Open mike 02/08/2015

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, August 2nd, 2015 - 48 comments
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openmikeOpen mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

48 comments on “Open mike 02/08/2015 ”

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  1. Shane Le Brun 1
    2 August 2015 at 9:14 am

    Looks like progress, smells like progress….
    Perhaps Labour should develop a stronger stance (spine) on the issue?
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/70579747/Medicinal-cannabis-likely-in-New-Zealand-by-2016

    [This isn’t a Labour Party blog, Shane. Read the ‘about’ and don’t troll in the future. TRP]

    • Skinny 1.1
      2 August 2015 at 9:45 am

      Get off the grass cobbah, why don’t you target your criticism at the current Government?

      I got a clear reminder the other night when I met a guy at a friend’s birthday party, he was nice enough, however I noticed he spoke in delayed mode, and kept forgetting what he was saying. Anyway an hour later he asked who wants a joint. I laughed as I thought that explains ‘everything.’

      • weka 1.1.1
        2 August 2015 at 10:03 am

        Skinny, Shane is talking about medicine not recreational drug use. Put your prejudices aside for a moment, eh?

        • Skinny 1.1.1.1
          2 August 2015 at 10:27 am

          OK far enough, however there are more pressing issues at this point in time for Labour than medical pot. Getting involved in a side issue when they have bigger fish to fry, like the effects of National sgning into the TPPA which will cost us more for some medicines. If Shane wants to draft a remit to go forward through the LP policy process I’m sure someone will table it.

          • weka 1.1.1.1.1
            2 August 2015 at 10:37 am

            Sorry, but you don’t get to decide the priorities of ill and disabled people.

            If Labour stand up re the TPP, that will be great too. But I’m sure that Labour can do more than one thing at a time.

            • Skinny 1.1.1.1.1.1
              2 August 2015 at 10:49 am

              Your not listening my feathered friend. Labour can ill afford to be bush whacked by a right-wing media who will turn things around on them. Like I say follow the policy process. All any MP can say is of their personal opinion till it goes through the policy process.

              • weka …
                2 August 2015 at 11:17 am

                Listening, I heard you saying that this wasn’t a priority and that Labour had more important things to work on.

                I don’t think it’s unreasonable for people who are lobbying on important issues to expect parties in parliament to take them seriously, provided they can make a good case.

                • Skinny …
                  2 August 2015 at 11:36 am

                  OK well Shane can excise his democratic rights and call on his local LP MP or the spokesperson for Health and canvas/lobby them, rather than taking pot shots by calling them spineless on the issue here. Kettle calling the pot black is hardly inspirational for his call. Quick to post then spineless silence.

                  Just another coward fuckhead having a crack at Labour in my opinion.

                  • weka …
                    2 August 2015 at 11:57 am

                    You getting a bit carried away there? I’d say that criticising Labour is one of the main things that happens here 😉

                    Shane has been doing good work on the medical cannabis issue, which you wrote off after a single comment. He doesn’t strike me as spineless. I suspect you don’t know much about him or what he does, so the attack on him as a coward looks weird. A bit touchy perhaps?

              • Tracey …
                2 August 2015 at 1:58 pm

                except for those who speak out before then…

            • Shane Le Brun 1.1.1.1.1.2
              2 August 2015 at 12:56 pm

              Agreed, both Labour and National avoid this topic like the Plague, except Damian O’Connor making noises about a Private members bill that sounds like CBD only, which is a not even a half measure for most of the patients who stand to benefit. I did mean to provoke discussion, not just troll. I’m sure everyone is aware of the high level of public support for Medical use, most people have seen someone suffer from cancer etc.

              • weka …
                2 August 2015 at 2:00 pm

                You didn’t look like you were troling to me. It’s not like you could have said the left wing parties need to grow a spine and address the issue, because Labour is the only left wing party that hasn’t already done so 😉

                • Shane Le Brun …
                  2 August 2015 at 2:16 pm

                  Well when you put it like that………… 🙂
                  What has been interesting is that Peter Dunne sounds serious about it, much to the chagrin of the usual Legalize crowd who love to hate him.

