Open mike 10/10/2014

Written By: - Date published: 6:30 am, October 10th, 2014 - 93 comments
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openmikeOpen mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

93 comments on “Open mike 10/10/2014 ”

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  1. Richard RAWSHARK 1
    10 October 2014 at 7:17 am

    Well i’ll have a little prayer today that those Kurds who are fighting ISIS while the rest of the world plays political football, says why didn’t they go in to every other hotspot so why should they now and a multitude of other excuses, continue debating the ethics of it.

    Having had family face this sort of thing, while the British and Russians played political footballs over the carving up of Europe post WW2.

    When you’ve been effected by similar acts, you have a different point of view.

    I can’t comment on Iraq, Georgia, Zimbabwe, Africa and every other bed of nasitness that we meddle in, god knows the US has caused most of this with their war mongering oil greed, all I know is lives are at stake and life is precious.

    The legality of past US actions is another matter nd should be kept separate for the Haig to decide. Beleive it when I see it.

    Perhaps their is a hint of racism. Is it because they are Arabs? Foreign?

    Meh save a life you’ll feel better about yourself.

    • Murray Rawshark 1.1
      10 October 2014 at 10:16 pm

      I already have saved a few lives. It didn’t involve taking others.

      • Richard RAWSHARK 1.1.1
        10 October 2014 at 10:41 pm

        I thought evacuate that city, not as lot more than that Murray, just get the civilians out of there before it’s over ridden. One thing at a time, they are on the Turkish border, hopefully they will make the folly of entering Turkey and I’m sure the valiant Turks will teach them a hard lesson and we won’t be needed.

        I particularly seem to have a bug up my ass about people who commit murder, or take lives in the name of religion sorry. I really do not like these simple deeply nasty people.

        I suppose I’m more wishing for a humanitarian UN rescue and we participate rather than join an all out war on the middle easts again. You can never defeat them unless you go to the lengths of genocide, and if you don’t do that, then your just poking a stick at a hornets nest and they will just get madder and madder and madder.

  2. Ad 2
    10 October 2014 at 7:17 am

    Could David Cunliffe and Andrew Little please sit down this weekend and sort out a united ticket please. At least have a conversation. Neither the media nor the Labour caucus have the maturity to deal with a primary. All this is generating is further splits within the party. Start talking and stop making this mess worse.

    • Belladonna 2.1
      10 October 2014 at 8:04 am

      +100

    • Te Reo Putake 2.2
      10 October 2014 at 8:32 am

      Do you really think DC would be satisfied with being 2nd fiddle? And would Andrew Little trust DC not to quietly white ant him over the next couple of years?

      • BM 2.2.1
        10 October 2014 at 8:36 am

        I’d say morale within Labour would go up a thousand fold if both Cunliffe and Robertson left to pursue other ventures.

        • Pawsharkial 2.2.1.1
          10 October 2014 at 8:57 am

          BM

          You’d say anything to further the cause of the greedheads. I’d say that you should not expect anyone to believe that you have any concern in boosting the morale of the Labour party. Your (and Boag’s) support of Little are arguments for supporting the other candidates.

          TRP

          You really believe that Cunliffe is more likely to white-ant a rival than Robertson? That does not seem to correspond to the events of the last few years; where DC demonstrated his loyalty to Goff and even Shearer, while GR has always been out for himself.

          • Te Reo Putake 2.2.1.1.1
            10 October 2014 at 9:15 am

            ” … where DC demonstrated his loyalty to Goff and even Shearer”

            Don’t kid yourself, Parsupial, DC’s rise to the top job didn’t happen in a vacuum.

            • Bill 2.2.1.1.1.1
              10 October 2014 at 10:08 am

              Casting aspersions with no solid evidence or even any supporting argument is…a continuation of the shit and nonsense that’s plagued the Labour Party of late. Why do it?

              • Te Reo Putake …
                10 October 2014 at 10:14 am

                And Mary really was a virgin …

                • wekarawshark …
                  10 October 2014 at 10:45 am

                  “Do you really think DC would be satisfied with being 2nd fiddle? And would Andrew Little trust DC not to quietly white ant him over the next couple of years?”

