Daily Review 30/03/2016

Written By: - Date published: 6:01 pm, March 30th, 2016 - 84 comments
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84 comments on “Daily Review 30/03/2016 ”

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  1. mickysavage 1
    30 March 2016 at 6:04 pm

    So Hooton thinks that Labour pays a range of tweeters and bloggers. Anyone know where we can collect our cheques?

    https://twitter.com/MatthewHootonNZ/status/715022010372526082

    • BM 1.1
      30 March 2016 at 6:08 pm

      Wouldn’t surprise me at all.

      • weka 1.1.1
        30 March 2016 at 6:24 pm

        Which makes you either stupid or as disingenuous as Hooton. See if you can provide some evidence, otherwise you are just another sleazy RWNJ happy to tell lies for their own agenda.

        • BM 1.1.1.1
          30 March 2016 at 6:37 pm

          Mathew Hooton is a very credible political commentator, he wouldn’t make these sort of allegations lightly.

          My comment though, is more of a gut instinct one and very rarely I’m I wrong.

          • weka 1.1.1.1.1
            30 March 2016 at 6:40 pm

            ha ha ha ha ha, very funny. The absence of any evidence or even a half decent theory I’ll take to mean you are in the disingenuous shill camp.

          • Anne 1.1.1.1.2
            30 March 2016 at 7:10 pm

            Mathew Hooton is a very credible political commentator, he wouldn’t make these sort of allegations lightly.

            Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha………………………………………….

            Matthew Hooton is a disingenuous spinner of tall stories and straight out lies!

            Edit: ooops weka got in first. She’s doing it to me all the time. 😈

          • Draco T Bastard 1.1.1.1.3
            30 March 2016 at 7:27 pm

            Mathew Hooton is a very credible political commentator

            No, really, he isn’t. And he pretty much proves that on a daily basis.

            The fact that you think he is just proves that you have no credibility either.

          • sabine 1.1.1.1.4
            30 March 2016 at 8:21 pm

            bwhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

          • NZJester 1.1.1.1.5
            30 March 2016 at 8:28 pm

            He makes those comments because he assumes Labour works behind the scenes just like National with their network of tame MSM getting kickbacks in the forms of gifts from their sponsors.
            He is forgetting that those on the left have principals, unlike those on the right!
            As for your gut, is is not that you are not wrong, it is that even when you are totally wrong you would never admit it to yourself. So in your eyes your gut has never steered you wrong!

            • Whispering Kate 1.1.1.1.5.1
              30 March 2016 at 8:46 pm

              Hoots and his cohorts are shit scared.

              • Matthew Hooton …
                31 March 2016 at 9:36 am

                Of what?

                • mpledger …
                  31 March 2016 at 3:07 pm

                  Whatever DPF is polling.

                • Incognito …
                  1 April 2016 at 11:49 pm

                  Of what all people are afraid of: being lonely and irrelevant.

                  You know what Matthew, I think you actually are an interesting person but you only show one side of your personality in public and here on TS. I have no idea what drives you and why you choose to portray yourself the way you do but it does antagonise many people. In fact, many seem to display some kind of MHDS. Is this what you choose?

          • Rosie 1.1.1.1.6
            30 March 2016 at 8:51 pm

            “My comment though, is more of a gut instinct one and very rarely I’m I wrong.”

            Yes, humans are quite perceptive when things go wrong with their gut. Like, they know something is wrong with it. Maybe visit your Dr for a check up or try some probiotics in the mean time.

            Hope you feel better soon.

          • Murray Simmonds 1.1.1.1.7
            31 March 2016 at 8:49 am

            ” . . . more of a gut instinct one and very rarely I’m I wrong.”

            Except when you have your daily puke over the rest of us here.

      • Jenny 1.1.2
        30 March 2016 at 11:37 pm

        Next thing you will be saying BM that I am getting paid to stay away.

