Open mike 18/06/2011

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, June 18th, 2011 - 56 comments
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56 comments on “Open mike 18/06/2011 ”

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  1. jcuknz 1
    18 June 2011 at 8:13 am

    A few days back I linked to the Global Commission on Drugs and here is a follow up by ex-President Jimmy Carter supporting their stance to treat drug use and abuse as a medical rather than criminal matter. Though still treating dealers etc as criminals.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/17/opinion/17carter.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

  2. travellerev 2
    18 June 2011 at 9:35 am

    I thought that this was an interesting post made by Washington’s blog.
    It pays to remember that John Key had millions of dollars worth of shares in Merrill Lynch when he left the banking sector and that these shares have been converted to Bank of America shares making him probably the most compromised PM with the biggest conflict of interest ever to run this country so when this government speaks of privatising our national assets it is very likely that he will gain hugely while doing so.
    For example it was Merrill Lynch (which after it’s demise became part of the Bank of America) which was the first to mention how the privatisation of ACC would be a veritable Bonanza.
    According to a PDF downloaded from the government website Hon John KEY (National, Helensville) has interests (such as shares and bonds) in companies and business entities:
    Little Nell – property investment, Aspen, Colorado
    Bank of America – banking (Formerly Merrill Lynch)
    Cauldron (sold 16 February 2010) – mining
    So when he is talking about privatising assets this is what really happens:
    American, Greece, Spain, Ireland and whether you believe it or not New Zealand are being raped by the international bankers and John Key is helping them do it here.
     
     
     
     
     
     

    • ianmac 2.1
      18 June 2011 at 9:48 am

      Wasn’t the question of Key shares in the Bank of America raised by Penny Bright in her face to face question at a public meeting? I think Mr Key deflated at that point.

      • travellerev 2.1.1
        18 June 2011 at 9:53 am

        She did indeed. She wanted to know if John Key would gain monetarily from the foreign debt and it is very likely that he will. She never got a reply on that written request for information on the matter.

        Here is the link to the video of that occasion for those who haven’t seen the interaction.

        (Iprent, the editor is a bitch for entering paragraphs)
         

        • Tigger 2.1.1.1
          18 June 2011 at 10:03 am

          Thanks for the link T! Best line from Key ‘Sadly I’m not (profiting from NZ’s indebtedness)’. Quite vile and I suspect it’s a lie anyway.

  3. appleboy 3
    18 June 2011 at 10:04 am

    It freally hit me this week how completely and utterly scripted key is. The Monday press conference was ENTIRELY read word fro word. The guy is unable t speak off the cuff for a moment. Even his ‘Christchurch we will stand by you” stuff is all scripted.

    • Lanthanide 3.1
      18 June 2011 at 10:47 am

      Yeah, he’s terrible. He has no real public speaking ability at all, certainly far below the level required by a PM.

      We were watching it on TV, and quite confused when he started talking about a trade mission to India right on the back of talking about Christchurch. Took us about 10 seconds to realise that they were completely unrelated topics. He should have had a good 2-3 second pause and introduced a bridge like “Now turning to scheduled government business…”.

  4. policywonk 4
    18 June 2011 at 10:30 am

    This news is very disturbing – Blubber Boy’s claiming that the Labour Party has the email addresses of the people who signed NZEIs postcards against Early Child­hood Edu­ca­tion changes.

    • McFlock 4.1
      18 June 2011 at 11:39 am

      Didn’t he also claim they had credit card details?

      Frankly, if greasy cetacean claimed the earth was round I’d be out checking the astronomical measurements myself.

      • policywonk 4.1.1
        19 June 2011 at 10:37 am

        But he’s done nothing yet to suggest that he doesn’t have credit card details..

        …and now the repeaters at the NZ Herald have picked up on the story about the email addresses

  5. Lanthanide 5
    18 June 2011 at 10:50 am

    To all those saying that the “insurance issues” in CHCH can be quickly and easily sorted, and should have been sorted months ago:

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-earthquake/5161210/Govt-tipped-to-pick-up-insurance-tab

    Reading between the lines, I get an ominous feeling that the government’s ultimate liability is going to spike much higher than $5b, and after the election (when this is announced) we’re going to be hit with a ratings downgrade.

  6. William Joyce 6
    18 June 2011 at 11:08 am

    Gerry presents the recovery plan

    • McFlock 6.1
      18 June 2011 at 11:42 am

      “take two tablets, but don’t call me again”

    • ianmac 6.2
      18 June 2011 at 1:46 pm

      Wonder how stable would be his mount? Somewhere other than Christchurch?

