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Last week I received the dubious honour of being the first member of the Workers' Party (WP) to be expelled. The justification for this primarily resolves around my role as 2009 President of Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association (VUWSA).
Was this expulsion justified? Have I moved away from the socialist politics of the WP and become another self serving bureaucrat? Did I stand in the VUWSA elections in late 2008 under false pretences? The answer to these questions is no. The reality is that my expulsion from the WP says more about the current direction the Party than it does about my politics, or the work I'm currently doing in my role as VUWSA President.
My background
According to WP National Organiser Philip Ferguson:
Her [my] actions suggest that Jasmine may have been a member for a number of years but her understanding of our politics is either zero (and determinedly so) or else she understands them but rejects them in practice, and does so particularly flagrantly.
The implication of this statement was that I didn't (and still don't) understand that the WP is anti-capitalist. Moreover, Phil's comments imply that I'm just some middle class student in training for a cushy public service advisory role.
Moreover, in reality I have experienced firsthand the injustices of the capitalist system.
The first 8 or so years of my life were spent rather comfortably, at least in economic terms. My parents owned and operated a small business, employing a dozen or so people. My mother also taught allocution part time, having given up teaching when she started having children. I attended a private school, went to ballet lessons, and had every toy a young girl could desire.
In the late 1980s my parents separated. My mother made the decision (if you can call it that) to flee with myself and my three younger siblings from an extremely abusive relationship.
We relocated to Porirua, north of Wellington. My mother was forced to go on the Domestic Purposes Benefit. She had four children under the age of 9, including a newborn baby who required physiotherapy every 2-3 hours. Returning to the workforce was simply not an option.
My family, like many others, was hit hard by Ruth Richardson's 1991 benefit cuts. While at least initially my mother felt incredibly shamed at being on the benefit, she gradually started to speak out about the harsh realities of existence below the poverty line.
Mum became somewhat of a beneficiary rights advocate, writing letters to the editor and to ministers, participating in protests and appearing in numerous documentaries, including Alistair Barry's In a Land of Plenty.
Life was difficult. We didn't have enough food to eat. We didn't have a car for over 5 years. It was not uncommon for our washing machine to be out of action for months at a time. If something broke, it stayed that way. There was simply no money to fix it.
I started secondary school at Tawa College in 1994. The walk from home to school took a good two hours one way. This was a walk I did many, many times. Money for train and bus fares was more often than not a luxury we couldn't afford.
I first enrolled in tertiary study in 1999. Throughout that time I have often worked multiple jobs in order to survive. The day after my son Kalani was born, despite feeling incredibly sick, I had to return to my teaching job in order to pay the rent.
Between 2003 and 2008 I was employed by Victoria University in various sub-lecturer jobs, the last 2 years of which I spent as an Assistant Lecturer while trying to complete my PhD. Last year (at Study @ Vic Day, no less) I had a copy of the 2009 prospectus thrown on the floor in front of me, with my name and the courses I taught crossed out. This is how I found out I no longer had a teaching job.
The fact is that I have experienced working class life in New Zealand, and experienced the poverty and injustices caused by capitalist exploitation. This is in contrast to most Wellington members of the WP, for whom regular paid employment is a foreign concept.
Moreover, I understand the need to try and build a better world free of exploitation for profit. When I do political work I endeavor to make sure it's of a high standard with the hope that it'll be taken seriously and has a chance of helping to bring about positive change. Until recently I thought this was also what the WP was about.
My membership of the Workers' Party: a misogynistic Party
I first came into contact with the WP, then called the Anti-Capitalist Alliance (ACA) back in 2002. I remember arguing with Jared Philips at a VUWSA Clubs Day stall about their policy of 'equality to gay men and women'. I argued that this was a fairly conservative platform as it excluded a number of other sexual and gender orientations and identities. For the following 6 years I regularly argued for this wording to be changed – often facing ridicule or disinterest. Finally in 2008 the wording was changed to "equality for … people of all sexual orientations and identities" from the more conservative wording that in the 21st century even National and Act likely wouldn't use.
I became an active member of the Wellington branch in 2003. For the vast majority of that time I was the only female member of the branch. Until my recent departure I was also the longest serving member of the branch.
Over the last half a decade I have been involved with a number of political projects as a WP member. I was heavily involved with the campaign to unionise Burger King in 2003-04. However, whilst Unite's leadership were keen to have us run blitz-style recruitment of members, no follow up work was done with these Unite sign ups. Within a few months most of these young workers had moved on or quit the union due to lack of action. This was a fairly demoralizing experience, and one which didn't leave a good impression of Unite and its level of seriousness.
The birth of my son Kalani in mid 2004 also impacted upon my experiences and impressions of the WP.
I often found it hard to participate in Party meetings or events due to the lack of childcare. At one national conference held in Wellington I spent much of the time sitting outside of the conference room looking after my son. Only one person came out to talk with me the entire weekend, and this person wasn't even a Party member. At another national conference I presented a paper with Kalani on my hip. Not a single Party member offered to help.
According to the Party's official programme, the WP claim to be campaigning to:
… ensure that child care is seen as a collective responsibility and to avoid the isolation of women at home measures need to be taken to make it possible for them to return to work. Establishment of nurseries/creches for infants and young children and rooms at work places. Breast feeding mothers to be allowed recesses of at least half-hour duration at intervals of not more than three hours; such mothers to receive nursing benefit and their working day to be reduced to six hours; parental leave with right of return after twelve months.
How ironic it is that I am now accused of rejecting or not understanding WP policy. Yet, the above policy about childcare being seen as a "collective responsibility" was totally rejected in practice at national gatherings and most other party events.
In 2008 the Wellington branch finally agreed to a policy whereby active branch members would take turns at babysitting my son on the weeks that I have care of him (I have a 50/50 joint custody arrangement with Kalani's father). This policy was enacted so that I didn't have to miss every second weekly branch meeting (and then get backstabbed for not being active within the branch).
At the national retreat of the WP in January 2009 I attempted to put forward Wellington's childcare policy for ratification at a national level. This met with all kinds of resistance from members. One argument was that if the Party offered a crèche service during the national conference, legally they had to get someone with a NZQA qualification to run the service. (Ironic, considering that when debating issues regarding VUWSA I and others were accused of hiding behind "bourgeois legality"). However when it suited them such as on the childcare debate, using "bourgeois legality" was apparently fine.
So as a result of this my level of activeness within the WP was often limited, and as such I was repetitively accused of not being active within the branch, such as participating in street sales of the Party's monthly paper and the like.
My contact with Party members outside of the Wellington branch was also often very limited. Whilst others in the Party often contacted each other off the internal e-list to discuss given issues of the day, I was often kept out of these discussions.
The exceptions to this were when certain individuals within the WP hierarchy propositioned me for sex, or felt it appropriate to claim me as their private property. This behaviour began from about the time I joined the Party.
A particularly bad case involved an Auckland WP member and Unite Union activist. This specific member had made unreceptive advances to me off and on for a number of years. Mid last year he completely barraged me with text messages and phone calls at all hours of the night, demanding sex and revealing very upsetting and highly emotive details about his own personal life. This continued for quite some time, despite the fact that I alerted the Party's leadership to the problem. After a few months of this carry on, I received a spate of drunken phone calls from him, which consisted of him yelling at me, "You're not my comrade, not anymore". When I asked why this was, he replied "You're not my comrade because you're fucking my mate" (in reference to the fact that I'd started going out with another Party member, Nick Kelly.)
