Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike…
National’s lazy, loutish junior cabinet ministers and back-benchers
Lack of talent is really starting to hurt the Government
Yesterday (Thursday 7 November 2013) it was revealed that police were lying when they claimed that they had not received any complaints from victims of the notorious West Auckland rape club the Roastbusters. If you watched parliamentary question time yesterday, you saw a clearly stressed Police Minister Ann Tolley struggling (during Question No. 2) to defend this latest instance of police calumny and/or corruption and/or incompetence and, even worse, the failure of the Government to do anything about it. As the ashen-faced Tolley struggled on, viewers’ attention would have been captured not by her substandard performance, but by what was going on in the seat behind her. A vacant-looking young man was nodding his head sedulously. Throughout Tolley’s halting performance, he continued to mug and to grin and to nod vigorously. It was an extraordinary dumb-show, a forlorn display of obedient partisanship for a lost cause. It stood out because the rest of Tolley’s beleaguered National colleagues had assumed expressions of blankness and embarrassment.
The obedient, vacant young man was actually the Rt. Hon. Simon Bridges, and his extraordinary display was just the first of a forlorn procession yesterday of the National Party’s long tail of under-performers and non-performers.
After Tolley was taken off the rack, it was time for Question No. 3—-a patsy asked by another National nonentity, Paul Goldsmith. Followers of parliament will realize that asking patsy questions is all that Paul Goldsmith has been allowed to do during his ignominiously obscure time as a List MP who got there only because he allowed himself to be the stooge or ghost candidate in Epsom, where National’s obedient supporters had been instructed not to vote for him, but for the ACT lout John Banks instead. (Party orders, you see—you don’t earn a nice house in Epsom by not doing what you’re told.)
Goldsmith’s lowly ranking in the National caucus, and his humble role as patsy question asker, is interesting—and it indicates a lot about the National Party. Paul Goldsmith is actually one of the few National Party members with a sharp intellect—he wrote an excellent history of New Zealand tax law a few years ago—but he has languished in the lowest ranks of the caucus, while a dullard like Simon Bridges has been made a cabinet minister.
A little later, I tuned in to the debate and heard Labour’s Rajan Prasad make a very effective speech. He was followed by another of National’s long tail of benchwarmers, Mike Sabin, whose speech consisted of a sarcastic remark about Prasad, a vague and insincere tribute to the members of a parliamentary committee—and nothing else.
Sabin was followed by Labour’s Sue Moroney. She spoke clearly and forcefully—but throughout her speech she was subjected to loud, sarcastic barracking by….yes, you guessed it—-Simon Bridges. The Member for Tauranga’s constant stream of rude comments was neither robust nor witty, merely sarcastic and bumptious.
Any honest observer of parliament will admit that the gulf in front-bench talent between National and Labour is stark. The commanding performance in the House by the new Labour leader David Cunliffe, and by his Green colleagues, has underlined the superiority of the liberal left.
And at the lower reaches, where the likes of Mike Sabin, Paul Goldsmith, Louise Upston, David Bennett and Tim McIndoe are snoozing and doing nothing other than shouting out inane interjections, there is simply no contest.
He’s not nodding assiduously here; like the rest of his National colleagues, he stares at the floor blankly, obviously dying inside. Steven Joyce must have told him to liven up his act for the next day’s Question Time (yesterday’s), when he was much more animated—-embarrassingly so.
Well, its been 5 (long) years since we last had a Labour government. On the 8th of November, 2008, on a sunny day just like this, New Zealand tossed out Helen Clark and brought in John Key. And the way some people carried on, it was like the Berlin Wall falling all over again, and, to add insult to injury, Roger Douglas returned to Parliament…
Other memories of that night included Hooten carrying on like a kid in a candy store, and trying to assure everyone who cared to listen that this government would be ‘very moderate’, while also warning everyone of people from Treasury and Reserve Bank knocking on Key’s door with bad news, Roger Douglas warning us all that there will be a lot of pain ahead, and it is our fault because we wanted free stuff, and Helen Clark stepping down, an entirely nessesary action if Labour was to return to power any time soon, too bad there was no obvious candidate to replace her, so Goff was chosen. TVNZ 7 (remember that?) showed footage of the 84 election, too bad the government got rid of both those channels — could have been the basis for a new era in PSTV..
We never really did find out what was in that mini-budget…its an open secret that some of the posters on here are Labour insiders, anyone has any info? Rumor had it that the Marsden Point rail link was in there…
Im not going to go into detail in regards to the “achievements” of the Fifth National government (have been over them so many times), but I note that in my town at least, the local polytech used to run a slather of ACE classes — since the government cut the funding (by 90%), there is nothing.
And the voodoo economics has been around awhile. The last time the government created money directly in this country was, IIRC, the 1st Labour government. We’ve been borrowing at interest and going deeper in debt ever since.
I would rather have Muldoon than Key — Sir Robert had our backs against the corporates. Growing up during the Great Depression gives people a sense of perspective that the likes of Simon Bridges and Jami-Lee Ross will never have.
Yep. One of the things that they learned was that socialism was necessary to keep society functioning. The pure capitalism that resulted in The Great Depression taught many lessons – lessons that we’ve forgotten to our cost.
Not sure what you mean by “make it accessible”. It’s not like you’d be able to make this medicine at home. Any legitimate business that wants to manufacture this medicine would be able to apply for a license or permission to do so – of course they’d have to prove that it wasn’t going to be used for illicit purposes, which would increase costs, but fundamentally there shouldn’t be anything stopping them from manufacturing if they meet the required conditions.
WINZ “Designated Doctors”, at least some of them known to be “hatchet doctors”, knocking many sick and disabled off benefits, and doing the “dirty work” for Paula Bennett and her MSD top dogs, here is some crucial reading and studying for you:
This is a comprehensive summary (with many links to resources for more information, with some selected PDF files containing sensitive information) that shines light on what has been going on, and what is going on in the “welfare area”!
It was already all started under the National governments in the 1990s, was quietly continued under Labour, although in a more moderate form, but has been escalated since National came back into power in 2008.
Dr David Bratt is the “Dark Knight” overseeing it all, and has apparently led to a “culture change” at WINZ, when it comes to medical assessments, now highly reliant on the bizarre “bio psycho-social model” that Professor Mansel from the UK “perverted” to design it to best suit governments, ACC and insurers, for the purpose of “off loading” sick and disabled from claims.
See also this interesting link to older info, which shows what the result of ‘Work Capacity Assessments’ was in the late 1990s, when the National government and MSD ran a first “trial” then:
David Bratt’s smug argument: “Doctors used to recommend people smoked” Excuse Me Son – are you saying your evidence is as compelling as the evidence against smoking? Or are you saying don’t trust medical orthodoxy, aren’t you trying to push a new orthodoxy, son?
Maybe people have bad health when on a benefit because
1. The benefit levels are barely survivable, no proper food or healthcare
2. The stress of dealing with WINZ
3. Social stigma and discrimination
And the fact that not having enough money to live on is often only one of many stressful factors in their lives, but one which makes every other one much worse.
“David Bratt’s smug argument: “Doctors used to recommend people smoked””
Yeaah! I thought the same gorj! Here Bratt goes on about “absurd” advice that doctors once supposedly gave to some people, and then he thinks he gets away with telling us, that work is “therapeutic” and the “best medicine” to get well from ill health and even disability!?
By the way, I have in my whole life time never heard of, nor ever met a doctor, who recommended that smoking is good for your health.
Maybe Bratt realises he is standing in a corner, has no “compelling evidence”, and now sees a need to distract from his own nonsense, by making such bizarre comments?
I’d say to him: It is time to retire, mate! The same applies to Mansel Aylward, who looks rather sickly also, same as Bratt, as their work seems to be doing little good for their health!
I am pro physical and mental activity, pro work, where it fits a person’s true capabilities, skills and interests, and where it is offered on fair, reasonable conditions and decent pay, but that is NOT, what they are on about! Work should also not be “forced” on sick or disabled, and that is what they are doing, although they claim exactly the opposite at WINZ. Only an inclusive, constructive and supportive application of welfare policies to assist sick and disabled into work is acceptable.
I think originally in the Americas, people there saw it as having medicinal qualities.
In 1571, a Spanish doctor named Nicolas Monardes wrote a book about the history of medicinal plants of the new world. In this he claimed that tobacco could cure 36 health problems.
[..]
Tobacco as a commercial product first arrived in the Ottoman Empire in the late 16th century.[14]
When tobacco first arrived in the Ottoman Empire, it attracted the attention of doctors[15] and became a commonly prescribed medicine for many ailments.
I read somewhere recently that doctors in the 19th century UK used to often prescribe tobacco for some ailments. Maybe here.
But whatever… I wouldn’t trust how Bratt uses such information. How is he still being listened to by authorities?
”Desperado wont you come to your senses part 3”,In news fresh from RadioNZ National Peter ‘the hairdo’ Dunne is said to definitely be standing in the Ohariu seat again whilst begging Slippery the Prime Minister to support His bid for another term, the PM has indicated that even He,(after 5 years of doing deals that reek), couldn’t bring Himself to stand such a stench,
Expect that tho to change when orders come down from on high from National Party HQ as their nerves become more frayed as November 2014 approaches,
The laughter is about to reach gut busting proportions here as Te Ururoa Flavell from the Maori Party is set to address this weekends United Future Party conference in what appears to be a picture of the rats holding hands as the ship sinks,
There is no indication yet as to where ‘the conference’ will be held but you can bet it will be somewhere really really small…
Chooky, that is the type of observations which I was alluding to. MB has operated as a hatchet, there is no doubt in my mind about that.
The venom and insults from the self styled on these boards, while unfortunate is exactly why there is unlikely to ever be a turn around in the fortunes of the majority if inhabitants of Aotearoa, they are simply incapable of accepting that the systems/services, and people controlling those systems/services, are actively killing our fellow Kiwis, allowing them to be maimed, raped, beaten and so forth, and what concerns me most of all, is that these self styles pass comment and carry on as if that same system is somehow going to turn around and change its operating strategy.
To make change, will require acceptance that there are horrible truths which people will have to accept sooner or later. because it should be very clear by now that conventional thinking or rationale is no longer applicable to deciphering the reasons for the decline of our country, no matter how many times people wish it away, many can sense there is something much more sinister involved.
@ Karol fyi, my comments were never intended to thread jack, thats your interpretation, not my intention. You use the term, core issues, but are not aware of what those core issues actually are, yet you pour scorn upon another perspective of where the core issues could exist, but you interpret and decide are they could not possibly be relevant.
@ Murray Olsen, while not familiar with the references that J90 or yourself make (seems you have read some material), my neighbour for many years was the mother of Maria Jungowska, she recently passed away, and there are some very odd circumstances which were explained, so while I am not aware of what else you may have read, I have heard some things which would raise eyebrows.