    • Jim Nald 6.3
      18 June 2011 at 4:25 pm

      Hah! Haha!
      The question is – what will he do next with the two things in his hands?
      ..
      Perhaps, like a good karate kid doing a public demo, he might smash them into his head?
      …
      ….
      There won’t be much to break.
      No great loss.

  7. prism 7
    18 June 2011 at 11:51 am

    Some startling stuff on Radionz interview this morning Kim Hill with author – 11:05 Amitav Ghosh: language and opium. Sea of Poppies and River of Smoke are first two books in a trilogy. He has written one of those powerful stories that is based on real history I think they call it faction. In the process he learned an obscure old language based on medieval arab or something and this was used as a lingua franca for sailing ships with mixed Asian Lascar crewmen. I think I’ve got that right. E&OE

    Anyway he found a document advising the British government that the British Raj in India could not survive without dealing and growing opium. Then in China, the British fought them for the right to free trade. Yeah right. It was the right for them to control opium growing there as a monopoly. I knew that Britain’s past is not the bright shiny thing which is presented, but really the Brits are shabby, and we have to watch that we don’t allow ourselves to fall into such ethical pits covered by a fog of deliberate amnesia. We’re not too bad in NZ and haven’t been going long enough to rack up a large pile of disgraceful or unmentionable viciousness. Let’s work hard and be alert so we keep it that way.

    • ZeeBop 7.1
      18 June 2011 at 2:39 pm

      China had products the West wanted, like the Middle East has oil the World wants. If Saudi Arabia says that it doesn’t want to sell oil anymore….

      So its hypocritical to suggest Britain then is any different than us now, or even China now.
      What is the modern drugs company, but selling the solution without any interest in prevention
      rather the reverse.

      If China had brought British goods and services, trains, then would China have been so gone backwards for so long?

      I do think it was wrong, but we don’t have the high ground.

    • Morrissey 7.2
      18 June 2011 at 11:16 pm

      …an obscure old language based on medieval arab or something…
      The language he learned was Judaeo-Arabic, a variant of colloquial Arabic written in the Hebrew script.

      I knew that Britain’s past is not the bright shiny thing which is presented, but really the Brits are shabby,
      After China’s unsuccessful attempt to curb Britain’s depredations, there were blood-soaked revolts against British oppression in (to name just a few) India, Burma, South Africa, Malaya, Kenya, and Ireland.

      One of the punishments meted out to China after the Opium Wars was forcing it to cede Hong Kong to Great Britain until 1997. In the years leading up to the 1997 hand-over, the English governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, regularly delivered stern lectures about the need for China to “respect democracy” and “observe human rights”. The Chinese diplomats treated this hypocritical cant with withering contempt.

      and we have to watch that we don’t allow ourselves to fall into such ethical pits covered by a fog of deliberate amnesia.

      We’re in Afghanistan and Iraq right now. Our troops have been browbeaten into handing over captive Afghanis to torture and summary execution. We have a government that is devoted to fostering a fog of amnesia.

      We’re not too bad in NZ and haven’t been going long enough to rack up a large pile of disgraceful or unmentionable viciousness.

      Are you familiar with the history of Taranaki and Waikato? With the dispossession of the Ngai Tahu? With the campaigns against the Tuhoe people? With New Zealand soldiers rounding up and killing, with clubs and bayonets, more than 100 boys and old men in the Palestinian village of Surafend in 1918? With the catastrophic, murderous mis-administration of Samoa in the 1920s and 30s?

      In fact, prism, we have committed more than our share of disgraceful viciousness. Although much of it is, as you suggest, unmentioned.

      • prism 7.2.1
        19 June 2011 at 12:25 pm

        For goodness sake Morrissey if you are going to comment on points I make, don’t criticise those ones that you agree with in a spirit both pedantic and irritable. What’s the point of that? You chose for comment my statement – We’re not too bad in NZ and haven’t been going long enough to rack up a large pile of disgraceful or unmentionable viciousness.

        I said, you notice, that ‘[we} haven’t been going long enough to rack up a large pile of disgraceful or unmentionable viciousness‘. I didn’t say we hadn’t committed any. My hope is that we don’t commit any more. So stop bashing me round the head from your high vantage point. I assess NZ as making efforts to behave fairly and reasonably to Maori as in the Waitangi Tribunal. Before you point out all the ways we are failing, I note the Tuhoe invasion by the police etc. There is room for improvement for sure.

        • Morrissey 7.2.1.1
          19 June 2011 at 2:19 pm

          Golly, prism! Sorry to upset you. I didn’t intend to upbraid you. I wasn’t even feeling irritable. I think your posts are considered and well written; I wasn’t trying to attack you.

