Daily Review 14/05/2018

36 comments on “Daily Review 14/05/2018”

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1. AsleepWhileWalking 1

   14 May 2018 at 6:06 pm

   Hard working Kiwi living in tent at campground harassed and stabbed.

   Now he may be booted by
   Remuera Motor Lodge.

   https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12051175
   • Sacha 1.1

     14 May 2018 at 6:09 pm

     Unfortunate situation. I am mostly amazed to discover there is a campground in Remuera.
     • Rosemary McDonald 1.1.1

       14 May 2018 at 6:51 pm

       ” I am mostly amazed to discover there is a campground in Remuera.”
       Yes. Right? Who knew?
       We stumbled across this anomaly while trying to organize safe housebus parking with reasonable wheelchair access, within reasonable proximity to accessible public transport to the central city. Price per night is prohibitive, and we had heard rumours that the place was more than a little cramped. Higher returns the more bods per square metre. Slim pickings for the transient in Auckland. No wonder there are incidents like this.
2. Sacha 2

   14 May 2018 at 6:15 pm

   Council for Civil Liberties is unamused that Lab/NZFirst/Greens govt is not changing the OIA:
   https://nzccl.org.nz/content/media-release-disappointment-government-says-it-has-no-plans-reform-official-information-act

   We’re very disappointed that the Government won’t be reforming the OIA, it’s a vital tool in holding governments to account. The OIA has been steadily weakened over the years by both changes in how government works, and gaming of the law by Ministers and public servants.

   Among other things, the Council would like to see serious consideration given to:

   – Further encouragement for extensive pro-active publication of documents.
   – Removing commercial sensitivity as a ground for withholding information, particularly for outsourced government services.
   – Giving the Office of the Ombudsman more resources and powers to enforce the Act.
   – Restricting the use of the “legal privilege” grounds to times when matters are actually before a court.
   – Reducing Ministerial interference with OIA requests.
   • alwyn 2.1

     14 May 2018 at 6:37 pm

     Nothing like optimism is there?
     All Opposition Parties are thoroughly in favour of the OIA, unless people want to extend it to the actions of non-Government Parliamentary activities.
     If they get into Power of course their views suddenly change. They will then do almost anything to prevent the release of any information at all.
     Even a notable cynic about their attitude like myself is surprised by just how bad the current Government is however. I didn’t approve of the approach of the last lot but the present Government is even worse. I can only assume it is the attitude of their leader, Tsar Winston the First.
     To be honest Sacha, did you really expect anything else from a Government that makes Curran The Associate Minister for Open Government?
     That appointment was really taking the piss.
     • Ad 2.1.1

       14 May 2018 at 6:51 pm

       OIA is a pain in the ass other than for a few busybody cranks.

       I’d have one great annual datadump on Jan 1st.
     • Gabby 2.1.2

       15 May 2018 at 9:25 am

       How bad ally? What do you base that on?
   • Rosemary McDonald 2.2

     14 May 2018 at 6:57 pm

     Idiot/Savant got my vote for blogpost of the week on this topic…http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2018/05/an-impoverished-idea-of-public.html
     • Nordy 2.2.1

       14 May 2018 at 7:17 pm

       On the contrary – NRT demonstrates a woeful ignorance of what it means to have a representative democracy and how policy is actually made (and why).

       We elect politicians to form a government and govern – not to ask the populace to do that job for them.
       • Rosemary McDonald 2.2.1.1

         14 May 2018 at 9:24 pm

         I’m pleased there is at least one person in New Zealand who is happy that this Current Mob has the same commitment to open and transparent government as the Last Lot.
       • Draco T Bastard 2.2.1.2

         14 May 2018 at 11:18 pm

         We elect politicians to form a government and govern – not to ask the populace to do that job for them.

         Do we? Or is it just that we’re told that we do?

         What happened to democracy in your view?

         Because from what I can make out it was designed out of the process so the rich could govern without hindrance.
   • mickysavage 2.3

     14 May 2018 at 7:38 pm

     IMHO it needs to be improved.
3. Ed 3

   14 May 2018 at 7:43 pm

   A worthwhile read this evening.

   “When society’s safety net is shredded, the predators move in.”
   By Phil McDuff

   ‘In place of the ‘big society’ we were so fatuously promised, we have growing numbers of loan sharks and slumlords.

