New research shows the theory justifying antidepressants is just a myth
The research confirms what some medical professionals have suspected
Depression being a chemical imbalance has been proven to be unfounded
Like millions of patients who seek help from their GPs for depression, Emma Ward was repeatedly told she was suffering from ‘an imbalance of chemicals in the brain’.
If Emma wanted to get better, her doctors said the 26-year-old should keep taking the antidepressants she had been prescribed since she was 15 — even though the drugs did not seem to improve her mood, and left her feeling perpetually numb emotionally.
Now, shocking new research published yesterday shows that the theory justifying the millions of prescriptions for antidepressants handed out every month to patients such as Emma, is simply not true.
“In the 20 years that vaccine makers have tried to develop a coronavirus vaccine, efforts have failed due to dangerous, many times lethal, side effects“
Story at-a-glance
Results from Moderna’s Phase 1 human trial revealed the 100-mcg dose vaccine — which had a 100% side effect ratio after the second dose — is proceeding to Phase 3 trial assessment
Moderna has no legal rights to a key patent for its vaccine delivery system. Moderna sought to invalidate the patent for lipid nanotechnology owned by Arbutus Biopharma but lost the challenge at the end of July 2020
Executives at Moderna have cashed in stock options, raking in about $90 million in personal profits since January. Two Moderna executives have now sold off all of their stock holdings in the company, and its general counsel has sold nearly all of hers
AstraZeneca has temporarily halted its Phase 3 vaccine trials due to “a suspected serious and unexpected adverse reaction” in a British participant
AstraZeneca did not divulge the nature of the adverse reaction, but an anonymous source claims the trial participant was found to have transverse myelitis, an inflammatory condition that affects the spinal cord and is frequently triggered by viral infections
The U.S. Health and Human Services’ Operation Warp Speed has pledged to deliver 300 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine by 2021,1 if not sooner.2 However, developing a safe and effective vaccine normally takes years and begins with animal studies. The COVID-19 vaccines are all being rushed straight into human clinical tests, forgoing lengthy animal trials altogether.
How nice for the billionaires, profiteering off misery. Seems it’s what they do best … EWR
“A new study found that in the past eight weeks alone, the country’s super wealthy have added a further $368.8 billion to their already enormous fortunes”
From winterwatch.net
By Alan Macleod | 15 May 2020
MINT PRESS NEWS — America’s billionaires have seen their wealth increase by 12.5 percent during the COVID-19 lockdown period. The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, released a study Thursday showing that, in the eight weeks between March 18 and May 14, the country’s super wealthy have added a further $368.8 billion to their already enormous fortunes.
Among the more famous big winners during the pandemic include Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, who adds $21 billion to his net worth (a 38 percent increase). Failed Democratic presidential contender Michael Bloomberg is up $10 billion as well, meaning he has recouped ten times as much as he lost in his big money political campaign that went nowhere. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has increased his fortune by around $6 billion as well.
January through to the end of October 2019. Remember it was October that Bill Gates, John Hopkins & the World Economic Forum had their pre plandemic preparedness Event 201. Smacks of foreknowledge doesn’t it? That saying about rats & sinking ships springs to mind. But then, that is the nature of corporations and their spawn isn’t it? EWR
“The following are just a few of the big name CEOs that chose to step down in 2019…
Dennis Muilenburg — Boeing, United Airlines — Oscar Munoz, Alphabet — Larry PageGap — Art Peck, McDonald’s — Steve Easterbrook, Wells Fargo — Tim Sloan, Under Armour — Kevin Plank, PG&E — Geisha Williams, Kraft Heinz — Bernardo Hees, HP — Dion Weisler, Bed, Bath & Beyond — Steven Temares, Warner Bros. — Kevin Tsujihara, Best Buy — Hubert Joly, New York Post — Jesse Angelo, Colgate-Palmolive — Ian Cook, MetLife — Steven Kandarian, eBay — Devin Wenig, Nike — Mark Parker.”
From theduran.com
In the months prior to the most ferocious stock market crash in history and the eruption of the biggest public health crisis of our generation, we witnessed the biggest exodus of corporate CEOs that we have ever seen. And as you will see below, corporate insiders also sold off billions of dollars worth of shares in their own companies just before the stock market imploded. In life, timing can be everything, and sometimes people simply get lucky. But it does seem odd that so many among the corporate elite would be so exceedingly “lucky” all at the same time. In this article I am not claiming to know the motivations of any of these individuals, but I am pointing out certain patterns that I believe are worth investigating.
One financial publication is using the phrase “the great CEO exodus” to describe the phenomenon that we have been witnessing. It all started last year when chief executives started resigning in numbers unlike anything that we have ever seen before. The following was published by NBC News last November…
Chief executives are leaving in record numbers this year, with more than 1,332 stepping aside in the period from January through the end of October, according to new data released on Wednesday. While it’s not unusual to see CEOs fleeing in the middle of a recession, it is noteworthy to see such a rash of executive exits amid robust corporate earnings and record stock market highs.
Last month, 172 chief executives left their jobs, according to executive placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. It’s the highest monthly number on record, and the year-to-date total outpaces even the wave of executive exits during the financial crisis.
By the end of the year, an all-time record high 1,480 CEOs had left their posts.
But to most people it seemed like the good times were still rolling at the end of 2019. Corporate profits were rising and the stock market was setting record high after record high.
Yes, there were lots of signs that the global economy was really slowing down, but most experts were not forecasting an imminent recession.
So why did so many chief executives suddenly decide that it was time to move on?
Banks love hard times …. it allows them to profiteer off misery. (And should they fail, well we know of course the govt/corporations just bail them out & unleash them again). It’s what they do best & timely to note how they profiteer off war as well. Courtesy of the Rothschild’s brainchild. Profit from supplying both sides! About as obscene as you could get. It’s time these parasites were eliminated, along with Gates’ next depop cleanse. EWR
From npr.org
Banks handling the government’s $349 billion loan program for small businesses made more than $10 billion in fees — even as tens of thousands of small businesses were shut out of the program, according to an analysis of financial records by NPR.
The banks took in the fees while processing loans that required less vetting than regular bank loans and had little risk for the banks, the records show. Taxpayers provided the money for the loans, which were guaranteed by the Small Business Administration.
According to a Department of Treasury fact sheet, all federally insured banks and credit unions could process the loans, which ranged in amount from tens of thousands to $10 million. The banks acted essentially as middlemen, sending clients’ loan applications to the SBA, which approved them.
For every transaction made, banks took in 1% to 5% in fees, depending on the amount of the loan, according to government figures. Loans worth less than $350,000 brought in 5% in fees while loans worth anywhere from $2 million to $10 million brought in 1% in fees.
For example, on April 7, RCSH Operations LLC, the parent company of Ruth’s Chris Steak House, received a loan of $10 million. JPMorgan Chase & Co., acting as the lender, took a $100,000 fee on the one-time transaction for which it assumed no risk and could pass through with fewer requirements than for a regular loan.
In total, those transaction fees amounted to more than $10 billion for banks, according to transaction data provided by the SBA and the Treasury Department.
In the bigger scheme of things right now plastic isn’t on top of the list of importance by a long way but a recent announcement from our corporation parading as a government is the bold move where no government has gone before, pardon my cynicism … they’re banning … wait for it …
plastic fruit stickers, cutlery, and cotton buds.
It’s a bit like the recent announcement by Countdown that they’ve stopped stocking plastic straws. (Whilst McDs and friends all continue using them). They are the culprits. It is very difficult not to be cynical at this, when one browses the supermarket, everywhere there is plastic. It is so hypocritical. “Excuse me, please stop using this plastic that we’re manufacturing for you. And please buy these bags we’ve made for you.” Used to be we took our own basket to the supermarket … we’ve come such a long way haven’t we? (Not). And now of course it is all backfiring as there is no other country to dump our consumer trash on any more. It was coming wasn’t it and please don’t try and tell me they didn’t know that.