[karol: muzza, it’s perfectly legitimate to raise wider issues about general systems on other threads. For that reason I’m moving this to open mike (from the sound of dragging feet thread), because it does look like a thread jack. if you don’t want it to look like a thread jack – provide specific evidence of how it relates to the issues addressed by my post.
You seem unwilling to discuss issues related to the core ones addressed in my post, about the conduct of police with respect to rape and sexual assault, and relevant ministerial oversight.
I do also have some concerns about the overall workings of our government and systems – but that’s another topic.]
Yes this topic belongs over here Muzza, I have butted out of the rape culture commentary. I like your comment what concerns me most of all, is that these self styles pass comment and carry on as if that same system is somehow going to turn around and change its operating strategy. Hundred percent. There are huge events afoot that will make todays debate pale into insignificance because they are so inconceivably large. And todays “solutions” that don’t work wont do any better then.
Actually I am rather bored, ennuied out with the way contributors here are caught up in their own paradigms, unable to envisage other possibilities. I am presented with left libertarian dogma, marxist thought, Fem101 and rape culture etc etc as things I must accept or be deemed wrong. Goodo I will be wrong, to err is human. The last cop who batoned me was human too, he bought me a beer a few years later.
Just wondering aloud, thinking will my great grand daughter ask her mother what things like Marxism and feminism were? And be answered, Oh just Utopian ideals that did not survive our role back into subsistence serfdom in formerly Antarctic climes….
You know the answer..good music..great lyrics….gonna hum Dire Straits Romeo on the way home as an antidote the malaise…the widespread inability to imagine romance.. roasters try and imagine that!
I just have very little time to even do the basics like scan and moderate comments. Writing posts.. Pah!
Last nights post was written late at night while I was preparing and upgrading the server system again. It is now running on two (actually n) webservers, one pico server with the file system, one database server, a memcache on a different system, and the content distribution network for the graphics etc..
If you think I’m a bit worried about scalability (and dispersion) coming into the election next year – then you’d right. Pretty freaky how you can disperse systems across nets these days and still have them running fast.
Anyway, I wish I had your time to indulge in ennui…
Just wondering aloud, thinking will my great grand daughter ask her mother what things like Marxism and feminism were? And be answered, Oh just Utopian ideals that did not survive our role back into subsistence serfdom in formerly Antarctic climes….
aha, Cassandras box and Enlightenment ideas… once out of the box you can never get them back in. Dangerous items unless used wisely. As my mother says, “All things in moderation….”
Ennui, the irony as I see it, is these so called lefties are as much a lead weight to meaningful change as the right wing, neoliberals they proclaim to detest, yet are cut from different shades of the same cloth.
Very little of funtional use can come from the self styled on these boards, few of them have anything of practical value by way of opinions or original thought which offers encouragement for the future.
Muzza, nice summary. I am reminded of Carl Yung on this one….” We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.”
And that, is the asteroid crater comment which ends civilisation. Well done Ennui. Please make sure no one’s delicate sensibilities are hurt en passant.
@ muzza….I dont think you deliberately hijacked the thread….and I found it very interesting….and continued with it….but I guess the core posted topic was rape and police culture…and this issue could have got sidetracked by our discussion
…you perceptively were remembering and pointing to wider systemic issues about who conducts inquiries for the government and in particular the inquiry led by Bazley into police and sex abuse/rape issues…..indicating that, maybe given her history…her inquiry was lacking ( in depth or real solutions)and that there were serious systemic issues which have not been addressed……these are good points…and obviously this is the case!
….but to nail this issue, someone either has to do a lot of research or be an expert in the field of policing and law and womens/girls rights to point out where MB’s inquiry failed …it could be a very important subject of another post
(….because clearly at the moment, police ‘solutions’ of waiting until the ‘evidence’ is acceptable for a court case ….(and/or the victims come forward prepared for court ordeals) … are not solutions at all….and more crimes are being committed against vulnerable young girls…and the abusers are getting away with their vile crimes….eg why didnt the police pro-actively follow the evidence…by wiring up undercover agents the way they do with drug offenses?…and why werent parents and schools and young girls warned about this rapist gang?)
Chooky, you have interpreted my comments, as they were intended, cheers. Good to know that someone else on here is cognizant of the hack jobs which MB has been at the head of, leading to more or less everything she has been involved with, broken, failing and in steady decline.
At what point might the discussion about rape culture, cross paths with pedophile culture, and what level of influence might it be having alongside,rape culture which clearly exists, should further evidence of a cover up, and some indicators as to why there was a cover up, start to filter out.
St John’s has a terrible history including recent cases of statutory, so what is going inside these so called pillar institutions which are supposed to provide support, safety, protection and indeed life giving services.
@ Ennui, agreed, acceptance is necessary! Understanding or being aware what one is accepting would be beneficial if possible. In absence of clearer understanding, general acceptance that the cogs of the existing machinery never being the vehicles of salvation, would be a bloody good start.
That is his usual refrain. I usually don’t release the trackbacks as part of my usual anti-link-whoring defaults. But in this case, it needs to be a wide debate on the police force. It isn’t something that gets dealt with in parliament. The police aren’t listening to the IPCA or the courts. They clearly haven’t implemented the results of the Bazley report.
There is no other effective route for the public to voice their concerns except through social media and to a lesser extent through the more myopic mass media.
Like what? Reforming certain aspects of police culture appears to be something that hasn’t been successfully accomplished in 20-30 years. What else would you like time and effort to be spent on? What is the root cause of organisational cultural dysfunction in the police in your view.
I remember that some of Billy T’s comic situations revolved around trying to get served in pubs while heavily drunk, and an entire episode of the rural sitcom (“Rabbiter’s Rest”?) revolved around how the drunk punters were going to evade the mean traffic cop who was sitting outside the pub carpark to arrest the drunk drivers – everyone in the bar.
So in 20 or 30 years, things have changed significantly. There’s a long way to go in both issues, but I guess I’m an optimist about humanity at heart. 🙂
Absolutely. That was around a very specific and identifiable behaviour. Poorer, brown, females are still at very
It was accomplished by implementing widespread educational programmes, advertising campaigns and strictly regulating commercial activities like advertising and packaging.
Maybe something similar and comprehensive needs to be done.
“Maybe something similar and comprehensive needs to be done.”
Yes, which begs the question of why it isn’t. When you have a society largely in denial about rape culture, then it makes sense that it can’t form good social and health policy around rape cessation. That’s why this past week is so astonishing. It’s the first time I remember that NZ has stood up and acknowledged rape culture and said ‘enough!’. Reading the term ‘rape culture’ in the NZ MSM is revolutionary. It opens the way, slightly, for policy makers to start talking about this now too.
So in 20 or 30 years, things have changed significantly. There’s a long way to go in both issues, but I guess I’m an optimist about humanity at heart. 🙂
Yes the binge drinking/preloading happens at home now.
urrgh, a friend of mine bought a flagon of Cream Sherry yesterday. I’m fascinated about the markets there are for the wide range of alcoholic beverages available. The range is huge, yet when I asked a retailer recently, he said, “It all sells”. Flicking over to this programme Street Hospital while Coro ads on, the levels of public intoxication and the impairment of behaviour is astounding. ( I feel less personal shame now 😉 )
ps. I do not believe programmes like Police 10-7 help public perceptions of police, or the offenders profiled at all.
reply to rogue trooper, th reply tag is gone. “it all sells”, my mate that runs a liquor shop, told me what sells the most is the fill your own vodkas, sherry & gin, he has to keep refilling those all the time. cheap & cheerful.
Lolz, if you do soil yourself in such a manner ask PG whether the ‘Leader’ has got a squizz at any of the little leaflets doing the rounds over in Ohariu about the ‘Hairdo’s’ crimes…
Check out BLiP’s roll of dishonour (#23) on the headline post, the blue bellies seem to be own goal experts without needing the assistance of troublesome bloggers.
Got a taste of power-down life last night out here in Auckland’s west. No power from 6.30pm to 11pm. Thank gods for books. Don’t know how I’d cope without batteries though.
Every house should have its own backup battery supply so at least a limited functionality of power is kept, ie lighting, basic food heating, refrigeration, medical equipment, etc, it could be charged by solar panels or something.
Though, I wish some Business managers were a bit more assertive and would withdraw funding from RadioLive altogether and not just the JT & WJ show. RadioLive is protecting these rape apologists and inappropriate role models.
“But RadioLive would like to reiterate that we in no way condone the actions of the ‘Roast Busters’ or any violence against women,” it said.
“We apologise unreservedly for any offence or distress caused to listeners, clients or others by Willie and JT’s interview with Amy.”
Still waiting for them to apologise for their employees being such arseholes, and to apologise for broadcasting that crap. As long as they keep allowing WJ and JT to keep being rape apologists on air, then they are condoning violence against women. Rape enablers rather than bystanders at this point. If they really wanted to do the right thing they would give some air time to people who can talk intelligently about rape culture, without having to contend with WJJT. I’m sure they could even find someone who relates to their target audience.
well, it was looking fairly toxic for them in last nights MSM;
The contrasting statements of Tolley ( picture Tolley, picture my mother )within a minute when interviewed over the IPCA investigation
-“…the media this week has not been well-handled…” (ricochet the messengers)
followed by
-“[the Police] don’t give New Zealand families enough confidence this process has been well-handled.”
and Brownlee on requesting an inquiry into the “Do Not Survey” notifications EQC made about, and to, clients in Canterbury…”…one of those things that goes to the heart of confidence…”
New Zealanders are losing confidence in this NAct charade of a government.
Comment from Chris Trotter on on Bowalley Road 6/11 Two Out of Three Ain’t Enough about the years 1980s to now and the legacy of loss of good left political decisions. http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/
Observing the party closely since the departure of Helen Clark in 2008 has been a little like watching Rip Van Winkle rousing himself from twenty long years of slumber.
The radicalism which had built up such a head of steam in the Labour Party following the 1981 Springbok Tour, and which helped to generate the record 93.7 percent voter turnout at the 1984 snap election, was brought to a shuddering halt by Rogernomics……
Which leaves only the third component in Labour’s machine – the Caucus. At the conference just concluded a distressingly large number of Labour MPs put on a display of childish pique that bodes very ill for the party’s future.
This surly, sulking behaviour is driven by the fact that the caucus’s understanding of itself and its role has proved to be the most difficult legacy of Rogernomics to eradicate.
Before Rogernomics, Labour’s caucus arose almost organically from the party organisation: its values and the party’s values being both consistent and compatible. But the imposition of neoliberalism from within the framework of a left-wing political party radically recast the caucus’s role. Rogernomics required Labour MPs to overawe and repress the rank-and-file. Far too many Labour MPs still see their role as bringing the membership into line with their views.
