Open mike 02/08/2011

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, August 2nd, 2011 - 105 comments
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner).

Step right up to the mike…

105 comments on “Open mike 02/08/2011 ”

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  1. Wyndham 1
    2 August 2011 at 7:08 am

    Any one see any irony in the fact that Kronic and other cannabinoid drugs can be banned within a week – – – this news on the same day as we read about an alcohol-fuelled murder stabbing in Auckland ?

    • Bored 2.1
      2 August 2011 at 8:25 am

      Just like to reiterate a message from yesterdays “All the world a square”.

      Innocent bankers, innocent financiers, innocent politicians, innocent police, innocent media!

      Guilty citizens.

      Thats how the powers who be portray their culpable guilt, pure denial and blame others. Its psycho behavoir.

  3. Pete George 3
    2 August 2011 at 7:49 am

    Clare Curran touches on it here: The essentials

    All parents want their kids to experience life to the full & have good values. More than they want them to have the latest stuff.

    Why can’t we adults translate those hopes for our kids into the way we lead our lives?

    And why, as Annette has asked today, can’t we all work together on some of these things?

    And I expand on it: Key, knee, jerk

    I’m very disappointed with Key’s position. Our kids deserve better – the Prime Minister should be leading with an all party all people approach to this.

    • Ed 3.1
      2 August 2011 at 9:27 am

      “Ultimately parties are going to have to campaign on what they believe is the right solution for those problems.”

      And where is National’s policy? A Green paper with responses (and consideration) deferred for 7 months – well after the next election.

      Oerhaps that is just part of the “plan for New Zealand” that is making him so popular.

  4. Salsy 4
    2 August 2011 at 8:08 am

    Thing could get worse for Labour. It realistically looks like Bill English in 2002 all over again:
    The Colmar Brunton Poll results from 2002
    February 17 2002 – Labour 51%, National 35%.
    March 17 2002 – Labour 49%, National 35%.
    April 21 2002 – Labour 50%, National 34%.
    May 19 2002 – Labour 51%, National 32%.
    June 16 2002 – Labour 53%, National 27%.
    June 29 2002 – Labour 51%, National 30%.
    July 14 2002 – Labour 46%, National 27%.
    July 25 2002 – Labour 44%, National 21%.
    Actual election result – Labour 41%, National 21%

    http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/jessica-mutch-polls-could-get-worse-labour-4328514

    • Bored 4.1
      2 August 2011 at 8:25 am

      See my comment above…guilty media. No fucker there tells the truth.

    • McFlock 4.2
      2 August 2011 at 12:56 pm

      The major difference is that if national get 44%, how likely is it that they’ll get an extra 7% in coalition partners?

      Let’s assume that this year will be a mirror of the 2002 election.
      National 41%, Labour 27%, ACT 7% (REALLY? With Brash not Hyde/Pebble?), Greens 7%, MP+Mana 7% (substituting for United Future), NZ1 10% (doubtful, but I’ll only rule winston out if he is decapitated and a stake thrust through his heart. Even then I’d think it a gamble).
         
      Without ACT getting 7% (and at the moment they need to be gifted Epsom), it is still between two 3/4 party coalitions. Without NZ1, it becomes an open race – although frankly I’d half expect the Greens to support National either way.

    • Puddleglum 4.3
      2 August 2011 at 10:14 pm

      As McFlock illuminates, if this is 2002 all over again, then National are actually the ones in real trouble.

      If their impressive lead over Labour in the polls goes down to the extent that Labour’s did in 2002 I can’t see how they could govern, assuming that ACT doesn’t do a stunning Lazarus act and the MP don’t take all the Maori seats.

      According to your figures, Labour lost 20% of the people who were supporting it a month out from the election (going down from 51% to 41%). If anything like that happened this time to National’s support then we’ll be viewing a very sick looking John Key late on election night – and, in fact, it doesn’t matter to which party those votes go.

      So you and John Key better pray this isn’t 2002 all over again. 

      Edit: I meant “If their impressive polling goes down …”

    • mik e 4.4
      3 August 2011 at 11:21 pm

      Salsy Michelle Boag buggered up forgot To mention to dumb national supporters to tick party vote in her hoardings ,And Bill English doing his calender come sex symbol trick probably didn’t help either.No wonder you guys need so many spin doctors cause you can never tell the truth.

