Hi and welcome to the 40th issue of Werewolf. This month’s cover story examines the legal foundations of the Dotcom case, via interviews with Kim Dotcom, his US lawyer Ira Rothken and the world-recognised copyright law expert Professor Eric Goldman, Director of the High Tech Law Institute at the Santa Clara University of Law , California. The conclusion? The New Zealand court system, and our law enforcement agencies are being used by the US government and its friends in the entertainment industry to railroad Dotcom and his associates on legal grounds that we demonstrate to be of dubious merit . Especially in the light of the latest US court findings in the recent Viacom vs Youtube civil case in the US, which has swept aside many of the same sort of allegations being made here against Dotcom.

Talking of legal rights, Alison McCulloch has another strong story in this issue about the struggle for justice by the residents of Waihi. Once again Waihi residents have found that their residential property rights , health and wellbeing have been subordinated to the economic interests of the mining industry , to a degree unprecedented in New Zealand’s history. Elsewhere in this issue, we examine the US data on households where women have become the main income earner , and the socio-economic causes – plus, the fact that most women face, who at the same time, lopsided responsibilities for childcare and housework. (Not to mention a deeply-in-denial corporate culture that continues to regard long hours spent at the office as a crucial sign of worker commitment.) Also in this issue, we examine the causes and future prospects of the current turmoil in Turkey . In addition, London correspondent Rory MacKinnon outlines the fortnight of unrest and racist division that has broken out in Britain in the wake of the murder in Woolwich of British soldier Lee Rigby.

In his film column this month, http://werewolf.co.nz/2013/06/the-one-that-got-away/ Philip Matthews looks back at the first two movies in the Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight trilogy directed by Richard Linklater, and starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. An examination of chance, romance and commitment that exerts some of the same fascination as the Seven Up documentaries, Linklater’s series has its latest instalment Before Midnight in New Zealand cinemas later this month. In his satirical column, Lyndon Hood tries to find out which conspiracy theory can stake the most convincing claim to have taken down Peter Dunne . Talking of staking, Mark P. Williams offers a sweeping, encyclopedic analysis of the various claims that zombies, vampires and werewolves etc have made for territory in the realm of horror, and human consciousness – up to and including the spam zombies that come grasping for human connection into our inboxes every day of the week. Kill, kill ! In our music column The Complicatist this month, we celebrate the life, works and meta-textual meaning of Lil B , the Based God – the mercurial hip hop artist who will be giving one concert in New Zealand this month.

Thanks to Lyndon Hood and Alastair Thompson for helping me post this online this month. And to everyone who’s shown an interest in reading Werewolf and keeping it going…thanks a bunch. If you want to be involved and talk over some story ideas, contact me at gordon@scoop.co.nz

Cheers,
Gordon Campbell
Werewolf/Scoop
gordon@werewolf.co.nz