Open mike 22/12/2014

Written By: - Date published: 6:55 am, December 22nd, 2014 - 65 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:

Micky Savage christmasThe Authors of the Standard are now in holiday mode. Posting will be less regular and dependant on individual author enthusiasm. Open mike will continue every day and prepare yourself for some year in review posts and some recycling of old stuff. And as R0b has said be nice to each other.

Open mike is your post.

The Standard is not a conspiracy – just a welcome outlet for the expression of views. Leaders that command respect will not be undermined by this.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …

65 comments on “Open mike 22/12/2014 ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. karol 1
    22 December 2014 at 7:24 am

    Patrick Gower uses the f word on TV – video

    Because someone told him he was talking in a “fucking library”.

  2. Paul 2
    22 December 2014 at 7:24 am

    Clean Green New Zealand.
    This government is destroying our environment.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11377716

    • mac1 2.1
      22 December 2014 at 10:27 am

      “More than 40 swimming beaches hit with a “caution” label for water quality.”

      “14 per cent of 350 monitored beaches ( which is actually very close to 50 beaches).

      “Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith described the country’s beach water as “generally very good”.

      “It really is only 14 per cent where we do have a problem.”

      http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11377716

      What a total abdication is that bald-faced acceptance by Nick Smith that ‘only’ 14% is a problem. Note the ‘only’! The question immediately comes to mind. What would be intolerable for Nick Smith?

      There are 350 beaches monitored. One seventh of this is 50 beaches contaminated to a level that if you go in the water 10 times, statistically, it will make you ill.

      It makes me ill to think of the contamination of ‘clean, free NZ’, and it makes me angry to think of the acceptance of this by the Minister responsible.

      What a Christmas present for Kiwis on holiday in their own country.

      • Paul 2.1.1
        22 December 2014 at 10:29 am

        Our dear leader is holidaying in Los Angeles and Hawaii.
        So he’s pretty relaxed, no doubt.

        • mac1 2.1.1.1
          22 December 2014 at 10:42 am

          I’m just thinking of those 1000 kids that came and saw their Santa with bright eyed wonderment, and the kids of New Zealand who they represent, and the risk that one in seven ‘cautioned’ beaches puts them in.

          Dear leader no doubt has a swimming pool at his beach home.

    • The Al1en 2.2
      22 December 2014 at 2:17 pm

      While a lot of blame can rightly be apportioned to this government, the main reason why NZ’s clean and green image is so tarnished is because of the people and their shocking treatment of this lovely country.
      Big issues like cleaning up inland and marine waterways are of course vital and should remain a focus of the green party and environmental campaigners, but broken glass in the gutters, litter, oil down drains won’t change until kiwis accept their responsibility for the mess and strive to rectify the bad behaviour.
      Not to diminish the good work done by many, the biggest protection our land can receive is when the populace actively start caring for it like they love it.

      One could argue that the clean green image is really a con job, based on the fact that a small population inhabits a large land mass. Where I see people here, I see mess like most other places.

      • b waghorn 2.2.1
        22 December 2014 at 5:23 pm

        I couldn’t help a rye smile when I saw the greens wanting subsidies for beach communities when most beach communities are play grounds for the top 10% these days and they should fund there own sewerage.
        And another thing if that article had of fingered rural streams as the worst this thread would be 50 posts long calling for the taring and feathering of farmers.

        • The Al1en 2.2.1.1
          22 December 2014 at 7:26 pm

          As a green voter I’d probably be one of them, certainly having a pop at farmers who won’t fence or riparian plant the waterways that run through their properties.
          I would especially have had a moan how as a city dweller a portion of my regional rates go towards schemes that pay some farmers to do what they should be doing by right anyway.

          • b waghorn 2.2.1.1.1
            22 December 2014 at 10:09 pm

            So your fine with tax payers funding peoples secondary houses waste but you’re against a small amount of regional tax you pay going towards securing water quality for the nation ?