I had an interesting conversation about the living wage proposal with a guy who currently earns (I guesstimate from our convo) around $20-$21PH. He absolutely hates the idea of a living wage. To quote: “why should someone earn almost as much as me for cleaning a shithouse? I went and got qualified. I might as well clean toilets. If they get an extra $5 and then I should get $5 an hour more as well”.
This is a common reaction amongst lower paid people, and it reminds me of a piece of dialogue from the 1988 movie Mississippi Burning:
“Anderson: You know, when I was a little boy, there was an old Negro farmer lived down the road from us, name of Monroe. And he was, uh, – well, I guess he was just a little luckier than my Daddy was. He bought himself a mule. That was a big deal around that town. Now, my Daddy hated that mule, ’cause his friends were always kiddin’ him about oh, they saw Monroe out plowin’ with his new mule, and Monroe was gonna rent another field now they had a mule. And one morning that mule just showed up dead. They poisoned the water. And after that there was never any mention about that mule around my Daddy. It just never came up. So one time, we were drivin’ down the road and we passed Monroe’s place and we saw it was empty. He’d just packed up and left, I guess. Gone up North, or somethin’. I looked over at my Daddy’s face – and I knew he’d done it. And he saw that I knew. He was ashamed. I guess he was ashamed. He looked at me and he said: ‘If you ain’t better than a nigger, son, who are you better than?’ …He was an old man just so full of hate that he didn’t know that bein’ poor was what was killin’ him.”
great movie, and a great illustration Sanctuary; the politics of envy overlaying the politics of entitlement, overlaying plain old personal insecurity. My upbringing and the majority of my employment occurred among our Redneck brethren…too ignorant by choice to know any better.
“Wonderful people everywhere
The way they comb their hair
[…]
Boys ‘n’ girls with new clothes on
You can Shake 😎 it to me all night long
Hey hey
It’s not for me
It’s a Beautiful World” -Devo
“She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean… “
“Colonial Viper 11.2.1.3.1
31 December 2010 at 7:04 pm
In that case I suggest a wager of NZ$500 to go to a major NZ charity of the winner’s choice tsmithfield. Specifically, I wager you that NYMEX Crude will break US$200 per barrel before the end of 2015. Offer good for 48 hours from now :D”
Are you interested in reviving that wager made back here?
Fascinating. As it turns out, ongoing economic decline with no recovery in the industrial economy has meant that demand growth has been low even as more expensive sources of oil have been developed.
Agreed. My changed stance is that price increases are not required to make oil more unaffordable; national income deflation is accomplishing the same thing.
BTW – a bit cheeky to try and revisit a bet more than half way through the horse race 😛
The triumph of neoliberalism continues in the land of the free to be greedy and the free to be needy and destitute, the U$$$$$$$$$ with endless bailouts for the greedy banks where the Washington consensus began and the Chicago school with Milton Friedman. The wretched land our RWNJ pollies love to copy: Especially destruction of the Commonwealth for privatised wealth gain.
‘Which America Do You Live In? – 21 Hard To Believe Facts About “Wealthy America” And “Poor America” ‘
#1 The lowest earning 23,303,064 Americans combined make 36 percent less than the highest earning 2,915 Americans do.
#5 According to numbers that were just released this week, 49.7 million Americans are living in poverty. That is a brand new all-time record high.
#8 According to Forbes, the 400 wealthiest Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans combined.
#19 Approximately one out of every five households in the United States is now on food stamps.
#20 The number of Americans on food stamps has grown from 17 million in the year 2000 to more than 47 million today.
#18 Today, the United States actually has a higher percentage of workers doing low wage work than any other major industrialized nation does.
(Isn’t that one of the NATZ’s goal for us? Unless you’re a CEO or top of the pile exec where you can only be motivated to work harder by paying yourself more and more with outrageous termination packages?)
I am extremely disappointed with JT and Willie, as they were about the only ones I ever listened to on Radio Live. I am surprised though that there has not been more scrutiny put onto the truly “Nat mate” and right wing journo or presenter Sean Plunket. He is a difficult one, I know, he can present himself rather well and “independently” like on “The Nation”, but his spot on Radio Live is appalling, when it comes to talk back. He has himself been so chauvinistic repeatedly, it is not funny. But it must have gone below the radar here, as nobody would bother listening to him for a start. I feel that he deserves more criticism than Willie and JT, and I am sorry to offend people here, as I know that both made some inappropriate and stupid comments this week.
I believe that at least one, if not both, have daughters, and I expect them to be taken to task at home for sure.
Personally I expect an apology from both, to come clean.
Calling Rhinocrates ….
PLEASE don’t be listening to “The Panel”! (in particular that SF who I had to witness slipping up the MT Vic Hill the other day)
it’s an exercise in listening to the pithy – or rather the pissy.
The nicest man on Earth is absent, but one of the RW guest’s is trying to do his best to replace him, whilst the other is just trying (Hard)
Simon Pound taking the gloves off today!
ACT/SS thug on the ropes
The Panel, Radio NZ National, Friday 8 November 2013
Paul Brennan, Stephen Franks, Simon Pound
Stephen Franks is a former ACT MP, which means he was a parliamentary colleague of the disgraced identity thief and doctor-assaulter David Garrett, as well as the notorious perk-taker Rodney Hide. He is also a “legal counsel” with that notorious gang of knife-killing enthusiasts, Garth the Knife McVicar’s S.S. Trust. All of which should make it surprising to hear Franks pontificating today, in relation to the Roastbusters/Police failure scandal, about “the boundaries of morality.” He has just intoned: “We have a society which doesn’t know where the bounds of behaviour are….”
But people familiar with this fellow will not be surprised to see him contradicting himself like this; they know just what a canting hypocrite he is. As you listen to Franks talking about morality—his key word during these lectures is “wickedness”—bear in mind that he was a colleague of David Garrett and Rodney Hide, and works closely as a “legal counsel” with that notorious gang of knife enthusiasts, the S.S. Trust.
So far Simon Pound has challenged him robustly. He has poured scorn on Franks’ lame defence of police inaction, and was even more contemptuous of Franks’s idiotic attempt to suggest that reading Fifty Shades of Grey was somehow equivalent to raping a thirteen-year-old. Pound is showing an entirely unexpected strength of character.
I have to leave now, unfortunately, but I would appreciate it if someone could transcribe the remainder of what has so far been a complete and utter ass-whuppin’ for a real villain.
Oh Bugger Morrissey – I meant you (see post above, rather than Rhino). It was intended as cyber community service bulletin in an attempt to save you heartache and reduce the need for a beta blocker or two 😉
Never mind though – the weight of his smugness means you can see him struggling to get up the hill (Hawker Street) sometimes.
Thanks Tim. I tuned in later to the show just in time to hear Franks indulge in another one of his trademark rants: this time it was against the “parasitic art culture”, whatever that means. I suspect Franks himself has not thought seriously about it, and if challenged would have had to back down or substantially qualify his bizarre statement. Rather than being challenged, or asked to clarify, however, he went on to praise artists who did not belong to the “parasitic art culture”. His exemplar for these paragons of individual enterprise was “Sir” Peter Jackson.
Clearly, in the fertile mind of Stephen Franks, Downstage Theatre accepting a small government grant is parasitic, but accepting more than $100 million of government subsidy, plus the government collaborating with Warner Bros. to destroy the local actors’ union is heroic individualism.
“A police raid of an Auckland storage unit linked to the Hells Angels has turned up six firearms, including military-style assault rifles”
– An assault rifle IS a military rifle so why would they say military-style assault rifles? They’ve basically said military-style military rifles which is redundant…just bugs me is all
Yeah, sure they did. That’s why you’ll be able to provide an example. Come on, a Labour or Green press release re-printed verbatim by a main stream news outlet. Just one.
A redundant adjective tells you that NZ might not be as well served by the MSM as it could be?
Wow.
The constant updates on charlotte dawson and other celebs of the week did that for me years ago. Not to mention headlines that are contradicted in their story, or front-page photos of disorderly youths recycled from two years previously (ODT did that one).
It’s pretty much pointless at any time as the term itself is so broad as to be meaningless. A hunters rifle with a scope on it could be well within its meaning as well as a handgun.
No, IMO, it’s scare mongering i.e, ZOMG they have military weapons as if a 308 cal bullet is more deadly from and assault rifle than from a hunters rifle.
Yeah that’s or very well and do if they have been caught with MSA Rifles. But do those Muppets know and understand the 4 principles of marksmanship to use them effectively?
Part of the problem – some of the shots fired into a house in the last few days went into the kids’ bedroom. A bullet is effective regardless of whom it hits.
It looked to me that he was very distracted, seemed to be in disagreement with something that both National and Labour were agreed on, “how many people will die because of this bill” was way otp…his whole performance just looked wrong (for lack of a better term) like it wasn’t the Mallard I’m used to seeing
Craigs Investment Partners upset foreigners might not be able to suck as much money out
”If this sort of thing becomes standard, overseas investors will look at our sharemarket and say it’s too difficult to invest and give it a wide berth.
”If they cannot get certainty, they will go away. Now, they have to look at a company, how it makes money, whether it reports a profit and pays dividends. The uncertainty around the regulatory regime will cause concerns about the companies being able to carry on their business in a normal way,” Mr Timms said.
Fuck, the idea of having to do some work and research around your multi-million dollar investments is simply unrealistic it seems.
What foreign investors in the NZX apparently want is the ability to clip the ticket with “certainty.”
What foreign investors in the NZX apparently want is the ability to clip the ticket with “certainty.”
That’s what the capitalists have always wanted. IMO, It’s what brought about limited liability, the Fire at Will Bill, union busting and a whole lot more laws.
I post stuff I observe or experience. Its others who give it a label.
human experience can be a mirror. Some cringe at the sight some gaze for ages but dont really see and so on.
I live in hope that people will speak out against the status quo regardless of self interest. The young woman shot for demanding education for girls. But in reality I hope for that spark of courage to ignite people off their couches to sometimes say “enough”.
I will march on 16 october because I want anyone who has been abused to speak up and know that many people will support them.
Agree, it is disgraceful and criminal what goes on in Sri Lanka, but the NZ media , again, report NADA, as if nothing ever happened. And PM Key behaves just the same, he should bury his head in total SHAME!
“Sixteen I fell in love with a girl as sweet as could be
Only took a couple of days ’til she was rid of me.
She swore that she would be all mine and love me to the end,
But when I whispered in her ear I lost another friend…”
Despite the growing evidence that corporate sovereignty clauses in international treaties pose considerable risks to nations that sign them, such “investor-state dispute settlement” (ISDS) mechanisms are present in both TPP and TAFTA/TTIP — at least as far as we know: it’s hard to be sure given the obsessive secrecy surrounding them.