This particular member had developed a drinking problem largely due to the stress and long hours created by his employment at Unite. Some in the Party did recognize there was a problem and tried to talk to him about this. I approached Party Secretary Daphna Whitmore about the issue at the Party internal retreat this past January. Daphna was initially rather excited to discuss it with me, exclaiming that it was an interesting source of gossip. When I suggested that the Party national leadership needed to step in and do something to prevent this from happening again, she became less interested in the conversation and moved on to talk to someone else.
Despite this unacceptable behaviour, the Party did begin to become slightly more serious around late 2008. The WP was involved with the Tramways Union lockout in Wellington, after Nick Kelly was elected the Union's branch President. The Party also got the necessary 500 sign ups to register on the party list for the general election, and the Party saw its 3rd member in 4 years elected VUWSA President.
However things weren't all plain sailing.
The Wellington branch had to hold 5 special branch meetings between May 2008 and January 2009 based on Joel Cosgrove (WP member and 2008 VUWSA President) either a) not doing work he'd promised to do for the general election campaign or b) disgracing himself or the WP through actions he'd undertaken at VUWSA in his capacity as President of the Association.
Nationally various disagreements and tensions took place throughout the year, with most members holding back until the end of the general election campaign with the hope things would be sorted out after that. While some of these issues were satisfactorily resolved, others were 'fixed' by certain members resigning, including the Party's then- National Organiser. A great many remain unresolved, or unclear.
The most significant of these unresolved issues was (and still is) the WP's relationship to campus and student politics.
VUWSA Presidency
The WP has had members on the student Executive at Victoria University since 2002. I was the third member of the WP to be elected VUWSA President, the first being Nick Kelly in 2006, followed by Joel Cosgrove in 2008.
WP members have been involved in a number of campaigns on campus including opposition to the US led invasion of Iraq, opposing student fee increases, campaigning for student allowances, supporting the Civil Unions Bill and demanding full equality, opposing work hour limits for international students, and various other progressive campaigns serving the interests of students both as students and as citizens.
It is important that VUWSA, as with any other functioning organisation, has adequate strategic and operational procedures in place in order to ensure that the Association can best serve its members. Whilst never as sexy as organising protests or gigs, ensuring the nuts and bolts of the organisation are working properly is an important political question. Organisations such as trade unions and students' associations can play an important role. But their effectiveness is severely hampered if internal weaknesses are left to fester and spread.
In 2008 Joel Cosgrove and VUWSA Campaigns Officer Sonny Thomas authored a "Consultation document for a revised structure of VUWSA business", AKA their now infamous (at least within student politics circles) 'Change Proposal' report. Joel has admitted that this document was lifted from one written by Victoria University management who were restructuring and laying off a number of staff at the College of Education. According to Joel, the Change Proposal's aim was "minimising financial risk" and "maximising efficiencies". In practice this meant the contracting out of VUWSA's clubs and activities to the University, and laying off at least 3 core VUWSA staff members – though other redundancies were also planned.
The response from the WP was total opposition to what was being planned. The Christchurch and Wellington branches passed a resolution that "Joel should publicly oppose the 'change proposal' and that not doing so would constitute bringing the party into disrepute in the eyes of the working class". This was never adhered to by Joel, who became particularly irate when this and other resolutions regarding the Change Proposal were made public. One of our 'special branch meetings' was called to discuss this issue. At this branch meeting I tabled the idea of me standing for VUWSA President on a platform of opposing the Change Proposal. This was agreed to unanimously by the branch. Joel said nothing at the meeting, but afterwards expressed concerns that this may harm his chances of becoming the Editor of Salient, which he had applied for.
Joel did begin to distance himself from the original Change Proposal. This was particularly so after Sonny allegedly physically attacked Joel in his office, after Sonny discovered I was standing against him for President.
The campaign was one of the roughest VUWSA has seen. While a number of presidential candidates stood in the election, it soon became evident to most that it was a head to head race between me and Sonny. I was under constant attack from Sonny and his supporters. More than once Sonny yelled abuse about me in front of lectures full of students in my presence. I had all sorts of personal slurs made against me about everything from my personal life, to my conduct at work.
As mentioned above, the Wellington branch unanimously voted to support me standing for VUWSA President. I also sent a memo outlining my proposal to stand to the internal national WP e-mail loop. Nobody outside Wellington said anything.
On the day before polling started, after a hard and at times grueling fight against VicLabour in the VUWSA elections, some members of the Christchurch branch raised concerns about the campaign. Whilst enjoying a latte at some coffee shop, Christchurch members came to the conclusion that my platform wasn't "revolutionary enough". The platform I stood on was described as "sub-SW" (SW is Socialist Worker, a rival Socialist organisation the WP derides for moving too far to the right). I was informed that "There wasn't anything in our platform [that of myself and the two other WP members I stood with, Marika Pratley and Sam Oldham] that SW, Labour, Greens, even liberal Nats and Act types, could not have said."
These were pretty demoralizing words. Clearly, in the eyes of at least some of the WP leadership, I was no better than my opposition. Despite the fact that I had clearly stated my platform to the WP, nobody said anything until deciding to turn around and bag me the day before polling started. This is despite the fact that my campaign explicitly encouraged student control of student affairs, and blatantly opposed the proposed redundancies and contracting out of core VUWSA services recommended in the Change Proposal – a left campaign that I very much doubt any National or Act type would run.
I stood for VUWSA President because I felt (and still feel) that the Change Proposal was steering VUWSA in a dangerous direction. While I acknowledged at the time that VUWSA required major changes in order to best serve its members, implementation of the contained recommendations was not the optimum way of going about it.
At best I expected a close victory. Instead I won fairly comfortably, and better still the election generated one of the highest voter turn outs ever in a VUWSA election. While VUWSA does not collect statistics on why students do and don't vote, I suspect that this was in large part due to student clubs coming out to defend their interests, and perhaps in result of students wishing to defend the principle of the students' association running as a collective by its members for its members.
Transition and Inheritance
I anticipated that having one WP member handing over to another would result in a relatively smooth transition. Failing this I at least expected an adequate one. From the beginning of October to the end of December 2008 I worked full time (the first two months without pay) at VUWSA as the incoming President. The theory is that this time provides an opportunity for the outgoing President to train the incoming President in everything from operational matters to high level business.
From basics like working the fax machine through to arranging various meetings with the University, I soon found I either had to organise it myself or work out what was going on by asking others. Joel was no help at all.
Joel would often come into the office late, leave early and spend much of his time watching YouTube videos. Despite the VUWSA President being a full-time job, Joel habitually turned up about 10am and left again around 2pm. He spent most of his time in his office sleeping with his door locked. He would often tell me how he just wanted everyone (i.e. VUWSA staff, Executive members, students, etc) to leave him alone and stop "bugging" him.
Before long it became very clear to me that I was out on my own. Joel clearly couldn't cope with the role (a fact he confessed frequently to me). It was blatantly obvious that he was totally out of his depth. The most basic task, such as filing, was too much for him to handle.
At every meeting I'd have as the incoming President I had to apologize for the mistakes of my predecessor/s, request all the relevant paperwork for the last two years (as my predecessors opted against filing), and reinforce my intention to work to turn VUWSA around during 2009. Usually it was only after doing this that people would consider taking me seriously.
