website.net.nz

Want to influence the US elections? If you take part in this great example of Google activism you  can.
I’ve grabbed this in its entirety from OpenLeft:

Searching for John McCain is a massive, online activism campaign designed to make at least ten million non-partisan, poll-tested, on-message voter contacts that reveal the damning truth about John McCain entirely through mainstream news reports and McCain’s own words. Through mass blogger participation and the use of embedded hyperlinks, Searching for John McCain will connect millions of curious, low-information swing voters to negative, mainstream news articles about John McCain without 99% of those voters even knowing that Searching for John McCain exists. It is the more sophisticated, and hopefully more effective, 2.0 version of the Googlebomb the Elections campaign which, with only $1,500 and three days of work, reached 6% of the electorate in 47 swing congressional districts during the final two weeks of the 2006 mid-term elections.

You can participate if you have a website of your own, if you make comments on other websites, or even if you are a registered user on a community website. It is quick. It is easy. It is free. And it is very, very effective. If it is done correctly, and if enough people participate, this campaign alone should cost John McCain 1% of the vote in November.
To learn how to participate, and to learn how it will work, read on into the extended entry. Chris Bowers :: ACTION: Searching for John McCain

Continue reading ‘Searching for John McCain’

They work under the cover of night, armed with seed bombs, chemical weapons and pitchforks. Their tactics are anarchistic, their attitude revolutionary. Their aim: to beautify.

An army of self-styled Guerrilla Gardeners is growing across the world, fighting to transform urban wastelands into horticultural havens. To document and encourage their victories, one of the movement’s top generals has written a handbook.

Shock garden troops attack urban eyesores - New Zealand, world, sport, business & entertainment news on Stuff.co.nz

The Wildcat Anarchist Group presented its submission on the China-NZ free trade agreement to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee today as an intepretive dance.
After a brief dance depicting trying to fly with one wing, fast footwork, a strangled worker and a collapsed economy, the group’s representative answered several questions from the committee.

The group believes the FTA with China threatens to undermine local manufacturers and workers and leave New Zealanders uninformed about the products they buy, says spokesperson Sam Buchanan.

Aotearoa IMC: Anarchists oppose China trade deal

What pray tell is this?

An influential union of muscular enterprises and entrepreneurs, the Standover Group is committed to furthering what is in the best interest of the most important section of New Zealand society - big business. The Standover Group

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU on Vimeo … unbelievable.

From http://www.thestandard.org.nz/?p=1918

“No Right Turn crunched some numbers and it turns out CAFCA’s right. According to Rio Tinto’s own figures, shutting the Tiwai smelter would actually benefit New Zealand to the tune of $26 million a year by allowing us to shut the inefficient coal-burning Huntly power station and reduce our carbon emission liabilities.”

Source - No Right Turn - http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2008/05/climate-change-hoisting-rio-tinto-with.html

This is unbelievable. The aluminium smelter in Southland uses a huge amount of electricity, indeed a huge percentage of NZ’s total electricity consumption and would therefore be faced with some additional costs under the Govt’s polluter pays Emissions Trading Scheme. Fair enough I would have thought but the boys at Rio Tinto have spat the dummy like a bunch of spoilt children.

They’re basically saying “if you make us pay for our emissions we’re leaving and all our employees will be out of work.”

And to top it off old Tim Shadbolt comes out with this drivel:

“It would absolutely cripple us as a city.” The scheme was pointless because New Zealand produced a very small percentage of the world’s total carbon emissions.

Good one Tim.

More here from the Southland Times

Spotted this on Campbell Live tonight. The Wire is a new site that collects blogs from a bunch of interesting New Zealanders.

The Wire is a place for people to visit and read about the lives of interesting New Zealanders. The Wire represents a wide array of New Zealanders, from different industries and cultures, who share a vision for success within their fields. Click on their images to read about their daily lives, their interests and passions. Visit The Wire and stay in tune with New Zealand’s creative future.

Looks good. My picks are Steve Abel, Jonny Brugh and Nick Abbot.

Good to see some new blogs on the scene!

Speaking of Steve Abel, he’s released a new video in the last few days heralding the pending release of a new album too. Definitely worth a look.

Last weekend CNN lead with a big story about James Buck, a graduate student in journalism from the University of California-Berkeley who was arrested last month in Mahalla, Egypt while covering an anti-government protest. Thinking quickly, James was able to send a one-word Twitter update: “Arrested.” His followers in Egypt and back in the US reacted by contacting the university and the consulate on his behalf. Before long, James was updating Twitter with another one-word message, “Free.”

CNN Story: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/25/twitter.buck/index.html

The US spy base in Blenheim, New Zealand has been the target of protesters and pranksters before.

This morning, 30 April 2008, a group of Ploughshares activists entered the base an actually managed to deflate one of the domes.

Here’s their press release: Continue reading ‘Ploughshares penetrate Waihopai spy base and deflate dome’