Articles tagged with "council"

Twelve years ago, back in 2013, I subscribed to the Fluoride Free New Zealand (back then known as Fluoride Action Network New Zealand) newsletter, to keep an eye on what the group was doing. I've been happy to see that recently my Gmail account has been treating these newsletters as spam, and I hope that many other people receiving this newsletter also having it going into their spam folders - as there's so much misinformation and fearmongering in the emails (along with regular begging for money), that it's best off being left unread.

Buckle up for a deep dive on Sovereign Citizens and the law in New Zealand.

A week ago I attended a talk given by Michael Connett, the son of long-time lawyer Paul Connett. Michael, like his father, lives in the US and has dedicated his life to fighting against the use of community water fluoridation. He's a lawyer, and specialises in civil lawsuits where there are claims of damage by toxic substances. He recently won a court case in the US where he argued that the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) was not doing enough to address concerns about the risks of fluoride in drinking water.

Hi Ken. Has anyone done a formal statistical analysis of your Weather Almanac comparing what the weather was like on those days predicted and if so, can you provide a link please? > > Hi Hamish, has anyone done a formal statistical analysis of your doctor's opinions compared to what the health of the community was like on those days predicted and if so, can you provide a link please? My point is this: we have been writing the almanacs since 1999. They are all available in the libraries. There is no law stopping you from researching my opinions, because that's all they are. What do you hope to find? > > cheers Ken > > Thank you for your response. My doctor or any other physician, would use their 6 years at medical school and years of experience to make a diagnosis. We had a significant weather event last weekend here in Dunedin. Our weather forecasters had predicted this a few hours on and advised the city council of the impending flood. The council acted fast and had trucks running all night clearing drains and water ways. It wasn't an option, it was a fact. If a farmer was to rely on your opinion and not the professional weather forecasters, where would they be? > > If you looked at my rain map, sent out free on 1st - it showed heavy rain last week, spreading to coastal Otago. My almanac says for the 3rd, "heavy rain for lower Southland slopes". My rain map shows the only heavy rain for the country across coastal Otago. I am not to blame that councils did not take note of it. But I certainly predicted something untoward. It is up to councils to act on what the maps suggest. My opinion was correct. The dark in the picture indicates very heavy rain. > > Thank you Ken. Why do you call it an opinion rather than a forecast? I know I am splitting hairs. Rain fall for that period according to your graph indicates about 25mm of rain but in actual fact it was between 130 and 150mm. This is several magnitudes more than you predicted. In fact you are out by so much that you did not even predict a flood at all > > Amounts of rain are dependent on evaporation beforehand, there SUN. My study is with the moon, amounts will vary. No one can guess amounts. That's where opinion come in. If it rains there is potential for the house next door to receive double or half what you receive,. > > 25mm of rain is a lot. For instance, 6mm is considered a rainy day. > > Thank you for your response. Have you ever had a miss with any of your predictions and if so, can you give me an example? > > I have the same rate as the metservice. It's an inexact science. Accuracy is about 85% > > Okay so taking into account that your graph has Westland with a higher rainfall than Dunedin, and Dunedin was several magnitudes less than what actually happened, do you think you predicted the floods in Dunedin last week based on your data, or did you drop the ball on this one? > > Depends where in the district the rainfall was measured. Obviously one data-gathering station for a huge area like Westland or Dunedin is not going to be very accurate. Some places will receive huge amounts and some will get none

Many of you, as skeptics, will have heard mention of 15 minute cities and, in our case, because New Zealand likes to be different, 20 minute cities. The 15 Minute City idea has joined Agenda 21, Agenda 2030 and the Great Reset in the pantheon of recent Big Ideas that actually exist, but have been converted by conspiracy theorists into grotesque versions of themselves where governments are supposedly trying to take away our rights and enslave us all. But, what is the idea of a 15/20 minute city, and how have the conspiracy theorists misrepresented the idea?

With local council elections closing this week, there was concern that Voices for Freedom's efforts to have their members run for office without disclosing their affiliation would result in councils being stuffed with conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers. Thankfully that appears to not be the case, as a Stuff article claims that fewer than a dozen VfF aligned candidates were voted in.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I went to parliament to pray with a group of Christians recently. Simeon Brown was the only MP at this event, and he asked us to pray for Three Waters. He said that although he would not say what his stance was on Three Waters, as the prayer event is meant to be non-partisan, he has a very strong stance (to be clear, Simeon isn't a fan of Three Waters - and the National Party has pledged to repeal it when they are next elected).

