Kia Ora,
Posts have been a little sparse of late due to the work in the red zone of the Christchurch CBD, moving due to a damaged property & generally getting things sorted to allow us to build for the future.
So it has meant putting on hold those posts that keep coming to mind. With the likelyhood of more sustained tasks posts will be when we are able to get them out.
Back to the title & the word corruption again it equates to the meanings that have appeared most often when googling previously. That is makes things worse & lacks integrity.
Further to the last post on this subject has been those instances that have arisen through the media such as the example(one of many) of an insurance company assessor saying it is going to cost $300,000 to repair their house only to have that countered by EQC wtih an assessment of $35,000. That is a huge difference, it is understandable it is causing frustration & anger.
Then there are the properties written off after the September wee shake that are been assessed again post the February Earthquake. As someone said "maybe they reckon the shake, shook it all Ok again". Nine months down the track that is not acceptable especially when someone then tells you about the anecdotal experience of a friend during the Kobe earthquake. Cleaned up in a month & rebuilt in eight months.
Add to that the friends & family who tell us a variety of nightmares. Such as the one tells how after the first visit they were told their house was likely to come down. Next person told them only some rebuild & some leveling cemment. When someone shows up to fix their house first they are told it is worse than they were told & it needs reassessment. Whilst waiting for that someone shows to fix other areas telling them parts of the house they were told were to be fixed are not covered.
Now if all that sounds confusing imgaine how householders feel & that is if they have been even visited.
Of course there are the mild mannered businsses people at the end of their wits trying to retrieve items to allow their business to continue with no real plan in place to help them & insurance issues now raising their ugly heads as insurance companies start to collapse meaning many are no longer covered.
Speaking of businesses there are those whose workers are waiting to carryout their professions but find the work has gone to those from out of town. Again it is causing frustration & anger.
Add in bureaucrats who say that the estimated 70,000 who left Christchurch following the February wee shake is actually only 8,000. How did they come to that number? By using statistics following some diasters overseas. They also point out those most likely to stay in their area are the better off.
So they haven't actually got out on the ground to find out. Many in the low income areas are still there because they just can't afford to leave. Though in the same token almost street after street in some suburbs are empty. They also have not taken into account the different mindset here as I have often pointed out this is New Zealand where people just think this doesn't happen to us.
Ends up the numbers they come up with affects their funding. If less have left more funding, not the actual numbers or likely issues.
Finally is the admission in both the 'Press' & on TV by the head of Civil Defence that been from the military he applied a military process which whilst good in the immediate aftermath of the disaster did not seem to fit the recovery process so much.
He also pointed out that one issue he found was been from the military he was used to people getting out & getting things down, whilst in Civil Defence below the top tier was a lot of well meaning enthusiastic volunteers & things didn't quite happen as fast or as was envisaged as he would expect.
These have been the issues I have had with Civil Defence from the start.
I agree that a military approach is very good in the first part of an emergency due to the training & ability to think on your feet. Unfortunately on the day it was those ex military & police in particular who were a big part of helping make a difference assisting the emergency services, not Civil Defence.
It also can be very good if applied correctly for the recovery.
The limiting issue has been the well meaning volunteers. Some are great for example the person who I saw took control in September. The only thing was that it took nearly a day & a half after the first shake before they were asked to show up. In the meantime those on site had been spending all their time so I was told deciding on how the table should be set up. It then meandered along until that person returned for their shift & got things organized. True it was a satellite position but they all need to be up & running as at any moment their role could change during a disaster.
What though seems to be the biggest issue is why I left Civil Defence in the first place. It has a process but whilst some were trying to run it along those lines, allowing people to use their initiative as long as the information was passed up & down the line. Others were using the old boy system, short cutting the system(nothing wrong there) but then not passing it up or down the line so everyone was in the know. Hence in so many instances the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.
In one instance it took five days for information to get to the police(except via us & some police thought we were overstepping our role) that we as on site security were told direct.
Another meant that for nine weeks a demolition company was abused & threatened for knocking down a church illegally, which probably thousands of people saw on the day as about to fall down, only for Civil Defence finally admit it had given the order for it to be pulled down.
On yet another items were put out to the public via the internet or in the paper such as opening of new areas of cordon or allowing of business owners to access certain areas but not passed on to those on the ground. Again it caused anger & frustration. Not to mention the lack of communication to those with no internet or power for TV.
The new entity Cera has now taken over & right now there seems to be an urgency to get some things that have been causing frustration & anger completed. It remains to see whether things will now pick up.
Civil Defence needs to look hard at the way it operates especially here in Canterbury. Volunteers are great & we need them but it has to be done by people who can think on their feet but ensure the information still flows in the right directions quickly & correctly.
Some country area Police officers who responded to help told us of how the local civil defence had been caught out years before, had learnt their lessons & incorporated those lessons into both their training & set up.
It is not something I have seen either from my short time with Canterbury Civil Defence or the on going issues from the major earthquakes & their effects on Christchurch except at the top.
www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
Showing posts with label corruption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label corruption. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Corruption is Rife!
Kia Ora,
Well work inside the Christchurch CBD Red Zone is finished & it got too busy to keep up the blog & since then a little task as well as finding a new premises then moving(still in progress).
One thing the earthquakes in Christchurch have exposed corrupt practices are rife in New Zealand.
Before writing a previous post commenting on corruption I searched it on the internet as the dictionary I had seemed to have a narrow view. What came back in the first two searches showed that nine out of ten definitions hardly alluded to money if at all but more were words like "make things worse" or "lack of integrity". A third search without changing the search words suddenly only referred to money until the second page. I tend to go with the first two searches.
In a recent debate people kept insisting on a set definition but that allows those in charge to then carryout corrupt practices that frustrate but for some reason fall into gray areas that don't require them to answer for their actions.
The reason though I am moving is due to what I consider a corrupt practice making the place I reside unsafe although it appears to only have about 25 superficial cracks on the outside with one large crack in the warehouse.
After the September 4th 2010 Earthquake it was noticed there was sand come up out front. The owners said "oh yes it has sand infill".
Would of never signed the lease had I been aware of that having been part of civil defence & knowing that liquifaction was likely when sand base is under your property.
But it gets worse. Whilst working recently we had the luck to work along side a structural engineer.
What they highlighted has also been recently highlighted by Far North Mayor & engineer Wayne Brown. He said he was shocked by the poor building standards in residential houses in Christchurch, which mirrored the comment by the US USAR team member to me about our high rises.
In the 'Press' article highlighting comments from Brown the Department of Building & Housing commented the quake had highlighted some bad buildign practices peculiar to Christchurch such as unreinforced concrete slabs under residential houses.
When I said sand infill the engineer raised his eyes & said "so what else has happened?" or words to that effect. Basically when the big crack appeared the rear wall became concave as floor sloped down that side with wall in at the top. Few weeks later there was a thump & on inspection a second crack had appeared at right angles to the major one & wall straightened itself fully over the next week.
As the saying goes there is more & this is where you start to see the corruption.
Allegedly many years ago the City council tried to stop Developers from using sand infill. The theory is sand under your concrete slab makes it stronger so you don't have to use as much reinforcing or as comments from department no reinforcing.
Since the Council didn't have the resources to fight the developers in court so I am told they come up with a compromise where it would only be allowed to be used in single story residential premises.
Two issues there. Sand becomes a form of liquifaction during the pressure from an earthquake & you could see that in the warehouseas cracked area had risen above the rest of the floor. What we have noticed around Christchurch is when liquifaction occurs somewhere it leaves what becomes a sink hole as the shaking causes the light soil like silt or sand to move to one spot leaving a gap where the light soil was prior to the shake.
Secondly is that the property I had leased for my business was an apartment/office/warehouse which is two stories. So somewhere along the line this dodgy practice has morphed into been Ok for commercial two stories.
The article refers to several other questionable practices in residential housing with no accounting of the bad practices in commercial or high rise premises.
Some very new buildings such as the IRD building or CBS areana have stood up well from anecdotal comment. The other significantly have been from anecdotal comment those built by the Ministry of Works which was criticised for over engineering anything it built but would of been using the lessons of the 1931 Napier earthquake.
Everything else in between I would be very suspicious off until a full check has been done. Thats a proper check not the Mickey mouse ones we have been getting on direction from the Body corporate. It also seems from what we have seen in the Red Zone that is an engineer has a vested interest then the report on a building is vastly different to that of an independant engineer.
Seems we quickly forget the lessons then corruptly short cut everything we can whick in the long run proves more expensive in lives. Funny thing is it is claimed these bad practices were a result that earthquakes were unlikely in Christchurch. Civil Defence though had maps & projections (shown to us when you joined back in 90's not to mention the 1996 documentary)of likely damage to Christchurch in the event of the big quake expected on the Alpine fault or a Tsaunami.
As bad as Civil Defences response has been to the Canterbury earthquakes they did try to minimize effects but were given not much teeth or credence. They had to fight to keep the sand dunes at 5 metres when first lowered from 8 metres as people wanted them taken down completely to improve property prices.
Didn't help that many of their own people didn't take it seriously & still don't.
In the vein of making things worse that seems to be the one thing Civil Defence are doing well. There is no leadership & frustrations are growing. One thing everyone does in Christchurch is talk about the quake.
From a professional point of view I point out that this slow response is now the norm for diaster recovery around the world & tends to result in riots. Most are now saying they can see that happening here shortly unless the truth is put out there & real progress is made.
That is not the reaction you expect to get here. Prior to the February 22nd earthquake if you mentioned that was a possibility the stock answer would of been "not in Christchurch" or "not in New Zealand", someone actually said "New Zealand was now too PC for it to happen as everyone would be worried that they would upset someone".
Well that has all changed now. I have stayed on message it is just others response to it has changed & all due to corruption.
www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
Well work inside the Christchurch CBD Red Zone is finished & it got too busy to keep up the blog & since then a little task as well as finding a new premises then moving(still in progress).
One thing the earthquakes in Christchurch have exposed corrupt practices are rife in New Zealand.
Before writing a previous post commenting on corruption I searched it on the internet as the dictionary I had seemed to have a narrow view. What came back in the first two searches showed that nine out of ten definitions hardly alluded to money if at all but more were words like "make things worse" or "lack of integrity". A third search without changing the search words suddenly only referred to money until the second page. I tend to go with the first two searches.
In a recent debate people kept insisting on a set definition but that allows those in charge to then carryout corrupt practices that frustrate but for some reason fall into gray areas that don't require them to answer for their actions.
The reason though I am moving is due to what I consider a corrupt practice making the place I reside unsafe although it appears to only have about 25 superficial cracks on the outside with one large crack in the warehouse.
After the September 4th 2010 Earthquake it was noticed there was sand come up out front. The owners said "oh yes it has sand infill".
Would of never signed the lease had I been aware of that having been part of civil defence & knowing that liquifaction was likely when sand base is under your property.
But it gets worse. Whilst working recently we had the luck to work along side a structural engineer.
What they highlighted has also been recently highlighted by Far North Mayor & engineer Wayne Brown. He said he was shocked by the poor building standards in residential houses in Christchurch, which mirrored the comment by the US USAR team member to me about our high rises.
In the 'Press' article highlighting comments from Brown the Department of Building & Housing commented the quake had highlighted some bad buildign practices peculiar to Christchurch such as unreinforced concrete slabs under residential houses.
When I said sand infill the engineer raised his eyes & said "so what else has happened?" or words to that effect. Basically when the big crack appeared the rear wall became concave as floor sloped down that side with wall in at the top. Few weeks later there was a thump & on inspection a second crack had appeared at right angles to the major one & wall straightened itself fully over the next week.
As the saying goes there is more & this is where you start to see the corruption.
Allegedly many years ago the City council tried to stop Developers from using sand infill. The theory is sand under your concrete slab makes it stronger so you don't have to use as much reinforcing or as comments from department no reinforcing.
Since the Council didn't have the resources to fight the developers in court so I am told they come up with a compromise where it would only be allowed to be used in single story residential premises.
