Open mike 04/12/2010

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, December 4th, 2010 - 38 comments
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38 comments on “Open mike 04/12/2010 ”

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  1. Doug 1
    4 December 2010 at 8:35 am

    Unite Union and Matt McCarten are nothing but thieves knowing the financial problems they were facing, Matt proceeded to stand in Mana and use up more Union funds. He has lost all credibility how can he now preach to Businesses to lift their game?

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/4418030/Union-asked-to-explain-36k-debt

    • millsy 1.1
      4 December 2010 at 10:54 am

      Oh Piss off Doug, you just want UNITE to shut down so you can treat your supermarket workers like shit and pay them below minium wage and they have no-where to go for help.

      Its people like you who are holding wages and conditions down and force workers to live in their cars.

    • just saying 1.2
      4 December 2010 at 11:17 am

      http://www.unite.org.nz/node/165

      Thanks for reminding me Doug.

      UNITE does have a website with a button for accepting donations. (I know these are hard times for many – just mention it for anyone who wants to help this way and can afford to).

      You can also join the union at the site, or sign up for the UNITE e-newsletter.

  2. jcuknz 2
    4 December 2010 at 8:42 am

    A cautionary note from a historian about the latest Wikileaks …
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/03/opinion/03Schroeder.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a212

    • Draco T Bastard 2.1
      4 December 2010 at 10:33 am

      Especially in a democracy, the goal of negotiations should be to quietly reach an agreement, followed by ratification or rejection by elected legislators.

      Ah, no. The purpose of a democracy is that the people are making an informed choice and not being dictated to. This guy just sounds like an apologist for the oppression that the US and other countries are perpetrating.

      • Draco T Bastard 2.1.1
        4 December 2010 at 11:43 am

        WikiLeaks cables reveal how US manipulated climate accord

        Hidden behind the save-the-world rhetoric of the global climate change negotiations lies the mucky realpolitik: money and threats buy political support; spying and cyberwarfare are used to seek out leverage.

        Being open about the negotiations may hold some danger but being secretive holds a hell of a lot more.

    • Draco T Bastard 2.2
      4 December 2010 at 6:15 pm

      http://www.truth-out.org/why-wikileaks-good-democracy65549

      But information is the lifeblood of democracy. Information about government contributes to a healthy democracy. Transparency and accountability are essential elements of good government. Likewise, “a lack of government transparency and accountability undermines democracy and gives rise to cynicism and mistrust,” according to a 2008 Harris survey commissioned by the Association of Government Accountants.

      From what I’ve seen so far the Wikileaks releases have only done good as governments get held to account.

  3. Logie97 3
    4 December 2010 at 9:11 am

    Douglas was on RNZ yesterday. Was very glad of the airtime. (Have to ask who arranged it because he bemoaned the fact that minor parties have difficulty getting exposure.)

    And of course he poured out all of his bigotry in the available time.
    One point he laboured was educational failure and in particular class sizes/teacher ratios. He reckons it is a Pinocchio story. And I guess that’s what you would expect from someone who left the classroom in the 1950’s, and if he doesn’t understand this simple maths what credence can he be given on other aspects of life.

    The most effective teaching time is on a one-to-one basis.

    On a class size of 25 and a given of 25 hours contact time, that is 1 hour per child per week or 12 minutes per day. Halve the class size and you double the interaction time.

    Now if the country was really serious about improving productivity and outcomes in the education system, we would have four times or more teachers in primary schools.
    But, of course, while we have “financial wizards” running the show…

    • ianmac 3.1
      4 December 2010 at 10:02 am

      Yes. I heard Douglas talk on the RNZ Focus on Politics 6:30 Friday night and what a load of cobblers he spoke. The smaller class sizes may not be much help unless the big class process of teaching is modified to take advantage of smaller classes. Douglas is a sad figure really.
      http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/fop/fop-20101203-1837-Focus_on_Politics_for_3_December_2010-048.mp3

      • Logie97 3.1.1
        4 December 2010 at 11:18 am

        Perhaps Secondary practice is a whole class model.
        The blame for the tail is being leveled at Primary schools.

        Have a teacher/pupil ratio of 1:10 or smaller and you are really beginning to have an impact on outcomes.

        Secondly, Boards of Trustees could stand at the school gate and check that their families are delivering well rested and cared for children to the school prepared to learn. They could do the negotiation with Social Services to provide support for those who are not and leave the schools to get on with delivering the curricula and teachers wouldn’t have to spend time being social workers and managing behaviour.

        And in the meantime we have Douglas’ leader assuming the portfolio of Special Education. He wants totally integrated mainstreaming – and of course that will be fully funded.

        Was that one of Douglas’ pigs escaping from his farm that flew past the window just then…?