Let’s be honest and remember why we have plastic bags and wrapping in the first place. Step back a few decades, well four decades actually, and we were all toting our groceries home in paper bags provided by the supermarket (that we all are obliged to pay 25 cents each for now) and our meat was wrapped in paper then newspaper. There simply wasn’t much plastic at all. So why did they replace the paper bags with plastic?
That’s simple. And it wasn’t because our mothers, grandparents or whatever begged them to give us plastic bags. A corporation’s bottom line is profit and cost effectiveness. They achieve that by passing the cost on to us whilst convincing us it was our fault in the first place. Watch The Corporation movie (on the Corporations page) and you’ll see what I mean. It’s cost effective for their pockets not the environment you realize. I recall hearing in the ’80s that corporations would one day be controlling governments. It seemed a far cry and yet here we are and they do exactly that. And so nobody will get tough on corporations and to keep us at bay they feed us little snippets of hope like ‘the straws are going’ … ‘we’re banning supermarket bags’ and so on. Hoping we won’t notice the veggies, the meat everything in fact is packed to the hilt with … plastic. Sadly everybody swallows the spin on it.
Let’s just stop accepting the blame for this. They took away the paper & gave us a ton of free plastic however as we know it isn’t free because it costs the environment but as we also now know corporates are really good at kicking cans down the road then telling us it’s our responsibility to pick up the tab. Where once they washed the glass milk and other bottles they replaced those with plastic. They took away the glass containers with marmite & peanut butter etc that we used to keep & use for drinking glasses and replaced them with plastic as well. We need to go the way of the Bin Inns and bring our own containers again.
The discussion around this wonderful announcement from Jacinda has brought forth some brilliant ideas. One I really like & am considering practicing is to rip the plastic off the said items after leaving the supermarket & dispose of it in their trash. Send it back to where it came from. Instead currently we are obliged to take it home, wash it once empty, sort it into a dozen different categories & transport it all the way to a recycle center if we do not have a kerbside collection. Talk about sustainable practices. Even though our corporate councils (yes they are listed on Dun & Bradstreet as companies) lay claim to sustainable practices. A few of them do it but not all.
Greta Thunberg of the school #ClimateStrike fame made a compelling, if somewhat dystopian, presentation at COP24. Michelle Stirling, Communications Manager of Friends of Science Society challenges Greta’s perspective in this video response.
If you’re new to the idea that the climate change narrative is not what we are being told … please visit our climate pages at the main menu. And please don’t shoot the messenger. EWR
Thieves of private property pass their lives in chains; thieves of public property in riches and luxury.
– Cato the Elder
Though I encounter students and other young people who have never heard the term I hope most Americans are aware of the “Military Industrial Complex.” In his final speech to the nation President Eisenhower, surprisingly since he oversaw much of its formation, warned citizens of the growing danger of the “permanent armaments industry” controlled by those who owned and profited greatly from this new scientific and technological establishment. Many of the giant arms industries, both industrial and high tech, that dominate the corporate landscape today came into existence as the result of war and would long ago have gone out of business in the absence of the guaranteed government profits flowing from the manufactured wars that sustain them today.
Now this will challenge your thinking. So she stirs & is clearly alive so the surgeons decide to give her a strong sedative intent on the removal of her organs. Just shows how far we’ve slid into the new ‘norm’. As the presenter of this info questions, do dead people need sedatives? And it was not their decision to make. As it turns out the woman is saved. This is highlighting the huge dollar value of the organ trade. In my personal opinion it is all disgusting and beggars belief. It certainly indicates we need to think deeply about consenting to organ donation. Yikes. EWR
Here we have another plea from the Royals pressing another of the NWOAgenda 2030 panic buttons, the other two being climate change (formerly called global warming but it’s not warming) & pollution – and they being the biggest perpetrators of those via geoengineering & the rape & pillage of all the world’s resources … I read the other day the Amazon forest is being destroyed at the rate of a football field a minute. Do you see any of the so called elite stepping in and stopping that? No & you won’t be any time soon. The Royals should be lining up to be first in the queue for expunging. Why is it ‘us’ who have to go? Think about that. It’s all a ruse to get you to accept their plan for global government aka all of the above, the jackboot regime disguised as the happy global village. Same as they disguise their rape & pillage carry on with the term ‘sustainable development’. Nothing sustainable is happening and the lies become more obvious by the day.
On topic, please do read this book: Who Owns the World : The Surprising Truth About Every Piece of Land on the Planet by Kevin Cahill*. Here is Amazon’s blurb on it:
“You don’t have to be a student of geography or cartography to have an interest in the world around you, especially with globalization making our planet seem smaller than ever. Now you can IM someone in Alaska, purchase coffee beans from Timor-Leste, and visit Dubai. But what do we really know about these lands?
WHO OWNS THE WORLD presents the results of the first-ever landownership survey of all 197 states and 66 territories of the world, and reveals facts both startling and eye-opening. You’ll learn that:
–Only 15% of the world’s population lays claim to landownership, and that landownership in too few hands is probably the single greatest cause of poverty.
–Queen Elizabeth II owns 1/6 of the entire land surface on earth (nearly 3 times the size of the U.S.).
–The Lichtenstein royal family is wealthier than the Grimaldis of Monaco.
–80% of the American population is crammed in urban areas.
–The least crowded state is Alaska, with 670 acres per person. The most crowded is New Jersey, with .7 acres per person. –60% of America’s population are property owners. That’s behind the UK (69% homeownership).
–And much, much more! “
With its relevance to contemporary issues and culture, WHO OWNS THE WORLD makes for fascinating reading. Both entertaining and educational, it provides cocktail party conversation for years to come and is guaranteed to change the way you view the U.S. and the world.
Truth is there is enough land, Cahill has calculated, for everybody to own a small piece & subsist on. Not good for the so called elite however as where would be the profit in that? And Elizabeth Windsor (not her real name) owns one sixth of the planet. I expect she needs all of that for her and her family. Think about this… if you were afloat in the ocean after your ship had sunk, squeezed with other survivors into a small lifeboat, and there also swimming toward you to safety is your child, but there is not room enough for anybody else? What would you as a parent do?
Yes the overpopulation myth is yet another ruse by the non elite who don’t want you to know about it.
Read the post from prepforthat.com
“Population control is probably coming to America. NBC news, the Royal family, and a number of other sources are pushing population control strategies in America. Once thought as only a third-world concept, the idea is gaining traction in the West.
The Royal family’s Prince William, keeping with the family’s tradition of pushing for population control agenda, pushed (you guessed it), population control (here). Here’s the thing, when I posted the Prince William article, there was some negative fan fair with folks making accusations of fear mongering and conspiracy theory. I get it, and I got it. The thing is, however, I’ve been saying for years that the newest liberal agenda is and will be, population control. You can call it the New World Order, however, no matter what you call it, it’s a concept that’s as radioactive as it is terrifying. And more than that, the elitists have begun the process of pushing forth population control morality. And one thing is clear, after today, you can no longer call it a conspiracy theory.
*Kevin Cahill was born in the Irish Republic, and now lives in Devon, in the UK, with his wife. They have three daughters. A former army officer, Kevin has worked in the House of Commons, the House of Lords, the Irish Parliament, and the European Parliament as an adviser and researcher. He is the author of a number of books on business, trade, and landownership and was a researcher on the original Sunday Times Rich List.
End of wars? … nah … “Ardern told Patrick Gower on Three’s The Nation that North Korea is “absolutely a genuine and real threat” and New Zealand is ready to play a role if requested.””