    • weka 1.2
      30 March 2016 at 6:12 pm

      And that’s what gives away National’s strategy. Both on the flag and on the UBI, their coordinated response is to lie over and over again, and trust enough people will reprint the lies until they become truthy.

      So, how does an opposition respond? Well it can’t stop National telling the lies, because Voltaire. And only the most boring and small-thinking oppositions say so little that there’s no opportunity for malignant mischief from their opponents.

      I think the opposition’s best option is to name the behaviour, over and over again. It works in parenting, and it works with this.

      They say sunlight is the best disinfectant. So when National infects our public conversation with lies and excuses, I’ll be here on Public Address providing a little ray of sun.

      http://publicaddress.net/polity/let-the-big-lies-flow/

      Hooton is shitstirring. Let’s just name it for what it is.

    • McFlock 1.3
      30 March 2016 at 6:17 pm

      Looks like someone needs to meet some “social media guru” KPIs for a communications account.

      Nothing gets clicks, retweets and comments like blatant hypocrisy.

      • weka 1.3.1
        30 March 2016 at 6:30 pm

        Mind you, it took him a whole day to come up with that after Little called him one of NZ’s most vicious shills yesterday.

    • Chuck 1.4
      30 March 2016 at 6:30 pm

      I think Matthew Hooton is just having a little bit of fun…everyone knows the Labour party is flat broke.

      • pat 1.4.1
        30 March 2016 at 11:51 pm

        ‘I think Matthew Hooton is just having a little bit of fun’….you may be right, but he won’t utter a public comment that hasn’t been paid for.

    • gsays 1.5
      30 March 2016 at 6:33 pm

      “So Hooton thinks that Labour pays a range of tweeters and bloggers.”

      so is hooten an amateur or an enthusiastic hobbyist?

    • The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 1.6
      30 March 2016 at 7:32 pm

      Well, obviously, they’re not going to pay you, Micky.

    • Gabby 1.7
      30 March 2016 at 7:40 pm

      Wonder if Hootie Blowhard knows who’s been threatening Ministers at convenient times.

    • pat 1.8
      30 March 2016 at 7:49 pm

      I suspect he’s basing that on his own experience.

      • Gangnam Style 1.8.1
        30 March 2016 at 7:56 pm

        Agree with Pat, he knows the Nats do it so Hooton is trying to tar Labour with the same brush. I guess the barrage Audrey got the other day has got the righties worried.

    • Rosie 1.9
      30 March 2016 at 8:47 pm

      Ahhhh! It’s all so clear to me now. Those email requests I receive from the NZLP for donations are too fund an army of bloggers and tweeters. Here’s me thinking thinking they need donations to fund the work of the party. Well, I never.

  2. dv 2
    30 March 2016 at 6:11 pm

    Who paid Jason Ede

  3. weka 3
    30 March 2016 at 6:39 pm

    Righteous anger.

    A Dozen Reasons Sanders Voters Are Justifiably Angry at the Media

    Clinton supporters and many self-professed “neutral” journalists sagely inform the rest of us that this anger is little more than sour grapes or denial-stage grief; it’s the numbers that matter — they say — and if only Sanders supporters cared about hard data in the same way that Clinton supporters and (say) “neutral” bloggers for The Washington Post do, or even the editors at The New York Times, everyone would just calm down and accept the incipient inevitability of the ugliest and least substantive general-election campaign in the history of the United States: Donald Trump versus Hillary Clinton.

    The thing is, I’m a hard-data guy myself. Always have been. And so are many of the Sanders supporters I know and interact with daily. What’s actually making them angry right now is not that Hillary Clinton yesterday termed Bernie Sanders “the latest flavor of the month” on union issues — when Sanders had already been a pro-union progressive for a decade by the time Hillary eased herself out of being a proud Goldwater Republican in the late 1960s — nor is it that the candidate they support faces a truly monumental task in trying to become the Democratic candidate for President.

    What Sanders supporters are angry about is hard data.