Two issues there. Sand becomes a form of liquifaction during the pressure from an earthquake & you could see that in the warehouseas cracked area had risen above the rest of the floor. What we have noticed around Christchurch is when liquifaction occurs somewhere it leaves what becomes a sink hole as the shaking causes the light soil like silt or sand to move to one spot leaving a gap where the light soil was prior to the shake.
Secondly is that the property I had leased for my business was an apartment/office/warehouse which is two stories. So somewhere along the line this dodgy practice has morphed into been Ok for commercial two stories.
The article refers to several other questionable practices in residential housing with no accounting of the bad practices in commercial or high rise premises.
Some very new buildings such as the IRD building or CBS areana have stood up well from anecdotal comment. The other significantly have been from anecdotal comment those built by the Ministry of Works which was criticised for over engineering anything it built but would of been using the lessons of the 1931 Napier earthquake.
Everything else in between I would be very suspicious off until a full check has been done. Thats a proper check not the Mickey mouse ones we have been getting on direction from the Body corporate. It also seems from what we have seen in the Red Zone that is an engineer has a vested interest then the report on a building is vastly different to that of an independant engineer.
Seems we quickly forget the lessons then corruptly short cut everything we can whick in the long run proves more expensive in lives. Funny thing is it is claimed these bad practices were a result that earthquakes were unlikely in Christchurch. Civil Defence though had maps & projections (shown to us when you joined back in 90's not to mention the 1996 documentary)of likely damage to Christchurch in the event of the big quake expected on the Alpine fault or a Tsaunami.
As bad as Civil Defences response has been to the Canterbury earthquakes they did try to minimize effects but were given not much teeth or credence. They had to fight to keep the sand dunes at 5 metres when first lowered from 8 metres as people wanted them taken down completely to improve property prices.
Didn't help that many of their own people didn't take it seriously & still don't.
In the vein of making things worse that seems to be the one thing Civil Defence are doing well. There is no leadership & frustrations are growing. One thing everyone does in Christchurch is talk about the quake.
From a professional point of view I point out that this slow response is now the norm for diaster recovery around the world & tends to result in riots. Most are now saying they can see that happening here shortly unless the truth is put out there & real progress is made.
That is not the reaction you expect to get here. Prior to the February 22nd earthquake if you mentioned that was a possibility the stock answer would of been "not in Christchurch" or "not in New Zealand", someone actually said "New Zealand was now too PC for it to happen as everyone would be worried that they would upset someone".
Well that has all changed now. I have stayed on message it is just others response to it has changed & all due to corruption.
www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
Friday, April 1, 2011
Hail the Black Sheep!
Kia Ora,
Pretty full on at present with tasks resulting from the February earthquake. So will also be publishing posts written when an upcoming task was not going to allow me to blog.
It might seem strange for a blog about security & security related issues but I am all in support of a families Black Sheep. Better known these days as Peter Freedom the person who has successfully(whilst travelling the world) for two years de frauded our Social Welfare department exposing it as corrupt & incompetent.
As someone who once was on a benefit as a back up(as it is supposed to be) it was always galling to see all those that didn't help themselves getting a hand out whilst those of us who tried to help ourselves got no help at all. In fact our names got passed from case manager to case manager to make them look good. You either help all or none equally otherwise you just encourage people to give up.
Now there has been an article in the 'Press' where the CEO of WINZ tries to defend the department handing out cash to a 'charity' run by an overstayer. Seems they have not learnt the lessons.
Many in the US think they are now a socialist state. They have no idea but in saying that some things the government needs to pick up especially in a small country where the population just isn't big enough to provide everything.
Recently Public service chiefs were said to be angered over the publicity of how much they earn. Tough! When they are earning up to $380,000 more than most workers they are answerable when they are not providing the services they are expected too.
Being on Welfare is soul destroying but that doesn't mean that people can't be provided with actual assistance that some might just need to kick start. Right at this moment the government is looking to trim people of these benefits which is great except the system is set up to penalize them if they try. There is no incentive to get off really apart from personal. Most try initially but give up after so many knock backs.
From Poor Law to Welfare State, 6th Edition: A History of Social Welfare in America
Also there are just not the jobs out there in the current economic climate & are less likely to be as the financial crisis worsens. Problem here is successive governments have spent years dumbing everybody down giving them 'financial education' that isn't that very few can see the best route out is to start a business for themselves. Of course governments, in particular New Zealand ones have made the requirements to be in certain businesses so onerous in the wrong ways that people find it hard to start.
When I say onverous in the wrong ways I mean we do, despite some sections in society saying otherwise, need good regulations to ensure people get the best. The market does not actually offer that as claimed by some because to compete means everyone will lower themselves to lowest common denominator to stay in business. There needs to be a good mix of both.
More often than not though the regulations cause the opposite to happen. They tend to be written by those with no practical knowledge of an industry or a role.
Transformation of the Welfare State: The Silent Surrender of Public Responsibility
So I hail the Black Sheep of his family for exposing at least some of the poor systems, corruption & incompetence in our civil service.
Really if they want to get people back to work & cut crime the best option is for the government to provide policies that allow businesses to start & flourish. As an Australian said when moving here to start a business "easy to set one up here but after that it is just apathy".
An efficient, competent civil service could help there. But ours tends to make the comedies 'Yes Minister & Yes Prime Minister' look like reality TV.
Just another slave of the welfare state - Bumper Sticker
They can't say it is not continuing as I know it is. Last year I had a flat mate move in before I threw him out two weeks later who was & is a con man as well as appearing to be a gambler.
So far I am the only one he hasn't been able to rip off from my knowledge. Correction next place he moved into threw him out in one week.
But recently I have begun receiving mail for him from our welfare department which I have returned saying gone no address & he was only here for two weeks a year ago.
Just another slave of the welfare state Long Sleeve T-shirt Large White
Having dealt with this type of thing before I can envisage what has happened. He has recently needed an address so has given this one. They are sending out mail whilst he rips them off. They will not stop as he has to change the address even if you tell them he is no longer there. The other option is He got a loan from them back then & only now are they chasing it up. Either way despite them been told at some stage a debt collector or PI will show up on the door.
Funny thing is all the fingers, in particular from the department, are been pointed at the Black Sheep. Their own faults are the problem.
If he returns to New Zealand he is to be prosecuted for defruading the department. I hope they are lining up the case manager & the CEO to stand along side him. Their corruption is what allowed this to happen.
Go the Black Sheep!
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
Pretty full on at present with tasks resulting from the February earthquake. So will also be publishing posts written when an upcoming task was not going to allow me to blog.
It might seem strange for a blog about security & security related issues but I am all in support of a families Black Sheep. Better known these days as Peter Freedom the person who has successfully(whilst travelling the world) for two years de frauded our Social Welfare department exposing it as corrupt & incompetent.
As someone who once was on a benefit as a back up(as it is supposed to be) it was always galling to see all those that didn't help themselves getting a hand out whilst those of us who tried to help ourselves got no help at all. In fact our names got passed from case manager to case manager to make them look good. You either help all or none equally otherwise you just encourage people to give up.
Now there has been an article in the 'Press' where the CEO of WINZ tries to defend the department handing out cash to a 'charity' run by an overstayer. Seems they have not learnt the lessons.
Many in the US think they are now a socialist state. They have no idea but in saying that some things the government needs to pick up especially in a small country where the population just isn't big enough to provide everything.
Recently Public service chiefs were said to be angered over the publicity of how much they earn. Tough! When they are earning up to $380,000 more than most workers they are answerable when they are not providing the services they are expected too.
Being on Welfare is soul destroying but that doesn't mean that people can't be provided with actual assistance that some might just need to kick start. Right at this moment the government is looking to trim people of these benefits which is great except the system is set up to penalize them if they try. There is no incentive to get off really apart from personal. Most try initially but give up after so many knock backs.
From Poor Law to Welfare State, 6th Edition: A History of Social Welfare in America
Also there are just not the jobs out there in the current economic climate & are less likely to be as the financial crisis worsens. Problem here is successive governments have spent years dumbing everybody down giving them 'financial education' that isn't that very few can see the best route out is to start a business for themselves. Of course governments, in particular New Zealand ones have made the requirements to be in certain businesses so onerous in the wrong ways that people find it hard to start.
When I say onverous in the wrong ways I mean we do, despite some sections in society saying otherwise, need good regulations to ensure people get the best. The market does not actually offer that as claimed by some because to compete means everyone will lower themselves to lowest common denominator to stay in business. There needs to be a good mix of both.
More often than not though the regulations cause the opposite to happen. They tend to be written by those with no practical knowledge of an industry or a role.
Transformation of the Welfare State: The Silent Surrender of Public Responsibility
So I hail the Black Sheep of his family for exposing at least some of the poor systems, corruption & incompetence in our civil service.
Really if they want to get people back to work & cut crime the best option is for the government to provide policies that allow businesses to start & flourish. As an Australian said when moving here to start a business "easy to set one up here but after that it is just apathy".
An efficient, competent civil service could help there. But ours tends to make the comedies 'Yes Minister & Yes Prime Minister' look like reality TV.
Just another slave of the welfare state - Bumper Sticker
They can't say it is not continuing as I know it is. Last year I had a flat mate move in before I threw him out two weeks later who was & is a con man as well as appearing to be a gambler.
So far I am the only one he hasn't been able to rip off from my knowledge. Correction next place he moved into threw him out in one week.
But recently I have begun receiving mail for him from our welfare department which I have returned saying gone no address & he was only here for two weeks a year ago.
Just another slave of the welfare state Long Sleeve T-shirt Large White
Having dealt with this type of thing before I can envisage what has happened. He has recently needed an address so has given this one. They are sending out mail whilst he rips them off. They will not stop as he has to change the address even if you tell them he is no longer there. The other option is He got a loan from them back then & only now are they chasing it up. Either way despite them been told at some stage a debt collector or PI will show up on the door.
Funny thing is all the fingers, in particular from the department, are been pointed at the Black Sheep. Their own faults are the problem.
If he returns to New Zealand he is to be prosecuted for defruading the department. I hope they are lining up the case manager & the CEO to stand along side him. Their corruption is what allowed this to happen.
Go the Black Sheep!
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Pushing the legalized Theft!
Kia Ora,
Well at present there is a huge push here in New Zealand on the legalized theft road. You have all sorts of financial 'experts' & the government pushing Kiwisaver or our superannuation scheme.
The reason it is legalized theft is the world has changed, these people did well during the boom times but have not realized it & anyone partaking in the scheme will lose out.
Straight away any US readers will be starting to understand this as their 401K's are sinking in value in the main & I understand there is debate over whether the government will stop people taking from these plans to prop up the economy. Thing is that decision was made some time back by the oversight body for those funds 401K's trade in.
The funds have the power to stop paying out in order to bail out the banks was how it was presented by a financial commentator sometime back.
So first you have inflation making the value of any currency you have in your retirement savings worth less each day as the world continues to 'print' fiat currency(currency backed by nothing more than a promise & promises of governments are worth exactly that-nothing) & now they are stealing it legally to prop up those that have ruined the economy.
Australians tell me they were starting to see the same issue of their Superannuation funds falling in value & making lossess. The Australian government got crafty after the complaints & allowed people to control their own funds. I would say they will still be paying fees to the fund managers for allowing them to hold their currency for them. Also how many of those who take up that option actually know how to invest?
I would bet most will have their currency in property because of the view that property always goes up. It doesn't. They need to understand the cycles & trade them to get ahead.
Self Managed Superannuation Funds
Even here in New Zealand after only a few short years Kiwisaver is now making losses.
Yet the big push is on to get as many people signed up as possible.
A mate tells me that in the US right now you can drive into cities & see virtually on every street homeless people including whole families. Recently 60 minutes had a clip on 401K's been near worthless & executives out of work looking for any type of work going.
So crime will be on the rise but will the police respond? Their cars are getting repossessed & gas stations are refusing to refill police cars as local or state governments are not paying the fuel bills.
Superannuation Funds Management in Australia - Industry Market Research Report
There are reported to be 100 cities in the US on the verge of bankruptcy with the state of California(worlds eigth largest economy) about to go the same way as Greece, Ireland & Portugal.
The US then is heading towards the same road as Tunisia, Eygpt, Yemen, Jordan, Bangladesh, India with protests over the likes of rising food prices, corruption & people have just had enough.