As some of us choose to remember today our own forbears who went & died in the Rothschild wars … I recall my own late Papa saying “Wars will never end … wars make money” … yes he was one of those who were required to defend the ‘King & Country’ lie. So, not to disrespect these ones who did what they knew to be right for their day (who had no choice really) … who later, like my Papa did, found out for whose cause their mates really gave their lives away. My dear Papa is there in the header image, visiting Cassino in his 82nd year, viewing the graves of his lost mates…. and he was right …
… the war mongering continues …. all of those glitzy weapons are making even more money today … ask the Royals, they know all about that. It’s getting harder now though to gloss it all over in nationalist type rhetoric, so the corporates have been busy repackaging their morbid trade into a nicer looking ‘defense’ package.
Watch, they are now busy manufacturing new enemies.
From rdln.wordpress.com
Anzac Day tricks: from Bill Massey to Jacinda Ardern
“This year, prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s conciliatory message tops everything. It probably has William Massey turning in his grave.
“Today our thoughts turn to all veterans, their spouses and families. We particularly pay tribute to those who served in the Second World War, a generation which sadly has almost left us. As we acknowledge their service and honour their contribution to our country, we think too of our current service personnel and their wider support community.
“As we gather together this Anzac Day we recognise that there is still much division to overcome in the world today. Through our expressions of love, compassion and unity, we reaffirm our commitment to peace and freedom of faith and we move forward together in hope.”
If the ghost of Massey worries, it is needless. Jacinda Ardern’s soothing pacifist words have less substance than mist.
In the wake of US President Trump’s 2017 threat to incinerate North Korea Ardern told Patrick Gower on Three’s The Nation that North Korea is “absolutely a genuine and real threat” and New Zealand is ready to play a role if requested.”
And why would this be any different in NZ Kiwis? Same drug companies. Same medical model. Same addressing of symptoms not root causes as is generally the case.
From herbs-info.com
A damning Harvard University report has advised that according to the European Commission, about 328,000 patients in the U.S. and Europe die from prescription drugs each year – making prescription drugs the 4th highest cause of death, on a par with stroke.
We could get into legal trouble if we advised you to go against the recommendations of your doctor; however we can advise you to be as informed as possible about the risks involved in taking prescription meds.
According to the World Health Organization, the pharmaceutical industry is worth 300 billion dollars annually – with an additional hundred million expected to add to the value in the next three years. A third of this entire multi-billion-dollar market is controlled by ten of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. According to CMR International, a partner of Thomas Reuters, global pharmaceutical sales reached one trillion dollars in 2014 and will be booming to 1.3 trillion by 2018.
It goes without saying that this is big business – but like every big business, there is a dark side as well. Can we really trust the research – seeing as the same companies selling the pills are funding many of the medical journals? And then we have the issue of doctors receiving kickbacks for prescribing certain drugs, after being “educated” on the benefits of the drugs by pharma salesmen.
Take a look at this list of seven of the most dangerous prescription drug typesand see how they can hurt you. [1][2]
#1: Sleeping Pills (OTC and prescribed)
The use of sleeping pills has been associated with an increased risk factor for stroke. A study published by Petrov, et. al. in 2014 revealed that over-the-counter and prescription sleeping pills increased a person’s risk for stroke, independently and beyond any of the other known risk factors like blood pressure, personal history of heart disease, and vices like smoking and drinking alcohol. Isn’t it worrying that compared to all other factors that place a person at risk for stroke, sleeping pills top that list? [3]
An article from Stuff dated 2010, on the gravy train that is 1080. Much has been written on this topic (ie the gravy train aspect) including by the late Bill Benfield in his book The Third Wave. I will be posting his information in the near future. And another up-to-date article to come on the current folk driving the ‘train’.
By TONY WALL, Jun 27 2010 (Stuff)
Controversy over 1080 erupted this month, with five protesters arrested for interfering with a poison drop. In Taupo, a fake bomb was discovered at a firm behind the drops. In the middle of the debate is Taupo mayor Rick Cooper, who believes a 1080 `gravy train’ is making a small group of people rich. Special investigation by Tony Wall.
RICK COOPER looks uncannily like the figure in the oil painting in his Taupo District Council office, right down to the open-neck blue shirt and grey blazer. The subject is not an ancestor or a former mayor, but TV mob boss Tony Soprano. The inspiration? “He shot the bastards, encased them in concrete. He is my mentor – `just get on with it’.”
He is joking, of course, but you suspect His Worship wouldn’t mind meting out some mob justice to those he believes are poisoning the environment with the aerial spread of 1080.
‘You keep finding the same people, the same names, and no one you can independently trust,’ says Cooper about what he terms the ‘1080 gravy train’.
Although Cooper “hates” 1080 – “if I was prime minister I would ban it by lunchtime” – he has no problem with ground control, where the poison is laid by hand in bait stations, targeting possums only.
What enrages him is “indiscriminate aerial bombardment”, which he says is causing “carnage” in our forests, killing everything from insects and plants to birds, pigs, deer and domestic farm animals, as well as threatening waterways.
Cooper’s council has passed a resolution – six for and four against – to advocate for the abolition of aerial 1080 poisoning and to seek alternative possum eradication methods. The Westland District Council has passed a similar resolution and the mayor of Kaikoura has called for a 1080 ban, as a groundswell of opposition to the deadly poison, banned in most countries, builds.
The Department of Conservation, regional councils and the Animal Health Board use 1080 to control possums in order to protect forests and birdlife and to prevent the spread of bovine TB. In 2007, after a lengthy submissions process, the Environmental Risk Management Agency (Erma) found 1080 was safe and decided to allow its continued use, including aerial operations.
But that has not silenced opponents such as Cooper, who fired off emails to all the agencies involved, as well as Prime Minister John Key, in a desperate attempt to halt a 1080 drop over 26,000ha of the Kaingaroa State Forest east of Taupo this month.
The operation was unnecessary, Cooper says, as the terrain was easily accessible – “it’s flat country my grandmother could ride her bike around” – and could have been done by foot. He says the obsession with aerial operations is denying work to possum trappers and undermining the trade in meat and fur.
A 1080 “gravy train” keeps the aerial drops going, Cooper claims. There is too much money being made for them to be abolished, he says, conspiratorially. He talks of closed-door deals, conflicts of interest and a lack of transparency from the agencies involved. “I think it’s a bit like something died in the back paddock and hasn’t been buried.”
Cooper points to multimillion-dollar contracts awarded to a local firm, Epro Ltd, to spread 1080 from the air. Its director and co-owner, Roger Lorigan, used to work at Environment Waikato, which issues resource consents for 1080 work, in its pest management unit. A former colleague, Kevin Christie, also has his own firm, Ecofx based in Otorohanga, which has also won big contracts.
Their boss at Environment Waikato was John Simmons, now the biosecurity and natural heritage group manager at the council, in charge of pest management. In the late 90s, the council sold its possum control business to Lorigan and Christie, and Cooper claims they have been milking it ever since. However, his concerns were not shared by the auditor-general, who in a 2004 report found no evidence of any conflict of interest.
But Cooper remains suspicious. “It doesn’t matter where you go with this stuff, you keep finding the same people, the same names, and no one you can independently trust. My question is, what methodology did they use to sell those companies?”
Cooper has been challenging Environment Waikato chairman Peter Buckley on the issue. Buckley says he initially had concerns about how the companies were set up, but since becoming chairman has been satisfied that everything was above board. Lorigan says they were simply management buy-outs of pest destruction businesses, no different to those conducted by several other councils around the country. He says that 1080 contracts awarded to his firm are won fairly. “We just tender along with everyone else.”
