Open mike 05/03/2016

91 comments on “Open mike 05/03/2016 ”

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1. mary_a 1

   5 March 2016 at 7:21 am

   Is there no end to msm promoting this family? It’s become an obsession with media!

   This time it’s Stephie Key (aka Cherry Lazar) once more, indulging in public self advancement through her soft porn “art.” Incidentally it’s interesting to note most, if not all of her “art” involves mainly herself!

   Never ending self gratification through public promotion seems to be a genetic trait, obviously passed from father to both offspring!

   http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11600258
   • maui 1.1

     5 March 2016 at 8:01 am

     Nope, no end. Watch as Max is the new phenom, the PM is invincible, the Greens are the worst bullies out there, and expert opinion on that face book face time thingy thats all the rage these days.

     Gawd, I wonder how many new social problems are created by people reading this crap.

     http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/77561157/Political-Week-Max-Key-cyberbullying-a-sign-that-politics-is-getting-too-nasty
     • pat 1.1.1

       5 March 2016 at 8:35 am

       “Gawd, I wonder how many new social problems are created by people reading this crap.”

       You can take solace from the fact the print MSM will not be with us for much longer
     • Jenny Kirk 1.1.2

       5 March 2016 at 9:05 am

       Absolutely sickening.

       I read the article out of curiosity – it wasn’t much different to a similar story about a year or so ago about Ms Key. Her father has no shame : a real caring father would not be putting his children thru the media like that. Because you can bet your bottom dollar that these stories about his children are all designed to make him look good ! Yuk !
       • BM 1.1.2.1

         5 March 2016 at 9:16 am

         You need to get you KDS under control.

         You’re seeing stuff that’s not there.
         • RedLogix 1.1.2.1.1

           5 March 2016 at 10:24 am

           If you’re happy about Key’s family being used like this when the going is good … you don’t get to use the ‘keep his family out of it’ excuse when the shit hits the fan.

           As it inevitably will.
   • Andre 1.2

     5 March 2016 at 8:42 am

     Just don’t read that shit, if you can avoid it. If the Herald notices people aren’t clicking on their clickbait, they’ll stop putting it out.
     • tc 1.2.1

       5 March 2016 at 8:52 am

       No they will not. If it gets many clicks that’s a bonus, granny is an integral part of nacts pr machine.

       Saturation and repetition of memes requires a consistent presence so the sheeple sub consciously take it in.
   • tc 1.3

     5 March 2016 at 9:01 am

     All part of the setup, get the kids out there with the msm promoting and praising them as good honest nice kids making their way in the big bad world who just happen to have a rich powerful dad.

     It’s what script writers call building empathy so you feel sorry for them when the big bad world does what it’s always done. Better call Saul runs along this line.

     What intrigues me is how much the DP crew will be involved in the big bad world phase with staged cyber bullying etc like their recent dog whistling rant on RNZ site.
   • BLiP 1.4

     5 March 2016 at 9:24 am

     It’s become an obsession with media!

     Yep – although the obsession is more about generating clicks than it is about promoting the Key whanau, IMHO. I’d like to think its entirely mercantile as opposed to political chicanery designed to promote John Key. Either way, the MSM knows that it is, in effect, dangling Max and Stephie over an Otago University orientation piss-up like a piñata. The MSM fawning adulation of the Key Kids is designed to bring out the bullies (egged on by agent provocateurs) in order to generate more click-bait stories about “all those nasty lefties”.

     Its got to the stage now where the MSM is generating its own news and, in deliberately using the Key Kids, exposing itself as the real bully.
   • miravox 1.5

     5 March 2016 at 9:34 am

     Bullying that may or may not lead to the suicide of children of politicians doesn’t get worse than this….

     During an aggressive campaign in 1975, Muldoon dubbed Rowling “a shiver looking for a spine to run up”. …”Being a nice guy is clearly a disability in politics and it was certainly not a good attribute in the 1975 campaign,” Rowling said ruefully years later, “It was played as a weakness against strength. I didn’t fight a very good campaign. I was tentative and people didn’t want that.”

     And it didn’t stop there. The bullying of Rowling (btw the man who sacked Roger Douglas) was so bad that a ‘citizens for Rowling’ group was formed – it included Edmund Hillary. I remember the talk at the time of the pressure on the Rowling family.

     His daughter, Kim, killed herself in 1978.

     The cynical me thinks the current PM knows his history and is using it in reverse.
     • BLiP 1.5.1

       5 March 2016 at 9:54 am

       ‘

       Brian Gould drew parallels between John Key and Robert Muldoon back in 2011. In his article, Brian said the two were quite different personalities because Key is “by nature a conciliator and seeker of consensus” but, like Muldoon, he dominates the media narrative.