South Africa has experienced first hand the reality of those bland-sounding systems and the behind-closed-doors tribunals that implement them. Here’s what happened when it set about transforming the country after apartheid, as this column on the South African Independent Online site explains:
We’re finding out just how bad it can be when corporations are allowed to sue countries when the countries pass laws to make their citizens better off.
I wonder if what we need is to separate the police from prosecution and hand all prosecution over to a separate organisation. The police would be responsible for detection and apprehension the Prosecutors office would be responsible for ensuring police gather evidence needed for a successful case.
It seems that there is too much vested interest involved when police both detect and decide when to prosecute.
Any thoughts?
Sounds like a good idea to me. Maybe have it so that instead of complainants going to the police they go to the prosecutors office who then directs the police to gather evidence.
Such an office would have to staffed with lawyers and not from police ranks.
This is what we need in NZ, a NZ version of Camilla Vallejo, a true Leader and passionate speaker, there are other good examples. Kiwis are peaceful, a bit too docile, and this is what the elite capitalist regime here exploits, same as their media lackeys, you are all held at ransom by those forces.
Wake up, think, ask, challenge and more, it is YOUR power, that is you, el pueblo. por favor, good luck.
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
Data released today by Statistics NZ shows that unemployment rose to 5.1%, with 33,000 more people out of work than last year said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The latest data shows that employment fell in Aotearoa at its fastest rate since the GFC. Unemployment rose in 8 ...
The December labour market statistics have been released, showing yet another increase in unemployment. There are now 156,000 unemployed - 34,000 more than when National took office. And having thrown all these people out of work, National is doubling down on cruelty. Because being vicious will somehow magically create the ...
Boarded up homes in Kilbirnie, where work on a planned development was halted. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 5 are;Housing Minister Chris Bishop yesterday announcedKāinga Ora would be stripped of ...
This week Kiwirail and Auckland Transport were celebrating the completion of the summer rail works that had the network shut or for over a month and the start of electric trains to Pukekohe. First up, here’s parts of the press release about the shutdown works. Passengers boarding trains in Auckland ...
Through its austerity measures, the coalition government has engineered a rise in unemployment in order to reduce inflation while – simultaneously – cracking down harder and harder on the people thrown out of work by its own policies. To that end, Social Development Minister Louise Upston this week added two ...
This year, we've seen a radical, white supremacist government ignoring its Tiriti obligations, refusing to consult with Māori, and even trying to legislatively abrogate te Tiriti o Waitangi. When it was criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal, the government sabotaged that body, replacing its legal and historical experts with corporate shills, ...
Poor old democracy, it really is in a sorry state. It would be easy to put all the blame on the vandals and tyrants presently trashing the White House, but this has been years in the making. It begins with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the spirit of Gordon ...
The new school lunches came in this week, and they were absolutely scrumptious.I had some, and even though Connor said his tasted like “stodge” and gave him a sore tummy, I myself loved it!Look at the photos - I knew Mr Seymour wouldn’t lie when he told us last year:"It ...
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Catching you up on the morning’s global news and a quick look at the parallels -GLOBALTariffs are backSharemarkets in the US, UK and Europe have “plunged” in response to Trump’s tariffs. And while Mexico has won a one month reprieve, Canada and China will see their respective 25% and 10% ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission. Gondolas are often in the news, with manufacturers of ropeway systems proposing them as a modern option for mass transit systems in New Zealand. However, like every next big thing in transport, it’s hard ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkBoth 2023 and 2024 were exceptionally warm years, at just below and above 1.5C relative to preindustrial in the WMO composite of surface temperature records, respectively. While we are still working to assess the full set of drivers of this warmth, it is clear that ...
Hi,I woke up feeling nervous this morning, realising that this weekend Flightless Bird is going to do it’s first ever live show. We’re heading to a sold out (!) show in Seattle to test the format out in front of an audience. If it works, we’ll do more. I want ...
From the United-For-Now States of America comes the thrilling news that a New Zealander may be at the very heart of the current coup. Punching above our weight on the world stage once more! Wait, you may be asking, what New Zealander? I speak of Peter Thiel, made street legal ...
Even Stevens: Over the 33 years between 1990 and 2023 (and allowing for the aberrant 2020 result) the average level of support enjoyed by the Left and Right blocs, at roughly 44.5 percent each, turns out to be, as near as dammit, identical.WORLDWIDE, THE PARTIES of the Left are presented ...
Back in 2023, a "prominent political figure" went on trial for historic sex offences. But we weren't allowed to know who they were or what political party they were "prominent" in, because it might affect the way we voted. At the time, I said that this was untenable; it was ...
I'm going, I'm goingWhere the water tastes like wineI'm going where the water tastes like wineWe can jump in the waterStay drunk all the timeI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayAll this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure ...
Waitangi Day is a time to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and stand together for a just and fair Aotearoa. Across the motu, communities are gathering to reflect, kōrero, and take action for a future built on equity and tino rangatiratanga. From dawn ceremonies to whānau-friendly events, there are ...
Subscribe to Mountain Tūī ! Where you too can learn about exciting things from a flying bird! Tweet.Yes - I absolutely suck at marketing. It’s a fact.But first -My question to all readers is:How should I set up the Substack model?It’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask since November ...
Here’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s political economy on politics and in the week to Feb 3:PM Christopher Luxon began 2025’s first day of Parliament last Tuesday by carrying on where left off in 2024, letting National’s junior coalition partner set the political agenda and dragging ...
The PSA have released a survey of 4000 public service workers showing that budget cuts are taking a toll on the wellbeing of public servants and risking the delivery of essential services to New Zealanders. Economists predict that figures released this week will show continued increases in unemployment, potentially reaching ...
The Prime Minister’s speech 10 days or so ago kicked off a flurry of commentary. No one much anywhere near the mainstream (ie excluding Greens supporters) questioned the rhetoric. New Zealand has done woefully poorly on productivity for a long time and we really need better outcomes, and the sorts ...
President Trump on the day he announced tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China, unleashing a shock to supply chains globally that is expected to slow economic growth and increase inflation for most large economies. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 9 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 3Politics: New Zealand Government cabinet meeting usually held early afternoon with post-cabinet news conference possible at 4 pm, although they have not been ...
Trump being Trump, it won’t come as a shock to find that he regards a strong US currency (bolstered by high tariffs on everything made by foreigners) as a sign of America’s virility, and its ability to kick sand in the face of the world. Reality is a tad more ...
A listing of 24 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 26, 2025 thru Sat, February 1, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
What seems to be the common theme in the US, NZ, Argentina and places like Italy under their respective rightwing governments is what I think of as “the politics of cruelty.” Hate-mongering, callous indifference in social policy-making, corporate toadying, political bullying, intimidation and punching down on the most vulnerable with ...
If you are confused, check with the sunCarry a compass to help you alongYour feet are going to be on the groundYour head is there to move you aroundSo, stand in the place where you liveSongwriters: Bill Berry / Michael Mills / Michael Stipe / Peter Buck.Hot in the CityYesterday, ...
Shane Jones announced today he would be contracting out his thinking to a smarter younger person.Reclining on his chaise longue with a mouth full of oysters and Kina he told reporters:Clearly I have become a has-been, a palimpsest, an epigone, a bloviating fossil. I find myself saying such things as: ...
Warning: This post contains references to sexual assaultOn Saturday, I spent far too long editing a video on Tim Jago, the ACT Party President and criminal, who has given up his fight for name suppression after 2 years. He voluntarily gave up just in time for what will be a ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today. “I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident ...
Students who need extra help with maths are set to benefit from a targeted acceleration programme that will give them more confidence in the classroom, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Last year, significant numbers of students did not meet the foundational literacy and numeracy level required to gain NCEA. To ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
Ki te kahore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te Iwi – without a vision, the people will perish. The Government has achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75 per cent five years early, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The number of households ...
The opening of Palmerston North’s biggest social housing development will have a significant impact for whānau in need of safe, warm, dry housing, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The minister visited the development today at North Street where a total of 50 two, three, and four-bedroom homes plus a ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced the new membership of the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC), who will serve for a three-year term. “The Committee brings together wide-ranging expertise relevant to disarmament. We have made six new appointments to the Committee and reappointed two existing members ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora, good morning, talofa, malo e lelei, bula vinaka, da jia hao, namaste, sat sri akal, assalamu alaikum. It’s so great to be here and I’m ready and pumped for 2025. Can I start by acknowledging: Simon Bridges – CEO of the Auckland ...
The Government has unveiled a bold new initiative to position New Zealand as a premier destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) that will create higher paying jobs and grow the economy. “Invest New Zealand will streamline the investment process and provide tailored support to foreign investors, to increase capital investment ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins today announced the largest reset of the New Zealand science system in more than 30 years with reforms which will boost the economy and benefit the sector. “The reforms will maximise the value of the $1.2 billion in government funding that goes into ...
Turbocharging New Zealand’s economic growth is the key to brighter days ahead for all Kiwis, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. In the Prime Minister’s State of the Nation Speech in Auckland today, Christopher Luxon laid out the path to the prosperity that will affect all aspects of New Zealanders’ lives. ...
The latest set of accounts show the Government has successfully checked the runaway growth of public spending, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. “In the previous government’s final five months in office, public spending was almost 10 per cent higher than for the same period the previous year. “That is completely ...
The Government’s welfare reforms are delivering results with the number of people moving off benefits into work increasing year-on-year for six straight months. “There are positive signs that our welfare reset and the return consequences for job seekers who don't fulfil their obligations to prepare for or find a job ...
COMMENTARY:By Sawsan Madina I watched US President Donald Trump’s joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week in utter disbelief. Not that the idea, or indeed the practice, of ethnic cleansing of Palestine is new. But at that press conference the mask has fallen. Recently, fascism ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government will on Wednesday announce it is willing, as a last resort, to purchase the collapsed Rex Airlines, in its latest bid to prop up aviation services to regional and remote areas. As ...
Jotham Napat has been elected as the new prime minister of Vanuatu. Napat was elected unopposed in Port Vila today, receiving 50 votes with two void votes. He is the country’s fifth prime minister in four years and will lead a coalition government made up of five political parties — ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By A J Brown, Professor of Public Policy & Law, Centre for Governance & Public Policy, Griffith University Australia has turned the corner on its decade-long slide on Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), once again ranking in the top ten least ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole Bridges, Senior Lecturer in Public Relations and Director of Academic Program – Communication, Creative Industries, Screen Media, Western Sydney University Stock Rocket/Shutterstock For new parents struggling with challenges such as breastfeeding and sleep deprivation, social media can be a great ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Scott French, Senior Lecturer in Economics, UNSW Sydney US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have stated an exemption for Australia from Trump’s executive order placing 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imported into the US is “under consideration”. ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon's attempts to turn the tables back on the Opposition at Question Time today went down like a lead balloon, Jo Moir writes. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brenton Griffin, Casual Lecturer and Tutor in History, Indigenous Studies, and Politics, Flinders University American Primeval/Netflix On January 24, leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormon Church, penned a statement condemning the ...