Simmons says allegations of bias and closed-door deals were raised by a rival operator in 2004, and dismissed by the auditor-general. “It is disappointing that this has again surfaced unnecessarily.” He says Epro and Ecofx are experts in their field and, “I am sure the majority of ratepayers… have a high level of assurance in the professional manner in which the work is undertaken.”
A copy of the auditor-general’s report, provided to the Sunday Star-Times, shows that, while there was no evidence that Simmons had ever had any financial interest in Epro or Ecofx and there was nothing to suggest their relationship was inappropriate, there was another conflict, involving an “independent consultant” employed by the council to act as moderator and recorder in the 1080 contract process.
The person had a business relationship with both Epro and Ecofx, and while the council knew this, it had done nothing about it. Figures released to the Star-Times by Environment Waikato show it has paid around $2 million to Epro and Ecofx for aerial 1080 contracts over the past 10 years, but most of the contracts the firms won were with the Animal Health Board, which refuses to reveal payments for reasons of commercial sensitivity.
Epro and Ecofx recently applied for 10 and 20-year consents to continue aerial 1080 operations on a non-notified basis, although they later withdrew the applications and settled for year-long consents. (Their current 10-year consents are due to expire next month.)
“We kicked up such a stink they had to back out,” Cooper says. “That’s protecting your business isn’t it? Non-notified consents, 10 years for a poison. You can’t even put a bedroom on your house without a resource consent.”
Lorigan says Cooper’s allegations and inflammatory comments are inciting threats against his firm. Just a day after the Star-Times visited Epro this month, staff discovered a suspicious package – a 20-litre container with a clock and protruding wires – on machinery at its depot. Bomb disposal experts were called in and houses evacuated, but it was a hoax.
The incident came a day after two dogs died, apparently after eating 1080 pellets by the side of the Napier-Taupo highway. A friend of the owner later paraded the body of one of the dogs through the middle of Taupo in a wheelbarrow.
Lorigan says the bomb hoax proves anti-1080 protesters are “terrorists”.
“You just get sick of it, where’s it going to end? We’ve had threats and stuff like that, at the end of the day we’re just a contractor. That’s what drives me nuts, we’re just a business.
“Rick’s taking it very personal and that’s quite a shame. We’re a business that has employed 50 people, I find it very disappointing that a mayor can do that in his own town. Why isn’t he worried about how the town is going and promoting tourism?”
Cooper does not condone the bomb hoax, but says he understands the anger of whoever was behind it.
“There are a lot of disappointed people around this district that know the truth behind this madness. I’m glad I have no part in this diabolical 1080 nonsense because if I did, I fear I would have been tarred and feathered.”
COOPER IS an unlikely crusader against 1080. Your typical protester is a bearded, Swanndri-wearing bushwhacker, but Cooper made his fortune selling cars, owns half of the commercial real estate in Taupo – “I’m the biggest ratepayer in this town… $280,000 a quarter” – and races Mustangs in his spare time. He gives his $81,000 mayoral salary to charity.
But he is also a keen deer hunter and has “hated” 1080 most of his life. Soon after he won the mayoralty for the first time in 2007, Epro bungled a 1080 drop at Turangi.
“They were spraying 1080 all over the place down the bottom of the lake… they threw it across this place where these kids’ ponies were. I go down there… can you imagine the scene? You’ve got four horses thrashing and dying on the ground, one takes four days to die. I was going, `What is going on in this country? How in God’s name did a helicopter pilot biff this shit here, in this horse paddock?’ To this day those kids haven’t even had an apology.”
Epro, which failed to tell the owners to move the horses, was formally warned by Environment Waikato and a year later the regional council finally paid the owners $9100 compensation.
The incident convinced Cooper to campaign for the abolishment of aerial 1080 drops. He has spent so much time on the issue the past three years he has had to employ a “mayoral support officer”, Graham Sperry, who is chairman of the anti-1080 New Zealand Wildlands Biodiversity Management Society, to take up some of the 1080 workload.
Documentary maker Clyde Graf, whose film on 1080, Poisoning Paradise, has been nominated for awards in the UK, is a hunting companion of Cooper. He says for 1080 opponents, having the mayor in their corner has been invaluable.
“He’s a fairly staunch, brave sort of a guy,” Graf says. “He doesn’t get pushed around easily, he just stands up for what he believes in. His position as mayor, he’s not trying to defend [1080], he’s not sucking up to bureaucracies and the big bullies, following government policy – because 1080 is locked into government policy.”
But others are not so impressed.
The Conservation Department says it is “disappointed” the council has not recognised the “key role” aerial 1080 plays in protecting vulnerable wildlife such as kiwi, while the Animal Health Board, which spent $53m on possum control the past financial year, claims inaccurate comments have been made about the aerial use of the poison. Board chief executive William McCook disputes Cooper’s claim the east Taupo drop zone was flat country that could have been covered by foot.
He says the area is extensively forested and poses some “serious health and safety risks” for ground control operators. Aerial control is the most cost-effective method, he says, and provides even coverage. McCook says 80% of the operations in the region are ground based, using traps and poison.
Ailsa Gathergood, a Taupo district councillor and farmer who voted against the resolution to advocate for the abolishment of aerial 1080, says farmers are generally in favour of it to protect their cattle from TB. Birdlife in bush areas she has visited has bounced back after aerial drops, she says. Gathergood says farmers are feeling resentment that they did not get to put their side of the story before the council passed its resolution.
Will it cost Cooper votes? “We’ll see what happens at the next local body elections [in October],” she says.
Cooper claims not to care. “It could go either way, but I am true to my beliefs and I don’t give a shit if it sees me out of here – I’ll just go fishing.”
AT EPRO’S base on Broadlands Rd, there is a framed notice on the wall from Environment Waikato, praising the work the firm has done to prevent the spread of bovine TB.
Lorigan says in the mid 90s, Taupo had 250 cattle herds on movement control because of TB – today there are none. “Isn’t that pretty damn good?”
He confirms 1080 contracts have been worth millions to his firm, but denies it has made him wealthy. “Do you know any millionaire possum hunters?” Costs include helicopters, poison, staff and vehicles, he says.
Lorigan says aerial 1080 drops are more cost effective than ground control – helicopters can cover 20,000ha in two days, but the average man only 20ha a day. He believes 1080 is safe. Cooper claims a hunting estate Lorigan owns near the southern end of Lake Taupo has never had 1080 dropped on it, but Lorigan says that is simply not true. “I’m a mad-keen hunter, and I don’t have a problem with it [1080].”
Lorigan says incidents where pets and domestic farm animals have died after eating 1080 were “human error”, and he’s not talking his own.
“It’s not the poison’s fault. It’s like if a dog runs out on the road and gets run over, is it the car’s fault? It’s the owner, and that’s what the story is with most of the problems with 1080 – people don’t take responsibility for their own dogs or for their domestic animals, keeping them under control.”
That comment shows Lorigan’s lack of compassion, Cooper says, and points out that the horses Epro killed in 2007 were in their own paddock.
Cooper questions the need for 1080 at all. He says possums simply aren’t there any more. He recently went spotlighting and in four hours, saw just two possums. He and other 1080 opponents have tried to prise data from the AHB showing possum numbers before and after aerial operations.
The board refuses to supply the information, McCook telling the Star-Times: “The AHB does not provide data like that requested by Mr Cooper because it forms just one aspect of the decision to undertake a pest control operation.
“This data may be interpreted in isolation from other contributing and often complex technical information, which has the potential to give an incomplete and even misleading perspective of why an operation is to take place.”
This just adds fuel to Cooper’s fire. He suspects the numbers are being “cooked” to justify further drops and keep the gravy train running.