                  If what you imply is true, then labour is completely fucked. From what I can tell there is no ABC/neoliberal vs leftist split between Little and Cunliffe, so if they can’t agree it means it’s all about the power. In which case all of Labour prefers opposition rather than change.

                  But like Bill, I’m not sure about your implication. Care to say why you believe this?

                  • Te Reo Putake …
                    10 October 2014 at 11:09 am

                    Sure, weka. Cunliffe is a politician. He has ego and ambition (as most of them do, of course). It is naive in the extreme to believe he didn’t know of and approve of people quietly promoting him as a leadership option during the Goff and Shearer years. He was also personally underwhelming in his support for Shearer, damning him with faint praise, particularly at conference (and I was there a few feet away for at least two of his standups in Ak).

                    On a personal level, I was lobbied twice while Shearer was leader about potential support for Cunliffe, once to determine my LEC’s position, once to get a feel for the affiliates likely support.

                    Like it or not, pollies plot. That’s par for the course. I supported DC in the last leadership round and of course supported his leadership in the election campaign. But I didn’t do it on the basis of thinking he was above reproach.

                    The reason I cited the Virgin Mary in response to Bill is that some folk seem to have completely unrealistic understandings of how politics works. DC did not rise to the leadership of the LP on the backs of angels, innocently whistling hymns and wondering how all this happened.

                • greywarshark …
                  10 October 2014 at 10:39 pm

                  @Te Reo Putake 10.14am.
                  She did manage to give us a pretty good sort of son. She did a good thing in her own way.. The way now for us is to take note of what Bill is saying. I am sure you will agree that less is more when it comes to political sniping in Labour for the next few weeks.

        • Not a PS Shark Sashimi 2.2.1.2
          10 October 2014 at 9:18 am

          🙄 @BM

      • Ad 2.2.2
        10 October 2014 at 9:46 am

        1. No, but DC won’t have any choice.

        2. AL doesn’t have to trust. He just has to deal. Politics.

    • Morrissey 2.3
      10 October 2014 at 10:23 am

      I listened to Andrew Little being dismantled by Guyon Espiner this morning. Little was absolutely terrible. He is not the answer.

      • Te Reo Putake 2.3.1
        10 October 2014 at 10:36 am

        I think dismantled is a bit strong, Moz, but it wasn’t all that good an interview. However, I expect over the next few weeks he’ll get into the swing of things. Some quick media training is definitely needed (mainly devil’s advocate stuff – throwing likely negative questions at him so he’s better prepared for the likes of Spinner in the future).

        • Morrissey 2.3.1.1
          10 October 2014 at 10:42 am

          Yes, I think I overstated it, Te Reo. I was very disappointed with Little, however; he let Espiner dictate the conversation and bully him over the use of terminology. At the end of the interview, Espiner signed off with a contemptuous “Obviously you’ve made your mind up.”

          Hopefully some time in the near future, Little will take the opportunity to deal with Espiner decisively, and refute his nasty little comments, as Laila Harré did during the election campaign.

        • ankerawshark 2.3.1.2
          10 October 2014 at 9:05 pm

          Isn’t this shades of David Shearer? Lets bring in a fresh face to save the Labour Party who doesn’t have much experience as a politician.

      • odysseus 2.3.2
        10 October 2014 at 11:09 am

        Agree , he is not the answer. He stumbling diction reminds me of Shearer . And we will no doubt hear that he needs media training now.

        • Puddleglum 2.3.2.1
          10 October 2014 at 9:12 pm

          You may not have read TRP at 2.3.1 before commenting.

          • greywarshark 2.3.2.1.1
            10 October 2014 at 10:46 pm

            We’re all experts now. I don’t know why Labour doesn’t put out an SOS to The Standard bloggers to come over and save it – there would be quite a big choice of stumblebums and clutterfucks who would have a quick noggin to give them the right spirit and then happily start ten sentences that would be talked down by interviewers. Or they would get into an argument with them which would not enhance their image or the Party’s.

            Probably the broken record is best, with a bit of Peters’ affront – Now just let me finish…. May I make myself clear. Steven Price has already done a piece on talking to the media. I should dig it out, with his permission, it is pure gold.