The Change Proposal didn't help matters. Instead of closing the thing down as the student body had voted to do by electing me, Joel and the 2008 Executive instead opted to continue the process of submissions on the report and suggest changes to it. I was encouraged to participate as a non-voting voting advisor to the Change Proposal Committee. At the time I reluctantly accepted in the hope I could turn the report into something more appropriate. In hindsight participation with the Committee was futile. The Committee had no choice given the VUWSA election result but to scrap the old recommendations regarding clubs and activities at VUWSA. Instead it went about making other recommendations which were generally little better. One such recommendation was to appoint an unelected General Secretary-type role who would, effectively, usurp power from the Executive and ultimately the student body. This role was to be charged with doing everything from setting policies to making all public statements. The Committee also raised the idea of making certain positions redundant. I was alone in opposing these suggestions. Worse, I found that anything I raised would almost automatically be opposed by Joel, who wanted a General Manager/Secretary staffer who did everything that he hadn't been competent at in 2008 – so basically everything.
Eventually in December 2008 I resigned from the Committee, as the recommendations it was making were not ones I could put my name to.
During the course of 2009 I have managed to turn around some of the worst aspects of the original report. I created a new Association Manager position, and am currently in the process of filling this role. Amongst other tasks, the Manager will address high level administrative tasks and day-to-day employment matters, ensuring that there is consistency each year and that the mistakes of particularly the last two years can be avoided.
When I finally took over the office in January 2009 it was resoundingly clear that both Geoff Hayward (2007 VUWSA President) and Joel had done little in respect to just about every aspect of their jobs.
There was a mountain of outstanding admin, grievances and complicated issues left from the 2007-2008 period. When I checked the President's landline and cellular messages I discovered that Joel hadn't even bothered to check them since September 2008. I spent a depressing evening listening to literally hundreds of messages, a number of which were fairly urgent, including one from a highly distressed student that had been referred to VUWSA by a counselor.
Next was dealing with my predecessors' blatant abuse of student money.
In late 2007 outgoing President Geoff Hayward made the decision to spend roughly $22,000 on 'pimping' VUWSA's shoddy 1994 Toyota van.
This expenditure had not been approved by the Executive and for the amount spent on this embarrassing makeover VUWSA could have purchased 3 equivalent vehicles. The 2008 Executive put together a report on the van debacle outlining a number of different options, which unfortunately included the suggestion of "don't tell anybody and hope it doesn't come out".
Unfortunately Joel picked up where Geoff left off. In March 2008 Joel was authorized by the Executive to go to Melbourne in order to research the voluntary membership situation and implications that a comparable situation could have for VUWSA (Australian students' associations became voluntary after Howard pushed through law reform before losing office).
By the end of 2008 Joel had still not submitted a report. Members of the 2008 and 2009 Executive's were demanding it be produced, as were a growing number of students. At the final meeting of the 2008 Executive, held shortly before Christmas, Joel promised that he would submit his report to the first meeting of the 2009 Executive.
The meeting was held on 8 January 2009. Despite numerous reminders, Joel failed to produce the report to the meeting. I thus put forward a series of motions demanding that Joel repay the cost of his Australia trip. These monies include airfares, a daily living allowance, and the salary that he received instead of taking annual leave (as he claimed he was doing work). The motions passed unanimously, and I informed Joel of them in writing shortly after.
A week or so later Joel submitted a report about voluntary membership in Australian universities. The report contained no reference to Joel's visit to Melbourne, people he had meet with, campuses he had visited etc. In fact, much of the report was concerned with locations in Australia Joel has never visited in his life. Worse, a quick Google search found that most of the report had been very obviously plagiarized from reports written by Australian student unions. The report was rejected. I also wrote to Joel saying that he needed to repay further outstanding money - a week's salary advance he'd taken just before finishing his term as President.
Joel's initial response to this was to resign from the WP due to me being "intimidating and confrontational" according to an email Joel sent to me and to members of the WP in January. As a result of this yet another 'special branch meeting' was called regarding Joel. This lasted nearly 3 hours and was very heated. Joel claimed that under the Wages Protection Act he was entitled to the pay he received whilst in Melbourne, despite the fact that he hadn't completed the work he promised the student body he would. Joel also managed to successfully get a number of new members to support him, mostly people he'd signed up and influenced through hanging out with them socially. At the conclusion of this meeting it was clear that the issue was not going to be resolved in such a forum. Don Franks, who was chairing, declared the meeting closed. Joel ran out of the meeting. Myself, Don and Nick Kelly also left the meeting.
The next day I discovered that after we left the meeting, the remaining branch members decided to reconvene. Joel was phoned up and called back and his supporters passed resolutions saying they'd get legal advice on whether Joel had to pay back the money, and if whatever lawyer they called said he didn't then the WP would defend Joel against VUWSA!!
The legal defense argument is not convincing in the slightest. Likewise, morally there is no argument for Joel being paid student money to go to Australia to do a given task, not complete the task, but keep the members money.
Eventually the Steering Group of the WP - the central committee of the organisation - met and discussed the situation. The conclusion of this committee was as follows:
SG members recognised that Joel admitted at the meeting that his failure to present the required full report to VUWSA had brought about the situation and felt that Joel should be censured for this. At the same time, we are not recommending his removal from the education officer position.
The SG concluded that the responsibility for putting things right lies with Joel. He needs to resolve the matter with VUWSA – and various options are available and were discussed. If he doesn't do the right thing it is his reputation that will suffer.
…Therefore, the responsibility for putting things right with VUWSA lies with Joel. He needs to resolve the matter quickly, so that we can all move on.
To date Joel has made no repayments.
It was suggested that because of Joel's conduct at VUWSA and in the Party throughout 2008, that he not hold positions of responsibility within the WP. However this fairly sensible proposition was rejected by the WP leadership. Sadly Joel took this slap across the wrist like water off a ducks back. Given the serious damage Joel had done to the reputation of both VUWSA and the WP this was not good enough. Given what the WP Steering Group were to say and do to me only a few weeks later makes the soft approach taken to Joel all the more unjust.
Fallout with the Workers' Party
For a number of years now Wellington's Unite Union has been fairly stagnant. As already mentioned I was part of a Burger King organising campaign back in 2004 which fell over due to a lack of commitment and professionalism by the Union. For a number of years now Unite Wellington has opted to focus on soft sites, such as the SPCA and VUWSA.
Staff at VUWSA are fairly well paid, with many staff receiving at least double that of the President's salary. This is despite VUWSA hardly being a wealthy students' association (in fact VUWSA has run at a deficit in 5 out of the last 8 financial years, some of them quite hefty). VUWSA Presidents are almost always either Labour or left thereof. No VUWSA President and few Executive members want their year in office marred by a big fight with the staff.
The annual VUWSA staff collective negotiations are a case in point. What usually happens is that Unite goes in to negotiate the collective, the Executive quickly cave in – and the rest of the year Unite gets involved in the petty office politics at VUWSA instead of doing the real work of organising fast food workers.
Days into taking over the VUWSA presidency, it became extremely evident that basic office procedures were either dreadful, or completely non existent. It has been common practice for staff to not turn up to work days on end without any notification, then return and apply for annual leave. The concept of office hours was apparently completely foreign. Trying to get basic operating norms in place was greeted with hostility and threats of industrial action.
In early 2009 Wellington's Unite organiser left, and was replaced by two new organisers: one being WP member Don Franks, the other an anarchist called Matt Jones.
In late 2008 negotiations for the staff collective fell over. I have spent a considerable amount of 2009 trying to get this collective agreement settled. As the negotiations are still outstanding it's not appropriate to go into detail – needless to say it has not been easy.