“A lot of focus has been on `these anti-1080 radicals’,” Cooper says. “The funny thing though, is the anti-1080 people have got none of this [money] at stake, and people who like 1080 have got lots of it at stake – the helicopter operator, the farmer, the Animal Health Board guys on a hundred and fifty f—— thousand a year, the guys with their three-piece suits driving around in their BMWs, and the Epros the Ecofxs.
“If we all put the flag up now and said, `we’ve got this under control, possum populations are right down, we don’t need you [aerial operators] any more’, what would happen? The gravy train would stop.”
For all his strong words, Cooper has been powerless to stop the drops – this month Epro completed the east Taupo drop, on behalf of the AHB. Environment Waikato and other regional councils issue resource consents for aerial drops, and each operation has to be approved by the medical officer of health for the district. Local councils can make submissions, but essentially are cut out of the decision-making loop.
Cooper says he will keep up his vocal campaign against the poison until those in power start listening.
“My job is to protect the environment and the inhabitants therein. How do we stop it? It’s a real good question. It’s a bit like starting on P – how do you get off the shit? The only way is people power – that’s all we’ve got.”
1080 – a controversial killer
Sodium monofluoroacetate, or 1080, has been used for about 50 years in New Zealand to control possums. It is a chemical reproduction of a naturally occurring, biodegradable toxin which exotic plants produce. It has accidentally killed dogs, deer, horses, cows, and birds after being dropped from the air.
The SPCA is against the poison because of the cruel way it kills – animals can take days to die. Proponents of its use say it breaks down in the environment – opponents say it is a threat to our waterways, not to mention our “clean, green” image. Possum numbers are estimated to be the same today – about 70 million – as decades ago.
Opponents of 1080 say this is evidence the poison programme hasn’t worked.
Supporters say without it, possum numbers would be even higher. New Zealand uses most of the world’s supplies of 1080, and it is banned in most other countries. It is imported from the US by Animal Control Products Ltd, a state-owned enterprise, which mixes the poison into cereal bait and sells it to contractors such as Epro.
The contractors are hired by the Conservation Department and regional councils, which want possums eradicated to protect birdlife and forests, and by the Animal Health Board, an incorporated society tasked with eradicating bovine tuberculosis, which could cost farmers billions if it gets out of control. For this reason, the powerful lobby group Federated Farmers supports the use of 1080, as does Forest and Bird. In 2007, the Environmental Risk Management Agency reviewed the use of 1080, taking submissions and eventually ruling the poison was safe and could continue to be used. Opponents say the review was a whitewash and relied on dodgy science. Some 1080 protesters have been labelled “terrorists”, after a 1080 contractor’s dog was deliberately fed 1080 on the West Coast in 2008, and just this month a fake bomb was left at Epro’s depot in Taupo.
Taupo man Chris Short epitomises the lengths 1080 opponents are prepared to go to make their point. In 1995, he hijacked a crop-spraying helicopter and forced the pilot to fly him into Tongariro National Park. He spent eight months in jail. Last year a terminally ill Short spent six days on Mt Tongariro protesting 1080. He vowed to die on the mountain but was eventually persuaded to come down.
Journalists and political partisans have expressed the mistaken presumption that government is a “balancing force” against the excess powers of corporations. This video explains that most excess power of corporations is provided and granted by government and that government seeks partnership with corporations and shares in the profits. This “public-private partnership” is so advanced that the public interest is no longer a primary concern of government. Government is now a for-profit operation serving itself at the expense of the public interest.
Progressive Radio Network presents A Gary Null Production WAR ON HEALTH: The FDA’s Cult of Tyranny Introduced by the director (from his speech at the world premiere in New York City, June 15, 2012) In the near future, American medical practice may change dramatically for the worse. No longer will maximal dose natural supplements—vitamins, natural compounds, and scientifically proven medicinal herbs—be available over the counter in local health and grocery stores. Holistic practice, which relies upon non-prescription natural treatments instead of Big Pharma drugs prescribed life-long, will diminish. American healthcare will be imprisoned, patients will be forced to abide by a single medical paradigm defined by corporate drug and food executives and dictated by a government enforcement agency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This is the bleak scenario if the FDA succeeds in limiting Americans’ options to prevent and treat diseases. ‘War on Health’ is the first documentary detailing and challenging the FDA agenda and its allegiance with the international Codex Alimentarius, which hopes to establish a monolithic food and health regime. Betraying its founding mandate to assure drug, food and chemical safety in the interests of public health, the FDA today is a repressive bureaucracy serving pharmaceutical and agricultural greed and profits. Vaccines, medical devices, prescription drugs are fast tracked at alarming rates through the FDA at the expense of scientific oversight to assure their efficacy and safety. The result is hundreds of thousands premature deaths annually from pharmaceutical drugs, vaccines and medical devices and an epidemic of medical incompetence and fraud sanctioned by federal health officials. Featuring many pioneering American and European attorneys, physicians, medical researchers and advocates of health freedom, War on Health lifts the veil on FDA’s militaristic operations against organic food providers and alternative physicians. The film’s conclusion is perfectly clear: the FDA is a tyrannical cult founded upon the denial of sound medical science with little intention to improve the nation’s health and prevent disease. Written and Directed by Gary Null Produced by Valerie Van Cleve Associate Producer: Richard Gale Editor: Richie Williamson Offline Editing: Valerie Van Cleve, L.A. Jones Camera Operators: Marcello Coppuchino, Peter Bonilla, David Grier, L.A. Jones Gregory Jason Russ, Jake Hammer Mesmire, Edson Tanakae, Valerie Van Cleve, Richie Williamson
Labour buddies Phil Twyford and Phil Goff have unleashed a stampede of financial pariahs who will be jostling for a share of the profits from financing the $28 billion inAucklandtransport projects they jointly announced on Thursday.
Despite having promised before the election to stop the Public Private Partnership schemes of the previous National government, this latest announcement goes even further down the road of privatising new assets.
The new transport projects will be financed by combination ofPPPs and Crown Investment Partners, a government ownedPPPscheme in disguise, “which is all about introducing outside capital and attract[ing] co-investment from the private or other sectors”.
Labour used to be the party for the workers but it has just proved it really has turned into a party that shovels taxpayer money into the pockets of the rich, the overseas banks, and the international money shufflers.
Their big profits will be coming straight out of taxpayer’s pockets, who will effectively rent the new transport facilities, having to pay for the construction of the projects and a premium for the lender’s profits.
If you think that those who foment wars care about your kids you birthed and raised, think again. As we approach another Anzac Day and we do indeed remember our loved ones (my Papa & all of his four brothers who went faithfully to WW2 ‘for their country’ and fortunately for us returned, unlike many families, torn apart forever) …. let’s spread the word that wars are only necessary for the bankers and the corporations that make the weapons. PEACE. EnvirowatchRangitikei
The award-winning second episode of Gwynne Dyer’s 1983 series “War,” which focuses on the process by which civilians become soldiers, and the implications of this process for culture and civilization. For educational use only. Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdwsfT…http://gwynnedyer.com/
The following video illustrates how the young are targeted for recruitment…
***ORIGINAL UPLOAD BY RTAmerica*** Permission to repost granted. Aug 11, 2011 As the U.S. economy remains on a consistent downward spiral, one thing the U.S. Government is never shy to invest endless cash in is the Pentagon. Which – on its end — is pumping millions of dollars into luring in the young population of America into enrolling into the military. RT’s Anastasia Churkina looks at some of those mesmerizing techniques, and what kind of effect they have had on those fit to serve. http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/w… “WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small “inside” group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.” – Major General Smedley Butler (“War Is A Racket”) “I spent 33 years in active military service as a member of the Marine Corps. I served from 2nd Lt. to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism… Looking back, I might have given Al Capone a few hints….” – Major General Smedley Butler (“War Is A Racket”)
Of course most of us need wars like we need a hole in the head. Not the bankers however … war is an endless money spinner for them especially when you can fund both sides. So this ‘wonderful’ new weapon can take down a truck from a mile away, and can also destroy drones, vehicles, rockets, boats and more. We are buttered up with the promise of protecting hospitals and taking out the latest boogey man terrorists (appropriately named ATHENA, patron protectress of various Greek cities) … the essential pre requisites for more war & ‘ka-ching’, profits. Lockheed Martin partially fund the Mahia NZ rocket base along with our faithful-to-the US government/corporation, thanks to Key for that $25 mill that could’ve housed quite a few homeless instead. (See our War and Banking pages on all of that – main menu). A reminder of how money focused ‘protection’ is these days, a screen shot from the weapons fest we had in 2016 hosted by the NZ gov. $10K per head if you wanted to attend dinner with the trimmings. They also catered for the lower incomes so you could get a seat at $5K also, less trimmings. Far from these ‘banquet halls’ of the rich are the dying civilians… the real victims of war. The children. I’m for defense, sure, but our modern day packaging of war is illustrative of what it really is and always has been, corporate profits. Which is why I’ll never be ‘rejoicing’ over any new weaponry.