                  Its crucial that the politicians and medical profession get educated properly on the issue, so we don’t have half measures that fail to deliver for the majority of the population, such as the bible belt in the USA which has nothing or CBD “Charlotte’s web” only laws, even though half the kids need more THC than what is available in “Charlottes Web”

                  For interest, here is a full range of products similar to Sativex for orders of magnitude less in cost, covering a wide range of potencies for different conditions

                  http://www.statewidecollective.org/sublingual_oral_buccal_sprays

                  • Tracey …
                    2 August 2015 at 2:23 pm

                    agree with what you have written…

                    on a slightly different, but related note, a grown up discussion on Hemp products is overdue too…

                  • weka …
                    2 August 2015 at 11:13 pm

                    Unfortunately if you want someone with a spine, Dunne isn’t it 😉 He’ll deliver a policy that suits his middle class ghetto and largely ignores the realities of many people in need. The guy mangled the synthetic cannabis issue after all.

  2. Anne 2
    2 August 2015 at 10:19 am

    On Q+A this morning:

    Mature, intelligent and informative discussions on the issues of the moment by guests Fran O’Sullivan and Micheal Wood. Well worth a viewing when the show goes online.

    The likable and articulate Micheal Wood should have been given a high placing on Labour’s list last year. NZ needs the likes of him in parliament.

  3. Karen 3
    2 August 2015 at 11:11 am

    At yesterday’s protest outside Mt Eden Prison there was a fantastic speech from Sina Brown-Davis. Her delivery was also great but wasn’t included in any news bulletins I have seen.
    You can read what she said here:

    https://tewhareporahou.wordpress.com/2015/08/01/no-profit-in-prisons-sina-brown-davis-speaks-against-the-prison-industry/

  4. Paul 4
    2 August 2015 at 11:42 am

    Groser’s response to the failed TPP talks.
    Attack the messenger.

    Mr Groser said he believed reasonable people were being “whipped up into a frenzy” over issues like pharmaceutical costs and investor-state dispute settlement, by people who oppose the deal for ideological reasons.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11490776

    • Tracey 4.1
      2 August 2015 at 2:03 pm

      whipped into a frenzy? But Key said the small numbers who opposed were rent a crowd”

  5. Morrissey 5
    2 August 2015 at 11:50 am

    Why was Heather “Hapless” Roy on The Nation yesterday?
    TV3’s radical right wing programming is ruining its reputation.
    The Nation, TV3, Saturday 1 August 2015
    Lisa Owen, Heather Roy, Mike Williams, Simon Wilson

    There is a good Heather Roy…..
    http://www.mtv.com/photos/lingerie-football-leagues-leading-ladies/1647449/5299923/photo/

    Sadly, that Heather Roy lives in Philadelphia. Down here, we’re stuck with her far less salubrious namesake. Our Heather Roy belongs to a rare, reviled, and ridiculous species, thankfully racing to extinction, viz., former ACT members of parliament.

    Some serious questions should be asked of TV3’s producers as to exactly why Heather “Hapless” Roy was invited on to its putatively serious programme The Nation yesterday. As always with Heather Roy, every single thing she said was crass and ill-considered; Lisa Owen, Mike Williams and Simon Wilson all noticeably lowered their eyes in embarrassment as she spoke. She was clueless, hopeless, out of her depth. It was like she was back in parliament, making statements of breathtaking foolishness…

    http://pundit.co.nz/content/heather-roys-done-it-again-why-we-shouldnt-follow-her-back-to-the-future

    Connoisseurs of black comedy may like to read more on the woes of ACT….

    http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-09122013/#comment-741623
    http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-27072015/#comment-1050723
    http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13122014/#comment-939427

  6. Morrissey 6
    2 August 2015 at 12:44 pm

    Tova O’Brien’s outrageous ridiculous performance on The Nation yesterday;
    TV3 has nobody better educated than this airhead to talk to politicians?
    The Nation, TV3, Saturday 1 August 2015
    http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/thenation/transcript-foreign-affairs-minister-murray-mccully-2015080114#axzz3hbo6FJgQ

    An utterly unbelievable performance by Tova O’Brien yesterday. Her questions were so extremely biased and incendiary that I would not be surprised to learn they had been written for her by David Farrar or Cameron Slater. Anybody interested in reading McCully’s waffling responses can read the transcript, but here is a selection of the things Tova O’Brien said….

