The 'Situation Room' as they watched the attack. Is that AJ at the back? I see they pixelated out the folder on the laptop.
The 'Situation Room" Mad Men (the TV show of advertising in the 1950's) style. I suppose the number one item is -
Osama: Angela phoned me to watch the TV as they were going to announce that Osama had been killed. Just turned it on a couple of minutes before Obama (not to be confused with Osama!) came out and made his announcement.
No loss. However as usual all the nutters come out. He should have been arrested (in the middle of a night time 40 minutes firefight), they should have done this or that, the Greens as usual are not happy, and Hone (see later) calls him a 'Freedom Fighter" etc.
George Bush didn't have a clue and got sidelined by Iraq. It seems Obama upon becoming President set up a special task force to track Osama down and he did.
Wedding: Watched the Rugby (great win to the Hurricanes over the high flying Reds) then came into the lounge and went onto the Net so it was on in the background but didn't really take much notice.
Hone Harawira: He has left the Maori Party and is to form his own and wants to have a Bye-Election at a cost of half a million dollars for a 21 day sitting period before the next election. It proves he doesn't really care - it is only our money. Nobody should stand against him.
Then again, locally, a Councillor after 8 months has decided to resign and we are going to have a $30,000 Bye-Election. No real reason; just wants to do something else.
Telecommunications: The telecoms companies have been told (but can't be ordered) to drop their mobile rates from 17c to 4 cents. We shall see. Of course no mention of the fact that they have been ripping us off for years.
As for the Internet.
The Government have now passed (under urgency along with the Quake Legislation) the latest incarnation of the so called Anti-Piracy legislation which only highlights the fact that business must move into the 21st Century (from about 1950).
On one side are the giant multi-national corporations on the other, you and me along with the highly motivated uber-geeks.
Government MPs like Katrina Shanks (she said was pretty savvy on computers and went on to prove she wasn't) and Jonathan Young (he compared the internet to Skynet from the Terminator movies) were featured speaking in the Debate - and it was a bit embarrassing.
This is not a debate about computers. It is a debate about content and the way that it is distributed on the internet. Fundamentally, it is a cultural clash. This is about proponents of a new business model battling proponents of an old business model.
The Government's task was to craft a law that balanced
a - the need to maintain an environment where the internet thrives, encourages business growth, transforms our economy and so on, with
b - the traditional property rights of content creators and owners.
Critics argue the damage this bill does to (a) is far too high a price to pay for (b). And, they say, it is protecting a model that is outdated anyway. They call the companies seeking to protect copyright this way dinosaurs and argue they are shooting themselves in the foot by clinging on to old ways.
Plus by saying that you are guilty and have to prove your innocence turns our laws on its head. Why don't they do the same for murder?
Trying to hold back the internet is like trying shovel water up stream with a teaspoon - they haven't got a hope.
