Open Mike 13/04/2017

36 comments on “Open Mike 13/04/2017 ”

• Comments are now closed

1. Muttonbird 1

   13 April 2017 at 7:24 am

   Perhaps the cops wouldn’t be so trigger happy if a few more of them were on Prozac.

   http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/04/police-boss-not-backing-down-on-antidepressant-ban.html

   Someone needs to sack Mike Bush, he’s a runaway train.
   • adam 1.1

     13 April 2017 at 11:12 am

     A runaway train would be safer.
2. greywarshark 2

   13 April 2017 at 7:27 am

   All commenters and readers of this site who are sincere about wanting a better society and news media will want to support Scoop to reach its target for election year activity. It must be done now as their target time is down to one or two days. If we don’t do what is needed, who will? You know the answer – change that doesn’t involve individual advantage is an effort that is not made by the many.

   https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/5084-help-scoop-open-the-election-the-open-news-project
   The message:
   With 3 Days To Go – Scoop Needs Your Help To Make Its PledgeMe Target

   From: Alastair Thompson on behalf of our fund-raising team – Co-editor Joseph Cederwall, Business Development Manager Steven Wood, and Scoop Foundation Trustees Jan Rivers, Margaret Thompson and Jeremy Rose

   Dear Scoop.co.nz Supporter,

   I’m writing to you as we enter the final countdown to our PledgeMe target deadline – this coming Good Friday at 10pm. With three days to go we are approaching 73% of our $30,000 target. We need another $7k more in Pledges to get there.

   It’s appears at this point in the campaign we will need the help of you, our core supporters to get over the line.
   • greywarshark 2.1

     13 April 2017 at 12:47 pm

     NOTE This is the last day – till 10pm for the Scoop fundraiser. Quite modest level so please help with even $5 as you can today.
3. Carolyn_nth 3

   13 April 2017 at 8:15 am

   Statement from Andrew Little written yesterday, released today:

   Thursday, 13 April 2017, 8:07 am
   Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

   Andrew Little
   Leader of the Opposition

   MEDIA STATEMENT

   12 April 2017

   Statement on Earl Hagaman

   “I have seen Lani Hagaman’s statement seeking a retrial.

   “I have taken every opportunity to resolve this matter and I have faced up to my responsibilities.

   “My priority now are the thousands of New Zealanders who can’t buy their own home, can’t get the health care they need and who are struggling to get ahead.

   “Fixing these problems means changing the Government and that is my focus.

   “As this matter could be subject to further court proceedings, I will not be commenting further.”
   • Muttonbird 3.1

     13 April 2017 at 8:30 am

     Nice. The clear message is that the Hagamans are against “the thousands of New Zealanders who can’t buy their own home, can’t get the health care they need and who are struggling to get ahead.”

     I suppose she’ll want to sue him for this as well.
   • Johan 3.2

     13 April 2017 at 9:03 am

     Obviously, the Hagaman defamation case is very much a distraction with the upcoming election for Andrew Little. The desire to bankrupt Little and cast him in a bad light seems to be first and foremost in the mind of team Hagaman. Taking one step back from this situation, I wonder who is the actual person being defamed?
     • Mr Ed 3.2.1

       13 April 2017 at 9:43 am

       Little is required to pay the price for shooting his mouth off.

       He claimed he would approach the Hagaman’s once the Auditor General completed its investigation;

       ‘He will address the issues with the Hagamans once the Auditor-General has dealt with his request, either by “concluding an investigation or declining to conduct one” regarding a Niue resort deal http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/80229406/Andrew-Little-refusing-to-apologise-over-his-comments-about-a-Niue-resort-deal

       That was May 2016. Little has no one to blame but himself for failing to meet his initial commitment of addressing the issues with the Hagaman’s following the AG investigation.

       If it means that Little or the ‘Labour Party War Chest’ is drained because of legal costs then perhaps it will provide Little with a moment of clarity and realise sometimes its not a bad thing to take a step back.

       Problem is Little still acts like a ‘Union Thug’, and taking a step back is not an option.
       • adam 3.2.1.1

         13 April 2017 at 11:22 am

         Mr Ed, how about you change your name to strawman, or sycophant. Seriously that line has been tried before – it’s straight from Smith the radio host with half a brain. If you had an original thought, or indeed have any thought that was not peddled by the halfwits from the press, then please feel free to express it. But to panhandle spin created by hard right ideologues like it is truth – is just sad. I’d suggest you go have a wee look in the mirror and work out if you are a man or a Muppet.