    And not just any hard data, but hard data supplied by irrefutably objective sources and challenged as to its validity by absolutely no one.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-abramson/20-reasons-sanders-voters-are-justifiably-angry_b_9544744.html

  4. Huginn 4
    30 March 2016 at 6:39 pm

    Testing for methamphetamine contamination – there’s buckets of money being made and there’s a ton of bullshit going down

    How toxic is ‘toxic’? Cleaning up residences contaminated by meth is fraught with flaws | Deseret News http://desne.ws/OfbhZm

    • gsays 4.1
      30 March 2016 at 7:27 pm

      i agree huginn, i smell a rat.

      a few ex cops perfed out of the service and hopping on this
      scare-the-horses-gravy-train.
      i heard an item on rnz this am. hnz had “been shown” that smoking p in a house causes contamination.
      shown by whom?

      • Gangnam Style 4.1.1
        30 March 2016 at 7:47 pm

        1 in 10 houses apparently, ha! Yeah right, HNZ are very gullible & spendthrift!

      • Huginn 4.1.2
        30 March 2016 at 9:18 pm

        Interesting how the scope has crept from meth labs to meth use.

        Has anyone produced any scientific support?

        • Olwyn 4.1.2.1
          30 March 2016 at 10:01 pm

          Russell Brown put this up on Public Address, and apparently news hub covered it: http://www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2016/03/24/meth-contaminated-homes-whats-the-risk-expert-reaction/
          This is Brown’s article in which it was linked: http://publicaddress.net/hardnews/media-take-crime-and-punishment/

          • Editractor 4.1.2.1.1
            30 March 2016 at 10:28 pm

            I just came across this Science Media Centre link and was happy to see it. I know someone who had a positive test on a house they were buying and was very suspicious of the testing process. Besides scientific evidence on the actual toxicity of methamphetamine residue, I’d be interested to know what procedures the testing companies use to take and test samples, especially to prevent cross-contamination. As the linked article points out, there are no testing standards in NZ, so the system is ripe for incompetence and abuse.

            I’ve also always thought I’d be much more concerned about the precursors and solvents used to make P than P itself. I was studying during the time homebake was popular and during a theft of the uni labs someone dropped a winchester of pyridine in the stairwell. It has to be one of the worst things I have ever smelt and although they closed the stairwell off for decontamination, the labs themselves stayed open.

    • Anno1701 4.2
      31 March 2016 at 10:07 am

      considering meth is made with various household chemicals, id be VERY surprised at the veracity of those tests and that they arent just picking up the residue from the last time you used some cleaning products

      Reagent tests ( which i believe the DIY tests are) are renowned for giving false positives

      and of course there is the direct conflict of interest when the firm doing the testing are also offering to do the cleanup …

      Its a giant rort based on the UN-founded fear of the “Meth -menace”

      it makes me laugh when media call it the “scourge” of our society , they need to stop trying to anthropomorphize an inert substance into some kind of rapacious beast…

  5. b waghorn 5
    30 March 2016 at 7:12 pm

    They just ran a story on 3 news showing the meals being served up to patients in Dunedin , what a miserable shitty country this place has become, cheers national for the brighter future, fuckers!!!

  6. Colonial Viper 6
    30 March 2016 at 7:19 pm

    I doubt that the intellectual and political left believe in any witchdoctory like “spiritual transformation.”

    • BM 6.1
      30 March 2016 at 7:24 pm

      Do you do spiritual transformation CV?

      • maui 6.1.1
        30 March 2016 at 7:42 pm

        It was only a matter of time until you started asking for help.

        • BM 6.1.1.1
          30 March 2016 at 8:33 pm

          I did some spiritual test a while back and got a zero.
          If I was being honest, my spirituality could probably do with a bit of work, would more mung beans help?