The WP has tried to argue that I needed to consult with the Party and the Wellington branch before putting forward claims in collective negotiations. While it would be completely inappropriate for any VUWSA President to do such a thing in conjunction with their political party, such actions would be absolutely unprofessional in light of Unite's relationship with the WP.
The fact of the matter is that the majority of the WP's Auckland branch are Unite organisers. As stated above, Don Franks is also an organiser in Wellington; a number of other WP members are Unite volunteers. Just under half of the national Steering Committee are on the Unite pay role or have close involvement with Unite. Anyone else noticed a conflict of interest?
One example from these negotiations which the WP have decided to make public is the clause in the current VUWSA staff collective giving Unite members at VUWSA the unrestricted right to strike. This was granted by one of my predecessors as it is VUWSA policy to oppose restrictions on industrial action that exist under the Employment Relations Act.
On seeking legal advice regarding various issues surrounding the VUWSA collective I was advised that this clause has no standing as it was not possible to contract out of the ERA. I have subsequently received legal advice from various other union lawyers who also agree that this clause has no standing. The risk of course is that VUWSA staff could take industrial action believing they had some legal protection under their collective agreement, which in fact would have no standing in court. When this was discussed at a WP Steering Group meeting, Party Secretary and Unite Organiser Daphna Whitmore stated "Mike Treen believes that the clause is fine". Full stop.
Mike Treen (Unite's National Director Organising) and Matt McCarten (Unite's National Secretary) were of course high up in the Alliance during the late 1990s and up until 2002 when the party imploded. These days these social democrats seem to have become unofficial leaders of the supposedly revolutionary socialist WP.
My letter of expulsion, authored by Wellington branch Secretary Marika Pratley, claims:
Your public role as VUWSA president … constituted expressing a political view in direct opposition to the aims of the party set out in section (1) of the Workers Party constitution. This is grounds for expulsion under section (4)(i)(a).
(1)(iii). For the unrestricted right of workers to organise and take industrial action and no limits on workers' freedom of speech and activity was breached through the following actions:
In the VUWSA Staff Collective Agreement you made amendments which are not in line with (1)(iii). Emphasis was placed on anti strike laws in accordance with the ERA in this Collective Agreement. The emphasis of the ERA in the VUWSA Staff Collective Agreement clearly shows that you have put limits on the right to strike and these workers' freedom of political activity. The ERA clearly restricts the rights of workers to strike action. You have also limited the action of workers by making them give 14 days notice to the employer for Union meetings, and other limitations for workers if they wish to take part in Industrial Action at VUWSA. The Workers Party, both at Branch and National level made it clear through motions that were passed at every branch (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch) and recommendations from the Steering Committee that they strongly oppose the decisions made to include the reference to the ERA in the Collective Agreement. You refused to accept the guidance from the Steering Committee or the Branches to take this out of the agreement.
Aside from the obvious political interference that the WP seem to favour, it's pretty obvious that these kids don't actually understand how negotiations work. I haven't made amendments, I put forward a claim at negotiations – interestingly enough a claim that Matt Jones of Unite and VUWSA's site delegate agreed with. The claim wasn't put forward as a political opinion. The claim was about telling the staff at VUWSA the truth, i.e. they legally they don't have the unrestricted right to strike. If the WP think it's more appropriate to lie to workers, then this says more about them than it does about me.
Marika was of course one of the 3 other WP members elected to the 2009 VUWSA Executive. After 3 months of doing little to no work, she resigned. Meanwhile I had to do the bulk of her job, as well as being the VUWSA President and covering various vacant staff positions. The other two WP members, Sam Oldham (Campaigns Officer) and Kassie Hartendorp (Women's Rights Officer), remain on the Executive.
Kassie has an interesting role to play in my departure from the WP. On 1 May 2009 I received an e-mail from Daphna Whitmore entitled "Suspension from WP". This e-mail read:
Hi Jasmine
I want to draw your attention to the motion to suspend you from the WP for your action against Kassie. It was passed at the Wellington branch meeting tonight. The motion is also supported by myself and Phil in our roles as national secretary and national organiser.
Of course you have the right to respond to the suspension. My own view is that your politics and the politics of the WP are quite far apart.
By way of background: I caught Joel Cosgrove and Kassie Hartendorp running a copy of the draft staff collective through the VUWSA photocopy machine on Sunday 26 April. When I questioned them as to what they thought they were doing photocopying a document that they had no right of access to in the first place, they said it was none of my business. Joel then grabbed the documents and ran off. When I questioned Kassie as to what photocopy code she was using, she said she was using the women's rights budget code (but that apparently she would pay it back).
Perhaps predictably, my expulsion letter continued,
You also would not willingly share the VUWSA Collective Agreement with anyone from the Branch or at a National Level. When Joel was scanning the document, you laid a formal complaint through VUWSA against Kassie Hartendorp (another comrade at VUWSA) for allowing this to happen. Not only do factual errors exist in this complaint, but your response shows clearly that you did not want or intend for the Workers Party to see the Collective Agreement, or give any advice on what was appropriate for the Collective Agreement. The Wellington Branch had made the decision to suspend you after Kassie received this complaint.
It is longstanding practice that the VUWSA staff collective and any drafts are not made public. The reason for this is that the document clearly stipulates what the salaries are of each staff member. It has been the staff who asked that this document not be placed in the public arena for this very reason. So you can imagine my shock to find Kassie photocopying copies of the draft staff collective and handing them to Joel. It is accurate that I have issued a formal complaint against Kassie for this, and for this I make no apologies.
Joel, who himself was unable to settle the negotiations during his presidency, has continued to try and involve himself in staffing issues at VUWSA.
Nowadays Joel busies himself interviewing VUWSA staff members in a pathetic attempt to compile dirt to pass on to WP members and Unite.
The WP has accused me on their internal list of "acting like an employer". Actually I am the employer of the VUWSA staff, as were the previous WP members who served a term as VUWSA President.
It seems the real problem is that I don't simply bow down to the WP leadership and make decisions on the basis of whatever they want.
Instead I make decisions on the basis of what I believe to be best for the organisation which I head.
The Anzac Day fiasco has been cited as yet another reason for my expulsion. Like many other years in VUWSA's history, VUWSA chose not to lay a wreath at Anzac Day commemorations in 2009.
In past years, whether or not VUWSA laid a wreath or had any sort of presence at Anzac Day was up to the Executive of the day: some years VUWSA has laid a wreath in support of Anzac Day, some years no wreath has been laid, and other years VUWSA has laid wreaths linking Anzac Day to imperialism and the like.
It was the decision of the 2009 Executive that it is important to get clear direction on occasions such as Anzac Day, rather than it being down to the personality politics of given Executive members every year. The Executive thus decided to maintain a neutral stance until we had clear policy on the topic.
Somehow a few media commentators got it into their heads that I was going to burn a flag on Anzac Day. This was somewhat ironic, considering that at the Executive meeting where we discussed the topic I clearly stipulated to Executive members that I did not want them burning flags on Anzac Day (as a group of anarchists had in 2007) as doing so would be most inappropriate. Thus, like many a good rumour, its factual basis was non existent. Whilst receiving numerous hate letters, one or two death threats and copping a lot of abuse on the blogs – particularly from the right, the WP's Don Franks was busy denouncing the position taken by myself and VUWSA as "agnostic". In response to the VUWSA Executive's decision to take the Anzac Day issue to a Student Representative Council (SRC) meeting in order to seek a mandate from students, Don had the following to say:
Is the Workers Party upholding democracy at the university?I don't think so. This is a sickening capitulation to the right. It buys completely into the reactionary notion that ANZAC day is a no go area for leftwing politics. The Workers Party's forbears courageously led the way in combating NZ nationalism. With the latest events we have become shamefully compromised.