    Okay, I want to move on to Iran now. Critics say that the Iran nuclear deal is giving legitimacy to an illegitimate regime and going so far as to say that it’s strengthening one that is oppressive, brutal and even antis-Semitic. Do they have a point? ….

    Iran does fund terrorist organisations. Lifting economic sanctions could boost—release billions of dollars into their economy. They could use that to build a bomb in 15 years when the deal lifts. They could even build a bigger bomb because they’re got more money then, so surely that’s worrying. ….

    So are there no concerns about boosting trade with a country with an abysmal human rights record and a country that funds terrorism?

    So by trading with Iran, we’re somehow going to be able to persuade them to stop beheading people, to stop funding terrorist organisations?

    Benjamin Netanyahu is bitterly opposed, obviously, to the deal. He says that Israel weren’t at the table but were, in fact, on the menu. Is Netanyahu right to be concerned, or is he completely out of order?

    The problem is not merely that she gave voice to such rabidly partisan statements; what she did not say was equally important: talking about the use of the veto at the UN Security Council, she mentioned Russia and France—but did not mention the United States and United Kingdom. Anyone who wishes to do what Tova O’Brien obviously does not do—some research—-should look at the following….

    https://www.globalpolicy.org/security-council/40069-subjects-of-un-security-council-vetoes.html

    http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/thenation/transcript-foreign-affairs-minister-murray-mccully-2015080114#axzz3hbo6FJgQ

  7. Morrissey 7
    2 August 2015 at 1:12 pm

    “Bless the Berrigans and bless Daniel Ellsberg.”
    Heroes of Conscience No. 1: CAROLE FERACI

    THE WHITE HOUSE, Friday January 28, 1972…

    ….. And now the president’s distinguished guests are laughing heartily, and the president himself is grinning happily, and, as he settles himself in his front row seat, the Ray Conniff Singers are beginning to file onstage.

    Eight women in pale blue gowns appear, then eight men in light blue blazers, single file. Half a dozen musicians from the U.S Marine Corps Band are setting up behind them. The house lights are still up. A few singers are still coming in. The guests, invited this evening to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of Reader’s Digest, are still murmuring. The seventh female singer swipes reflexively at her hair — long and straight and black in a sea of blond — and steps forward to a microphone.

    She holds up a banner that reads, “Stop the Killing.” It is hand-lettered on a fringed blue cloth that matches her dress.

    “President Nixon,” she says, “stop bombing human beings, animals and vegetation.” She is looking straight at him. Her voice is cool and controlled. He looks back, still smiling.

    In the wings, Ray Conniff hears a voice but can’t make out the words. He climbs onstage, moves toward it.

    “You go to church on Sundays and pray to Jesus Christ,” the singer says. “If Jesus Christ were here tonight, you would not dare to drop another bomb.” Conniff reaches out to take her banner away. Her grip tightens and she pulls it back.

    “Bless the Berrigans and bless Daniel Ellsberg,” she says as Conniff retreats. The banner is folded now, as are the singer’s hands. She takes a deep breath.

    Silence.

    The bassist hits two nervous notes.

    Conniff raises his arms.

    “One, two, three, four,” he counts, and the band begins to play. ….

    http://comcast.rayconniff.info/media/nixon.html

    Ray Conniff: Concert at the White House (1972)

  8. lprent 8
    2 August 2015 at 2:19 pm

    Interesting that in Winston’s conference speech, he is appealing directly to provincial voters. No trace of chasing Conservative vote.