  5. tc 5
    2 August 2011 at 8:29 am

    Alcohol forms part of that blind trust shonkey’s sheckles are held in so alcohol levies being raised etc……yeah right, been there before they’ll bash some benes to compensate.

    • Lanthanide 5.1
      2 August 2011 at 9:45 am

      The alcohol excise tax was raised on 1st of July. It went from ~$45/litre of alcohol in spirits to ~$49/litre, or about 10%. The rise in beer and wine was less.

      It’s funny how National trumpet that they cut taxes for everyone, and then go and raise an alcohol tax and somehow it’s not counted?

      • felix 5.1.1
        2 August 2011 at 1:11 pm

        Alcohol levies up: Doesn’t count.
        Tobacco levies up: Doesn’t count
        GST up: Doesn’t count.
        ACC levies up: Doesn’t count.
        Petrol levies up: Doesn’t count.
        Car registration up: Doesn’t count.

        PAYE down a couple of bucks a week: Fucking economic miracle!

  6. The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 6
    2 August 2011 at 8:31 am

    I thought the whole point of joining the navy was to get very drunk in foreign ports.

  7. vto 7
    2 August 2011 at 8:54 am

    The England rugby team playing in all black makes them so very lame. Weak lame pussies, no longer the lion hearts.

    Not that many on here semm to be rugby fans …

    • happynz 7.1
      2 August 2011 at 9:12 am

      I like rugby. My wife, who is from Thailand, is mad keen on it. She also enjoys the cricket, but I think that has more to do with it being an opportunity for a day out in the sun to picnic, nap, read novels, and occasionally ask about the score.

    • Bored 7.2
      2 August 2011 at 9:47 am

      I love rugby, played a lot, one eyed fan etc. The 81 tour was my lifes most schizo moment, wanted to see the Boks desparately but had to stand by conviction and protest. I am sure theres a lot more of us rugby nuts on the Standard, wouldnt be surprised if Gos and Burt lurk on the sidelines screaming the same abuse at the refs I do….

      • Pete George 7.2.1
        2 August 2011 at 10:36 am

        I was a ref – where did you scream abuse??

        I’ve also played a lot too, before and after I refereed. Going to the first Foobar Stadium game, North Otago versus West Coast this Sunday.

        • Bored 7.2.1.1
          2 August 2011 at 12:55 pm

          From the bank at Lancaster Park, gave up abusing refs after I reffed. There was an old dude on the bank years back who waited for the first penalty of the game, we would all go silent as he yelled, “Thats right ref, he’s been doin it all day”!

          • Akldnut 7.2.1.1.1
            2 August 2011 at 3:02 pm

            Look at my gravatar ‘:wink:’

            Ex A grade player 12 years
            Ex ref before I got too old

            Eden park is my hangout when I can afford it (and when it’s not too cold – piss weak I know but I’m getting a bit old lol)

    • freedom 7.3
      2 August 2011 at 10:30 am

      i object, the battles i have finding a good stream on test nights is totally worthy of a supporter’s pin

    • RobC 7.4
      2 August 2011 at 10:37 am

      Plenty of rugby fans vto. Also plenty of places elsewhere to talk rugby!

      On the issue, I thought imitation was the sincerest form of flattery. Some of the responses, along the lines of NZ somehow “owns” the rights to an all black jersey are a little precious, if not immature.

      And also rather ironic given it was a typo by an English journalist that gave rise to the NZ team’s nickname.

      • Pete George 7.4.1
        2 August 2011 at 10:49 am

        Some of the team manipulations of jersey colours is immature too. We could end up with all teams wearing black because statistics show that black wearing teams have the most success at test rugby. And that would improve the black statitiscs even more.

        They would be better off just learning to place decent rugby.

        • vto 7.4.1.1
          2 August 2011 at 11:06 am

          I just think it is weak. Reflects poorly on the English.

          But you know, rugby has historically been wracked with cheating and underhand behaviour – on and off the field. NZ is pretty good at cheating on the field but our laidback somewhat naive approach to life in general is reflected in how we get nailed tme and again by others in the rugby world. Such as, being shafted by Aussie re the 2003 World Cup, poisoned by the South Africans in the 95 world cup, being made to wear pink off the field and non-black on the field by the Frogs who changed their colour to near-black in the 07 world cup, corrupt and bribed refs back in the ’76 South African tour, the list just goes on and on …

          But we will prevail! And through use of another of our traits, namely the unassuming underdog approach. I predict a whitewash of every single game this year … tri-nations and world cup.