          • Li 6.1.1.1.1
            30 March 2016 at 8:45 pm

            there are only 3 things you really gotta do to be spiritual and mung beans aint neither of them.

            love all people, serve all people & remember God.

            altho ‘being spiritual’ is kinda redundant cos spirituality is just about being with nothing else added on. it’s neat tho.

            • BM 6.1.1.1.1.1
              30 March 2016 at 9:20 pm

              Sounds a bit tedious to be honest.

              If I had to do the religious thing, I’d be a Catholic, turn up every Sunday or so, do a few hail marys and you’re good to go for another week.

          • Anno1701 6.1.1.1.2
            31 March 2016 at 10:10 am

            “would more mung beans help?”

            i suggest a medium to strong dose of LSD for some introspection

      • Colonial Viper 6.1.2
        30 March 2016 at 7:47 pm

        Well, the scientist Gus Speth considers it a must for living and survival.

    • Stuart Munro 6.2
      30 March 2016 at 8:01 pm

      Cultural though is achievable. Adam Smith’s Moral Sentiments laid out a progressive morality for the Victorian era – this is what the Right lacks – they think it is acceptable to have a lying government. Politics doesn’t require lying:
      A truth that’s told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent. ~William Blake

    • Li 6.3
      30 March 2016 at 8:52 pm

      You should pick up, The Politics of Meaning by Michael Lerner. He’s a really cool progressive spiritual guy.
      Here’s a short article written by him that gives a bit of an indicative on what he’s about,

      http://www.salon.com/2016/03/04/this_speech_could_reignite_bernie_sanders_heres_the_argument_he_needs_to_make_about_capitalism/

      he’s real accepting of atheists and all that too, so even if you’re not a fan of mung beans like BM, he’s a fan of you!

      • RedLogix 6.3.1
        30 March 2016 at 9:04 pm

        Yes.

        No wonder, then, that so many people feel lonely and scared. They see themselves as surrounded by people who have internalized the “look out for number one” ethos of the capitalist marketplace. Many notice these same attitudes in friends, even in one’s spouse. Some report that their children have picked up these same values and look at their parent with a “what have you done for me lately” attitude. So increasing numbers of people feel afraid not only because there is no effective societal mechanism to protect them should they be out of money or in need of too-expensive-to-afford health care and pharmaceuticals, but also because they fear that no one will really be there for them when they are most vulnerable and in need of caring from others, Of course these dynamics play out differently depending on one’s own circumstances, but they are prevalent enough to make many people feel bad about themselves and worried about the enduring quality of their most important relationships.

        Which also explains why so many people either self-medicate with drugs and alcohol, or their mental health crumbles under the stress of this constant anxiety.

  7. Anne 7
    30 March 2016 at 7:34 pm

    Does anyone know what’s happening with a certain court trial which is supposed to have begun this week?

  8. Anne 8
    30 March 2016 at 7:47 pm

    oooh look pandas!! Aren’t they just the cutest. I could look at pandas all day…

    http://photobucket.com/images/panda

  9. Li 9
    30 March 2016 at 8:40 pm

    SO i’ve noticed there’s a few islamaphobes on this site lmao

    • BM 9.1
      30 March 2016 at 8:42 pm

      Like who?

      • Li 9.1.1
        30 March 2016 at 8:54 pm

        to be clear, on this site meaning commentors not article writers.
        Some guy called Jamie. His stuff was beyond crazy man.
        Find his posts on that Lahore Bombing comment thread, real bizzare-o stuff.

        • Muttonbird 9.1.1.1
          30 March 2016 at 9:12 pm

          BM is a right winger and therefore by definition an islamophobe.

          • Colonial Viper 9.1.1.1.1
            30 March 2016 at 9:43 pm

            Wahabi/Salafist Islam has little place in a tolerant, diverse world.

            • RedLogix 9.1.1.1.1.1
              30 March 2016 at 10:06 pm

              Materialism is a condition which is an inability to see the inner realities of things.

