Open mike 08/06/2011

58 comments on “Open mike 08/06/2011”

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1. Jenny 1

   8 June 2011 at 8:00 am

   ‘
   Labour MP for Mangere to table Tax Justice petition before parliament.

   Su’a William Sio says he looks forward to tabling the Tax Justice petition before parliament. He says having 50,000 signatures on a petition is enough reason for Parliament to take note and consider the merits and substance of this petition.

   “The large numbers of people signing this petition also reflects the significant numbers of New Zealanders who are struggling to make ends meet due to the high cost of living, which I see everyday in Mangere,” says Mr Sio.

   “Labour recognises that the cost of living is a huge issue in our communities and that’s why it has already set out its initial policies – removing all GST off fresh fruits and vegetables, and no tax on the first $5000 of income.”

   As well as calling for the removal of GST off all food. The Tax Justice Petition calls for a Financial Transaction Tax on speculation. Currently the billions made by financiers like John Key and his ‘trader’ mates, goes untaxed. While food is taxed. This is why the campaign is called Tax Justice.

   New Zealanders can sign an online version of the Tax Justice petition here

   • Jilly Bee 1.1

     8 June 2011 at 10:37 am

     Thank you for bringing this petition to my attention Jenny, I have just signed it and will urge my friends and family to do so as well.

     • Jenny 1.1.1

       9 June 2011 at 1:04 am

       ‘
       Hi Jilly, You might like this.

       Kind regards Jenny

2. Peter 2

   8 June 2011 at 8:03 am

   Todays Huffington Post in support of increasing mimimum wages

   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/07/minimum-wage-increase-help-economy-experts_n_872617.html

   • Jenny 2.1

     8 June 2011 at 9:19 am

     ‘
     It may be little wonder that even conservative media are considering increasing minimum wages as US workers share of national income has fallen to its lowest point in modern history

     Echoing the concerns expressed at the Huffington Post on this level of inequality, David Rosenberg asks, “Is this sustainable?”

   • ianmac 2.2

     8 June 2011 at 9:59 am

     Sounds familiar Peter : “…..higher minimum wages flush more money into the economy without cutting into job growth — the latter a long-held contention of business interests and many conservatives.”

3. vto 3

   8 June 2011 at 8:30 am

   Is Christchurch going to come through this ok? Will the people return to at least the same as before and the economy rapidly gain its former capacity?

   I don’t know, and there seem to be murmurings along these lines. There still seems to be a steady but low exodus from the city. Hundreds and hundreds of empty houses for rent. Businesses chopped down and evaporating.

   Hope these thoughts are in the wrong direction but doubts are creeping in here and there.

   Maybe what would help is some large scale demolition. Knock down a couple of the large buildings asap in order to show that progress is happenning.

   Then again, only two weeks until the shortest day!

   • William Joyce 3.1

     8 June 2011 at 10:21 am

     I think that history shows us that there is something akin to the “grieving process” that follows disasters like this.
     One of those things that happen is the phase where the problem looks so big and the effort so little that people despair can set in – where you wonder how life can ever be “normal” again.
     Human’s are resilient, very adaptive and have the smarts to survive. Human’s have throughout time adapted to changes in their physical environment and rebuilt that which has been destroyed.
     Christchurch has taken a hit and, like the aftershocks, there is more to come as people adjust to the new realities (i.e. the need to relocate, the need to start a new business and or close an old one, dealing with the loss of investment etc).
      
     When we build a life for ourselves we do so over time. Buy a car, lay down a lawn, build a house, get a job, move house, fix the plumbing, get the kids into a school.

     But with an earthquake, not only is what you have built up over time destroyed or changed in a short time, you have to rebuild any number of things in a short time. Then you have to adapt to changes in the city – cafes you went to aren’t there anymore, the route you take to work doesn’t exist anymore, your morning walk no longer has the trees you loved.
     All in all that is a HUGE number of stressors in with a short time in which to adapt.
     Things will be “normal” again for Christchurch. Not “the same” but normal.
     I feel (as much as I am able:-) ) for the burden that Chch people have to carry.
     Having said all that, (and as an aside) the Christchurch earthquake was an obvious change that needs to be adapted to and humans will adapt.
     It’s the slow stuff that worries me. The insidious creep of climate change may blind us to the urgent need to adapt.

