Green Party Releases International Joint Statement Criticizing the TPP

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Green Party Releases International Joint Statement Criticizing the TPP

Posted by Unknown on Monday August 20, 2012 @04:06PM from the save-the-whales dept.

Dangerous_Minds writes "The New Zealand, Australian, and Canadian Green Parties have released a joint statement on the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP). Among the concerns are the secretive nature of the talks and 'could hinder access to safe, affordable medicines, weaken local content rules for media, stifle high-tech innovation, and even restrict the ability of future governments to legislate for the good of public health and the environment.' ZeroPaid also notes that the statement is starting to appear in New Zealand and Australian media."

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about time by mynamestolen · 2012-08-20 16:12 · Score: 0

nice to see

--
work in progress
Where's that guy with the axe when we need him ? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 16:21 · Score: 0

Hey, can't you fuckers take a joke ?
You could have knocked on my door instead of using the battering ram ...
Honestly by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 16:26 · Score: -1

I don't know a damn thing about the TPP, but after hearing that those guys are against it, I'm pretty sure it's a good idea. Go TPP!
1. Re:Honestly by LordLucless · 2012-08-20 16:38 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I had the same reaction when I read the first few lines of the headline, but no, the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a bad thing. It's the latest attempt by the US at legislative colonisation of sovereign countries' IP laws.
  
  --
  Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
2. Re:Honestly by c0lo · 2012-08-20 16:43 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  info - essentially, it is only a bit worse than ACTA (including the secrecy of negotiation), with some elements of SOPA thrown in.
  Do you have the same reaction to EFF?
  Speaking for myself... if the internet freedom comes only in green colours (i.e. no other parties would support them), I'm fully green then (possibly with the black-sail of the local pirate party)
  
  --
  Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
3. Re:Honestly by garett_spencley · 2012-08-20 17:36 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Reasons to hate the TPP:
  "latest attempt by the US at legislative colonisation of sovereign countries' IP laws."
  Reasons to love the TPP:
  Stick it to neo-religious enviro-nazi "green" hippy fanatics.
  World spinning. Can't ... decide ... where .. to ... stand... gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
4. Re:Honestly by jamstar7 · 2012-08-20 17:51 · Score: 1
  
  Why is any of this surprising to anybody?
  
  The Internet was designed to survive being broken up in parts and the parts mostly inaccessible to each other. The thinking was, in old Cold Warrior terms, 'Assume a nuclear war. How do we design a computer network that still functions in the aftermath?' The result? ARPANet, the parent of the modern internet. Being decentralised by nature it's resilient, and local networks can still function even in the face of 'great firewalls' through proxies.
  
  The media companies were developed back in the day when duplicating media was expensive as hell. It took expensive cameras and sound recorders to create the media, expensive machines to edit that media, and expensive duplicating machines to create copies of it. Gradually, the media companies evolved to fill a niche between the content creators (the 'artists') and the consumers (the rest of us). They owned the expensive equipment to create 'modern media', to distribute and broadcast it, and dammit, they wanted paid. They got paid. Then they discovered that with all that money, they could make even more money by keeping the supply costs low (screwing the artists with 'Hollywood accounting' and such, and by guaranteeing their profits through 'campaign contributions' to maleable Congresscritters who in turn wrote legislation that helped the media companies stay in control of the artists who created content with contracts that anywhere else would be illegal as hell, and of course the 'sacred eternal copyright' that guaranteed their inaliable right to sue anybody anywhere for attempted copyright infringement.
  
  The internet is a distribution system that's a wide open distribution chain. The media companies are a distribution system that demands heavily restricted supply chains or they go the way of the dinosaur. The equipment for producing 'content' has become dirt cheap and easily available. This scares the media companies shitless because it threatens their entire business model. Of course they're going to strike back. Even if nobody grabbed a torrent off the internet, they'd still be crying 'Pirates!! Pirates!' and they wouldn't be talking bout Johnny Depp. The media companies are scared shitless. They missed the boat to get on the ground floor of the internet because they didn't see it going anywhere. Now they're the distributors of buggy whips in a world where everybody is buying a Model T. Their only hope of survival is to legislate the clock backwards and kill the internet entirely to 'stop piracy' and turn it into cable tv 2.0. Otherwise, it's just a matter of time til they die & become oil for our Cadillacs.
  