            • The Al1en 2.2.1.1.1.1
              22 December 2014 at 10:19 pm

              Taking the latter first, that’s one way of framing it, but I prefer my take on it – Farmers should be fencing off the waterways at their cost because it’s their stock that pollute them.
              I am happy to pay taxes, even for things I don’t use, so that isn’t really an issue. I’d be much happier still, to improve the shitty water ways, if farmers did the right thing, took responsibility in the first place and didn’t burden me due their neglect or bad practices.

              As for the waste water funding scheme, I don’t know enough about it (read anything) to comment with any authority.

  3. Tiger Mountain 3
    22 December 2014 at 7:27 am

    Bully boy ex policeman Mike Sabin, Northland Nat MP, is up for a “see ya round” cheque as per other embarrassing tory back benchers. ShonKey promised “higher standards” but since randy old goat Richard Worth through Lee, Wong, Heatly, Gilmour, Hauiti, Henare, Williamson, Crusher etc and even his own office, has patently failed to deliver.

    Key’s silence on this so far indicates there will indeed be a by election sooner rather than later.
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11377730

  4. North 4
    22 December 2014 at 7:31 am

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11377732

    Front page of the Herald this morning – $50,000 ‘impost’ to get Auckland City FC home for Christmas ? Against reported additional $640,000 EXTRA winnings from their sterling efforts this pales, surely ? Did the article with that headline even need to be written ? Like it’s gonna ruin their Xmas ?

  5. Pat O'Dea 5
    22 December 2014 at 7:37 am

    “The ocean has risen” “It is what it is”

    A 2014 poll by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication shows majorities of women, minorities and young people support candidates who strongly endorse climate action, the New York Times reported earlier this week. “That poll found that 65 percent of Hispanics, 53 percent of blacks and 53 percent of unmarried women support candidates who back climate-change action.”

    As the Times noted, those were all groups crucial to the outcomes of the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections.

    As Miami floods and the North Polar ice cap threatens to disappear. In the US women, black people and minorities want the government to do more. Polls show similar trends in New Zealand, but for the third election in a row, despite government weakness and vulnerability on climate change, the Left here were not able to take advantage of this government weakness as much as they were in the US. And despite the best efforts of Greenpeace and other NGOs their ‘Climate Voter’ campaign, was not able to get climate change into a mainstream election issue. There were a number of reasons for this, but IMHO the main one, is that the two major parties generally share a consensus on climate change and so it was not in their best interests to debate it. National and Labour have now been put on notice, the Green Party have determined that for the next three years, as well as child poverty, climate change will be the Green Party leading campaigning issue.

    Declaration: Pat O’Dea is the Mana Movement spokesperson for climate change

    • batweka 5.1
      22 December 2014 at 8:17 am

      Maybe but Labour were a completely mess, I don’t think them being more focussed on CC would have made much difference.

      That’s good news about the GP. Have they said anything about this publicly?

  6. BLiP 6
    22 December 2014 at 7:54 am

    ‘

    Cracker end-of-year programme from the Media Watch team at National Radio including a look at the coverage of the Sydney “siege”, the return home of the resident ABC correspondent, and some fun general piss-taking.

  7. AsleepWhileWalking 7
    22 December 2014 at 8:08 am

    Protests against the coming “gag law” in Spain which makes protest illegal:

    http://wolfstreet.com/2014/12/20/spain-takes-a-giant-step-backward-towards-its-dark-past/

    Here’s a quick breakdown of the financial sanctions the government seeks to impose (and, of course, collect upon) for acts of political protest or disobedience:

    • Surrounding a government building: €30,000
    • Criticizing or insulting the country, government or head of state during a protest or on social media: €30,000
    • Participating in a demonstration that does not have the government’s prior approval: €100 – €1,000
    • Organizing a demonstration that turns violent: €30,000     etc etc

    …Meanwhile in Venezuela death squads are going around executing those who are suspected of protest, and in the UK there is a proposed law currently being discussed that will require government approval for expressing public opinion (!)