       Now, in 2015, we know that the nature of Key as discerned by Brian is actually a Crosby-Textor confection and, really, he is just as nasty as Muldoon ever was. Worse, I reckon. The difference between Muldoon’s era and Key’s reign comes down to the exponential use of PR by government and the internet. Key can, on the surface, be all about conciliation and consensus but that image is supported by a well-funded and clandestine Dirty Politics Machine doing the wetwork for him. Muldoon, at least, had the guts to do his out in the open, mostly.
       • aerobubble 1.5.1.1

         5 March 2016 at 10:02 am

         Incessant joking, Key is so unlike Muldoon. Key much more like Trump, that aged vulture who is current picking over the corpse that is modern converativism, the grand old party, whose years of arrogant deliberate we wont change nothing politics has finally died.
       • miravox 1.5.1.2

         5 March 2016 at 10:04 am

         Quite the little swot our current PM.

         He probably has that piece on one of his toilet doors so he can read and have a laugh every time he sits down for a pee.

         [Sorry – angry that he gets away with this manipulation]
         • BLiP 1.5.1.2.1

           5 March 2016 at 10:09 am

           ‘

           Everyone should be so angry.

           Edit to add: one small action you can take against the MSM is to install an advertising and trackers blocker. I use these ones. They require a bit of fiddling about with to block everything and you sometimes have to tweak them for particular sites in order to, say, play a video or fill in a form or comment. But, wow, do they speed up page loading and eliminate screen clutter. There are versions for cell phones too.

           https://adblockplus.org/

           https://www.ghostery.com/
           • weka 1.5.1.2.1.1

             5 March 2016 at 11:23 am

             Unfortunately for some they also just create problems or slow systems down (I’ve used ghostery a couple of times and always end up turning it off. I can’t even get my normal flashblocker to work properly now, so many new websites simply don’t work, or the blocker works very unevenly).

             I really wish the geek community would sort this out, because at the moment in order to stop tracking one needs a higher level of skill that most of the population possess. EFF have some good guides and I’ve had some good advice here on ts, but never managed to find something that didn’t cause more problems than it solved.

             Research shows that most people want more privacy controls but end up using the internet without them because they need the internet.
             • Sacha …

               5 March 2016 at 11:40 am

               EFF have their own browser extension that gives you control over tracking cookies. Works a treat: https://www.eff.org/privacybadger
               • weka …

                 5 March 2016 at 1:03 pm

                 That one makes my computer go crazy too, so I just end up turning it off. I probably need to upgrade the OS and try again.
                 • lprent …

                   5 March 2016 at 3:30 pm

                   You can happily block cookies on this site.

                   They are used by us for putting the name details into your comments, and by the google and statcounter trackers for us to keep track of visitors for stats.

                   If you drop the cookies, then the latter former means you will probably have to enter your details for each comment. In the case of the former latter, it just means the stats for visits and unique visitors are out – but those are deeply inaccurate measures anyway.

                   [lprent: oops – fixed. ]
   • McFlock 1.6

     5 March 2016 at 4:18 pm

     Meh.

     Whether or not you like her outputs, she’s at least trying it overseas under a different brand name.
   • Rodel 1.7

     5 March 2016 at 9:18 pm

     Barack Obama’s kids are really nice, aren’t they…real role models. JK take note.
   • RedBaronCV 1.8

     5 March 2016 at 9:33 pm

     The Herald for one needs to take a long hard look at itself and then get sorted.

     A quick search on the website shows about 60 odd hits for Max Key for the 2015 year alone. A number of those seem to have been sourced off his public postings. So there they are busy feeding the flames then crying out “oh look it’s getting to hot for him”.
     And if people who set their social media settings to private attract a whole lot less attention.
2. Penny Bright 2

   5 March 2016 at 8:33 am

   Absolutely sure that Bernie Sanders is finished?

   Perhaps not …..

   https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/03/03/democrats-have-a-lot-riding-on-hillary-clinton-which-is-why-the-word-immunity-should-make-them-very-nervous/?tid=hybrid_collaborative_1_na

   “Democrats have a lot riding on Hillary Clinton. Which is why the word ‘immunity’ should make them very nervous.
   ….”
   _____________________________________________

   In my view – it ain’t over till it’s over …..

   Penny Bright
   2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
   • mlpc 2.1

     5 March 2016 at 11:29 am

     Well, at least you are being even handed, Penny.
     You are polluting both The Standard and Kiwiblog with your cut and paste drivel.
     I see there’s more from you below.