Silent, invisible, deadly. The powerful ATHENA laser weapon can destroy enemy threats within seconds. It just destroyed five Outlaw drones.
For the United States, thanks to pioneering efforts of American companies like Lockheed Martin and the military, laser weapons are no longer the stuff of Star Wars and Star Trek.
In near-term future battles, the U.S. military can choose to bring laser weapons mounted on vehicles, vessels, and more, to war. By comparison, the weapons of any enemy will look like bows and arrows.
ATHENA, (Advanced Test High Energy Asset), is one of the most exciting of these new American laser weapons. During recent testing with the U.S. Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command at the Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, the 30-kilowatt weapon slayed five Outlaw drones. Not toy hobby sized drones, but drones with nearly 11 foot wingspans.
And just two years ago, Lockheed Martin proved that ATHENA could also take down a truck by burning through its hood and engine – and from a mile away.
What are the advantages?
There are many advantages to bringing laser weapons to war. One key advantage is unlimited bullets. As long as there is power, ATHENA would have an unlimited magazine.
Another major advantage is speed. Laser weapons like ATHENA are lethal at the speed of light.
They are also silent, invisible and deadly – three characteristics very handy for stealth and surprise in the battlespace.
The information is based on the new report “GMO Myths and Truths” by EarthOpenSource.org. You can find more information here: http://earthopensource.org/index.php/…http://articles.mercola.com/sites/art… Watch out for the Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) myths and truths which provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks.
Remember who wars are for … who they benefit. This is why we constantly need new a new ‘boogey man’ to keep up the sales. Remember Gutle Rothschild … “If my sons did not want war, there would be none”. Very proud she was of her sons’ dubious achievements.
(Natural News) As if suffering from cancer weren’t bad enough on its own, a new study has found that nearly two-thirds of the cancer drugs that gained authorization from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) from 2009 to 2013 did not offer any clear proof that they would extend or improve patients’ lives.
The study, which was carried out by researchers from King’s College Londonand the London School of Economics and Political Science, revealed that most of the cancer drugs approved by the body rely on surrogate measures, which are not reliable predictors of a patient’s quality of life or survival.
Lead author Dr. Courtney Davis commented: “When expensive drugs that lack robust evidence of clinical benefit are approved and reimbursed within publicly funded healthcare systems, individual patients may be harmed and public funds wasted.”
In other words, cancer patients and the population, in general, suffer as Big Pharma watches its profits pile up.
The study also carried out follow-ups at a median of five years, at which point nearly half of the drugs continued to show no benefits in terms of quantity or quality of life. Among those that did show an improvement, the benefits were considered clinically insignificant in half of the cases.
These very disturbing findings have prompted the researchers to call on the EMA to raise the evidence bar when it comes to authorizing new drugs, and rightfully so.
LSE Department of Health Policy Assistant Professor and study author Huseyin Naci said it was “remarkable” that such a small number of new cancer drugs entering the European market had clear data showing positive outcomes.
Another problem is that some of the cancer drugs that have been touted as being a “breakthrough therapy” do not have any real advantage over simply doing nothing or opting for the existing treatments. This creates false hope for patients and their families, and in some cases, it causes them to pass up other treatment options that might have made a real difference in their condition.
Pricey cancer drugs repeatedly shown to be ineffective
Earlier this year, it emerged that a fund set up to help patients access cancer drugs not covered by the National Health Service in England was a spectacular failure. After spending the equivalent of $1.64 billion, only around 18 percent of the 100,000 patients studied noted any benefits from treatments provided by the Cancer Drugs Fund. Just think of how many people were given ineffective treatments and how much they and their loved ones likely suffered as a result.
This investigative article about the Horowhenua district is from journalist Veronica Harrod. Read her bio at the end of the article. She raises points which are puzzling people NZ wide, and lifts the curtain somewhat to let you see what is going on in meetings you are not entitled to attend. (From this site’s perspective, please check out our Agenda 21/2030 in NZ and our Local Govt Watch pages. Also search Agenda 21/2030 in categories to left of page). I read an interesting article at the LG’s website recently about consultation (raised at the end of this article). It certainly does indicate (& in the context of quite a bit of jest, taking the proverbial pee as it were) that the decision’s already been made when you are ‘consulted’. EnvirowatchRangitikei
Massive Rates Rises Predicted in Horowhenua that will Subsidise Land Developers Reaping Potential Profits of over $100 Million
by Veronica Harrod
Horowhenua land developers and investors will reap at least $100 million profit from not having to pay development contributions towards essential infrastructure costs that council seems intent to load onto existing ratepayers who could face massive, crippling rates increases.
The majority of councils in the country charge development contributions because the policy is regarded as the only effective, fair and equitable way to reduce the impact of expensive infrastructure costs on existing ratepayers.
The Horowhenua District Council scrapped development contributions in 2015 but, judging by the extent of land development planned behind closed doors by land developers and council since 2008, it would be unconscionable if council did not re-introduce the levy on land developers.
Exponential rates rises have historically been used by council’s as a sure fire way to free up land for development by confiscating land from ratepayers who can’t afford high rate increases which will directly have an impact on a large number of home and land owners in the district living on fixed or low incomes.
If the council does not include development contributions in the 2018-2038 Long Term Plan (LTP) the profits made by land developers will be unsustainable and grossly unfair to existing residents.
The $100 million profit projections are based on a conservative estimate of $15,000 per new build if development contributions were charged including a minimum of 2100 new house builds in Levin alone totalling $31.5 million contained in a council’s 2008 Horowhenua Development Plan.
Land developer and deputy mayor Wayne Bishop’s 500 house build in Kimberley Road has financially benefited by approximately $750,000. Cr Bishop also has four other land developments which means he has personally financially benefited by at least one million dollars by not having to pay development contributions.
He declared a conflict of interest at the eleventh hour only when a vote was taken by council to stop charging development contributions. During all the debates he sat at the council table which may have affected councillors ability to speak freely against council intention to stop collecting development contributions. It is also only since his election to council that council has proceeded with such a massive scale of land development.
Also included in the profit estimates is the potential affect of relaxing urban housing density rules to allow for sub-division and building of two houses on one house lot which council is deliberating on now. Neighbours would not have to be consulted on increased urban density plans due to changes to the Resource Management Act made by the National led government early this year that favours land developers. Potential profits also include proposed land developments in other parts of the district contained in separate reports available at http://www.horowhenua.govt.nz/…/Plans-Strategies/Horowhenua…
The HDC scrapped development contributions in 2015
Evidence council is determined to pursue a land growth agenda is also contained in the council report on relaxing urban density rules which negligently and deliberately omitted to include any environmental and cultural costs of land development even though all the new builds would connect to the existing infrastructure, and even though there is evidence of environmental and cultural costs documented in past council reports including the 2008 Horowhenua Development Plan.