   • travellerev 3.2

     8 June 2011 at 10:34 am

     Hi VTO,
     I think that William Joyce has it right. Grieving is what you may have to do for all that is lost. I have gone through major changes forced on me by outside forces and while I tried to hold on to all that was familiar to me I found I could not move on until I acknowledged and grieved for all that I lost and I lost all.

     It has taken me years and I still grief of and on but it gets easier in time and you and Christchurch will rebuild. It’s human nature.
     Kind regards
     Ev

   • ropata 3.3

     8 June 2011 at 11:37 am

     I lived in Christchurch for 10 years when it was still beautiful. Went back after 22Feb; it’s a wreck, it will never be the same. I came up to Auckland for work just before all the quakes began and I’m sorry to say I have no desire to go back.. too depressing and messed up 🙁

     • Colonial Viper 3.3.1

       8 June 2011 at 11:41 am

       Well I read a report the other day saying that Christchurch has had a total of 21 new housing consents since Sept last year, for replacing earthquake damaged housing.

       At this pitiful run rate, they’ll still be fixing up houses from the recent Christchurch earthquake damage in the 24th/25th century.

       • ropata 3.3.1.1

         8 June 2011 at 12:18 pm

         Insurance companies are being slow to pay out, they are waiting for engineers to figure out how to stabilise the ground under those damaged properties, seems like a catch-22

4. travellerev 4

   8 June 2011 at 8:40 am

   While our bankster elite (both John and Don are after all finance boys firmly connected to the financial Wall street elite and the neocon boys through friendships and business relationships with Armitage, Geitner and Milton Friedman to name a few) advance the agenda of the international banksters here is a video of family members of some of those who died on the day it all began; 9/11 2001.

   They still have questions and so do 1500+ architects and engineers.

   And why did people bet on the airplane companies to loose value in the week of 911. Oh and on Merrill Lynch too?

   These ads are shown all over the US and with the UK marines of the coast of Yemen and 2000 US marines ready to invade Libya and New Zealand under attack from the Neocons scheisters who started it all I feel it is important to keep reminding people that this is not going away.

   For more background information on the coordinated financial attack all the countries in the European/US region of influence (New Zealand amongst them) are currently suffering and the ongoing implementation of the NeoCon agenda in the middle East read up on it here.

   There are still hundreds of questions not answered about the events that opened the door to all these developments and we will not stop until the family members, architects and engineers have those answers.

5. prism 5

   8 June 2011 at 9:28 am

   Surprising in the educated bloggers here that a number use loose instead of lose. I get the right meaning from the context, but why the mistake? I have seen it on Jackal’s posts and others too.
   Try thinking of loose change in the pocket, though you can lose that. I think I need a better example.

   • vto 5.1

     8 June 2011 at 9:33 am

     Lost loose losers losing loose change usually means loose lost brains losing looseness. Lost?.

     • prism 5.1.1

       8 June 2011 at 12:42 pm

       vto Now that’s education for you – Anne Tolley look and marvel.

   • lprent 5.2

     8 June 2011 at 12:34 pm

     It is the damn spell checkers. I notice it myself (and not just on the iPad). I check for spelling errors by looking at the spelling error highlights. If a word is spelt correctly but is the wrong variant then I don’t see it.

     The classic examples in these pages is ‘you’ when people mean ‘your’. It shows up in posts and comments everywhere.

     The converse is also true. I’m just itching to change ‘spelt’ because it shows as an error because of the idiot dictionary on this system.