Never happen in New Zealand though. Yeah right.
One thing that hit me on leaving the army & moving into the security industry was just how many 'unseen' people there were in this country. In particular those living on the streets many who had mental ilnesses.
Superannuation in the Civil Service: Report of a Special Committee of the National Civil-Service Reform League
In the last week though I have noticed a disturbing trend here in New Zealand. Now I always maintain that most crime is actually not reported. But usually it is not reported to the police. How about the police not reporting it to the media?
I am aware of an armed robbery that took place approximately a week a go that has still not been reported in the media here. More often than not they are though I had noticed a delay in reporting starting to creep in.
Then on driving in to my local mall got this feeling about someone sitting in a vehicle. After a while in security, like the police you get feelings about certain people which are usually right.
After entering the mall I suddenly notice a guy looking similar walk in. Had what appeared to be a walkman/MP3 earphones in but then noticed one side was clipped to his lapel & he was talking into it.
Rewarding Service: A History of the Government Superannuation Fund
Quick check other person was still in vehicle taking a keen interest in area of the banks. Went of to see if I could find mall security, suddenly find second person walking through mall & obviously scanning for something he went straight through & out.
This was all passed onto Mall management.
Few days later see another person scanning the car park & area where shortly after an armoured cash vehicle parked up. Saw this person again yesterday hanging around whilst talking to mall security.
As we were talking realized this person wasn't probably looking to commit a crime though it may come to that. They were homeless or at best on a benefit with no prospects & no cash.
The Birth of a Pension Scheme: A History of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (E. Allison Peers Lectures)
At this time the only people who have noticed this person are those of us in security or the cleaners(great eyes & ears) but as the legalized theft continues you are going to see more & more people living on the streets with no prospects.
People will get desperate as government cuts will mean they have access to less & less help & therefore crime will rise or eventually we get the situation of an Eygpt.
Notice the last couple of books I have put in here are about government or university pension schemes. It now appears that at least in the US if you were a civil servant your pension is paid before the state, city or even government pays its bills.
Which is particularly worrying for the US because all the cash put into social security was 'borrowed' by as I understand it the Clinton administration so is an off book expense that they have to keep paying. That is why some commentators are saying the real debt in the US is US$200 Trillion not US$14.5 Trillion as the official amount is quoted.
So you combine this legalized theft with incompetent corrupt bureaucrats & politicians manipulating the people all you need is a trigger.
In Tunisia it was a black market food seller trying to make ends meet to feed his family. Here is might just be the idiot at NZ Post saying they never lose information when they quite obviously do. The trigger will usually be something minor though but some when people have just had enough. Right now in New Zealand that could be easily on the West Coast over the Pike River Mine disater or here in Christchurch over the extremely poor government response to the earthquake.
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
Well at present there is a huge push here in New Zealand on the legalized theft road. You have all sorts of financial 'experts' & the government pushing Kiwisaver or our superannuation scheme.
The reason it is legalized theft is the world has changed, these people did well during the boom times but have not realized it & anyone partaking in the scheme will lose out.
Straight away any US readers will be starting to understand this as their 401K's are sinking in value in the main & I understand there is debate over whether the government will stop people taking from these plans to prop up the economy. Thing is that decision was made some time back by the oversight body for those funds 401K's trade in.
The funds have the power to stop paying out in order to bail out the banks was how it was presented by a financial commentator sometime back.
So first you have inflation making the value of any currency you have in your retirement savings worth less each day as the world continues to 'print' fiat currency(currency backed by nothing more than a promise & promises of governments are worth exactly that-nothing) & now they are stealing it legally to prop up those that have ruined the economy.
Australians tell me they were starting to see the same issue of their Superannuation funds falling in value & making lossess. The Australian government got crafty after the complaints & allowed people to control their own funds. I would say they will still be paying fees to the fund managers for allowing them to hold their currency for them. Also how many of those who take up that option actually know how to invest?
I would bet most will have their currency in property because of the view that property always goes up. It doesn't. They need to understand the cycles & trade them to get ahead.
Self Managed Superannuation Funds
Even here in New Zealand after only a few short years Kiwisaver is now making losses.
Yet the big push is on to get as many people signed up as possible.
A mate tells me that in the US right now you can drive into cities & see virtually on every street homeless people including whole families. Recently 60 minutes had a clip on 401K's been near worthless & executives out of work looking for any type of work going.
So crime will be on the rise but will the police respond? Their cars are getting repossessed & gas stations are refusing to refill police cars as local or state governments are not paying the fuel bills.
Superannuation Funds Management in Australia - Industry Market Research Report
There are reported to be 100 cities in the US on the verge of bankruptcy with the state of California(worlds eigth largest economy) about to go the same way as Greece, Ireland & Portugal.
The US then is heading towards the same road as Tunisia, Eygpt, Yemen, Jordan, Bangladesh, India with protests over the likes of rising food prices, corruption & people have just had enough.
Never happen in New Zealand though. Yeah right.
One thing that hit me on leaving the army & moving into the security industry was just how many 'unseen' people there were in this country. In particular those living on the streets many who had mental ilnesses.
Superannuation in the Civil Service: Report of a Special Committee of the National Civil-Service Reform League
In the last week though I have noticed a disturbing trend here in New Zealand. Now I always maintain that most crime is actually not reported. But usually it is not reported to the police. How about the police not reporting it to the media?
I am aware of an armed robbery that took place approximately a week a go that has still not been reported in the media here. More often than not they are though I had noticed a delay in reporting starting to creep in.
Then on driving in to my local mall got this feeling about someone sitting in a vehicle. After a while in security, like the police you get feelings about certain people which are usually right.
After entering the mall I suddenly notice a guy looking similar walk in. Had what appeared to be a walkman/MP3 earphones in but then noticed one side was clipped to his lapel & he was talking into it.
Rewarding Service: A History of the Government Superannuation Fund
Quick check other person was still in vehicle taking a keen interest in area of the banks. Went of to see if I could find mall security, suddenly find second person walking through mall & obviously scanning for something he went straight through & out.
This was all passed onto Mall management.
Few days later see another person scanning the car park & area where shortly after an armoured cash vehicle parked up. Saw this person again yesterday hanging around whilst talking to mall security.
As we were talking realized this person wasn't probably looking to commit a crime though it may come to that. They were homeless or at best on a benefit with no prospects & no cash.
The Birth of a Pension Scheme: A History of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (E. Allison Peers Lectures)
At this time the only people who have noticed this person are those of us in security or the cleaners(great eyes & ears) but as the legalized theft continues you are going to see more & more people living on the streets with no prospects.
People will get desperate as government cuts will mean they have access to less & less help & therefore crime will rise or eventually we get the situation of an Eygpt.
Notice the last couple of books I have put in here are about government or university pension schemes. It now appears that at least in the US if you were a civil servant your pension is paid before the state, city or even government pays its bills.
Which is particularly worrying for the US because all the cash put into social security was 'borrowed' by as I understand it the Clinton administration so is an off book expense that they have to keep paying. That is why some commentators are saying the real debt in the US is US$200 Trillion not US$14.5 Trillion as the official amount is quoted.
So you combine this legalized theft with incompetent corrupt bureaucrats & politicians manipulating the people all you need is a trigger.
In Tunisia it was a black market food seller trying to make ends meet to feed his family. Here is might just be the idiot at NZ Post saying they never lose information when they quite obviously do. The trigger will usually be something minor though but some when people have just had enough. Right now in New Zealand that could be easily on the West Coast over the Pike River Mine disater or here in Christchurch over the extremely poor government response to the earthquake.
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Information Security a major Issue!
Kia Ora,
There has been a lot of concern about information security in particular on the likes of Facebook then the concerns everytime Facebook renews its format.
But it again is the information security of a local business that is the issue. In fact it is the same business as last post on the subject NZ Post.
I received a letter from a manager at NZ Post, I was going to insert their name here but decided not too, who from the tone of the letter is the person I spoke too when the issue first came to light.
They claim the evidence they provide shows that they have all my information & have never lost anything. In fact it does the opposite it shows I am 100% correct & they have lost all the information I have given NZ post over the previous four years.
It appears they have not thought it through which brings to mind this quote;
"Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably why so few engage in it." Henry Ford.
Seems this person has selective memory saying I from the start made false accusations. Actually no it was the other way around. Spoke very nicely to a nice girl that I had concerns about information held on me had gone missing. She put me through to this manager.
He answered saying there was a problem with my phone & obviously didn't like it when I pointed out that the issue was obviously his end. He then says he will pull over. Case closed on that issue.
I then very calmly expressed I had extreme concerns over information held about me which appeared to have gone missing. His reply "We don't lose information" I replied "you do & you have" from there it deteriorated until I swore at him then had to hang up as he continued to rant.
Information Security : Principles and Practice
Now two other issues came up here & the first I dealt with in the last post & will deal more in depth at the end of this post, that of swearing as a good stress relief. Seems it is Ok to these days abuse a police officer but not some incompetent, lazy, corrupt bureaucrat.
The other issue which this individual shows they are very poor at is customer service.
For an investigation for one they never even involved me & then it appears the person I disagreed with, investigated themselves. So they only ever had half the story & were sadly missing some facts. That is corruption!
The attitude is something that has come up several times in business group discussions & how bad customer service is in New Zealand. It results in either arguments or more often than not in New Zealand people walking away, but telling everyone or whinging about how bad the service is.
They don't do like foreigners or myself that actually tell people how bad the service is. It actually lessens the stress by getting it out there.
Management of Information Security
People like this person I am dealing with think they can get away with it by coming on all arrogant & ignorant like it is the person raising the issues fault. I didn't lose the information. They did. Their 'investigation' proves I am 100% right.
Now another discussion has started in a business group on how the Rugby World Cup will affect New Zealand business long term.
Potential is huge, but attitudes like this one I am coming up against with poor customer service will potentially, in this day of social media, destroy New Zealands reputation very quickly. It is something New Zealand has not as yet got to grips with, but overseas social media can destroy a business or a country(It is why Egypt has closed down social media then the internet). It is that powerful.
Principles of Information Security
The customer is not always right but they do have the right to put their case, not have a white wash of an investigation. In fact that is the normal way of doing an investigation in government entities now. Only investigate their side then proclaim there is not an issue.
People complain about the police investigating themselves. At least knowing police they will generally take all details they can into account. Others only look at themselves & present the information they think is right not the facts.
So what has happened to this information I have given NZ Post. Seems it has just gone into the system to be lost forever. Despite the fact I have now sent a letter higher up the chain with the corruption now in the system I don't expect a result or even an apology.
Information Security: Principles and Practices
It is that sort of thing that the riots starting across the world & overthrow of governments are aimed to sort out.
Instead of giving poor service I would suggest the bureaucrats start looking at what is happening offshore & get their attitude sorted.
At the same time New Zealand needs to get its house in order both in security information & customer service.
What do they want people venting steam by swearing or rioters with iron bars or firearms? Because that is where it will go if people keep not performing, the financial crisis gets worse & people are forced to surpress their feelings.
The Chinese know that you can be pretty hard on your people & they will take it but when you start adding in the rising costs of living in particular food it is a recipe for disaster.
Financial Armageddon: Protect Your Future from Economic Collapse, Revised and Updated Edition
It was the same in the military & British companies also practiced in Iraq. You can push people hard, get them to carryout dangerous tasks but make a mistake on their pay or leave & it creates huge issues that bring all the other niggling issues to the surface.
History shows this. It is the small things that count. Constant denial of mistakes by bureaucrats just wind people up.
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
There has been a lot of concern about information security in particular on the likes of Facebook then the concerns everytime Facebook renews its format.
But it again is the information security of a local business that is the issue. In fact it is the same business as last post on the subject NZ Post.
I received a letter from a manager at NZ Post, I was going to insert their name here but decided not too, who from the tone of the letter is the person I spoke too when the issue first came to light.
They claim the evidence they provide shows that they have all my information & have never lost anything. In fact it does the opposite it shows I am 100% correct & they have lost all the information I have given NZ post over the previous four years.
It appears they have not thought it through which brings to mind this quote;
"Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably why so few engage in it." Henry Ford.
