Archive for December, 2010
Open mike 09/12/2010
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, December 9th, 2010 - 24 comments
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
Auditor-General must investigate Wongs
Written By: - Date published: 11:57 pm, December 8th, 2010 - 59 comments
Fresh evidence was presented in the House yesterday by rortbuster Pete Hodgson that makes a lie of testimony Sammy Wong gave to the investigation into his and his wife’s travel on taxpayer money. A proper inquiry by the Auditor-General must now be undertaken. There are also questions over John Key’s involvement.
Wikileaks shows internet’s resilience against fools
Written By: - Date published: 4:00 pm, December 8th, 2010 - 27 comments
A fascinating side-effect of the attacks at various levels on Wikileaks in the last week has been a demonstration of exactly how tough it is to take out a site without widespread support from people on the net.
renesys.blog has a excellent post looking at what has been happening to keep Wikileaks alive on the net.
Afternoon funny
Written By: - Date published: 2:39 pm, December 8th, 2010 - 7 comments
I saw this old American comic and the coincidence was just too bizarre. I had to share.
In search of Pansy’s legacy
Written By: - Date published: 1:30 pm, December 8th, 2010 - 29 comments
In the Herald yesterday, there was a half-page ad thanking Pansy Wong for her “significant contribution” to National’s coffers the country. John Campbell went in hunt of that contribution. Worth watching all the way through for Duncan Garner’s assessment. As a bonus, Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi gets his first media mention that isn’t about corruption.
ISOC looks at the extra-legal activity aimed at Wikileaks
Written By: - Date published: 1:21 pm, December 8th, 2010 - 10 comments
ISOC – the internet society that is probably the closest thing that the internet has as a governing body said “Unless and until appropriate laws are brought to bear to take the wikileaks.org domain down legally, technical solutions should be sought to reestablish its proper presence, and appropriate actions taken to pursue and prosecute entities (if any) that acted maliciously to take it off the air.”
We can probably expect that domain to be back on the air shortly.
When I’m 67
Written By: - Date published: 12:16 pm, December 8th, 2010 - 55 comments
I’m in favour of lifting the retirement age. Life expectancy continues to rise and is now 80.4 years. A man aged 65 can expect to live on average another 18 years, a woman 20. That’s a hell of a long time to be getting the pension and an enormous cost. Rising the age to 67 would free up $1.5 billion a year to go into education and preventative health.
This Government Doesn’t Trust You
Written By: - Date published: 10:34 am, December 8th, 2010 - 34 comments
You not only can expect to be spied on more after an overhaul of the SIS, but you sure as hell shouldn’t be allowed to know how they are going to do it. It’s your freedom they’re protecting, so you should expect a reduction in liberty to achieve that. And we certainly can’t be allowed […]
Assange voluntarily goes to British court on extradition
Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, December 8th, 2010 - 50 comments
Now that the Swedish prosecutors have finally given the British police a document that they can work with, Assange turned himself in, and has gone before a British court on the extradition request from Sweden. The court has remanded him without bail. I have already commented on exactly what I think of the charges – […]
The perils of out-sourcing public services
Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, December 8th, 2010 - 18 comments
One of the features of the neoliberal revolution has been the outsourcing of public service delivery, usually to not-for-profits, sometimes to profit-making entities like private hospitals. Whanau Ora is an extension of this. Two recent stories have exemplified the risks of this model – corruption and cuts by stealth.
Democracy is bad at hard problems
Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, December 8th, 2010 - 72 comments
Democracy can be very bad at dealing with hard problems. Case in point, the Nats’ appalling handling of the issue of our ageing population. The Nats are stuck, so the country is stuck, rabbit in the headlights, while the size of the problem continues to grow…
Open mike 08/12/2010
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, December 8th, 2010 - 26 comments
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
Fraud vs incompetence
Written By: - Date published: 7:10 pm, December 7th, 2010 - 28 comments
The Nats like to talk tough about “benefit fraud”. But ONE News reports that simple incompetence in the Ministry of Social Development costs three times as much. Perhaps cutting more public sector jobs, and putting the remaining workers under even more stress, will help fix the problem, do you think?