          I agree with you that New Zealand has done many good things. Mind you, so have Great Britain and the United States.

          It’s not all bad, any more than it is all good.

          • prism 7.2.1.1.1
            19 June 2011 at 5:49 pm

            Morissey – I’m really a bear of little brain like Winnie the Pooh. I don’t carry sets of facts in my head, but I try to know about what I am commenting on. There is an awful lot to know or even to try and grasp an idea of and if I’m off the mark I am happy to be put right on your specialist information or topic. But deconstructing my comments is a bit much when they may be just ideas I’m flying.

            As for Gt Britain and USA, the problem about them is not that they fail to behave rightly all the time but that they largely seem to do what they like, while portraying themselves as noble and superior, and then when questioned about faulty behaviour deny wrongdoing. When it is shown that they have erred, then they say that’s past history, let’s move on. Thus little is learned from the past, and the self-interest of the powerful rules. We need better probity and thinking from our leaders than that.

  8. Penny Bright 8
    18 June 2011 at 12:08 pm

    Hi folks!

    Seen this?

    YOU TUBE: MUST SEE! ‘World Economy Collapse explained in 3 minutes’

    – John Clarke and Bryan Dawe calculate the cost of the European debt crisis

    – A comedy routine.

    (But what’s happening is NOT funny!)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyePCRkq620

    John Clarke and Bryan Dawe calculate the cost of the European debt crisis

    – A comedy routine. It may seemed hilarious but this is actually what’s happening. Without all the financial jargon, any layman can understand what is happening to the current economy crisis.

    How can broke economies lend money to other broke economies who haven’t got any money because they can’t pay back the money the broke economy lent to the other broke economy and shouldn’t have lent it to them in the first place because the broke economy can’t pay back?”
    _______________________________________________________________________________

    Cheers!

    Penny Bright
    http://waterpressure.wordpress.com

  9. randal 9
    18 June 2011 at 1:10 pm

    so the government is going into urgency next week to remove the kiwi share in telecom?
    how nice for all those mums dads and orphans who already own it and now have had to pay for it twice over efore its stolen completely.

  10. randal 10
    18 June 2011 at 1:13 pm

    lathanide, you say after the election as if it was a foregone conclusion. is it?

    • Lanthanide 10.1
      18 June 2011 at 4:33 pm

      If National have any control over it, they certainly won’t announce the inflated costs before the election.

    • ZeeBop 11.1
      18 June 2011 at 2:56 pm

      Deny someone access to social insurance and then demand they take unsuitable work or suffer, is called slavery.

      Now, demand people take unsuitable work and deny them access to social insurance, this is called the Future Focus policy change.

      If a sick or disabled citizen has few choices, then how can the Future Focus policy deny them social insurance. If all the jobs require you to walk up stairs, then the threat that a wheel bound person to find such work would be psychological torture.

      A nation of civil rights talks about the individuals and their rights to expand and grow.
      Prisoners in NZ prison have such rights, also to adequate food, health and housing while incarcerated. But disabled and sick people under the new Future Focus
      policy do not, if they don’t do as they are told, they will loose access to the social integration. They at any time can be called to undertake unsuitable work.

      The shameful part of the policy is that it uses the needs of the state to fulfil its duty to Human Rights to integrate people in the community through work as an argument for the policy.
      Without any recognition of the dignity and respect to the sick or disabled, also contradicting the mutual responsibilities on WINZ.

      Strange that, WINZ never active explains honestly why they have to provide social insurance.
      Strange since they expect open honesty from citizens.

      • Draco T Bastard 11.1.1
        18 June 2011 at 3:41 pm

        Strange that, WINZ never active explains honestly why they have to provide social insurance.

        Do they actually know? I’m betting that they don’t, like most people, understand that the economic theory that the global economy works under requires unemployment (around 6%).

  12. jackal 12
    18 June 2011 at 2:20 pm

    Whale Blubber

    I read something on Gotcha that I thought was rather amusing, Cameron Slater’s 13 rules of politics. Number six states; “Don’t mess with The Whale or Cactus Kate.” Really! Why is that I wonder? This is the usual drivel we’ve all come to expect from the blogger known as Whaleoil. I was amused because his arrogance is obviously in excess of his capabilities, and I’m not just talking about his physical and mental limitations here…

    • Pascal's bookie 12.1
      18 June 2011 at 2:38 pm

      His rules are pretty lame, contradictory (7,2,5) and mostly not his. They also seem to be rules for politicians to follow, until they stop being that and become rules for ciizens/activists (11,12).