  --
  Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
5. Re:Honestly by c0lo · 2012-08-20 18:19 · Score: 2
  
  Why is any of this surprising to anybody?
  Who said this one came as a surprise? I understand why it happens, I even understand why (some/many of the) politicians do very little about it. What I don't understand is the reaction of the OP AC that cheers for TPP because the only parties that oppose the process are the Greens and s/he doesn't like them.
  
  --
  Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
6. Re:Honestly by c0lo · 2012-08-20 18:47 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  BTW guys, the page that I linked on the EFF site has a take action link down the page... (looks like it's a page for US citizens - asks for a simple ZIP code).
  Now, in case you don't live in US (or don't like Greens but you may like some others)...
  OpenMedia.ca and a good bunch of many others run an international site which sends the message to some of the ministers in govts of all the countries involved in the TPP negotiations (I've done it and received some auto-confirmation emails from the .gov type of domains)
  Com'on guys, doesn't ask for that much of an effort, don't wait for a "Wikipedia blackout day" to take a minimal action.
  
  --
  Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
7. Re:Honestly by drsmithy · 2012-08-20 19:36 · Score: 1
  
  I had the same reaction when I read the first few lines of the headline, but no, the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a bad thing. It's the latest attempt by the US at legislative colonisation of sovereign countries' IP laws.
  Hence why the only major parties with policy platforms supporting their country's interests, rather than America's, are complaining about it.
8. Re:Honestly by LordLucless · 2012-08-20 19:45 · Score: 1
  
  The Greens aren't really a major party (at least in Australia). They're probably the strongest of the minorities, but they're nowhere near being able to hold government in their own right - and if they ever do get to that point, expect them to change their tune.
  
  --
  Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
9. Re:Honestly by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 19:54 · Score: 1
  
  The Greens (at least in Australia) are not so easily dismissed. They can't hold Government in their own right, but thanks to holding the balance of power they can and do set the agenda on issues that they happen to feel like.
10. Re:Honestly by thoughtfulbloke · 2012-08-20 20:50 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Actual-green parties (which is to say ones with a representation in parliament), rather than straw-man imagined green parties, are normally on the same side as the non-corporate libertarians when it comes to matters of government transparency.
  I think most of the hate comes from people with no actual experience of living anywhere with greens in government, so not knowing they have actually been quite effective at pushing pro-open government, anti-corporate influence issues in a direction that suits most libertarians.
11. Re:Honestly by SuricouRaven · 2012-08-20 20:54 · Score: 1
  
  For the same reason the religious parties hold influence beyond their numbers. As I understand it, the major parties are in some sort of perpetual stalemate - almost perfectly balanced in power. That means that when the big parties differ, the otherwise-insignificent ones can easily be the deciding factor.
12. Re:Honestly by ByronHope · 2012-08-20 23:16 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  You're being too generous. The people who bucket the Greens come in three flavours. Those who genuinely understand and know what the Greens are about and disagree, they can be identified by having reasoned arguments and use evidence to push their point, this type is rare in public discourse. The second type don't like the Greens because they are threatened by them, but can't use evidence or reasoned arguments because they know if the facts are laid bare, the public will not agree. This second type is identified by their use of emotive language, deception and fanatical hostility. Fox News (or any Murdoch run media) and large corporations are prime examples. The third and most common are identified by their emotive parroting of the position of the second type, they also lack the resources of the second type. The third type are media consumers, you can see them on this page. So even if you do have a Greens in government, there will be corporate interests gunning for them, and there will always be plenty of ignorant consumers who will parrot the corporate line.
13. Re:Honestly by ByronHope · 2012-08-20 23:23 · Score: 2
  