Cr Neville Gimblet and council’s chief executive David Clapperton have made comments recently alluding to the scale of land development and the expectation existing ratepayers would pay for them. Mr Clapperton said in a recent newspaper article, “I see some huge opportunities for the Horowhenua that have never been seen before, probably in the last three generations. And I’m adamnant that I want to be part of that journey.”
His comments were made despite consultation on the 20 year Long Term Plan only just starting indicating he is a central, local cog in the wheel of a land development agenda that has captured the council to such an extent democracy itself is being deliberately undermined by the very organisation that is supposed to uphold democratic principles.
Cr Gimblett alluded to the impact of the high cost of replacing essential infrastructure on existing ratepayers in a newspaper column when he said he was “surprised no-one commented on the $2.8 million of unfunded depreciation in the financial report.” Depreciation is a method used to account for future costs of essential infrastructure by acknowledging wear and tear and need for replacement over time.
“While depreciation is not a cash item so has little impact today, it is a key feature of sustainable long term planning and ultimately your rates,” he stated before warning ratepayers that, “Officers and elected members are currently involved in multiple workshops to prepare for the next Long Term Plan, where we will be mindful of this financial constraint hanging over our heads.”
If Cr Gimblet is so “mindful of the financial constraints” then it would stand to reason he supports the reintroduction of development contributions as this levy on land developers would not only immediately solve the problem of funding depreciation costs but also potentially provide enough money to ensure state of the art essential infrastructure designs were built and maintained. Nevertheless he didn’t mention re-introducing development contributions he only mentioned the cost to existing ratepayers.
The democratically elected mayor Michael Feyen has been effectively sidelined because he is viewed as a threat to this cabal of unrestrained and unrestricted land developers and their investors as during the last local body elections he said he was going to make environmental concerns and Lake Horowhenua a priority.
No matter who Mayor Feyen subsequently turned to in seeking redress to reign in the power of an unelected chief executive David Clapperton not one minister of the last National led government would lift a finger to assist him. Local Government New Zealand would not assist him either.
Mr Clapperton also has the support of nine out of ten councillors, excluding Cr Ross Campbell, who are rewarded handsomely for their backing by favourable treatment in appointments to committees and other council led opportunities.
Local National Party MP Nathan Guy has also refused to take action to restore democracy in Horowhenua but, as a recent article in a local newspaper stated, Mr Guy has got the largest property and land portfolio of all acting Government ministers including an extensive amount of Horowhenua rural land, a family home, two rental properties, interests in 13 commercial properties and a Wellington property.
Land developer and investor interest in developing housing subdivisions on at least 550 hectares in the north east of Levin, that extends across Mr Guy’s rural property interests, may also be using their influence with the now acting Government to ensure the highway of national significance is built to the west of Levin instead of the East of Levin. Cr Bishop has certainly stated a preference the new highway be built to the west of Levin.
As if it’s not enough that local Maori and residents of Hokio on the west of Levin have to endure the Levin Sewage Treatment Plant, the landfill, the infamous smelly “pot” behind the landfill and a polluted Lake Horowhenua now moves are afoot to ensure the new highway won’t get in the way of land developers and their investor interest in the East of Levin.
The excessive profit margins land developers and their investors will potentially make helps to explain the increasing interest major land and property developers, that have previously only operated in Auckland and Wellington, now have in Horowhenua.
Horowhenua’s community housing sold for a fire sale price of $5.25 million
The first sign the district saw of this burgeoning interest was the purchase of the council owned pensioner housing and 1.1 hectare of bare land by land and property developer Willis Bond in a publicly excluded deal with council for a fire sale price of $5.25 million. Anecdotal evidence is Willis Bond owners the McGuinness brothers count now acting Attorney General Chris Finlayson as a friend.
As Attorney General Mr Finlayson administers the Crown Law office that relentlessly pursues criminal charges against Lake Horowhenua kaitiaki Philip Taueki who continues to give voice to inconvenient truths about Lake Horowhenua ownership and pollution by the council and regional council. Other state agencies have also demonstrated a partisan approach in matters to do with Mr Taueki.
In her recently published e-book “Man of Convictions” Anne Hunt* says Horowhenua District Council waived all fees and granted the consent to decommission the buildings and disconnect the water from Mr Taueki’s residence six days after several men and six or seven police arrived at his place one morning and began sledgehammering and dismantling the building and power to the building. They also attempted to turn his water supply off then too.
When Mr Taueki, “complained to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment about the way the Horowhenua District Council as a building consent authority handled this matter…initially the Ministry expressed concern, but ultimately decided to take no action. The Tenancy Tribunal was equally dismissive.”
Mr Taueki is under constant threat of arrest and imprisonment and, although it is illegal to turn the water supply off to his residence at Lake Horowhenua, the council continues to do so and not one state agency intervenes on his behalf even though he has been left without a water supply for over eight months.
He has been beaten up, shot at, threatened with murder, thrown in jail, forced to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and denied physical access to the very lake he is kaitiaki and one of the owners of by numerous trespass orders.
He is currently facing a retrial of one of the trespass notices he has been acquitted of twice after Crown Law, an office administered by Mr Finlayson, appealed an acquittal of the charge and the appeal was granted by a judge. His case has been delayed until January 2018 because the Crown did not disclose information to defence lawyer Michael Bott when the retrial began last month in Levin District Court.
Allegations of bias by the Courts against Mr Taueki has also been made by Hunt who writes that Mr Finlayson has been responsible for appointing, “all bar one of the six Supreme Court judges, all ten Court of Appeal judges and 75% of the High Court judges….in a process without any statutory constraints or regulations.”
Despite the fact “Man of Convictions” is written by a local resident and respected journalist, author and former Horowhenua district councillor Anne Hunt about the horrendous experiences and treatment of a Lake Horowhenua kaitiaki whose ancestor is the renowned paramount chief of Mua-Upoko neither of the two local newspapers have expressed any interest in interviewing her.
Openly flouting media independence on council reporting the Fairfax owned Horowhenua Mail has now employed council’s former communications officer Kelvin Teixeira which does not bode well for impartial reporting of council communications Mr Teixeira has helped develop and carry out on behalf of the council.
But it is the Crown’s lack of actions to date that disturbingly suggest a collusion with a Horowhenua land development agenda even though it is destined to greatly increase pollution levels to Lake Horowhenua. The Lake Accord, set up to rehabilitate the health of the lake, remains silent about the impact an exponential increase of new builds connected to the existing insufficient and ageing infrastructure will have on Lake Horowhenua.
Hunt says, “Levin’s stormwater system is a major source of phosphorous, and it is this chemical that is the major cause of the cyanobacteria that has plagued the lake in recent years, making it lethal for children. In his 2012 report, Dr Max Gibbs referred to research that 80% of the lake’s phosphorous chemical content comes from the town’s stormwater system.”
“A report prepared for the Horowhenua District Council by Dr Chris Tanner, a principal scientist from NIWA (the Crown Research Institute) commented on the ‘significant
potential health effects from these drain flows,’ without even considering ‘potential toxicity issues with other contaminants such as metals or organics in the discharge from this drain’ she quoted from Dr Tanner’s report.
An apparently deliberate refusal to reintroduce development contributions is essentially undemocratic because it put the interests of the few above the many and makes a mockery of the consultation process of a LTP residents and ratepayers will be bound by for the next twenty years.
