Open mike 11/03/2014

100 comments on “Open mike 11/03/2014 ”

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1. amirite 1

   11 March 2014 at 7:14 am

   The Nats are just short of camping and sleeping with the Oravida staff – but according to Bryce Edwards, the Govt is being “pragmatic”, which must be a Right Wingers’ synonym for “cronyism” or “corruption”.
   If it was Labour doing this, the public would be asking for heads to roll.

   http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11217337
   • phillip ure 1.1

     11 March 2014 at 7:35 am

     that column from (acceptable-gatekeeper-wannabe) edwards-the-younger –

     • is so right-slanted…

     ..he has basically become a mouthpiece/apologist for the right..

     ..and as such..

     ..should be studiously ignored/denigrated at will..

     ..(and him an ‘academic’..eh..?

     ..is he dunedin university’ steve hoadley..?..)

     phillip ure..
     • JK 1.1.1

       11 March 2014 at 8:27 am

       Yeah – I reckon, Phil.
   • Draco T Bastard 1.2

     11 March 2014 at 3:30 pm

     If it was Labour doing this, the public would be asking for heads to roll.

     Well, National and the MSM would be screaming from the roof tops for heads to roll anyway.
2. phillip ure 2

   11 March 2014 at 7:19 am

   this is what pete george/farrar/williams/edwards-the-younger/politicheck/the taxpayers union –

   are up to/attempting to do..

   “..China to train leaders to manage online public opinion..”

   http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/10/china-online-opinion-training-programme-sina-weibo

   phillip ure..
   • phillip ure 2.1

     11 March 2014 at 7:57 am

     this is what we need here..

     “..Mythopedia: The Website To Debunk Right-Wing Lies

     “..Watchdog group Media Matters has launched a website –

     cataloguing conservative propaganda..”

     http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/mythopedia-website-debunk-right-wing-lies

     (and the first entry for a local version..could be edwards-the-youngers’ latest rightwing-roundup/exercise in slanting/opinion-managing..)

     phillip ure..
3. redfred 3

   11 March 2014 at 7:26 am

   A beautiful example of PR front footing – power bills rise, John Key points at up grades to national grid, Transpower say isn’t us, for some reason it comes across as David Shearer is supporting the PM with his Private Members Bill…. nothing is said at all about recent power asset sell off!
   • CC 3.1

     11 March 2014 at 7:50 am

     And the latest rort from John Key’s privatising profiteers at Genesis….. The account arrives and is to be paid within four days or the 10% late payment tax is imposed.
     • phillip ure 3.1.1

       11 March 2014 at 8:44 am

       and no real reaction to the news yesterday..

       ..that the poorest..(forced into pre-paid power-payments by their suppliers..)..

       ..are then forced to pay up to 60% more for their electricity..

       ..how is this..in any way..fair/’a level playing field’ (that claimed-destination of the right/free-market..)

       ..the market is ‘free’ alright..

       ..’free’ for these scumbag power-companies to cruelly exploit/profiteer off..the poorest/sickest/weakest in our country..

       ..am i the only one enraged by this..?

       ..what are lab/grns going to do about this..?

       ..about this ‘specifically’..?

       ..(and why not a class-action-suit..?..to force these scumbags to pay back what they have stolen..

       ..from the poorest..)

       ..phillip ure..
       • vto 3.1.1.1

         11 March 2014 at 9:50 am

         Electricity has become like water to people. Water is an essential life source and is provided at no (well, ratepayers mostly) cost. Imagine if people started drinking less water because it cost too much….. there would be all manner of uproar.

         Well, electricity has become the same. In many places we are not allowed to burn wood etc for heating and cooking. So to warm ourselves and feed ourselves we are required to use electricity. This is the place that electricity has taken in society – an essential. Absolutely essential for survival.

         As such, electricity cannot be left to the vagaries of the “free market” to supply such, like plastic buckets and undies can be. Lack of plastic buckets and undies are not threatening to life, so they can stay with the slave labour suppliers in the east. But not electricity.

         Electricity is an essential to life survival in Aotearoa and as such must be supplied in the appropriate manner to us. Free market supply is utterly wrong for this reason.
         • thatguynz 3.1.1.1.1

           11 March 2014 at 11:35 am

           +1 vto
         • Draco T Bastard 3.1.1.1.2

           11 March 2014 at 3:37 pm

           +1111
4. geoff 4

   11 March 2014 at 7:36 am

   Russell Norman & Dave Cunliffe on radio nz this, both sounding really good!

   Go Left!

   Russ:
   http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-20140311-0640-election_2014_the_green_party_says_spring_is_a_time_for_change-048.mp3

   Dave:
   http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-20140311-0709-labour_says_it_can_turn_around_support_in_time_for_election-048.mp3

   And right now Winston just let loose a great tirade on phony John Key!
   • karol 4.1

     11 March 2014 at 8:46 am

     Thanks for the access to the interviews. Cunliffe did well to not dwell on the media beatups of him in the last week or so, and to not accept the untrustworthy smear.

     Sounding positive.
   • Chooky 4.2

     11 March 2014 at 8:47 am

     +100….both Cunliffe and Peters sounding great!