  I should add that the second type of anti-Green includes religious organisations, religious people tend to dislike the Greens, mainly because of money, ie the Greens generally are not in favour of giving tax concessions or funds to organisations who want to use that money to promote belief in sky fairies. Religious types also resent that fact the green parties tend to be hostile to religious rules being forced on society.
14. Re:Honestly by green1 · 2012-08-21 01:22 · Score: 2
  
  Now I'll admit that I'm not an expert on green party policy, but you describe the greens as some form of libertarian leaning group. In Canada that couldn't be further from the truth. Our political spectrum at the federal level has the conservative party at one end, the liberals in the middle, the NDP at the other end... and then about 1000 miles further on is the green party. They make our most liberal, most nanny-state party, look like libertarians. Their platform in the last election was extremely socialist. (and yes, they did actually put out a comprehensive platform, not just on environmental issues)
  Now don't get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for the green party, and I love the fact that our political system has allowed a new party to appear, and actually make progress toward becoming a serious national player. But you won't find me actually voting for them as their platform currently stands.
15. Re:Honestly by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-21 01:28 · Score: 0
  
  Oh please. We socialists are not going to eat your children.
16. Re:Honestly by green1 · 2012-08-21 01:37 · Score: 1
  
  And we libertarians aren't going to shoot them.
  I didn't say that socialism was bad, only that I wouldn't vote for it.
17. Re:Honestly by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-21 02:20 · Score: 0
  
  Wow, some people have no sense of humor.
18. Re:Honestly by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-21 04:01 · Score: 1
  
  Stick it to neo-religious enviro-nazi "green" hippy fanatics.
  That's more a matter of poor advertising on the green parties' parts. Have you actually seriously read the platform of your particular Green Party, or is it just word association of green=enviro-hippy=Greenpeace, etc?
  In Canada, the Green Party is probably the most traditionally conservative party you can vote for. The Conservatives are busy selling the country off to trans-nationals and centralizing government power.
19. Re:Honestly by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-21 04:15 · Score: 0
  
  Heh. A perfect example of the 'third type' described a few posts above.
  In the last federal election, the Green Party of Canada had the most fiscally conservative platform out of all of the parties. That's probably why the Conservative Party swiped a few of the Green's policies on income tax reform to claim as their own. (the Green platform was out and complete months before anyone else's)
  The craziest policy I can think of for the Green Party is their position on wireless electronics. The Greens want it out of mandatory government-run schools until there's a thorough scientific study providing conclusive evidence about the long-term effects of Wi-Fi RF exposure on children.
20. Re:Honestly by Earache65 · 2012-08-21 04:22 · Score: 1
  
  The Greens in Canada have essentially no power but they do get media coverage. The best we could hope is that the NDP and Liberals will back this if it grows legs just to oppose the current Conservative majority. Tying health care and the environment to the IP issue won`t hurt either.
21. Re:Honestly by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-21 04:31 · Score: 0
  
  Oh please. We socialists are not going to eat your children.
  ...at least not until we can`t afford to eat anything else.
22. Re:Honestly by green1 · 2012-08-21 05:39 · Score: 2
  
  Fiscally conservative???? where on earth did you get that garbage from? their platform involved higher taxes on anything that could in some way be related to the environment (any fuel, electricity, etc), higher taxes on any food deemed not to be good for you, and higher spending on every single department of the government (with the possible exception of the military). They had no provision to reduce spending on anything, no provision to reduce deficit or debt and many many many places where they wanted to spend more money.
  I don't know why you think I'm a corporate shill, I don't think corporations should have any influence in politics either. I just want to be able to run my own life instead of having the government tell me what I can and can't buy, what I can and can't eat, etc. I want the government to get completely out of the world of blocking imports to protect local industry. I want them to abolish all IP laws (far more harm than good) I'm all for protecting the environment, but give realistic solutions. don't tell us what we can't do, tell us what we CAN.
  If the green party weren't so socialist, even the NDP are significantly more conservative than the greens, I would vote for them because I like the idea of the outsider party getting support. I just can't stomach their nanny-state politics.
23. Re:Honestly by Ghaoth · 2012-08-21 13:48 · Score: 1
  
