Open mike 01/01/2011

40 comments on “Open mike 01/01/2011 ”

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1. joe90 1

   1 January 2011 at 6:45 am

   Robert Meeropol, younger son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, says that if Julian Assange is charged in the US it will be under the same Espionage Act of 1917 that was used to convict and execute his parents.

   It is no accident that Julian Assange may face a “conspiracy” charge just as my parents did. All that is required of the prosecution to prove a conspiracy is to present evidence that two or more people got together and took one act in furtherance of an illegal plan. It could be a phone call or a conversation.

   In my parents’ case the only evidence presented against my mother was David and Ruth Greenglasses’ testimony that she was present at a critical espionage meeting and typed up David’s handwritten description of a sketch. Although this testimony has since been shown to be false, even if it were true, it would mean that the government of the United States executed someone for typing.

   Also, a video of John Pilger talking with Julian Assange.

   On Vimeo too.
   • millsy 1.1

     1 January 2011 at 11:21 am

     I doubt that the USA will ever charge Assange. They already have the guy they intend to hang out to dry over this.
2. Mickysavage 2

   1 January 2011 at 8:13 am

   Happy new year everyone. Trust your heads are clear and your resolutions manageable.

   For me this year is election year and I resolve to do all that I can to change this god awful government so that the damage it is causing to my country is stopped.
   • whistlerspa 2.1

     1 January 2011 at 11:03 am

     Second that
   • Anne 2.2

     1 January 2011 at 11:38 am

     I’m with you Mickysavage (surprise, surprise :wink:) but my overall concern is: how do we do it?

     We’re up against an MSM who are more interested in which side their bread is buttered and/or are so besotted with John Key they can’t see beyond the end of their noses. Add to that a general public who by and large are politically ignorant, and you have a near impossible task. I’ve been shocked in recent years at the ignorance and naivety shown by most of my relatives who would otherwise be descibed as intelligent individuals. They simply don’t care enough to bother checking out the facts. It’s going to stay this way until that amorphous mass known as ‘middle New Zealand’ start to be seriously hit in the pocket.

     I expect – indeed demand – a much more agressive opposition than we’ve seen to date, who will hammer the NActs relentlessly from now through to the election.
     • the pink postman 2.2.1

       1 January 2011 at 3:17 pm

       We are up against Textor/Crosby the very best public relations “firm” in the world. Backed by most if not all the Right-Wing parties
       ( which includes the Republican Party USA.) in the western world .They have huge amounts of money and are masters at spreading rumour and not reconized personal abuse. I have no doubt they were behind the Benson-Pope , and Philip Field so called scandals ,and I would not be surprised if they instigated the Carter affair. The only chance we have is to get to the unemployed the under priviledged
       , and all benificiaries including the elderly and tell them what is going on .To be blunt scare the shit out of them , Because they are the one that will vote Labour if we can get them to vote. The draw back is they they are the people who do not vote . The team behind the Auckland Super City election did just that and we have a Left-Wing council. Get the working and middle class out to vote and its good bye to the Parnell Millionaire…
       • the pink postman 2.2.1.1

         1 January 2011 at 3:20 pm

         Lastly but not least a Happy New Year to all concerned at and with the Standard .It keeps me from going GA-G.A
       • the pink postman 2.2.1.2

         1 January 2011 at 3:26 pm

         Lastly but not least a Happy New Year to all staff and readers of the Standard.Regulars reading of the Standard keeps me from going GA-GA in this mad selfish world.
3. LynW 3

   1 January 2011 at 8:35 am

   Happy New Year to you all at the Standard. I discovered this site via Chris Trotter’s Bowalley Road blog not long after the last election.I had by chance picked up his book ‘No left Turn’ in a New Year sale, found what I read very inspiring so goggle searched his name. I was oblivious to the blog communication network until then! The election results shocked me into action and a need for more information about people and politics. Reading your blogs has been very therapeutic as I have struggled to make sense of the current political climate in NZ. So keep your thoughts, ideas and views flowing…they are encouraging to others! They do make a difference!
   • RedLogix 3.1

     1 January 2011 at 8:59 am

     You are most welcome Lyn. Chris Trotter is not always the most fashionable of left wing writers, but even his most ordinary essays are still head and shoulders over most of the rest of us.