    • Tracey 8.1
      2 August 2015 at 2:28 pm

      As I listened tot he media feeding off and around him yesterday on the news (and vice versa) I thought surely Nats will be worried cos it is their voters who will go to NZF (not LP or Green) … and if CP is still in tatters that lot may go to Winnie rather than Nat?

      • lprent 8.1.1
        2 August 2015 at 9:22 pm

        To me it looks like that is exactly the audience he is targeting, especially after Northland. I suspect if I go back and have a look through the 2014 election, there iwll be a clear trend of picking up voters in those rural and provincial seats.

        That is really bad news for National.

        The media were interesting as well. There is an interesting complex interaction there. He knows that the best way to get out via the media is to inflame them into giving him the exposure that he needs. The media like it because it is a good short (and visual)story. The voters he is interested in will like someone kicking the media, because they are the type of people who are deeply cynical about the media.

        A very interesting commensal relationship all round. I didn’t realise how much is was until I’d seen a few media scrums around him with different media people from several conferences doing exactly the same behaviours.

  9. Morrissey 9
    2 August 2015 at 2:54 pm

    Could we ask Bernie Sanders to come here and head the Labour Party?

    We have many equivalents of Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton in this country. Sadly, we lack—or don’t promote—people who speak clearly and unambiguously like Bernie Sanders….

    Bernie Sanders On Jeb Bush’s ‘Work Longer Hours’ Comments | msnbc

  10. aerobubble 10
    2 August 2015 at 3:32 pm

    Benefitaries can apply to have an agent act for them to deal with winz. Yet they may wish to stay in the loop wanting mail to come to them and so tick for mail still to be sent to them. So accordingly an agent who is given authority to smooth over the process of dealing with winz is not informed by winz since mail is sent to the benefitary who expects the agent to be handling matters. So instead of making the process eadier its used by winz to decline benefit as the yearly renewal is not applied fpr.
    Worse given an agent may have been applying and the client recieving the benefit for years.
    I.e. a state organisation changes systems around the most vunerable that makes the system brittle and is rewarded by bonuses for shifting – alledgedly – citizens off benefits.

  11. ianmac 11
    2 August 2015 at 3:35 pm

    How cute. Farrar is turning a failure into applause for our great negotiators. Twitter:

    David Farrar
    ‏@dpfdpf

    “Very pleased NZ Govt has stayed strong and refused to agree to a TPP without good dairy access and an acceptable… http://fb.me/2Vwt71ngN ”

    Maybe David should consider that Grosser is a huge failure as a negotiator?

  12. te reo putake 12
    2 August 2015 at 7:50 pm

    Oz speaker Bronwyn Bishop resigns after non stop revelations of rorting:

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-02/bronwyn-bishop-stands-down-as-speaker/6666172

    Meanwhile, in NZ, nothing changes.

    • McFlock 12.1
      2 August 2015 at 8:01 pm

      Their tories haven’t yet figured out democratic processes were developed by a generation that thought shame and infamy were things to be avoided and atoned for.

      Ours don’t give a shit.

  13. Draco T Bastard 13
    2 August 2015 at 9:42 pm

    This article deals with the efficiencies of online shopping and it makes this point:

    An interesting study from the University of Washington recently found that grocery delivery services slashed carbon emissions over individuals driving to and from the supermarket, but they achieved their biggest gains — 80 to 90 percent lower emissions — when they could plan deliveries around customer locations, not precise delivery windows (thus minimizing driving distance and time).

    Which is something that I’ve been saying for some time. That raises the question:
    Why do we still go to the supermarkets rather than have free-delivery?

    The answer, IMO, is because the profit driven market system isn’t an economic system at all. If it was an economic system then we wouldn’t have uneconomic procedures in place such as supermarkets.

  14. Nick 14
    2 August 2015 at 10:03 pm

    Very clear and concise complaint about the destruction of the NZ open source software industry by the TPPA …..
    http://www.bilaterals.org/?​open-source-leader-livid-at

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