It comes as Whangārei District Council is under fire from the Director General of Health Dr Diana Sarfati after it voted in December against adding fluoridation to the water. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Strangio, Emeritus Professor of Politics, Monash University Is history repeating itself in Labor’s fortress state of Victoria? At the 1990 federal election, Bob Hawke’s Labor government had a near-death experience when it lost nine seats in Victoria. A furious Hawke laid ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bronwyn Orr, Veterinarian, Southern Cross University Mitchell Orr/Unsplash Late last year, rumours swirled online that HomeSafeID, a private Australian pet microchip registry, had stopped operating. On Feburary 5 2025, a notice appeared on the HomeSafeID website, ostensibly from the site’s ...
The government is taking far too long to allocate the 1500 social homes it announced nine months ago and the hold up is stalling desperately-needed homes, says a community housing provider. ...
The agency is setting a 12-week limit on how much rent debt a tenant can accumulate as part of a change in approach that will also see almost half of the outstanding dept wiped away. ...
The media is rife with headlines about people killing animals for kicks. Please don’t.In memory of an Auckland swan, a Bay of Plenty octopus and a Taranaki striped marlin.Imagine this. It’s 7.15am. You’re paddling around on a serene lake with your sweetheart. It seems likely that she’ll give ...
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In a brand new documentary series for The Spinoff, comedians and best friends Brynley Stent and Kura Forrester embark on a cross-country quest to find love. Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club is a brand new documentary series for The Spinoff following award-winning comedians and friends Brynley Stent and ...
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From tradwives to ‘petite blonde’ preferences, this season feels like a throwback for all the wrong reasons, writes Alex Casey. First of all: I know. Complaining about bad stuff on Married at First Sight Australia is like complaining that water is wet. But I’ve been bobbing around in these waters ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zena Assaad, Senior Lecturer, School of Engineering, Australian National University Ziv Lavi/Shutterstock Last week, Google quietly abandoned a long-standing commitment to not use artificial intelligence (AI) technology in weapons or surveillance. In an update to its AI principles, which were first ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brenainn Simpson, PhD Candidate, The University of Queensland Florian Nimsdorf / Shutterstock About 400 kilometres northwest of Sydney, just south of Dubbo, lies a large and interesting body of rock formed around 215 million years ago by erupting volcanoes. Known as ...
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start the day with some humour..eh..?
http://www.alternet.org/video/watch-jimmy-kimmel-how-tell-if-your-mayor-smoking-crack
phillip ure..
National’s lazy, loutish junior cabinet ministers and back-benchers
Lack of talent is really starting to hurt the Government
Yesterday (Thursday 7 November 2013) it was revealed that police were lying when they claimed that they had not received any complaints from victims of the notorious West Auckland rape club the Roastbusters. If you watched parliamentary question time yesterday, you saw a clearly stressed Police Minister Ann Tolley struggling (during Question No. 2) to defend this latest instance of police calumny and/or corruption and/or incompetence and, even worse, the failure of the Government to do anything about it. As the ashen-faced Tolley struggled on, viewers’ attention would have been captured not by her substandard performance, but by what was going on in the seat behind her. A vacant-looking young man was nodding his head sedulously. Throughout Tolley’s halting performance, he continued to mug and to grin and to nod vigorously. It was an extraordinary dumb-show, a forlorn display of obedient partisanship for a lost cause. It stood out because the rest of Tolley’s beleaguered National colleagues had assumed expressions of blankness and embarrassment.
The obedient, vacant young man was actually the Rt. Hon. Simon Bridges, and his extraordinary display was just the first of a forlorn procession yesterday of the National Party’s long tail of under-performers and non-performers.
After Tolley was taken off the rack, it was time for Question No. 3—-a patsy asked by another National nonentity, Paul Goldsmith. Followers of parliament will realize that asking patsy questions is all that Paul Goldsmith has been allowed to do during his ignominiously obscure time as a List MP who got there only because he allowed himself to be the stooge or ghost candidate in Epsom, where National’s obedient supporters had been instructed not to vote for him, but for the ACT lout John Banks instead. (Party orders, you see—you don’t earn a nice house in Epsom by not doing what you’re told.)
Goldsmith’s lowly ranking in the National caucus, and his humble role as patsy question asker, is interesting—and it indicates a lot about the National Party. Paul Goldsmith is actually one of the few National Party members with a sharp intellect—he wrote an excellent history of New Zealand tax law a few years ago—but he has languished in the lowest ranks of the caucus, while a dullard like Simon Bridges has been made a cabinet minister.
A little later, I tuned in to the debate and heard Labour’s Rajan Prasad make a very effective speech. He was followed by another of National’s long tail of benchwarmers, Mike Sabin, whose speech consisted of a sarcastic remark about Prasad, a vague and insincere tribute to the members of a parliamentary committee—and nothing else.
Sabin was followed by Labour’s Sue Moroney. She spoke clearly and forcefully—but throughout her speech she was subjected to loud, sarcastic barracking by….yes, you guessed it—-Simon Bridges. The Member for Tauranga’s constant stream of rude comments was neither robust nor witty, merely sarcastic and bumptious.
Any honest observer of parliament will admit that the gulf in front-bench talent between National and Labour is stark. The commanding performance in the House by the new Labour leader David Cunliffe, and by his Green colleagues, has underlined the superiority of the liberal left.
And at the lower reaches, where the likes of Mike Sabin, Paul Goldsmith, Louise Upston, David Bennett and Tim McIndoe are snoozing and doing nothing other than shouting out inane interjections, there is simply no contest.
Nice work mozza.
Is there a link where we can get a visual on Bridges ?
Would like to write him some commentary to go with a link to his performance. Maybe ask him what he is looking for in life’s journey!
Here he is on Wednesday……
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re_CsKIh1qo&feature=c4-overview&list=UU3A_NzK_nFHkFmJu-TLHUFg
He’s not nodding assiduously here; like the rest of his National colleagues, he stares at the floor blankly, obviously dying inside. Steven Joyce must have told him to liven up his act for the next day’s Question Time (yesterday’s), when he was much more animated—-embarrassingly so.
Well, its been 5 (long) years since we last had a Labour government. On the 8th of November, 2008, on a sunny day just like this, New Zealand tossed out Helen Clark and brought in John Key. And the way some people carried on, it was like the Berlin Wall falling all over again, and, to add insult to injury, Roger Douglas returned to Parliament…
Other memories of that night included Hooten carrying on like a kid in a candy store, and trying to assure everyone who cared to listen that this government would be ‘very moderate’, while also warning everyone of people from Treasury and Reserve Bank knocking on Key’s door with bad news, Roger Douglas warning us all that there will be a lot of pain ahead, and it is our fault because we wanted free stuff, and Helen Clark stepping down, an entirely nessesary action if Labour was to return to power any time soon, too bad there was no obvious candidate to replace her, so Goff was chosen. TVNZ 7 (remember that?) showed footage of the 84 election, too bad the government got rid of both those channels — could have been the basis for a new era in PSTV..
We never really did find out what was in that mini-budget…its an open secret that some of the posters on here are Labour insiders, anyone has any info? Rumor had it that the Marsden Point rail link was in there…
Im not going to go into detail in regards to the “achievements” of the Fifth National government (have been over them so many times), but I note that in my town at least, the local polytech used to run a slather of ACE classes — since the government cut the funding (by 90%), there is nothing.
That’s what happens when Labour doesn’t adequately Tory Proof progressive enterprises. Its like shooting fish in a barrel for the Nats.
Don’t you mean 38 “long” years since the last Labour Government?
Labour was voted out and Muldoon got in, in 1975.
Then there was the first ACT Government.
Then 9 years of continued National light, benny bashing and voodoo economics.
+1
And the voodoo economics has been around awhile. The last time the government created money directly in this country was, IIRC, the 1st Labour government. We’ve been borrowing at interest and going deeper in debt ever since.
I would rather have Muldoon than Key — Sir Robert had our backs against the corporates. Growing up during the Great Depression gives people a sense of perspective that the likes of Simon Bridges and Jami-Lee Ross will never have.
Yep. One of the things that they learned was that socialism was necessary to keep society functioning. The pure capitalism that resulted in The Great Depression taught many lessons – lessons that we’ve forgotten to our cost.
http://www.alternet.org/marijuana-miracle-5-exciting-new-discoveries-about-pot
(excerpt:..)
“..The discovery of pot’s astonishing medical potential –
– is the most compelling new reason for legalizing the plant.
Cannabidiol (CBD) – a nonpsychoactive component of the cannabis plant – is generating quite a buzz among medical scientists and health professionals.
Nothing else is able to help treatment-resistant epileptic children with Dravet syndrome and related disorders.
On August 11 2013 Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s nationally televised report on CNN discussed the astonishing transformation of Charlotte Figi –
– a 7-year-old epileptic who had 300 “tonic-clonic” seizures a week – until she ingested a CBD-infused tincture.
She has been nearly seizure-free since her parents began giving her a daily dose of CBD.
Nor is Charlotte an isolated case:
– dozens of families with children suffering from intractable epilepsy are reporting dramatic results with cannabidiol. .”
(cont..)
phillip ure..
Er, you don’t need to legalise joints in order for a medicine to be made from the plant.
Just like how you can get medical cocaine and obviously morphine.
“Er, you don’t need to legalise joints in order for a medicine to be made from the plant.”
You do if you want to make it accessible.
In fact, in this country, it’s an offence to just grow the plant. Let alone harvest it or do anything with it.
I know that Canterbury University psychology department routinely uses cocaine and other addictive, otherwise-illegal drugs in their studies on rats.
yeah, though I think a more respectful term for freshers should be used if possible.
***just kidding***
Not sure what you mean by “make it accessible”. It’s not like you’d be able to make this medicine at home. Any legitimate business that wants to manufacture this medicine would be able to apply for a license or permission to do so – of course they’d have to prove that it wasn’t going to be used for illicit purposes, which would increase costs, but fundamentally there shouldn’t be anything stopping them from manufacturing if they meet the required conditions.
What constitutes an “illicit purpose” exactly?