     If we had a voting mechanism here, like they do over at Kiwiblog, I’m sure you would find that very few people are interested in your view.
     • Rodel 2.1.1

       5 March 2016 at 9:56 pm

       charming
   • Jones 2.2

     5 March 2016 at 12:28 pm

     I don’t think he’s finished just yet. Thom Hartmann on The Big Bicture had a good piece on how the media are mischievously adding the super delegate votes to Hillary’s total, when the super delegates can change their vote right up until the end of the Primaries.

     And the super delegates have done that to Hillary before when she was running against Obama. At one point she led Obama by a 2-1 ratio but over the course of the campaign many saw her as too divisive a leader and they gradually trickled Obama’s way. History could well repeat.
3. North 3

   5 March 2016 at 8:58 am

   Careful people……Key Schlong Ill and family must be gushed over……..they are our New Camelot after all. Any departure from awed gush you’re cyberbullying.

   Hang on…….who said anything about ‘cyberbullying’ ? Oh that’s right, it was Key Schlong Ill……..followed (on cue) by Watkins, Young and Trev’ of the Herald I daresay, Soper…….
   • tc 3.1

     5 March 2016 at 9:09 am

     Yes we are witnessing a very cynical and staged event to garner sympathy for the kids to compensate for dads rough ride.

     Also further distractions required as a prominent nz’er is closer to being unmasked which is likely to trigger key loyalists to re-evaluate their Demi god in all his shonky dodgy ways.

     Gotta mitigate potential damage to the brand
     • Jenny Kirk 3.1.1

       5 March 2016 at 3:06 pm

       tc – you don’t think the prominent nzer who now has such a cushy job up north is going to be named and shamed in the MSM when he comes up for trial, do you ? This secrecy around him is going to continue right up to the type of sentence he gets – or even if he gets one. Plus there is also word around that the long “delay” in the trial has been designed to make him look better, and to somehow fudge the evidence coming from witnesses. ie the longer its delayed the less inclined the witnesses might be in talking about it.
       • RedBaronCV 3.1.1.1

         5 March 2016 at 9:37 pm

         A lengthy wait for any trial would usually just aggravate the distress of the complainants as they have to keep reliving it at lengthy intervals and can’t get on with reconstructing their lives.
4. Penny Bright 4

   5 March 2016 at 9:07 am

   How should multinational companies be taxed so that they pay their fair share of taxes?

   https://theconversation.com/facebook-looks-set-to-pay-more-uk-tax-but-it-might-not-be-as-much-as-you-think-55781

   Facebook looks set to pay more UK tax but it might not be as much as you think
   March 5, 2016 4.48am AEDT

   Facebook has said it will pay more in UK taxes from 2017.

   The news comes hot on the heels of the much-derided settlement of Google’s decade-long tax dispute with the UK tax authority. It also comes a day after it emerged that Facebook is paid more by HMRC for adverts than it pays in tax.

   Facebook has encountered heavy criticism for its tax dealings – not for their legality, but for how fair they are. In 2014 the company’s UK operations, Facebook UK Limited, reported a corporation tax payment of only £4,327. The company’s UK subsidiary reported a turnover of £105m and a gross profit of £103m, but this was wiped out by a massive administrative expense of £131m, leaving a pre-tax operating loss of £28m.

   Companies trade with a view to making a profit, but since 2011 Facebook has been reporting accounting losses. Its audited UK accounts for 2014 do not provide any information about the composition of the administrative expenses, a key element in its reported losses and a possible reason for low tax.

   Facebook has promised to change its business model and the way it records its sales revenues from advertising.

   Currently, Facebook books a number of its sales to UK customers through its Irish subsidiary, Facebook Ireland Limited.

   But it is set to pay millions more in taxes after a decision to allow profits from major advertisers initiated in the UK to be taxed in the UK.

   Facebook executives said in an internal post reported by the BBC that “UK sales made directly by our UK team will be booked in the UK, not Ireland.

   Facebook UK will then record the revenue from these sales”.

   …….

   _____________________________________

   Penny Bright
   2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
5. Penny Bright 5

   5 March 2016 at 9:16 am

   Is it time to introduce ‘unitary taxation’ for multinational companies?

   https://theconversation.com/facebook-looks-set-to-pay-more-uk-tax-but-it-might-not-be-as-much-as-you-think-55781

   The change in Facebook’s business model does not necessarily signal a new era in which Facebook will pay millions in tax that some might assume.

   One way to prevent Facebook and other big multinational companies from minimising their taxes would be to implement a system known as unitary taxation, which can eliminate the tax advantages of all intra-group transactions.

   But unitary taxation has received virtually no attention from the OECD’s recent Base Erosion Profit Shifting (BEPS) project, which was geared toward reforming the international system for taxing companies.
   …..
   __________________________________

   Penny Bright
   2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate
6. Penny Bright 6

   5 March 2016 at 9:21 am

   What is ‘Unitary Taxation’?

   http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/upload/pdf/Towards_Unitary_Taxation_1-1.pdf

   Penny Bright
   2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.