  In Australia they are so radically to the left, they're falling off the cliff. Their aim is to have global governance under the auspices of the UN. I'll leave that to your imagination. "http://greens.org.au/policies/human-rights-democracy/global-governance"
  
  --
  Nos Morituri te salutamus
24. Re:Honestly by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-21 19:03 · Score: 0
  
  It's been my experience that the Australian Greens are the only party here talking anything like sense.
  They are certainly the only bunch who think morality and honor have any value whatsoever. The other parties would clearly throw their mother and yours under a bus if it got them ahead.
  Of course, this sensible talking attitude offends the born-to-rule liberals and the gimme-my-slice labour fanatics. Hence the near constant flow of lies, misrepresentations and bad-faith analysis of Greens policies.
When will this explode? by NewtonsLaw · 2012-08-20 16:27 · Score: 4, Insightful

How long before "the great unwashed" finally wake up to the fact that their governments are selling out their rights to the big corporations of the world?
Who keeps an eye on the post-political careers of these "negotiators" and reports on how many of them get "honorary directorships" of the companies they are selling the public's rights in favor of?
Surely, sooner or later, even the half of the population who are below the median IQ will have to wake up to the fact that governments and corporations are working in concert to strip them of their rights and their money.
Or have we devolved to the point where we no longer care -- so long as their is food on the table and a roof (however shabby) over our heads?
1. Re:When will this explode? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 16:32 · Score: 0
  
  Stop copy-pasting the same f'ing rant. It's getting really old.
2. Re:When will this explode? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 16:46 · Score: -1
  
  Stop copy-pasting the same f'ing rant. It's getting really old.
  Shut the fuck up, bitch, before I shove a shit-covered dick
  in your mouth.
3. Re:When will this explode? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 17:05 · Score: 0
  
  Now now. You don't deal with them by swearing.
  You deal with them by assuring them that the misuse of federal funds for political operations within domestic territory is, in fact, a felony, and just because the current administration is weak and lets them get away with this, be assured, the federal record will be kept (they are getting PAID after all) and when the REAL forces of change take over, the ones that they helped coordinate to crush, that we will go through the paystubs of all these organizations, find the names of the people involved and put them in prison for a VERY VERY long time.
  And parole will be denied.
  And you will be put in the private (now publicly run) prisons you helped fill.
  Staffed with former prisoners you help put there on drug laws you committed crimes to help influence in the public eye.
  And we will wait as long as it takes. Drugs and medicine are extending the human lifespan every day. We're patient. We will have your ass in jail.
  Sleep well! :D
4. Re:When will this explode? by robot5x · 2012-08-20 17:21 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  not even that - so long as people have their widescreen tv and brawndo they basically don't care. the frustrating part is this perpetuates the very problem: the evil corporations lurking behind abominable acts such as the TPP are wholly vulnerable to something as simple as people not buying their products... The real modern problem is people having disposable income and choosing to spend it on shit which makes evil corporations rich and powerful and keen to strip our rights away to make more money. If people could simply refrain from not going to the cinema, not buying a dvd, not buying a new TV, not paying for a sports game - even just for a SHORT while - the balance of power will change. The power still remains with individual people, if we can just better understand the consequences of our behaviour.
  
  --
  Hej! Nasi tu byli!
5. Re:When will this explode? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 17:30 · Score: 0
  
  if i wasn't an anonymous coward, i would mod you up, my friend. government isn't the answer. people that are self-governing is the answer.
6. Re:When will this explode? by Samantha+Wright · 2012-08-20 17:34 · Score: 1
  
  Are you sure? Sidney Gottlieb once destroyed a large number of classified CIA papers. At any rate, I think that's a bit of a fallacy—to invoke Godwin, the Nuremberg Trials did little for those who were already dead.
  