     … but i do wish Morning Report would not waste time on the flag issue….it is such a USA Republican Party red herring and diversion by John Key from the real issues facing this country
     ….Simon Mercep should not be buying into this and giving it air time….we want the real issues!…
     • Paul 4.2.1

       12 March 2014 at 5:44 am

       Mercep is useless
   • Aww 4.3

     11 March 2014 at 9:35 am

     National is proposing a water standard that would allow 4 times the level of nitrates in our rivers that are in the Yangtze River in China??
     • David H 4.3.1

       11 March 2014 at 9:53 am

       Oh joy 2 headed fish territory. Oh TricKEY TricKEY TricKEY
       • blue leopard (Get Lost GCSB Bill) 4.3.1.1

         11 March 2014 at 1:55 pm

         Hmm TricKey what a good name that is – I have already started using it since reading your comment, thanx
         • David H 4.3.1.1.1

           11 March 2014 at 5:44 pm

           Be my guest.
5. bad12 5

   11 March 2014 at 7:57 am

   The perception of a conflict of interest, Judith Collins acting in Her capacity as the Minister of Justice visits Oravida in China later claiming under questioning that this was simply a spur of the moment decision to drop in for a cuppa,

   Lies???, you bet, a letter released under the Official Information Act shows the visit was not one of a spur of the moment nature which leaves Collins open to accusations of Ministerial conflicts of interest and having deliberately mislead the Parliament,

   Spin???, so fast your eyeballs will nearly roll out of your head trying to follow the trajectory, up pops the Herald’s David Fisher a veritable unknown who appears to have the dubious ‘honor’ of being that in-august ‘rags’ senior reporter of the year,

   In a piece in today’s Herald online Fisher gives every impression of a display that would have the ‘senior reporter of the year’ title replaced with ‘well past His used by date’ and i have to wonder if the story as presented to the public is a verbatim copy of the words of Steven Joyce or simply a precis of an earlier phone call,

   Prevaricate, by spreading Collins’s shit in a wide arc across the National Party listing every man and his dog as having ‘visited’ Oravida in Auckland,(do not muse aloud about the depth of this particular companies pockets with what appears to be the whole spectrum of the ‘Right’ lining up with their hands out),

   Disregard, the intelligence of everybody by attempting to cover Collins tracks by not mentioning that it is Her actions while on an official visit to another country that are in question,

   Wheel out, a tame ‘expert’ in the form of Dr Bryce Edwards ‘a political scientist’ to pronounce over the corpse of the National Government ‘pragmatism’ in the vein of a priest giving the rites of absolution,

   Lie by omission, treat the readers as if their intellectual level has been seriously devalued by previous readings of the Herald by not including the ‘fact’ that the wheeled out ‘political scientist’ in the form of Edwards is a paid hack for the ‘rag’,

   Can the Herald stoop much lower looking for excuses for Collins and National’s ‘pragmatic’ Hands Out political management in what gives every appearance of a ‘grease my palm with ten pieces of silver and all your fortunes will bask in the warmth of the Sun’ explanation which paints all of them in the same light,

   You bet, the Herald jonolists have barely scratched the surface in their attempts to paint the innocent actions of one simply helping a friend into something far darker than that while painting the ‘Hands Out’ politics in the National Parties approach to business as simple pragmatism…
   • Draco T Bastard 5.1

     11 March 2014 at 3:55 pm

     Can the Herald stoop much lower looking for excuses for Collins and National’s ‘pragmatic’ Hands Out political management

     I’m sure that they will find away to do so.
6. risildowgtn 6

   11 March 2014 at 8:21 am

   radio just said key is gonna announce a ref regarding changing the flag…. WOW im so excited= NOT!

   what a waste of $
   • North 6.1

     11 March 2014 at 8:55 am

     Probably been invited to a few more clever dinner parties of late. Seems they all go that way. Look at Edwards the Elder. No more analysis. Just commentary on the “game” and declaration of “winners” – effective congratulations to the the winners they declare. No matter how scurvy.

     When change comes (of neccesity it will…….or choose civil unrest) there are going to be some worried yuppies……….

     Winston’s the only one who really calls them for what they are.
   • North 6.2

     11 March 2014 at 9:03 am

     Flag referendum. Classic boycott material on the basis that it’s an expensive piece of patently unnecessary bullshit devised by ShonKey Python to distract in election year. Since it’s for his benefit alone let him pay for it alone – he’s got 50 mill’ – a drop in the bucket to him. Maybe an Antoine’s coffee and muffin would spread the burden……..update the already bestowed honour to “Sir…….whatever-his-name-is”.

     Starting now – Boycott Boycott Boycott !
   • Bearded Git 6.3

     11 March 2014 at 9:45 am

     Can we have a flag issue ban on the Standard from today please?

     Such a waste of this blog-National’s game is to make us talk about the flag not the real issues.
   • David H 6.4

     11 March 2014 at 9:56 am

     “I wanna bit o’ cloff vat will show my values” . How about a pic of a toilet on a shit brown background TricKEY. That’ll show your values
   • millsy 6.5

     12 March 2014 at 12:16 am

     Some cheesy corporate logo.