          • Morrissey 7.4.1.1.1
            2 August 2011 at 9:39 pm

            I predict a whitewash of every single game this year … tri-nations
            Maybe that’s possible.

            and world cup.
            Are you serious? I wonder if you realize that France is in the same first round pool as the All Blacks?

        • RobC 7.4.1.2
          2 August 2011 at 11:15 am

          Ha! I like the even more surprising statistic that white wearing teams have the most success at test cricket.

          I’m sure all the critics realise it’s an alternate strip and the number of times it will be seen won’t be that many. I’m sure they’ve also factored in that up until recently the All Blacks’ alternate strip was/is white and looks like we are going to have to invent a new colour to avoid being hypocrites.

          My first test I ever saw live (as a 10 y.o. and can still remember well thanks to that rain) was NZ v Scotland at Eden Park in 1975 – NZ wore white and Scotland wore dark blue.

          So in 36 years we’ve gone from being a host gracious enough to give up our “natural colours” to the visitors, to moaning when another team adopts black for an alternate strip, as if we own the rights to the colour.

          Yep, I still call it immature.

          Edit/PS: I tell my 15 y.o. stepdaughter if someone tries to copy the way she looks it’s actually a compliment because they like the way my stepdaughter dresses/ does her make-up etc etc. Maybe I’m wrong.

        • Akldnut 7.4.1.3
          2 August 2011 at 3:05 pm

          Not sure if that would improve the black wiining figures PeteG, it may actually worsen them if the team is pathetic.

        • mik e 7.4.1.4
          3 August 2011 at 11:24 pm

          don’t tell Don Brash pete it could be a very bad move if that statistic transfered to politics

  8. Morrissey 8
    2 August 2011 at 10:00 am

    Slimy New Zealand “entertainment” writer publicly humiliated

    One of the more unpleasant algae to slither into public view after the News of the World tipped over was a New Zealander called DAN WOOTTON. If you fancy seeing him receive a very public kicking, click HERE….

    http://www.listener.co.nz/commentary/hackgate-twitterspat-flamewars-moran-wootton-monbiot-aaronovitch/

    • joe90 8.1
      2 August 2011 at 1:01 pm

      Watch out Rupert, The Guardian’s investigative reporter Nick Davies is off to the USofA.

      Here’s Rupert Murdoch’s worst nightmare: Nick Davies, the tenacious investigative reporter for the Guardian who has broken much of the Hackinggate story, comes to the U.S. in search of News Corp. crimes and coverup.
      Well, it’s come true. Davies arrives in New York today. He’ll be there until Friday, and then he’s going to Los Angeles in pursuit of hacking-type practices that might have been carried out on U.S. soil by Murdoch’s U.S. reporters, by his U.K. reporters working in the U.S., or by private detectives hired by News Corp      .

  9. Morrissey 9
    2 August 2011 at 10:07 am

    http://www.listener.co.nz/commentary/putin-army-rip-for-putin-russia-election-president/

    Putin’s Army: tearing off their clothes for victory

    They call themselves “Putin’s Army”. They are young, female, and urging others to “rip for Putin” – rip off some of their clothing, that is.

    A remarkable bit of video propaganda starring these cleavage-baring footsoldiers has been circulating furiously around Russia, and beyond. Some see it as the handiwork of Nashi, a frankly rather scary Kremlin-supported youth group devoted to exalting Vladimir Putin and demonising (harassing, too) his enemies.

    The new campaign can only boost speculation that Putin, now prime minister, will stand again for the presidency in March next year – in doing so moving the centre of power back to that post.

    “I’m just crazy about the man who changed our country,” enthuses the young star of the video, according to a translation at GlobalVoices.com. “He is a great politician and an amazing man. He is Vladimir Putin. And although there are millions who admire him, there are some who pour dirt on him, perhaps because they are scared of him or because they themselves are weak and will never be able to take his place.”

    A blog for Putin’s Army puts it like this: “We will show that many beautiful and smart young women support Mr Putin! We all share the opinion that Putin is a decent and honest politician, as well as an AMAZING man!

    Objective: “Putin – President!”

    We accept only young women without complexes! Our campaigns will be roaring across all Russia! Each participant will become an Internet star! Are you ready to show everyone how cool YOU are and how great is YOUR president? Join PUTIN’S ARMY!!!