    • prism 3.2
      4 December 2010 at 11:03 am

      Douglas is living proof that modern education is of low standard. Look where he got to, how much money he has. Everyone who comes out of education these days should be able to achieve the same as he has if they work hard and are wise in their money making decisions. After all having lots of money and having things and gathering in lots of salary is all important in life and all that counts. Roger Douglas has achieved these and is therefore an example for all of us to emulate. That we don’t is the fault of the education system, with lack of leadership, sloppy productivity and laziness on the part of parents (and any other negative cliches that come to your mind).

      • KJT 3.2.1
        4 December 2010 at 11:22 am

        Douglas is living proof of the saying. “Children who can believe in several totally conflicting things at once, appear to me to have a great future in politics”.

  4. KJT 4
    4 December 2010 at 10:06 am

    On Comparitive advantage.

    “Economist Ha-Joon Chang criticized the comparative advantage principle, contending that it may have helped developed countries maintain relatively advanced technology and industry compared to developing countries. In his book Kicking Away the Ladder, Chang argued that all major developed countries, including the United States and United Kingdom, used interventionist, protectionist economic policies in order to get rich and then tried to forbid other countries from doing the same. For example, according to the comparative advantage principle, developing countries with a comparative advantage in agriculture should continue to specialize in agriculture and import high-technology widgits from developed countries with a comparative advantage in high technology. In the long run, developing countries would lag behind developed countries, and polarization of wealth would set in. Chang asserts that premature free trade has been one of the fundamental obstacles to the alleviation of poverty in the developing world. Recently, Asian countries such as South Korea, Japan and China have utilized protectionist economic policies in their economic development.[13]”.

    Source Wikipedia.

    • Draco T Bastard 4.1
      4 December 2010 at 10:41 am

      Yeah, there is no such thing as “Comparative Advantage” between countries. Factories can be built that have the same efficiency and high tech skills can be learnt by the population removing all advantage of importing, well, anything really. In fact, importing would have the disadvantage of the extra costs of distance.

    • Bill 4.2
      4 December 2010 at 11:04 am

      Comparative Advantage.

      Lopping off the thumbs of Indian weavers while making any manufacturing of cotton products in India illegal. Exporting the raw cotton to Paisley and Manchester and setting up factory production of Indian cotton there. Ripping up the rice paddy’s in India to pant opium for export to China…

      Free trade is always one sided and always pushed by dominant economic powers and always backed up by violence or the threat thereof.

      • KJT 4.2.1
        4 December 2010 at 11:16 am

        Importing lamb carcasses and dairy products from NZ and South America while refusing to import any manufactured goods from the same countries.

        US companies more recently telling China that if China allowed Unions and toughened Labour protection laws they would relocate to cheaper countries.

        Not to mention invading Iraq to make it safe for Halliburton and Exon.

        Closer to home. Supporting a ruthless corrupt totalitarian Dictatorship in Indonesia to ensure US access to their markets.

        • Colonial Viper 4.2.1.1
          4 December 2010 at 6:31 pm

          US companies more recently telling China that if China allowed Unions and toughened Labour protection laws they would relocate to cheaper countries.

          I’d be interested if you have a link for this. You know how well the Chinese leadership respond to western pressure.

          Anyhows, China already has an eye on climbing up the economic value chain, it is clear that it does not want to be America’s sweatshop for much longer.

  5. KJT 5
    4 December 2010 at 10:32 am

    Ha-Joon’s book.
    http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/Business/Economics/General/9781905211371/

    Has some interesting insights about privatisation and protectionism.

  6. freedom 6
    4 December 2010 at 10:52 am

    http://wikileaks.ch/
    for a currently functioning site
    for how long who knows?

  7. Bill 7
    4 December 2010 at 11:20 am

    Copenhagen. Wikileaks. US aid tied to countries accepting their Copenhagen proposals. Cancun. Japan not supporting an extension of Kyoto. Join the dots

    The cables obtained by WikiLeaks finish at the end of February 2010. Today, 116 countries have associated themselves with the accord. [ie, the US accord which cannot guarantee the global greenhouse gas cuts needed to avoid dangerous warming.] Another 26 say they intend to associate. That total, of 140, is at the upper end of a 100-150 country target revealed by Pershing in his meeting with Hedegaard on 11 February.

    The 140 nations represent almost 75% of the 193 countries that are parties to the UN climate change convention and, accord supporters like to point out, are responsible for well over 80% of current global greenhouse gas emissions.

    At the mid-point of the major UN climate change negotiations in Cancún, Mexico, there have already been flare-ups over how funding for climate adaptation is delivered. The biggest shock has been Japan’s announcement that it will not support an extension of the existing Kyoto climate treaty. That gives a huge boost to the accord. US diplomatic wheeling and dealing may, it seems, be bearing fruit.