     • Draco T Bastard 5.2.1

       8 June 2011 at 12:36 pm

       Now, now, stop blaming the machinery 😛

       • McFlock 5.2.1.1

         8 June 2011 at 3:02 pm

         I once chugged out an entire 12k word assignment that used, in every instance (which is quite often in an assignment on party leadership changes), “lead” instead of “led” because it was a bit rushed and I was reading it in my head to sound like “head” not “heed”. Interesting that my brain was full of the base metal I was spelling 🙂

     • prism 5.2.2

       8 June 2011 at 12:49 pm

       I don’t like the USA bias which means a word with s is often underlined because it should be z. Myself I like to keep z as a rare letter for when I play scrabble for high stakes. Other USAisms intrude too but I find spell checker helpful, it does pick up the errors which occur more often since the last upgrade of the Opera browser when the font for the standard decreased straining my eyesight, and some of my keys are so worn that the wrong alpha gets up. Machinery!

       • Vicky32 5.2.2.1

         8 June 2011 at 3:00 pm

         Exactly! I use Open Orifice and make certain it’s set to UK English (as NZ English isn’t an option weirdly..) When I use Word (only occasionally), it defaults back to US English, and quite insanely, many language schools offer only US English on their computers – I say insanely because many students I’ve had, have come to NZ because they want to avoid learning US dialect…

     • Vicky32 5.2.3

       8 June 2011 at 3:07 pm

       If a word is spelt correctly but is the wrong variant then I don’t see it.

       That reminds me of a story I heard years ago from a woman working as a temp dicta-typist, who got into a power of trouble for typing “The morning Jew lay gently on the grass”… 😀
       Spelt as in the grain? Try meaning ‘fora’ (plural of forums in Microsoft Word. It simply won’t allow it, which caused trouble in an essay I was writing for linguistics in 2003)

       • prism 5.2.3.1

         8 June 2011 at 3:54 pm

         vicky 32 That sentence obviously should have been “The mourning Jew lay gently on the grass…” 😯

6. travellerev 6

   8 June 2011 at 9:34 am

   That’s poetry vto.

7. prism 7

   8 June 2011 at 9:58 am

   Smarmy Peter Dunne. On Morning Report about 1080 with his own particular brand of common sense. Which is to heap an attitude of nonsense on anything that he doesn’t agree with. And the report saying that more 1080 is needed, and that the use of it has been refined so that it achieves its goals with minimum downside, he can’t agree with. Because he has become spokesperson for the huntin, shootin community. That is the constituency he has adopted, and vice versa, and he needs some group to back his Greta Garbo party (she was known for a comment that she ‘Wanted to be alone’). His ‘ commonsense’ approach is to point out the failure of 1080 so far to completely solve the problem of defoliating and predating furry critters, possums, rats etc etc which breed like billyoh out in the back country. Trappers should be used providing employment, but the wild areas of NZ are extremely hard to work in, and that method is impossibly expensive for government.

   He was arguing against two women, one from Forest and Bird which he tried to portray as soft-headed greenies, and (thanks google) Dr Jan Wright [who]was sworn in as Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment for a five-year term on 5 March 2007. Jan has a multidisciplinary background … He called their argument emotional during his forthright emotional rant and brought up various nice ideas such as trappers and possum fur providing jobs (impossible as the large number of possums required for a viable business would increase their numbers and stymie the drive to urgently decrease their destructive reign.)

   He thinks the environment should be sacrificed so that jobs can be created, he can get the hunting votes, and he can stay in parliament to dole out his common sense. And the hunters say they care for the environment and want to protect it. They care about their own interests, the ease of finding targets, and their hunting dogs which can fall prey to 1080 as they range around. But one dog can kill 200 kiwi in a short time. So the hunters as a group have members who are destroying protected wild life themselves. And the environmental lobby fears that all kiwi will vanish with this sort of predation and other problems, in a few decades.

   • ianmac 7.1

     8 June 2011 at 10:10 am

     “Because he has become spokesperson for the huntin, shootin community.”
     They were nearly a political Party weren’t they Prism, but became instead a lobby group funneled through Mr Dunne. Funny therefore that Mr Dunne should blast a scientific report? No?
     The discussion on 9 to noon about 9:30 ish ended with an American damning the use of aerial dropping of 1080. He said NZ was the only country who used this method, and therefore it must be wrong! Really?
     He did say that there should be a research project set up. That would be good.
     1 third with no action.
     1 third aerial drop.
     1 third bait station.