     Someone once compared TheStandard to a big noisy neighbourhood bar, a fair bit if bluster and blokeish bs… and only occasionally do we muster the energy to toss into the street the noxious or legless.

     But otherwise yes I think you are not the only one who seeks therapy here from time to time.
   • Deadly_NZ 3.2

     1 January 2011 at 10:50 am

     Yes welcome , come in, take your shoes off and sit and chat for a while. One of the thing,s I like about this place is that unless you make a complete fool of yourself, you can pretty much say what you like and get a discussion from 6 different and maybe not right sides.
   • Colonial Viper 3.3

     1 January 2011 at 11:20 am

     Yes Happy New Year one and all. Definitely a good place to hang out The Ol Standard is, gots my edumacation here and its proved quite useful. (And also at Red Alert).
   • BLiP 3.4

     1 January 2011 at 1:26 pm

     Welcome – grab a glass, pull up a seat, join in and tell us what you think. It won’t be long before you’re involved in some animated discussion with the regulars and/or taking pot shots at the interlopers.

     Happy New Year to us all.
     • Jilly Bee 3.4.1

       1 January 2011 at 3:58 pm

       Absolutely agree Mickeysavage and fellow travellers – incidentally, I saw this article in the Herald’s website this morning, says it all really http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10697362 Free to air TV in NZ these days is pretty terrible, apart from Maori TV and Stratos. I guess if all and sundry are watching such mind blowing stuff, no wonder they vote accordingly!
4. Colonial Viper 4

   1 January 2011 at 11:18 am

   Northern Irish Privatised Water Company Fails to Supply Water to Thousands

   Freezing damage to pipes slow to be repaired, many have to queue for water over Christmas and New Years. I wonder if private sector cost cutting has affected the reiliency of their pipe network, and also their engineering staffing levels on hand to cope with this emergency.

   NB because the water company has been privatised, there is sweet frak all the Government can do except say bad words about the company, and pay for trucking loads of water in.

   Welcome to our future.

   http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10697312
   • infused 4.1

     2 January 2011 at 12:37 am

     Ah this story is bullshit. Read about it. Doesn’t matter who owned the supply, same thing would have happened.
5. Herodotus 5

   1 January 2011 at 11:28 am

   Happy New Year to all and sundry,
   Did anyone notice that there appeared to be a greater number of fireworks being let off last night than in Nov?
   Is there a by election in Botany ?
   9 weeks to go and there are No candidates- I can accept no policy
6. john 6

   1 January 2011 at 11:28 am

   Peak Oil, International Trade And Population (Global Civilization totally dependent on plentiful oil).

   “International trade is absolutely essential for the survival of civilization. It is the only way that raw materials can be shipped from the nations that have them to the nations that need them and it is the only way for excess food produced by one nation to be shipped to another nation.

   In simple terms, without international trade all of our civilization would collapse within months and billions would starve to death within a very short period of time.
   Based upon the foregoing analysis, it would be the height of folly for humanity to believe that anything other than oil can be used to power cargo ships in amount sufficient for international trade by boat to continue at a level which will permit civilization to survive and to prevent the horrific starvation deaths of billions of our species.

   Again: Based upon the foregoing analysis humanity must plan its future on the assumption that international trade will be dramatically reduced once oil is exhausted. A dramatic reduction in international trade must be followed by a dramatic reduction in the human population and the collapse of civilization. Humanity has a choice – reduce population before international trade collapses using the intelligence of humanity or suffer the horrors of the dramatic drop in population caused by the destruction of civilization and the starvation of billions of humans. ”

   Refer link: http://www.countercurrents.org/brent301210.htm
   • Draco T Bastard 6.1

     1 January 2011 at 12:09 pm

     Humanity has a choice – reduce population before international trade collapses using the intelligence of humanity…

     Well, we had that choice in the 1950/60s. We no longer have that choice. As an article I read a few days ago pointed out even the complete prevention of all pregnancies for the next 30 years would stop …the horrors of the dramatic drop in population caused by the destruction of civilization and the starvation of billions of humans.
   • Robert Atack 6.2

     1 January 2011 at 3:25 pm

     Hi John
     This is a great read http://www.energybulletin.net/node/23151
     The sad thing is he spelt it all out very clearly 53 years ago … and no one lessened, nothing has changed … except we are in deeper crap.