I beg your pardon, Mr Key
Written By: - Date published: 2:40 pm, December 7th, 2010 - 17 comments
A reader responds, pretty curtly, to John Key’s wholly inadequate explanation for why the select committee hearings on extending the SIS’s already broad powers will be secret. “It won’t be in the public interest to have it open, for a whole bunch of reasons I don’t want to go into,” Just doesn’t cut it.
Collins to Police: keep on killing
Written By: - Date published: 1:18 pm, December 7th, 2010 - 40 comments
19 dead in Police chases in 12 months. You’re more likely to be killed in a police chase than by being shot. Most of the dead were being chased for minor traffic offences. What a waste of life. Collins’ response: harsher sentences. Cause tougher sentences has brought down crime so far, eh? Nats have no ideas. The death toll mounts.
The new economy: tax & redistribution
Written By: - Date published: 11:13 am, December 7th, 2010 - 135 comments
The other week we talked about what a new economic order should look like, following the neoliberal experiment’s resoundingly failure. Sustainability and fairness need to be at the heart of the system. Government acts on the economy through law, taxation and income redistribution, and as market player. Let’s start with tax and redistribution.
3 time loser wins
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, December 7th, 2010 - 25 comments
In a surprise to no-one, John Key has appointed 3 time election loser Hekia Parata to replace the latest of his corrupt ministers to walk the plank – Pansy Wong. I’m hoping Parata will be less of a disgrace than Wong. It wouldn’t be hard, she would just have to actually try to answer questions in the House and actually do something about the wage gaps.
A smart speech from Goff
Written By: - Date published: 7:16 am, December 7th, 2010 - 87 comments
Goff has given several excellent policy speeches this year, and the last one was no exception. Squarely targeted at a middle New Zealand that saw little of National’s tax cuts and far more of their job losses and rising prices. Pointing out the obvious, that National has failed to deliver on the economy, and has no viable plan to do so. In short, a great platform for election year.
Open mike 07/12/2010
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, December 7th, 2010 - 71 comments
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
What would a National win mean in 2011?
Written By: - Date published: 9:28 pm, December 6th, 2010 - 49 comments
In my final post I look at the possible influence coalition partners could have on a future National government. Even if Labour loses in 2011, an outright win for right-wing economic doctrine is not necessarily on the cards.
Te Atatu electorate letter
Written By: - Date published: 2:56 pm, December 6th, 2010 - 25 comments
Much to the delight of the right wing chattering class, the Te Atatu electorate has written a letter attacking Labour leadership. Storm in a teacup. I don’t think there is any shock value to the public in further revelations about Chris Carter, just a bit of titillation for the blog fodder.
A hero – really?
Written By: - Date published: 12:31 pm, December 6th, 2010 - 41 comments
The modern urge to label leaders who perform adequately during an emergency as ‘heroes’ astounds me. Particularly in the case of Pike River. Peter Whitall is a boss who just had 29 workers die on his work-site. While reserving judgment on his blame for that, I’m not going to call him a hero for doing a decent job for the cameras.
Tales from front-lines of the class war
Written By: - Date published: 10:24 am, December 6th, 2010 - 17 comments
This collection of articles from recent days illustrate the class war going on within this country. In a time of economic, environmental, and social crisis, either the established elite can be reined in or it will use its power to cement its position and take a greater share of the wealth. Because we’re letting them, the elite are winning the class war.
NZF poll is wrong
Written By: - Date published: 7:34 am, December 6th, 2010 - 77 comments
Great excitement in the Sunday papers over Winston Peters / NZF. “Poll puts NZ First back in contention”! “Peters the kingmaker again”! Don’t believe a word of it.
Open mike 06/12/2010
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, December 6th, 2010 - 44 comments
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
Another handout for bludgers?
Written By: - Date published: 9:40 pm, December 5th, 2010 - 47 comments
Warners bludge $30 mil out of us. Kiwifruit growers get a blank cheque while other firms go under. Farmers have their hands out cause it hasn’t rained. Rich finance investors get us to cover their losses. Now, a $10K a night resort wants us to pay for some royals to stay there. Apparently, it’ll be great value for money – that’s what corporate bludgers always say.