    • joe90 7.1
      4 December 2010 at 12:51 pm

      It’s a war on science and it’s being led by the likes of James Inhofe, a fundamental christian with ties to the Dominionist movement.
      Inhofe thinks that all this science stuff is just a hoax orchestrated by the United Nations to trick the US into ceding sovereignty to a New World Order with, naturally, the UN in charge.

      Inhofe boasts, “Nothing is going to happen in Cancun at the UN Climate party and everyone knows it.”

      • Bill 7.1.1
        4 December 2010 at 3:36 pm

        I agree there’s a concerted effort to discredit the science. But I think that’s secondary…a tactic by those in power.

        The principle problem for us is that those in power want to preserve their power. Which means preserving the market they derive power from. So we are blind sided, confounded and smoke screened while being offered market based solutions to climate collapse. We are not to cast a querying eye on the blindingly obvious, which just happens to be that very thing elite power relies on; the market and the industrial activity that it determines.

  8. just saying 8
    4 December 2010 at 11:28 am

    http://liberation.typepad.com/liberation/2010/12/pansy-wongs-dubious-solicitation-of-political-funding.html#more

    The header says it all. “Pansy wong’s dubious solicitation of political fundraising”.

    Great work from the ever-diligent Edwards.

    • ianmac 8.1
      4 December 2010 at 3:06 pm

      In summing up, Mr Edwards says that there are numerous ways that money can be donated, including buying goods and services like buying John Key’s tie for $50,000. Thus it is a sale not a donation. Such things are murky but not necessarily illegal.
      It seems strange to me that Parliament,the highest court in the land, writes law that must be clear and unambiguous, yet year after year cannot write law which is clear and unambiguous about its own funding! Vested interest perhaps?

  9. Sean Brooks 9
    4 December 2010 at 2:12 pm

    Go the Phoenix!!

  10. Pascal's bookie 10
    4 December 2010 at 3:04 pm

    heh. Old man McCain gets slapped around the chops by the SecDef and the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff…

    http://www.newshoggers.com/blog/2010/12/mccain-challenges-gates-mullen-on-dadt.html

  11. prism 11
    4 December 2010 at 3:25 pm

    Just heard a talk about rubbish, plastic in the oceans, something called ghost nets too. And an area north of Hawaii where there is a convergence. It would be good if the seemingly numerous people who live on yachts came together to help the ocean where they live. They could trawl for some each day which would start reducing the quantity and there would be disposal units in ports that would measure quantities put in so stats could be kept. And of course put next to nothing over the side themselves. An encouragement would be sponsorship from alcohol or boat gear companies that would give discounts or special offers to those bearing receipts for disposed rubbish.

    It would be a bit like what Surf Aid have for countries with their favourite surfing spots. A response that is human thinking at a high level. The organisation could be called Sea Clear or something.

    • Bill 11.1
      4 December 2010 at 9:00 pm

      The plastic gyre you refer to is made from plastic that has broken down into tiny irretrievable bits. Can’t even see most of it with the naked eye. It’s like a soup. There is one in the Atlantic too.

      On the bright side, there are no red bits of plastic. They get cleaned out while still quite sizeable by sea birds mistaking them for food. On the downside, the birds die with a gut full of plastic. On the upside, a lot of them die on land….maybe.

  12. Logie97 12
    4 December 2010 at 8:33 pm

    For those sport lovers who have been watching the Ashes.
    Put some money on Alistair Cook batting on each of the 5 days.
    Boycott has done it before. Could be worth a few bob.

  13. Bill 13
    4 December 2010 at 9:10 pm

    What’d’ya reckon Bill?

    Wonder what constitutes ‘false accounting’ in relation to an MP claiming a housing allowance? Could this be a rare occasion where I’d be quite happy for NZ to follow ‘mother England’?

    A former Labour MP faces several years in jail after becoming the first politician to be convicted of fiddling his parliamentary expenses.

    David Chaytor, who had been due to stand trial on Monday, changed a previous plea as he admitted three charges of false accounting involving a total of £18,350 of expenses claims.

    He claimed £12,925 in rent on a flat he owned and £5,425 for rent on his mother’s house, and falsely charged £1,950 for computer support services.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/mp-faces-prison-after-admitting-expenses-fraud-2151107.html

  14. higherstandard 14
    5 December 2010 at 6:18 pm

    Has Matt paid his workers’ tax bill yet ?

    [lprent: Have you managed to read the post yet? You haven’t responded to anything in it. Not to mention that your dogwhistle is inaccurate – in fact I’d call it a lie from an idiot. It is Unite that owes the IRD. Unite doesn’t owe their workers.

    But this is a straight diversion troll, completely off-topic – sending to OpenMike. If I see another troll that is so blatant I’m going to give you a early long holiday. ]

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