  8. adam 8
    22 December 2014 at 8:30 am

    I’m sure this will be blown up today.

    http://nypost.com/2014/12/20/2-nypd-cops-shot-execution-style-in-brooklyn/

    What is worrying, this is an obviously propaganda piece by the post.

    I feel sorry for all the families involved, and I’m very sorry you and yours are being used for political purpose – when this should be dealt with as the tragedy it is, for you and yours.

    • Bearded Git 8.1
      22 December 2014 at 9:20 am

      4000 handgun deaths a year in Guatemala. I can never understand why the US gets so much of our media’s attention.

      • Paul 8.1.1
        22 December 2014 at 9:21 am

        Easy.
        US corporations and banks control much of the world’s media.

      • KJS0ne 8.1.2
        22 December 2014 at 1:01 pm

        Partly it’s the ‘us and them’ dichotomy, it’s where you average kiwi draws the line in the sand. The people you include in your ‘us’ group, you care about, because you have a sense of cultural kin, of ownership in the existential sense. Think about it. What is it that makes you pissed off when say your friend’s television is stolen, but some guy in Porirua has his house burnt down and you don’t really care? It’s a sense of ownership of your friend being ‘MY’ friend as opposed to ‘THAT’ guy.

        Unfortunately, by the numbers, more people include the USA in the ‘us’ category, and Guatamalans in the ‘them’, because culturally, we’re much closer to the USA than Guatamala, which is exotic and foreign. It’s tribalism.

        • Murray Rawshark 8.1.2.1
          22 December 2014 at 11:55 pm

          I think we feel culturally closer to the seppos, and that this is used by American agents such as FJK in the service of his masters. I’m not sure we actually are close, and I know I’m not. I identify far more with Latin Americans than I do with seppos.

  10. phillip ure 10
    22 December 2014 at 10:38 am

    (an f.y.i/how-to..)

    “..8 Tips for the Discerning Cannabis Consumer..

    ..What to ask – what to pay – what to look for –

    – and what to avoid when it comes to buying premium flower..”

    (cont..)

    http://www.alternet.org/drugs/8-tips-discerning-cannabis-consumer

  11. phillip ure 11
    22 December 2014 at 11:18 am

    hooton has given a particularly brisk account of the govt/key/sky-deal blowout..

    ..on nat-rad..

    ..the word ‘muppets’ was used repeatedly..

    ..ryan was shushing him in the end..(!)..(twice..!..)

    ..williams was his usual useless-as stuff…

    ..barely able to string a coherent thought/sentence together..

    (..no matter how much ryan tries to coach/steer him into one..)

    ..he managed to slag nicky hager..

    ..(oh..!..and his (supposed) adversary..’matthew’..has become ‘matt’..

    ..will it be ‘m’ in 2015..?..)

    ..plus he/williams urges labour to just ignore the poor/missing-million..and to chase the centre..’

    ..he then said there are only ‘pockets of poverty’..and both he and matt snigger/sneer in unison at the idea of 25% being in poverty..

    ..he is such a vile neo-lib sellout..

    • phillip ure 11.1
      22 December 2014 at 11:41 am

      and hooton repeats his serious slagging of laila harre..

      ..a slagging that is totally unjustified..by any account..

      ..after harawira disappeared after his car accident..

      ..and things disintergrated..

      ..harre carried the campaign on her own..

      ..and to heap the defeat on her shoulders is a sick joke..

      ..and i know from the mana side of things..that i have not heard a bad word said against harre..

      ..just the opposite..

      ..from harawira down to to a lowly foot-soldier like myself..

      ..there is nothing but praise for harre..

      ..(praise re-emphasised both publicly and privately by harawira..to my ears..post-election defeat..)

      ..on this..hooton is talking absolute/utter shite..

      ..with his claims that harres ‘reputation has been destroyed’..

      ..fucken laughable..really..

      (..the only takeaway was hooton revealing the biggest cheer of all on election nite at natty-hq..

      ..was for kelvin davis beating harawira..

      ..make of that what you will..

      ..(in this tweedle-dee/tweedle-dum world..)