  --
  Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
7. Re:When will this explode? by VortexCortex · 2012-08-20 17:54 · Score: 1
  
  Or have we devolved to the point where we no longer care -- so long as their is food on the table and a roof (however shabby) over our heads?
  Yes. This, for the most part. The other common folk have just done away with following any law that seems unjust, as their governments do. You're seeing the intersection of the Meta laws that are made to Meta rule the Meta citizens who are all above the lower laws. Welcome to the Next Level.
8. Re:When will this explode? by durin · 2012-08-20 19:29 · Score: 1
  
  "Surely, sooner or later, even the half of the population"
  This hasn't happened yet, though the governent/corporate abuse has been going on for quite a while, so don't hold your breath.
  
  --
  Why, yes! I AM new here.
9. Re:When will this explode? by SuricouRaven · 2012-08-20 20:57 · Score: 2
  
  It's an old problem. The old 'bread and circuses' term originated with some people back in the roman republic complaining that people didn't care to get involved in civics or do anything to aid their fellows so long as they had food on the table and some entertainment to watch.
10. Re:When will this explode? by jonwil · 2012-08-20 21:33 · Score: 0
  
  The sheeple will never wake up to it because they believe what the "talking head" on the TV news above anyone else and those same "talking heads" report what the big corporations (who own those same news networks) want them to say (i.e. anything that makes them look good)
  Big Corporations and Big Government have a propaganda machine that makes even the Nazi's look weak by comparison.
11. Re:When will this explode? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-21 01:03 · Score: 0
  
  They also need their favorite TV show.
12. Re:When will this explode? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-21 08:08 · Score: 0
  
  Or, y'know, they could make bribery, sorry "campaigning", be it financial or otherwise, illegal... People can still have their widescreen tv's, and the government has no incentive to cave to corporate pressure.
  Of course, that'll take action and significant pressure from the people to happen.
How about NO! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 16:30 · Score: 4, Informative

"The Intellectual Property Rights chapter of the TPPA was leaked in draft form in February 2011. We anticipate that unless a more moderate and balanced version is adopted, NZ, Canada and Australia's shoppers, schools and libraries would end up paying more for their books and DVD's because it would let copyright holders veto parallel importing. Small and medium-sized software and IT businesses would have their innovative visions stifled by constraining patent laws. Finally, large pharmaceutical companies could use the legislation to deny state drug-buying agencies like those in Australia and NZ access to reliable, low cost medicines."
What's the big deal? by Black+Parrot · 2012-08-20 16:36 · Score: 2, Insightful

It will help the rich get richer. Isn't that what governments are for?

--
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
1. Re:What's the big deal? by VortexCortex · 2012-08-20 18:10 · Score: 2
  
  Fuck this planet. "Mostly Harmless" my ass! Beautiful world, but too much politics for ANYONE. ::sigh:: The humans are so primitive, they're still politicking over things like freedom of speech and expression -- Duplicating ideas! Can you believe it!? Copying IS LIFE! Hahaha... Oh well. You can't really blame the stupid sods, I guess; Everyone does this: OOh! Fire! Let's burn EVERYTHING. Oooh! Tools! Let's Tool EVERYTHING! Oooh! Machines! Let's industrialise EVERYTHING! Ooooh Politics! Let's politicise EVERYTHING! Ooooh! Copyright! Let's copyright EVERYTHING! Oooh! Patents! Let's -- yeah, you get the idea.
  Like everything else they eventually tone things down to sensible levels after they over do it and return to an acceptable behaviour. That they got this far and are only now starting to tone down the industry / pollution is an oddity. Lucky bastards have a resilient environment.... They'll figure it out, or die trying. Everything in moderation -- Protip: That's the answer to the Drake Equation.
here's the problem by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 16:55 · Score: -1, Troll