    As a post at Radio Free Europe reminds us, it all suits the careful efforts to project the image of a desirable leader. Tom Balmforth writes:

    Vladimir Putin is no stranger to offbeat forms of public veneration. His image adorns T-shirts. Billboards in Moscow and online comic strips have portrayed him as a James Bond-like action hero. And a cult in Siberia worships him as the reincarnation of St Paul …

    Putin has cultivated the image of a hard man through a myriad of highly choreographed feats of manliness, including sedating a polar bear and burning rubber at a race track behind the wheel of a Formula One race car.

    Why “rip for Putin”? Clearly there is the salacious idea of tearing ripping off clothing, but the phrase rip for in Russian has another, more sinister meaning. According to an analysis in the Moscow Times, it also suggests a threat along the lines of “I’ll rip your head off”.

    “The Sexy Soldier in Putin’s Army rips her T-shirt in a (possibly ironic) gesture of threat,” writes Michele A Berdy, “describing what she’s doing and (possibly) promising to beat the daylights out of anyone who insults her idol or (possibly) swearing to do anything to see him win his (possible) electoral campaign.”

    http://www.listener.co.nz/commentary/putin-army-rip-for-putin-russia-election-president/

  10. freedom 10
    2 August 2011 at 10:56 am

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/5373516/Computer-failure-hits-papers

    oh dear the propoganda machine got busted and the locals get to see how little of their news is actually written by anyone in their local Newspaper.

    • The Voice of Reason 10.1
      2 August 2011 at 12:26 pm

      Yep, and it also shows the weakness of outsourcing sub-editing to Oz and design and technical back up to India.

      • Colonial Viper 10.1.1
        2 August 2011 at 8:09 pm

        Weekly NZ Lefty paper please. 12 pages long, $1 per copy, half goes to the seller. Pick volunteer from worth causes.

        News, interviews and analysis and nothin’ but.

        Oh, except half a page of very funny cartoons alongside half a page of very interesting political economic NZ history.

  11. lprent 11
    2 August 2011 at 10:59 am

    Based on previous years data for this site, I’m unsurprised to see that the mid-winter slump in july affects almost all of the blog sites listed at Open Parachute. But out of the sites that I compared, if you look at No Right Turn in May I/S managed to slightly increase his audience.

    I’ve never quite figured out why we get a mid-winter slump. But it has happened every year that we have been operating including election year in 2008 (although that was more of a flattening off of exponential growth). It doesn’t appear to be particularly related to numbers of comments.

    • felix 11.1
      2 August 2011 at 12:46 pm

      Eh? Trevor Louden gets more views than Kiwiblog or The Standard? And Russel’s dinner party doesn’t feature at all?

      What kind of stats are these?

      • lprent 11.1.1
        2 August 2011 at 1:41 pm

        They come from a public statscounter or sitemeter on the site.

        If there isn’t such a counter or Ken doesn’t have the link to the public counter then they aren’t on the site – so Brown or Slater or or Edwards or Trotter or quite a few others are not on it. But what it is is a simple method of looking between sites without any of the interesting algorithms that show up on scubones or other sites.

        Louden has a vertical nutter constituency offshore who read his site. Steve Gray, I’d guess has a offshore readership. Both consequently have some quite severe spiking in their monthly readership – Louden’s page views dropped down to half the volume between June and July which was rather extreme. This site gets over 95% of its human readers from NZ.

        We did a large drop in page views after May, but that was mostly because of a glitch at Facebook for weeks in April/May that was bumping up the page views. Facebook eventually fixed their irritating servers that were sucking up our bandwidth.

        The “visits” calc is a bit subjective as it depends entirely on what is defined as a “visit” in the meter. Visits in google analytics are vastly different to those in sitemeter, which is different to statcounter. It also depends on the layout of your site. On this site we get some pretty long visits according to google because people tend to leave it running pressing refresh periodically to look at who is commenting. Our page view time tends to be pretty long as well. You can get a distorted idea looking at alexa compared to other sites.

        I tend to look at the page views as being the least susceptible to site variability. These are the actual loads of the main page, post pages, and ancillary pages like policy etc and ignoring all of the includes of css, images, js, etc (of which there are millions per month) and the robots which do at least 2x the number of page views (currently on the US server only). It is certainly the closest to how I see the NZ server working.

        • felix 11.1.1.1
          2 August 2011 at 3:40 pm

          Ah so.

        • jackal 11.1.1.2
          2 August 2011 at 4:31 pm

          95% from NZ is amazing! Good to know about the winter slump as well.

