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New Zealand Parliament Votes To Extend Spying Powers
pinkstuff writes "Amid protests and much opposition New Zealand parliament has just passed a bill which allows the The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) greater spying powers."
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Dear Zealanders
Perhaps it would be wise to suggest to rename your country to Nanny Zealand or New Nannyland.
Your fellow European
Obviously post-Snowden, they realise how much they need to catch up to the American standard.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
n/t
US have a lot of names for their surveillance programs, which one will be the one from New Zealand? The Eye of Sauron?
to smuggle away the keel design for the next America's Cup.
For a long time, governments of modern democracies have been rather afraid of public opinion and the press, and have avoided doing things that would result in protests and opposition.
Then at some point they realized they could bribe the press, and that the public's opinion doesn't really matter, nor does it amount to much or lead to much violence in a society of over-fed TV addicts. Today's protesters are all bark and no bite, and the powers-that-be know it full well. So they do whatever the fuck they want without even trying to be discreet about it.
That's where we're at right now. Welcome to a new form of tyranny, in which dictators are "democrats" who resort on soothing words and the complicity of mass-media to pussify the populace and keep it in check. Violence and outright dictatorship is so yesteryear...
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Living in the first world is starting to make me feel slightly enslaved. More or less my existence is limited by what our elected overlords have deemed permissible. I think now I get the futurama quote of "I don't want to live on this planet anymore". I certainly don't like living in a state of Australia where the constitution states that the parliament can make a law for whatever reason it wishes (with a couple of minor exclusions).
This form of representative democracy is in effect tyranny and more importantly treasonous, it is slowly relegating us to serfdom
1. Term limits, including for justices.
2. Repealing Amendment 17 and returning the election of senators to state legislatures
3. A congressional supermajority to override Supreme Court decisions (overruling what could be a stacked court)
4. Spending limit based on GDP
5. Taxation capped at 15%
6. Limiting the commerce clause, and strengthening private property rights
7. Power of states to override a federal statute by a three-fifths vote.
Q: Do they get a gun?
A: No, the army has got the gun this week and it's the turn of the police next week.
To be a bit more serious they are probably only catching up on what Australia and the US are getting out of NZ communications via the Australian company Telstra that owns most of the NZ communication networks now. Telstra have already admitted that they give US agencies access to their networks without a warrant.
Al Qaeda-Trained Terrorists in New Zealand, Prime Minister Says
Earlier this month, as the United States rushed to shutter embassies in response to a terrorist threat, New Zealand's prime minister made a remarkable but largely overlooked assertion. According to John Key, there are al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula-trained individuals at large in his country.
"In New Zealand there are people who've been trained for al-Qaeda camps who operate out of New Zealand, who are in contact with people overseas, who have gone off to Yemen and other countries to train," he told a radio program in New Zealand on Aug. 1. "Some are still offshore and some are in New Zealand."
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
This isn't really news anymore. If a government decided NOT to grant themselves highly abusable new powers, now THAT would be news.
We need ammo subsidies for high volume purchasers and clubs - to encourage gun safety and accuracy. This is both a public safety measures, a critical national defense objective already codified in law, and "for the kids".
A further measure, a lifetime tax credit for people who lawfully shoot and kill career criminals in self defense.. The scope credit would be indexed to the stiff's past record of recidivism and violence.
*removes New Zealand from Top 5 places I want to retire to*
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
It supplies an excuse to REALLY "pacify" a protesting populace (with a B1 Bomber): Violent protest - It's the LAST RESORT, & should always be (when you have nothing to lose and everything to gain only). They'll use it, since those in power will scratch, claw, + scream to keep their power - and won't hesitate to use such methods to "set an example" to others. Then comes martial law for everyone and the FEMA camps get put to use (with their newly acquired 450 million rounds of ammo, and more ordered for them - gosh what do THEY need ammo for? Ask yourself that - it's called planning for civil unrest/revolt). FEMA camps where the barbwire points INWARD (meaning it's a prison, designed to keep people in, not intruders out). Use your head here, think about it. After all - you said it: "they do whatever the fuck they want without even trying to be discreet about it". Trust me - the "powers that be"'s think-tanks have carefully thought all of this out.
Sheep. They are up to something. I saw it in this documentary: Black Sheep. The government is trying to tell me it's just a movie but that's because they are responsible for it!
Who does all this spying serve? Really. Who?
* Carthago Delenda Est *
Can we just pass a law already that everybody has to walk around naked except for an always-on camera that sends its feed directly to government servers?