Further to this I had, according to the WP, the audacity to invite a representative of the RSA to the SRC meeting. This is despite the fact that VUWSA has a history of inviting speakers from across the spectrum to its meetings, not necessarily endorsing what they say, but hoping to encourage debate and critical thinking amongst the student membership. As it happened the RSA's Chief Executive fully endorsed the motions that I had intended to put forward at the SRC – which without waiting to find out what the motions actually were was seen as positive proof that I'd sold out to the right and betrayed the WP and its politics.
These proposed motions (which I provided to Salient, the Dominion Post, and a number of other media outlets at the time) were as follows:
1. That VUWSA support the right of individuals and groups of students who wish to express themselves on Anzac Day by laying wreaths, including those with messages. However the VUWSA Executive will not lay wreaths on behalf of the student body unless directed to do so by its members at a Student Representative Council or General Meeting of the students' association.
2. That VUWSA coordinate a forum with the VUW History Programme and other relevant VUW programmes in order to discuss and explore the history of Anzac Day, and how the social meaning of this day has changed over time. This forum should include a wide variety of views and perspectives with the aim of informed discussion around this significant day.
The WP has since issued statements that Anzac Day is being increasingly used as a day to glorify imperialism and militarism. The hope of the latter above motion was that such a forum would provide an opportunity to explore, discuss and debate such issues with the aim of consciousness raising concerning the Day. But apparently promoting democracy within VUWSA and informed debate about Anzac Day made the WP "shamefully compromised".
Interestingly of course the WP's Wellington branch did not organise a protest or any other action on Anzac Day. For all Don's bleating about VUWSA being agnostic, so too was he and the WP.
However Don already had a bone to pick with me.
Don was (and still is) very angry that I hadn't bowed down to Unite's demands concerning various other matters. Don had been hoping to debate Labour Party President and EPMU General Secretary Andrew Little during VUWSA's recent Students as Workers Week on the topic on supporting open borders and opposition to calls for 'Kiwi jobs first'.
This debate never took place, the reason being that while Andrew was on campus during that week, it was to participate in a panel discussion primarily organised by VicLabour and the Greens on Campus. Despite attempting to reason with Don, he became increasingly obsessed with debating Andrew. Not only was he very rude to me for not magically fulfilling his wish, but he also displayed highly offensive behaviour to one of VUWSA's Vice-Presidents, who he also blamed for this perceived failure.
In an attempt to calm Don down, I invited Andrew to debate Don on the same topic at an SRC, but this offer was declined by Andrew. According to Don I have undermined any possibility of such a debate, and thus it became another ground for my expulsion.
Anyway, Joel and various WP members turned up to VUWSA's SRC on 6 May, where Joel proceeded to read out a brief statement on behalf of the WP on the subject of Anzac Day. Not long after, Joel and other WP members set fire to the New Zealand flag.
Joel's flag burning stunt has been hailed by the WP as an action of martyrdom.
Meanwhile, the WP attack me for a public statement I made outlining that the flag burning incident was nothing to do with VUWSA. I personally had no knowledge that such an act was going to take place, and to the best of my knowledge nor did anyone outside of the WP. This then, is a clear statement of fact.
Next the WP decided to launch criticism against me for saying that it wasn't appropriate to burn the flag. I personally agree that the freedom to express political opinion is important, and the only statement I have ever made related to flag burning was to caution my Executive members against doing so on Anzac Day. Was this inconsistent with WP politics?
Indeed, it appears not. On Anzac Day 2007 when two Wellington anarchists decided to burn a flag at the dawn ceremony, this is what National Organiser Phil Ferguson had to say on the matter:
Actually, when I saw on the news that someone had burnt a NZ flag at the Wellington ANZAC Day event, I kind of groaned. I don't think it was a smart move. Our flag burning had a point. It was at the start of another imperialist war and then we burnt it again to make a political point about freedom of expression. However, I think the left needs to be rather more tactically suss about events like Anzac Day. Thousands of ordinary working class soldiers died in an imperialist slaughter not of their making. Sure, the people who go to Anzac Day are politically backward and the whole affair is fairly gross. But there are tens of thousands of ordinary people at these events and we are actually wanting to appeal to many of them – not piss them off which is what the stunt yesterday no doubt did. I think the way our Wellington comrades approached the event the other year when some members took part in the march and laid an anti-imperialist wreath and Heelnyi [Heleyni Pratley] laying the wreath yesterday is much smarter than the anarchist performance yesterday.
The "[o]ur flag burning" referred to when Paul Hopkinson burnt the flag at a protest outside a state luncheon hosting then Australian Prime Minister John Howard in 2003, when his government was sending troops to Iraq.
Further, it appears that Don Franks stance on Anzac Day is similarly inconsistent. This was what Don had to say on the matter in 2007:
I was asked by Val [Valerie Morse] to go to this thing a couple of days before.Val asked me to go and play the trumpet at the counter RSA meeting.I felt very torn about it and if I'd not been really crook on branch meetingnight I would have liked to have discussed it there, with WP comrades.I would have liked to have been part of a counter to all the militaristicshit that is so heavily pumped into ANZAC day. The day is getting closer tofever pitch every year and I can't help but feel there is going to be a biground up of NZ youth to fight capitalism's wars sometime soon. Why else allthe garish high decibel blimp stuff?On the other hand I don't trust the remnants of PAW [Peace Action Wellington]. The opportunity wasthere for me to go to the planning meeting at the anarchist headquarters.But I know they are not democratic, so there was no fair chance to put anyideas up, no more than there would have been at a CTU meeting.I realise that there is no pristine protest movement and that you have tounite with all sorts of people in fight backs. I also realise that there isa genuine residue of anti corporate sincerity in PAW underneath theindividual indulgent stuff. But I have a horror of standing at a demo withmoralists in black masks, whose image is designed to automatically repel anyparticipation from passers by , or even from fairly committed anti warliberals or workers.I also think that blowing Last Post trumpet stuff in opposition to thecurrent huge wave of pro militaristic sentimentality is a fine way to losethe propaganda war.PAW seems to me the politics of impatience. There is no anti war movement atthe moment and it cannot be substituted for by one off confrontationsunsupported by on going action.In the end I decided against uniting with PAW, slept in and spent theafternoon taking a neighbours kid out to play cricket.I think it would be very good if the WP reviewed the anti war movement andwhat can best be done in the circumstances, also if we planned some ANZACday counter for next year several months out.
The position I took as VUWSA President in 2009 was completely consistent with what Phil and Don were arguing 2 years earlier. Likewise the action Joel took at the SRC was not. However Phil's position on Joel's action was that he and his mates had "saved the honour of the WP." This is the same Joel Cosgrove who only late last year was arguing for multiple redundancies, who ignored a student referred to him by the University Counselling Service, who wore an "I [Heart] My Penis" t-shirt to graduation, and who used student money to have a holiday in Melbourne. Apparently he erased all of this by burning a piece of cloth.
By contrast what I have done is apparently so terribly heinous that I had to be kicked out of the Party.
In my letter of expulsion Marika Pratley and the WP have called for my resignation as VUWSA President. As far as I'm concerned I have been totally consistent with my election promises, and also with the principles I believed that the WP held. I will not be resigning as the VUWSA President. Instead I intend to continue to carry out the platform I was elected on and do my best to serve students in 2009. I also intend to appeal this expulsion from the WP.