              This is why atheism is perhaps preferable to fundamentalism. They both suffer the same condition. But the atheist stands outside of religion looking in and has perhaps a chance of one day glimpsing it’s hidden mystery, while the fundamentalist stands inside what they loudly call faith, but it will be forever concealed from them.

              Treating religion literally, the fundamentalists unmovable position, is the total denial of it’s innately non-material, evanescent nature. The door is forever shut to them.

              Once this distinction is clear in the mind, many confusions are cleared up.

              • Colonial Viper …
                30 March 2016 at 10:11 pm

                I’d say that agnosticism is preferable to both atheism and religious fundamentalism.

                That’s an approach which truly leaves the mental and spiritual door open.

                In addition, fundamentalist atheism is not an unknown phenomena.

              • weka …
                30 March 2016 at 11:16 pm

                Then there are the fundamentalist atheists 😉

              • ropata …
                31 March 2016 at 12:42 am

                Nice binary extremes you have laid out RL, it expresses the characteristic “all or nothing” thinking of both “hard-core” atheists and “fundamentalist” religionists.

                Agree with CV’s comment about agnosticism… similar applies from the side of religious faith. Despite fundies yelling about it there’s no need to interpret all of the Bible literally… it is possible to appreciate both Scripture and Science (but you’ll never please the extremists out there)

          • weka 9.1.1.1.2
            30 March 2016 at 11:14 pm

            “BM is a right winger and therefore by definition an islamophobe.”

            No bigotry there then 😉

  10. NZJester 10
    30 March 2016 at 8:49 pm

    Are National about to look into partly selling NZ Post and Kiwibank now?
    Is this NZ herald article one of the first shots in a wave of articles to try and soften us up for such a thing?
    “Liam Dann ‘s Opinion – Business editor of the NZ Herald”
    Liam Dann: Time to sell Kiwibank and NZ Post
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11614062
    They have already cut back a lot of NZ post services that have meant some people have had to look to their competition to get the level of service they used to get.
    Instead of improving services to keep exiting customers and win back old ones, the management at NZ Post seamed to have been trying to run down its services and loose customers so that the government can easily make a case to get rid of it.
    As for Kiwibank, its selling point is that it is fully NZ owned to differentiate it from the other banks, a partial sell off or full sell off of it will remove that main selling point of the bank. It was created to stop money flowing out of New Zealand.

    • Rosie 10.1
      30 March 2016 at 8:59 pm

      “Instead of improving services to keep exiting customers and win back old ones, the management at NZ Post seamed to have been trying to run down its services and loose customers so that the government can easily make a case to get rid of it.”

      Yep. A friend of mine at the Postal Workers Union believes that’s EXACTLY what they have been trying to do.

      I did hear on RNZ this arvo that Bill English says they have no intention of selling Kiwibank………………but you know how these guys lie and deceive. …….

      • ianmac 10.1.1
        30 March 2016 at 9:23 pm

        English was asked specifically at Question Time today if NZ Post would be sold. He said a definite “No.” And “No” to Kiwibank.

        • Gangnam Style 10.1.1.1
          30 March 2016 at 10:07 pm

          Contract negotiations between the unions & NZ Post management are on at the moment. Sticking point is they want posties working 4 days a week 10-12 hour days riding the little golfcarts. Management have done no 10-12 hour trials of posties delivering mail in said golfcarts, also bearing in mind posties are paid for volume so everything is based on ‘guestimates’ & averages, so 10-12 hours of work based on the Postie Pay Mail/’guess volume’ is totally untested.

          “The thing about post services is that they suffer from economies of scale. Basically, it works as a commercial enterprise if everyone and their dog is sending mail. ” – absolutely! No commercial company is going to buy NZ Post, they even sold most of the buildings so don’t even have assets for some wide boy fund manager types to come strip.

        • NZJester 10.1.1.2
          31 March 2016 at 8:48 am

          Remember when National said they would not increase Taxes and then claimed GST was not a tax when they increased it even though the T part of the name stands for Tax.
          They cleverly moved the bulk of the tax burden to the poor by their tricky little move with the PAYE and GST swap.