   • Lanthanide 7.2

     8 June 2011 at 10:44 am

     His rant about making a fur trapping business for export growth was clearly him just mouthing the right words.
      
     If industrial-scale fur trapping were a viable business, it would already exist. The 1080 coverage is said to be a very very small percentage of all DOC lands, so there’s nothing stopping him from setting up a fur business dealing to possums in the rest of the country. I would suggest (don’t know, but I’m assuming) that the DOC areas with 1080 aerial drops are in the parts of the country where other methods of control aren’t feasible anyway.

     • prism 7.2.1

       8 June 2011 at 12:33 pm

       lanthanide That’s what I have heard. That 1080 is essential for the most inacessible areas.

     • Sookie 7.2.2

       8 June 2011 at 6:41 pm

       I have some insider knowledge of 1080 drops, their impressive results (possums and also rats and stoats as a bonus), the way they are carefully GPS mapped so they avoid farms and waterways (unlike the bad old days when the pellets were dropped anywhere), and the various bullshit stories and even dangerous sabotage attempts coming from the hunting and/or DOC hating community. The Commissioner is completely bang on with her report, there is no other working alternative. Certainly not bloody trapping. Its a shame the government isn’t interested in slinging more money at the programme so they can cover more ground. Idiots like Dunne and those Graf brothers make me bloody furious.

       • vto 7.2.2.1

         8 June 2011 at 10:24 pm

         Recent murmurings from the forgotten coast confirm that for sheep the price per kilo of wool is a handful of dollars, whereas for possum fur it is now one hundred and thirty dollars.

         I have not read the report yet but everything in the media today lacks any actual facts and instead is a variation of “I have read the research and concluded that my view is right.” There have been no facts presented as part of the report release today. Subtle. Prove me wrong before this gets completely out of hand. Which it will in a localised way.

         • McFlock 7.2.2.1.1

           8 June 2011 at 10:41 pm

           Of course, there is a relative cost in getting that kilo of possum fur vs a kilo of wool.

           • travellerev 7.2.2.1.1.1

             8 June 2011 at 10:48 pm

             Getting out at night shooting the buggers, plucking them the moment they die (best time to pluck them and that about 22 X. That is a lot of hard work for a measly $130 and whether they are a pest or not it’s still a big mammal you have to kill and they are hard to kill. Not fun.

           • vto 7.2.2.1.1.2

             8 June 2011 at 10:48 pm

             Yes the land comes free for a start

             • McFlock …

               8 June 2011 at 11:19 pm

               Lol.
                
               Now all we need are possum shepherds who can individually muster dozens at the time. To heck with 1080, bring back The Dog Show.
                
               And now the news: the sheep dog trials ended in a ruckus when all four were found guilty. Baaaaaad dog! (that one was probably ancient when the Two Ronnies did it).

               • vto …

                 9 June 2011 at 9:07 am

                 Hee hee. But it’s viable. A series of traplines checked once every day or two should, in a well populated area, realise a few dozen possums. 15 possums for a kilo of fur. They are quite easy to kill – hold them upside down by the tail and a quick chop to the back of the arching neck. 5 minutes to de-fur when fresh, 15 when not so. Move the traplines steadily back to the next ridge / valley / river and chomp through larger areas. It is entirely feasible. People already do it. Subsidies to the extent of 1080 cost may well be enough to break the back of trapping excuses.

                 As for 1080, when will we learn? 245t anyone? Or how about asbestos? Formaldehyde? The “authorities” claimed each and every one of these killers was ok too. Pardon me if I am not a believer.

                 • Colonial Viper …

                   9 June 2011 at 9:17 am

                   Add vioxx and synthetic red food colouring to the list. Mobile phone radiation too…

                 • McFlock …

                   9 June 2011 at 5:45 pm

                   the point is though that it’s not the high income yields for investment in work that you suggest – for the industry to be sustainably if womone worked 8 hours a day on traplines they’d have to get ($130/night*5nights = $650/w) a permanantly sustainable catch rate of 15 possums a night. Not including skinning or treating costs.

                    And we want skilled workers (even if trappers) to get more than that, as well as the possum industry to be unsustainable, i.e. possum eradication (not farming on DoC reserves).