Seems this person has selective memory saying I from the start made false accusations. Actually no it was the other way around. Spoke very nicely to a nice girl that I had concerns about information held on me had gone missing. She put me through to this manager.
He answered saying there was a problem with my phone & obviously didn't like it when I pointed out that the issue was obviously his end. He then says he will pull over. Case closed on that issue.
I then very calmly expressed I had extreme concerns over information held about me which appeared to have gone missing. His reply "We don't lose information" I replied "you do & you have" from there it deteriorated until I swore at him then had to hang up as he continued to rant.
Information Security : Principles and Practice
Now two other issues came up here & the first I dealt with in the last post & will deal more in depth at the end of this post, that of swearing as a good stress relief. Seems it is Ok to these days abuse a police officer but not some incompetent, lazy, corrupt bureaucrat.
The other issue which this individual shows they are very poor at is customer service.
For an investigation for one they never even involved me & then it appears the person I disagreed with, investigated themselves. So they only ever had half the story & were sadly missing some facts. That is corruption!
The attitude is something that has come up several times in business group discussions & how bad customer service is in New Zealand. It results in either arguments or more often than not in New Zealand people walking away, but telling everyone or whinging about how bad the service is.
They don't do like foreigners or myself that actually tell people how bad the service is. It actually lessens the stress by getting it out there.
Management of Information Security
People like this person I am dealing with think they can get away with it by coming on all arrogant & ignorant like it is the person raising the issues fault. I didn't lose the information. They did. Their 'investigation' proves I am 100% right.
Now another discussion has started in a business group on how the Rugby World Cup will affect New Zealand business long term.
Potential is huge, but attitudes like this one I am coming up against with poor customer service will potentially, in this day of social media, destroy New Zealands reputation very quickly. It is something New Zealand has not as yet got to grips with, but overseas social media can destroy a business or a country(It is why Egypt has closed down social media then the internet). It is that powerful.
Principles of Information Security
The customer is not always right but they do have the right to put their case, not have a white wash of an investigation. In fact that is the normal way of doing an investigation in government entities now. Only investigate their side then proclaim there is not an issue.
People complain about the police investigating themselves. At least knowing police they will generally take all details they can into account. Others only look at themselves & present the information they think is right not the facts.
So what has happened to this information I have given NZ Post. Seems it has just gone into the system to be lost forever. Despite the fact I have now sent a letter higher up the chain with the corruption now in the system I don't expect a result or even an apology.
Information Security: Principles and Practices
It is that sort of thing that the riots starting across the world & overthrow of governments are aimed to sort out.
Instead of giving poor service I would suggest the bureaucrats start looking at what is happening offshore & get their attitude sorted.
At the same time New Zealand needs to get its house in order both in security information & customer service.
What do they want people venting steam by swearing or rioters with iron bars or firearms? Because that is where it will go if people keep not performing, the financial crisis gets worse & people are forced to surpress their feelings.
The Chinese know that you can be pretty hard on your people & they will take it but when you start adding in the rising costs of living in particular food it is a recipe for disaster.
Financial Armageddon: Protect Your Future from Economic Collapse, Revised and Updated Edition
It was the same in the military & British companies also practiced in Iraq. You can push people hard, get them to carryout dangerous tasks but make a mistake on their pay or leave & it creates huge issues that bring all the other niggling issues to the surface.
History shows this. It is the small things that count. Constant denial of mistakes by bureaucrats just wind people up.
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Are we being led up the Garden path?
Kia Ora,
In recent days have been watching the Keiser Report. A half hour twice weekly financial report on the true state of the worlds financial crisis. It can be quite amusing & very informative.
A recent episode has raised an interesting question. Are US authorities in particular using false or unrecognized flag activities to introduce powers well beyond those required?
By that it is meant that they are using what seems to be a good reason to place more draconian measures in place?
The most contentious of these have been the questioning of the need for such stringent security precautions in particular at airports in the US. There have been several incidents or people refusing to comply with these precautions.
From a security point of view some of the precautions instituted do have an appearance more of control that anything to do with security.
The airport security issue though is a hard one. Yes people will be thinking well it has been a while so we need not be so over the top. But that is the issue with terrorism. You only need to let your guard slip once & it can be the last time.
Uninhibited, Robust, and Wide-Open : A Free Press for a New Century
So though the aid of the new generation scanner is intrusive, it is probably one that for now is needed as the lesser of two evils.
But another issue has arisen. Wikileaks has released cables showing that US politicians used trade with Boeing as a bargining chip to say meetings with the President. Corruption no more no less! Boeing has allgedly even said it wants to ditance itself from this type of corruption.
Then there is the one about putting pressure on the French Government to not proceed with the law banning Monsanto GM grains or similar. If the French introduce these measures they will spread to the whole of Europe.
For those that don't know the French were aware that GM grains had produced illnesses in lab rats.
GM anything is shown to stop reproducing after about three cycles therefore creating a currency where to feed their people countries would have to buy from the likes of Monsanto.
Uninhibited, Robust, and Wide-Open : A Free Press for a New Century
Even worse was the story told to us in a visit to Canada years ago. The Canadians that told us were adamant this occurred.
A farm was set up using GM wheat, the farmer next door was a natural farmer. The natural farmer found the GM crop had cross pollinated with his wheat so complained. The company owning the GM crop sued him & won his farm.
What is emerging is none of these stories have been aired on mainstream US media & the alternative media is supporting the call for Wikileaks to be prosecuted. The US government appears to be using Wikileaks as an excuse to put restrictions on reporting & is using the unwittng support of US media to breach their own first admendment rights.
It has even been reported that US Politicians are putting in place legislation to stop the use of the words 'bank run'. A bank run is when people think a bank or banks are about to collapse & everyone wants to get their cash out.
The Constitution : That Delicate Balance ; National Security and the Freedom of the Press
At least one major bank in the US has already put in place the requirements for people to give 7 days notice to withdraw their cash at some future period.
This would likely led to riots. As it is, it is not the large banks who have caused the financial crisis who will suffer, just the small ones. It is the small banks who are already going under. 2008 it was 40, 2009 from memory 125 & last I heard in 2010 it was on target for about 140 plus with 2990 banks on the verge of going under.
The large banks just receive bailouts to pay for their bad debts & then pay themselves large rewards. Or those who assist them such as the reputed US$42 million Tony Blair has been paid by a US bank for representing their interests in Kuwait. Sure beats the US$600,000 he was getting for been Middle East envoy.
It will give those in authority an excuse to impliment even greater powers to deal with any unrest.
Freedom lies in being bold
So are we been led up the garden path? It sure seems that way. The problem is much of it can be justified & what can't be the people do not have access to the true situation.
As someone said to me here the other day "but the government knows best" another one recently "but the government will know of that threat"(in that case I doubt it but if they do they are doing nothing about it) & the last one was "If you can't trust the government to protect your information who can you trust?"
Now that one is in real fantasyland.
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
In recent days have been watching the Keiser Report. A half hour twice weekly financial report on the true state of the worlds financial crisis. It can be quite amusing & very informative.
A recent episode has raised an interesting question. Are US authorities in particular using false or unrecognized flag activities to introduce powers well beyond those required?
By that it is meant that they are using what seems to be a good reason to place more draconian measures in place?
The most contentious of these have been the questioning of the need for such stringent security precautions in particular at airports in the US. There have been several incidents or people refusing to comply with these precautions.
From a security point of view some of the precautions instituted do have an appearance more of control that anything to do with security.
The airport security issue though is a hard one. Yes people will be thinking well it has been a while so we need not be so over the top. But that is the issue with terrorism. You only need to let your guard slip once & it can be the last time.
Uninhibited, Robust, and Wide-Open : A Free Press for a New Century
So though the aid of the new generation scanner is intrusive, it is probably one that for now is needed as the lesser of two evils.
But another issue has arisen. Wikileaks has released cables showing that US politicians used trade with Boeing as a bargining chip to say meetings with the President. Corruption no more no less! Boeing has allgedly even said it wants to ditance itself from this type of corruption.
Then there is the one about putting pressure on the French Government to not proceed with the law banning Monsanto GM grains or similar. If the French introduce these measures they will spread to the whole of Europe.
For those that don't know the French were aware that GM grains had produced illnesses in lab rats.
GM anything is shown to stop reproducing after about three cycles therefore creating a currency where to feed their people countries would have to buy from the likes of Monsanto.
Uninhibited, Robust, and Wide-Open : A Free Press for a New Century
Even worse was the story told to us in a visit to Canada years ago. The Canadians that told us were adamant this occurred.
A farm was set up using GM wheat, the farmer next door was a natural farmer. The natural farmer found the GM crop had cross pollinated with his wheat so complained. The company owning the GM crop sued him & won his farm.
What is emerging is none of these stories have been aired on mainstream US media & the alternative media is supporting the call for Wikileaks to be prosecuted. The US government appears to be using Wikileaks as an excuse to put restrictions on reporting & is using the unwittng support of US media to breach their own first admendment rights.
It has even been reported that US Politicians are putting in place legislation to stop the use of the words 'bank run'. A bank run is when people think a bank or banks are about to collapse & everyone wants to get their cash out.
The Constitution : That Delicate Balance ; National Security and the Freedom of the Press
At least one major bank in the US has already put in place the requirements for people to give 7 days notice to withdraw their cash at some future period.
This would likely led to riots. As it is, it is not the large banks who have caused the financial crisis who will suffer, just the small ones. It is the small banks who are already going under. 2008 it was 40, 2009 from memory 125 & last I heard in 2010 it was on target for about 140 plus with 2990 banks on the verge of going under.
The large banks just receive bailouts to pay for their bad debts & then pay themselves large rewards. Or those who assist them such as the reputed US$42 million Tony Blair has been paid by a US bank for representing their interests in Kuwait. Sure beats the US$600,000 he was getting for been Middle East envoy.
It will give those in authority an excuse to impliment even greater powers to deal with any unrest.
Freedom lies in being bold
So are we been led up the garden path? It sure seems that way. The problem is much of it can be justified & what can't be the people do not have access to the true situation.
As someone said to me here the other day "but the government knows best" another one recently "but the government will know of that threat"(in that case I doubt it but if they do they are doing nothing about it) & the last one was "If you can't trust the government to protect your information who can you trust?"
Now that one is in real fantasyland.
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
Thursday, January 13, 2011
WTF! Government doesn't value its own people!
Kia Ora,
I just couldn't believe the news the other night. After dithering over whether to send in the military to assist following the Canterbury Earthquake especially into Christchurch because it would send the wrong message. The New Zealand government were considering sending hundreds of personnel to help in the Australian floods.
Now I am not against helping our Aussie mates. They jump in & help us all the time(usually because we don't have the resources & have developed a tendency to bludge off them much to our disgrace) & though we give each other stick it is what should be done to help a mate.
So that part is not the issue & I know that our service people will be champing at the bit to get over & help, because we always were when I was in the military.
It is the fact they dithered here when there was a real need for people to be on the streets to show that everything was under control. It wasn't until the Mayor of Christchurch put it to the Prime Minister on national TV that anything started to happen.
Since then the military should of been assisting in the recovery other than some street patrols & shovelling liquifaction of the streets. That they haven't especially in light of this offer to Aussie to help with their clean up & recovery smacks of the type of corruption I witnessed in Iraq. Something that incensed US military people when they realized what was going on. Big companies making huge profits & undermining their efforts to stabilize Iraq.
Recalcitrance and realpolitik in complex emergencies / by Donald C.F. Daniel [and] Bradd C. Hayes (Occasional paper of the Center for Naval Warfare Studies)
So the actions of the government have shown that they don't really value their own people. Then you throw into the mix the increasing anger & frustration over the way in which damage assessment is been carried out.
Not to mention the frustration & real anger after the Police yesterday announced that they didn't think the Pike River miners could be recovered & were leaving the operation up to the receivers. Now I don't blame the police in this as every dirty job gets left to them & what ever they do they get the blame.
Only ones to blame in this are the government. Despite been the lesser of two evils in regards to the handling of the financial crisis, their on going poor management of the other disasters that have befallen New Zealand(in particular the South Island) in the last year are quickly loosing them support in those areas.