   From loan sharks to exploitative employers, rogue landlords to domestic abusers, rolling back basic public services has created opportunities for the unscrupulous to take advantage of those with nowhere else to turn. The big society has become the predatory society.

   The existence of a forgotten and neglected underclass of people is not something unique to the Conservatives’ time in office. Vulnerable people and those who prey on them are not new. The safety nets in the UK have often been badly maintained and easy to slip through, but the Tory solution has been to blame the safety net itself rather than its design, and then to work to make it even worse.

   The right wing will argue that this is a negative view of humanity, that they, and they alone, believe that people are noble of spirit and capable of rising above their circumstances. Rather than telling people to rely on “handouts” we should be encouraging them to pull their socks up and get on their bikes. But poverty is a social phenomenon, and public services were the tools that we built to enable people to rise above it. Being poor is exhausting and stressful, and running the gauntlet of a predatory society is a full-time job in itself.’

   https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/14/big-society-safety-net-predators-vulnerable
4. Ad 4

   14 May 2018 at 8:05 pm

   Crikey the PM ain’t holding back on MCB and farmer laziness using NAIT. Gave all a savaging.

   She has a proper farmer-roast on her mind. But still going for eradication.

   Where’s those Fed Farmer reps now?
   • Ian 4.1

     14 May 2018 at 8:19 pm

     Lawyering up bigtime.
   • Muttonbird 4.2

     14 May 2018 at 11:21 pm

     That of course is what happens when you leave industry to self regulate. They won’t.

     I don’t know if it’s possible but if it can be found a farmer ignored NAIT then they should definitely not get compensated.

     And why is it called compensation anyway? That would suggest some foul has befallen the innocent dairy farmer. If as a group farmers have flouted the system put in place then they are most certainly not innocent.
5. R.P Mcmurphy 5

   14 May 2018 at 8:14 pm

   getting sick of judth collins and birdbrain bridges hogging the media on monday mornings and continually calling labour mp’s liars. the so called journalists conducting these interviews never call them on it and it is beginning to sound very ugly.
   • Ed 5.1

     14 May 2018 at 9:46 pm

     Boycott the lame stream media.
6. Ian 6

   14 May 2018 at 8:18 pm

   David Parker is all over the place. MPI is killing cows and all he can do is waffle. Damien knows how to deal to those pesky dairy farmers.
   • Ed 6.1

     14 May 2018 at 9:46 pm

     What a miserable trolling effort that was.
   • Muttonbird 6.2

     14 May 2018 at 10:24 pm

     Surely the only solution now is to destroy the entire herd.

     The farmers need to pay for this themselves though rather than getting even more bailouts from the hard working taxpayer. They have insurance don’t they, or are city people subsidising them on that too?
     • alwyn 6.2.1

       15 May 2018 at 10:52 am

       “Surely the only solution now is to destroy the entire herd.”.

       You do realise that you sound just like the US Military in Vietnam?
       “We had to destroy the village in order to save it”.
       http://www.thisdayinquotes.com/2010/02/it-became-necessary-to-destroy-town-to.html
       The exact wording of the unknown Officer’s comment is uncertain. However, that it was said is not in doubt.

       What on earth is the reason for killing all the cattle anyway? The disease is present in many countries and appears to cause little real damage. Do you simply hate farm animals?
       • Muttonbird 6.2.1.1

         15 May 2018 at 11:27 am

         Mycoplasma bovis causes a constellation of diseases, including mastitis in dairy cows, arthritis in cows and calves, pneumonia in calves, and various other diseases likely including late-term abortion.

         Little real damage? Looks like you’re the one who hates farm animals.

         The estimated loss in Europe due to Mycoplasma bovis is approximately €576 million per year. Many governments have to reimburse the farmers for loss of income and stock value, which affects the economy.

         It is also very expensive. Farmers need to be insured against this rather than having their hand out the whole time.

         https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycoplasma_bovis
7. Tamati Tautuhi 7

   14 May 2018 at 9:19 pm

   Has MPI been sitting on their hands with the MCB Outbreak or have the soddies been breaking the rules ?