8. prism 8

   8 June 2011 at 10:50 am

   ianmac Yes Dunne was for more research. Yet he wasn’t interested in the facts presently gathered. I think some of these guys use the idea of research as a delaying tactic so they don’t have to be seen doing something that will aggravate some possible voters. Talk, do nothing and the spotlight will turn away to some other problem.

   For sure more research would be good, if government can prise money out of the wealthy’s pockets where they put those tax cuts. Um, sorry, we were a bit out on our budgets for the country and shouldn’t have cut the tax rate like that. We’re sure you’ll understand that we now need it back!

   I think bait stations are used where possible aren’t they. Would half and half with 1080 for active depopulation of pests be the right proportion of intervention? I think they should use what they have to in as careful a way as possible. (One email to the station commented on the unlikelihood of Peter Dunne having done the bait station thing, getting out into the wild countryside, crawling through wet grass. You would have to go and put the trap in, bait it, back to check it, then rebait or dispose of the dead animal safely. Then repeat…for quite a while.)

9. Draco T Bastard 9

   8 June 2011 at 12:25 pm

   Had to put this tweet up:

   Having taught the starving man to fish, the wise man sadly watches, as he sells off his fishing rod #assetsales #loonyeconomics

   by @paulwaite

   • vto 9.1

     8 June 2011 at 10:16 pm

     oh I like that

10. jackal 10

    8 June 2011 at 1:58 pm

    The King of Destiny Church

    http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2011/06/king-of-destiny-church.html

    A few years ago, a couple of Density Church members came to my house and asked for money. They appeared to be hyped on some sort of drug or perhaps that was just religious fervour. I engaged in conversation with them for a while but ultimately told them I had nothing to give, which wasn’t far from the truth. Once I had made it clear that I wasn’t going to part with any folding, they skedaddled leaving the gate open on the way out. I thought this rather rude as I had sheep that could’ve escape onto the road. Luckily I noticed, as there are large fines for wandering stock these days.

11. Carol 11

    8 June 2011 at 2:40 pm

    Breaking news on Stuff: “Darren Hughes will not be charged – police.”

    • Treetop 11.1

      8 June 2011 at 3:01 pm

      What now for Darren Hughes?

      Will he make a return to politics?

      Can he do this at the next election?

    • jackal 11.2

      8 June 2011 at 4:57 pm

      I could have predicted that one. I heard somebody mention he might be going to work for the UN. I’m not holding my breath in expectation of all his detractors to apologize for their accusations now that he’s been exonerated.

      • lprent 11.2.1

        8 June 2011 at 5:34 pm

        He hasn’t been exonerated (which has a quite explicit meaning and would have required him to stand trial to achieve).

        He has not been charged because the evidence did not stack up to something that could be taken to court under a criminal charge. In other words the police did not think that they had even the moderate chance of winning the case.

        It could be that he didn’t do whatever the allegation was, or that the alleged activity was not illegal, or that there was insufficient evidence. Unfortunately that is about all that Darren Hughes would or could get publically from the police will be the yes/no about if they are charging him.

        • jackal 11.2.1.1

          8 June 2011 at 9:04 pm

          I was meaning the word exonerated in the public and not legal sense. Perhaps vindicated would have been more appropriate. Whatever the case, it seems that the damage has been done and not only to his career. It will be a cold day in hell before Phil Goff gets an apology for the almost two weeks of media beat up we were all subjected to.

          I believe speculating further when the police have found there is no case to answer would be inappropriate.

12. Carol 12

    8 June 2011 at 3:04 pm

    I don’t know. The trouble is, it only clears Hughes of criminal charges, but the police won’t go into details. So it means we don’t know if there was anethical or moral breach:

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5116263/No-charges-against-former-Labour-MP-Darren-Hughes

    • the pink postman 12.1

      8 June 2011 at 4:24 pm

      Well if there is no charge he’s innocent in my mind. He should be reinstated and there should be a public apology. The red necked Tory dirty trick brigade have come unstuck . I bet Crosby Textor are furious and licking their wounds.
      They should now be exposed, and those responsible should be named .