   [These posts are increasingly resembling spam. That’s enough for today. Stop now, please. BLiP]
   • Penny Bright 6.1

     5 March 2016 at 11:43 am

     SO sorry.

     Apologise is all I can do.

     Silly me thought ‘Open Mike’ was the place to raise ideas for informed debate and discussion?

     Making sure multinational companies can’t evade tax isn’t a topic worthy of debate?

     In my view it is.

     I for one had not heard of the concept of ‘Unitary Tax’.

     Had others?

     Kind regards

     Penny Bright
     2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
     • Visubversa 6.1.1

       5 March 2016 at 12:44 pm

       Hadn’t you noticed that nobody responds to you apart from the occasional sarcastic coment about your rates? It is not that people agree with you – it is more like they just don’t care enough to enter into any sort of dialogue.
       • weka 6.1.1.1

         5 March 2016 at 1:06 pm

         I’m guessing many people scroll on past (I do). Lynn could probably tell how many people follow links from her comments.

         I can’t be bothered saying anything to her about the spam, because she’s always right and everyone else is always wrong.
         • Penny Bright 6.1.1.1.1

           5 March 2016 at 1:59 pm

           So Weka – you don’t care about tax evasion by multinational companies?

           I do.

           Kind regards

           Penny Bright
           2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
           • weka 6.1.1.1.1.1

             5 March 2016 at 2:38 pm

             Fuck off you disingenuous troll. That’s what I say to anyone who puts words in my mouth and misrepresents my political views and values. Right now it’s hard to imagine a worse candidate for a Mayor than someone who lies about other people’s views and thinks it’s ok to do so for their own agenda.
             • Penny Bright …

               5 March 2016 at 3:38 pm

               So Weka – why don’t you have a civilised debate about this issue?

               It’s a rather important one – isn’t it?

               I ASKED you a question and got, in my view, an unnecessary offensive and semi-hysterical, apoplectic reply.

               Sheesh!

               Some of you ‘commenters’ on The Standard, in my view (and experience) can be worse than those on Kiwiblog!

               (And that’s saying something … 🙂

               Have a cuppa and calm yourself Weka ….

               Kind regards

               Penny Bright
               2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
               • Visubversa …

                 5 March 2016 at 5:30 pm

                 When not even the trolls bother to reply you Penny – time to get the message.
       • Rodel 6.1.1.2

         5 March 2016 at 9:59 pm

         more charming comments. such nice people exist. eh penny?
     • DoublePlusGood 6.1.2

       7 March 2016 at 12:15 am

       Generally, we expect people on here to come up with some thinking of their own, not just post the thinking of others.
       Try harder.
7. Morrissey 7

   5 March 2016 at 9:57 am

   Kim Hill lets another shameless propagandist have his say, uninterrupted.
   RNZ National, Saturday 5 March 2016, 8:12 a.m.

   His C.V., as printed on the RNZ website, certainly sounds impressive: “Jamie McIntyre consults on national security issues, blogs on the military and media (Jamie McIntyre’s Behind Frenemy Lines), and is Adjunct Professor of Multimedia Journalism at the University of Maryland. His career spans four decades, from the local news round at WTOP radio in Washington D.C. to Al Jazeera America’s National Security Correspondent based at the Pentagon. He was in the Pentagon on 11 September 2001, and he broke the news of Saddam Hussain’s capture. He is currently on special assignment at PBS NewsHour, where he has investigated the Pentagon’s plans to spend $US1 trillion on upgrading America’s nuclear arsenal, some of which is 60 years old.”

   The actuality, however, is not so impressive….

   KIM HILL: How come you haven’t been captured by the establishment?

   JAMIE McINTYRE: Y’know, I and other reporters are allowed to roam the corridors of the Pentagon at will. I doubt whether you can do that in any other country in the world, even over there in New Zealand.

   ………..

   KIM HILL: Why is Iran not allowed to have nuclear weapons? It just seems to be taken for granted that they can’t have them. Why?

   JAMIE McINTYRE: Well, the United States sees itself as the good guys. [snickers awkwardly at the absurdity of that statement]

   KIM HILL: Of COURSE.

   JAMIE McINTYRE: [adopting a serious tone] But Iran has a track record of supporting organisations deemed to be terrorist, and of being anti-Israel.

   Hill, who cannot be so dim as to believe a word of that unsupported stream of nonsense, failed to challenge it. I decided to send her a wake-up message….

   Why did you suggest Jamie McIntyre is something other than he is?

   Dear Kim,

   You asked Jamie McIntyre why he had “not been captured by the establishment”. That question implied that he is an independent and rigorous journalist; what he said during the interview demonstrated he was anything but independent or rigorous.

   When you asked him why Iran should not have a nuclear arsenal, McIntyre claimed that the United States are “the good guys” and then he launched into a reiteration of official rhetoric, claiming that Iran “has a track record of supporting organisations deemed to be terrorist and of being anti-Israel.”

   Jamie McIntyre spoke with wonderment about how he is allowed to wander freely about the corridors of the Pentagon. His bland endorsement of Pentagon—and State Department—rhetoric shows just why he and other “journalists” like him are allowed to wander so freely: with their credulous repetition of black propaganda against official enemies, “journalists” like Jamie McIntyre are effectively agents of the Pentagon.

   Yours sincerely,

   Morrissey Breen
   Northcote Point

   More ignorant—or is it deliberate—recycling of propaganda by Kim Hill….
   http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-12092015/#comment-1069487
   • tc 7.1

     5 March 2016 at 12:28 pm

     If she wants to stay employed in the words of Dylan ‘you gonna have to serve somebody….’
8. Karen 8

   5 March 2016 at 9:59 am

   No National MP could be bothered attending the tangi for the late, great Ranginui Walker. Absolutely shameful considering his immense mana and all the work he did for the Waitangi Tribunal.

   He used to write in the Listener before Pamela Stirling turned it into the rightwing travesty it is today. Here he is on the Don Brash Orewa speech:

   http://www.listener.co.nz/uncategorized/state-of-the-nation/
   • tc 8.1

     5 March 2016 at 11:10 am

     National MP’s do as they are told and he wasn’t on their side so it’s not surprising
   • weka 8.2

     5 March 2016 at 11:27 am

     Thank for the link Karen, I looked the other day for Listener columns and couldn’t find any. Am hoping some of the pre-internet ones will get republished.

     That is shameful that no Nats attended his tangi. This is where we are now.
   • Morrissey 8.3

     5 March 2016 at 12:08 pm

     Did any Labour MPs have the nerve to go? (Bearing in mind Helen Clark’s cynical decision to out-Brash Brash after she was spooked by the success of the Orewa speech.)
     • Karen 8.3.1

       5 March 2016 at 12:39 pm

       Yes, Labour MPs did attend.
     • weka 8.3.2

       5 March 2016 at 1:07 pm

       We don’t have the Clark Labour govt any more Morrissey. I expect current MPs have their own relationship with Maoridom now.
9. Grindlebottom 9

   5 March 2016 at 10:44 am

   What is it with this site? I couldn’t access The Standard home page yesterday. Still can’t today – just get this:

   This web page is not available

   ERR_CONTENT_DECODING_FAILED

   Seems the only pages I can access today are “Open Mike 05032016” and “Jeanette Fitzsimons Call to Scrap the ETS”. The only way I can get in to these is by using my bookmark to the Comment Formatting page, then clicking on threads via the right side Comments summary box.

   Even so, I can’t access the “Intersections” post, “Young Nats Run Away…” yesterdays “Daily Review”, “John Key Lies…” in fact pretty much most other pages I click on in Comments are producing the above “page not available” result.

   Looks like I might as well just give up on here because I have constant access problems and no idea why that is. It only ever happens here. Not a caching problem. Clearing cache does nothing. 🙁

   Edit: Update. Oh FFS, I managed to post this comment, and now suddenly everything’s available!! Stuffed if I know what’s going on.
   • Morrissey 9.1

     5 March 2016 at 12:06 pm

     +1

     I had the same problem. I noticed that, while this blog did not appear, a link to Whaleoil’s cesspit was the second from the top.

     Why on earth would THAT be the case?
   • grumpystilskin 9.2

     5 March 2016 at 12:08 pm

     I’ve been having the same issue over the last 24hrs.
     Why is this site the ONLY one I continually have trouble with when it comes to loading, Not just recently but ever since I started visiting?
     osx 10.6.8 / firefox 44.0.2 (no ad blockers etc)
10. Morrissey 10

    5 March 2016 at 12:03 pm

    Meet the new ACT Party spokesman for Youth Affairs

    He’s actually a step up in quality from the likes of John “Cabbage” Banks, Jamie “Lock Up His Sisters” Whyte, David “Gruesome” Garrett, Stephen Franks, Dr Muriel Newman and David Seymour….
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11600143
11. Jones 11

    5 March 2016 at 12:34 pm

    Great discussion on the latest Keiser Report with Steve Keen and Ross Ashcroft on Australia’s housing bubble and exposure to mortgage debt, and, by default (mentioned), New Zealand’s exposure too…

    https://www.rt.com/shows/keiser-report/334369-episode-max-keiser-883/
    • Colonial Viper 11.1

      5 March 2016 at 6:52 pm

      That was an excellent episode of the Keiser Report.
12. weka 12

    5 March 2016 at 1:16 pm

    It’s not what you eat, it’s how it’s produced that determines the ethics. Here’s an interesting exploration of omnivore vs vegan ethics, which also shows that context is everything (it’s looking at site specific food production, in this case in Australia).

    Replacing red meat with grain products leads to many more sentient animal deaths, far greater animal suffering and significantly more environmental degradation. Protein obtained from grazing livestock costs far fewer lives per kilogram: it is a more humane, ethical and environmentally-friendly dietary option.

    So, what does a hungry human do? Our teeth and digestive system are adapted for omnivory. But we are now challenged to think about philosophical issues. We worry about the ethics involved in killing grazing animals and wonder if there are other more humane ways of obtaining adequate nutrients.

    Relying on grains and pulses brings destruction of native ecosystems, significant threats to native species and at least 25 times more deaths of sentient animals per kilogram of food. Most of these animals sing love songs to each other, until we inhumanely mass-slaughter them.

    …

    The challenge for the ethical eater is to choose the diet that causes the least deaths and environmental damage. There would appear to be far more ethical support for an omnivorous diet that includes rangeland-grown red meat and even more support for one that includes sustainably wild-harvested kangaroo.

    https://theconversation.com/ordering-the-vegetarian-meal-theres-more-animal-blood-on-your-hands-4659
    • Olwyn 12.1

      5 March 2016 at 2:00 pm

      There is a wild meat group in Australia – I have not been aware of one here, but perhaps there is. I know that when I ordered a pasta dish with the little blue mussels at the the pub in Melbourne, someone from the wild foods camp commented approvingly. I yearn for old school ways of eating, with the farms close to the cities and meat being a high days/holy days kind of food. I am not opposed to meat eating per se, but do not think that animals should be reduced to fodder either.
      • weka 12.1.1

        5 March 2016 at 2:45 pm

        That’s pretty much where I’m at too Olwyn. Family farms whose purpose is to produce food and provide a living for multiple people rather than big business that treats animals as stock units (not that some family farms haven’t been prone to animal cruelty as well). Often in these arguments we are comparing one set of bads for another. Let’s replace feedlot beef with Monsanto soy. Whereas the vision you present allows us to behave ethically on a number of fronts and produce food sustainably with regard for the wider ecosystems. I like the meat on high days concept. There’s also the idea from many cultures that you eat small amounts of meat often, but the end result is less meat than we eat now without going to the hard extreme of veganism (which is never going to be sustainable).

        I know lots of people that eat feral rabbit, venison, goat, pig etc. I liked the Australian perspective of large tracts of land being able to support smaller populations of feral animals for harvest. We could do this in a smaller scale in NZ too.
        • Olwyn 12.1.1.1

          5 March 2016 at 3:37 pm

          I like the meat on high days concept. There’s also the idea from many cultures that you eat small amounts of meat often, but the end result is less meat than we eat now without going to the hard extreme of veganism (which is never going to be sustainable). I think those ways of doing things are consistent with each other – the “small amounts of meat often” bit adds up to a whole animal being used, and not just the most desirable bits.

          Often in these arguments we are comparing one set of bads for another. Let’s replace feedlot beef with Monsanto soy. I couldn’t agree more! Everything gets reduced to “How would you like your corporatism?”
13. The Chairman 13

    5 March 2016 at 1:26 pm

    NZ law defines an organised criminal group as a structured group of three or more persons.

    The video below contains a good discussion on the Government’s latest response to gangs and more.

    https://youtu.be/zUoHZO0DLd0
    • Chooky 13.1

      5 March 2016 at 4:48 pm

      +100…very good discussion thanks
14. The Chairman 14

    5 March 2016 at 1:28 pm

    Could TTIP Privatise the NHS?

    https://youtu.be/WQOZwhA-Dyk
    • Reddelusion 14.1

      5 March 2016 at 3:41 pm

      Could Tpp stop the sun rising ?
      • The Chairman 14.1.1

        5 March 2016 at 5:32 pm

        http://www.foxnews.com/story/2009/04/08/obama-may-block-sun-rays-to-end-global-warming.html
      • Stuart Munro 14.1.2

        6 March 2016 at 2:07 pm

        If Key could figure out a way to monetise it.
    • Chooky 14.2

      5 March 2016 at 5:50 pm

      +100…a must watch!…possible serious implications for New Zealand’s free health system with the signing of TPPA ?