   It sounds like the whole thing is a “dogs breakfast” ?
8. Ian 8

   14 May 2018 at 9:34 pm

   Quote from Proffessor Keith Woodford today ” And I do note in passing that amongst their nine-member senior management team, none lists a science education within their MPI website CV “
   • Muttonbird 8.1

     14 May 2018 at 10:20 pm

     All National government appointments, or hired by National government appointments.
9. Ed 9

   14 May 2018 at 9:45 pm

   Essential stuff from Robin Westenra

   ‘As CO2 Levels Soar Past ‘Troubling’ 410 ppm Threshold, Trump Kills NASA Carbon Monitoring Program
   What worries one scientist most is that humanity is “continuing full speed ahead with an unprecedented experiment with our planet, the only home we have.”

   http://robinwestenra.blogspot.co.nz/2018/05/trump-kills-nasa-carbon-monitoring.html
   • greywarshark 9.1

     14 May 2018 at 10:24 pm

     It’s not an experiment – that implies some plan, goal, control – we actually are on a drunken jaunt hanging out the car windows making rude gestures at the countryside and cows, drinking large and throwing the bottles at trees, and singing loud coarse songs.
10. Muttonbird 10

    14 May 2018 at 10:14 pm

    The chairman of a Hawke’s Bay iwi has written a letter to Craggy Range Winery asking for the iwi’s title on the winery opening’s commemorative plaque be “melted or removed”

    “My people are the targets and dartboards of this racist one-way tirade emanating from Havelock North.”

    Tomoana had been asked to let things go, “but I have 1000 years of heritage to defend and this can’t be washed away by the very recent tsunami of residents with no sense of history”.

    “A hundred horsemen on mountain bikes are threatening to swoop down Te Mata like a wolf on the fold, waving hundreds of thousands of legal dollars at us so that we should quiver in fear and hide.”

    “Your manager is caught in the headlights and doesn’t know his way forward but again he treats us like dumb savages from the wopwops,” he said.

    “Again we are not intimidated by this behaviour or that of the ‘charge of the lycra brigade’ who have resorted to personal attacks on our people who don’t have the luxury of mountain bikes mounted on the latest SUVs.”

    “If you leave it to your manager, barrister and director to manage then I respectively request that the name ‘Ngāti Kahungunu’ be melted or removed from the commemorative opening plaque for I do not wish the gall and bile that has built up within the iwi to taint the fabulous wines and food you serve.”

    Some memorable words from Ngahiwi Pomona on the Te Mata Peak track. Great stuff.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/103889429/iwi-chairman-asks-winery-to-remove-title-from-plaque-over-te-mata-peak-track-issues
11. Grey Area 11

    14 May 2018 at 10:42 pm

    It is a pity that iwi were not more vocal in trying to protect the western face of the Peak.

    There are plenty here who want the track to stay.
    • Grey Area 11.1

      14 May 2018 at 11:03 pm

      To be fair they may have been at the time, I can’t recall.

      The battle on that side of the peak was lost long ago.
      • Muttonbird 11.1.1

        14 May 2018 at 11:12 pm

        Are you talking about the side with Havelock North all over it?
    • Muttonbird 11.2

      14 May 2018 at 11:14 pm

      Why can’t they walk and bike up the road?
12. Draco T Bastard 12

    14 May 2018 at 11:23 pm

    Facebook is reportedly considering its own cryptocurrency

    However, Facebook creating its own cryptocurrency makes sense. It could cut down on transaction fees that the company has to pay credit card companies internally. But more than that, it could make Facebook a major player in the cryptocurrency market.

    What happens when every man and his dog can create a currency on their PC?

    Currency becomes useless.
    • alwyn 12.1

      15 May 2018 at 10:59 am

      You can invent any “currency” you like.
      The problem you will have is that you have to persuade a lot of people to accept it.
      Do you think a few thousand people are going to accept something you create a money?
      • Draco T Bastard 12.1.1

        15 May 2018 at 12:08 pm

        A proliferation of currencies will, eventually, crash the economy as no one will be able to determine if they hold value or not. We shouldn’t be surprised by this as all happened before.

        A currency needs to be accepted at a country level for it to be viable. That way it has the entire nation’s economy backing it.

        A private currency doesn’t have that.

        Contrary to what some economists and all RWNJs believe it’s not about belief but about the real physical world.

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