  3. travellerev 3
    10 October 2014 at 8:13 am

    If this is true and I have no reason to disbelieve the words of a worried father in a small Marae meeting, this would be deceit and treason of the highest kind. It would mean that our prime Minister is sending troops into war before any discussion has taken place and is acting like a dictator who can decide on war alone!

    Is The SAS Already Deployed? http://wp.me/p638n-4xf

  4. Te Reo Putake 4
    10 October 2014 at 8:29 am

    I hope readers will spare a thought for regular commenter Penny Bright.

    The Auckland Council has followed through in its demands for rent arrears and her Warship’s home is about to be sold to defray what is owed.

    While I don’t agree with the nature of her protest, (refusing to pay rates for 5 years) I empathise with someone who has put so much on the line to publicise a point of principle, which is that the council is far from transparent in its own financial dealings.

    • higherstandard 4.1
      10 October 2014 at 8:39 am

      Agreed, if more of us in Auckland had taken a similar stand perhaps we wouldn’t have such an odious council set up.

    • NeutObserver 4.2
      10 October 2014 at 9:13 am

      Maybe a donation fund should be opened to assist Penny?

    • Chookyrawshark 4.3
      10 October 2014 at 10:03 am

      +100 TRP… Penny is an admirable anti -corruption campaigner

      ….hope she doesnt lose her house( hope she has a back up fund!)

      …and hope that bloody Auckland Council is forced to become more transparent in its financial dealings and therefore accountable to Auclanders and New Zealanders!

      ( there is too much corruption going on!)

      GO PENNY!…you wee gem!

      • Jilly B Rawshark 4.3.1
        10 October 2014 at 10:53 pm

        While I agree that Penny Bright is a very admirable anti-corruption campaigner – she should have been paying her bloody rates like the rest of us Jafas do – even when my partner and I have been struggling financially at times. I bet the Bailiff wouldn’t have been as charitable to us if we simply stopped paying our rates, we would have had our property sold pretty pronto. I presume that Auckland City have the same criteria in their financial transactions as does the rest of our local body councils. Yeah, let’s all stop paying our rates and let’s see where that gets us eh.

  5. Tracey 5
    10 October 2014 at 9:00 am

    if you need proof our “leaders” base their behaviour on the legal standard and no higher, have a look at this law change and the response of one of the former transgressors, chester burrows

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11340130

    • rawshark-yeshe 5.1
      10 October 2014 at 10:56 am

      And worse, it appears they have only partially done what is required .. property in private super does not need to be declared; also no mention of whether it remains legal to use their accommodation supplement as mortgage repays ?

      And how many years has this change taken ?

      Oink, oink, oink, oink …. while they do nothing to help families living in cars. Oink, oink,all the way home.

      And I would be willing to bet some of these same people will be in line to buy the best available state houses as they go to market … makes me wish a hacker or three would break into their private trusts to disclose some of the despicable truth around National ministers investments. Blind trusts ? yeah, right. They all went to specsavers if Key is any example.

  6. phillip ure 6
    10 October 2014 at 9:01 am

    breaking news..!..

    ..south park has outed lorde as being a man..

    ..(when asked about the official govt view on this revelation..

    ..john key said that ‘ackshully’..he was ‘relaxed’..and that ‘at the end of the day ..it was a new day for lorde..and new zealand.!’..

    ..and when asked what he actually meant by that..he rushed off to a prior appointment..)

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/09/south-park-lorde_n_5960132.html

    “..Wednesday night ‘South Park’ shocked the world by revealing one of the biggest cover ups in music history:

    Teenage pop sensation Lorde’s true identity is Randy Marsh from ‘South Park’.

    Marsh originally started posing as a 17-year-old from New Zealand as an elaborate cover to use the women’s restroom-

    – and things logically took off from there..”

    (cont..)

  7. boldsirbrian 7
    10 October 2014 at 9:47 am

    Listened to Andrew Little on National Radio this morning. I’m warming to the man. Refused to be pigeon holed into being “left” or “right” of the Labour Party. .

    I think that was a very wise move. To insist on the policies defining what is important. People can make up their own mind whether that is “Left” or “Right”, depending on their own definition of those two words.

    My advice is to stay away from those labels too. The problem is that what one person means by the label, is likely to be very different to what others may think. The vision for the Party, and the policies that will achieve that vision are less able to be misrepresented.

    Mr. Botany (B.)