Military Aid to the Civil Power
It will likely result in incidents like the one seen in the US over the last week.
With regards to the last two posts on that subject I received a tweet(message through twitter for those that are not aware) with the message that apparently it was found that 85% of crime committed using firearms in Australia was with weapons that are not registered under their strict gun control laws.
It is quite clear though that the New Zealand government does not value its own people.
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
I just couldn't believe the news the other night. After dithering over whether to send in the military to assist following the Canterbury Earthquake especially into Christchurch because it would send the wrong message. The New Zealand government were considering sending hundreds of personnel to help in the Australian floods.
Now I am not against helping our Aussie mates. They jump in & help us all the time(usually because we don't have the resources & have developed a tendency to bludge off them much to our disgrace) & though we give each other stick it is what should be done to help a mate.
So that part is not the issue & I know that our service people will be champing at the bit to get over & help, because we always were when I was in the military.
It is the fact they dithered here when there was a real need for people to be on the streets to show that everything was under control. It wasn't until the Mayor of Christchurch put it to the Prime Minister on national TV that anything started to happen.
Since then the military should of been assisting in the recovery other than some street patrols & shovelling liquifaction of the streets. That they haven't especially in light of this offer to Aussie to help with their clean up & recovery smacks of the type of corruption I witnessed in Iraq. Something that incensed US military people when they realized what was going on. Big companies making huge profits & undermining their efforts to stabilize Iraq.
Recalcitrance and realpolitik in complex emergencies / by Donald C.F. Daniel [and] Bradd C. Hayes (Occasional paper of the Center for Naval Warfare Studies)
So the actions of the government have shown that they don't really value their own people. Then you throw into the mix the increasing anger & frustration over the way in which damage assessment is been carried out.
Not to mention the frustration & real anger after the Police yesterday announced that they didn't think the Pike River miners could be recovered & were leaving the operation up to the receivers. Now I don't blame the police in this as every dirty job gets left to them & what ever they do they get the blame.
Only ones to blame in this are the government. Despite been the lesser of two evils in regards to the handling of the financial crisis, their on going poor management of the other disasters that have befallen New Zealand(in particular the South Island) in the last year are quickly loosing them support in those areas.
Military Aid to the Civil Power
It will likely result in incidents like the one seen in the US over the last week.
With regards to the last two posts on that subject I received a tweet(message through twitter for those that are not aware) with the message that apparently it was found that 85% of crime committed using firearms in Australia was with weapons that are not registered under their strict gun control laws.
It is quite clear though that the New Zealand government does not value its own people.
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
Friday, January 7, 2011
So it gets worse!
Kia Ora,
Thought I would revisit the issue of my friends house & the poor assessment carried out by the assessor lacking empathy.
First point is that they had had an assessor to deal with another part of the house, they could see what my friends & I could see. Ground falling away which obviously wasn't before, undulations, still some left over liquifaction.
So the recent assessor actually contradicted what the first one said in relation to some areas.
Whats worse & makes it worse for the householders is this idiot of an assessor is alledgedly saying things like "well for that we will just bog the cracks". Yes there is ways of filling cracks but to use the word 'bog' is not what someone wants to hear about their home.
Lacks empathy & causes increased tension.
Then he apparently says things like its not that bad around here dimissing their worries about the liquifaction. This is despite a map been made for EQC showing that area has had liquifaction.
You can see the undulations in the ground that carry on under the house with its concrete floor. His solution apparently is not to look at the ground but to smooth the bumps by adding concrete to the dips.
I would add him to the dips!
Not to mention the large cracks in the floor. True not as big as some but they are still a major concern. Not to mention the undulations in the walls & roof(inside) & sagging roof outside.
Hidden in the Rubble: A Haitian Pilgrimage to Compassion and Resurrection
Then there is his alledged corruption where in several houses in the area he has been heard to direct the contents assessor what to put down.
Just like the corruption of the body corporate representative here whom the structural engineer was asking if they should put this or that in the report.
I have said it before. People know the place they live in & in the current environment most are not saying things to rip the insurance off, they are just worried about what they view as their biggest asset.
Nature Tech - Earthquakes (History Channel)
An article in the 'Press' points out that many Christchurch people are selling their holiday homes in the likes of Twizel to either prop up their businesses or cover their shortfall in what EQC is paying out to rebuild their houses.
Interestingly there was also a small piece where Geonet says it has not been able to measure many aftershocks. Four months after the quake with people feeling what has become known as phathom quakes it has finally been admitted by GNS that if a quake is really shallow & close to you but not near or strong enough to trigger their equipment, it did happen just there is no record.
This seems to be a recurring theme since the wee shake. The 'experts' either keep contradicting each other or sometime down the track come out with information which is what people were feeling but was been denied by the 'experts'.
Earthquakes (reillustrated) (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2)
Privately they are, like many structural engineers, saying that people are on the right track in their thinking or that the likes of Ken Ring is correct in saying the moon has an effect on earthquakes.
Then there was the documentary on Prime TV about the super volcano. They focussed on Vesuvius in Italy, but their projected worst case scenario is way off the mark. First it is well short of the effects of a similar eruption as predicted at Krakatoa in the 1800's & would be well short of the overdue eruption of Lake Taupo here in New Zealand which when it last erupted was recorded by the Chinese.
It was also revealed that until Mt St Helens blew out the side geologists had never even entertained that it could happen. It has now been found to happen often & in fact again from a documentary it seems to have happened at Krakatoa.
Mega Disasters: Earthquake in the Heartland
So it makes any utterances by the 'experts' to be taken with a grain of salt.
Especially when you hear that privately geologists can not make out what is happening in Canterbury many people are still of the opinion that the old volcano that is Banks Penisula is stirring & maybe going to open a new vent.
That loss of faith extends to the EQC poor response & the frustration which comes when you know things are not right, yet those who are to deal with it are doing so by using any excuse not to do anything.
Better known as coruption.
Again it is increasing the frustration in Christchurch in particular which will result in a rise in crime & violence over time. Already frustrated with the poor response I hear of more communities planning to get together to challenge EQC over assessments & demand geotech checks of the ground in their areas & each individual property.
Earthquakes
Where some houses were badly hit others down the street or on the other side were watching the liquifaction in wonder as nothing much happened to their place.
People know what feels right & right now EQC are not doing much right except making statements which people know they are not true. The latest rumour is EQC have no money as they were not prepared for something this big. That is contrary to the information that has been out in public.
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
Thought I would revisit the issue of my friends house & the poor assessment carried out by the assessor lacking empathy.
First point is that they had had an assessor to deal with another part of the house, they could see what my friends & I could see. Ground falling away which obviously wasn't before, undulations, still some left over liquifaction.
So the recent assessor actually contradicted what the first one said in relation to some areas.
Whats worse & makes it worse for the householders is this idiot of an assessor is alledgedly saying things like "well for that we will just bog the cracks". Yes there is ways of filling cracks but to use the word 'bog' is not what someone wants to hear about their home.
Lacks empathy & causes increased tension.
Then he apparently says things like its not that bad around here dimissing their worries about the liquifaction. This is despite a map been made for EQC showing that area has had liquifaction.
You can see the undulations in the ground that carry on under the house with its concrete floor. His solution apparently is not to look at the ground but to smooth the bumps by adding concrete to the dips.
I would add him to the dips!
Not to mention the large cracks in the floor. True not as big as some but they are still a major concern. Not to mention the undulations in the walls & roof(inside) & sagging roof outside.
Hidden in the Rubble: A Haitian Pilgrimage to Compassion and Resurrection
Then there is his alledged corruption where in several houses in the area he has been heard to direct the contents assessor what to put down.
Just like the corruption of the body corporate representative here whom the structural engineer was asking if they should put this or that in the report.
I have said it before. People know the place they live in & in the current environment most are not saying things to rip the insurance off, they are just worried about what they view as their biggest asset.
Nature Tech - Earthquakes (History Channel)
An article in the 'Press' points out that many Christchurch people are selling their holiday homes in the likes of Twizel to either prop up their businesses or cover their shortfall in what EQC is paying out to rebuild their houses.
Interestingly there was also a small piece where Geonet says it has not been able to measure many aftershocks. Four months after the quake with people feeling what has become known as phathom quakes it has finally been admitted by GNS that if a quake is really shallow & close to you but not near or strong enough to trigger their equipment, it did happen just there is no record.
This seems to be a recurring theme since the wee shake. The 'experts' either keep contradicting each other or sometime down the track come out with information which is what people were feeling but was been denied by the 'experts'.
Earthquakes (reillustrated) (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2)
Privately they are, like many structural engineers, saying that people are on the right track in their thinking or that the likes of Ken Ring is correct in saying the moon has an effect on earthquakes.
Then there was the documentary on Prime TV about the super volcano. They focussed on Vesuvius in Italy, but their projected worst case scenario is way off the mark. First it is well short of the effects of a similar eruption as predicted at Krakatoa in the 1800's & would be well short of the overdue eruption of Lake Taupo here in New Zealand which when it last erupted was recorded by the Chinese.
It was also revealed that until Mt St Helens blew out the side geologists had never even entertained that it could happen. It has now been found to happen often & in fact again from a documentary it seems to have happened at Krakatoa.
Mega Disasters: Earthquake in the Heartland
So it makes any utterances by the 'experts' to be taken with a grain of salt.
Especially when you hear that privately geologists can not make out what is happening in Canterbury many people are still of the opinion that the old volcano that is Banks Penisula is stirring & maybe going to open a new vent.
That loss of faith extends to the EQC poor response & the frustration which comes when you know things are not right, yet those who are to deal with it are doing so by using any excuse not to do anything.
Better known as coruption.
Again it is increasing the frustration in Christchurch in particular which will result in a rise in crime & violence over time. Already frustrated with the poor response I hear of more communities planning to get together to challenge EQC over assessments & demand geotech checks of the ground in their areas & each individual property.
Earthquakes
Where some houses were badly hit others down the street or on the other side were watching the liquifaction in wonder as nothing much happened to their place.
People know what feels right & right now EQC are not doing much right except making statements which people know they are not true. The latest rumour is EQC have no money as they were not prepared for something this big. That is contrary to the information that has been out in public.
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Heads must roll!
Kia Ora,
Well again as if by magic a situation has occurred that reinforces my comments.
Yesterday friends of mine were visited by EQC(Earth Quake Commission) Assessors. First up the building assessor needs to be either given serious retraining or sacked!
For that matter the Minister & CEO should both resign as of Friday.
My friends experience & that of their neighbours shows it is all about not delivering for any excuse & trying to bully people.
Now yesterday The local newspaper the "Press" had a very good editorial pointing out as I said in my blog things need to be done quickly but properly & with empathy.
Well that is not what a builders assessor did yesterday & whats more they have shot themselves in the foot.
Since these guys as we know have to visit six properties a day I would hate to think of the devastation left behind.
My friends neighbour was left nearly in tears & told they had no real damage despite the area been badly hit with liquifaction during the initial quake.
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning for IT Professionals
What this idiot didn't realize was at my friends place the woman is a qualified & experienced cabinet maker. He probably just thought "Just a woman I can steam roll her".
She does admit been a bit taken back by the dismissive way in which he put everything down to wear & tear.
When I asked her "you did tell them you are a qualified cabinet maker?" "No, was too taken back by attitude, but I should of asked how qualified they were!"
I have known this woman for 17 years & in every house she has been in I have heard "well I was going to go out to there, but I just needed to fix this skirting or paint this wall or hang this wall paper or ...".
This is not the mechanic with the worst car.
Disaster Recovery
As it was I know she pulled apart their patio because it was munted(destroyed) & couldn't be bothered waiting, but what they could they left to show the damage. I think the wiser head of her husband prevailed there or she would of fixed half the house by now.
So to be told it was wear & tear is an outright lie.
It is like the corrupt body corporate representative here telling me that a new crack in the wall was pre existing. It wasn't but what he didn't take into account was the coal trains that run past here & so the coal dust makes things looked aged real quick.
High Availability and Disaster Recovery: Concepts, Design, Implementation
Or EQC telling another friend that his property has not suffered land damage even though no one has ever been to that property & the little shake yesterday been within 1.5km of his property.