          • lprent 11.1.1.2.1
            2 August 2011 at 7:42 pm

            Excluding the bots and spammers. They are about 2-3x the size of the humans if we counted them….

            The US based server now gets all of the bots (and acts as the offshore warm site) and the NZ server gets almost all of the humans. Shifting the US one to the cloud and leaving the NZ one as a dedicated box.

  12. prism 12
    2 August 2011 at 11:56 am

    Reading things like the Hitchhikers Guide..Galaxy its like a brainstorming session on our conceptions of life. I like this bit when we are introduced to Zaphod Beeblebrox who wants to be Galactic President which sounds very important.
    Adams writes – Only six people in the Galaxy knew that the job of the Galactic President was not to wield power but to attract attention away from it.

  13. The Voice of Reason 13
    2 August 2011 at 12:28 pm

    From and open letter to the Norwegian killer:
     
     
    “You describe yourself as a hero, as a knight. You are no hero,” Ivar Benjamin Oesteboe, who lost five friends in the shootings, said in the letter addressed: “Dear Anders Behring Breivik.”
    “But one thing is certain, you have created heroes. On Utoya on that warm July day, you created some of the greatest heroes the world has seen, you united the people of the world,” the teenager wrote.
    “We are not responding to evil with evil as you wanted. We are fighting evil with good. And we are winning.
    Maybe you think you’ve won. Maybe you think you’ve destroyed the Labour Party and people around the world who stand for a multicultural society by killing my friends and fellow party members.
    Know that you failed,”

  14. joe90 14
    2 August 2011 at 12:42 pm

    The situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station seems to go from bad to worse.

    The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it has detected 10,000 millisieverts of radioactivity per hour at the plant. The level is the highest detected there since the nuclear accident in March.

    • Colonial Viper 14.1
      2 August 2011 at 8:19 pm

      I’ll tell you something hilarious*.

      Not the 10,000 mS (=10 sieverts) radiation level, which is enough to provide a lethal dose to most people within one or two minutes.

      But the fact that the radiation level is measured at that because it’s all that the instrumentation they have there goes up to.

      That’s right, the radiation levels are completely off the charts and their instrumentation is reading offscale maximum.

      Japan is frakked, IMO they are hiding how badly they have been hit, there are dangerous levels of hot particles 100km-200km from the Fukushima plant, if not further.

      *in a horrific graveyard kind of way

  15. freedom 15
    2 August 2011 at 2:17 pm

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/5374887/Key-I-ll-only-debate-Goff

    i smell roast tory in the oven

    who the fuck do these politicians think they are?

    It is an Election. We all populate the pantomime of participation. We are all willing extras and we want to hear the leads orate on the grand desires that spin doctors deign to be good enough for our democracy to discuss. It matters what the last soundbite is before a beer commercial. It is important that the camera cuts away to show glazed possums behind the podiums when an off-script moment leaps out. On a more serious note…This Election year a full debate is more important than usual. The Global situation and our place within that structure is still negotiable.

    I propose a radical restructuring of the concept of a Leaders’ Debate. The Leaders’ Debate should be a full engagement with all balloted parties being represented in a week long series of random groupings of three, drawn from a hat a week before in a nationally televised draw, using the ‘lotto rules’ would be good. They are fair, tried and true and the symbolism is not without its mirth.

    here is how the draw works:
    All parties are put in the hat. The first draw of three is done, those three are left out, next draw, those three are left out, etc,. When the hat is empty, irrespective of how many empty slots remain in the debate being drawn, all parties so far removed are put back in. The process continues until the debate roster is complete. Five nights, three debaters, fifteen slots, all will get representation and none should be favoured over any other

    The series of debates are using questions from wherever. It does not really matter, what matters is the draw of the participants. Until we see the ballot we will not know final numbers obviously, but a rotating roster of debates where the Greens may be on stage with just ACT and United would be a good debate. National up against Mana with Progessive along for conscience would have its moments. Labour and Greens and Maori Party would be a riot and i suspect a hasty unforseen event would cause transmission to be interrupted soon into the broadcast.

    Give it some consideration. The media driven Election campaigns warrant an event of this scale. More and more influence is attributed to Tv Media so it makes sense for the Public to find a way to ask that the media become a constructive particpant and not just a manipulative tool.