    • idlegus 8.1
      10 October 2014 at 1:18 pm

      thought this line was a bt odd “It was well-known that Hager – like Slater – sees himself as an investigative journalist, …”

      *(back to original name, thanks moderators)

  9. les 9
    10 October 2014 at 10:15 am

    just looked at the Stuff poll…’someone else’ bolting with a huge margin over DC.GR,AL and DS.

  10. Morrissey 10
    10 October 2014 at 10:16 am

    Does anyone CHOOSE to watch One’s lousy Breakfast show?
    And is Tim Wilson the unfunniest person on television?
    Friday 10 October 2014

    I thought this show was supposed to have been cancelled. Stories of its impending death are constantly doing the rounds. So why the hell is it still here? It’s an insult, a slap in the face to the idea of quality, stimulating, or entertaining television. Apart from the fawning “interviews” with politicians, the bulk of the programme seems to be free puff pieces for Hollywood movies—never anything interesting, just the most insipid mainstream rubbish. This morning, at 8:25, Hollywood correspondent Aleisha joined the team to talk about what’s going on in Tinseltown….

    ALEISHA: Kristen Stewart’s got a pretty serious image. She was on Jimmy Fallon’s show recently to talk about her new film Camp X-Ray, about a female guard at Guantanamo. It’s pretty heavy.

    RAWDON CHRISTIE: Yeah.

    ALEISHA: But to lighten things up a bit, they played a game called “Ring Around the Nosy”.

    Cue unfunny clip of Jimmy Fallon and Kristen Stewart playing idiotic party game, both of them wearing plastic elephant masks, trying to put rings on their trunks, the audience roaring with laughter throughout.

    ALEISHA: She’s a good sport isn’t she!

    RAWDON CHRISTIE: I want that game!

    …..ad nauseam……

    At 8:50, the utterly dire Tim Wilson delivered his dismal Tim’s Takes segment, meant to be a humorous summing up the week. It’s supposed to be funny, but it’s not. This guy has the sense of humour of a Canterbury engineering student. He’s the ebola of comedy. He is, in other words, the perfect choice as funny man for Television One’s Breakfast.

    – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

    Jimmy Fallon Talks With Kristen Stewart About ‘Camp X-Ray’ [Video]

    When The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon came back from another commercial break, Jimmy introduced his first guest of the evening, actress Kristen Stewart.

    Jimmy Fallon showed the audience a copy of Elle magazine that had Kristen on the cover. He said she would be in the new movie, Camp X-Ray, a serious movie.” He said that she “found a new friend” while working on the movie — a dog.

    Kristen mentioned a friend of hers that liked to play Frisbee Golf. He found the two dogs while playing Frisbee Golf and drove to her house to show her. She had two dogs already, but she decided to keep one of the two her friend brought, anyway. “She is the coolest dog in the world,” Kristen said.

    Fallon said that Stewart plays a soldier at Guantanamo Bay and strikes up a friendship with one of the people incarcerated there. Fallon showed a clip from the movie, also starring John Lynch. Lynch confronts Stewart’s character and asks her about her friendship, which she, at first, denies.

    Then, Jimmy asked Stewart to play the funky game he showed earlier, Ring Around the Nosy. She wore a green elephant mask and Fallon had on a blue one. He was the first to get a ring on his nose, so he won the game.

    Read more……
    http://guardianlv.com/2014/10/jimmy-fallon-talks-with-kristen-stewart-about-camp-x-ray-video-2/

    • phillip ure 10.1
      10 October 2014 at 10:25 am

      “..And is Tim Wilson the unfunniest person on television?..”

      ..i think it is neck and neck between him and reece darby..

      ..(and the two fat people who play two fat people thing on tv2..dunno what it is called..in lieu of comedic content..they talk loudly/shout at each other..it should be called ‘two fat people shout at each other’..whoar..!..it’s so so bad..)

      ..has anyone seen that latest dire offering from darby..?

      ..it’s buried late at nite on tvone (thurs..)..

      ..i watched it again last nite to see if it reached the excreble-levels of previous ones..

      ..and yes..yes it did..

      ..it is painfully..resolutely..unfunny..

      ..and how long can a man wring out/flog a character (murray) to death..?

      ..has darby set a new record for that..?