         [lprent: Muppet. However even idiots need to be given an opportunity to demonstrate that they actually are. ]
         • Johan 3.2.1.1.1

           13 April 2017 at 12:09 pm

           Mr Ed, the talking horse, has read very little of the court proceedings, typical RWNJ, and has conveniently forgotten the jury’s verdict.
     • DoublePlusGood 3.2.2

       13 April 2017 at 9:44 am

       The Hagamans are doing an excellent job of defaming themselves…
4. Mr Ed 4

   13 April 2017 at 8:45 am

   ‘At one point Moore turns the questions on me, in his typically cryptic and profound way. He’s started watching Country Calendar again. “How many of those people on Country Calendar do you think vote Labour now?” I choose the diplomatic route. What do you think the answer is? “None.” Why? “Because we’re not seen to be on the side of those who are strivers,” he says. “I do think we’ve got trouble.”

   “I think its basis is how you elect your leader,” he says. “The caucus is our primary and sitting in that caucus you know what is going on and the idea that someone can not have the support in the caucus and the leader has to speak for that is a terrible idea.”

   Of course Moore will be viewed by many on this site as some sort of ‘Neo-Liberal Hack’ who deserves to have his Labour membership cancelled. Just a pity that you lot cannot see ‘the wood for the trees’ as he raises a good point that your Party is out of touch.

   http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11837273
   • greywarshark 4.1

     13 April 2017 at 9:14 am

     Something to think about indeed Mr Ed. ‘We’re not seen to be on the side of those who are strivers’.

     What are strivers? Describe and define.

     What are their goals and philosophical beliefs about humankind, society, work, lifestyle etc?
     For instance: Do they believe that society should be served by a government that uses its economic levers to ensure that nearly all people are doing some sort of work that helps society whether paid or unpaid and also that they have a secure place in society with living conditions of good standard?

     Where are such people found? Give known facts, and two anecdotes.
     For instance – In the city or larger towns where there are wider opportunities for work in a range of occupations? What sort of work is prevalent there, and what level of skill and pay is available?
     Or is it in the country? Answer the same questions as for the city.

     Are the strivers working in sustainable occupations in a sustainable way, with levels of pay and working hours that enable such people to have an enjoyable but not ostentatious lifestyle, with time for personal or family occupations such as DIY, further education, healthy sport or other hobby, outdoor activity, gardening.

     There is just so much that is packed into some words like strivers. What does the speaker intend when usingg it as a generic term?

     Strivers come in all shapes and sizes that don’t fit in with the above possible meanings. They try to get a job, get a job with regular hours, regular hours sufficient to live on, regular hours that are set and not arbitrarily imposed so that time to have a personal life is constantly denied. A job that will last and which will respect long-term employees with regular wage rises that reflect and reward their expertise, commitment and value to the company.
     Strivers with health problems – to start walking again, to heal, to regain mind control after head injuries.
     Strivers to overcome depression, stop relying on alcohol, coffee, drugs, sex, recreational consumerism ‘shop till you drop’, and just to resist temptation, to get skills on how to deflect put-downs, resist feeling diminished by lack of self-esteem.

     So Mr Moore, the leader being picked by caucus may be more satisfactory for fellow MPs, but as that person may or may not understand him or herself what they are talking about, exactly, then I don’t think your withered comments as reported by talking horse Mr Ed, will be sufficiently robust to impress the left and the possible voters that will be hoped for in the election.
     • David Mac 4.1.1

       13 April 2017 at 10:15 am

       A striver wakes up every morning with an action plan, realistic expectations and a grin on their mug. It doesn’t matter where they slot into the social strata, it’s an attitude.
       • greywarshark 4.1.1.1

         13 April 2017 at 12:30 pm

         David Mac Sounds like someone on Prozac, or happy drugs. You are a happy dreamer yourself.