Even though council has been having workshop meetings about priorities of the LTP one public consultation held at Te Takere last week had no information at all about the council’s intentions which gives the public little to respond to. There were two councillors, a desk and a lot of free pens but no substance about what council has been discussing in publicly excluded workshops about council’s LTP priorities which makes it a faux consultation on one of the most important issues facing ratepayers today.
Although it might be confusing to understand why the council would refuse to reintroduce the levy on land developers one powerful reason for doing so is it appears the council is prepared to drive out existing residents by imposing unsustainable rates rises in favour of new residents who are regarded as more desirable.
The emphasis on making the district attractive to new residents is highlighted in communications from council on the LTP consultations which promotes the concept of making the district attractive for “those that are moving here” and concerns already exist about the statement by council in a two page newspaper feature, “…all submissions will be considered by elected members and the plan adjusted as they see fit.”
One has to wonder whether the LTP has already been pre-determined if councillors are only going to adjust the LTP “as they see fit.”
(*NOTE: you can download and read Anne Hunt’s ebook at the link provided.)
Veronica Harrod is a qualified journalist with a Master of Communications specialising in traditional and new media content. Investigating and reporting on political, economic and legislative trends that negatively impact on the day to day lives of people is one of her main areas of interest. Lifestyle content she is interested in includes celebrating our own especially the tireless work community advocates do as civil citizens participating in democracy to keep those in power on their toes. In a media age dominated by a multi billion dollar communications and public relations industry paid to manipulate information to protect and advance the interests of the few over the many there have to be journalists who are impervious to the all pervasive influencial role they have over local and central government and corporate interests.
For more information on Veronica’s professional qualifications see her Facebook page.
WHAT CAN WE DO? The current elected Mayor campaigned on more transparency & more public inclusion. In light of that do your best to attend the HDC meetings in Levin, hear what is happening & get speaking rights to express to Council matters that affect you. The meetings are held 6 weekly and dates are found on the HDC website, FB page or by phoning them.
This makes me feel less inclined to be purchasing from this corporation. Corporations tend not to be ethically/people friendly given their absolute bottom line is PROFITS (watch ‘The Corporation’ a movie you can find on our Corporations pages) … in fact their legal obligation is first and foremost to their shareholders, not you or any warm, fuzzy values like supporting your kids’ employment or sharing resources. Corporations can be outright evil entities in terms of the lengths they will go to to be top dog, and if you mess with them they have bottomless bank accounts (due to their emphasis on profits) to drag you through lengthy court processes as you gradually use up all your surplus dollars and eventually go bust. The Crown is very good at this too. They used it historically to acquire vast tracts of indigenous lands, all well documented. They’re still at it. So… consider carefully which corporations you support (your NZ government is a corporation) when exercising your purchasing power. EnvirowatchRangitikei
Manuka honey exporter Comvita is being accused of chopping down forest on disputed Maori land, snubbing protocol, and driving small-scale beekeepers out of business.
Publicly listed Comvita reaped $18.5 million from its 30,000 hives last year; a sum some locals of a tiny Kaipara town 150kms northwest of Auckland say they do not want their manuka contributing to.
They want its profit to stay in the community, but say corporate beekeepers have entered Tinopai through a minority of shareholders in one Maori land block.
Opposers of the 49 new hives have initiated “trench warfare” – digging ditches and felling trees across the bush track Comvita uses to access its remote Tinopai hives.
But Comvita chief executive Scott Coulter defended its role in the local economy. “We have a majority of New Zealand-based shareholders and pay local landowners well for the use of their land,” he said.
For anyone wondering where big corporations managed to get a reputation for being faceless, unfeeling, money-hungry dens of villainy, look no further than the top 10 companies on this list. In this list we show you the past and present EVIL things IBM, James Hardie, Union Carbide, Dow Chemical, Smithfield Foods, DeBeers, Siemens, Rio Tinto, Monsanto & Nestle do to ensure their profits keep getting bigger and bigger every year, no matter the consequence to mankind.
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Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is one of the world’s richest women. Her investments in the arms trade include firms that produce the uranium used in depleted uranium (DU) shells. The deployment of these shells by the US military in its attack on the Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2004 is believed to be the cause of a huge increase in cases of cancer and birth defects.
For a more in depth view of the history of the Royals and weapons trade within that context the following video is a must watch. Don’t be put off by the Sex Pistols’ image of the Queen. The doco is actually factual & detailed tracing back hundreds of years. See what the royal family is really about and how much wealth the Queen really owns, it is far more than the info in the first video states. For instance, three of Prince Phillip’s sisters married Nazis. Not what we are generally told about. And there’s more that will surprize you.EnvirowatchRangitikei
Impact of Vaccines: Aluminum, Autoimmunity, Autism & Alzheimer’s
By Dr. Gary G. Kohls
“I predict that Gardasil will become the greatest medical scandal of all times because at some point in time, the evidence will add up to prove that this vaccine…has absolutely no effect on cervical cancer and that all the very many adverse effects which destroy lives and even kill, serve no other purpose than to generate profit for the manufacturers.– Dr. Bernard Dalbergue a former pharmaceutical industry physician with Gardasil manufacturer Merck, emphasis added.
“No vaccine manufacturer shall be liable…for damages arising from a vaccine-related injury or death.” – President Ronald Reagan, as he signed The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA) of 1986,absolving drug companies from all medico-legal liability when vaccines kill or disable children
“The 271 vaccines in development span a wide array of diseases, and employ exciting new scientific strategies and technologies. These potential vaccines – all in human clinical trials or under review by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – include 137 for infectious diseases, 99 for cancer, 15 for allergies and 10 for neurological disorders.”–“Statement from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) – the pharmaceutical industry’s trade association and lobbying group.
The #1 talking point of Big Pharma, Big Vaccine, the CDC, the AMA and the American Academy of Pediatrics when they try to justify the use of the neurotoxin aluminum (and mercury) in their vaccines is this one:
“humans shouldn’t be afraid of the small amount of either aluminum or mercury that is or has been in many human and animal vaccines.”
They say, truthfully, that aluminum is the third most common element in the earth’s crust, behind oxygen and silicone. Oxygen makes up about 47% of the earth’s mass. Silicon is second at 28%, followed by aluminum at 8%. They also say that aluminum may be just as harmless as oxygen and silicone and that humans are also exposed to aluminum in oral antacids and underarm anti-perspirants and that those products haven’t yet been “conclusively” proven to have caused “statistically-significant” health problems. They fail, of course, to mention that the “studies” that prove aluminum’s safety (and efficacy) were designed, performed and paid-for by the very industries that benefit from the unregulated, unexamined and widespread use of injectable aluminum in America’s over-vaccination schedules. It is important to note that the reason that aluminum has been used in vaccines for the last 80+ years is because it has been found to be an “adjuvant” (defined as “a substance that enhances the body’s immune response to an antigen.” An “antigen” is “a toxin or other foreign substance that induces an immune response in the body”. Interestingly, nobody really understands exactly how aluminum performs as an adjuvant, and there is a desperate search for other adjuvants because the vaccine industry understands just how toxic it is.
Some shocking revelations in this excellent & informative article. And no the safety studies were not independent from the manufacturing industries (aka Big Pharma). When you present for a vaccine if you’re still that way inclined, ask them to show you the safety studies. You’ll be surprized. Folks I know of who have asked, discovered the nurses attending were actually ignorant of those studies. They of course haven’t questioned their esteemed employers and just assumed they were all good. This is one issue you need to research thoroughly, particularly the vaccine-Autism link and the HPV vaccine. Check out our vaccine pages. Read the statements of the ex-industry whistle blowers, the MDs … there are many. EnvirowatchRangitikei
Rangitikei Environmental Health Watch 
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