     I really cannot see why we need to change the goddamn thing. I like our current flag. I am not all that worried about the Union Jack — after all, rightly or wrongly, that is our heritage. The Hawaiian flag also has UJ on it, and it had much looser links with the Empire, I dont see anyone there jumping up and down.

     As for people getting our flag mixed up, I dont think it bothers the people of Poland, Indonesia, Chad, Moldova, Romania, Senegal and Cameroon that much?

     Though, if there has to be a change, the United Tribes flag seems the most appropriate choice, given that it was the flag of a truly independent New Zealand.
7. phil 7

   11 March 2014 at 8:33 am

   Xox. I’ve been disappointed that Bryce Edwards has leant more to the right as he gets more mainstream media coverage. I suppose this is how the MSM works. You give them what they want and they ask you back. You scratch my back…
   • Paul 7.1

     12 March 2014 at 5:45 am

     Used to read him.
     Gave up when he joined the Herald.
8. captain hook 8

   11 March 2014 at 8:34 am

   New Zealans does not need a new flag it needs new prime minister.
   something seriously wrong is happening in this country.
   • Chooky 8.1

     11 March 2014 at 8:49 am

     +100
   • ianmac 8.2

     11 March 2014 at 8:57 am

     Of course the flag debate is not meant as a deflection from the important issues is it? Surely not!
     • mac1 8.2.1

       11 March 2014 at 9:54 am

       Ianmac, you mean the flag is not more important as fairness, employment, better wages and working conditions, freedom and opportunity, education, health and social inclusion, peace and shared prosperity?

       I wonder whether a nice nationalist issue like flag-waving is not a cunning plan to get right wing voters into the polling booth and voting?
9. JK 9

   11 March 2014 at 8:42 am

   Interesting. Patrick Gower has a whole column on Scoop (Politics) transcribing his interview with John Key on The Nation. Haven’t seen that before. Could it possibly be because there were complaints about is interview with Cunliffe on The Nation ? ? I haven’t bothered to include the link – its easy enough to find on Scoop – because I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of having something up on The Standard.
   • bad12 9.1

     11 March 2014 at 9:05 am

     JK, perhaps tho people, even the Alfred E. Nuemann of televised political jonolism, can change, the proof of such of course can only be found in Gowers future reporting,

     If Gower can find ‘political balance’, a fine line to have to walk daily, then i think He deserves a small modicum of applause,

     Gower’s setting of Slippery the Prime Ministers feet on fire with the interview on the Nation was possibly the most telling against the PM in His 5 odd years of holding the office, all the more so because i don’t for a moment believe that the PM could believe Gower had the temerity to pull Him apart in such a manner,

     Credit where credit is due, IF Gower can stick to the facts while reporting the politics then i would suggest He may become the working man’s Kim Hill of political reporting, the deep intellect may not be apparent but the ability to slice and dice, using the truth to do so, are certainly evident…
10. bad12 10

    11 March 2014 at 8:47 am

    Smart politics that would probably swing the vote Labour’s way 1#,

    Announce in the middle of the first televised leaders debate the refining of the plan to raise the age of entitlement to superannuation,

    Point out the three favored options, raise the age, means test the entitlement against income from all sources, or, leave the entitlement as it is,

    Promise a referendum at the 2017 election to decide the issue,

    The current Labour superannuation policy was a vote loser in 2011 and it still is…
    • Chooky 10.1

      11 March 2014 at 8:53 am

      +100…agreed.. “The current Labour superannuation policy was a vote loser in 2011 and it still is”…

      Labour does not need to go there …and it can not afford to go there if it wants to win this election!
11. adam 11

    11 March 2014 at 9:09 am

    And if you think the TPP is a good idea. This from the country who is the main driver and whose corporations want us.

    http://www.real-time-with-bill-maher-blog.com/index/2014/3/6/nun-the-wiser
12. captain hook 12

    11 March 2014 at 9:34 am

    I cant believe the nonsense coming out of Radio NZ this morning about changing the flag. why dont they ask which if any country has ever changed its flag. The answer is none. all the pretentious greybeards trying to sound like constituional intellectuals when they are more like tired old sots.This is a bigger red herring than 1981 and the country is just sitting back and swallowing it. I just about give up when this stuff is paraded as a serious question. An old chinese confucian saying is that choice cases confusion and shifty key and his minions are in the business of creating confusion so their neo-liberal agenda slips past while the ninnies run around debating crap.
    • miravox 12.1

      11 March 2014 at 9:44 am

      why dont they ask which if any country has ever changed its flag
      Canada, for one.

      Anyway all the flag talk is due to this, I reckon… flag talk = conservative views

      http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/07/08/0956797611414726
      (Abstract – article is paywalled, but if you google flag + voter intentions there are plenty of reports on this study).