    • Vicky32 15.1
      2 August 2011 at 4:40 pm

      The series of debates are using questions from wherever. It does not really matter, what matters is the draw of the participants. Until we see the ballot we will not know final numbers obviously, but a rotating roster of debates where the Greens may be on stage with just ACT and United would be a good debate. National up against Mana with Progessive along for conscience would have its moments. Labour and Greens and Maori Party would be a riot and i suspect a hasty unforseen event would cause transmission to be interrupted soon into the broadcast.
      Give it some consideration. The media driven Election campaigns warrant an event of this scale. More and more influence is attributed to Tv Media so it makes sense for the Public to find a way to ask that the media become a constructive particpant and not just a manipulative tool.

      Excellent ideas! 🙂

    • Draco T Bastard 15.2
      2 August 2011 at 5:53 pm

      Idiot/Savant has a noce breakdown of this over at NRT:

      Instead, National and Labour have colluded to exclude all other parties from the debates, thus denying them coverage – and votes. Its a fine example of their dirty oligarchical tendencies, and why we need to keep them under control.

      Yeah, the whole point of MMP was to have better representation but it doesn’t look like we’re getting it from the two main parties. Neither of which wanted MMP in the first place.

  16. Draco T Bastard 16
    2 August 2011 at 2:27 pm

    Courtesy of Boganette we have some of Vote for Change’s reasons for changing from MMP.

    If you have a weak stomach or have just eaten I suggest not looking.

    • Pascal's bookie 16.1
      2 August 2011 at 2:38 pm

      They really are just awful people at heart, but even accepting that, you’d think they might realise that all the ‘bad’ mps they show are elected under the fpp electorate system.

    • Lanthanide 16.2
      2 August 2011 at 3:58 pm

      Comes across as mostly anti-Labour.

      Guess they threw in the ACT bit as a way to deflect.

      • Pascal's bookie 16.2.1
        2 August 2011 at 8:09 pm

        You might want to take another look Lanth; the ACT bit is there as the sexy straight non-creepy non-crippled alternative to MMP. It’s not a subtle message.

  17. Akldnut 17
    2 August 2011 at 2:38 pm

    Sent to me courtesy of my daughter lol

    “The government announced today that it’s changing it’s emblem to a CONDOM, because it more accurately reflects the government’s political stance. A condom allows for inflation, halts productions, destroys the next generations, protects a bunch of dicks, and gives you a sense of security while you’re being screwed. It just doesn’t get more accurate than that.”

    • Draco T Bastard 17.1
      2 August 2011 at 2:44 pm

      😆

    • freedom 17.2
      2 August 2011 at 2:47 pm

      🙂 🙂 🙂

    • higherstandard 17.3
      2 August 2011 at 3:32 pm

      Been doing the rounds since 2010 – I think the original was.

      ‘The Government today announced that it is changing its emblem from an Eagle to a CONDOM because it more accurately reflects the government’s political stance… A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of dicks, and gives you a sense of security while you’re actually being screwed!’

      US inspired obviously but can be applied to most governments.

      • Draco T Bastard 17.3.1
        2 August 2011 at 3:35 pm

        Yeah, thought I’d seen it before but couldn’t remember where or when.

    • travellerev 17.4
      2 August 2011 at 4:39 pm

      , Thanks! I needed a laugh.

  18. Draco T Bastard 18
    2 August 2011 at 3:22 pm

    Most Kiwis have no interest in the Rubber Wool Cup. About as many people loath it as actually want to watch it – the rest are neutral.

    The poll showed 37 percent of Kiwis were keen for the Rugby World Cup to kick-off, while 35 percent were not looking forward to it and 29 percent were neutral.

    Wonder what would have happened if this had been put to a referendum…

    • Draco T Bastard 18.1
      2 August 2011 at 3:36 pm

      The comments under the article, especially the ones about haters and wreckers are hilarious 😆

    • felix 18.2
      2 August 2011 at 3:37 pm

      Should veneration of a contact sport as part of good social stupification be a criminal offence in NZ?

      • The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 18.2.1
        2 August 2011 at 3:42 pm

        Fuck no. It is an absolute saviour in any of those awkward enforced social situations where you have to try to find something useful to say to some 60 year old guy. A working knowledge is an easy out.

        • Pascal's bookie 18.2.1.1
          2 August 2011 at 8:12 pm

          What? Why don’t you just talk about heroin or buttsex like a normal person would.

          Won’t be having Mr awkward convo for long. Gauranteed.

          And it’ll give him something to be shocked about to his mates.