WINZ “Designated Doctors”, at least some of them known to be “hatchet doctors”, knocking many sick and disabled off benefits, and doing the “dirty work” for Paula Bennett and her MSD top dogs, here is some crucial reading and studying for you:
http://accforum.org/forums/index.php?/topic/15463-designated-doctors-%e2%80%93-used-by-work-and-income-some-also-used-by-acc/
This is a comprehensive summary (with many links to resources for more information, with some selected PDF files containing sensitive information) that shines light on what has been going on, and what is going on in the “welfare area”!
It was already all started under the National governments in the 1990s, was quietly continued under Labour, although in a more moderate form, but has been escalated since National came back into power in 2008.
Dr David Bratt is the “Dark Knight” overseeing it all, and has apparently led to a “culture change” at WINZ, when it comes to medical assessments, now highly reliant on the bizarre “bio psycho-social model” that Professor Mansel from the UK “perverted” to design it to best suit governments, ACC and insurers, for the purpose of “off loading” sick and disabled from claims.
See also this interesting link to older info, which shows what the result of ‘Work Capacity Assessments’ was in the late 1990s, when the National government and MSD ran a first “trial” then:
http://www.dol.govt.nz/publication-view.asp?ID=45
Cheers xtasy,
Watch Aylward from 2:14 in Getting Better at Work video, chilling stuff..
Link here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPNqBJ4n-x0#t=154
Thoughts..
David Bratt’s smug argument: “Doctors used to recommend people smoked” Excuse Me Son – are you saying your evidence is as compelling as the evidence against smoking? Or are you saying don’t trust medical orthodoxy, aren’t you trying to push a new orthodoxy, son?
Maybe people have bad health when on a benefit because
1. The benefit levels are barely survivable, no proper food or healthcare
2. The stress of dealing with WINZ
3. Social stigma and discrimination
And the fact that not having enough money to live on is often only one of many stressful factors in their lives, but one which makes every other one much worse.
“David Bratt’s smug argument: “Doctors used to recommend people smoked””
Yeaah! I thought the same gorj! Here Bratt goes on about “absurd” advice that doctors once supposedly gave to some people, and then he thinks he gets away with telling us, that work is “therapeutic” and the “best medicine” to get well from ill health and even disability!?
By the way, I have in my whole life time never heard of, nor ever met a doctor, who recommended that smoking is good for your health.
Maybe Bratt realises he is standing in a corner, has no “compelling evidence”, and now sees a need to distract from his own nonsense, by making such bizarre comments?
I’d say to him: It is time to retire, mate! The same applies to Mansel Aylward, who looks rather sickly also, same as Bratt, as their work seems to be doing little good for their health!
I am pro physical and mental activity, pro work, where it fits a person’s true capabilities, skills and interests, and where it is offered on fair, reasonable conditions and decent pay, but that is NOT, what they are on about! Work should also not be “forced” on sick or disabled, and that is what they are doing, although they claim exactly the opposite at WINZ. Only an inclusive, constructive and supportive application of welfare policies to assist sick and disabled into work is acceptable.
“Doctors used to recommend people smoked””
That was way back at the beginning of the 19th century, or earlier.
I think originally in the Americas, people there saw it as having medicinal qualities.
I read somewhere recently that doctors in the 19th century UK used to often prescribe tobacco for some ailments. Maybe here.
But whatever… I wouldn’t trust how Bratt uses such information. How is he still being listened to by authorities?
karol – thank you so much, you prove to me, Bratt lives in the “dark ages”, yet more evidence against his “(un)compelling evidence”, thank you!
”Desperado wont you come to your senses part 3”,In news fresh from RadioNZ National Peter ‘the hairdo’ Dunne is said to definitely be standing in the Ohariu seat again whilst begging Slippery the Prime Minister to support His bid for another term, the PM has indicated that even He,(after 5 years of doing deals that reek), couldn’t bring Himself to stand such a stench,
Expect that tho to change when orders come down from on high from National Party HQ as their nerves become more frayed as November 2014 approaches,
The laughter is about to reach gut busting proportions here as Te Ururoa Flavell from the Maori Party is set to address this weekends United Future Party conference in what appears to be a picture of the rats holding hands as the ship sinks,
There is no indication yet as to where ‘the conference’ will be held but you can bet it will be somewhere really really small…
Chooky, that is the type of observations which I was alluding to. MB has operated as a hatchet, there is no doubt in my mind about that.
The venom and insults from the self styled on these boards, while unfortunate is exactly why there is unlikely to ever be a turn around in the fortunes of the majority if inhabitants of Aotearoa, they are simply incapable of accepting that the systems/services, and people controlling those systems/services, are actively killing our fellow Kiwis, allowing them to be maimed, raped, beaten and so forth, and what concerns me most of all, is that these self styles pass comment and carry on as if that same system is somehow going to turn around and change its operating strategy.
To make change, will require acceptance that there are horrible truths which people will have to accept sooner or later. because it should be very clear by now that conventional thinking or rationale is no longer applicable to deciphering the reasons for the decline of our country, no matter how many times people wish it away, many can sense there is something much more sinister involved.
@ Karol fyi, my comments were never intended to thread jack, thats your interpretation, not my intention. You use the term, core issues, but are not aware of what those core issues actually are, yet you pour scorn upon another perspective of where the core issues could exist, but you interpret and decide are they could not possibly be relevant.
@ Murray Olsen, while not familiar with the references that J90 or yourself make (seems you have read some material), my neighbour for many years was the mother of Maria Jungowska, she recently passed away, and there are some very odd circumstances which were explained, so while I am not aware of what else you may have read, I have heard some things which would raise eyebrows.
[karol: muzza, it’s perfectly legitimate to raise wider issues about general systems on other threads. For that reason I’m moving this to open mike (from the sound of dragging feet thread), because it does look like a thread jack. if you don’t want it to look like a thread jack – provide specific evidence of how it relates to the issues addressed by my post.
You seem unwilling to discuss issues related to the core ones addressed in my post, about the conduct of police with respect to rape and sexual assault, and relevant ministerial oversight.
I do also have some concerns about the overall workings of our government and systems – but that’s another topic.]
Yes this topic belongs over here Muzza, I have butted out of the rape culture commentary. I like your comment what concerns me most of all, is that these self styles pass comment and carry on as if that same system is somehow going to turn around and change its operating strategy. Hundred percent. There are huge events afoot that will make todays debate pale into insignificance because they are so inconceivably large. And todays “solutions” that don’t work wont do any better then.
Actually I am rather bored, ennuied out with the way contributors here are caught up in their own paradigms, unable to envisage other possibilities. I am presented with left libertarian dogma, marxist thought, Fem101 and rape culture etc etc as things I must accept or be deemed wrong. Goodo I will be wrong, to err is human. The last cop who batoned me was human too, he bought me a beer a few years later.
Just wondering aloud, thinking will my great grand daughter ask her mother what things like Marxism and feminism were? And be answered, Oh just Utopian ideals that did not survive our role back into subsistence serfdom in formerly Antarctic climes….
What may be done to retain your interest and balance of contributions Ennui (great final para by the wayside).
You know the answer..good music..great lyrics….gonna hum Dire Straits Romeo on the way home as an antidote the malaise…the widespread inability to imagine romance.. roasters try and imagine that!
“You shouldn’t come around here singing up at people like that, anyway, what ya gonna do about it…” 😉
“yeah Romeo, you know, I used to have a scene with him”
“Juliet, the dice were loaded from the start
And there’s a place for us, you know the movie song”
“When are you gonna realise, it was just that the time was wrong”
almost selected that line myself. Excellent.
Then you picked your handle well…
I just have very little time to even do the basics like scan and moderate comments. Writing posts.. Pah!
Last nights post was written late at night while I was preparing and upgrading the server system again. It is now running on two (actually n) webservers, one pico server with the file system, one database server, a memcache on a different system, and the content distribution network for the graphics etc..
If you think I’m a bit worried about scalability (and dispersion) coming into the election next year – then you’d right. Pretty freaky how you can disperse systems across nets these days and still have them running fast.
Anyway, I wish I had your time to indulge in ennui…
Just wondering aloud, thinking will my great grand daughter ask her mother what things like Marxism and feminism were? And be answered, Oh just Utopian ideals that did not survive our role back into subsistence serfdom in formerly Antarctic climes….
And yet, feminist ideas have been around for centuries – lots of greats back in the (reverse) grand child line).
Feminism said to have been coined by Charles Fourier (1772-1837) anti-poverty, pro-homosexuality, pro women’s rights.
aha, Cassandras box and Enlightenment ideas… once out of the box you can never get them back in. Dangerous items unless used wisely. As my mother says, “All things in moderation….”
Ennui, the irony as I see it, is these so called lefties are as much a lead weight to meaningful change as the right wing, neoliberals they proclaim to detest, yet are cut from different shades of the same cloth.
Very little of funtional use can come from the self styled on these boards, few of them have anything of practical value by way of opinions or original thought which offers encouragement for the future.
Muzza, nice summary. I am reminded of Carl Yung on this one….” We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.”
And that, is the asteroid crater comment which ends civilisation. Well done Ennui. Please make sure no one’s delicate sensibilities are hurt en passant.
@ muzza….I dont think you deliberately hijacked the thread….and I found it very interesting….and continued with it….but I guess the core posted topic was rape and police culture…and this issue could have got sidetracked by our discussion
…you perceptively were remembering and pointing to wider systemic issues about who conducts inquiries for the government and in particular the inquiry led by Bazley into police and sex abuse/rape issues…..indicating that, maybe given her history…her inquiry was lacking ( in depth or real solutions)and that there were serious systemic issues which have not been addressed……these are good points…and obviously this is the case!
….but to nail this issue, someone either has to do a lot of research or be an expert in the field of policing and law and womens/girls rights to point out where MB’s inquiry failed …it could be a very important subject of another post
(….because clearly at the moment, police ‘solutions’ of waiting until the ‘evidence’ is acceptable for a court case ….(and/or the victims come forward prepared for court ordeals) … are not solutions at all….and more crimes are being committed against vulnerable young girls…and the abusers are getting away with their vile crimes….eg why didnt the police pro-actively follow the evidence…by wiring up undercover agents the way they do with drug offenses?…and why werent parents and schools and young girls warned about this rapist gang?)
Chooky, you have interpreted my comments, as they were intended, cheers. Good to know that someone else on here is cognizant of the hack jobs which MB has been at the head of, leading to more or less everything she has been involved with, broken, failing and in steady decline.
At what point might the discussion about rape culture, cross paths with pedophile culture, and what level of influence might it be having alongside,rape culture which clearly exists, should further evidence of a cover up, and some indicators as to why there was a cover up, start to filter out.
St John’s has a terrible history including recent cases of statutory, so what is going inside these so called pillar institutions which are supposed to provide support, safety, protection and indeed life giving services.
@ Ennui, agreed, acceptance is necessary! Understanding or being aware what one is accepting would be beneficial if possible. In absence of clearer understanding, general acceptance that the cogs of the existing machinery never being the vehicles of salvation, would be a bloody good start.