         A striver can’t be contented and happy or they cease striving; a striver is tensed to achieve something that requires a step up, effort, and as I said it may merely be some small improvement in a beleaguered person’s life.
       • The New Student 4.1.1.2

         13 April 2017 at 2:56 pm

         Sounds like most people then. Action plan, realistic expectations, grin tends to disappear fairly quickly however. Usually because of reality.
   • DoublePlusGood 4.2

     13 April 2017 at 9:52 am

     Maybe Labour would be doing fine if people like Mike Moore would stop loudly proclaiming it to be in dire straights all the time.
     As for Moore wanting Labour to ignore its members and have caucus choose the leader, he may have missed the whole point that Labour is a party keen on democratic involvement, not oligarchy.
   • mauī 4.3

     13 April 2017 at 10:37 am

     My view is that its not that Labour has changed much over the years but the average kiwi farmer has. Cheap and easy money (debt) and an individualist culture can do funny things with the mind.
   • Johan 4.4

     13 April 2017 at 12:18 pm

     “Of course Moore will be viewed by many on this site as some sort of ‘Neo-Liberal Hack’ who deserves to have his Labour membership cancelled. Just a pity that you lot cannot see ‘the wood for the trees’ as he raises a good point that your Party is out of touch.” What a self-absorbed piece of rubbish from the talking horse, Mr Ed.
5. Bearded Git 5

   13 April 2017 at 9:46 am

   Colin Craig said on Morning Report today that he will not settle an amount for damages, he will offer to pay nothing, and instead will go for retrial. Williams only option now would appear to be to settle for nothing or go for retrial.

   As this has cost both parties a million so far (according to Craig) this would seem to be a very expensive option, perhaps crippling*, for Williams.

   Who can forget Williams involvement in Dirty Politics, right up to his eyebrows. My day just started really well.

   *of course Williams may have rich backers, but will they really throw more money at this?
6. AsleepWhileWalking 6

   13 April 2017 at 11:51 am

   It’s actually very smart – why did nobody think of it earlier?

   The solution to our housing crisis is to incentivise people to live in their cars. If these people were just paid a couple of grand a month for the inconvenience it would actually work out cheaper than motels and social housing….

   http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/90789607/auckland-emergency-housing-fraudsters-rip-off-taxpayer
   • McFlock 6.1

     13 April 2017 at 2:19 pm

     Cheaper than a trailer park, bacause the govt doesn’t even bother to provide the park
7. Poission 7

   13 April 2017 at 2:28 pm

   Analysis of Whitehouse intelligence report on Syrian Nerve agent suggests ground source

   https://twitter.com/nntaleb?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
   • Sabine 7.1

     13 April 2017 at 2:42 pm

     so a ‘small number’ of moteliers had ‘refunded’ money

     how many? One? Two? what is a small number of moteliers.

     Like really how many beneficiaries ‘have defrauded’ the generosity of our Ministry of Welfare payment to the Motel Industry to house our homeless by demanding a ‘refund’?
     • greywarshark 7.1.1

       13 April 2017 at 2:49 pm

       Good one Sabine – so easy to cast a pall of blame over all, everybody wants to kick a needy beneficiary, it’s open season all year. And just think they might have needed the money desperately even if they did defraud Santa Claws.
       • Sabine 7.1.1.1

         13 April 2017 at 4:03 pm

         the sad thing is, that with 2 grand they could buy themselves 4 weeks in a rented accommodation vs WINZ awesome negotiation skills that buys them 1 week for 2 grand in the middle of the winter.

         But yeah, the article is full of innuendo and skinny on facts.
     • The New Student 7.1.2

       13 April 2017 at 3:04 pm

       These moteliers are pretty suspicious. Do they often hand out money to complete strangers who had nothing to do with the booking and payment? Weird story.
       • greywarshark 7.1.2.1

         13 April 2017 at 7:10 pm

         One did once, and let that be a lesson to the SWD for being generous to these undeserving people, because they are all like that – out to rort the system and probably go and buy unhealthy pies or fish and chips. /sarc
8. greywarshark 8

   13 April 2017 at 2:46 pm

   If the mod can dig out 2 or 3 of my comments in the last minutes I would appreciate.
9. joe90 9

   13 April 2017 at 3:24 pm

   Aww, poor wee man feels threatened.

   The creator of the “charging bull” statue in Wall Street believes New York City has infringed his rights by installing a second statue next to the model without his permission.

   Italian-born sculptor Arturo Di Modica said the “fearless girl” statue of a young girl facing down the bull, put in place on March 7, changed the creative dynamic of his sculpture, The Guardian reported.

   http://www.newsweek.com/fearless-girl-charging-bull-rights-new-york-city-582722
10. heman 10

    13 April 2017 at 3:29 pm

    It’s official the green party are useless!!