  13. Treetop 13
    18 June 2011 at 4:07 pm

    Were I to do a continuum on how I see the government in relation to the plight of those in Christchurch this is how my continuum would look.

    expedient insurance refugee
    with SCF——————————–reinsurance——————————–

    The government were certainly expedient when it came to posting out checks with interest to those who had shares in SCF.

    Insurance and reinsurance is the main obstacle. I was horrified to hear this morning on newstalkzb that if the EQC had not got around to assessing a person for the September earthquake a person was not covered for the February earthquake. Apparently in the fine print. This analogy was used, a car accident on 4 September and the repair had not been assessed, then a car accident on 22 February, no claim allowed for 22 February. Yet each earthquake is a separate claim and this is also the case with June 13.

    A refugee is often a person who does not have a home due to displacement in their country. Tempoary Accommodation Assistance (TAA) is available for home owners whose homes are uninhabitable and their insurance cover for tempoary accommodation has or is about to runout. This is not means tested. I have come to the conclusion that people are living in uninhabitable homes because the land is uninhabitable and a basic amenity like a toliet is unusable, yet they do not qualify for TAA.

    • Treetop 13.1
      18 June 2011 at 4:10 pm

      Thought it would get chopped.

      On the left expedient with SCF. In the middle insurance/reinsurance. On the right refugee.

      If you can fix it at your end please do so.

  14. The Chairman 14
    18 June 2011 at 9:18 pm

    Grass

    It’s what we grow best and is a cornerstone of the clean and green image that underpins New Zealand’s dairy and meat exports.

    Whether those exports would find as much consumer favour if raised on genetically modified pasture is the alarm sounded by the Sustainability Council after it investigated Government funding for GM pasture research.

    The Sustainability Council has used the Official Information Act to obtain consultants’ estimates of the net benefits if some or all of the GM grass strains being investigated were to succeed.

    Its analysis, released exclusively to the Weekend Herald, challenges the estimated gains and argues that the risks of an international consumer backlash make taxpayer investment in high-tech – but non-GM – plant breeding methods a far better bet.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10733000

    • Colonial Viper 14.1
      18 June 2011 at 9:47 pm

      At the end of the day we can’t just keep pouring phosphates on to the land, often 99% of which get leached straight into our water ways anyhow.

      • The Chairman 14.1.1
        18 June 2011 at 10:04 pm

        Indeed.

        Nevertheless, considering the comsumer backlash, GM grass is clearly not the solution .

        • Colonial Viper 14.1.1.1
          18 June 2011 at 10:23 pm

          Yes. It’s quite likely that more grass of any kind is not going to be much of a solution.

          Dairy and meat are extraordinarily energy and water intensive industries. We are pushing past the carrying capacity of our land and it is being damaged for the long term.

          • The Chairman 14.1.1.1.1
            18 June 2011 at 10:47 pm

            Improved land and water management will allow us to overcome that hurdle.
            http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/5092770/A-dairy-farm-to-impress-the-world

            • M 14.1.1.1.1.1
              18 June 2011 at 11:48 pm

              One of the kindest things you can do for the earth is not to eat beef according to the flick ‘How to Boil a Frog’ as cows suck up one third of the earth’s land surface along with fertilser for pasture or feed from grain in addition to inputs and emissions of processing said cows; and next to us and cars are the greatest emitters of carbon as they number 1.5 billion. The waterways that are destroyed through their effluent and fertilser run-off and effluent soaked land surely cannot be borne for much longer.

              Cows also take in massive amounts of water during their lives and acid rain comes from cow urine.

              Having only one child and reducing, recycling and reusing and avoiding Exxon Mobil oil were also promoted.

  15. Penny Bright 15
    18 June 2011 at 9:52 pm

    VINCE SIEMER ‘BLOWS THE WHISTLE’ ON THE DELAYED ‘OPERATION 8 SHOW TRIAL!

    In my considered opinion, fellow ‘Public Watchdog’ Vince Siemer is New Zealand’s leading ‘Whistleblower’ exposing corruption, and the lack of accountability and transparency in the NZ judiciary and ‘justice’ system.

    (Are you aware that New Zealand Judges have no enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’?
    In NZ does ‘judicial independence’ actually mean judicial unaccountability?

    Did you know that there is currently no statutory requirement for a ‘Register of Pecuniary Interests’ for NZ Judges?

    Did you know that NZ Court proceedings are regularly not recorded?

    How can ‘justice be done or be seen to be done’ – when there is no record in court of WHAT was done? How can a ‘court of record’ – not ‘keep a record’? )
    _____________________________________________

    The persecution Vince Siemer has been subjected to, (that I have personally witnessed), from the highest levels, simply defies belief………..