Well, not "everybody," of course. That would be ridiculous. Our wise government officials should be exempt from this law as their privacy is critical for national security.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
They're organizing...
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
I didn't know all of those sheep were so interesting that they warranted expanded surveillance.
sudo make me a sandwich
Dogs or pigs, somewhere in between there... People are in between there.
Indeed, comrade! Those capitalist PIGS are foolish to believe they will ever succeed! It's human nature to seek socialism and collectivism.
New Zealand. Land of SHEEP.
Look, I know it's not fair; we haven't had time to see what the backlash might be yet; and my own country is controlled by the same kind of vile fascist animals and is not in open revolt. But you didn't expect me to miss the obvious opening did you?
If it's a real representative government, the average folks of NZ could band together and stop this. Same goes for the USA. Instead of yelling about it, people need to take action and continue yelling about it.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I'm Canadian, but I speak on behalf of those who live in any representative democratic political system.
This is just about enough. It's one thing to have a representative democratic form of government, but laws should not be passed that the majority do not want - and it shouldn't require a monumental effort to overturn. Apathy is too easily leveraged by those with less than honourable intentions.
Representative democracies were instituted for a number of fundamental and practical reasons, including the assumption that those with a passion, skill and education in the political process could be trusted as visionaries and representatives to form laws that are in the interest of the public majority, and it was otherwise too costly and, thus, impractical to subject every bill to a public vote. This is no longer the case and is time to empower citizens their fair share of participation in the system.
In this day and age, there is no reason why we cannot delegate the elected representatives to draft and sponsor bills, but they should not be passed without being first subject to majority vote online before they are invoked as law. If less than 50% respondents fail to approve, it is vetoed.
Similarly, the public should have the ability to repeal existing laws via a similar process, perhaps backed by a system to empower citizens to campaign for support on any issue.
I guess the fence of toothbrushes wasn't keeping them secure enough: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTwAoFR4DuM
huh?
I've been thinking about this.... the whole "scared of everything" generation.
about 10-15 years ago the hubub was about Helicopter Parents (like mine), or maybe it was just media BS.
Now I work for someone who is SO paranoid that she won't walk 20 feet outside our building (in a very safe area) after dark without an escort.
I think the people who were insane about safety finally had their kids go off to college, now they've turned their insanity on the world.
People seem to be trading everything they can't understand (no time for introspection, there's real work to be done!) for one tiny mote of something they THINK they can understand (mmm safety). It's... very extreme, seemingly, almost maniacal.
Does it have to do with the fact that we live in Pleasant World now? If no one talks about bad things or death, they can't happen; we rationalize. We fear what we don't discuss/understand; has our fear of death risen to such a degree that we are actually trading OUR LIVES away just so we have an infinitesimally smaller chance of not dying? yikes.
-
A. Backlog.
get out of New Zealand and never look back, glad I did.
Cost of living is stupid, most jobs are underpaid, the public health system is a joke, the goverment has gone on a 'compliance' crusade adding even more layers of inefficiency to make sure it's citizens stay 'safe' and can keep feeding the governments ever increasing appetite for tax dollars. 15% sales tax on **everything** anyone? $9/gallon gasoline? Over inflated house prices around 5 to 7 times the average income? High interest rates? You're welcome to it. Nice scenery.. suppose that's priceless eh.
Isn't New Zealand still #1 as they've been for decades? or in the top 2 spot anyhow.
5-7 times the average income for a house? that isn't so bad.
$46k in the USA x 5 = $230k
Electric cars are long overdue... largely delayed due to the cheapo gas in the USA - the largest consumer of cars. 15% sales tax is a bit much... must discourage over consumption... but shifting it to income wouldn't be that popular either... it would be less regressive. Here I was thinking NZ was some left wing Utopia or something; guess not.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
That has to be the 1st time I've heard somebody claim that it is short-sighted to NOT build an economy around natural resource extraction!
Ruin a large area of land permanently just to employ some people for a few generations? Sure there are reasonable levels... except that the current generation is always BIASED for themselves and their children; making it difficult for them to ever be reasonable in the eyes of history. Plus, usually a few people get mega rich from the people's resources. Yeah, I'm dissing mineral rights as a total farce being pulled on the public by the wealthy. Those jobs are not so numerous and often not so great either.
Population growth increases the demand for resources and.... jobs. NZ should be thinking for the long term and those who don't like it can leave... You can't be the best nation in the world and REMAIN that way if you don't address population growth.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news