But the questioning of the assessors qualifications is interesting as it has been suggested to me that they are looking for assessors so I should apply. I have been a builders labourer & can swing a hammer but in no way am I qualified except for the fact I would have empathy & can see if something is damaged.
The Disaster Recovery Handbook: A Step-by-Step Plan to Ensure Business Continuity and Protect Vital Operations, Facilities, and Assets
Yes some people are ripping off the system or trying too. But most are not. Many are just too upset to even think about that.
So what qualifications did this person have to really comment on the sagging roof with Duct tape over the holes to stop the rain, the liquifaction obvious by the hills & valleys in the ocncrete floor, near 100 cracks in the walls when they stopped counting new ones & the bricks falling off the outside? That is not to count the damage nearly everyone has of seperated skirting boards, cracks around doors, windows etc.
Or the drive way which is at different levels but already dealt with by their insurance company.
Disaster Recovery Planning: Preparing for the Unthinkable (3rd Edition)
That is not to mention that at the time the inspection started at my friends place that wee shake occurred which they said they never felt as probably too busy been abused(because that is what it is) by the assessor, but their children have come home shaken.
This sort of poor performance with a lack of empathy is what increases the frustration & anger resulting in riots, increased domestic violence & crime overall.
What is also been forgot is shortly after the earthquake on September the 4th 2010 there were on two occassions in the "Press" structural engineers quoted & then the Mayor of Christchurch all saying the same thing.
"The building code is there to save lives not buildings."
Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Keep Your Family Safe in a Crisis
Now I have been trying to remember where I had heard something similar to that before. Then I realized it was in relation to body armour.
People have asked could they borrow some of my sets of body armour or buy them for security work but they would have to test them first. As is pointed out to them once they have stopped a knife or a bullet that is it. Throw them away basically.
So to me what they are saying is the building code has done its job but effectively every single property effected by the quakes need to be checked over as essentially most should be rebuilt. It would be why the Christchurch City council has ordered all commercial properties to be restrengthened up to 67% of original strength if they have damage. The costs associated has meant many been pulled down.. Because if they don't the council will be liable.
It will be also why several structural engineers have privately been passing on the information for people to register a claim as not the whole truth was been passed on to the public.
Financial Reckoning Day Fallout: Surviving Today's Global Depression
That EQC don't have a clue what they are doing is shown by the fact that until recently there was no complaint form available to their website. It is the height of arrogance to think there will be no complaints.
Or were they relying on those like the elderly couple last night showing the damage but saying well we just have to wait as there was another big aftershock. Though at end of interview on TV One they did express some frustration in the system.
It is that frustration that is growing & turning to anger. Most of the books above are probably where they got their ideas on recovery from, but it is more than that. It is the empathy needed. With the Global Depression on & getting worse by the day it just makes things worse.
The Ten Trillion Dollar Gamble: The Coming Deficit Debacle and How to Invest Now: How Deficit Economics Will Change our Global Financial Climate
Here is my solution to the earthquake recovery. Minister & CEO(EQC) to resign by this Friday 7th January 2011, army to take over management of recovery lead by the Royal New Zealand Engineers. Under their guidance in conjunction with the private sector & using the unemployed every single building in the affected area checked & any damage rectified.
The military do this sort of thing as part of their contribution to helping our Pacific neighbours. It is the sort of thing the US Army corp of Engineers does as in post Katrina.
At the moment it is a shambles, poorly organized with little empathy & highly corrupt.
In the current environment the likes of us in security & the police will have to deal with ever increasing issues over & above the normal crime.
EQC & the government can not rely on the fact Kiwis don't complain. They do, just not upfront as some nationalities, but it all means increasing frustration & tension.
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
Well again as if by magic a situation has occurred that reinforces my comments.
Yesterday friends of mine were visited by EQC(Earth Quake Commission) Assessors. First up the building assessor needs to be either given serious retraining or sacked!
For that matter the Minister & CEO should both resign as of Friday.
My friends experience & that of their neighbours shows it is all about not delivering for any excuse & trying to bully people.
Now yesterday The local newspaper the "Press" had a very good editorial pointing out as I said in my blog things need to be done quickly but properly & with empathy.
Well that is not what a builders assessor did yesterday & whats more they have shot themselves in the foot.
Since these guys as we know have to visit six properties a day I would hate to think of the devastation left behind.
My friends neighbour was left nearly in tears & told they had no real damage despite the area been badly hit with liquifaction during the initial quake.
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning for IT Professionals
What this idiot didn't realize was at my friends place the woman is a qualified & experienced cabinet maker. He probably just thought "Just a woman I can steam roll her".
She does admit been a bit taken back by the dismissive way in which he put everything down to wear & tear.
When I asked her "you did tell them you are a qualified cabinet maker?" "No, was too taken back by attitude, but I should of asked how qualified they were!"
I have known this woman for 17 years & in every house she has been in I have heard "well I was going to go out to there, but I just needed to fix this skirting or paint this wall or hang this wall paper or ...".
This is not the mechanic with the worst car.
Disaster Recovery
As it was I know she pulled apart their patio because it was munted(destroyed) & couldn't be bothered waiting, but what they could they left to show the damage. I think the wiser head of her husband prevailed there or she would of fixed half the house by now.
So to be told it was wear & tear is an outright lie.
It is like the corrupt body corporate representative here telling me that a new crack in the wall was pre existing. It wasn't but what he didn't take into account was the coal trains that run past here & so the coal dust makes things looked aged real quick.
High Availability and Disaster Recovery: Concepts, Design, Implementation
Or EQC telling another friend that his property has not suffered land damage even though no one has ever been to that property & the little shake yesterday been within 1.5km of his property.
But the questioning of the assessors qualifications is interesting as it has been suggested to me that they are looking for assessors so I should apply. I have been a builders labourer & can swing a hammer but in no way am I qualified except for the fact I would have empathy & can see if something is damaged.
The Disaster Recovery Handbook: A Step-by-Step Plan to Ensure Business Continuity and Protect Vital Operations, Facilities, and Assets
Yes some people are ripping off the system or trying too. But most are not. Many are just too upset to even think about that.
So what qualifications did this person have to really comment on the sagging roof with Duct tape over the holes to stop the rain, the liquifaction obvious by the hills & valleys in the ocncrete floor, near 100 cracks in the walls when they stopped counting new ones & the bricks falling off the outside? That is not to count the damage nearly everyone has of seperated skirting boards, cracks around doors, windows etc.
Or the drive way which is at different levels but already dealt with by their insurance company.
Disaster Recovery Planning: Preparing for the Unthinkable (3rd Edition)
That is not to mention that at the time the inspection started at my friends place that wee shake occurred which they said they never felt as probably too busy been abused(because that is what it is) by the assessor, but their children have come home shaken.
This sort of poor performance with a lack of empathy is what increases the frustration & anger resulting in riots, increased domestic violence & crime overall.
What is also been forgot is shortly after the earthquake on September the 4th 2010 there were on two occassions in the "Press" structural engineers quoted & then the Mayor of Christchurch all saying the same thing.
"The building code is there to save lives not buildings."
Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Keep Your Family Safe in a Crisis
Now I have been trying to remember where I had heard something similar to that before. Then I realized it was in relation to body armour.
People have asked could they borrow some of my sets of body armour or buy them for security work but they would have to test them first. As is pointed out to them once they have stopped a knife or a bullet that is it. Throw them away basically.
So to me what they are saying is the building code has done its job but effectively every single property effected by the quakes need to be checked over as essentially most should be rebuilt. It would be why the Christchurch City council has ordered all commercial properties to be restrengthened up to 67% of original strength if they have damage. The costs associated has meant many been pulled down.. Because if they don't the council will be liable.
It will be also why several structural engineers have privately been passing on the information for people to register a claim as not the whole truth was been passed on to the public.
Financial Reckoning Day Fallout: Surviving Today's Global Depression
That EQC don't have a clue what they are doing is shown by the fact that until recently there was no complaint form available to their website. It is the height of arrogance to think there will be no complaints.
Or were they relying on those like the elderly couple last night showing the damage but saying well we just have to wait as there was another big aftershock. Though at end of interview on TV One they did express some frustration in the system.
It is that frustration that is growing & turning to anger. Most of the books above are probably where they got their ideas on recovery from, but it is more than that. It is the empathy needed. With the Global Depression on & getting worse by the day it just makes things worse.
The Ten Trillion Dollar Gamble: The Coming Deficit Debacle and How to Invest Now: How Deficit Economics Will Change our Global Financial Climate
Here is my solution to the earthquake recovery. Minister & CEO(EQC) to resign by this Friday 7th January 2011, army to take over management of recovery lead by the Royal New Zealand Engineers. Under their guidance in conjunction with the private sector & using the unemployed every single building in the affected area checked & any damage rectified.
The military do this sort of thing as part of their contribution to helping our Pacific neighbours. It is the sort of thing the US Army corp of Engineers does as in post Katrina.
At the moment it is a shambles, poorly organized with little empathy & highly corrupt.
In the current environment the likes of us in security & the police will have to deal with ever increasing issues over & above the normal crime.
EQC & the government can not rely on the fact Kiwis don't complain. They do, just not upfront as some nationalities, but it all means increasing frustration & tension.
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Poor Leadership making the Frustration worse!
Kia Ora,
Recently I posted about the corrupt bureaucrats hampering the earthquake recovery. Well they are still at it & what is emerging is the poor leadership at all levels which is assisting it.
First we start with the Minister who has quite rightly carried out question & answer sessions, except when someone makes a statement about their experience often the answer goes along the lines, "well that is not correct." Actually it is the case because someone has just told you.
Stop listening to corrupt bureaucrats & start listening to the people affected. They know what is happening to their property!
The same thing happened with the initial Foreshore & Seabed consultation where the Minister of Maori Affairs showed he was actually listening but the Minister driving the Act just told everyone after the submissions what was happening.
That resulted in the later loss of an election or it certainly played a big part.
Then there is the CEO who has done the same on radio. But worse has allowed the system to be driven by numbers.
Having a target set that can be unrealistic causes issues within the work force & don't promote a good working environment. Therefore people don't perform. KPI's(key Performance Indicators) promote this poor type of working environment.
Not all houses are the same so time taken can vary as can damage. Yes everyone wants it done as quickly as possible, but done properly with empathy.
What we don't know can hurt US.(Leadership and Self-Deception)(Video Recording Review): An article from: Training Media Review
So the six a day target should only be that. Ask people to do that many if they can but do their best. Get out on the ground with these teams, don't just set a figure & think it will be OK. Instead of sacking those that don't make it, keep them on so more properties are dealt with. Have a set payment with a bonus for number of properties seen(up to 6 a day).
For those who have never been in the military there are set rates of movement written down which work good in war games on maps but not in reality. It results in what we called 'other end itis'. An officer who had been away from the coal face would be looking at these guilde line rates & wanting to know why units were not where they should be. All their planning is based on these guidelines.
On one exercise a certain officer was really sticking to these guidelines, so for the last part of the exercise the Commanding Officer(CO)(a Vietnam Veteran) sent him out with our patrol to remind him of what it was like at the coal face.
First thing is this officer enjoyed it & said it made him realize again of how different things were. But then the CO probably got a better result than he could of ever wished for. One patrol got into a contact, another was ambushed as the company quite literally blundered into the enemy party returning to their base camp from different directions.
The map showed a nicely forrested area but what had happened was the area had been clear felled & all the trees were lying where they fell or had been stacked years before. Instead of 500 metres an hour as per the book we were doing 5 metres an hour then a battle erupted! Progress was in centimetres & total confusion!
It was great & a good officer learnt a great lesson in leadership & trusting those on the ground to give the best information(in most cases).
Leadership & Self-deception (The Hidden Key to Improving Results)
Then there is the inefficient way of dealing with properties. Yes the worst affected should be dealt with first, but as they have found many of the worst affected have said nothing early on.
Now relations in Rangiora tell us they had little damage but the way the four that come to their street was efficient. Seems they were working to a pattern.
What a novel idea!