      ..and just who are the ‘haters’ here…?..

      ..aside from preachers of it..like hooton..)

      • marty mars 11.1.1
        22 December 2014 at 5:13 pm

        Exactly phil – Laila is respected within Mana as she is respected elsewhere. Personally, for me she is a hero and great part of this country.

        • tracey 11.1.1.1
          22 December 2014 at 6:27 pm

          hooton said it was a view amongst people he talks to… so that rules out genuinely mana and ip people

          • phillip ure 11.1.1.1.1
            22 December 2014 at 6:41 pm

            “..hooton said it was a view amongst people he talks to..”

            the rightwing-ratbags for whom she has always been the devil incarnate..

            ..that’s who ‘he talks to’..

            ..that’s what pissed me off..

            ..that he tried to present/spin the views of these wankers into some universal dismay/disdain amongst nz’ers @ harre..

            ..he is such a tosser..

        • RedLogix 11.1.1.2
          22 December 2014 at 6:44 pm

          Now there is something we can unambiguously agree on marty.

  12. philj 12
    22 December 2014 at 11:37 am

    Media Watch on RNZ is just about the only competent and critical program left on RNZ. Wallace and Kathryn are not up to scratch. And Mourning (sp) Report is now sensationalistic. trivialialising, unbalanced and irrelevant. This is a serious issue for NZ and goes under the radar. TVNZ is a poor joke with Hoskins/Henry etc. The MSM media in NZ is a mess. How many folk are switching off?

    • Paul 12.1
      22 December 2014 at 4:56 pm

      Yes the NZ media is dire. I watch and listen to very little now.
      Propaganda is dull and predictable.
      One other small beacon of thinking media you don’t mention – Wayne Brittenden still as good as ever.

      So I rely on the internet for news now.

      Amongst other sources, I follow this site, the Daily Blog, read the Guardian, read Counter Punch website for news , Wings over Scotland website. I enjoy the perspectives of journalists such as George Monbiot, Robert Fisk, Owen Jones, John Pilger, Chris Hedges and Seamus Milne.
      For NZ news, I enjoy reading the perspective of Dita De Boni.

      At least I am aware that what we see in the MSM is propaganda. There are an increasing number of people who realise that the media is not telling us the important stuff.

      However, quite clearly, the propaganda machine is working. There is no way the establishment in NZ could have done what it has done in the past 30 years without the media being a key part of it.

      • philj 12.1.1
        22 December 2014 at 5:38 pm

        Thanks Paul,

        Yes, I find Wayne Brittenden a shining light. I wonder how much longer he will survive, along with ‘Media Watch’. There is plenty of good information on the net but I think most people just accept the Jim Mora ostrich approach to journalism (?) RT tv on the net, has some real journalism. There is a need for a quality centre/left Channel on the tv or internet. Can’t stomach our ‘market’ dominated TVNZ and MSM.

  13. batweka 13
    22 December 2014 at 1:26 pm

    Sarah Kendzior nails it, again.

    Lessons of week: shooting woman doesn’t matter, shooting cop does. Threatening women online doesn’t matter, threatening corporation does.

    Would it be that all lives were valued and all deaths mourned. Would it be that rights were for all, their violations universally deplored.

    https://twitter.com/sarahkendzior/status/546822435279216640

    • Colonial Rawshark 13.1
      22 December 2014 at 2:04 pm

      The safety and security of the power elite: their corporations and their enforcers is of course placed first and foremost.

  14. Colonial Rawshark 14
    22 December 2014 at 2:01 pm

    BBC World Service said to be losing global propaganda war against Russian and Chinese news services

    http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/dec/21/bbc-world-service-information-war-russia-today

    • Paul 14.1
      22 December 2014 at 4:42 pm

      In the comments below the Guardian below, which were generally derisive of the article, I saw this one.

      ‘If nothing else, it’s interesting that the BBC inadvertently reveals here, that its true peers are the Chinese and Russian state media.
      I would suggest high level BBC staff are very aware of this, but of course can’t admit to it– as any propagandist who openly admits to being a propagandist, isn’t a very good one.’