      We report that a brief exposure to the American flag led to a shift toward Republican beliefs, attitudes, and voting behavior among both Republican and Democratic participants, despite their overwhelming belief that exposure to the flag would not influence their behavior. In Experiment 1, which was conducted online during the 2008 U.S. presidential election, a single exposure to an American flag resulted in a significant increase in participants’ Republican voting intentions, voting behavior, political beliefs, and implicit and explicit attitudes, with some effects lasting 8 months after the exposure to the prime. In Experiment 2, we replicated the findings more than a year into the current Democratic presidential term. These results constitute the first evidence that nonconscious priming effects from exposure to a national flag can bias the citizenry toward one political party and can have considerable durability.
      • RedBaronCV 12.1.1

        11 March 2014 at 8:42 pm

        Who’s to say that the same exposure here may mean people vote for fairness and the left. What NZ really stands for, not get rich quick.
      • Zolan 12.1.2

        12 March 2014 at 9:34 pm

        It can just as easily result in separatist or other reactionary views, depending on national values, current events, and even flag culture. The flags of USA, France, and Denmark represent different ideals to their citizens.

        The NZE doesn’t really stand for much in the public consciousness — certainly nothing that suggests clear political leanings.

        Provoking the debate however, with it’s predictable divisiveness and unpredictable consequences, purely as a convenient distraction, is egregiously cynical enough without need for any bonus conspiracy.

        [P.S. lprent — The post-with-edit-timer is brilliant. Perfect.]
    • Lanthanide 12.2

      11 March 2014 at 9:56 am

      Are you serious? Countries change their flags all the time.
    • Chooky 12.3

      11 March 2014 at 10:35 am

      +100 captain hook….. flag issue is John Keys ‘Red Herring Flag’….but stupid commentators are buying into this RED HERRING and treating it as if it is a serious issue for New Zealand voters ……they need to get their priorities sorted
      • Populuxe1 12.3.1

        11 March 2014 at 7:32 pm

        Most of us have brains complex enough to thnk about more than one thing at a time – I’m sorry if you don’t
        • Chooky 12.3.1.1

          11 March 2014 at 9:17 pm

          Mr Pop are you talking to me ?…Calling me Simple little Chooky!?….if so …go get popped or poped or chicken pooped on! ….you are a Red Herring!

          …the Flag issue is the least of NZ’s problems !……and surveys have shown most NZers want to keep the flag! ……it is a NON ISSUE…for msm simpletons to be taken in with and to dupe the population with !…it is a waste of time……..a Trickster diversion by Mr TricKey himself straight out of the right wing Republicans manual for subversion of genuine dialogue, dialectic, and democracy!

          It is very important we hold the media to account. This election must be held on the debate of real issues…and not subverted by red herrings
          • Arfamo 12.3.1.1.1

            11 March 2014 at 9:35 pm

            Nah chooky don’t it too personally. Pop’s just not afraid to be catty. I’d like to see the flag change. It’s certainly a cunning move by Key, though. He’s a slippery dude all right.
            • Chooky 12.3.1.1.1.1

              12 March 2014 at 7:23 pm

              @ Arfamo ..i didnt take it personally…he is a silly old Pop

              ….at least the Left leaders are seeing the flag issue for what it is ….a red herring … and are not falling for the Bait….just wish the media would do the same

              ….we dont want this election diverted by Trickey’s cunning machinations away from the REAL issues
13. risildowgtn 13

    11 March 2014 at 9:53 am

    https://www.greens.org.nz/

    for anyone wanting to help the Greens in their electioneering delivering pamphlets etc etc etc

    🙂
14. phillip ure 14

    11 March 2014 at 11:56 am

    “..Colorado Recreational Weed Sales Top $14 Million In First Month..”

    “..During the first month of recreational marijuana sales –

    Colorado’s licensed dispensaries generated a total of more than $14 million –
    putting about $2 million of tax revenue into state coffers in the process..”

    (cont..)

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/10/colorado-marijuana-tax-revenue_n_4936223.html

    phillip ure..
15. Ennui 15

    11 March 2014 at 12:05 pm

    Frikkin Fracking….just been reading http://www.resilience.org/stories/2014-03-10/the-oil-revolution-story-is-dead-wrong and wondered about the real cost of fracking in NZ, the things that the frakkers don’t actually pay for……

    Even with that, the Department of Transportation in Texas did this analysis and said, “Fracking is doing about four billion dollars of damage to our road surfaces and bridges on a yearly basis. These eighty-thousand-pound trucks, of which it might take as many as almost twelve hundred to complete a single well—six hundred if you want to re-frack it—and those twelve hundred trucks weighting eighty thousand pounds filled with sand and water and fracking fluid and who knows what and giant diesels…
16. Puckish Rogue 16

    11 March 2014 at 12:20 pm

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9810796/Hughes-a-mollyhawk-Jones

    Jones is doing very well at the moment
    • fender 16.1

      11 March 2014 at 12:46 pm

      Whereas Key/English are doing very poorly
      • Puckish Rogue 16.1.1

        11 March 2014 at 1:20 pm

        I guess that explains why Keys popularity is dropping and cunliffes is rising…no wait hang on its not
        • fender 16.1.1.1

          11 March 2014 at 1:28 pm

          Yeah the boy next door popularity contest will trump the over-hyped rock-star that failed to make it to the concert venue.

          I guess we’ll not see you again after 20 Sept 🙁
          • Puckish Rogue 16.1.1.1.1

            11 March 2014 at 2:24 pm

            Oh you’ll be seeing me alright, gotta come back and gloat after all
            • McFlock 16.1.1.1.1.1

              11 March 2014 at 2:35 pm

              On the flipside, your sulking absence would add a certain icing to a labour victory
              • Tracey …

                11 March 2014 at 2:40 pm

                Look at the polls. People like key…

                Takes the mind off

                Growing deficits
                Shrinking tax takes
                interest on way up and
                rising govt debt

                earthquake rebuild is masking a great deal about this elvis impersonator economy
                • McFlock …

                  11 March 2014 at 2:50 pm

                  A local story here in Dunedin is a businessman who was all flash, owned three or four businesses, had great plans, etc. Now he’s skipped town owing large amounts of cash to staff and suppliers. And apparently he’s done it before elsewhere.

                  Key reminds me of this guy – he’s not going to be shiny forever, the media have been getting tetchy with him, and when they sense blood the fall will be sudden. And he’s the nact’s only pony, what with “conflict of interest” collins and “didn’t fix it” joyce and “didn’t even try to fix it” brownlee. And the rest of them are even worse.
                  • Puckish Rogue …

                    11 March 2014 at 3:35 pm

                    “he’s not going to be shiny forever”

                    yeah keep running that line as its worked out so well for the left so far
                    • McFlock …

                      11 March 2014 at 3:54 pm

                      we shall see. Confident that he won’t preside over the first national government that fails to win three elections? He’s not. He’s more “derp” than grin these days.
              • Puckish Rogue …

                11 March 2014 at 3:32 pm

                So no matter what its a win-win when I come back 🙂
                • McFlock …

                  11 March 2014 at 3:44 pm

                  No, it’s a “win-double lose” situation: nact govt and you being insufferable, versus a leftish govt. Unless the supporters of people who want to reduce the rate of sick babies are as shallow as the supporters of people who increase the rate of sick babies, in which case it would be “double win-double lose”.
            • fender 16.1.1.1.1.2

              11 March 2014 at 2:49 pm

              Well it’s good to hear you will be voting Lab/Green in order to ‘gloat’.
              • Puckish Rogue …

                11 March 2014 at 3:33 pm

                One thing about this site is its made me appreciative of Helen Clark in that she knew to keep the Greens away from power
                • Tracey …

                  11 March 2014 at 3:36 pm

                  That you are paranoidically scared of the greens makes me more certain voting for them is the right thing to do.
                  • Puckish Rogue …

                    11 March 2014 at 3:40 pm

                    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9814728/Greens-complain-about-Jones-attack

                    What a bunch of cry babies…myself, Shane Jones and Helen Clark all agree that the Greens should be nowhere near the levers of power so read into that what you will
                    • Tracey …

                      11 March 2014 at 3:52 pm

                      I dont know where you get that I am crying.

                      Jones is following cullens shoes… really shld be in the national party.

                      Unlike you I understand that if we keep doing stuff the way we have for the last 30 years our children and grand children will have nothing to smile about unless they ARE amongst the 1%. You focus on winning at all costs and the rest of us will struggle thru the cost you burden us with.
                    • Puckish Rogue …

                      11 March 2014 at 4:28 pm

                      You’re not the cry baby but the Greens are
                • fender …

                  11 March 2014 at 3:44 pm

                  Yes it’s a great site I agree, but can you link to the part where it made you “appreciative of Helen Clark in that she knew to keep the Greens away from power” please.
                  • Puckish Rogue …

                    11 March 2014 at 4:29 pm

                    Its not in the link, its just a realization (on my part) that she was a better leader then I gave her credit for…

                    Cunliffe should take note of what she did to the Greens and follow suit
                    • Te Reo Putake …

                      11 March 2014 at 5:08 pm

                      ‘cept she didn’t do anything to the Greens, so your comments are just a wee bit odd. In fact HC came to have a good working relationship with the previous Greens leadership and was instrumental in getting them to give her Government confidence and supply in 2005 in exchange for the active promotion of some of their policies on energy and transport.
    • fender 16.2

      11 March 2014 at 1:00 pm

      And IRD redundancies costly for Kiwis where “in 2012-13, IRD spent about $53m on contractors and consultants, down from $59m in 2008-09”.
      • Puckish Rogue 16.2.1

        11 March 2014 at 3:41 pm

        Downward tracking is all good
17. adam 17

    11 March 2014 at 1:40 pm

    BEST and I mean the Best damn opinion piece I have seen in ever – period.

    Oh and if can’t handle swearing – don’t follow the link.

    https://www.tytnetwork.com/2014/03/09/open-letter-middle-class-spoiler-alert-fck/
18. greywarbler 18

    11 March 2014 at 2:22 pm

    Here’s a piece from The Press for last weekend on money and ACT and money and John Whyte. And satire and the rich. From Martin van Beynen – I like this bit.

