Open mike 11/11/2012

49 comments on “Open mike 11/11/2012 ”

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1. AwakeWhileSleeping 1

   11 November 2012 at 6:33 am

   The People’s Bailout = OWS goes to the mattresses!

   Quote:
   “Now OWS is launching the ROLLING JUBILEE, a program that has been in development for months. OWS is going to start buying distressed debt (medical bills, student loans, etc.) in order to forgive it. As a test run, we spent $500, which bought $14,000 of distressed debt. We then ERASED THAT DEBT. (If you’re a debt broker, once you own someone’s debt you can do whatever you want with it — traditionally, you hound debtors to their grave trying to collect. We’re playing a different game. A MORE AWESOME GAME.)”

   http://wilwheaton.tumblr.com/post/35309150177/the-peoples-bailout
   • Cricklewood 1.1

     11 November 2012 at 8:47 am

     If that is actually feasible in NZ we need to go for it. Forgiving debt like this gives families the opportunity to get out of the poverty trap which is imposible on low wages if you have a debt millstone around your neck. It only takes one dentists bill to screw you over for a very long time… we also need to sort out some sort of dental subsidisation I know too many people with screwed teeth and no way to afford the work…
     • kiwi_prometheus 1.1.1

       11 November 2012 at 12:52 pm

       And make sure you floss, brush and gargle at least twice a day.
   • marsman 1.2

     11 November 2012 at 9:01 am

     AWS. Sounds awesome!
   • Colonial Viper 1.3

     11 November 2012 at 9:03 am

     Wow. Sometimes it is possible, when creditors have given up, to buy a collection of debt for only a few cents on the dollar.

     However, the difficulty is ensuring understanding the detail of the underlying debt that efforts go to helping the right people…eg not a millionaire property developer who has walked away from his leaky building project…
   • weka 1.4

     11 November 2012 at 9:58 am

     How does this work? If I buy someone’s debt, doesn’t the person who the debt is owed to just now come after me?
     • Colonial Viper 1.4.1

       11 November 2012 at 10:12 am

       Using a hypothetical example.

       When you buy the debt, you buy the ownership title to that debt. You now own it instead of say, the bank’s credit card division which used to own the debt.

       And the credit card indebted person now owes the money to YOU not to the originator of the debt (the bank’s credit card division in this example).

       If you can understand this, and that debts can be collected together in bundles, and then be considered as cashflow generating assets which can be bought and sold, you’ll also start to understand how the Mortgaged Backed Securities (MBS) subprime crisis happened.
       • Descendant Of Smith 1.4.1.1

         11 November 2012 at 1:14 pm

         Often too businesses sell debt at a portion of it’s value.

         I’m owed $500-00. I can spend $ and time chasing this up or sell it too someone else (say a debt collector) for $200-00. I get some of my money back which helps my cash flow, write off the rest and the debt collector carries the cost of the time and the risk he won’t get his money back.

         It’s also why lots of times you can’t pay the money owing back to the firm you owed it too.

         The debt no longer belongs to them.
2. AwakeWhileSleeping 2

   11 November 2012 at 6:36 am

   I had no idea about the law around this issue so really glad I came across this story.

   Tumeke exclusive: Did police tactics kill Steven McIntyre? (Below is the link to Part 1)

   http://tumeke.blogspot.co.nz/2012/11/tumeke-exclusive-did-nz-police-tactics.html

   Quote:
   “In his later years, Stephen had moved from campaigning for the decriminalization of marijuana to focussing on medical cannabis. Green Cross was the realization of that activism. It provided medical quality marijuana to patients with a doctor’s prescription. NZ law allows for doctors to prescribe synthetic marijuana and the 2010 Law Commission review called for that to be widened to organic marijuana as well.

   That’s where Green Cross came in. They had a list of patients with doctor’s prescriptions whose illnesses ranged from those with chronic pain to cancer. Synthetic product did not work for many of these people.”
   • weka 2.1

     11 November 2012 at 10:08 am

     “Did police tactics kill Steven McIntyre?”
      
     Don’t think Bradbury has made his case yet. Will see what he comes up with in parts 2 and 3. There is more background to why someone kills themselves than Bradbury has presented, and to make the case that the police tactics pushed McIntyre to take his own life would involve the police knowing about the background.
      
     I can understand Bradbury’s anger and sadness at the loss of his friend, and am sure that the police’s actions were bullying and unnecessary.
3. marsman 3

   11 November 2012 at 9:16 am

   Everything John Key’s crappy administration touches turns to shit for ordinary folk:-
   http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/7933869/Security-fears-in-teachers-pay-leak
   • Dv 3.1

     11 November 2012 at 11:51 am

     The way the article reads
     The admin privileges
     – allow alteration of teachers bank accounts numbers.
     – may allow access to teachers bank account to remove money.
     So you could divert the teachers salary to your account, or just remove money.