     Rear Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, USN
     Chief, Naval Reactors Branch
     Division of Reactor Development
     U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
     and
     Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Ships for Nuclear Propulsion
     Navy Department
     For Delivery at a Banquet of the Annual Scientific Assembly of
     the Minnesota State Medical Association
     St. Paul, Minnesota
     May 14, 1957
     • Deadly_NZ 6.2.1

       1 January 2011 at 6:51 pm

       What you are surprised that NO ONE listened???

       and Depending on what side of the coin you were on in 1957 he was probably thought of as a crackpot for saying that oil and stuff will run out . Now he is proven right so maybe he was a visionary
7. millsy 7

   1 January 2011 at 11:41 am

   Election year this year. There is so much as stake. We have a choice – a neo-liberal social darwinist hell hole, or a social democratic decent society where no-one is homeless.

   The choice is yours, New Zealand.

   Remember, a society will never be truly prosperous if the poor are living in its streets.
   • Colonial Viper 7.1

     1 January 2011 at 11:55 am

     Oh don’t be so downcast mate, why don’t you lay a few grand down on a nice holiday like everyone else in NZ is doing right now and meet a few local “movers and shakers” to lighten things up.

     Jefferson, founder of Central Otago-based tourism company Ahipara Luxury Travel, had organised the 50th birthday party for the Russian oligarch who was used to bomb-proof cars and bodyguards.

     “He had nothing there except his Speedos and he turned to me and said Jean-Michel have you got a machine gun … he was serious,” Jefferson says. “I said relax, it’s okay.” A powhiri was held and birthday gifts presented including a cloak worn by the Maori queen, a taiaha made by a master carver and a greenstone mere.

     Ahipara hired a private island for the birthday bash, including a spa service and diving, with the captured crayfish cooked by a top chef.

     “That’s one example of one day out of one itinerary,” Jefferson says. “We’ve never done the same itinerary twice.” Swiss clients of Ahipara wanted to understand the country and so the first thing they did was fly around for 10 days by helicopter, dropping into various lodges.

     “The unfortunate thing about a helicopter is it makes you really work as a guide for your money,” he says. “Because you can be sitting on the beach and 10 minutes later they want to be somewhere else and you’ve got to get your phone working and be that somewhere else.”

     The next time his Swiss clients returned they homed in on the Wairarapa and the company introduced them to movers and shakers in the area.

     http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10697326

     PS lol at his Swiss clients wanting to ‘understand New Zealand’. I wonder if the tourism operator took them through Pak n Save in Masterton while they were visiting the Wairarapa. I guess not eh.
     • millsy 7.1.1

       1 January 2011 at 11:58 am

       Sheer indulgence.
       • Colonial Viper 7.1.1.1

         1 January 2011 at 12:01 pm

         Yep. Its a service industry catering to an aristocracy is what it is.
     • Draco T Bastard 7.1.2

       1 January 2011 at 12:14 pm

       You know, I look at stories like that in absolute horror. The sheer amount of waste is absolutely disgusting (BTW, righties – it’s not envy, it’s disgust).
   • john 7.2

     1 January 2011 at 3:17 pm

     Hi Millsy
     100% Correct. NeoLiberal U$ is already a hell hole for the everyday American while the rich gorge on their tax cuts trough of wealth, completely unwilling to share with their “Fellow Americans”. Pretty sick eh? Wodney and Key like this system and will increase inequality and enfeeblement of society so they and their Round Table mates can inflate their egos! Goff is a joke :the sooner the Act Labour Party ditch him the better, but covertly they are NeoLiberal A..holes as well!
8. Draco T Bastard 8

   1 January 2011 at 11:54 am

   The Year of the Big Lie: Six Outrageous Falsehoods That Took Flight in 2010

   In the politics of 2010, the Big Lie, in both its gigantic and more attenuated forms, was almost always deployed in the service of corporations. It may not be so obvious at the surface, especially when the Lie dubs the nation’s first black president a racist, or labels a Jewish holocaust survivor an anti-Semite, but the ultimate aim of the Lie in these contexts is to discredit purveyors of ideas and policies that certain corporate leaders and shills find threatening to their quest for all the world’s riches.

