Word of the day

Poecilonym – a synonym: a word that means almost the same thing as another; a word with a very similar meaning to another.

Volunteering

How very true:

What people see: community engagement, profit, fun, happy children.

What people don’t see: people & conflict management, persistence, lots of hard work, new friendships and skills, failure and disappointment, sacrificing family time, planning, paperwork & emails, many hours of dedication.

Hat tip: The Fundraising Whisperer

Rural round-up

Irrigation makes the difference – Sally Rae:

Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s Big Day Out — Farming Without Boundaries — was held at Matakanui Station, near Omakau, last week. Agribusiness reporter Sally Rae went along for a look.

Next year will mark the 60th anniversary of Paterson family ownership of Matakanui Station, near Omakau.

It is a markedly different property to the vast 32,000ha property for which a depasturing licence was issued to Richard Anthony Filleul in September 1859 . . 

EPA chief scientist says irrigation good for environment – Sally Rae:

Irrigation, when carefully managed, is a “great boon” to the environment, Environmental Protection Authority chief scientist Dr Jacqueline Rowarth says.

When she looked at irrigation, she saw organic matter growing in the soil, schedules being met and therefore happy bank managers because farmers could guarantee their income stream.

It provided income to control rabbits, wilding pines — “and whatever else you want to do”, she said. . .

Protecting an environment includes the economy – Jacqueline Rowarth:

The role of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) in New Zealand is to keep the environment and people safe, whilst enhancing lifestyle – which means considering the economy as well.

These aspects are taken into account in all the decision-making processes, recognising that lifestyle requires income – and that goes for NZ as a whole as well as individuals.

Much of the EPA’s work involves facilitating the decision-making process for proposals from applicants for nationally significant resource management proposals under the Resource Management Act (RMA). Another role of importance for the primary sector is administering and making decisions on new applications under the Hazardous Substance and New Organisms (HSNO) Act. . . 

Farming people the biggest concern – Pam Tipa:

If you think milk price or weather are dairy farmers’ biggest concerns, think again – it’s people.

That is what a survey by Dairy Women’s Network (DWN) has revealed. Chief executive Zelda de Villiers says the results were “quite surprising” and provided a clearer picture about what is important to dairy farmers. ‘What is Important’ was the theme of the recent DWN annual meeting where the survey results were presented.

“When farmers were asked about the difficulties they faced on farm, issues like financial, weather or milk price, none of those things made the top deck of challenges,” de Villiers told Dairy News. . .

Farmers become cash cows – Glenn’s Christian:

The Local Government Commission is set to decide on December 1 whether northern Rodney residents can break away from Auckland.

The long-awaited decision comes after two reports were released, one by the commission showing a large deficit for the small unitary council many local northern Rodney residents want to be set up.

Morrison Low suggested that based on Auckland City Council figures a North Rodney Unitary Council would have a deficit of $13.5 million, meaning rates would need to increase by 48%. . .

Quality wool sells well – Alan Williams:

Good quality wool sold well at the latest Napier auction last Thursday but buyers paid less for average types than they did at the previous sale.

Gains included a 3% lift for good style 35 micron and up to 4% better for 37 micron and stronger style.

However, more average wool was up to 8% cheaper than previously, PGG Wrightson North Island auctioneer Steve Fussell said. . . 

Freeze!

A recruitment video for the New Zealand Police is getting lots of attention.

Let’s hope it achieves its aim of attracting more recruits.

It’s not what she did

Green MP Golriz Ghahraman worked as a lawyer for the Rwanda tribunals.

That sounds admirable and worthy work doesn’t it?

Would it sound as admirable and worthy if  it was clear she was not working for the prosecution to indict those accused of genocide but for the defence to clear them?

Good defence is an integral part of fair justice and that requires defence lawyers. There’s nothing wrong with being one of those.

But it is wrong to hide the fact and give a very strong impression that she was working for the prosecution, as she did elsewhere, not the defence.

Over at Kiwiblog David Farrar writes:

Now I had no idea before reading this article that her work in Rwanda was defending the war criminals, not prosecuting them. I doubt anyone else knew either. Let’s look at what her Green Party CV says:

Her studies at Oxford, and work as a lawyer for the United Nations and in New Zealand, have focused on enforcing human rights and holding governments to account. Golriz has lived and worked in Africa, The Hague and Cambodia putting on trial world leaders for abusing their power, and restoring communities after war and human rights atrocities, particularly empowering women engaged in peace and justice initiatives.

Now 99% of people who read that would think she was working at prosecuting the abusers, not defending them.

Look at this Guardian article from a few weeks ago:

It was in this South Pacific melting pot, says Ghahraman, that she acquired the confidence to study human rights law at Oxford University, and, later, to stand up in court representing the UN in tribunals prosecuting some of the world’s worst war criminals, including perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide.

Now again 99% of people reading this would assume she was prosecuting in Rwanda. But she was actually defending the perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide.

Former Labour staffer Phil Quin has actually worked in Rwanda with the survivors of the genocide there. He is highly unimpressed:

Quin has lots of texts including this one:

22h

Phil Quin@philquin

.@golrizghahraman to be clear, the human rights that preoccupied you were those of some of the worst mass murderers in history. What about the rights of thousands of women with children born of rape; countless orphans; friends that lost entire families; 800,000 dead.

Phil Quin@philquin

Everyone deserves a defense, but please don’t preen as a human rights advocates when you dedicated a year to keeping these killers from justice. And defense underfunded?? Don’t make me laugh. ICTR spent 500m defending these guys.