The Four Conversations: Daily Communication That Gets Results
Meanwhile in Hororata, a small country town near the epicentre of the initial quake, news reports tell of the citizens mystified by the inefficient way it has been carried out. Check one house, miss out the next five then do another one. Then I expect from comments they come back on another day to do the others.
Now I grew up near Hororata & worked around there before joining the army. Later as part of the army for an exercise we searched the nearby town of Glentunnel. It is not rocket science. You pick the point you are going to start from & work from there in a methodical manner.
I am sure with a computer you can task it to return all claims within the township of Hororata or within 5km. In fact I know you can because you can do it with most other things.
Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting out of the Box
Then again there is the point where people need to ignore the experts & get out there to talk to people. To be told that the experts said there is no damage in their area just adds to the frustration when your gut feeling is something is not right or you can see damage.
People know their property!
As the earthquake has shown one property can be perfect with the one next to it is munted(destroyed). So how someone who has not been on the property can say "no there will be no damage as that area is OK" is not credible.
There is a lot more to leadership than just telling people to do something. As some British units told us they learnt in the Falklands after all the years in Northern Ireland, sitting back & directing didn't work in a full on firefight. Leaders had to actually lead. Colonel 'H' Jones even got a VC posthumously for leading from the front at a crucial time in the battle for Goose Green.
Bonds That Make Us Free: Healing Our Relationships, Coming to Ourselves
Best the government & bureaucrats start showing some real leadership since they haven't yet & are loosing the people.
As I have said before you only have to look at what has happened in the likes of Italy & Haiti as the frustration grows & the security situation deteriorates.
Slower here because no one has died yet & hopefully they won't, but the financial crisis is just adding to the stress.
Self-Deception
Why does this concern me so much?
I have enough conerns of my own with a corrupt bureaucrat from the body corporate using any excuse to do nothing since he doesn't live here or own one of the units, but acting like fixing anything would be using his own money.
Because it is the likes of us in the security industry or the police who have to deal with the upset & frustrated people when they take their frustrations out on someone or something.
Allegedly the police have already had to deal with at least one relation of a Pike River Miner upset & frustrated over the disaster. A very hard situation for ayt police officer.
Some real leadership with people actually prepared to make decisions after the initial disaster period is what needs to be shown to lessen the impact of the frustration.
We just don't get that with government or bureaucrats. Any excuse not to do anything.
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
Recently I posted about the corrupt bureaucrats hampering the earthquake recovery. Well they are still at it & what is emerging is the poor leadership at all levels which is assisting it.
First we start with the Minister who has quite rightly carried out question & answer sessions, except when someone makes a statement about their experience often the answer goes along the lines, "well that is not correct." Actually it is the case because someone has just told you.
Stop listening to corrupt bureaucrats & start listening to the people affected. They know what is happening to their property!
The same thing happened with the initial Foreshore & Seabed consultation where the Minister of Maori Affairs showed he was actually listening but the Minister driving the Act just told everyone after the submissions what was happening.
That resulted in the later loss of an election or it certainly played a big part.
Then there is the CEO who has done the same on radio. But worse has allowed the system to be driven by numbers.
Having a target set that can be unrealistic causes issues within the work force & don't promote a good working environment. Therefore people don't perform. KPI's(key Performance Indicators) promote this poor type of working environment.
Not all houses are the same so time taken can vary as can damage. Yes everyone wants it done as quickly as possible, but done properly with empathy.
What we don't know can hurt US.(Leadership and Self-Deception)(Video Recording Review): An article from: Training Media Review
So the six a day target should only be that. Ask people to do that many if they can but do their best. Get out on the ground with these teams, don't just set a figure & think it will be OK. Instead of sacking those that don't make it, keep them on so more properties are dealt with. Have a set payment with a bonus for number of properties seen(up to 6 a day).
For those who have never been in the military there are set rates of movement written down which work good in war games on maps but not in reality. It results in what we called 'other end itis'. An officer who had been away from the coal face would be looking at these guilde line rates & wanting to know why units were not where they should be. All their planning is based on these guidelines.
On one exercise a certain officer was really sticking to these guidelines, so for the last part of the exercise the Commanding Officer(CO)(a Vietnam Veteran) sent him out with our patrol to remind him of what it was like at the coal face.
First thing is this officer enjoyed it & said it made him realize again of how different things were. But then the CO probably got a better result than he could of ever wished for. One patrol got into a contact, another was ambushed as the company quite literally blundered into the enemy party returning to their base camp from different directions.
The map showed a nicely forrested area but what had happened was the area had been clear felled & all the trees were lying where they fell or had been stacked years before. Instead of 500 metres an hour as per the book we were doing 5 metres an hour then a battle erupted! Progress was in centimetres & total confusion!
It was great & a good officer learnt a great lesson in leadership & trusting those on the ground to give the best information(in most cases).
Leadership & Self-deception (The Hidden Key to Improving Results)
Then there is the inefficient way of dealing with properties. Yes the worst affected should be dealt with first, but as they have found many of the worst affected have said nothing early on.
Now relations in Rangiora tell us they had little damage but the way the four that come to their street was efficient. Seems they were working to a pattern.
What a novel idea!
The Four Conversations: Daily Communication That Gets Results
Meanwhile in Hororata, a small country town near the epicentre of the initial quake, news reports tell of the citizens mystified by the inefficient way it has been carried out. Check one house, miss out the next five then do another one. Then I expect from comments they come back on another day to do the others.
Now I grew up near Hororata & worked around there before joining the army. Later as part of the army for an exercise we searched the nearby town of Glentunnel. It is not rocket science. You pick the point you are going to start from & work from there in a methodical manner.
I am sure with a computer you can task it to return all claims within the township of Hororata or within 5km. In fact I know you can because you can do it with most other things.
Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting out of the Box
Then again there is the point where people need to ignore the experts & get out there to talk to people. To be told that the experts said there is no damage in their area just adds to the frustration when your gut feeling is something is not right or you can see damage.
People know their property!
As the earthquake has shown one property can be perfect with the one next to it is munted(destroyed). So how someone who has not been on the property can say "no there will be no damage as that area is OK" is not credible.
There is a lot more to leadership than just telling people to do something. As some British units told us they learnt in the Falklands after all the years in Northern Ireland, sitting back & directing didn't work in a full on firefight. Leaders had to actually lead. Colonel 'H' Jones even got a VC posthumously for leading from the front at a crucial time in the battle for Goose Green.
Bonds That Make Us Free: Healing Our Relationships, Coming to Ourselves
Best the government & bureaucrats start showing some real leadership since they haven't yet & are loosing the people.
As I have said before you only have to look at what has happened in the likes of Italy & Haiti as the frustration grows & the security situation deteriorates.
Slower here because no one has died yet & hopefully they won't, but the financial crisis is just adding to the stress.
Self-Deception
Why does this concern me so much?
I have enough conerns of my own with a corrupt bureaucrat from the body corporate using any excuse to do nothing since he doesn't live here or own one of the units, but acting like fixing anything would be using his own money.
Because it is the likes of us in the security industry or the police who have to deal with the upset & frustrated people when they take their frustrations out on someone or something.
Allegedly the police have already had to deal with at least one relation of a Pike River Miner upset & frustrated over the disaster. A very hard situation for ayt police officer.
Some real leadership with people actually prepared to make decisions after the initial disaster period is what needs to be shown to lessen the impact of the frustration.
We just don't get that with government or bureaucrats. Any excuse not to do anything.
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Corrupt Bureaucrats hamper Earthquake Recovery!
Kia Ora,
Which earthquake?
Well could be Italy where slow reaction to an earthquake in 2009 was one of the issues that resulted in riots recently.
Could be the Haiti earthquake where poor follow up & corruption has resulted in riots after all the deaths & more recently lynchings over the cholera outbreak.
But no I am talking about the Canterbury earthquake here in New Zealand.
Bureaucrats at all levels have been using any excuse to not do anything.
In the last few days more examples have come to light.
New Zealanders do not like to complain but the anger is building so much underneath that they need to start complaining soon as a release. There is some release on talkback radio as it acts as a bit of a pressure release valve, but this time I don't think it will be anywhere near enough.
The bureaucrats are not living in the real world & yesterdays 'Press' showed some of this though it involved an elected official.
There was an article talking to people who have fled Christchurch for a break since the latest series of shakes. I know talking to some small businesses that clients of theirs had just up & shifted from the city altogether.
Yet in the article below it we have the Deputy Mayor saying how people just shrug them off & carry on now. Some of us do but many, & I have been surprised by who & how many, are just not handling it.
Disaster Recovery
But it has not been helped by the corrupt bureaucrats.
EQC(earthquake commission), which is a unique form of insurance company(the only one of its type in the world apparently), for example has been using every excuse in the book to decline claims or put people off.
People living in their houses know what is normal around their property & what isn't. Yet when one person has rung on at least four occassions, they have been told that geotech engineers have been around that area & there is no issues with their land.
Well right from the start there have been comments like that, but very few people have seen these engineers & each property is different. They actually need to visit every single property in Canterbury not just Christchurch & listen to what the people who live there have to say.
Though EQC has sacked some 'not understanding' inspectors/assessors people will find it is just a manipulation to not do anything. Its like since the shakes on the 26th many people are reporting they can't get through to report new damage.
High Availability and Disaster Recovery: Concepts, Design, Implementation
For me in a commercial lease with an apartment warehouse EQC doesn't get involved but it is no different. Though the owners would like things fixed to ensure their property remains viable. But then enters the corrupt bureaucrat known as the body corporate representative.
They have taken the attitude that nothing needs fixing & any excuse will do. They even had the effrontery to tell me a noise I had been hearing in the roof over the previous week, didn't happen.
Suffice to say he got his pedigree given to him for calling me a liar. I don't lie. It is probably my greatest strength therefore weakness. Also been a former soldier, as another former soldier said to me, we get in tune with our surroundings. Helps the two of us in our security work but also in other areas. We know when something is not right & it is not paranoia.
In the same vein I don't think most people are actually lying about what they feel in their properties. Bureaucrats dismiss those feelings at their peril.
Disaster Preparedness: A memoir
This sort of behavour results in the story of the Minister of Earthquake recovery not wanting the area close to his fixed until after the revaluations have finished getting widely spread.
As I say not sure if it is true, but people will believe it if nothing is been done or excuses been used to not do anything. One thing we do know is that those areas where it is 'thought to be unaffected' prices of properties have jumped whilst they have dropped in the areas seen as 'badly hit'.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Disaster Preparedness
Then there is the fact that it is not just a Christchurch city issue even though the main focus is there but wider throughout the Central & lower North Canterbury area.
Up until the wee shakes on the 26th Christchurch had felt few of late as they were localized in particular around Rolleston. As people found out small localized & shallow quakes can seem very strong but not felt elsewhere.
Probably the biggest difference is Christchurch is built on a swamp & Rolleston is on very hard ground. I know I have dug there.
So we don't hear much about the other damage out that way.
The one glaring bureaucratic answer that people noted in relation to the country area was when asked about how farmers could be helped to fix their land with a large crack in it the Minister of Recovery replied along the lines "well we will have to work out what type of crack it is".
Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Keep Your Family Safe in a Crisis
If that is not a do nothing statement feed to him by a bureaucrat I am not sure what is.
Then there have been the insurance companies who are suddenly changing the amounts paid to businesses for loss of custom. The reasoning is that with the earthquake they wouldn't be having the same amount of custom coming to their businesses.
Excuse me?
Isn't that why you have business disruption insurance?
Then there are the householders finding insurance companies not been helpful or they are not as insured as much as they thought they were.
Financial Reckoning Day Fallout: Surviving Today's Global Depression
It is something I have had debates with members of the insurance industry about in how the liability insurance for business was costing more each year but covering less & less.
Or how the liability insurance for company directors actually covers you for very little as the directors of finance companies here in New Zealand have found out.
Just more bureaucrats using any excuse to not do something which amounts to corruption.
If the predicted large shakes on about the 20th March 2011(actually if you read the material time is about 10.44am on the 20th using astrology) are shallow enough to cause more damage I think the bureaucrats will find that their excuses no longer wash if it all hasn't come to a head sooner.
The continuing financial crisis is only going to raise the tension.