   The use of the Big Lie has become mainstream over the last few years and it is something we need to be aware of and fight against.
   • Vicky32 8.1

     1 January 2011 at 5:53 pm

     Great article, thanks DTB!
     Deb
9. joe90 9

   1 January 2011 at 12:26 pm

   The War Nerd: Market Lessons from the Pashtun

   Us? Not in the Brits’ league when it comes to Empire. I guarantee they won’t remember us ten years from now. They’ve forgotten the Russians already, 20 years after they slunk home, broke and beaten. It’s the Russians who remember Afg; the war in Afg was one of the bigger nails in the USSR’s coffin, and they left a good chunk of their total tank and APC production lying in the dust there. Barely made an impression on the Pashtun. Just another day at the office.
10. dad4justice 10

    1 January 2011 at 6:25 pm

    I wonder how many kiwi kids kill themselves this year?
    I wonder how many kiwi families leave this stuffed country?
    I wonder how many babies are butchered?
    I wonder why they call this the land of milk and honey?
    • infused 10.1

      2 January 2011 at 12:40 am

      I wonder when you will stfu.
      • dad4justice 10.1.1

        2 January 2011 at 7:45 am

        What a cowardly comment from a disturbed unit. No need to wonder why Labour are the pits.

        [You are both lighting matches…and drawing attention to yourselves. Consider an alternative path…RL]
11. millsy 11

    1 January 2011 at 6:35 pm

    I wonder how many Christian bible bashers will belt their children with jug cords this year?
    • dad4justice 11.1

      1 January 2011 at 6:54 pm

      “New Zealand had the second highest male youth (15–24 years) suicide death rate (after Finland), and the second highest female youth suicide death rate (after Japan).”

      Don’t blame the Bible mugsy you stupid twit. Who can be proud to be called a kiwi? What a sick country!
    • Colonial Viper 11.2

      1 January 2011 at 8:16 pm

      Suicides in this country outnumber road deaths. By a lot. (Around 1.5x from what I recall).

      Its a problem.

      I wonder how many kiwi families leave this stuffed country?

      530,000 NZ born citizens live in Australia now. If you add up the families that they would have raised in NZ over the last 10 years had they stayed here, you are talking a population loss of 3/4 million people, at a guess.

      But there is no way we could have provided jobs for even a fraction of that number, so lacklustre has been our economic performance. Australia has done as a favour by acting as an unemployment safety valve for us. Otherwise our unemployment rate would be climbing up towards 20%.
    • the pink postman 11.3

      2 January 2011 at 2:27 pm

      Plus sexual assaults from the born again and priests and pastors Millsy
      However even parliament still reads the “Lords Prayer ” and I wonder what ever for? Apart from the fact that we have more than one religion represented in the BeeHive its surely time the whole farce of after life and religion was put away in the rubbish bin. The brainwashing of our young people just goes on and with it the ghastly abuse .
12. Robert Atack 12

    2 January 2011 at 7:06 am

    I think the UK has been the biggest exporter of people
    UK Pop 1960 52 million
    Now 61 m
    up 9 million 20 % ish
    NZ 1960 2.3 m
    Now 4 m
    up 1.7 m 40 % (?)
    world 1960 3.17 billion
    Now 6.9 – 7 billion
    up 3.8 billion 55% (?)
    • Lanthanide 12.1

      2 January 2011 at 10:24 am

      Robert, percentage change is measured by: new number – old number / old number.

      So 4m – 2.3m / 2.3m = 1.7m / 2.3m = +74% growth in NZ between 1960 and now, not 40%.

      Similarly the UK is up 17%, and the world is up 120% (more than doubled).
13. Robert Atack 13

    2 January 2011 at 7:12 am

    Ablast from the past
    Time http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,810062,00.html
    The Capitalist Challenge: THE POPULATION EXPLOSION
    IN ITS massive struggle for a greater share of the world’s wealth, mankind’s underprivileged majority is on a collision course with the most violent explosion of population in world history. Its path was charted in San Francisco by the University of California’s Sociologist Kingsley Davis, who is also U.S. delegate to the U.N. Population Commission. Warned Davis: “Any discussion of future economic development which ignores population growth is fallacious.”

    The world’s 2.7 billion population has almost doubled in the past 70 years, is expected to redouble every 42 years hereafter, and is rapidly approaching the level (top estimate: 7 billion) beyond which scientists believe the earth can no longer sustain all its inhabitants. “It is hard to avoid the conclusion that human multiplication has gotten out of hand,” said Sociologist Davis, “that this unanticipated situation cannot continue.”

    Spam word excessive

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