These parties are only against it because they are not the parties in power so they're not getting their kickback from the media and other industries. If you make the mistake of thinking that things will be any different by electing these people and expecting them to act differently than the last batch of nincompoops that got elected then you're crazy.
Ah, crazy. That's when you keep doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome. You keep electing people to government and they keep behaving the same as the last batch. Maybe it's time to find another way to form a government, direct democracy rather than representative democracy, hire them as you would a corporate CEO, or just draw lots from the people who haven't been convicted of any major felonies yet. I'd favour the last myself since they could only serve for one term and they couldn't be able to escape the effects of their actions while in government. Too many get elected over and over and manage to escape the requirements of the legislations they enact. For example, Congress, the Senate and the executive office are not bound to Obamacare. They have their own system outside what is provided by the act to everyone else in the country.
Along the lines of hiring leaders for the country as you would a CEO, look up Rome's five good emperors some time. Five guys, absolute power but no family to pass it on to. They looked about and found the best guy to succeed them. The last guy screwed it up and had a family and a son to leave the empire to. It was all downhill from there.
Green Party to the rescue! by Right1488 · 2012-08-20 16:57 · Score: 0

This will totally make a difference.
1. Re:Green Party to the rescue! by formfeed · 2012-08-20 17:23 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  This will totally make a difference.
  Ignoring the sarcasm.. yes, it will.
  There are countries outside the US. They have more than two parties. The Green party actually makes it into parliament. These countries are called "democracies".
2. Re:Green Party to the rescue! by TapeCutter · 2012-08-20 18:08 · Score: 2
  
  The greens currently hold the balance of power in the Australian senate and they have for a long time, politically they cannot be ignored on any issue unless it has bypartisan support from both major parties..
  
  --
  And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
3. Re:Green Party to the rescue! by Evil+Pete · 2012-08-20 18:11 · Score: 2
  
  I dunno. I am so on the borderline. I am extremely disillusioned with the Australian Labor Party selling out their principles (if they can remember what those are) while the Liberal Party are almost to the point of learning the goose step. At this point the Green Party is looking pretty good. Considering all the crazy shit that the traditional parties do in spite of promising not to do during the elections only the Greens seem to have any principles or sanity left.
  
  --
  Bitter and proud of it.
4. Re:Green Party to the rescue! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 18:51 · Score: -1
  
  None of those countries matter.
5. Re:Green Party to the rescue! by mwvdlee · 2012-08-20 19:04 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Except those are the same countries that will or won't ratify the TPP.
  As far as "mattering" goes, they couldn't matter more in this case.
  
  --
  Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
6. Re:Green Party to the rescue! by drsmithy · 2012-08-20 19:32 · Score: 2
  
  The greens currently hold the balance of power in the Australian senate and they have for a long time, politically they cannot be ignored on any issue unless it has bypartisan support from both major parties..
  Sadly it's pretty much guaranteed TPP will, given both major parties live by the philosophy "if it's good for America, it's good for Australia".
7. Re:Green Party to the rescue! by BlearyTruth · 2012-08-20 22:45 · Score: 0
  
  Democracy is three serial rapists and a young cheerleader voting on evening activities.
8. Re:Green Party to the rescue! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-21 00:20 · Score: 0
  
  Vote in the green party and you may get some relief on copyright control but they'll need the distraction as they implement Agenda 21's pogrom of population culling, sustainability controls and real property management. The US hasn't a green party but they now have an executive order that will confiscate your land if it isn't managed in a sustainable fashion.
  Your best case scenario is that you're already 80 years and not many left so you won't see the worst that's coming.
Excellent! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 17:11 · Score: 1

We (the Internet community) have been rallying against
SOPA
PIPA
And the "IPR Chapters" in
ACTA
CETA
TPP
So it's nice to see some political parties to get involved, rather than the more easy "let's just not talk about it" approach.
fuck me please kill me now by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 17:47 · Score: -1

i have previoustly tried to kill myself using asphyxiation. I failed because i went unconciouse before i got the bag on. I used Lorezepam as my sedetive. I took alcohol, but not a very large amount.
murder me and with a gun or a knife. shoot me in the head, stab me in the chest. beat my skull in with a baseball bat. kidnap me, and then torture me. put me in a freezer and pour water on me. skin me alive.
fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck me nobody will release me from my pain.
Make it viral by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 18:26 · Score: 0