8:56 AM – Nov 27, 2017

 

The wrong-doing isn’t that Ghahraman defended people accused of genocide.

It’s the selective use of information to give the impression that she worked for the prosecution.

It’s not what she did but the impression she and her party gave of what she did that’s created the controversy.

At the very best this was a lie by omission from the Green Party and MP.

Imagine the uproar from the left if a National or Act MP did work like this, let alone gave an altogether different impression of the work.

Quote of the day

In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words with out a heart. –  John Bunyan who was born on this day in 1628.

November 28 in history

1095 – On the last day of the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II appointed Bishop Adhemar of Le Puy and Count Raymond IV of Toulouse to lead the First Crusade to the Holy Land.

1443 – Skanderbeg and his forces liberated Kruja in Middle Albania.

1520 – After navigating through the South American strait, three ships under the command of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan reached the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first Europeans to sail from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific.

1582 – William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway paid a £40 bond for their marriage licence.

1628  John Bunyan, English cleric and author. was born (d. 1688).

1632 Jean-Baptiste Lully, French composer, was born  (d. 1687).

1660 – At Gresham College, 12 men, including Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, and Sir Robert Moray decided to found what became the Royal Society.

1729 – Natchez Indians massacred 138 Frenchmen, 35 French women, and 56 children at Fort Rosalie.

1757 – William Blake, British poet, was born  (d. 1827).

1785 – The Treaty of Hopewell was signed.

1811 – Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, was premiered at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig.

1814 – The Times in London was for the first time printed by automatic, steam-powered presses built by German inventors Friedrich KoenigandAndreas Friedrich Bauer, signalling the beginning of the availability of newspapers to a mass audience.

1820  Friedrich Engels, German philosopher, was born (d. 1895).

1821 – Panama Independence Day: Panama separated from Spain and joined Gran Colombia.

1829  Anton Rubinstein, Russian composer, was born (d. 1894).

1843 – Ka Lā Hui: Hawaiian Independence Day – The Kingdom of Hawaiiwas officially recognised by the United Kingdom and France as an independent nation.

1862 – American Civil War: In the Battle of Cane Hill, Union troops under General John Blunt defeated General John Marmaduke’s Confederates.

1893 – Women voted in a national election for the first time in the New Zealand general election.

1895 – The first American automobile race took place over the 54 miles from Chicago’s Jackson Park to Evanston, Illinois. Frank Duryea won in approximately 10 hours.

1904  Nancy Mitford, British essayist, was born (d. 1973).

1905 – Irish nationalist Arthur Griffith founded Sinn Féin as a political party with the main aim of establishing a dual monarchy in Ireland.

1907 – In Haverhill, Massachusetts, scrap-metal dealer Louis B. Mayeropened his first movie theatre.

1910 – Eleftherios Venizelos, leader of the Liberal Party, won the Greek election again.

1912 – Albania declared its independence from the Ottoman Empire.

1914 – World War I: Following a war-induced closure in July, the New York Stock Exchange re-opened for bond trading.

1918 – Bucovina voted for the union with the Kingdom of Romania.

1919 – Lady Astor was elected as a Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the first woman to sit in the House of Commons. (Countess Markiewicz, the first to be elected, refused to sit.)

1920 – Irish War of Independence: Kilmichael Ambush – The Irish Republican Army ambush a convoy of British Auxiliaries and kill seventeen.

1929 – Ernie Nevers of the then Chicago Cardinals scores all of the Cardinals’ points in this game as the Cardinals defeat the Chicago Bears40-6.

1933  Hope Lange, American actress, was born (d. 2003).

1942 Manolo Blahnik, Spanish shoe designer, was born.

1942 – In Boston a fire in the Cocoanut Grove nightclub killed 491 people.

1943 – World War II: Tehran Conference – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin met in Tehran, Iran to discuss war strategy.

1948  Beeb Birtles, Dutch-Australian musician/singer-songwriter; co-founding member of Little River Band, was born.

1958 – Chad, the Republic of the Congo, and Gabon became autonomous republics within the French Community.

1960 – Mauritania became independent of France.

1961 Martin Clunes, British actor, was born.

1962  Matt Cameron, American drummer (Soundgarden, Pearl Jam), was born.

1964 – NASA launched the Mariner 4 probe toward Mars.

1972 – Last executions in Paris, of the Clairvaux Mutineers, Roger Bontems and Claude Buffet, guillotined at La Sante Prison.

1975 – East Timor declared its independence from Portugal.

1975 – As the World Turns and The Edge of Night, the final two American soap operas that had resisted going to pre-taped broadcasts, aired their last live episodes.

1979 – Flight TE901, an Air New Zealand sightseeing flight over Antarctica,crashed into the lower slopes of Mt Erebus, near Scott Base, killing all 257 passengers and crew on board.

1984 – More than 250 years after their deaths, William Penn and his wifeHannah Callowhill Penn were made Honorary Citizens of the United States.

1987 – South African Airways flight 295 crashed into the Indian Ocean, killing all 159 people on-board.

1989 –  Velvet Revolution – In the face of protests, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announced it would give up its monopoly on political power.

1991 – South Ossetia declared independence from Georgia.

2008 An Air NZ Airbus A320 crashed off the coast of France.

2013 – A 5.6 earthquake in Iran killed seven people and injured 45.

2014  – Gunmen set off three bombs at the central mosque in the northern city of Kano killing at least 120 people.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia