Open mike 07/10/2012

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, October 7th, 2012 - 67 comments
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

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Step right up to the mike…

67 comments on “Open mike 07/10/2012 ”

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  1. Te Reo Putake 1
    7 October 2012 at 8:23 am

    Snoop weighs up the difference between Romney and Obama. Turns out the name ‘Mitt’ is the decider. That and the dancing horse.
     

  2. Kevin Welsh 2
    7 October 2012 at 8:38 am

    Looks like it’s been the dumb fuckers leaving and much smarter people arriving…

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7779840/Key-changes-tack-with-brain-exchange-tag

    • Bill 2.1
      7 October 2012 at 9:20 am

      Ah. The market provides again. Whoop. We have a brain exchange now. Wonder if Johnny Boy picked his up as a ‘not worth trading’ commodity that had been discarded on the trading room floor?

      Or is it just me who has images of ‘Futurama’ and heads in jars?

      • Dr Terry 2.1.1
        7 October 2012 at 11:16 am

        Have no fear Bill, by no means do you stand alone in this (and other) sound opinions concerning “Johnny Boy”! (The problem is that too many of us are much too often feeling alone and thus vulnerable – this is what Johnny and cohorts do to us). Maybe I am not making much sense of this!?

        • KJT 2.1.1.1
          7 October 2012 at 2:09 pm

          Yeah right.
          In my industry we are losing all our young competent people and replacing them with poorly trained ring ins from overseas.

          The average age of the Kiwis that are left is 57.

          • muzza 2.1.1.1.1
            7 October 2012 at 2:55 pm

            In my industry we are losing all our young competent people and replacing them with poorly trained ring ins from overseas.

            Indeed this is what I see also, and its not limited to any one industry. The ring ins also cost less, because they have little to no idea what a job might pay when they arrive, so it works to suppress wages nicely for the “owners”, quality be damned!

            I work amongst entire swathes, some of who can barely speak english, which while not in of itself a problem, it most certainly becomes one in the work place.

      • Tim 2.1.2
        7 October 2012 at 2:53 pm

        The brain drain term was obviously just “mis-sold”. (I just mis-purchased a bottle of wine that tasted really cheap and nasty) – should I take it back? I’ll give it a go. Oh… and I mis-purchased a load of fruit that was individually packaged in plastic.

    • muzza 2.2
      7 October 2012 at 9:25 am

      We really do live with truly twisted liers, repeating the truly twisted thoughts of the spin team behind the faces…

    • David H 2.3
      7 October 2012 at 9:29 am

      Oh yeah right they are so smart, that they are going to come to live in NZ for shit wages, and even shittier conditions, in a country run by a fool. Now there’s a Tui Ad.

    • Murray Olsen 2.4
      7 October 2012 at 4:12 pm

      My own experience is that a lot of the bright Kiwis are leaving, with the jobs going to third rate remnants of the empire from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Britain. This seems particularly true in universities and the public service, especially in the higher echelons. For example, to speak of Longstone, Rebstock, or those filling the ranks of the spy agencies in terms of a brain exchange may have been accurate in the days of live sheep exports, but haven’t they stopped? In my own field, most of the best people are in the academic diaspora, while semi competent self promoters from overseas are slowly filling the positions in Aotearoa.

  3. Jokerman 3
    7 October 2012 at 9:37 am

    THE DARK NIGHT

    In the delicious night,
    In privacy, where no one saw me,
    Nor did I see one thing,
    I had no light or guide
    But the fire that burned inside my chest.

    That fire showed me
    The way more clearly than the blaze of moon
    To where, waiting for me,
    Was the One I knew so well.
    In that place where no one ever is.

    Oh night, sweet guider,
    Oh night more marvelous than the dawn!
    Oh night which joins
    The lover and the beloved
    So that the lover and beloved change bodies!

    In my chest full of flowers,
    Flowering wholly and only for Him,
    There He remained sleeping;
    I cared for Him there,
    And the fan of the high cedars cooled Him.

    The wind played with
    His hair, and that wind from the high
    Towers struck me on the neck
    With its sober hand;
    Sight, taste, touch, hearing stopped.

    I stood still. I forgot who I was,
    My face leaning against Him,
    Everything stopped, abandoned me,
    My worldliness was gone, forgotten
    Among the white lilies.

    -John, The Weavers Apprentice

    He said to Moses, “I Will Be What, Where and How I Will Be”

    so back to the books, semi-monasticism, with a little gardening on the side.
    ( and they all said “tfft” 🙂 )

    Go In Peace

    -j

  4. David H 4
    7 October 2012 at 9:43 am

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7779714/Businesses-targeted-in-student-visa-scam

    Private Training Establishments and businesses making a killing. it makes the word private a very dirty word, when used in conjunction with education.

    And you gotta love a battler..
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7779571/Jobless-battler-takes-on-Winz-for-a-3-cause

    • Draco T Bastard 4.1
      7 October 2012 at 10:53 am

      Re second link:

      Through Crown Law, Winz is fighting the decision and the case will be heard in the Dunedin High Court on Wednesday.

      “We disagree strongly with a number of elements of the decision. We are appealing to the High Court against some of the conclusions the tribunal has reached in deciding the Ministry [of Social Development] failed to comply with the Privacy Act, and most of the orders made by the tribunal,” chief executive Debbie Power said. “In particular we are appealing the order that we review our processes.”

      Holmes now believes he won’t see the cash awarded him and was “very annoyed” to get the appeal papers this past week.

      Gee, what a surprise. WINZ fucks someone over and then complains about being caught doing it.

    • weka 4.2
      7 October 2012 at 1:23 pm

      Second link – that is such an awesome story, someone should give that guy a fucking medal. His original enquiry was over a $3.73 mispayment and WINZ fucked it up so badly that the HRC eventually awards the guy $17,000 in damages.

      It should be noted that the kinds of mistakes reported in the article are pretty standard, so this case seems groundbreaking to me. WINZ have just been told by the Human Rights Commission that their processes at a system and institutional level are broken and need to be fixed.

      It will be interesting to see what the courts do with it. Won’t be the first time that WINZ have lost a battle in the High Court due to not treating a beneficiary properly with respect to entitlements. 

      Edit: actually the Human Rights Tribunal which is part of the Dept of Justice (not the HRC).

    • Murray Olsen 4.3
      7 October 2012 at 4:16 pm

      Some Dunedin people who were part of the recent National Day of Action are organising support for the old battler. He won’t be alone at the High Court on Wednesday.

  5. Dr Terry 5
    7 October 2012 at 11:29 am

    The numbers who are brave enough to see through Key and his gang, must at all costs hang in there with patience. Despair will mean victory for them, as tempting as it is to submit to despair.

    • muzza 5.1
      7 October 2012 at 1:57 pm

      Sounds reasonable…

      So who will be turning it around then, if you were pressed for an an answer Dr T?

      • Dr Terry 5.1.1
        7 October 2012 at 3:59 pm

        muzza. First of all I must look to myself and my own thoughts and actions, next to my family and friends, then by my contributions through the Green Party and the Labour Party (especially Mr Cunliffe), and, most importantly, I would look to you in person! (Actually, I am not finished yet, but this will do for starters).

        • muzza 5.1.1.1
          7 October 2012 at 8:45 pm

          Quite right Dr T,

          We can only positively influence what we directly touch, and if all people started with themselves, and worked outwards from there, it would be a very good start. If we are able to influence so well, then it could perhaps turn into being able to influence what we do not directly touch. Thats when things could get very interesting indeed.

  6. Dv 6
    7 October 2012 at 11:44 am

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/latest-edition/7779753/Payroll-chaos-latest-burden-for-teachers

    A ”shambolic” Education Ministry payroll system is threatening to shatter the resilience of Christchurch teachers who are already at war with the Government, principals say.

    They say the $29 million Novopay system, implemented in August, is an added burden for Christchurch schools affected by the Government’s recent education shake-up, involving closures and mergers.

    Since Novopay was introduced, some schools have had to foot the bill when staff were underpaid and in other cases ex-staff members have reappeared on the payroll.

    • David H 6.1
      7 October 2012 at 11:57 am

      Ummm What was wrong with the old system???

      • Dv 6.1.1
        7 October 2012 at 12:07 pm

        >>>Ummm What was wrong with the old system
        It worked!!!

        I think, but I don’t really know that the new system is web based.

        Maybe ianmac or some one more connected can tell us.

        The reappearance of teachers on the payroll who have resigned is odd.
        Obviously one problem is the data transition.

        • Tony P 6.1.1.1
          7 October 2012 at 1:18 pm

          Yes it is web based and has caused a lot of trouble for the ancillary staff in schools who deal with payroll. Apparently Novopay knew they weren’t ready but the MOE insisted they commence operations. Most teacher’s thankfully haven’t had problems, it’s support staff, relievers and part time staff who appear to have had the most problems.

          • tc 6.1.1.1.1
            7 October 2012 at 7:16 pm

            Sounds familiar, experienced supplier says ‘not ready’ normally due to the feckless incompetence of the client but gets told to go live anyway.

            Ryalls been doing that in the DHB’S backend, gotta have those ticks in boxes, job done bonuses for the mangers all around.

            Supershity is still cleaning up after sergeant Ford, Rortney and Shonkeys forced shambles and is effectively still 7 councils once you scratch the surface with the same mad as meat axes managers bullying people around, they just get paid more now like bully boy McKay.

          • BonnieW 6.1.1.1.2
            9 October 2012 at 8:51 am

            Talent2 not being ready? – they had more than four years!!!

        • ianmac 6.1.1.2
          7 October 2012 at 1:20 pm

          Sorry DV. Not connected but will ask neighbours. When the Ministry said fewer than 100 had problems I thought that it was a politically motivated number because who would be able to show that it might be thousands?

        • Dv 6.1.1.3
          7 October 2012 at 1:24 pm

          One of the ‘thing’ that has irritated one teacher (Part time) that I know is their pay has been reduced by 3 cents a pay.
          It is apparently that each calculation is rounded as it is done. and not at the end.

          Now I know that is sort of trivial, BUT really irritating.
          Why can’t they just round at the end.

  7. Draco T Bastard 7
    7 October 2012 at 1:06 pm

    Financial Warfare: Destabilizing Iran’s Monetary System

    While combating the challenges that economic sanctions represent is an arduous task for any government, it is important to recognize that these sanctions are not aimed against Iran’s government, but at its poor and merchant population. An unnamed US intelligence source cited by the Washington Post claims:

    ”In addition to the direct pressure sanctions exert on the regime’s ability to finance its priorities, another option here is that they will create hate and discontent at the street level so that the Iranian leaders realize that they need to change their ways.”

    Washington has long engaged in psychological operations that aim to foment the kind of “hate and discontent” among Iran’s factory workers, merchants, shopkeepers, students, and manufacturers – as part of a series of measures taken to coax widespread social discontent and unrest throughout the country to topple the government.

    Magical Thinking, Meteorology and Economic Forecasting.

    In banking terms the UK has close to £2 trillion in unsecured loans. This level of debt is not neutral. This level of debt has a huge impact. Part of the problem is that debt incurs rent. Yes, the principle cancels out, but interest payments don’t. We don’t know what the average rate of interest is on all this debt, but let’s assume it’s 10%. That means that interest payments are about 47% of GDP. Almost half the annual income of the UK. That is very far from a neutral amount, and may well be an underestimate. If we take the population in 2010 to be 60 million, then in 2010 we all owed nearly £120,000. This is probably a bit higher now because the government is worth less.

    Emphasis mine.

    • mike e 7.1
      7 October 2012 at 1:27 pm

      DTB after 3 years of Tory Austerity the RWNJ’s have increased the National debt by more than 20% after saying repeatedly that austerity was the only answer to the UK”s economy Austerity has made it far worse

    • Colonial Viper 7.2
      7 October 2012 at 2:41 pm

      That means that interest payments to banks and financial bondholders are about 47% of GDP.

      For the sake of clarity: this is where all the money being “saved” by austerity is going.

      • muzza 7.2.1
        7 October 2012 at 2:59 pm

        http://www.johnpemberton.co.nz/html/debt_graph_info.pdf

        New Zealand government official stats show $318 billion NZ originated private institution credit money. They then treat as assets and deduct what has been invested overseas and come up with what they call Net International Investment Position which appears much less alarming despite that money competting to find profit in an international financial system where the international debt is also unrepayable from the day its born.
        Even if the foreign investments from NZ where able to be repatriated in quick time they would come back to only the wealthiest few who control them and not benefit wider society as implied. Just more smoke and mirrors;
        http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/ParlSupport/ResearchPapers/3/4/6/00PlibCIP121-New-Zealand-s-International-Investment-Position.htm

        $318 billion debt based money supply at annual interest rate of 7% equals $22 odd billion interest repayment that is essentially rent upon a revolving line of credit that circulates as our money supply.
        Given most of that interest finds its way back to the same largest owners of larger international banks who own largest stake holdings in Australian banks who own NZ banks, it puts to shame the 1.3 billion they give back in tax and shout from the roof tops as being so beneficial to the prosperity of the nation?

      • Draco T Bastard 7.2.2
        7 October 2012 at 4:45 pm

        Exactly CV.

  8. AsleepWhileWalking 8
    7 October 2012 at 1:18 pm

    Herald gets headline wrong. Should read, “Meathead says raping a woman built his character”

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10838938

    Piss off, loser. “The People” don’t want you as much as your brain damaged mind would like to imagine.

    Quote:

    “Tyson served three years in prison after the 1991 rape of an 18-year-old woman in an Indianapolis hotel room.

    He insisted during a visit to London, however, that the negative experiences in his life have shaped his character.

    “Anything that I would have got away from, being in prison, having fights, biting (Evander) Holyfield; (the) lack of that, my life would be miserable,” Tyson said as he launched a new range of boxing gear.”

  9. Tim 9
    7 October 2012 at 2:39 pm

    Jesus H. Christ!…….check THIS out!
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/columnists/john-hartevelt/7778670/Key-must-press-on-to-fix-spy-agency

    “But the prime minister deserves some credit for his willingness to turn over more information about the secretive spy agency…….” (John Hartevelt)

    Who IS this guy?

    Straws. at. clutching
    a-wishin. a-hopin
    Faith and hope
    carry on Major
    Chin up
    itchim, smetchim, goan fowid, oim rilexed

    • Tim 9.1
      7 October 2012 at 2:44 pm

      Oh…apologies… I see from the link I just posted that John Hartevelt is a “columnist”. Let’s commend Fairfax for being charitable

      • Dr Terry 9.1.1
        7 October 2012 at 4:13 pm

        Tim. Fairfax is showing its true colours, that’s about all. Indeed, Key apologised NOT for himself but for his minions who suffered through absence of his leadership. Key did “the right things” only under immense duress. So, he is a Saint? Even worse people than him have been canonised.

  10. NickS 10
    7 October 2012 at 3:15 pm

    http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/41015_Video_by_Simpsons_Animator_Lucas_Gray-_Why_Obama_Now/

    Not that the right will ever abandon a failed policy in the face of overwhelming evidence that it doesn’t fucking work 🙄

  11. smokeskreen 11
    7 October 2012 at 3:42 pm

    Just a random thought….whatever happened to the Cullen Fund which seems to have sunk without trace never to be seen again? Does anybody know?

  12. Draco T Bastard 12
    7 October 2012 at 5:12 pm

    More news from Planet Key.

  13. Jenny 13
    7 October 2012 at 7:06 pm

    Blood on our hands?

    New Zealand’s Afghan interpreters go public, pleading to New Zealanders for their lives.

    Will Key and our military leaders heed their call and do the right thing?

    Or will New Zealand’s ill advised ten year involvement in the Afghan war result in one final outrage?

    A former Afghan interpreter who now lives in Christchurch said it felt as though his colleagues had been “used and abandoned” by the New Zealand Government.

    Diamond Kazimi, 19, was granted asylum in New Zealand last year after serving as a translator with the troops in Bamiyan for 18 months.

    Interpreters lived on base with the soldiers, ate with them, went on patrols with them and were like brothers, he said.

    Since his move, the Linwood College pupil has been involved in pre-deployment training for New Zealand soldiers heading to Afghanistan. He agreed the troops should withdraw.

    “But don’t leave the interpreters behind to die for helping. Do you even care about these people who have done a service to New Zealand soldiers?”

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7779871/Dear-Mr-Key-please-don-t-leave-us-to-die

  14. Draco T Bastard 14
    7 October 2012 at 7:33 pm

    So, while Key is over in Hollywood talking up making films here Weta are importing workers.

    Overseas film making crew are pouring into New Zealand while the prime minister is in Los Angeles claiming Hollywood investment in New Zealand creates jobs.

    Speaking this weekend on TV3’s The Nation programme this weekend, Wellington city councillor Jo Coughlan and NZCTU president Helen Kelly agreed 400 overseas technicians had recently applied for visas to work at the Weta post production facility in the capital.

    Seems somewhat self-defeating to subsidise multi-national conglomerates to bring work here to NZ only to give those jobs to foreigners. Especially while we have such massive unemployment.

    • Colonial Viper 14.1
      7 October 2012 at 7:49 pm

      Good old Peter Jackson screwing NZ workers yet again. I hope those Weta employees who marched against union protections understand a bit better what is happening now.

    • karol 14.2
      7 October 2012 at 8:02 pm

      Yes, I saw that before I went to work this morning.  Also, as I recall, someone (probably Kelsey) said something about the TPPA rules will make it harder for films by NZ production companies to use the web to market or distribute their films. 
      All about Hollywood protecting their market advantage.  Why would they want to concede anything to the NZ industry?

  15. just saying 15
    7 October 2012 at 8:46 pm

    http://www.academia.edu/1273785/The_three_Ds_of_welfare_reform_disability_disgust_and_deservingness

    From the Australian Journal of Human rights an interesting analysis of the deliberate strategy of manipulating public disgust towards welfare beneficiaries, by the Howard government, in order to further the aims of the neoliberal elites in changing public beliefs about distributive justice and social rights.

    Apologies for the poor reproduction of the text. I’m not sure why it has transferred badly from the link. embolding mine.

    Via the Feminist Carnival Down Under.

    …..While parliamentary debates were a key means for promulgating a discourse of disgust, the most common device used by the Howard government to reframethe welfare recipient as untrustworthy, lazy and morally deficient was the media release. For the period between the initial launch of the welfare reform project bySenator Newman in September 1999 and the successful passage of the
    EmploymentandWorkplaceRelationsLegislationAmendment(WelfaretoWorkandOtherMeasures) Act2005
    (Cth) in December 2005, a search on the Factiva database reveals over 3125 media publications that directly linked welfare, social security, Centrelinkor pensions to fraudulent claims and welfare ‘cheats’. As a crude measure, thisrepresents approximately 1.47 newspaper articles across the country daily.
    5
    Much ofthe media campaign was fed by the political elite in order to mark out the welfarerecipient as unworthy of redistributive public welfare. The notion of the disgusting‘welfare fraudster’ (Vanstone 2002, 1) was repeated extensively through the rulingparty’s term in office. Consistent repetitive moral discourses of fraud spanned severalyears and acted to criminalise the welfare recipient:……

    …..‘morally untrustworthy welfare recipient’ was produced andreproduced. With each repetition, powerful moral discourses eventually becameaccepted as unquestioned social truths in the Australian public sphere (Soldaticand Fiske 2009)
    . Ultimately, disgust aroused the public senses to haunt, disturb anddisrupt the established normative notions of deserving tied to disability entitlements.Disgust, with its insidious stickiness, oozed subtlety (see Ahmed 2004; Lawler 2005),underpinning and emerging within public discourses on the welfare subject, thusforming the ‘glue’ required to combine the range of necessary contingencies to shiftthe public understandings of distributive justice and social rights.

    • Jokerman 15.1
      7 October 2012 at 8:49 pm

      Excellent

    • kiwi_prometheus 15.2
      8 October 2012 at 2:47 am

      That’s why we need the ‘Big Kahuna’ by Gareth Morgan. http://www.bigkahuna.org.nz

      A Royal Commission quote from the site:

      “A system designed only to assist the poor helps perpetuate existing social and economic inequality in the longer run by reinforcing distinctions between the poor and the rest of society, and at the same time it may lock the poor into a cycle of poverty by its system of benefit abatement.”

      [ So the present system stigmatises the poor, may even keep them down ]

      “A further implication is that a highly targeted system will ultimately face considerable resistance from taxpayers unwilling to support a system perceived as rewarding the improvident and providing themselves with no return for their contributions.”

      [ So the present system is seen as unfair by many of those needed to contribute. So the neocon/liberal/right or whatever you want to call them can get a lot of political mileage out of this. ]

      When will the Left move to a new paradigm that stays true to the original goal of wealth redistribution and deals with the problems of the outmoded bloated welfare state?

      Raving on about the end of capitalism and patriarchy definitely won’t help the Left.

      • KJT 15.2.1
        8 October 2012 at 9:23 am

        For once I agree with you. Gareth Morgan has excellent ideas about income distribution and fair taxation.

        Abatement rates for those trying to get work on benefits are a definite obstacle to taking on part time or full time work. The same people who claim that tax rates of 30% stop the wealthy from working harder or staying here are fine with 100% or even more abatement rates for those who try and supplement their benefit or try and get into some work.

        The savings in not having to employ all the arrogant, holier than thou, twits in WINZ would be immense, for a start. Though so many of them would be unemployable elsewhere, that the number unemployed may increase.

        I also like his idea of wheedling out tax dodgers by taxing them on the risk free return rate on wealth. No one with 50 million is going to have no earnings from it. Obviously there are a lot of bludgers, using services provided by taxpayers, at the top end of the scale, when 50% of our wealthiest people pay no tax.

        I was interested in the GMI long before Morgan suggested it, but it solves a lot of problems.

        • prism 15.2.1.1
          8 October 2012 at 10:42 am

          KJT 15.2.1
          Good points. Particularly the benefit abatement rate that is so high. It is possible that those on benefits will always find employment only at the minimum wage. A sensible and pragmatic government would see benefits as a base and then want and help beneficiaries to extend themselves with some study at technics, particularly solo parents.

          Also to get some paid work to keep up their work profile, if no paid work then work regularly at some volunteer job, and look at helping with seasonal work in some form. This would be facilitated by transport and child care provision for instance. The demands of WINZ workers can create more financial burdens for struggling people. One of my cash-strapped relations with family worries as well, had to drive her own car at her own expense many kilometres to an orchard job only to find that work had been cancelled that day because of bad weather. I think it was demanded that she start on a certain day, and no allowance made for shut downs of the employer.

          The authoritarian attitude of the state and its servants in WINZ is to despise people who are struggling,and to disregard parents responsibilities and the child-raising skills needed despite all the professional and academic statements that good early childhood care creates well balanced children and citizens. Government should be assisting the opportunities for beneficiaries and low income people to have as good quality and useful life as possible, not to simply concentrate on employment league tables and concentrate on lesser numbers for their stats. Their goal should be to have happy people working and achieving at something that is suitable to their circumstances and that would benefit society and be cheaper to administer by $million.

  16. joe90 16
    7 October 2012 at 8:59 pm

    Replying to Paul Broun and his lies straight from the pit of hell.

    Well, if the Big Bang is a lie from the pit of hell, then the Universe itself is lying to us, and I’m a liar repeating those lies that it tells us about itself. Here’s why.

    • Jokerman 16.1
      7 October 2012 at 9:29 pm

      on the same wavelength. (in the beginning was the information, and the information was with…)
      Always love your posts joe. -Kirk Out

    • weka 17.1
      7 October 2012 at 11:31 pm

      can you post a link that doesn’t need registration?

    • felix 17.2
      8 October 2012 at 8:01 am

      But look at the trade volumes on that spike yesterday, all ones and twos on the way up. Looks like some gaming going on as usual.