...the statement is starting to appear in New Zealand and Australian media.
We need to get this on the commercial TV channels and in 'The courier mail', 'The SMH', etc.
Nobody Could See this coming, Right!? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 18:40 · Score: 0

Why the fuck do you care about copyright, when banksters have stolen 1.4 Quadrillion?
Perhaps it's time you stop treating us conspiracy theorists with such fucking contempt and focus your motherfucking contempt on the banksters and the treasonous officials who enabled and maybe I dunno, STOP them from stealing once and for all, right now?
Also no mention of sovereignty vaporization? God given rights squashing?
Na back to the same old bullshit, let's just keep arguing, while jack shit happens, DHS will be using those hollow points on us soon enough.
Register now by ANonyMouser · 2012-08-20 18:42 · Score: -1, Offtopic

To become a NZ green party astroturfer... oh I'm sorry, I mean activist. https://my.greens.org.nz/greenmachine/become-an-online-activist
Always consider the messenger. There's a reason why online polls tend to favor the far left view.

I wonder how long this post is going to be readable??

--
I am not just going to agree with the popular view. In other words I have bad Karma.
1. Re:Register now by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 19:02 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Anyone that considers a Green party "far left" has no idea what "far left" actually is.
2. Re:Register now by ANonyMouser · 2012-08-20 20:23 · Score: 1
  
  Reading Marx for the first time this year was a real eye opener. The rhetoric maybe toned down but the ideology is certainly there. Rod Donald and many other Green leaders are/were members of the old Communist party and Values party. The Greens are as far left as Act is far right. I support neither of them.
  GO AC!!!!
  
  --
  I am not just going to agree with the popular view. In other words I have bad Karma.
3. Re:Register now by Kjella · 2012-08-20 22:32 · Score: 1
  
  Well, the Greens are typically in favor of regulations on emissions, taxes on polluting or otherwise environmentally harmful products and restrictions on destroying nature. That's usually enough to qualify as "far left" in American politics where ~50% is Republicans and Libertarians and oppose anything that remotely smells like government interference, it's more that if you go far enough right everything else looks like the far left.
  
  --
  Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
4. Re:Register now by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · 2012-08-20 22:51 · Score: 1
  
  From TFA, here are their three examples of laws that are threatened:
  1. Giant warning or generic packaging on cigarettes.
  2. Requirements of labeling on genetically-modified food.
  3. Laws requiring things like Canada's supply management system which "preserves farmer's livelihood."
  The first, should it even come to pass, would just be reversing even more pointless government mandate. If cigarettes are that bad, make them illegal.
  The second is rolling back unscientific scare tactics that certain political parties unscientifically make hay over.
  The third is also rolling back laws that force some people to remain beholden to some of their inefficient fellow citizens.
  There may be reasons to oppose the de facto creation of yet another layer of bureaucracy, which will enorably grow, competing for dominance, but those reasons largely revolve arpund preventng much of wjat people with this party's sensibilities want, "Me and my buddies being the deciders who permit things."
  
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  (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
5. Re:Register now by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-21 00:39 · Score: 0
  
  That's usually enough to qualify as "far left" in American politics
  Anything reasonably sane is enough to qualify as "far left" in USian politics. You don't have to qualify it by bringing examples of real-world leftist agenda.
6. Re:Register now by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-21 00:52 · Score: 0
  
  The first, should it even come to pass, would just be reversing even more pointless government mandate. If cigarettes are that bad, make them illegal.
  Why? So they can bring their own "war on smoke"? The rest of the world already knows that simply outlawing something is not the best solution to unwanted behaviour.
  
  The second is rolling back unscientific scare tactics that certain political parties unscientifically make hay over.
  How nice of you to use an unscientific scare tactic like straw man here. The parties advocating correct food labeling are simply enforcing free market values: a free market requires an informed market.
  