When I’m 64
Written By: - Date published: 10:31 am, December 5th, 2010 - 14 comments
There seems to have been a reasonable breakthrough in research to reverse ageing. Is it a good thing? If you think the world has resource and environmental problems now, you ain’t seen nothing yet. If you think we have social injustice and insane inequities in wealth now, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
McCarten on Pike River
Written By: - Date published: 9:59 am, December 5th, 2010 - 64 comments
This piece by Matt McCarten has already generated some discussion on Open Mike. Here are extracts, or click through for the full article. Matt pulls no punches…
The spirit of Peterloo
Written By: - Date published: 8:57 am, December 5th, 2010 - 30 comments
David Cameron made the commendable decision to create a national happiness index to compliment GDP but there’s a lot of unhappiness in Merry Old England under his rule. To avert fiscal disaster, while allowing bankers and the elite to keep their wealth, Cameron is making savage cuts to public services. And the Police are going old school on the resulting protests.
Open mike 05/12/2010
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, December 5th, 2010 - 51 comments
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
Marianne Ny: Making an arse of Swedish law.
Written By: - Date published: 4:28 pm, December 4th, 2010 - 218 comments
The Wikileaks release of US government diplomatic wires is less interesting to me than the behavior of the Sweden’s director of public prosecutions, Marianne Ny. Her charges and actions against Julian Assange indicate that she is driven more by the politics than respect for the law. I fail to see why Interpol is involved for such a minor charge. Apparently the charge is question is something pretty weird called “sex by surprise”
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- Labor takes a hit in Resolve polls in Queensland and VictoriaSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A Resolve poll for The Brisbane Times, conducted over four months from February ...6 days ago
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- Strong Support For Disability FundingTwo thirds of Kiwis in a new poll want funding flexibility reinstated for disabled people and carers. ...7 days ago
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- Government killing homeownership dreams, giving billions to landlords – Chris HipkinsThe government talks of funding social housing, while criticising Labour's spending on the same, its leader says. ...7 days ago
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- Bridging the Aukus chasm
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- Politics live: Kāinga Ora in for shake-up, Labour's Barbara Edmonds makes pre-Budget speechFollow the latest in politics as Labour looks to the Budget and National shakes up Kāinga Ora. ...1 week ago
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- NZ First toilet bill: Not enough unisex loos, planning expert saysDespite Winston Peter's suggestion that anyone who wants to use one can, an academic says there aren't enough unisex toilets in the country. ...1 week ago
- Private jet use is increasing in New Zealand, climate crisis be damnedYou’ll never set foot in one. But its emissions still effect you. Shanti Mathias reports on a campaign to make private jet owners pay for their emissions in some way. The private jet passengers saunter down the red carpet, wearing sunglasses and heels; paparazzi cameras flash. The sky is blue, ...1 week ago
- There’s a silver lining to the Ministry of Education job cutsQuality teachers back on the front line can only be a good thing. One of the difficult things we teach in senior English classes at secondary school is the development of an idea. This involves deepening your argument, without instead “going sideways” and merely adding examples while repeating the same ...1 week ago
- How to lessen stigma and gaslighting in the health sectorOpinion: People with certain types of health conditions are more likely than others to have their symptoms dismissed, minimised or disbelieved. These conditions are diagnosed based on the patient self-report of symptoms, where there is no definitive diagnostic test that can prove the existence of disease or demonstrate structural or ...1 week ago
- Restoring fiscal discipline – and trustOpinion: Without an appropriate focus on value for public spending, trust in government is likely to erode The post Restoring fiscal discipline – and trust appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 week ago
- Hit by a digital guillotineThe intensity of it, ironically, can feel like bullying. Social media activism is reaching something of a peak with the war in Gaza, using the hashtag Blockout2024. It started at this year’s MetGala when influencer and model Haley Kalil was caught on video muttering ‘let them eat cake’ – suddenly ...1 week ago
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- Phase out mid point: Govt commits to low-energy user charges reviewThe Consumer Advocacy Council is pleased the Government will review the phase out of fixed low-user energy plans The post Phase out mid point: Govt commits to low-energy user charges review appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 week ago
- Problems persist even in environment ministry’s alternative fast-track billAnalysis: The Ministry for the Environment still couldn’t shake concerns about local voices, legal risks and environmental degradation The post Problems persist even in environment ministry’s alternative fast-track bill appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 week ago
- Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 21 MayLoading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 21 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 week ago
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