          Win/Win

        • felix 18.2.1.2
          2 August 2011 at 10:24 pm

          Trust me Oleole, that 60 yr old guy doesn’t want to talk to you either. You’re just making it weirder for everyone.

          Besides, if you’re not a completely boring cnut you won’t find it a problem just being yerself.

          And if you weren’t wasting your time maintaining your working knowledge for the supposed benefit of men who don’t want to talk to you anyway, you could be well on your way to being a less boring cnut.

          • The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 18.2.1.2.1
            3 August 2011 at 12:50 pm

            What is a cnut?

            • Vicky32 18.2.1.2.1.1
              3 August 2011 at 5:55 pm

              It’s a vile little mis-print! (Or so Rik Mayall’s character Adolphus Cnut was told in the sitcom Believe Nothing.) 😀

      • Lanthanide 18.2.2
        2 August 2011 at 4:33 pm

        If it weren’t the national sport, I’m sure it would be considered child abuse to send children along to such a dangerous activity.

        Brain injuries sustained from contact sports probably play a part in underachievement at school.

        • Vicky32 18.2.2.1
          2 August 2011 at 4:51 pm

          I will always remember a very sad event in 1981 that I heard of in the news. A boy, the son of a diplomat from South America, ended up with permanent damage in a – is the word ‘ruck’? That was the first (but not the last time) I had heard of that happening. Now I am very thankful that my brother and my sons all somehow managed to avoid being forced to play rugby at school!
          More brain injuries than those caused by traffic “accidents” we don’t need!

      • Morrissey 18.2.3
        2 August 2011 at 9:46 pm

        veneration of a contact sport

        Actually rugby is more of a running, jumping and kicking sport than a contact sport. If you want to see a violent contact sport, watch THIS…

    • Pete George 18.3
      2 August 2011 at 4:13 pm

      The numbers will probably change once it’s under way.

      I’m not interested in all the lead up stuff to any major sports events, including opening ceremonies, but I enjoy the sport once it gets under way, and it’s good to get out and meet people visiting the country – that was the highlight for me in the last RWC here.

      But I guess we could try and stop anything from happening if in advance the majority of the population aren’t interested in it.

      • Colonial Viper 18.3.1
        2 August 2011 at 4:17 pm

        The numbers WILL probably change once it is underway. Which WAY they will change is the question 🙂

        • McFlock 18.3.1.1
          2 August 2011 at 5:59 pm

          yeah – the Romans knew that you needed to provide BREAD as well as circuses, otherwise the peasants will still rebel. DonKey’s only doing half the distraction/pacification routine – good for the Left.

    • Lanthanide 18.4
      2 August 2011 at 4:40 pm

      Channel Four is positioning itself as the channel of No Rugby in their latest advertising campaign. Some of the ads are actually pretty funny.

      • lprent 18.4.1
        2 August 2011 at 7:39 pm

        Gets my watch. In fact the less I see of the RWC the happier I will be.

        • higherstandard 18.4.1.1
          2 August 2011 at 7:42 pm

          I was planning to exit the country for a month, unfortunately my plans have been scuppered.

          • lprent 18.4.1.1.1
            3 August 2011 at 6:36 am

            I have a project going to it first public outing at the end of October. I can’t go on holiday or die before then. Does feel a bit unusual for me to be scheduled on a project with a major milestone in an election year. But my time schedule plans got scuppered in the financial chaos at the end of 2009.

            So I will have to put up with the RWC idiocy, especially since Eden park is too damn close.

    • Vicky32 18.5
      2 August 2011 at 4:43 pm

      I am one of the loathers! I am very much not looking forward to it.

  19. Draco T Bastard 19
    2 August 2011 at 4:17 pm

    And Cactus Kate is up to her normal bigotry.

    Others want to shut this debate down.

    Debate it all you want – just use facts. Oh, that’s right, you can’t because all the facts show that MMP is the best system of representative democracy available.

    But, that’s not all:

    I am a believer in the cornerstone of neo-democracy in such a large welfare state that New Zealand now has is that there should be no representation unless you pay net taxation.

    Yep, she doesn’t want all those poor people* voting even though it is their society and should have a say in it’s direction.

    The call of the dictator is the cry of property rights which is Acts central theme and Cactus Kate has just proved that Act is bunch of dictators by saying that she wants only her preferred people voting.

    * Who are only poor because of the policies Act promote.