Jasmine Freemantle
14 May 2009


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Who Is Worrying About Advanced Persistent Threat & Why Should You
Modern threats, including Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) and insider threats, operate on an entirely different plane of sophistication than your run-of-the-mill malware and mass market threats. The normal economic models do not apply to these types of threats. In this talk, we will look at some of the newest APTs and answer the question: 'Why should I care about APT?" You will learn techniques to spot APTs, methods to circumvent the attack, and strategies via which to defend against APTs.
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Title: Who Is Worrying About Advanced Persistent Threat & Why Should You
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Online Law Schools / Re: I passed the FYLSE« on: December 25, 2011, 04:27:40 AM »
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Godless? I sure hope our soldiers are not Godless.Let's not forget this date...
Godless our armed services women and men.


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Additional electronic services for all members are planned for the future.
To access the various services, members are required to use an ID number and password. New members receive a "CMS ID number" and a "Temporary Password" from the CMS Executive Office.
This CMS ID number is a 6-digit number which uniquely identifies members in the CMS database. This number will not change and should be used in all subsequent correspondence with the Executive Office.
The Temporary Password is an 8-digit randomized alphanumeric string issued to each member and subscriber as part of their renewal or application. The Temporary Password can only be used for the initial account activation.
A member logging into a restricted area of the website for the first time must activate their CMS website account by entering the "CMS ID" and the "Temporary Password". He/she will then be required to choose their own "Website Username" and "Website Password". The system will ensure that the chosen username is unique. On subsequent logins, the member will be able to enter using this username and password.
Contact firstname.lastname@example.com, requesting that your website account be "reset". Once the account has been reset, you will be provided with a temporary password. Then you can re-activate your account using your CMS ID and the temporary password.
Please click here to change your password at any time.


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Sheet music downloads have become the preferred method of acquiring classical music repertoire. Created by professional musicians, EveryNote.com presents classical sheet music download of over 20.000 popular and hard-to-find music scores over 1000 composers. A major Internet provider of classical sheet music files download online, EveryNote.com offers the largest and most complete digital sheet music download library on the Web in the world. Instantly download, view and print your favorite classical music score. Everynote.com currently offers thousands of classical music compositions for Piano, Violin, Cello, Flute, Clarinet, Classical Guitar, Voice, Chamber and Choral music.Many more instruments, composers, genres added every day! EveryNote.com has been featured in The New York Times, Globe and Mail, Musical America and many other publications.
Giuseppe Gariboldi
1833 – 1905
Gariboldi short biography
A famous Italian flutist and composer, Giuseppe Gariboldi enjoyed most of his illustrious career in Paris. Garibaldi is chiefly known for his 3 operettas, songs and compositions for Flute solo. Garibaldi's etudes for Flute are widely used today.
More Flute sheet music download on EveryNote.com
Flute sheet music download on EveryNote.com
Web design by Web design SEO & Hosting Company - iGenii inc


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Cloud Amaretto Creme on Maple
Product photography and illustrations have been reproduced as accurately as print and web technologies permit. To ensure highest satisfaction, we suggest you view an actual sample from your dealer for best color, wood grain and finish representation. Painted Maple products in Entra may be comprised of MDF and other hardwood components.
Cloud is a true, soft gray cabinet paint* that brings out the best of Maple door styles without stealing attention way from the rest of the room. The addition of Amaretto Creme cabinet glazing dramatically accentuates details, adding dimension.
*When this finish is chosen, the door and/or drawer front center panel may be constructed of Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF), except when LaGrange and Liberty door styles or Distressing or Heirlooming are specified.


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Should I upgrade Joomla 2.5 to Joomla 3.0?
The latest news announcement from the Joomla team says that those of us running Joomla 2.5 on a server shouldn't update to Joomla 3.0. It's recommended instead to wait for the next long-term-support release version, which will be Joomla 3.5.
If you're familiar with the update tool in Joomla 2.5, you should not expect to see the 3.0 update listed.
If you do upgrade to Joomla 3.0, you'll want to make sure you upgrade to Joomla 3.1 and Joomla 3.5 when those releases are public.
Be aware that not everyone will be able to upgrade from Joomla 2.5 to 3.0. For example, if you use a component on your site that has not yet been upgraded to Joomla 3.0, then an upgrade may not be a viable option.
If you can't upgrade from Joomla 2.5 to Joomla 3.0, don't worry just yet. Joomla 2.5 is referred to as a long-term-support release, meaning that we can expect it to be supported at least to September of 2013.
‹Section 6: Initial thoughts on converting existing templates to Joomla 3.0
›Section 8: Joomla 3.2 User Experience Improvements
Joomla Community Google+ Hangout #3
June 3rd, 2014
Thank you @RustyJoomla for letting me speak on the Joomla Community Google+ Hangout!
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43,761 Points
2013-06-11 1:49 pm
Hello marcokr,
We do have an article on upgrading from 1.5 to 2.5, however the process is very unstable due to the sheer amount of changes needed. It really depends on the individual site as to whether it will be successful or not. Should you succeed, you will be able to upgrade to 3.0.
Best Regards,
Scott M
3 Points
2013-06-11 10:30 am
I'm kind of Joomla challenger and I'd like to give a try to Joomla 3.0. I have several Joomla websites, and one of them is still on Joomla 1.5 version. Do you know any tool that supports Joomla 1.5 upgrade directly to 3.0?
I stumbled upon this tutorial http://www.cms2cms.com/blog/how-to-upgrade-your-joomla-website-video/ and I wondering does it fit to my Joomla upgrade case?
Your expert opinion will be appreciated!
Thank you!
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The 2010 Dakar (née Paris-Dakar) Rally is well under way. The race began on January 1st and is scheduled to end on the 16th, but a flood of amazing images have already hit the wire services. Gallery time? You betcha.
Thanks to security concerns, the Dakar Rally no longer runs, as its name once indicated, from Paris to Dakar. The event now takes place in Argentina and Chile, and while it's nowhere near as epic as before, it's still nothing to sneeze at — some stages encompass up to 550 miles of off-road travel and include everything from desert terrain to dense forest. Today's leg, Stage 14, runs from San Juan to San Rafael. Its terrain and elevation changes look something like this:
The stage map, if you're interested, can be found here. The complete rally map, along with a day-by-day schedule (Rest day? Pansies!) can be found here. A two-picture sequence of a BMW X3 getting funky can be found here:
Our balls, meanwhile, are nowhere near Argentina. They're cowering in the closet.
X3 Photo Credit: Natacha Pisarenko/AFP/Getty Images


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The aftermath of the Fukishima disaster saw people all over the world ponder the potential effects of nuclear power. German citizens have been particularly vocal in their criticism, and now after re-examining the country's 17 nuclear reactors, Chancellor Merkel and the German parliament have announced concrete plans to phase out nuclear energy by 2022, making the country the first major industrial power to take such steps since Japan's devastating incident.
Photo © World Economic Forum
The plan was approved in the Bundesrat upper house, which represents Germany's 16 regional states. The scheme had previously passed the Bundestag lower house with an overwhelming majority vote.
Germany had already taken action in the wake of the Japanese disaster by switching off their seven oldest reactors, and another reactor has been shut down for years due to technical problems. Now Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced plans to officially phase out the remaining nine reactors between 2015 and 2022. The decision, which has come faster than anyone predicted, is sure to find support in Germany where a large number of citizens oppose nuclear power due to the potentials risk involved. Thousands of anti-nuclear demonstrators marched in the streets after Fukushima demanding that the country switch to other sources of power.