     Foss said he had been advised it was “not possible” to confirm that funds had not been diverted.
     HUH

     “The principal then contacted Novopay who took those admin rights away for that school and gave her admin rights for another school, again.”

     HUH

     Novopay business owner Rebecca Elvy said the system was rigorously tested to ensure it is a secure online service.

     “We take the security of payroll data and employees’ personal information very seriously,” she said.
     SURE
     • Colonial Viper 3.1.1

       11 November 2012 at 12:01 pm

       This is what happens when you starve the public service and give private providers carte blanche to do clumsy lazy incompetent shit.
     • mickysavage 3.1.2

       11 November 2012 at 6:34 pm

       Rigorously tested … blah blah blah 

       Secure online service  … blah blah blah

       “We take the security of payroll data and employees’ personal information very seriously” … blah blah blah

       Bullshit detector is working overtime … 
     • Vicky32 3.1.3

       11 November 2012 at 7:58 pm

       Novopay business owner Rebecca Elvy said the system was rigorously tested to ensure it is a secure online service.
       “We take the security of payroll data and employees’ personal information very seriously,” she said.
       SURE

       I am so glad to work for PTEs, now!
   • Bill 3.2

     11 November 2012 at 12:16 pm

     We have escalated the issue at Marshall Laing Primary school to Talent2 to urgently investigate and resolve.

     Codenames and numbers. Fucking great. What’s ‘Talent3?..or 1?…or whatever? Calling in a drone strike?
4. higherstandard 4

   11 November 2012 at 9:33 am

   Lest we forget.
   • joe90 4.1

     11 November 2012 at 10:31 am

     On the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month.
     • Fortran 4.1.1

       11 November 2012 at 1:50 pm

       WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.
   • muzza 4.2

     11 November 2012 at 10:47 am

     Quite something that we are expected to pay rememberance on a date and time representing the number 11, it being a “key” in satanic numerology!.

     Using the war, deaths/injuries, physical, mental or otherwise, being remembered, is simply another ritual for the sicko’s in charge!

     Least we forget, indeed!
     • Colonial Viper 4.2.1

       11 November 2012 at 11:44 am

       What does the bloody American Remembrance Day have to do with anything Kiwi?

       We have our own day that we use to recall war and sacrifice, remember? What was it called again?
       • higherstandard 4.2.1.1

         11 November 2012 at 11:46 am

         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day
         • Colonial Viper 4.2.1.1.1

           11 November 2012 at 12:03 pm

           Thanks…but the article says our national day of remembrance is Anzac Day. Doesn’t hurt to have another one later in the year I suppose.
           • Dv 4.2.1.1.1.1

             11 November 2012 at 1:11 pm

             The 11 11 11 is armistice day, the end of ww1.
             • karol …

               11 November 2012 at 6:28 pm

               Yes and it’s been marked here for around a century – since 1919. RSA NZ had a ceremonies today.
   • joe90 4.3

     11 November 2012 at 12:06 pm

     Least we forget, indeed!

     Fuck yeah, the suffering of these men, this boy or this boy all wrapped up muzza in a glib reference to your own lunacy…. false flag and you’d have had the double.
     • muzza 4.3.1

       11 November 2012 at 1:04 pm

       Joe people died and suffered, absolutely they did/do, but like fcuk, should people not want to learn and understand that those who suffered and died, just like we see in the ME and other parts of the world now, have been and are being used.

       That includes family members of mine who served and died!
       • prism 4.3.1.1

         11 November 2012 at 5:44 pm

         Why is it that we only care about war fighters and workers after they are dead? They go to war and fight for some obscure reason, that has an outcome more uncertain than a USA presidential election.

         It seems that we assuage our callousness as human beings with this token Anzac Day and other remembrances, a good chance to see guns fired and uniforms. And the people running the commemoration do not like anti-war protests. Says a lot.

         My birth father did his best and now lies underground in France. He had principles and would be shocked to see what has happened to us all since the War to end all Wars.

         And now we are going to spend millions of dollars on some new symbolic edifice to the dead and gone. Let’s instead invest the money into Scholarships, a Trust in their name helping their grandchildren’s children and the country under whose banner they went forth.
5. Colonial Viper 5

   11 November 2012 at 10:08 am

   Anti-Iran Stuxnet computer virus infects US corporations

   You can’t make this shit up.

   http://rt.com/usa/news/stuxnet-chevron-cyber-virus-348/

   In other news, there has been a massive surge in the number of Americans on foodstamps, now 47.1M people.