    VINCE SIEMER ‘BLOWS THE WHISTLE’ ON THE DELAYED ‘OPERATION 8 SHOW TRIAL!

    “After almost 4 years and over $10 million in taxpayer funds thrown at the prosecution, few Kiwis are aware of the evidence and court proceedings in the criminal prosecution of 18 New Zealand citizens intially labelled as terrorists, but whom the U.S. Embassy in Wellington was advised in 2007 by NZ Police would likely face only fines of up to $4,000.

    The High Court has tried to shroud the proceedings in secrecy.
    But you can FIND OUT THE INSIDE STORY AND FACTS at

    http://www.kiwisfirst.co.nz/index.asp?pageID=2145845331

    __________________________________________________________________________

    Penny Bright
    http://waterpressure.wordpress.com

  16. Morrissey 16
    18 June 2011 at 10:12 pm

    Good riddance to bad, bad rubbish!
    See What Anthony Weiner Was Lying About in March 2011

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoegoVVlorc&feature=channel_video_title

    WEINER: You can see a difference in the development in the West Bank with 11 percent year over year growth, with no Israeli occupation there either, with increasing access to checkpoints —
    COHEN: What about area C, D,
    WEINER: Hold on, maybe this would be helpful
    COHEN: No occupation in the West Bank? I’m sorry, did I hear you right?
    WEINER: Yes.
    COHEN: Have you been to the West Bank lately?
    WEINER: Yes.
    COHEN: You didn’t see the IDF there?
    WEINER: In Ramallah? No. In Nablus? No. Now can I tell ya there might be some people in this room who think Jerusalem is occupied.
    COHEN: Well hold on a second there, let’s stick to the West Bank. You’re saying there is no IDF presence there?
    WEINER: Yes.

    http://thinkprogress.org/security/2011/03/04/148818/weiner-occupation-west-bank/

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoegoVVlorc&feature=channel_video_title

    • D-D-D-Damn ! 16.1
      19 June 2011 at 4:45 pm

      Yeah, that’s ‘Neo-Conservative’/Lukidnik territory from Weiner.

      As Norman Finkelstein recently said, among many Israeli apologists in the US, “…we enter the realm of unreason. We enter a twilight zone…they’re not only not up to speed yet with Steven Spielberg, they’re still in the Leon Uris Exodus version of history: the ‘this land is mine, God gave this land to me’, and anybody who dissents from this (quite simply) lunatic version of history is then immediately branded an anti-semite.”

      Not that I’m suggesting the ‘Kadima/Israeli Labour Party’ version of things (favoured by most of the US media/political class) is much better or more honest. But at least they’re prepared to admit that there is indeed an occupation of the West Bank.

      The fact that Weiner’s from New York interests me. New York’s always (rightly) been seen as a liberal-left bastion in US politics. But I read recently that in terms of the zionist politics of the American Jewish community, New York is, in fact, the Far-Right bastion. Probably something to do with the proportion of New York Jews living in overwhelmingly/exclusively Jewish suburbs/enclaves. Polls suggest that those living in all-Jewish neighbourhoods and for whom their Jewish identity is central to their sense of self are much more likely to be ultra-zionist. Those Jewish Americans who ‘marry-out’ (marry Gentiles) or who grew-up in much more mixed neighbourhoods, by contrast, are far more likely to be highly critical of Israel’s policies/44-year occupation/long-term ethnic-cleansing.

  17. The Chairman 17
    18 June 2011 at 10:20 pm

    Why the BBC Trust is wrong to have found against Panorama (which showed young boys in Bangalore making clothes)

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2011/jun/16/bbc-trust-investigative-journalism

  18. logie97 18
    18 June 2011 at 11:35 pm

    The Petulant Bean has been telling her electorate that somehow she and the wonderful visionary, Mr Ryall have managed to give West Auckland a “general” hospital.

    Well she was too young to remember and probably running around the Taupo area when the efforts of Alliance MP’s and councillors championed the idea of a true Waitemata hospital against consistent opposition from “conservative” governments. And it was during the first term of the Labour / Alliance government and particularly the efforts of Jim Anderton that got the go ahead and funding for the Westies to have their hospital.

  20. jackal 20
    19 June 2011 at 9:53 am

    Winston just laid into Guys a Spinner about the egregious polling. Good job!

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  • Humanitarian support for Ethiopia and Somalia
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  • Supporting better financial outcomes for Kiwis
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  • Trade relationship with China remains strong
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  • Earthquake-prone buildings review brought forward
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