13. jackal 13

    8 June 2011 at 4:52 pm

    Bomber Declares War on the Jackal

    Yesterday, Martyn Bradbury AKA Bomber declared war on the Jackal for debating issues raised in an article written for Tumeke entitled “Why I can’t vote Green this election.” His blog was inspired by an announcement concerning the political position of the Green Party. The implications of declaring WAR are far ranging as can be seen in the National Government’s “War on Beneficiaries,” which proposes the forced sterilization of Woman on the DPB in some kind of Nazi inspired Eugenics Program…

14. Puddleglum 14

    8 June 2011 at 7:34 pm

    Here we go again.

    National are really starting to get their ducks in a row, but using the usual vague dissembling language they are becoming known for. Just a “a couple of initiatives around industrial relations, but what those are it’s too early for us to tell,” ‘Too early to tell’ but apparently early enough to give the teaser to RNZ (at least) about bargaining agents.

    Talk about a forked tongue. I keep waiting for the metaphorical young boy in the media to shout “the emperor has no clothes”.

    • Draco T Bastard 14.1

      8 June 2011 at 11:29 pm

      National knows it’s exact plan. Too early to tell really means that they haven’t softened up the populace enough to accept their radical, right-wing plans that give more power and our wealth to the capitalists yet.

    • millsy 14.2

      9 June 2011 at 12:34 am

      Dont worry, guys and gals, the union movement and the Labour party will stop John Key and his minions dead in their tracks with a series of strongly worded press releases and a tacky website or two.

15. Puddleglum 15

    8 June 2011 at 7:38 pm

    This is the link I meant to include above.

16. jackal 16

    8 June 2011 at 8:54 pm

    Hero of the Week Award – Peter Dunne

    Yes! You heard right! Peter Dunne is our first Hero of the Week Award winner. I know we give Dunne a bit of stick… I mean who could go past the Bouffant or planking incident without throwing in a few jibes. For now, let’s put that aside. Let’s also out aside the fact that he’s a right-wing politician that’s been supporting the corrupt National Party in their campaign against society. The Jackal believes in the benefits of giving credit where credit is due, so good on ya mate!

17. Robert Atack 17

    8 June 2011 at 9:04 pm

    Worth a look
    http://www.dailymotion.com/user/OneWorldTV/subscriptions/2011-06-08/1:1?mode=playlist&from=email_subscriptiondigestusers&utm_source=Email&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=SubscriptionDigestUsers&utm_campaign=Alert-SubscriptionDigestUsers#videoId=xj5okw
    This compelling tour of developing countries on the front line of climate
    change shows the impacts they are experiencing today.Community organisers,
    government ministers, development workers and aid donors speak out. A
    special CDKN collaboration with OneWorld films.http://www.oneworldgroup.org

18. ianmac 18

    8 June 2011 at 11:09 pm

    I use Clearnet for my e-mail. To reduce spam and phishing, all customers have been sent a letter which in part says:
    “Consequently, from 11 July 2011 you will no longer be able to send Clearnet email if you are connected from an overseas location and using email software such as Outlook, Microsoft Mail, Apple Mail etc”
    Does this mean that usual e-mail traffic to/from friends overseas will be blocked? Will enquire further tomorrow.

    • Draco T Bastard 18.1

      8 June 2011 at 11:34 pm

      Confusing terminology but what it means is that, if you’re overseas, you won’t be able to send email from a local (on the PC) email client. At a guess I’d say that you’ll still be able to use their web based mail client to send email.

19. Jilly Bee 19

    9 June 2011 at 12:10 am

    I was out earlier this evening and recorded Back Benchers – have just watched it. I was left absolutely gobsmacked by Hillary Calvert’s antics – sheesh, words fail me. Between her and the MP for New Plymouth – go Andrew Little!! I was also delighted to see Clare Curran in her Highlander’s rugby shirt, after being turfed out of Parliament on Tuesday. It reminded me of a friend who was denied entry into a well known night club in Auckland in the 1960s [can’t recall the name] because he didn’t wear a tie. My friend immediately went outside, divested himself of his shirt, found a tie and went back inside – he was allowed in!!

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