  The third is also rolling back laws that force some people to remain beholden to some of their inefficient fellow citizens.
  Fallacies are wonderful, aren't they? I suppose you don't grow your own food? Here's something to think about: food production is expensive. The production value remains relatively constant but the land value keeps rising, which implies increasing costs and diminishing returns. Your government is doing exactly the same, if they weren't, inflation would skyrocket.
7. Re:Register now by green1 · 2012-08-21 01:30 · Score: 1
  
  I expected the greens to be in favour of lots of regulation on environmental issues, however I discovered in their last election platform that they were also in favour of lots of regulation on EVERY aspect of life. Canada as a whole is far more "left" than the most liberal of the american parties, but the Green party makes even our most liberal political party look libertarian.
8. Re:Register now by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-21 04:28 · Score: 0
  
  Because the Greens are the ones that passed a law/regulation that, if you sell/produce any sort of goods at home (ie farms, arts&crafts), allows Health Canada special inspectors to barge into your house and look at whatever they please on their own say so? The inspectors can also request police backup, so now you have a police officer in your house legally searching anything he/she can see, without a warrant. I didn't realize the Greens were the governing party in the commons with an appointed majority in the senate...
9. Re:Register now by green1 · 2012-08-21 05:42 · Score: 1
  
  Did I say the other parties were saints?? I hate all of them, that doesnt' make the green's policy palatable.
  I'm libertarian leaning, unfortunately all our parties are socialist, but the greens far more so than any of the others.
Betrayal of the parties by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 19:12 · Score: 0

Yes, this is most definitely US sponsored. The biggest lobbying group in the world is pushing to remove the price control structures that have kept people here on either side of the Tasmin healthy for a very long time... big surprise that right wing governments are attempting to push this through without public scrutiny. We have had plentiful, low-cost medicine because we have kept the US-style pharmaceutical free-market away. Of course "Free market" translates to: Drug companies may limit what you have access to, and charge you anything they wish, you pay or suffer. Or both.
If we think Labor has sold us out, have a look at National.. they are harvesting your organs to raise the big pharma profit margins.
I wouldn't call myself a hippy tree-hugger... but I'm with the Green all the way these days.
1. Re:Betrayal of the parties by ANonyMouser · 2012-08-20 20:27 · Score: -1, Flamebait
  
  http://www.pharmac.govt.nz/
  The possibility of losing this is a huge worry. From a US drig company PoV Pharmac is a drug monopoly. From a NZ PoV it is literally a life saver and what we pay taxes to have.
  
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  I am not just going to agree with the popular view. In other words I have bad Karma.
2. Re:Betrayal of the parties by ANonyMouser · 2012-08-21 09:53 · Score: 0
  
  Flamebait? Really? This is what is being said in the public arena.
  I'm so disappointed. I dropping out of slashdot.
  
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  I am not just going to agree with the popular view. In other words I have bad Karma.
Politically uninformed by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 21:14 · Score: 0

Am I the only one that thought "TPP" meant "The Pirate Party" for a second there?
Fr1st psot by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-20 22:43 · Score: -1

UP TODAY! IF YOU corporationS Do, and with any BSD's filesystem( isn't a lemonade
"Green Party Releases International Joint" by larry+bagina · 2012-08-20 23:53 · Score: 1

Gentlemen, start your bongs!

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Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
1. Re:"Green Party Releases International Joint" by DeathElk · 2012-08-21 01:00 · Score: 1
  
  Thank you! The first sensible comment under this forsaken article.
2. Re:"Green Party Releases International Joint" by HeadBanger606 · 2012-08-21 03:19 · Score: 1
  
  I read right to the end of the comments, HOPING that someone would say something like this. As DeathElk said, thank you.
  
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  --- Amateur musician: http://josh.morine.net/headbanger/
Go Anonymous by Anonymous Coward · 2012-08-21 11:48 · Score: 0

I've given up on public things on the Internet. Encrypt everything and form private networks without advertising and corporate influence. Peer to peer share the information on how to produce your own medications, fair use content and trade with bitcoin. Leave the draconian US laws behind and wait for encryption to be totally criminalised. Develop and use peer to peer protocols to bypass all control. Use cloud only when you encrypt the data and posts.