    • phillip ure 10.2
      10 October 2014 at 11:01 am

      and isn’t wilson part of that ‘seven blunt’ thing..?

      ..called ‘seven blunt’..because you need to have smoked seven blunts in a row..

      ..to be able to watch/sit thru it..?

    • halfcrown 10.3
      10 October 2014 at 11:05 am

      “Does anyone CHOOSE to watch One’s lousy Breakfast show?”

      No

  11. Morrissey 11
    10 October 2014 at 10:36 am

    Fair comment, Phillip. But, in stark contrast to Wilson, Reece Darby is a genuinely funny and clever entertainer.

    Tim Wilson is unfunny in the way Mark Richardson and Greg Boyed are unfunny: all they have to offer is sardonic and facetious commentary masquerading as deadpan delivery.

    You have to be witty, and have perfect timing to carry off being sour all the time. Ricky Gervais can do it; Tim Wilson, Mark Richardson and Greg Boyed cannot.

  12. Clemgeopin 12
    10 October 2014 at 10:39 am

    Ebola nurse returns to New Zealand: Very interesting and admirable first hand information.

    ” Some people were so scared that they tried anything to protect themselves from Ebola, including such mythical cures as drinking chlorine and bathing in salt water at midnight.

    When a patient did survive – about half of them did so – the medical staff hugged them and they returned to their village with a certificate proving there were cured, to prevent ongoing stigma, Mackie said.”

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/10599907/Ebola-nurse-returns-to-New-Zealand

  13. Morrissey 13
    10 October 2014 at 10:52 am

    Key Democrats, Led by Hillary Clinton, Leave No doubt that Endless War is Official U.S. Doctrine
    by GLENN GREENWALD
    October 09, 2014 “ICH” – The Intercept

    Long before Americans were introduced to the new 9/11 era super-villains called ISIS and Khorasan, senior Obama officials were openly and explicitly stating that America’s “war on terror,” already 12 years old, would last at least another decade. At first, they injected these decrees only anonymously; in late 2012, the Washington Post – disclosing the administration’s secret creation of a “disposition matrix” to decide who should be killed, imprisoned without charges, or otherwise “disposed” of – reported these remarkable facts:

    “Among senior Obama administration officials, there is a broad consensus that such operations are likely to be extended at least another decade. Given the way al-Qaida continues to metastasize, some officials said no clear end is in sight. . . . That timeline suggests that the United States has reached only the midpoint of what was once known as the global war on terrorism.”

    In May, 2013, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing on whether it should revise the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF). A committee member asked a senior Pentagon official, Assistant Secretary Michael Sheehan, how long the war on terror would last; his reply: “At least 10 to 20 years.” At least. A Pentagon spokesperson confirmed afterward “that Sheehan meant the conflict is likely to last 10 to 20 more years from today — atop the 12 years that the conflict has already lasted.” As Spencer Ackerman put it: “Welcome to America’s Thirty Years War,” one which – by the Obama administration’s own reasoning – has “no geographic limit.”

    Listening to all this, Maine’s independent Sen. Angus King said: “This is the most astounding and most astoundingly disturbing hearing that I’ve been to since I’ve been here. You guys have essentially rewritten the Constitution today.”

    Read more…..
    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article39907.htm

  14. northshoreguynz 14
    10 October 2014 at 11:20 am

    This may well have been covered elsewhere, in which case a link would be nice. After the debacle of the Bill English leadership in 1999 when they only got 22% of the vote, how did the NP go about their rebuild. It can’t all be down to Key.There must have been some fundamental/structural changes made. And if so are there lessons we could learn?

    • BM 14.1
      10 October 2014 at 11:23 am

      2002 election and Steven Joyce was the chap who was behind the rebuild.

      • northshoreguynz 14.1.1
        10 October 2014 at 11:45 am

        And he did what exactly?

      • Barfly 14.1.2
        10 October 2014 at 11:48 am

        I thought it was Lord Ashcroft……

        • phillip ure 14.1.2.1
          10 October 2014 at 12:16 pm

          @ barfly..

          ..and he rebuilt it in his image..

          ..remember when key used to dutifully troop out to the airport..

          ..to get his regular briefings from ashcroft..in his ‘secure’ private jet..?