    Let us look at the empirical basis for the contention that wealth does not make you happy. Show me a rich person who is unhappy. OK but they have lost their minds. If money did not make you happy, do you think the ACT party would exist? It exists because rich people want everyone to be rich as long as rich people don’t have to pay for it…
    There is only one circumstance that justifies the Government intervening in the market. This is when the market is unkind to rich people. Then the Government must step in to prop up the happiness of rich people using the money of poor people if necessary.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/columnists/9805315/Money-makes-us-happy-so-we-exist
19. phillip ure 19

    11 March 2014 at 3:17 pm

    questiontime commentary..

    http://whoar.co.nz/2014/new-zealand-parliament-list-of-questions-for-oral-answer-tuesday-11-march-2014/

    (excerpt..)

    “..summary:..as i noted above..the encounter between key/cunnliffe should be mandatory-viewing for all in labour..

    ..as this could not be more of a rehearsal of how the upcoming leaders’-debates will go…

    ..if cunnliffe/labour do not denounce the neo-lib policies of that labour govt..(and present a strong progressive-alternative-vision..)

    ..they will be hung out to dry..on the record of that govt..

    ..and on that interaction i have to give key the performer-of-the-day accolade..

    ..for the ease in which he batted away the questions from cunnliffe/labour..”

    and i can’t emphasise enough that question one from q-time today must be a wake-up and smell the future election-leaders-debates..for labour..

    ..you will ignore this warning at yr peril..

    ..phillip ure..
    • phillip ure 19.1

      11 March 2014 at 6:36 pm

      so..has anyone watched the replay..?

      ..am i right..?

      ..or am i right..?

      ..phillip ure..
20. Curious_George 20

    11 March 2014 at 3:29 pm

    Shane Jones is right. Why are the Greens so precious?
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9814728/Shane-Jones-slams-Greens

    The Greens have lodged a formal complaint with Labour over outspoken MP Shane Jones’ attacks on the party.
    • phillip ure 20.1

      11 March 2014 at 4:09 pm

      isn’t the question more why is jones such a douchebag/promoter of continuing to screw over the environment..?

      phillip ure..
    • weka 20.2

      11 March 2014 at 4:59 pm

      George, the article you link to explains everything pretty well. Waters being tested and lines being drawn. Thanks, because that’s the clearest example I’ve seen of how the Labout/Gp relationship is going. Bodes well.
    • Populuxe1 20.3

      11 March 2014 at 7:40 pm

      Isn’t it ironic.
21. Morrissey 21

    11 March 2014 at 4:36 pm

    Propaganda: “The Dominant Grand Narrative Of Our Time”
    by DAVID CROMWELL, Media Lens, 27 January 2014

    ‘Propaganda’ sounds like an old-fashioned word from a bygone era. It evokes images of the Nazis in WW2, particularly Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, or Soviet leaders in the Cold War and dictators in ‘Third World’ countries. Propaganda is something spewed out by official enemies of the West, and surely not a vile practice indulged by ‘our’ politicians and business leaders. This is a convenient illusion that serves powerful Western elites very well indeed.

    The Russian-born filmmaker Andre Vltchek, who has travelled the world extensively in making his documentaries, relates his experience of appearing in the media in different countries. He observes that when he speaks in China, he does so uncensored: “I was on CCTV – their National TV – and for half an hour I was talking about very sensitive issues. And I felt much freer in Beijing than when the BBC interviews me, because the BBC doesn’t even let me speak, without demanding a full account of what exactly I am intending to say.” (Noam Chomsky and Andre Vltchek, On Western Terrorism: From Hiroshima to Drone Warfare, Pluto Press, London, 2013, p. 31)

    Vltchek continued: “People in the West are so used to thinking that we are so democratic in terms of the way our media is run and covers the stories. Even if we know it’s not the case, we still, subconsciously, expect that it’s still somehow better than in other places and it is actually shocking when we realize that a place like China or Turkey or Iran would run more unedited or uncensored pieces than our own mainstream media outlets. Let me put it this way: Chinese television and newspapers are much more critical of their economic and political system than our television stations or newspapers are of ours. Imagine ABC, CBS, or NBC coming on air and beginning to question the basics of capitalism or the Western parliamentary system.” (Ibid., p. 32)

    A vanishingly rare example of the BBC propaganda system being blasted open was the special edition of the Radio 4 Today programme edited by the English musician PJ Harvey on January 2, 2014. In her opening statement, Harvey explained that she wanted to “do something unusual with the format and content of the programme.” She invited people whom she considers “to be highly articulate, stimulating and extremely interesting to listen to – people who challenge us and move us to examine our deepest beliefs and feelings.”

    Harvey’s guests included John Pilger talking about the propaganda role of the corporate media; Denis Halliday, former UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq, on the urgent need to democratise the warmongering UN Security Council (here at around 49 mins); Ian Cobain and Phil Shiner on torture committed by UK forces (here at around 2 hrs : 34 mins); and Mark Curtis on how Britain’s arms trade fuels oppression around the world.

    Harvey wanted her contributors to be unrestricted in what they could say, and she had asked the Today programme to agree to this before accepting the invitation to be a guest editor. She rightly noted that ‘a great deal’ of her edition of the programme was ‘about censorship in one way or another.’