   Yes, they delayed the release of these AUGUST statistics until AFTER the Presidential Elections.
6. Jackal 6

   11 November 2012 at 10:58 am

   Banks not off the hook

   I’m hopeful that John Banks will have a fair and unbiased trial, which will eventuate in a guilty verdict for a corrupt practice. A prosecution and conviction for such an offense would undoubtedly mean an end to Banks’ political career, and force a by-election in Epsom…
7. Draco T Bastard 7

   11 November 2012 at 11:00 am

   This is actually a fairly good article:

   The Royal Commission finding that there was a culture of production before safety is damning.

   The company’s failures are unforgivable. But it would have been comforting if the inquiry had found at least one hero within officialdom, a quiet but determined whistle blower, someone who spoke up, but who was either shushed or ignored.

   There used to be a time when you could rely on that. No more.

   The culture which has percolated from the top down is built around a fear of repercussions. Reports to the minister are carefully framed. Stark warnings about death and destruction go down like a cup of cold proverbial.

   They are a gun to the minister’s head. They are brown envelope fodder, a leak waiting to happen. That’s why they are never sent.

   The only documents leaked these days seem to concern pay and conditions. Maybe it’s time to bring back the cardigan wearers.

   So part of the the problem within the government sector that was responsible for regulating the mine was that the people feared speaking truth to power.

   That is indicative that our democracy is a sham.
   • Jackal 7.1

     11 November 2012 at 1:44 pm

     Well it’s not a democracy then is it? It’s a dictatorship in order to protect those at the top. Don’t speak the truth about problems because they could be used politically against various politicians just shows what a total sham the us against them system is… And the result in this case is lost lives. Don’t expect the government to identify and fix the problem though. What a bunch of culpable idiots!
8. Draco T Bastard 8

   11 November 2012 at 11:36 am

   Minister keeps a lid on boot camp failure figures

   So far, the only information released has been about the two “concept camps” run at the end of 2010, which showed all but two of the 17 teens on the programme went on to reoffend. Requests for information about the 78 participants in the seven camps run since were refused by both the Ministry for Social Development and its Associate Minister Chester Borrows, who said making public the information about the “nature of offences or offending” could identify the youth involved.

   Which is a load of bollocks because offenders are identified in court anyway unless they’re under-age in which case their identities are rightly protected but in that case naming the offences won’t identify the perpetrators.
9. Rogue Trooper 9

   11 November 2012 at 12:06 pm

   Sunday (melancholy and the infinite sadness)
   
10. Logie97 10

    11 November 2012 at 12:11 pm

    Caption time???

    http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/royals-remember-new-zealand-s-fallen-5208854

    What on earth are Joky Hen and the chap behind him so interested in while HRH and his wife seem to be unfazed by?

    Have they both squeezed one out and trying to look innocent?
11. Jenny 11

    11 November 2012 at 2:28 pm

    Naomi Kline tells it like it is.

    http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/11/06-1

    ….But the prize for shameless disaster capitalism surely goes to right-wing economist Russell S. Sobel, writing in a New York Times online forum. Sobel suggested that, in hard-hit areas, FEMA should create “free trade zones—in which all normal regulations, licensing and taxes[are] suspended.” This corporate free-for-all would, apparently, “better provide the goods and services victims need.”

    Yes that’s right: this catastrophe very likely created by climate change—a crisis born of the colossal regulatory failure to prevent corporations from treating the atmosphere as their open sewer—is just one more opportunity for more deregulation. And the fact that this storm has demonstrated that poor and working-class people are far more vulnerable to the climate crisis shows that this is clearly the right moment to strip those people of what few labor protections they have left, as well as to privatize the meager public services available to them. Most of all, when faced with an extraordinarily costly crisis born of corporate greed, hand out tax holidays to corporations…..

    ……..For a long time, climate change was treated by environmentalists as a great equalizer, the one issue that affected everyone, rich or poor. They failed to account for the myriad ways by which the superrich would protect themselves from the less savory effects of the economic model that made them so wealthy. In the past six years, we have seen the emergence of private firefighters in the United States, hired by insurance companies to offer a “concierge” service to their wealthier clients, as well as the short-lived “HelpJet”—a charter airline in Florida that offered five-star evacuation services from hurricane zones. “No standing in lines, no hassle with crowds, just a first class experience that turns a problem into a vacation.” And, post-Sandy, upscale real estate agents are predicting that back-up power generators will be the new status symbol with the penthouse and mansion set.