          ..that was a tad blatant/obvious..i always thought..

      • The Lone Haranguer 14.1.3
        10 October 2014 at 1:33 pm

        I always thought the credit went to Ms Boag, who took the knife to the deadwood (and they bleated at the time too but she didnt stop till she was satisfied) and then parachuted in John Key for the “new and acceptable face of the NP” – aka the PM in waiting.

        I would think that was a strategy that could work for Labour. New Prez with a big knife, and parachute in the Mayor of Porirua as the “PM in waiting”

    • ianmac 14.2
      10 October 2014 at 1:10 pm

      Brian Easton was writing about the National rebuild including being less the farmers’ party and more Urban party.
      http://www.pundit.co.nz/content/party-renewal-nationals-success-labours-failing

      • Northshoreguynz 14.2.1
        10 October 2014 at 1:30 pm

        Yes, I read that Ian, but it didn’t really get into the nitty gritty, which is what interests me.

    • swordfish 14.3
      10 October 2014 at 2:37 pm

      “How did the NP go about their rebuild” ?

      Orewa 2004

  15. aerobubble 15
    10 October 2014 at 12:32 pm

    Ebola patients wearing protective gear. Wow.
    That was easy, the infected realise that society
    exists, and take precautions to protect others.

    Wait until a neo-liberal gets Ebola. Will they suit up to
    protect society?

  16. Skinny 16
    10 October 2014 at 1:24 pm

    Repugnant abuse of taxpayer money halted. No surprises 35 of the 40 MP’s caught with their snouts in the trough are National MP’s. These leeches all took the oath to represent New Zealanders to the best of their ability. Disgraceful act of self interest greed. Any Labour MP exposed in this rort should be announcing their imminent retirement.
    http://m.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11340130
     

  17. greywarshark 17
    10 October 2014 at 2:13 pm

    Bitta history.
    Having been a member of the New Left Club at Canterbury University, Gibbs had converted to strongly-held free-market views by the late 1970s. He became a strong supporter of Roger Douglas, the Minister of Finance in the reforming Fourth Labour Government, 1984–90.

    Gibbs was appointed chairman of the NZ Forestry Corporation, which in 1987 corporatised the old New Zealand Forest Service. The loss-making department was restructured and transformed into a profitable State Owned Enterprise.

    He was also appointed chairman of the Hospital and Related Services Taskforce, with a brief to recommend reforms for the underperforming public hospital service. Their suggestions, which focused on introducing an internal market into the system, were not taken up by the Labour government but were partially implemented by the next National Government.

    This is how you make money in NZ, buying businesses then dissecting them and selling their spare parts.
    Gibbs’ career took off in 1979 when, with three other investors, he purchased Tappenden Motors Ltd. They liquidated it profitably over the next few years.

    Gibbs then gained stakes in Atlas Majestic Industries, Bendon and Ceramco, three prominent New Zealand public companies which he merged in 1986 and 1987 and that was liquidated in 1989.

    In early 1990 the Fourth Labour Government confirmed it would sell the Telecom Corporation of New Zealand. Together with merchant banker David Richwhite, Gibbs brokered the $4.25 billion winning bid for the company, which when subsequently floated became the largest company on the New Zealand Stock Exchange.
    It was obvious that the phone system needed privatising – a new business couldn’t get listed for months at that time.
    wikipedia

    • Murray Rawshark 17.1
      11 October 2014 at 12:23 am

      How can Wikipedia say it was obvious that the phone system needed privatising? That’s opinion, and highly contestable.

  18. Morrissey 18
    10 October 2014 at 3:30 pm

    LIARS OF OUR TIME


    No. 44: President William J. Clinton

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time; never.”

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    —President William J. Clinton, AKA “Slick Willy”, White House press conference, 26 January 1998

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiIP_KDQmXs
    (Hat tip to our friend and colleague Clemgeopin for this one.)

    More liars….

    No. 43: Assistant Commissioner Alan Boreham: “Look, integrity is absolutely critical to the New Zealand Police. It’s a core value.”
    No. 42 John Key: “We’ve been given a tremendous gift tonight, the trust and goodwill of New Zealanders, and I do not take that trust for granted.”
    
No. 41 Richard Prebble: “What I do know is that John will consider everything. He’s an honorable man….”