      And a link to this interview.

      • Colonial Rawshark 14.1.1
        22 December 2014 at 5:03 pm

        An insightful comment there, which paralled my thoughts when I first read that article.

        In the west we are in fact a very highly propagandised people (due to both what we are told as selected facts and narratives in the MSM, but especially what we are not told about) – the fact that many still cannot see it is a testament to how effectively it has been carried out.

        • Paul 14.1.1.1
          22 December 2014 at 5:11 pm

          It is amazing how the whole Ukraine story, for example, has been portrayed by the western corporate media. Just a tiny bit of independent research shows up the misinformation that is going on.

          • Colonial Rawshark 14.1.1.1.1
            22 December 2014 at 11:15 pm

            We are being taken to the edge of superpower war by western leaders, who John PIlger says, is pumping our airwaves full of the same raw propaganda of the 1960s Cold War.

            Pilger also recently said – Russia has been making only purely defensive moves this year, despite being portrayed as the aggressor and occupier. The US would have turned Sevastopol into a major NATO base by now if Russia had not re-occupied Crimea.

    • tricle up 14.2
      22 December 2014 at 4:59 pm

      Propaganda abroad at home it is just plain old spin.It would be easier to say all views are helpful leaving the word true to sit on the sideline looking for a conclusion …

      • Colonial Rawshark 14.2.1
        22 December 2014 at 5:08 pm

        It’s not just spinning the facts though; as I remarked above it is also what does not get reported, who does not get airtime, which perspectives never get mentioned.

        In the recent CIA torture report coverage for instance, the MSM never interviewed any of the hundreds of people who were tortured for months or years at a time at the hands of US personnel or contracted agents, because that would have put a human face on to what had actually been done – not just crimes against humanity, but crimes against innocent human beings.

  16. Philip Ferguson 16
    22 December 2014 at 4:00 pm

    One of the stories of the year, which didn’t really get raised during the elections although it should be of vital concern to the whole labour movement, is the denouement of Pike River.

    Key had promised that virtually heaven and earth would be moved to get the remains out and then quietly went along with the highly-disputed claim that it was not possible to go into the mine for this retrieval.

    It’s hard to believe that it is now three years on. Three years of hell for the families and friends of the 29 human beings who died at Pike River because it was an unsafe operation and because successive governments, National and Labour, had run down mine inspection. I can’t say that Andrew Little, as head of the EPMU, exactly covered himself in glory in relation to the issue either. For instance, his giving the Pike River Company a clean bill of health deserves scrutiny.

    Anyway, here’s a list of articles that myself and several other folks wrote about the killings at Pike River – and, let’s be clear, these 29 people died *unnecessarily*; they were killed by a company that put profit before safety. The articles below are in chronological order I think.

    Pike River Blues: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/pike-river-blues/

    Pike River lessons: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2011/12/05/pike-river-lessons/

    Pike River: ‘cashflow’ versus workers’ safety: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2012/11/01/pike-river-cashflow-versus-workers-safety/

    Pike River company’s safety breaches killed 29 workers – it’s official: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/pike-river-company-found-guilty-of-safety-breaches/

    What’s the latest at Pike River?: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/whats-the-latest-at-pike-river/

    Pike River third anniversary: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2013/11/20/pike-river-third-anniversary/

    Pike River injustice: taking up Helen Kelly’s offer: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2013/12/13/pike-river-injustice-taking-up-helen-kellys-offer/

    Pike River – the final cover-up?: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/11/07/pike-river-the-final-cover-up/

    Phil

    • Te Reo Putake 16.1
      22 December 2014 at 4:46 pm

      “I can’t say that Andrew Little, as head of the EPMU, exactly covered himself in glory in relation to the issue either. For instance, his giving the Pike River Company a clean bill of health deserves scrutiny.”

      When did he do that, Phil? And in what form?