    It seems that for some, climate change is imagined less as a clear and present danger than as a kind of spa vacation; nothing that the right combination of bespoke services and well-curated accessories can’t overcome. That, at least, was the impression left by the Barneys New York pre-Sandy sale—which offered deals on Sencha green tea, backgammon sets and $500 throw blankets so its high-end customers could “settle in with style”. Let the rest of the world eat “social strategies, formal or informal.”

    ……there are changes we can make that actually have a chance of getting our emissions down to the level science demands. These include relocalizing our economies (so we are going to need those farmers where they are); vastly expanding and reimagining the public sphere to not just hold back the next storm but to prevent even worse disruptions in the future; regulating the hell out of corporations and reducing their poisonous political power; and reinventing economics so it no longer defines success as the endless expansion of consumption.

    These are approaches to the crisis would help rebuild the real economy at a time when most of us have had it with speculative bubbles. They would create lasting jobs at a time when they are urgently needed. And they would strengthen our ties to one another and to our communities— goals that, while abstract, can nonetheless save lives in a crisis.

    Just as the Great Depression and the Second World War launched populist movements that claimed as their proud legacies social safety nets across the industrialized world, so climate change can be a historic moment to usher in the next great wave of progressive change. Moreover, none of the anti-democratic trickery I described in The Shock Doctrine is necessary to advance this agenda. Far from seizing on the climate crisis to push through unpopular policies, our task is to seize upon it to demand a truly populist agenda.

    The reconstruction from Sandy is a great place to start road testing these ideas. Unlike the disaster capitalists who use crisis to end-run democracy, a People’s Recovery (as many from the Occupy movement are already demanding) would call for new democratic processes, including neighborhood assemblies, to decide how hard-hit communities should be rebuilt. The overriding principle must be addressing the twin crises of inequality and climate change at the same time. For starters, that means reconstruction that doesn’t just create jobs but jobs that pay a living wage. It means not just more public transit, but energy efficient affordable housing along those transit lines. It also means not just more renewable power but democratic community control over those projects.

    But at the same time as we ramp up alternatives, we need to step up the fight against the forces actively making the climate crisis worse. Regardless of who wins the election, that means standing firm against the continued expansion of the fossil fuel sector into new and high-risk territories, whether through tar sands, fracking, coal exports to China or Arctic drilling. It also means recognizing the limits of political pressure and going after the fossil fuel companies directly, as we are doing at 350.org with our “Do The Math” tour. These companies have shown that they are willing to burn five times as much carbon as the most conservative estimates say is compatible with a livable planet. We’ve done the math, and we simply can’t let them……

    ……. The good news is that this is a crime in progress; it is still within our power to stop it. Let’s make sure that this time, the good guys win.
    • Colonial Viper 11.1

      11 November 2012 at 2:38 pm

      A combination of Free Trade Zones and Free Fire Zones would be the ultimate American dream!
    • Jenny 11.2

      11 November 2012 at 7:55 pm

      The reconstruction from Sandy is a great place to start road testing these ideas. Unlike the disaster capitalists who use crisis to end-run democracy, a People’s Recovery (as many from the Occupy movement are already demanding) would call for new democratic processes, including neighborhood assemblies, to decide how hard-hit communities should be rebuilt. The overriding principle must be addressing the twin crises of inequality and climate change at the same time. For starters, that means reconstruction that doesn’t just create jobs but jobs that pay a living wage. It means not just more public transit, but energy efficient affordable housing along those transit lines. It also means not just more renewable power but democratic community control over those projects.

      Naomi Kline

      Christchurch should also be a place for road testing new forms of democracy like neighborhood assemblies, to decide how hard hit communities should be rebuilt.

      Unfortunately the disaster capitalists are in the saddle in Christchurch and are determined to use the crisis as end run on democracy in the region. The exact opposite of what should be done. You can guarantee that rather than rather than pay a living wage to the workers actually doing the rebuild. the big contractors will be using the disaster as an excuse break down wages and conditions to line their own pockets. These same big contractors, favorites of the National Party, will be awarded huge pork barrel contracts from the taxpayer account, which will all be hidden from public scrutiny and democratic oversight by Brownly and others on the grounds of “commercial sensitivity”. With the huge fortunes that are going to be made in Christchurch by the disaster capitalists with the compliance of their anti-democratic political supporters in National, the Christchurch Earthquake was not bad news just different kind of good news.
      • Jenny 11.2.1

        11 November 2012 at 8:11 pm

        We have already seen the scandalous waste of taxpayers money that results when a favourite of the Government was paid an undisclosed amount to provide camper vans for temporary accommodation that was never used by those who needed it because the rentals were way too expensive.