    See the rest of the liars HERE….
    http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-09102014/#comment-907232

  19. Skinny 19
    10 October 2014 at 6:34 pm

    A sad announcement for the Navy.

     New Zealand Navy Rear Admiral (a rather unflattering title) has banned alcohol from on board navy vessels and the Davenport naval base.

    I know the Lash was stopped generations ago, and now the ban on Rum means no more hot toddies at sea. However for some sailers Sodomy will remain in vogue.

  20. One Anonymous Bloke 20
    10 October 2014 at 6:41 pm

    Homophobic Craig,
    Misogynistic nut-job,
    Revealed as gutless too.

  21. Morrissey 21
    10 October 2014 at 6:46 pm

    “I don’t doubt her sincereness.”
    Has The Panel reached its nadir today?
    Radio NZ National, Friday 10 October 2014
    Jim Mora, Tau Henare, Bernard Hickey, Julie Moffett

    Move over Garth George—you’re not the most useless guest ever. Since he first appeared in parliament as Winston Peters’ No. 2 man, Tau Henare has never looked like anything other than a vacuous chancer, a thug who adds no value to any discussion. In an utterly undistinguished parliamentary career, Henare came to public attention only twice—first, when Trevor Mallard thumped him, and second when he brutally mocked a parliamentary cleaner who was appearing before a parliamentary committee.

    Tau Henare is the epitome of uselessness, in other words. Yet he is now regularly being used as a commentator on Television One, TV3 and Māori Television. And today he made his debut on Jim Mora’s light chat show. He is, I suppose, just right for it. He has little of interest to say, not only because he clearly reads nothing, but also because he spends his time polishing up his cheeky Westie act. His Twitter handle is “West Side Tory”. He obviously thinks that’s quite clever.

    Sadly, the other guest today is Bernard Hickey, who so far has gone out of his way to agree with everything Henare has said.

    JIM MORA: So what else is going on in the world?
    JULIE MOFFETT: A beach in Hawaii was going to be renamed in honor of President Obama, but there is apparently a great deal of public opposition to this happening.
    JIM MORA: He’s had—you’ve got to feel sorry for what’s happened to Obama in the Middle East, don’t you.
    TAU HENARE: Yeah, he came on the scene at the wrong time. He’s a great speaker.
    JIM MORA: Great speaker!

    4:27 p.m.: Hilariously, he has just pronounced on Penny Bright’s refusal to pay her rates. “I don’t doubt her sincereness,” he intoned, speaking very slowly to underline how deeply he was thinking.

    4:34 p.m.: Mora turned down Penny Bright’s voice as she was speaking, because (so he claimed) she did not have evidence to back up some claims she was making about the Auckland Council. “I’ve just turned you down,” he said. Bernard Hickey snorted approvingly.

    A little later, the following exchange occurred….

    JIM MORA: Celia Wade Brown is sleeping rough on the streets of Wellington tonight.
    TAU HENARE: Why?
    JIM MORA: Doesn’t it give her a degree of empathy with the poor?
    TAU HENARE: Ahhhh, BOLLOCKS!

    And a little later, this one….

    TAU HENARE: Hey wouldn’t you want to go to sleep in Finland?
    JIM MORA: Finland?
    TAU HENARE: It’s not a very exciting place, is it?

    I sent Jim a quick email in regard to his sympathy for poor old Obomba….

    We should “feel sorry for what’s happened to Obama in the Middle East”?

    Dear Jim,

    You said that we “have to feel sorry for what’s happened to Obama in the Middle East.” I think most fair-minded people would feel sorry for what Obama has done in the Middle East. He has rhetorically encouraged, diplomatically supported and armed the bloody Al Qaeda/ISIS insurrection in Syria, and he was quick to support the brutal overthrow of the elected government of Egypt and support the bloodthirsty Sisi regime. The people of Gaza and the Occupied West Bank are sorry about what he has allowed Israel to do to them.

    Yet, in spite of all this, you claim “we” should feel sorry for what’s happened “to Obama”.

    You’re lucky you have Tau Henare sitting next to you in the studio. Anyone a bit quicker on the uptake would have taken you to task.