    • RobC 19.1
      2 August 2011 at 4:35 pm

      I am a believer in the cornerstone of neo-loyalty in that if you leave NZ in your 20’s to chase bucks then your opinion on NZ affairs means diddly-squat and you should STFU

      • prism 19.1.1
        2 August 2011 at 9:03 pm

        @RobC – How can young people know the world from just staying in the country facebooking or watching videos for experience. You yourself have to go and live it. When you are over there it’s in your face, there is no avoiding the reality as it hits you. Also going overseas to do advanced study enriches the graduate’s expertise and if we can get them back then we have increased our IQ.

        Just staying in NZ would lead us back to the narrow-minded types we were before the Second World War caused thousands of our people to do an OE and thousands of displaced Europeans and others to come here and show us their culture and way of thinking.

        • McFlock 19.1.1.1
          2 August 2011 at 10:05 pm

          “Chasing bucks” vs “OE”.

        • RobC 19.1.1.2
          3 August 2011 at 7:35 am

          Hi Prism, you’ve read too much into my comment – I just find it rather amusing that someone who has lived/worked overseas until just recently (?) and probably has paid F.A. net tax in NZ comes out with no representation without paying net taxation.

    • Lanthanide 19.2
      2 August 2011 at 4:41 pm

      On the flip side, if votes were apportioned to how much net tax you paid, say 1 vote for every $10k, we’d probably see less tax evasion.

    • vto 19.3
      2 August 2011 at 4:46 pm

      But if only net taxpayers can vote that means Sam Morgan can’t vote, virtually all the farmers can’t vote (perhaps that is an angle for the left), and the only voters left are the working, hard slogging wage and salary earners.

      Or perhaps we take Cactus Kate (never read her but she sounds horrid) approach and extend it a little so that a person gets a number of votes, that number rising or falling depending on the proportion of their income that ends up in the government coffers… smokers and boozers would get the most votes … equals Cactus Kate equals zombie.

  20. vto 20
    2 August 2011 at 5:39 pm

    I see that the Nat government is going to pay to those red-zoned homeowners with insurance, if they accept the governments offer to purchase, a deposit of up to 50% (max $50,000) once signed… if that aint an election stimulant I don’t know what is. I betcha the cheques arrive well in time.

    And btw, what was the reason for only insured homeowners receiving the governments offer?

  21. logie97 21
    2 August 2011 at 6:36 pm

    Boscowen – someone tell him that the word is horrific not hirrofic. Perhaps if he spoke from within rather than reading a prepared script he might be a little more credible, (especially as he repeated the same error when re-reading the phrase).

  22. Bored 22
    2 August 2011 at 8:25 pm

    Ilargi over at Theautomaticearth posted this today and it pretty much sums up the world and the state of our polity today. its a DIRE WARNING.

    Once a society or country allows money to enter its politics, the outcome is inevitable: the money interests will come to rule that country. This is evident all over the western world, whether you look at the Greek, Irish and other EU bail-outs, or at the debt dungeon debate the US is presently digging its way into ever deeper, with the respective bills handed to the people and their children.

    As we speak, and as we watch the wall-sized media coverage of the debt dungeon chasm, municipalities and counties are on the cusp of bankruptcy. Services will be cut across the board. That is our future.

    A future that won’t involve growth, but which be all about austerity and cutting back and outright poverty for rapidly increasing numbers of people. Just not for the politicians and their puppeteers, not for those who get to decide who will hurt the most.

    That is the main issue today. Who are you going to let decide how bad your future will be? If you opt for Washington, anyone in Washington, or Brussels if you’re in Europe, your future will hurt something bad. When it comes to that future of yours and, of your offspring, the debt dungeon debate is the wrong focus. There’s nothing beneficial for you in there.

    This is nothing less than outright class warfare where those with the means are stealing ours and our childrens future and liberty.

  23. prism 23
    2 August 2011 at 8:51 pm

    I can’t get through the code word barrier to send a Contact message. I have tried three times and am sure I was correct the last two. I wear glasses but thought I was seeing well the last two times. I was trying to say that none of my personal posts show up since July 31. Cheers

  24. Aero 24
    3 August 2011 at 9:39 am

    Obama got nothing except forcing Republicians to agree to reductions in militrary spending in return for keeping the unfordable tax cuts for the richest. Obama delayed the debate until after the pay off, mid term elections, where military constituencies will make Repubalicians pay for their greed.

    • Colonial Viper 24.1
      4 August 2011 at 12:35 am

      US is in a political and economic death spiral. The aim is to get re-elected, not lead the country or help the people.