      …do we want a privatised health care system like USA’s corporate captured health system?….hell no!
15. joe90 15

    5 March 2016 at 1:41 pm

    If you can stand it – live feed of Trump rally in New Orleans.
16. Penny Bright 16

    5 March 2016 at 2:09 pm

    How long before something is done about the, in my view, significant ‘conflict of interest’ in Auckland Council being a member of the private sector lobby group for developers – the NZ Property Council?

    FYI – I raised this matter directly at the following Auckland Council Special Governing Body meeting:

    (Scroll to 7.50 minutes to see/ hear for yourself my presentation to the Special Auckland Council Governing Body held on 24 February 2016, on the ‘out of scope’ rezoning changes made behind closed doors by the Auckland Council Unitary Plan Committee.)

    FYI – I was the only Auckland Mayoral candidate who addressed Auckland Council at this meeting.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FpAH0Grs9TA

    Kind regards,

    Penny Bright
    • Rosie 16.1

      5 March 2016 at 2:46 pm

      Same dodgy buzz here in Wellington Penny. Councillor for Northern ward, Deputy Mayor and now Mayoral candidate on the Labour ticket, Justin Lester, sits on the executive of the Wellington branch of the NZ Property Council.

      No conflict of interest has been declared.

      Our city planning manager, is the former husband of one of Wellington biggest residential developers and did at least declare a conflict of interest over his relationship with that person, although nobody seems to have told the Mayor, as it is was her office that requested he sort out issues regarding anti social behaviour by developers and contractors in my neighbourhood. They simply denied he had a conflict of interest when I raised it.

      The northern suburbs are at the mercy of mass development. All work is undertaken on a non notified basis. There are no plans on any of the developments to mitigate environmental damage, outside of rules about not letting sediment get into creeks.
      After battling with the council, including the above mentioned councillor, and the developer for 18 months I’ve come to the conclusion that there is an incredibly unhealthy relationship between the council and developers here in Wellington.

      Had there been plans in place to protect and enhance the environment, build in areas close to public transport and close to shops and amenities, or at least allow for commercial areas within residential areas, to undertake construction in a way that is respectful towards residents and to build low cost housing I wouldn’t see a problem. It has been the complete opposite and theres only two winners, the developers and the council.
    • Chooky 16.2

      5 March 2016 at 4:25 pm

      +100 Go Penny ( Auckland is hotting up in more ways than one)
17. Chooky 17

    5 March 2016 at 3:10 pm

    All you ever wanted to know about neoliberal economics and Global Housing Bubbles …in particular Australia (NZ bank implications) and UK…and elsewhere…and where to for baby boomers, millennials, aspirationals etc

    https://www.rt.com/shows/keiser-report/334369-episode-max-keiser-883/

    “In this special episode of the Keiser Report, Max and Stacy are joined by Professor Steve Keen, author of Debunking Economics, and Ross Ashcroft of RenegadeInc.com and the crowd-funded series, Meet the Renegades. They discuss housing bubbles in Australia, housing policy in the UK, and the rise of Donald Trump as a sign of the great recession happening outside the property bubble cities in which both politicians and journalists live.”
18. stigie 18

    5 March 2016 at 3:29 pm

    And while you lot are at it, why don’t you “Give a little” to Penny Bright to help pay her rates and arrears, she seems hard done by !!

    [lprent: Completely off topic. Banned one week for diversion and another week for trolling. Moved to Open Mike. If I see you deliberately do this kind of stupidity again, I’ll be less lenient. ]
    • One Anonymous Bloke 18.1

      5 March 2016 at 3:36 pm

      She’s a greenhouse effect denier, you lot can have her.
      • Reddelusion 18.1.1

        5 March 2016 at 3:44 pm

        Now you really have crossed the line in cruelty and unusual punishmentsOAB 😀
        • One Anonymous Bloke 18.1.1.1

          5 March 2016 at 4:07 pm

          Thank you. I hope you will be very happy together.
    • Awww C-mon 18.2

      5 March 2016 at 4:17 pm

      I suggest an Auction, Kiwiblog vs Standard,

      Highest bidders get to ban Penny and restrict her to the opposing blog. All proceeds to Child Cancer.
      • One Anonymous Bloke 18.2.1

        5 March 2016 at 5:30 pm

        I suggest Princess Party Pinko Penguin is not the sort of person that anyone other than a right winger would want to be associated with.

        His low character is well documented.
19. grumpystilskin 19

    5 March 2016 at 5:41 pm

    Appears to be loading without the error messages for me, Lynn.
    A bit slow but you did say that..
    • lprent 19.1

      5 March 2016 at 7:21 pm

      thx.. I’ll try putting on the one layer of compression that it is meant to have.
      • lprent 19.1.1

        5 March 2016 at 9:10 pm

        Figured my way through it (eventually) I think.

        This should be correct now
20. adam 20

    5 March 2016 at 5:46 pm

    Killing Joke — New Cold War

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ebJbU0najk

    http://www.metrolyrics.com/new-cold-war-lyrics-killing-joke.html
    • Chooky 20.1

      5 March 2016 at 8:32 pm

      +100 adam…like it!
21. Chooky 21

    5 March 2016 at 8:30 pm

    A Change is Gonna come…lets hope it is a good one….

    Sam Cooke ‘A Change is Gonna Come’

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEBlaMOmKV4

    http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/sam-cooke-dies-under-suspicious-circumstances-in-la
    • Chooky 21.1

      5 March 2016 at 9:08 pm

      ‘Trump’ s hostile takeover’

      https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/334499-trump-clinton-presidential-election/

      “American presidential election politics is a cross between a talent show and a beauty contest. Being smart and coherent does not necessarily pay dividends. Case in point: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Both are front-runners of their parties. Trump is idiosyncratic and raw; Clinton the ultimate establishment insider. Is this a choice, or merely bad theater?

      CrossTalking with Brandon Andrews, David Paul Kuhn, and Lionel.”
22. Penny Bright 22

    5 March 2016 at 8:36 pm

    Just found out about this wee historical gem – which, in my view, is both pertinent and potentially politically embarrassing for Hillary Clinton?

    So – back in 1964 now Democratic Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton – worked (as a Republican?) on the 1964 election campaign of Republican segregationist Presidential candidate – Barry Goldwater.

    So much for Hillary Clinton’s ‘civil rights’ credentials?

    Barry Goldwater was never supposed to be supported as the Republican Presidential candidate at their convention, because he was regarded by ‘establishment’ Republicans as being ‘unelectable’.

    Is history going to repeat itself?

    This time I’m referring to Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Convention?

    http://usuncut.com/politics/npr-interview-hillary-clinton-was-proud-of-her-conservatism/

    A 1996 NPR interview with Hillary Clinton has recently resurfaced, in which the current Democratic front-runner shockingly embraced conservatism and reiterated how proud she was to support a segregationist presidential candidate.

    In the interview, Clinton told NPR’s Scott Simon that her political beliefs were “rooted in the conservatism that I was raised with,” and talked about being a “Goldwater girl” in 1964:
    ……

    http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h4011.html

    Barry Goldwater

    Barry Goldwater served five terms as a United States Senator for Arizona and was the Republican nominee for President in the Election of 1964. He is credited with reviving the conservative movement in the United States in the 1960’s.

    Although rebuffed nationally by the electorate, he mobilized a new wave of young conservatives who transferred their support toRonald Reagan, the winner in the election of 1980.
    ……
    Goldwater’s book, Conscience of a Conservative, published in 1960, made him a hero to anti-communist and anti-New-Deal Republicans. The movement to get the 1964 Republican nomination for Goldwater was not taken seriously by establishment Republicans, who regarded him as so obviously unelectable that the convention would never nominate him.

    However, Goldwater’s principal opponent in 1964 was Nelson Rockefeller, whose divorce and remarriage to a younger woman created a backlash. The birth of a child to his new wife just before the California primary probably cost him that election and provided Goldwater with a huge delegate count.

    After that, no plausible opponent emerged capable of stopping Goldwater. He was nominated at the national convention in xxx and gave a ringing defense of conservatism in his acceptance speech which energized his supporters but appalled moderates.
    ….

    _______________________

    Penny Bright
    2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
    • Chooky 22.1

      5 March 2016 at 9:11 pm

      +100 Penny…interesting about Hillary Clinton !…doesnt surprise me….anyone on the Left who supports her should read a bit more history imo
23. Penny Bright 23

    5 March 2016 at 9:20 pm

    Cheers Chooky – there’s more ….

    So – while Hillary Clinton is supporting the Republican Presidential candidate who supports segregation, Barry Goldwater – Bernie Sanders is getting arrested for desegregation?

    Who has the most trustworthy track record in supporting the civil liberties of Afro-Americans?

    http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/20-examples-bernie-sanders-powerful-record-civil-and-human-rights-1950s

    2. Being Arrested For Desegregation: As a student at the University of Chicago, Sanders was active in both the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In 1962, he was arrested for protesting segregation in public schools in Chicago; the police came to call him an outside agitator, as he went around putting up flyers around the city detailing police brutality.
    …..
    _________________________

    Penny Bright
    2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
    • Chooky 23.1

      6 March 2016 at 10:00 am

      yes Sanders is authentic….Hillary is a phony and worse
24. swordfish 24

    6 March 2016 at 2:19 am

    http://libaryofimages.com/image.php?pic=https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Albania_flag-5.jpg
    • Chooky 24.1

      6 March 2016 at 10:01 am

      that should be Hillary’s flag

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