        I forgot to mention the disaster capitalists opportunistic use of the Christchurch earthquake disaster to attack social provision in the region, starting it seems with the schools and the school children and families they serve. Whoo hoo, if we can keep this up, a chance of more tax cuts for the rich folk.
12. PlanetOrphan 12

    11 November 2012 at 2:56 pm

    Anyone remember the Libertarian movement?
    We need too shred those beliefs …… moronic anarchy.
13. Draco T Bastard 13

    11 November 2012 at 3:20 pm

    Now these should put to rest all the BS about the left being big spenders of other peoples money:

    http://www.johnpemberton.co.nz/html/government_debt.html
    http://www.johnpemberton.co.nz/html/new_zealand_government_debt_eom.html

    The facts are in, it’s the right that are the big spenders of other peoples money.
14. Penny Bright 14

    11 November 2012 at 4:05 pm

    WONDERS WILL NEVER CEASE!

    AM ABLE TO POST AGAIN ON CAMERON SLATER’S ‘WHALEOIL’ BLOG! 🙂

    http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2012/11/serial-troublemaker-alleged-blackmailer-graham-mcready-is-at-it-again/

    “Do you, Cameron Slater, agree that both John Banks and Don Brash should have both been charged as former fellow Directors of Huljich Wealth Management (NZ) Ltd, for signing Huljich Kiwisaver Scheme registered prospectuses dated 22 August 2008 and 18 September 2009 which contained untrue statments – a STRICT LIABILITY offence under s.58(3) of the Securities Act?

    Yes or no?

    Kind regards,

    Penny Bright

    ‘Anti-corruption campaigner’

    http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com”
    ______________________________________________________________________________

    PS: If anyone has contact details for Graham McCready – I’m rather keen to have a chat about his private prosecution of John Banks over allegations that he filed a false electoral return for his 2012 Auckland mayoral campaign.
15. Draco T Bastard 15

    11 November 2012 at 4:20 pm

    This government’s Track Record:

    Key has repeated the same pledge every year since 2008. It has become a mantra, “raise wages, raise wages, raise…”.

    But words are easy. What has been Key’s actual track record? How does Dear Leader’s words reconcile with his actions? What have been the results?

    The following chapters give an insight into the rhetoric and reality of the National Party and it’s leader, John Key.
    • Colonial Viper 15.1

      11 November 2012 at 4:22 pm

      The wages of the top 1% have gone up pretty good, so Key and English have delivered.
      • Draco T Bastard 15.1.1

        11 November 2012 at 6:54 pm

        Well, they delivered to their actual base. They just haven’t delivered anything that they promised to anyone else.
16. Jackal 16

    11 November 2012 at 4:28 pm

    Brian Edwards excuses for cronyism

    Perhaps it was the pervasive right wing stench of Duncan Garner that was clouding his thoughts, or perhaps he is truly that deluded…
17. idegus 17

    11 November 2012 at 6:24 pm

    very lolworthy, tv3 just called john keys wife ‘the first lady’, jeez, little america. (i know, i shouldnt watch that crap but im always curious to what they show & dont show (for e.g. no mention of the novapay scandal))
    • Vicky32 17.1

      12 November 2012 at 2:28 pm

      very lolworthy, tv3 just called john keys wife ‘the first lady’, jeez, little america

      TV3 always are Little America! For years   when we lived in Mt Eden/Albert, we couldn’t get TV1, so I got used to 3 News, and apathy means I don’t change, and so I am familiar with their quirks. Good thing I don’t rely on only them for news!
      They have never referred to Bush or Obama as ‘the American President’ but just ‘the president’… also, there are other little things they do. Like Leighton Smith, they report what Steve Wright on the BBC WS used to call ‘bizarre news stories’ from the USA, as if they are local, very misleadingly sometimes.
18. Draco T Bastard 18

    11 November 2012 at 10:23 pm

    And it looks like this government’s anti-democratic ways are now starting to get official notice:

    Axing Environment Canterbury elections until at least 2016 is a breach of the Government’s commitment to democracy, New Zealand’s Human Rights Commission says.

    Chief human rights commissioner David Rutherford yesterday hit out at the Government for introducing the Environment Canterbury (Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Bill, during a Local Government and Environment Select Committee meeting.

    Rutherford said the bill breached some of the international human rights commitments the Government had made.

    Now, I wonder if the government can be taken to court over those breach of rights.

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