    The Green Party has decided to abstain from voting on the Point England Bill. Abstention achieves nothing and shows a distinct lack of leadership on behalf of the Green Party.

    I would have thought their core policy below would carry most weight. I can’t help but feel they are useless. But then again I am against this bill. Maybe someone here can provide with some balance or confirm that they are indeed useless!

    “The Green Party supports:
    Councils and the Department of Conservation protecting land for recreation and
    sporting purposes under the Reserves Act 1977, including the preparation of
    management plans to ensure reserves are appropriately maintained and used.”

    https://www.greens.org.nz/page/recreation-and-sport-policy

    Stop the Pt Eng Dev Bill!
    #SaveOurReserves
    https://goo.gl/fjko6D
11. Skeptic 11

    13 April 2017 at 5:19 pm

    Correct again Duke – the reports of US military support for the Rebels who were getting creamed by Assad’s military in the early days – before ISIS got going – under the Obama administration are well documented. As is the lies perpetrated by the Bush administration to justify the 2001 & 2003 invasions.
    However that’s as far as it goes. A lot of the “reporting” and blogging done now is repetition of US involvement with spin attached. Go back to the original reports of US military support and compare them with later twisted reports.
    As far as chemical weapons, both Hussein and Assad have histories of making and using these WMD. The difference being Hussein got rid of his; Assad didn’t and with Russian connivance, kept his and used them a second time (as per MSF reports – if you can’t trust Medecin sans Frontieres, then you’re really in trouble.
    As much as I dislike Trump and all he stands for, as I’ve said all along, there is an “official USA” – often mislabeled the MIC – but more of a hodge-podge of Govt agencies, lobby groups and “think-tanks” etc who combine in various ways over various issues to pressure the incumbent administration to take a certain course of action. In this case I think that despite his apparent amorality, Trump’s instinctive (yes I do think it was a gut reaction on his part) is very close to official USA policy on the use of WMD – which is to either go for specific targets or nuke the shit out of the offender. Official Washington was very much in agreement. North Korea is obviously in Trump’s sights.
    There’s great tomes written about how the US political system actually works – some of it insightful, some of it arrant rubbish. To understand the sometimes naivety, sometime sophisticated actions of various administrations, UOC has some excellent primers.

    [TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
    
    • dukeofurl 11.1

      14 April 2017 at 2:32 pm

      Egypt is outside the Convention on Chemical Weapons is there going to be attacks on their stockpiles or production facilities

      MSF hospitals have been bombed in Syria and by US in Afghanistan. Their reports seem to indicate facts not really add the political dimension and who is to blame.

      As for Hussein getting ‘rid of his’, after the invasion old or forgotten stocks turned up.

      Could that be because these are dangerous things and its easier to lock the bunker door and just say its all done.
      These countries arent like Luxembourg ( even they have stiffed the EU over their special tax deals for multinationals, showing how rules are bent all the time) with a civilian control over military
      • Skeptic 11.1.1

        14 April 2017 at 4:46 pm

        Yeah – I think you hit the proverbial nail on its nut there – I notice the USA stuffed all their old chemicals on Johnson Atoll and like the UK keep a tiny stock pile at their research centre. I though they did a pretty thorough search for Iraqi Chemicals but didn’t turn any up? I also though NATO didn’t store these weapons – something in one of their MOUs? The old Warsaw Pact countries did keep stockpile, but I seem to remember their destruction was part of the PFP deal and the OSE partnership – if that lasted past Putin’s ascension?
12. David Mac 12

    13 April 2017 at 5:29 pm

    There are over 12,000 properties listed on Bookabach. Over 1600 of them in the greater Auckland region. With the exception of those close to ski fields and winter activities the demand for most of these will wane after Easter. The overnight tariffs will plummet.

    Around the country, particularly coastal regions, I wonder if WINZ could be booking and providing fully furnished clean and tidy houses to those families requiring emergency housing for less money than a tired motel room. Power, water, gas, internet, linen, Sky and pantry staples inclusive. There are an abundance of these properties being advertised in many of the areas we have housing problems.
    • dukeofurl 12.1

      14 April 2017 at 3:11 pm

      I dont think those with baches for short term rent are going to want their places occupied by WINZ beneficaries.
      These are middle class people who will want the same.

• Comments are now closed

• Log in
• Donate
• Contribute post

• Articles RSS