    Yours sincerely,

    Morrissey Breen
    Northcote Point

  22. Rodel 22
    10 October 2014 at 8:37 pm

    Under General Pinochet in Chile public education was increasingly privatised.

    Is it possible that we are seeing this happening in godzone? Under general key and his aide-de-camp Seymour?

    I sincerely hope not but nothing would surprise me. Maybe people won’t notice if Key and his accomplices are surreptitious enough.

    Interesting how power corrupts but even more interesting is how those in power aren’t aware of it or can so easily deny it..

  23. joe90 23
    10 October 2014 at 9:38 pm

    See, the internets are forever.

    [Deleted by DPF. I know you were not meaning it literally, and trying to make the point that the song should not have been trivialised, but that was not the way to do it]

    What he really said.

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BzjZJ9PCYAAw3QZ.png:large

    • wekarawshark 23.1
      10 October 2014 at 10:03 pm

      The donotlink link to the comment on KB http://www.donotlink.com/framed?559231

      Edit, ug sorry it doesn’t go to comment. You can keyword search for 3:10 pm or scroll down comment 4

    • wekarawshark 23.2
      10 October 2014 at 10:13 pm

      So DPF’s line on twitter today was that the comment stayed up for so long because no one had reported it in the correct manner (you have to email him). And then he went on about how he doesn’t have time to read every comment and so can’t control what people say there.

      Doesn’t explain why 16 people upvoted the comment and one person down voted.

      It’s all about the culture there and that people in general think it’s ok to be pro-rape. One comment on twitter was that DPF doesn’t need to say these things because he has commenters do it for him. Handy having no moderators then.

      DPF is also a complete and utter fuckwit to use rape as part of his political manipulations, er I mean PR for National.

    • Murray Rawshark 23.3
      11 October 2014 at 12:44 am

      Has that guy been posting here as well? I think I’ve seen those initials.

  24. Murray Rawshark 24
    10 October 2014 at 10:14 pm

    I’ve got a lovely photo of Farrar, all posh in fancy dress and a blond wig. I think he must have been going to some sort of party. It doesn’t look like one I’d go to. I’d post it if it were OK with lprent and I knew how.

  25. Pat O'Dea 25
    11 October 2014 at 2:39 am

    The Labour Party caucus led by Labour Deputy leader David Parker is in open revolt against David Cunliffe’as their elected leader, When the caucus made the undemocratic demand that he hand over his leadership to someone of their choosing. David Cunliffe had no choice but to step down and seek a mandate from the membership. To do less would have been to let down those who had voted for him in the first place.

    I have sympathy for Andrew Little, his Left Wing credentials are good.

    But more than being a vote of confidence, a membership vote that returns David Cunliffe as Party Leader, will be a membership vote of no confidence in the right dominated caucus.

    So while I am sympathetic to Andrew Little

    Any other leader chosen, be it Robertson, or Little, will not bring this struggle between the Left and Right to a head, neither man will be able shift the caucus from their comfortable positions and they will wind up just being played.

    On the other hand a Cunliffe victory could change everything.

    Coming from Right Wing perspective Vernon Small in a post last year sets out the size of the problem.

    But if you were really weeding out the – shall we call it “less Left wing” – faction within the Labour caucus you would have to swing the axe much more widely, especially if the touchstones of Leftwingery were an empathy with Green issues and a hostility to raising the pension age and the TPP free trade talks. The red reaper would then have to take out the likes of David Parker and Shane Jones (unthinkable), David Shearer and a bunch of others.

    Vernon Small <a href='http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/9795269/Rejuvenation-tough-challenge-for-Labour

    Note the dated reference to darling of the Right Shane Jones. “Unthinkable” that he should leave the Labour caucus, opines Small. But the unthinkable happened and Shane Jones removed himself. I expect that if David Cunliffe is returned as leader a few other Right Wing Labour caucus members will be moved to remove themselves. Good! What is unthinkable to the Right, is sweet reason to the Left. First amongst those to remove themselves must be Shane Jones close personal friend and admirer David Parker. Parker like Jones is a staunch advocate of the fossil fuel lobby and a bane of the Greens. Therefore Parker’s exit will be a double blessing not just for Labour Party Left but for the environment as well, And will put a Labour Green coalition government a much more sounder base making it a much more viable proposition.

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