As a result, Merkel, who was pro-nuclear, has made a dramatic u-turn after initially extending the operation of the country's 17 reactors. Of course, there is a drawback — the phase-out of nuclear power plants will mean the construction of new coal and gas power plants, despite the government's assurance it will still meet its target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels, and by 80-95 percent by 2050.
Via AFP
Lead photo © Bjoern Schwarz


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NMT Undergraduate Team Secures $10,000 EPA Grant, Oct. 13, 2006
by Valerie Kimble
Right: Team member Wade Ogg demonstrates operation of helioscope prototype.
SOCORRO, N.M., Oct. 13, 2006 – A team of New Mexico Tech undergraduates is designing a mirror-based system to help generate energy, a highly sophisticated upgrade to the traditional magnifying glass-and-sunlight experiment.
Now, the team is building a prototype system, thanks to a recent $10,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a proposal the students themselves wrote.
Dr. Warren Ostergren, an associate professor with the research university's Department of Mechanical Engineering and the team's faculty advisor, said the students worked on the grant proposal outside of class, and called it "a unique experience for an undergraduate team."
"They've got big plans," he said.
Indeed they do. The New Mexico Tech team of undergraduate students will compete against other collegiate teams at a national "People, Prosperity and the Planet" – EPA/P3 – competition in Washington, D.C. in May 2007, with travel funds included in the grant.
New Mexico Tech students Theresita Martinez and Robert Slingsby returned to the heliostat team this semester as seniors. Non-returning team members Wade Ogg and Joe Waligora graduated from the university last May, and Collin Horvat has completed all his senior design classes at Tech.
New team members are Tech undergraduates Timothy Barnes, Prithwish Das, Matthew Green, David Peterson and Katelyn Williams.
The project grew out of the department's Junior/Senior Design Class, a core requirement for all mechanical engineering majors at New Mexico Tech. The team is officially known as the "Heliostat Design Clinic Team." A heliostat is defined as a device where a mirror is used to reflect a beam of sunlight in a fixed direction.
Slingsby described the team's device as "a bunch of mirrors in an array that reflect light to a specific point."
Its purpose is to create electric energy by focusing the sunlight on a central receiver where the collected heat is used to power electrical generation equipment. A key challenge for the team is to design a system that is cost-effective, he said.
Current heliostats cost approximately $12,000 per 100-square-meters of mirror system. The New Mexico Tech team has set an initial goal of reducing this industry standard cost by one-third.
If successful in meeting this goal, the students believe heliostats will be able to compete with natural gas and wind as a clean source of energy.
Goals of the project are that the natural energy system be easy to maintain and that it be maintenance-efficient. All parts can be replaced within one hour, and the system should be able to operate up to 25 years with minimal maintenance.
"A previous prototype was made out of fiberglass, empty Gatorade bottles and other stuff," said Slingsby, a graduate of St. Michael's High School in Santa Fe, and this year's team leader. He added, with a smile, "We had a very small budget."
The Tech team's prototype has no by-products, Slingsby said: "Our only resource is solar energy."
"What's very nice is that this team is so well-funded," Ostergren said. "We've had quite a bit of luck in attracting industry sponsors, which allows the teams a lot more freedom and creativity," he said, explaining that the other 10 teams within the Mechanical Engineering Department also had outside funding.
"We don't want competition among teams," said Ostergren. "Our students help each other – the competition is between us and other schools," he said.
New Mexico Tech also provided seed money for the team to get started. The team then used that funding to build their prototype and to acquire the more significant federal government grant.
Those are not the only donations the team has received. Slingsby said the team secured a donation of mirror facets for their projects from a private company. Three of the team members met members of the company at a workshop this past summer at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque.
"They were willing to give us up to $10,000 in mirrors, up to 10 feet in diameter," Slingsby said.
Slingsby, former team member Ogg, and Ostergren attended the July workshop at the request of Sandia, based on fundamental work on the heliostat project last spring in conjunction with engineers at Sandia.
The team's project goals for the heliostat are:
- Ability to focus at winds up to 35 mph;
- Ability to withstand winds up to 90 mph;
- Need for minimal maintenance and ease of maintainance;
- Cost of under $80 per square meter of glass to build and install;
- Structure cost of under $56 per square meter of glass to build and install; and
- Design for the drive, support structure and electronics.
With additional funding, the team can expand the project's scope and include students in both Tech's electrical and materials engineering programs.
Martinez plans to go on to graduate school after graduation next May, and then to find work in a biomechanical field. Slingsby also plans to attend grad school, but first wants to tour Europe, Asia and possibly South America for a year or so.
In the meantime, the students are part of a team working to shed light – and focus light – in the ongoing search for affordable energy.


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Now the free ride isn't over. Twitter just wants to know who is using their servers. And they are using OAuth to do it. Now OAuth can be a bit tricky to work with, not overly painful, but tricky. It is also a bit of overkill if all you want to do is something as simple as grabbing a user's public timeline. Luckily, there is an easier alternative: Application-Only Authentication.
With application-only authentication, your app is able to make authenticated requests its own. It doesn't need a user's credentials. Now, it can't do everything. Since it is doesn't have a user context, it isn't able to do things like status updates. But it can do things like grabbing a user's timeline, which is what this tutorial will do.
I want to say that up front to hopefully stop people from complaining that the app doesn't work later. Getting a key and secret is easy and free so there is no good reason for not getting one. The app doesn't have a working key or secret. It will build, but it won't run until you replace the mock key and secret, with real ones.
Getting Your Own Consumer Key and Secret
- Simply go to https://dev.twitter.com
- Click the "Sign in" link in the upper right hand corner
- Enter your credentials and click "Log in"
- Hover over your avatar in the upper right hand corner
- Click the "My applications" link
- Click the "Create a new application" button
- Fill out the application details
- Accept the "Developer Rules of the Road"
- Complete the captcha
- Click the "Create your Twitter application" button
- On the "My applications" page, click on your application's name
- Your consumer key and secret will listed in the OAuth settings section
Keep your consumer key and secret secure. Don't do anything foolish with them, like publish them in a tutorial.
Android's Listview Adapter and AsyncTask
This app uses a quick and simply listview to render the tweets. It looks absolutely ugly, but this tutorial is about getting access to a user's timeline in API 1.1, not how to render pretty listview in Android. There are already a lot of tutorials out there on how to that.
We also make use of one of Android's cooler features, AsyncTasks. I hope that we all know by now, that we aren't suppose to do anything which takes a long time on the main UI thread, you know things like calling web services. The AsyncTask is probably the easiest way to avoid getting an ANR. And it is so dead simple to use.
The app uses a private class, DownloadTwitterTask which inherits from AsyncTask. Its job is to download the current batch of tweets on the user's timeline. The doInBackground method does all of the grunt work. It grabs the user's screen name, and calls the getTwitterStream method. This is what makes the AsyncTask class cool. You don't have to think about multi-tasking or other such complexity, just what is long running task you want to do, and do it.
Once your task is complete, return your object and AsyncTask will pass it on to the onPostExecute method which runs on the UI thread. This is the perfect time to update your UI. Now for us the string passed to the onPostExecute method is the user's timeline in JSON format, so we convert it to a Twitter object which we define as an array list of Tweets. We use Google's excellent Gson library to do that conversion and a few others. And finally we feed our tweets to the list adapter for rendering.