    Predictably, reactionary voices bewailed afterwards that the BBC had broadcast”‘left-wing tosh” and “liberal drivel”. Nick Robinson, the BBC’s “impartial” political editor, took particular exception to….

    Read more….
    http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2014/753-propaganda-the-dominant-grand-narrative-of-our-time.html
22. Morrissey 22

    11 March 2014 at 5:17 pm

    Snowden: US helped create loopholes in New Zealand law
    by DAVID FISHER, New Zealand Herald, Tuesday Mar 11, 2014
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11217797

    NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden says the United States’ spy agency has helped find or create loopholes in New Zealand law to enable widespread spying.

    In testimony to the European Parliament, the exiled former NSA worker said the agency’s Foreign Affairs Division put pressure on other countries to change laws to create legal gaps through which mass surveillance could be carried out.

    He said lawyers at the United Kingdom’s GCHQ were also engaged in finding loopholes and both agencies slipped changes past unwitting politicians.

    “In recent public memory, we have seen these FAD ‘legal guidance’ operations occur in both Sweden and the Netherlands, and also faraway New Zealand.”

    Mr Snowden offered no further detail in his testimony about pressure placed on New Zealand. His written testimony was sent ahead of a EU debate on freezing data agreements with the US.

    It has been linked to new legislation passed in New Zealand last year which changed the laws governing the electronic spying agency, the GCSB, to allow it to spy on Kiwis. The government also passed legislation which extended the bureau’s powers over intercepting information sent and received in New Zealand.

    Mr Snowden told the EU: “One of the foremost activities of the NSA’s FAD, or Foreign Affairs Division, is to pressure or incentivise EU member states to change their laws to enable mass surveillance.

    “These efforts to interpret new powers out of vague laws is an intentional strategy to avoid public opposition and lawmakers’ insistence that legal limits be respected, effects the GCHQ internally described in its own documents as ‘damaging public debate’.”

    The changes were used to “justify indiscriminate, dragnet surveillance operations”, he said.

    In listing New Zealand among countries targeted, he said: “Each of these countries received instruction from the NSA, sometimes under the guise of the US Department of Defense and other bodies, on how to degrade the legal protections of their countries’ communications.”

    Cyber rights group Tech Liberty’s spokesman Thomas Beagle said the new laws introduced in New Zealand last year appeared surprisingly quickly.

    “It was like someone had it sitting in a drawer ready to go. Who is really writing these laws.”

    He said the greater concern was the lack of oversight. “It’s never being able to test what they are doing what they say.”

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11217797
23. Tigger 23

    11 March 2014 at 5:58 pm

    Article in The Guardian on the flag referendum has Key with the Australian flag. Ironic or intentional?

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/11/new-zealand-to-hold-referendum-on-new-post-colonial-flag
    • karol 23.1

      11 March 2014 at 6:17 pm

      Well spotted. It’s from here.
24. karol 24

    11 March 2014 at 7:05 pm

    David Cunliffe’s youtube message just up. Kind of direct and low tech. Not so inspirational though. But some good points about “the big end of town” etc.

    Be part of the movement to change the government.
    • karol 24.1

      11 March 2014 at 7:07 pm

      Also Cunliffe is asking people to tell Labour “My EQC story”.
25. bad12 25

    11 March 2014 at 7:29 pm

    Slippery the Prime Minister gets caught showing that He and speaking the truth are at best only known to each other on a fleeting basis,

    Caught out again, by none other than TV3’s Alfred E. Nuemann, after slicing and dicing the Prime Minister on the Nation on the weekend Patrick Gower seems to have got a taste for a spot of ‘real Journalism’,

    How long this will last and whether or not Gower’s new found enthusiasm will spread among His peers in the industry is yet to be seen, but, Gower in my estimation has just risen from sitting at the kerb to having a pew at the bus stop,

    Slippery’s claim that the Cabinet Office had had translated the endorsement/promotion of Orivada’s products in their Chinese language magazine which allowed that Office to clear Collins of any supposed conflict of interest from such an endorsement/promotion while on offical Government business turns out to have been Utter Bullshit,

    Just another lie from the Prime Minister and Gower proved such by asking the Cabinet Office a simple question,

    Did they get an English language translation of the Chinese language magazine???, NO, definitely not said the Office of the Cabinet,

    Gower is making easy work of making Slippery the Prime Minister look every bit the Liar and hypocrite that we all believe Him to be, in doing so He,(Gower), is starting to show, after an abysmal start, that he could become one of the greats in a thin field of political journalists in this country,

    Scoring 2 direct hits on Slippery in a week is more than any other journalist has accomplished in 5 years,

    Gower again goes up in my estimation, it’s the truth which we want Paddy, and, it’s pretty easy with a small amount of digging to expose the fact that our Prime Minister on any given day plays fast and loose with that truth…
    • karol 25.1

      11 March 2014 at 8:25 pm

      What is interesting is the level of duplicity. Key made statements to the media, but avoided saying the same in the House.