      • Te Reo Putake 16.1.1
        22 December 2014 at 5:15 pm

        Nah, it turns out Little didn’t give PRC “a clean bill of health”. In one of the links above he’s quoted incorrectly in reference to the site health and safety committee and a second factual quote is misused to give a false impression to fool readers (including Phil F., apparently). Opinion masquerading as fact.

        What is true is that the union could have done better, but as it was never told by the workers on site that there were issues and the company went out of its way to undermine safe mining best practice (including offering bonuses to workers to ignore the problems and just get the coal moving), it’s understandable.

        More importantly, it was hardly a matter the then National Secretary would know anything about prior to the explosion. He was based in Wellington, running the union as a manager, not doing the organising work of the local union rep and site delegates in Hokitika.

        • Ergo Robertina 16.1.1.1
          23 December 2014 at 12:27 am

          ”What is true is that the union could have done better, but as it was never told by the workers on site that there were issues and the company went out of its way to undermine safe mining best practice (including offering bonuses to workers to ignore the problems and just get the coal moving), it’s understandable.”

          That’s not true, according to Rebecca MacFie’s authoritative book on Pike River. The EPMU was not welcome at the mine, but it did know about the problem.

          ”There was only ever one walkout over safety, when mind deputy Dan Herk threw down the gauntlet about the lack of mine vehicles available to quickly evacuate workers in the event of an emergency. Herk called the local EPMU representative, Matt Winter, and said he was concerned for the men’s safety; Winter advised he should, therefore, walk out. Herk led the men out of the mine. Shortly afterwards Winter received an angry call from Pike’s human resources manager Dick Knapp, advising him to tell the men to go back to work; when Winter refused, Knapp threatened to sue the union. The issue the men were protesting about was attended to within a matter of hours, with the prompt repair of a broken-down vehicle that had been out of action for three weeks. Winter was aware of workers’ concerns about the lack of a proper exit, and he had heard about the series of methane ignitions in late 2008. He was also worried about the high number of cleanskins – workers new to mining – at Pike.” (page 180).

          It was quite widely known on the Coast that Pike was a safety risk, so of course the local EPMU rep was aware. And that’s the point, the danger was known, but the broken safety system meant nothing was done, and the idiot investment money flowing in kept the thing lurching on.

          ,

          • RedLogix 16.1.1.1.1
            23 December 2014 at 12:47 am

            It was quite widely known on the Coast that Pike was a safety risk, so of course the local EPMU rep was aware.

            I can personally confirm that fact. I can’t give details because it would blow my feeble little nom right out of the water – but yes – there were people in the industry who were not at all surprised by the news the day of the explosion.

          • Te Reo Putake 16.1.1.1.2
            23 December 2014 at 7:32 am

            ER, the quoted passage actually confirms what I said. When a specific issue was raised with the local rep, action was taken and the matter resolved. The ‘one entrance/exit’ design was signed off by the authorities, so not a lot that could be done there and rumours of ignitions that weren’t actually formally reported were of no help to the union or the men.

  17. RedLogix 17
    22 December 2014 at 10:26 pm

    Heh – does this nasty little trick have a familiar ring?

    Labor MPs and officials are canvassing the future of the state’s opposition leader, John Robertson, after revelations he wrote a letter conveying a request from Man Monis, the gunman behind the Sydney siege.

    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/john-robertsons-leadership-of-nsw-opposition-shaky-mps-20141222-12ccv7.html

    I’d wager that with this level of knife sharpening going on, NSW Labour is unlikely to repeat the Victorian effort.

    • Murray Rawshark 17.1
      23 December 2014 at 12:28 am

      Yep. It’s a Liberal beatup. Politicians quite often write letters representing constituents’ concerns, and rightly so. Abbott wrote a reference for a rock spider priest, saying what a great bloke he was. Their stupid Accountability Roundtable should worry about that. As they’re a more successful version of the Taxpayers’ Union, they won’t.

      Labor sucks anyway. In NSW there is a stench of corruption. I’m just hoping the Greens or someone else can grow a bit.