Eeeww, I just about commented on PG’s blog (he thinks Bomber and Lynn are being mean to teh Police).
That is his usual refrain. I usually don’t release the trackbacks as part of my usual anti-link-whoring defaults. But in this case, it needs to be a wide debate on the police force. It isn’t something that gets dealt with in parliament. The police aren’t listening to the IPCA or the courts. They clearly haven’t implemented the results of the Bazley report.
There is no other effective route for the public to voice their concerns except through social media and to a lesser extent through the more myopic mass media.
Yes police culture has to change, but their behaviour is a symptom of a wider malaise.
Like what? Reforming certain aspects of police culture appears to be something that hasn’t been successfully accomplished in 20-30 years. What else would you like time and effort to be spent on? What is the root cause of organisational cultural dysfunction in the police in your view.
Political will would be a start. Can’t leave it to the police themselves.
Rape Culture
NZ can’t even deal with binge drinking culture, and this is far deeper and more endemic.
I disagree – it’s just that progress is slow.
I remember that some of Billy T’s comic situations revolved around trying to get served in pubs while heavily drunk, and an entire episode of the rural sitcom (“Rabbiter’s Rest”?) revolved around how the drunk punters were going to evade the mean traffic cop who was sitting outside the pub carpark to arrest the drunk drivers – everyone in the bar.
So in 20 or 30 years, things have changed significantly. There’s a long way to go in both issues, but I guess I’m an optimist about humanity at heart. 🙂
you old softie 😀
We’ve changed smoking culture significantly in the last 30 years.
Absolutely. That was around a very specific and identifiable behaviour. Poorer, brown, females are still at very
It was accomplished by implementing widespread educational programmes, advertising campaigns and strictly regulating commercial activities like advertising and packaging.
Maybe something similar and comprehensive needs to be done.
“Maybe something similar and comprehensive needs to be done.”
Yes, which begs the question of why it isn’t. When you have a society largely in denial about rape culture, then it makes sense that it can’t form good social and health policy around rape cessation. That’s why this past week is so astonishing. It’s the first time I remember that NZ has stood up and acknowledged rape culture and said ‘enough!’. Reading the term ‘rape culture’ in the NZ MSM is revolutionary. It opens the way, slightly, for policy makers to start talking about this now too.
Yes the binge drinking/preloading happens at home now.
It always did. Maybe supermarket prices have displaced the prblem away from bars somewhat, but flagons aren’t as common as they used to be.
And drink-driving is now massively unacceptable in large sectors of society, rather than being endemic across the board.
urrgh, a friend of mine bought a flagon of Cream Sherry yesterday. I’m fascinated about the markets there are for the wide range of alcoholic beverages available. The range is huge, yet when I asked a retailer recently, he said, “It all sells”. Flicking over to this programme Street Hospital while Coro ads on, the levels of public intoxication and the impairment of behaviour is astounding. ( I feel less personal shame now 😉 )
ps. I do not believe programmes like Police 10-7 help public perceptions of police, or the offenders profiled at all.
Each to their own flavour, I guess.
As for the public intox thing, bear in mind that you’re looking at the edited “highlights” of thousands of people on a night out.
yes.
Thanks Draco, that should be required reading.
reply to rogue trooper, th reply tag is gone. “it all sells”, my mate that runs a liquor shop, told me what sells the most is the fill your own vodkas, sherry & gin, he has to keep refilling those all the time. cheap & cheerful.
been a few research articles released to the media over recent years concerning the cumulative effect of regular consumption on our population.
Lolz, if you do soil yourself in such a manner ask PG whether the ‘Leader’ has got a squizz at any of the little leaflets doing the rounds over in Ohariu about the ‘Hairdo’s’ crimes…
Check out BLiP’s roll of dishonour (#23) on the headline post, the blue bellies seem to be own goal experts without needing the assistance of troublesome bloggers.
Got a taste of power-down life last night out here in Auckland’s west. No power from 6.30pm to 11pm. Thank gods for books. Don’t know how I’d cope without batteries though.
Was probably a lightning strike.
Every house should have its own backup battery supply so at least a limited functionality of power is kept, ie lighting, basic food heating, refrigeration, medical equipment, etc, it could be charged by solar panels or something.
Actually that’s a good scheme. I’ve also often wondered about each house, or group of households having a little power-generating windmill.
a good system for emergency use is to have a 1000L tank of water on the roof which can be used to power a micro-hydro generator on demand.
Or more realistically, a 2kW portable generator and a 10L can of diesel.
Gotta love that fossil fuel convenience and energy density, nothing beats it…
Countdown, and other corporates
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11153655
Pull Advertising from Dumb and Dumber Live Radio
Excellent.
Though, I wish some Business managers were a bit more assertive and would withdraw funding from RadioLive altogether and not just the JT & WJ show. RadioLive is protecting these rape apologists and inappropriate role models.
“But RadioLive would like to reiterate that we in no way condone the actions of the ‘Roast Busters’ or any violence against women,” it said.
“We apologise unreservedly for any offence or distress caused to listeners, clients or others by Willie and JT’s interview with Amy.”
Still waiting for them to apologise for their employees being such arseholes, and to apologise for broadcasting that crap. As long as they keep allowing WJ and JT to keep being rape apologists on air, then they are condoning violence against women. Rape enablers rather than bystanders at this point. If they really wanted to do the right thing they would give some air time to people who can talk intelligently about rape culture, without having to contend with WJJT. I’m sure they could even find someone who relates to their target audience.
The only way that they could do that effectively is to fire said arseholes.
Yeah there was a facebook slam on Countdown Wall and finally after hundreds of requests of *Dump em or we go elsewhere* they listened
So a change of heart but not from the heart. May their carparks be empty this weekend and all succesive days.
The – intended Consequences of LVR’s
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11153346
-less first-home buyers.
less competition for the already wealthy as they acquire more untaxed growth potential via Property.
more Blinglish
Backlash against the NATs building.
well, it was looking fairly toxic for them in last nights MSM;
The contrasting statements of Tolley ( picture Tolley, picture my mother )within a minute when interviewed over the IPCA investigation
-“…the media this week has not been well-handled…” (ricochet the messengers)
followed by
-“[the Police] don’t give New Zealand families enough confidence this process has been well-handled.”
and Brownlee on requesting an inquiry into the “Do Not Survey” notifications EQC made about, and to, clients in Canterbury…”…one of those things that goes to the heart of confidence…”
New Zealanders are losing confidence in this NAct charade of a government.
+1
Beat me to it.
Comment from Chris Trotter on on Bowalley Road 6/11 Two Out of Three Ain’t Enough about the years 1980s to now and the legacy of loss of good left political decisions.
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/
Observing the party closely since the departure of Helen Clark in 2008 has been a little like watching Rip Van Winkle rousing himself from twenty long years of slumber.
The radicalism which had built up such a head of steam in the Labour Party following the 1981 Springbok Tour, and which helped to generate the record 93.7 percent voter turnout at the 1984 snap election, was brought to a shuddering halt by Rogernomics……
Which leaves only the third component in Labour’s machine – the Caucus. At the conference just concluded a distressingly large number of Labour MPs put on a display of childish pique that bodes very ill for the party’s future.
This surly, sulking behaviour is driven by the fact that the caucus’s understanding of itself and its role has proved to be the most difficult legacy of Rogernomics to eradicate.
Before Rogernomics, Labour’s caucus arose almost organically from the party organisation: its values and the party’s values being both consistent and compatible. But the imposition of neoliberalism from within the framework of a left-wing political party radically recast the caucus’s role. Rogernomics required Labour MPs to overawe and repress the rank-and-file. Far too many Labour MPs still see their role as bringing the membership into line with their views.
tweet, tweet 😉
Two Out Of Three Ain’t Enough
I had an interesting conversation about the living wage proposal with a guy who currently earns (I guesstimate from our convo) around $20-$21PH. He absolutely hates the idea of a living wage. To quote: “why should someone earn almost as much as me for cleaning a shithouse? I went and got qualified. I might as well clean toilets. If they get an extra $5 and then I should get $5 an hour more as well”.
This is a common reaction amongst lower paid people, and it reminds me of a piece of dialogue from the 1988 movie Mississippi Burning:
“Anderson: You know, when I was a little boy, there was an old Negro farmer lived down the road from us, name of Monroe. And he was, uh, – well, I guess he was just a little luckier than my Daddy was. He bought himself a mule. That was a big deal around that town. Now, my Daddy hated that mule, ’cause his friends were always kiddin’ him about oh, they saw Monroe out plowin’ with his new mule, and Monroe was gonna rent another field now they had a mule. And one morning that mule just showed up dead. They poisoned the water. And after that there was never any mention about that mule around my Daddy. It just never came up. So one time, we were drivin’ down the road and we passed Monroe’s place and we saw it was empty. He’d just packed up and left, I guess. Gone up North, or somethin’. I looked over at my Daddy’s face – and I knew he’d done it. And he saw that I knew. He was ashamed. I guess he was ashamed. He looked at me and he said: ‘If you ain’t better than a nigger, son, who are you better than?’ …He was an old man just so full of hate that he didn’t know that bein’ poor was what was killin’ him.”
great movie, and a great illustration Sanctuary; the politics of envy overlaying the politics of entitlement, overlaying plain old personal insecurity. My upbringing and the majority of my employment occurred among our Redneck brethren…too ignorant by choice to know any better.
“Wonderful people everywhere
The way they comb their hair
[…]
Boys ‘n’ girls with new clothes on
You can Shake 😎 it to me all night long
Hey hey
It’s not for me
It’s a Beautiful World” -Devo
“She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean… “
Classic, a petty and mean-spirited individual who would rather piss and moan about others than demand more for himself.
That may be true but unless there is a political response to that sentiment it will be a real problem.
“Colonial Viper 11.2.1.3.1
31 December 2010 at 7:04 pm
In that case I suggest a wager of NZ$500 to go to a major NZ charity of the winner’s choice tsmithfield. Specifically, I wager you that NYMEX Crude will break US$200 per barrel before the end of 2015. Offer good for 48 hours from now :D”
Are you interested in reviving that wager made back here?
http://thestandard.org.nz/what-will-2011-bring/#comment-284450
BTW, the price of oil is currently US $94 per barrel and dropping.
Fascinating. As it turns out, ongoing economic decline with no recovery in the industrial economy has meant that demand growth has been low even as more expensive sources of oil have been developed.
Unluckily for me we were negotiating terms on the wager but never actually signed it off.
It looks like the world bank doesn’t see anything like $200 per barrel any time soon.
Agreed. My changed stance is that price increases are not required to make oil more unaffordable; national income deflation is accomplishing the same thing.
BTW – a bit cheeky to try and revisit a bet more than half way through the horse race 😛
The triumph of neoliberalism continues in the land of the free to be greedy and the free to be needy and destitute, the U$$$$$$$$$ with endless bailouts for the greedy banks where the Washington consensus began and the Chicago school with Milton Friedman. The wretched land our RWNJ pollies love to copy: Especially destruction of the Commonwealth for privatised wealth gain.
‘Which America Do You Live In? – 21 Hard To Believe Facts About “Wealthy America” And “Poor America” ‘
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/which-america-do-you-live-in-21-hard-to-believe-facts-about-wealthy-america-and-poor-america
#1 The lowest earning 23,303,064 Americans combined make 36 percent less than the highest earning 2,915 Americans do.
#5 According to numbers that were just released this week, 49.7 million Americans are living in poverty. That is a brand new all-time record high.
#8 According to Forbes, the 400 wealthiest Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans combined.
#19 Approximately one out of every five households in the United States is now on food stamps.
#20 The number of Americans on food stamps has grown from 17 million in the year 2000 to more than 47 million today.
#18 Today, the United States actually has a higher percentage of workers doing low wage work than any other major industrialized nation does.
(Isn’t that one of the NATZ’s goal for us? Unless you’re a CEO or top of the pile exec where you can only be motivated to work harder by paying yourself more and more with outrageous termination packages?)
So Willie Jackson and John Tamihere accused Matthew Hooton of middle class values in being critical of their treatment of the girl who said she was a victim of the RoastBusters.
Yet it turns out one went to Green Bay High School and others to Avondale College.
Those areas don’t strike me as being particularly working class – more middle-class areas these days, I’d have thought.
I am extremely disappointed with JT and Willie, as they were about the only ones I ever listened to on Radio Live. I am surprised though that there has not been more scrutiny put onto the truly “Nat mate” and right wing journo or presenter Sean Plunket. He is a difficult one, I know, he can present himself rather well and “independently” like on “The Nation”, but his spot on Radio Live is appalling, when it comes to talk back. He has himself been so chauvinistic repeatedly, it is not funny. But it must have gone below the radar here, as nobody would bother listening to him for a start. I feel that he deserves more criticism than Willie and JT, and I am sorry to offend people here, as I know that both made some inappropriate and stupid comments this week.
I believe that at least one, if not both, have daughters, and I expect them to be taken to task at home for sure.
Personally I expect an apology from both, to come clean.
Tweet from Lew:
😆 😈
Calling Rhinocrates ….
PLEASE don’t be listening to “The Panel”! (in particular that SF who I had to witness slipping up the MT Vic Hill the other day)
it’s an exercise in listening to the pithy – or rather the pissy.
The nicest man on Earth is absent, but one of the RW guest’s is trying to do his best to replace him, whilst the other is just trying (Hard)
Simon Pound taking the gloves off today!
ACT/SS thug on the ropes
The Panel, Radio NZ National, Friday 8 November 2013
Paul Brennan, Stephen Franks, Simon Pound
Stephen Franks is a former ACT MP, which means he was a parliamentary colleague of the disgraced identity thief and doctor-assaulter David Garrett, as well as the notorious perk-taker Rodney Hide. He is also a “legal counsel” with that notorious gang of knife-killing enthusiasts, Garth the Knife McVicar’s S.S. Trust. All of which should make it surprising to hear Franks pontificating today, in relation to the Roastbusters/Police failure scandal, about “the boundaries of morality.” He has just intoned: “We have a society which doesn’t know where the bounds of behaviour are….”
But people familiar with this fellow will not be surprised to see him contradicting himself like this; they know just what a canting hypocrite he is. As you listen to Franks talking about morality—his key word during these lectures is “wickedness”—bear in mind that he was a colleague of David Garrett and Rodney Hide, and works closely as a “legal counsel” with that notorious gang of knife enthusiasts, the S.S. Trust.
So far Simon Pound has challenged him robustly. He has poured scorn on Franks’ lame defence of police inaction, and was even more contemptuous of Franks’s idiotic attempt to suggest that reading Fifty Shades of Grey was somehow equivalent to raping a thirteen-year-old. Pound is showing an entirely unexpected strength of character.
I have to leave now, unfortunately, but I would appreciate it if someone could transcribe the remainder of what has so far been a complete and utter ass-whuppin’ for a real villain.
Vinceremo, Simon Pound!
Oh Bugger Morrissey – I meant you (see post above, rather than Rhino). It was intended as cyber community service bulletin in an attempt to save you heartache and reduce the need for a beta blocker or two 😉
Never mind though – the weight of his smugness means you can see him struggling to get up the hill (Hawker Street) sometimes.
Thanks Tim. I tuned in later to the show just in time to hear Franks indulge in another one of his trademark rants: this time it was against the “parasitic art culture”, whatever that means. I suspect Franks himself has not thought seriously about it, and if challenged would have had to back down or substantially qualify his bizarre statement. Rather than being challenged, or asked to clarify, however, he went on to praise artists who did not belong to the “parasitic art culture”. His exemplar for these paragons of individual enterprise was “Sir” Peter Jackson.
Clearly, in the fertile mind of Stephen Franks, Downstage Theatre accepting a small government grant is parasitic, but accepting more than $100 million of government subsidy, plus the government collaborating with Warner Bros. to destroy the local actors’ union is heroic individualism.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/9379185/Police-find-rifles-in-storage-unit
“A police raid of an Auckland storage unit linked to the Hells Angels has turned up six firearms, including military-style assault rifles”
– An assault rifle IS a military rifle so why would they say military-style assault rifles? They’ve basically said military-style military rifles which is redundant…just bugs me is all
They could have been even more redundant and noted that they were semi-automatic (or automatic) military-style assault rifles
Well exactly and if they get this wrong (or are they just trying to make it sound more exciting) what else are they doing…
Uncritically repeating neo-liberal gibberish as though it were somehow connected with reality?
Uncritically repeating left-wing press releases as though it were somehow connected with reality?
– Fixed it for you
Yeah, sure they did. That’s why you’ll be able to provide an example. Come on, a Labour or Green press release re-printed verbatim by a main stream news outlet. Just one.
A redundant adjective tells you that NZ might not be as well served by the MSM as it could be?
Wow.
The constant updates on charlotte dawson and other celebs of the week did that for me years ago. Not to mention headlines that are contradicted in their story, or front-page photos of disorderly youths recycled from two years previously (ODT did that one).
The term military style is just another scare tactic.
Its just pointless when assault rifle means military rifle…like saying someone was hit by an automobile-style car
It’s pretty much pointless at any time as the term itself is so broad as to be meaningless. A hunters rifle with a scope on it could be well within its meaning as well as a handgun.
No, IMO, it’s scare mongering i.e, ZOMG they have military weapons as if a 308 cal bullet is more deadly from and assault rifle than from a hunters rifle.
Yeah that’s or very well and do if they have been caught with MSA Rifles. But do those Muppets know and understand the 4 principles of marksmanship to use them effectively?
Part of the problem – some of the shots fired into a house in the last few days went into the kids’ bedroom. A bullet is effective regardless of whom it hits.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE_lPaCbUIU
– Serious question here: has the cheese finally slid of T. Mallards cracker?
What in particular in that video raises such a question?
It looked to me that he was very distracted, seemed to be in disagreement with something that both National and Labour were agreed on, “how many people will die because of this bill” was way otp…his whole performance just looked wrong (for lack of a better term) like it wasn’t the Mallard I’m used to seeing
““how many people will die because of this bill” was way otp”
In what sense?
Craigs Investment Partners upset foreigners might not be able to suck as much money out
Fuck, the idea of having to do some work and research around your multi-million dollar investments is simply unrealistic it seems.
What foreign investors in the NZX apparently want is the ability to clip the ticket with “certainty.”
FFS.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/business/280340/fallout-chorus-may-spread-wide
That’s what the capitalists have always wanted. IMO, It’s what brought about limited liability, the Fire at Will Bill, union busting and a whole lot more laws.
I post stuff I observe or experience. Its others who give it a label.
human experience can be a mirror. Some cringe at the sight some gaze for ages but dont really see and so on.
I live in hope that people will speak out against the status quo regardless of self interest. The young woman shot for demanding education for girls. But in reality I hope for that spark of courage to ignite people off their couches to sometimes say “enough”.
I will march on 16 october because I want anyone who has been abused to speak up and know that many people will support them.
http://gpjanz.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/march-this-sat-for-boycott-of-chogm-in-sri-lanka/
This is why I’ll be marching this Sat 9 November 2013, assembling at 12 noon Britomart – calling for NZ Prime Minister to boycott CHOGM in Sri Lanka:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karunyan-arulanantham/credible-sri-lankan-war-c_b_4174819.html
Penny Bright
Agree, it is disgraceful and criminal what goes on in Sri Lanka, but the NZ media , again, report NADA, as if nothing ever happened. And PM Key behaves just the same, he should bury his head in total SHAME!
“Sixteen I fell in love with a girl as sweet as could be
Only took a couple of days ’til she was rid of me.
She swore that she would be all mine and love me to the end,
But when I whispered in her ear I lost another friend…”
And the cookie crumbles further:
We’re finding out just how bad it can be when corporations are allowed to sue countries when the countries pass laws to make their citizens better off.
Violeta Charra – de Chile, nativa, musice del pueblo:
Interesting stuff, if any here comprehend it perpaps. This is music from another continent and sphere, and I hope some understand and appreciate it.
I wonder if what we need is to separate the police from prosecution and hand all prosecution over to a separate organisation. The police would be responsible for detection and apprehension the Prosecutors office would be responsible for ensuring police gather evidence needed for a successful case.
It seems that there is too much vested interest involved when police both detect and decide when to prosecute.
Any thoughts?
Sounds like a good idea to me. Maybe have it so that instead of complainants going to the police they go to the prosecutors office who then directs the police to gather evidence.
Such an office would have to staffed with lawyers and not from police ranks.
US system of AGs?
Don’t you mean DAs?
This is what we need in NZ, a NZ version of Camilla Vallejo, a true Leader and passionate speaker, there are other good examples. Kiwis are peaceful, a bit too docile, and this is what the elite capitalist regime here exploits, same as their media lackeys, you are all held at ransom by those forces.
Wake up, think, ask, challenge and more, it is YOUR power, that is you, el pueblo. por favor, good luck.
Listen, where is “the left” in NZ, here are questions raised even in Mexico:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbC7505LTYo
This is how Che was killed!!!
This belongs on tomorrow’s open mic or weekend social or something, but let me just be the first to say, holy fuck: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9380684/John-Key-living-the-dream
*wipes bile from lips and toilet rim* What the fuck is going on with New Zealand’s news media?