Apart from immediately following the initial quake there has been no real leadership shown & the frustrating methods probably showed best when the Mayor of Christchurch made his comment "I am over democracy" when there was a request to have another debate prior to the local body elections.
Corruption is essential for the forms of democracy we have now to work. That is to ensure what the people want (like action after a disaster) doesn't actually happen. Then peoples reactions give the powers that be the excuse to give themselves more power.
Not that the likes of police don't need more power but it will just give the powers that be an excuse (like the Patriot act in the US) to give themselves unchallenged powers.
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
Which earthquake?
Well could be Italy where slow reaction to an earthquake in 2009 was one of the issues that resulted in riots recently.
Could be the Haiti earthquake where poor follow up & corruption has resulted in riots after all the deaths & more recently lynchings over the cholera outbreak.
But no I am talking about the Canterbury earthquake here in New Zealand.
Bureaucrats at all levels have been using any excuse to not do anything.
In the last few days more examples have come to light.
New Zealanders do not like to complain but the anger is building so much underneath that they need to start complaining soon as a release. There is some release on talkback radio as it acts as a bit of a pressure release valve, but this time I don't think it will be anywhere near enough.
The bureaucrats are not living in the real world & yesterdays 'Press' showed some of this though it involved an elected official.
There was an article talking to people who have fled Christchurch for a break since the latest series of shakes. I know talking to some small businesses that clients of theirs had just up & shifted from the city altogether.
Yet in the article below it we have the Deputy Mayor saying how people just shrug them off & carry on now. Some of us do but many, & I have been surprised by who & how many, are just not handling it.
Disaster Recovery
But it has not been helped by the corrupt bureaucrats.
EQC(earthquake commission), which is a unique form of insurance company(the only one of its type in the world apparently), for example has been using every excuse in the book to decline claims or put people off.
People living in their houses know what is normal around their property & what isn't. Yet when one person has rung on at least four occassions, they have been told that geotech engineers have been around that area & there is no issues with their land.
Well right from the start there have been comments like that, but very few people have seen these engineers & each property is different. They actually need to visit every single property in Canterbury not just Christchurch & listen to what the people who live there have to say.
Though EQC has sacked some 'not understanding' inspectors/assessors people will find it is just a manipulation to not do anything. Its like since the shakes on the 26th many people are reporting they can't get through to report new damage.
High Availability and Disaster Recovery: Concepts, Design, Implementation
For me in a commercial lease with an apartment warehouse EQC doesn't get involved but it is no different. Though the owners would like things fixed to ensure their property remains viable. But then enters the corrupt bureaucrat known as the body corporate representative.
They have taken the attitude that nothing needs fixing & any excuse will do. They even had the effrontery to tell me a noise I had been hearing in the roof over the previous week, didn't happen.
Suffice to say he got his pedigree given to him for calling me a liar. I don't lie. It is probably my greatest strength therefore weakness. Also been a former soldier, as another former soldier said to me, we get in tune with our surroundings. Helps the two of us in our security work but also in other areas. We know when something is not right & it is not paranoia.
In the same vein I don't think most people are actually lying about what they feel in their properties. Bureaucrats dismiss those feelings at their peril.
Disaster Preparedness: A memoir
This sort of behavour results in the story of the Minister of Earthquake recovery not wanting the area close to his fixed until after the revaluations have finished getting widely spread.
As I say not sure if it is true, but people will believe it if nothing is been done or excuses been used to not do anything. One thing we do know is that those areas where it is 'thought to be unaffected' prices of properties have jumped whilst they have dropped in the areas seen as 'badly hit'.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Disaster Preparedness
Then there is the fact that it is not just a Christchurch city issue even though the main focus is there but wider throughout the Central & lower North Canterbury area.
Up until the wee shakes on the 26th Christchurch had felt few of late as they were localized in particular around Rolleston. As people found out small localized & shallow quakes can seem very strong but not felt elsewhere.
Probably the biggest difference is Christchurch is built on a swamp & Rolleston is on very hard ground. I know I have dug there.
So we don't hear much about the other damage out that way.
The one glaring bureaucratic answer that people noted in relation to the country area was when asked about how farmers could be helped to fix their land with a large crack in it the Minister of Recovery replied along the lines "well we will have to work out what type of crack it is".
Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Keep Your Family Safe in a Crisis
If that is not a do nothing statement feed to him by a bureaucrat I am not sure what is.
Then there have been the insurance companies who are suddenly changing the amounts paid to businesses for loss of custom. The reasoning is that with the earthquake they wouldn't be having the same amount of custom coming to their businesses.
Excuse me?
Isn't that why you have business disruption insurance?
Then there are the householders finding insurance companies not been helpful or they are not as insured as much as they thought they were.
Financial Reckoning Day Fallout: Surviving Today's Global Depression
It is something I have had debates with members of the insurance industry about in how the liability insurance for business was costing more each year but covering less & less.
Or how the liability insurance for company directors actually covers you for very little as the directors of finance companies here in New Zealand have found out.
Just more bureaucrats using any excuse to not do something which amounts to corruption.
If the predicted large shakes on about the 20th March 2011(actually if you read the material time is about 10.44am on the 20th using astrology) are shallow enough to cause more damage I think the bureaucrats will find that their excuses no longer wash if it all hasn't come to a head sooner.
The continuing financial crisis is only going to raise the tension.
Apart from immediately following the initial quake there has been no real leadership shown & the frustrating methods probably showed best when the Mayor of Christchurch made his comment "I am over democracy" when there was a request to have another debate prior to the local body elections.
Corruption is essential for the forms of democracy we have now to work. That is to ensure what the people want (like action after a disaster) doesn't actually happen. Then peoples reactions give the powers that be the excuse to give themselves more power.
Not that the likes of police don't need more power but it will just give the powers that be an excuse (like the Patriot act in the US) to give themselves unchallenged powers.
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
So whats the big Secret?
Kia Ora,
There has been a bit made about the revealation from Wikileaks that New Zealand used the Waihopai 'spy' base to listen in on Fiji.
So have I missed something here?
What is the big secret?
I was always of the understanding the base was built in the main to provide secure communications for our people overseas with the side benefit of gaining information so we could say we were doing our part.
Sometimes that information could be useful like I would expect the intercepted communication where some of those arrested in the 'terrorist' raids in the North Island discussed an option if George Bush decided to hop across the ditch(Tasman Sea) to visit New Zealand.
That information was more likely to have come from the base than any police operation & would of been responsible for low blast walls appearing at the US base here in Christchurch on the tarmac where the planes parked up.
So why do I think it was more communications initially than anything else?
Well due to our anti Nuclear stance we weren't much part of anything else at least officially for one.
But the other reason was due to anecdotal evidence that came to light in the military towards the end of 1987.
101 Spy Gadgets for the Evil Genius
What came to light was that allegedly two New Zealand Military officers on attachment in Fiji due to our close relationship at the time suddenly realized that a coup was almost certainly going to happen.
They thought it was their duty to report it even if people would not likely believe them. The story then goes they were stopped from doing so, not by Fiji who had no idea, but by another NZ Government department.
It gets better. When they caught a flight out to a neighbouring island group they were stopped at airport because again this other government department told this other Island group they were coming to interfere with their local government. I believe the story went from memory.
21st Century Guide to the USA Patriot Act and the Information Awareness Office - Electronic Surveillance, Domestic Spying, Computer Intercepts, and Advanced ... Terrorism (Core Federal Information Series)
The information, so the story goes, was only passed to New Zealand as a NZ warship came into Suva harbour as part of a good will visit & these two were able to get on board as it docked.
Apparently just a few minutes in front of a platoon of Fijian soldiers.
Only thing was they got the message out as the coup was happening.
I didn't think much of the story until a few years ago when as part of a local community group we asked the local MP why the government was so inefficient since spending properly in one area could save a lot in another.
The answer! Oh they are little empires all the departments & they are very jealous of their budget & areas they have influence over. Trying to get them to work together is almost impossible. Or words to that effect.
Spying on Your Spouse: A Guide for Anyone Who Suspects a Partner Is Cheating
So petty internal politics was supposedly responsible for the country not getting some sort of warning of problems in a close neighbour!
Although the budget one I can understand as the way governments work is if a department doesn't spend all its cash in the financial year its budget is cut the following year to what it did use.
It has resulted in very inefficient departments who have forgot that they are a public service.
Electronic Spying
But has Wikileaks let a big secret out of the bag?
I don't think so. Just added to the revealations that governments hide things, are not up front & truthful with each other let alone their own people.
In fact it is something I noticed working in Iraq that most in the US military are no different than any other military once you got past the rah rah USA stuff.
Good honest people who wanted to make a difference. Then the disillusionment set in when they seen all the corruption going on in their name & they were providing the protection/loosing lives over it!
Cstar Spy-Scope 8x20 Monocular
Some even started to realize why the likes of the British & New Zealanders took the piss out of their politicians etc.
Wikileaks hasn't revealed many real secrets just the information that was already there if people were not following the unimportant things put there to divert our attention.
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
There has been a bit made about the revealation from Wikileaks that New Zealand used the Waihopai 'spy' base to listen in on Fiji.
So have I missed something here?
What is the big secret?
I was always of the understanding the base was built in the main to provide secure communications for our people overseas with the side benefit of gaining information so we could say we were doing our part.
Sometimes that information could be useful like I would expect the intercepted communication where some of those arrested in the 'terrorist' raids in the North Island discussed an option if George Bush decided to hop across the ditch(Tasman Sea) to visit New Zealand.
That information was more likely to have come from the base than any police operation & would of been responsible for low blast walls appearing at the US base here in Christchurch on the tarmac where the planes parked up.
So why do I think it was more communications initially than anything else?
Well due to our anti Nuclear stance we weren't much part of anything else at least officially for one.
But the other reason was due to anecdotal evidence that came to light in the military towards the end of 1987.
101 Spy Gadgets for the Evil Genius
What came to light was that allegedly two New Zealand Military officers on attachment in Fiji due to our close relationship at the time suddenly realized that a coup was almost certainly going to happen.
They thought it was their duty to report it even if people would not likely believe them. The story then goes they were stopped from doing so, not by Fiji who had no idea, but by another NZ Government department.
It gets better. When they caught a flight out to a neighbouring island group they were stopped at airport because again this other government department told this other Island group they were coming to interfere with their local government. I believe the story went from memory.
21st Century Guide to the USA Patriot Act and the Information Awareness Office - Electronic Surveillance, Domestic Spying, Computer Intercepts, and Advanced ... Terrorism (Core Federal Information Series)
The information, so the story goes, was only passed to New Zealand as a NZ warship came into Suva harbour as part of a good will visit & these two were able to get on board as it docked.
Apparently just a few minutes in front of a platoon of Fijian soldiers.
Only thing was they got the message out as the coup was happening.
I didn't think much of the story until a few years ago when as part of a local community group we asked the local MP why the government was so inefficient since spending properly in one area could save a lot in another.
The answer! Oh they are little empires all the departments & they are very jealous of their budget & areas they have influence over. Trying to get them to work together is almost impossible. Or words to that effect.
Spying on Your Spouse: A Guide for Anyone Who Suspects a Partner Is Cheating
So petty internal politics was supposedly responsible for the country not getting some sort of warning of problems in a close neighbour!
Although the budget one I can understand as the way governments work is if a department doesn't spend all its cash in the financial year its budget is cut the following year to what it did use.
It has resulted in very inefficient departments who have forgot that they are a public service.
Electronic Spying
But has Wikileaks let a big secret out of the bag?
I don't think so. Just added to the revealations that governments hide things, are not up front & truthful with each other let alone their own people.
In fact it is something I noticed working in Iraq that most in the US military are no different than any other military once you got past the rah rah USA stuff.
Good honest people who wanted to make a difference. Then the disillusionment set in when they seen all the corruption going on in their name & they were providing the protection/loosing lives over it!
Cstar Spy-Scope 8x20 Monocular
Some even started to realize why the likes of the British & New Zealanders took the piss out of their politicians etc.
Wikileaks hasn't revealed many real secrets just the information that was already there if people were not following the unimportant things put there to divert our attention.
http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz
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