Getting Authenticated and a User's Timeline
We have rendered our tweets to our list view, but how did we get them? Once you have your key and secret, it is surprisingly simple to get to a user's timeline, just make a few HTTPS calls. In fact, Twitter lists out how to do it in three steps, well OK there are some sub-steps. The getTwitterStream method lists out all of the steps necessary to authenticate your app and then get some tweets.
Step 1: Encode consumer key and secret
First, we need to URL encode the consumer key and secret. Java has this function built-in, URLEncoder, be sure to pass your encoding. Then we concatenate the encoded strings with a semi-colon separating them and Base64 encode the whole thing. This is the one spot where I ran into some trouble. I wasn't sure what flag to pass. I initially tried, Base64.DEFAULT, which didn't work. Luckily there weren't that many options, when I tried Base64.NO_WRAP, it worked.
Step 2: Obtain a bearer token
In order to get the bearer token, you need to make a post request to the Twitter token URL. With the request, you need to pass a few header keys. If each of the keys isn't correct, your request will be rejected. Also the request body must only contain "grant_type=client_credentials", or your request will be rejected.
If everything went well, you will now have your bearer token. Be sure to check it as well. Its token should equal "bearer".
Step 3: Authenticate API requests with bearer token
With our token, we can now make API requests. Simply set the Authorization header equal to the string "Bearer " plus our access token. For both the Http Post and the Http Get, I use the same method getResponseBody to read the entire HTTP stream and return it as a string. Everywhere, if we encounter an exception, no attempt is made to recover, we usually return an empty string or a null.
Again, please don't forget to replace the dummy consumer key and secret with your own. The code will not work without it. The project is in IntelliJ IDEA format. I just can't bring myself to use Eclipse. If you use Eclipse, simply copy the files into your project. Please feel free to use the code however you'd like.


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Administrative assistants from throughout Idaho will assemble at the Nazareth Retreat Center, 4450 N. Five Mile Road, in Boise Sept. 14 for the 18th annual Administrative Support Workshop.
The all-day professional development workshop provides an opportunity for ITD's administrative assistants to learn how to do their jobs better, improve relationships with others in similar positions and exchange techniques for success.
On-site registration takes place from 8 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. at the conference center. Transportation Board Chairman Frank Bruneel will join workshop chair Judy Rogers (Division of Planning and Programming) in welcoming more than 100 administrative assistants expected for the event.
Other sessions planned throughout the day include:
The workshop wrap-up and evaluation are planned for about 4 p.m.
A number of door prizes will be awarded at the workshop. Organizers still need door prize contributions from ITD staff, said Shauna Riggas who has been coordinating the prizes and helping assemble contents of a workshop welcome bag.
Anyone who has items appropriate for a door prize can contact Riggas (firstname.lastname@example.com) in the Public Affairs Office at Headquarters, 334 -8005 or Julie Gray at 334-8480 (email@example.com) .
Published 8-4-06


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Online sales
Learn how to set up a secure payment system for your online sales.
Payment for online sales
If you plan to sell your goods or services online, you will need to set up an online payment processing system. There are various systems available, and the one you choose will depend on your type of business and budget. The first step is to contact your bank to set up a merchant account. Next, you will need to choose a payment gateway, which is a service that processes the payments. Your bank might be able to suggest one. Once you select a payment gateway, you'll have to set it up to work from your website.
Adding online payment processing to your website
Once you have chosen the payment gateway best suited to your needs, add a "Buy" button to your product or order page. This button will point to an application. The provider you have selected to supply your payment gateway will provide you with the program or code required to get the service to work on your page. Get support from the payment gateway provider or from your website developer for help on incorporating this code into your web page code.
Receiving payment online
When your customer enters the information required to make a purchase, that information must be directed to the payment gateway. You can choose to have the customer transferred directly there. In this case, the security for the transaction will be handled entirely by the payment gateway. Once the transaction is done, the customer is directed back to your website. You'll receive notification that the transaction was successful so that you can fill the order.
If you do a lot of business online, you may decide to keep the customer and the transaction on your own website. After clicking the "Buy" button, the customer is directed to a secure web page, still on your website, to enter all billing and shipping information. That information is sent over an encrypted connection to the payment gateway where the transaction is approved or declined. The customer never leaves your website.
If you choose this option, you will need to:
- Obtain a digital certificate from a certificate authority to create the secure web page
- Show proof that you conform to the Payment Card Industry Security Standard because you are responsible for all the information that you collect. If you do not, you can be fined or even lose the ability to accept credit card transactions.
- Install anti-virus software and a firewall
- Train employees on how to handle customer information
Take advantage of any available customization options for the payment screen, such as your logo or branding graphics and colour scheme. This will help your customers to have as seamless a shopping experience as possible. Your payment gateway might even offer a customizable template for the transaction page.
Methods of payment
Online payment gateways can process payments made by:
- Credit card
- Debit card
- Gift card
- Prepaid credit card
Prepaid cards are like normal credit cards, but you incur less risk since payments are taken from a balance held by the credit card.
If you have some customers who don't want to use electronic payments, you may wish to consider services that take cheques or money orders to create an online balance. These types of services will pay you, on behalf of the customer, up to the limit of the available balance.
Preventing chargebacks
A chargeback takes place when the bank debits your merchant account for the amount of any errors. This can happen if customers contest the charges on their credit cards. Although this might also occur at a brick-and-mortar location, banks are more likely to issue chargebacks against online retailers because the transactions are virtual. You should be prepared to prove every step of the sales process.
To avoid chargebacks and reduce online fraud:
- Document each stage of every sale and keep all records.
- Call customers to verify purchases, especially if you are suspicious. This is useful for orders from foreign countries, shipments to P.O. boxes and orders over a certain value.
- Use a shipper that requires a signature for proof of delivery.
- Use a payment service provider that offers fraud protection.
Do your research and ask around for references. Take the time to find the options that work best for your business. Make the online experience safe for both you and your customers.
- Internet sales contract harmonization template
Download this template to produce a contract that allows you to enter into a legal consumer protection agreement with online clients throughout Canada.
- Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council
If you handle debit and credit cards in your business, learn about applying information security best practices.
- Conducting business on the Internet
Find out about tax rules, regulations and requirements when doing business online.
- Canada Post — Solutions for Small Business
Find out about business solutions that could help your small business manage shipping, e-commerce, marketing and more.
- Free or low-cost technology applications
Discover how using information and communications technology products can increase your sales and productivity. Find free and low-cost options.
Customer service
Ease of payment is not the only component that leads to success in online sales. Paying attention to details is essential in providing good customer service. Encourage customers to return by making the online experience as smooth as possible.
Back orders
Keep your website up to date to reflect items in stock. If you do get orders for products that are not in stock, you should have a policy on how to handle them.
- Will you hold the entire order until all items are in stock, or ship the available items first?
- Can the customer decide whether to receive a full or partial shipment?
- Will one shipping charge cover all shipments, or will there be a separate charge for each part of the order?
Order status
Let your customers track the shipment of their order by providing:
- A shipment tracking number
- A link to the shipper's web page where the customer can enter the tracking number
- Email support to help track the order
- A toll-free number the customer can use to find out the order status
Shipping insurance
Protect yourself and your customers by taking out shipping insurance to cover loss, damage or delays. There are different types of insurance, so ensure you get the best kind for your business. The risks and costs will vary depending on the type of transport you use.
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