      Collins answered for him, kind of supporting Key’s statements to the media. Last Wednesday, Grant Robertson questioned Collins in Question Time: John Key jumped in with a supplementary.

      Rt Hon John Key: Is the Minister aware of whether the Cabinet Office has provided any advice on whether the Minister’s visit to Oravida’s premises in China is in any way a breach of the Cabinet Manual?

      Hon JUDITH COLLINS: Yes, the Cabinet Office, I understand, has advised the Prime Minister that my visit in no way contravened the Cabinet Manual.

      The devious way of misleading here is staggering!..

      Stuff’s report on it tonight:

      On Monday Key told media the Cabinet Office had cleared Collins of a conflict of interest after translating comments on Oravida’s website which stated that she had praised its products.

      But today Key’s office confirmed that the Cabinet office had only read the English language version on the website, which did not contain those references.

      A spokesperson for Key said the Cabinet Office had been asked for guidance on the issue and its advice was clear that there was no conflict of interest and no endorsement.

      “As the advice referred to the material on the company’s website, the prime minister took that advice to apply to both the English and the Chinese translation.”

      He had become aware last night, however, that was not the case.
      • mickysavage 25.1.1

        11 March 2014 at 8:32 pm

        A lie based on a lie!
        • karol 25.1.1.1

          11 March 2014 at 8:36 pm

          Exactly. But they way it was done in the House, without Key actually stating the lie himself, strongly suggests an intent to deceive, – without either actually directly stating the untruth the House. ie, based on a verbal technicality, they both cannot be reprimanded for misleading the House.
        • karol 25.1.1.2

          11 March 2014 at 8:40 pm

          PS, feel free to use the Hansard quote, micky – or anyone else. I don’t have the energy to do a post on it.
26. ScottGN 26

    11 March 2014 at 7:45 pm

    I caught a bit of the PM’s flag speech at Vic Uni today on the replay of the news tonight. Jeez, is it me or is he the just the most god-awful public speaker in history?
    • karol 26.1

      11 March 2014 at 7:49 pm

      Yes. Makes you wonder how he got to be PM, or registers any kind od popularity.
27. logie97 27

    11 March 2014 at 9:18 pm

    It is about time that members of the MSM when asking questions of John Key, and he includes the words “it’s in the rules”, they should respond with, “Ah yes, Prime Minister, it might be playing by the rules but is it ethical?”

    Has John Key a conscience?
    • North 27.1

      11 March 2014 at 10:34 pm

      Ah but Crosby Fester has anticipated the logistic of such wild card probing on the part of one or two in the popular fiction creating/embracing and generally biddable Fart Estate.

      The answer, delivered with the dreadfully dead eyes of the rote learner, would be a sour little homily about an ordered society and The Rule of Law completely supported and advanced by every member of the National Party whom of course observe all the rules put in place in such a society and endorsed by all New Zealanders. Or some such effete shit. Then turn and light-foot /mince his way out.

      The only real zap in that vein that I’ve ever seen was on the occasion of the recreational fisher schnapper quota stunt. Forget whom it was but a female reporter at the press conference pressed it just that bit further questioning that New Zealanders were more worried about schnapper than the GCSB – blow me down – there for all to see ShonKey Python shitting his pants and looking a complete and utter prize dork.

      Who was that real journalist ?
28. North 28

    11 March 2014 at 9:29 pm

    This is interesting:

    http://pacificguardians.org/2014/03/11/accused-govt-exploit-pacific-prisoners-for-political-gain/.html

    Typical of the ShonKey National Party and much in the vein of the “privatise the profits and socialise the losses” (non) ethics of the same.

    ‘Fia palagi’ (a preening wannabee caucasian) Peseta Sam Lotu-I’iga, ShonKey’s Minister of Pacific Island Affairs – you know the one, the shining lawyer boy dick who fantastically claimed on TV 3’s The Vote that $130,000 as a first home buyer’s 20% deposit on your more or less average Auckland house was more or less within reach – here he is putting out an official ‘Office of the Minister…..’ press statement claiming credit for a “new” Pasefika Anti-Violence prison programme.

    Except that it’s been on foot for 10 years and he and the National Party had nothing to do with it. It was down to NZ First MP Anetasi and a number of other inspired, caring, Pacific Island people. Not Sammy nor ShonKey. But here he is taking the credit and steering it the way of ShonKey by implication.

    Interesting to listen to Pasefika people when they hear some fia palagi claiming the credit for stuff they never were involved with. Very upfront and unforgiving in my experience. Tune in to their talkback.

    Maybe fia palagi Sammy should pay attention to the comments of members of his own aiga (which I’ve personally witnessed) about the woeful state of his own (now deceased I recall) grandfather’s house in the village of Fasito’o-Uta on the coast road between Faleolo Airport and Apia town.

    Not the shining boy he and ShonKey try to make out. Just a mainchance fia palagi really.
29. David H 29

    11 March 2014 at 9:30 pm

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9816335/Key-misled-media-over-Collins-Chinese-link

    Liar Liar TricKEY’s pants are on fire. And somehow I don’t think that it’s just the media that he’s been lying to. Hmmm TricKEY being TricKEY with the truth.

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