      • greywarshark 10.1.2
        30 March 2016 at 9:59 pm

        So you said that Mr English and now you say something different. Well that was then, this is now, it’s a different day. The black humour of an Alzheimers sufferer – every day I look in the mirror, and meet someone new. Applies to politicians and their promises and statements.

    • Jenny Kirk 10.2
      30 March 2016 at 9:18 pm

      I think they might be “kite flying” to see if such an idea would be acceptable, or not .

    • Draco T Bastard 10.3
      30 March 2016 at 9:23 pm

      They have already cut back a lot of NZ post services that have meant some people have had to look to their competition to get the level of service they used to get.

      The thing about post services is that they suffer from economies of scale. Basically, it works as a commercial enterprise if everyone and their dog is sending mail. With the advent of the internet and email very few people send letters any more and so the scale is gone which means that it can no longer operate as a commercial operation. The private operators will find the same thing. In fact, this is why post services around the world have always been government operations. It needs everybody to pay a little bit to keep it going so that the few people who use have access to it.

      The same applies, in one form or another, to all the other monopolies that the governments have sold off over the last three decades.

      That said, NZ Post has been moving into other services such as their service that allows you to send registered letters digitally.

      As for Kiwibank, its selling point is that it is fully NZ owned to differentiate it from the other banks, a partial sell off or full sell off of it will remove that main selling point of the bank.

      That was the reason why I was with Orcon – and then the state broadcasting giant sold it. Unfortunately, I had nowhere else to go that was state owned.

  11. Jenny Kirk 11
    30 March 2016 at 9:22 pm

    Debating whether Northland should continue to have any sort of rail network – next Monday 4 April 6.30pm Forum North, Whangarei.

    Please pass on to anyone you know who lives in this region.

    Speakers include – * NZF Leader & MP Winston Peters. * National MP Shane Reti
    * Labour MP Kelvin Davis * Greens Transport MP Julie Anne Genter.
    * Better Public Transport Jon Reeves * Kiwi Rail Dave Gordon.
    * RMTU General Secretary Wayne Butson. * Northland Businessman Wayne Brown.

    Doors open 5.30pm Live Legendary Blues Band till start time of 6.30pm

  12. Jenny 12
    31 March 2016 at 12:09 am

    “Tuvalu is on the frontlines of climate change. Its people are living climate change on a daily basis, having to adapt and strengthen their resilience. Climate change is a significant factor that impacts on Tuvalu’s growing population, polluting its ground water supplies, and making it virtually impossible to build infrastructure that can withstand the changing face of nature – strong winds, king tides, etc.. The sad factor is that Tuvalu doesn’t contribute to the pollution of our atmosphere, it is industrial nations that are the main polluters yet Tuvalu and its people suffer as a consequence”
    SU’A WILLIAM SIO MP
    27/3/16

    Message from Su’a William Sio on his personal facebook page, writing from Tuvalu on the witness of the “Labour Caucus Climate Change Taskforce” tour of the frontline climate change states of Tuvalu and Kiribati.

    In the face of almost total media silence, SWS has been posting the progress of the Climate Change Taskforce on his personal facebook page.

    So far the only public media outlet that has agreed to give any current coverage of the “Labour Caucus Climate Taskforce” mission to Tuvalu and Kiribati is the Daily Blog.

    http://thedailyblog.co.nz/

    It is my opinion that climate change will be the defining issue of our age. Those that actively ignore climate change will inevitably find themselves running to catch up.

    • Anno1701 12.1
      31 March 2016 at 10:27 am

      Ive spent a fair amount of time in Tuvalu for work, its a very beautiful place/culture, but also a very sad place….

      Its hard to watch peoples home & lives get inundated with water regularly , especially when you turn around and realise they really have no choice, there is nowhere else to go/ no hills to run to when those big waves/high tides come !