Last October, I reported here on Thames Coromandel Mayor Sandra Goudie and her anti-mandate stance.

Another person I've written about in the past is Dr Sam Bailey. To refresh your memory, she's a doctor, previously practising as a GP, based in Christchurch. She appeared on a TVNZ medical show - The Check Up.

Dr Sam Bailey has been in the news this week, which involved in a court case petitioning the High Court to stop the New Zealand Medical Council from investigating her.

In the last newsletter I wrote, I discussed an open letter, penned by Mary Hobbs. Since publishing one of our contacts wrote to supply some more details. It appears that Mary and her husband are Scientologists, and deeply involved in that organisation, even making regular trips to Sydney to clear out a few Thetans, or whatever it is that they do. They even hosted Tom Cruise some time ago on a visit to NZ.

Speaking of anti-vaxxers, they've recently set up a website which allows people, including doctors, nurses and allied health professionals (including alt-med practitioners) to register themselves as objecting to the COVID vaccine rollout. They claim to have 33 doctors, 123 nurses, 244 allied health practitioners (gee, I wonder why this number is so large compared to the number of doctors!) and over 3,300 NZ “concerned citizens”.

Big news this week is that the government is taking water fluoridation powers off local councils and giving it to the director general of health, Ashley Bloomfield.

Liza Schneider has written an article for the BoP Times, printed online in the Herald, which promotes nonsense therapies for animals.

Auckland council are "revisiting" their decision to use popular weedkiller glyphosate, more commonly known as RoundUp. Auckland councillor Wayne Walker seems to be pushing a move to stop using the weedkiller, despite the fact that Federated Farmers and New Zealand's EPA say that it is safe.

There is currently a bill working its way through parliament which proposes moving the decision to fluoridate water supplies away from local councils and into the hands of DHBs. This appears to be a very good move, as fluoridation is a health issue and DHBs are much better suited to weighing up the pros and cons than local councils are. Councils in NZ have historically been bamboozled by Fluoride Free NZ, our local anti fluoride group, and have in some cases made decisions to remove fluoride.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/81470129/Christchurch-City-Council-to-reduce-use-of-potentially-dangerous-weedkiller - https://docs.google.com/document/d/12VYF1pBGhc_2r0pXfqdsmpmGHUEVvXZcGv6geUPUmpU/edit#heading=h.b4cihilq4m4b - https://www.greens.org.nz/news/press-release/nz-councils-should-follow-christchurch-and-put-public-safety-first

The Health Minister (Jonathan Coleman) and Associate Health Minister (Peter Dunne) are proposing to move the decision about water fluoridation out of the hands of local councils, and giving the responsibility to DHBs.

Christchurch council has voted 12-1 to look into ceasing use of glyphosate to kill weeds. The decision seems to have been made based on a recent International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) report which labels glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic". Many other products come under a similar classification, such as coffee, alcohol and bacon. The important question isn't "is it carcinogenic?", but "how carcinogenic is it?". (Paracelsus)

The Whakatane council voted to remove fluoride from its water supply a couple of weeks ago, and reversed the decision this week.

The Pharmacy Council is trying to change part of its Code of Ethics: Here is the old code:

It took Hamilton City Councillors about one hour to banish fluoride from the city's water supply on 5 June, a move Waikato Medical Officer of Health Dr Felicity Dumble said discounted the mainstream opinion of the vast majority of dentists and doctors in Hamilton and in New Zealand.

A company which made staff walk barefoot over burning coals in a training exercise has escaped prosecution. Seven sales trainees suffered burns during the "motivational" session run by insurance giant Eagle Star. Two of the workers needed specialist treatment at a burns unit.

THE opening salvos in the US Skeptics' new Council for Media Integrity's campaign to improve the treatment of science in television entertainment programming were fired in Los Angeles -- the heart of the TVand movie entertainment industry.

It is rare that Nelson interests the world's news media. The "sheep suspended from pine trees" story was sufficiently bizarre to get their attention.

Pull up a chair and hearken to the tale of the Great Drought of '94

The media were quick to cry "Wolf" when concerns were raised about the fungicide Benlate.

An Auckland 'doctor has been struck off the medical register for "disgraceful conduct", the Medical Council said yesterday.

NEW research dismissing the role of tinted lenses in treating reading difficulties has sparked an angry reaction from special education experts.