - Load management agreement to reduce generation [2]
Politics: Cullen And Key Set To Spar Over Finance For A While Yet
- Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen today clarified his political future at the end of a press conference dealing
with changes to New Zealand's tertiary education funding. The Prime Minister's failure to guarantee Dr Cullen's position
as Minister of Finance in perpetuity in an interview had led to media and opposition speculation of Dr Cullen's imminent
demise. See... Chirpy Cullen Quashes Career Speculation [1] ALSO: National - PM warming public up for Mallard in finance role [2]
Tertiary Education: Low-Value High-Volume Courses Targeted By Cullen -
It is vital the tertiary education sector does better in producing the quality graduates we need to drive economic
transformation, Tertiary Education Minister Michael Cullen said today. Dr Cullen today outlined the objectives for the
next stage of reforms that the government began in 2000. "Now is the time to take the next steps to ensure the sector
produces more of the kinds of skilled graduates we need to help drive the transformation of New Zealand into a high
wage, knowledge-based economy. See... Future directions for funding tertiary orgs. [1] ALSO: Scoop Audio - Dr Cullen Talks Tertiary Funding [2] NZ Govt - Future directions for funding tertiary ed, Speech [3] National - Removing student choice is not the answer [4] ACT - Political Patronage Plans For Tertiary Education [5] NZ Screen Council - Council Welcomes Cullen’s Reform of Tertiary Education [6] Vice Chancellors' Committee - Universities Welcome Future Directions Announcement [7] Massey University - Tertiary funding heading in right direction [8] Education Forum - Reforms will do nothing for quality or relevance [9] Business NZ - Value and relevance needed in tertiary sector [10]
Governors-General: Satyanand Shelves Retirement For Queen -
Prime Minister Helen Clark today welcomed the announcement that the Queen has approved the appointment of Judge Anand
Satyanand to succeed Dame Silvia Cartwright as Governor-General of New Zealand. “Judge Satyanand will bring many
personal strengths to the role of Governor-General, including a broad knowledge of the workings of government and the
law, as well as a deep appreciation of the different groups and communities which make up contemporary New Zealand.
See... Anand Satyanand the next Governor-General [1] ALSO:NZ First - A Smart Choice For 21st Century New Zealand [2] United Future - Dunne welcomes Satyanand appointment [3] Monarchist League - Monarchist League welcomes Anand Satyanand as GG [4]
MORE POLITICAL HEADLINES:
NZ Govt - Import of honey, bee products subject to scrutiny [1] National - No guarantee honey imports free of disease [2] National - National should be briefed on immigration changes [3] National - National wins more scrutiny of Greens' funding [4] Greens - China must be given a human rights message - Locke [5] Greens - Greens applaud Sealord action over whaling [6] NZ First - Inaction On HIV Baby Risk Scandalous [7] Maori Party - Bungled fisheries plan pits Maori against Maori [8] Maori Party - Ka Koi Rolls into Town [9] Maori Party - Te Ururoa Flavell MoJ Financial Review Speech [10] NZ First - Warnings About Licence Cheats Ignored - Mark [11] United Future - 1 April Super Increase not due to NZ First [12]
POLITICAL COLUMNS
Don Brash Writes - No. 74, 3 April 2006 [1] Newman Weekly: Rich Country, Poor Families [2] Bill English - National Education 31 March 2006 [3] Judith Collins - Collins Comments 31 March 2006 [4]
ENDS