Open mike 13/06/2012

87 comments on “Open mike 13/06/2012 ”

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1. BillODrees 1

   13 June 2012 at 6:22 am

   “The sprawling political refugee camp that Labour is busily turning itself into will find it increasingly difficult to distinguish between the “No Discussion of Beliefs Permitted” rule it is currently enforcing in order not to upset its National refugees, and a position which denies the importance of espousing coherent political beliefs altogether.”
   Chris Trotter in a thought provoking mood in his Bowlalleyroad blog.  Have a read.
   http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/

    
   • NickS 1.1

     13 June 2012 at 1:23 pm

     I’d rather rub ground glass into my eyes than read Trotter’s “dudes only!11!!” centred bullshit.
   • Vicky32 1.2

     14 June 2012 at 3:07 pm

     Chris Trotter in a thought provoking mood in his Bowlalleyroad blog.  Have a read.

     I like it! Thanks BillODrees…
2. Dh 2

   13 June 2012 at 7:44 am

   Not really political but that shouldn’t stop a good moan. Who is sick of the media running their own trial with these high profile court cases? Every day we get the media version of the Guy/MacDonald saga; a days court proceedings condensed into a few column inches of ghoulish voyeurism. The media take a sick delight in parading the private lives of the participants, gorging on gossip, innuendo and rumour. There’s no justice in it, they’re neither judge nor jury, its all about ratings and they don’t care who they hurt in the process.
   • just saying 2.1

     13 June 2012 at 8:18 am

     If it’s not that it is disgusting grief-porn. All cheap copy that sells newspapers and apparently that’s all that matters.

     Speaking of the Guy case, I’ve been interested in the number of workers on that farm who were not being paid, and were doing some kind of “work experience”. More agrarian welfare for the rich.
   • Carol 2.2

     13 June 2012 at 8:53 am

     Who is sick of the media running their own trial with these high profile court cases?

     *Raises hand*
     • Anne 2.2.1

       13 June 2012 at 6:54 pm

       Raises both hands! The second the latest gruesome details of the latest murder trial comes on TV
       it is the OFF button for me. If everybody did the same thing they would soon stop. It is the victim’s families who must stand to be the most affected by this media obsession with murder and mayhem. What long term damage is being done to them I hate to think.

       Another hazard that is often overlooked… I know there are many parents of young families who can no longer watch the 6pm news because they will not allow their children to be exposed to the daily diet of murder trials with all it’s attendant blood and gore.
   • prism 2.3

     13 June 2012 at 9:25 am

     Dh I agree. A brief mention of the progress of the Guy case would be satisfactory not all this background about what the farm worker said and thought, family feelings and on. One thing emerges – the emotional pull to farmland is strong here. There was a murder of a wife in a divorce who in wanting her half share of property was forcing the sale of a hard-built farm and the husband reacted against her.

     My moan is about the extensive coverage, with money wasted on USA commentators, of the USA political circus. Let them ride their roundabouts there, with again, brief updates. But the fight for presidential candidates, the ridiculous manipulated party addresses and loud cries of approval from their fans, we don’t need this. It’s a waste of money. There are 172? countries in the world. When is there time to hear about the others with the USA crowding out other news?To get any airtime they have to have riots or disasters yet they lead very interesting and internationally important lives.
     • Vicky32 2.3.1

       14 June 2012 at 3:13 pm

       When is there time to hear about the others with the USA crowding out other news?To get any airtime they have to have riots or disasters yet they lead very interesting and internationally important lives.

       Exactly! What really irks me is when a grinning Hil’ry Berry or Mike McRoberts, plays some trivial local American item, the sort of thing that would be a paragraph in a local newspaper.. it’s not as if there isn’t plenty else to discuss!
   • SamHall 2.4

     13 June 2012 at 9:53 am

     We gave this trial matter some thought recently; DYNASTY or DALLAS comes to mind.Having worked for and socialised with sectors of our glorious rural community over the decades can advise that the sorts of dynamics being revealed in this publicised expose are very common between family members, families, neighbors, managers etc. It is not so bucolic amongst the california thistles, mastitis and mongrels. ENVY and GREED reeks from a lot of these people, and yes, getting paid like getting blood out of pumice.

     Emmerdale on steroidal hormones.

     Well, with corporate farming expansion, falling commodity prices, reduced commodity orders, devaluation of the dollar likely, interest rate rises, increased regulation and environmental requirements, Trading in Fonterra shares, fuel price and ruc increases etc….

     Good Luck to Them. NOT.
     • prism 2.4.1

       13 June 2012 at 10:01 am

       SamHall
       Interesting comment which I understood this time. You sound as if you are well-versed in the healthy country lifestyle. By the way who are ‘we’? Do you arise from a think tank or is it the royal we? Haha.
       • Lanthanide 2.4.1.1

         13 June 2012 at 11:04 am

         Seems to suffer from multiple personality disorder.
   • freedom 2.5

     13 June 2012 at 10:34 am

     Lets not forget it is always handy to a Government that is dealing with sensitive and/or volatile policies to have a juicy murder to distract the public with. This was highlighted for me this morning when National Radio had an interview about Australia and How The Dingo Did It. The commentator mentioned how the whole Azaria case came to light and began its protracted media prescence just as the Mabo land case was gaining traction.
   • Vicky32 2.6

     14 June 2012 at 2:57 pm

     Who is sick of the media running their own trial with these high profile court cases?

     I absolutely agree! The Guy/McDonald saga is particularly boring/annoying… Said about Kylie Guy “she still wears her rings” – well, most widows do! What was their point?
3. RedBlooded 3

   13 June 2012 at 7:54 am

   With the increase of Road User Charges I assume we will have John Banks encouraging the roading industry to block Auckland Roads with trucks again in protest as he did when the Labour Party were in Government /sarc. He was so enthuisiastic over the protest then. Hypocrites.
4. Pete George 4

   13 June 2012 at 7:56 am

   Sorting out Super – what now?

   We should start the discussion now. National may choose to stay out of it for now, but they will have to join at some stage.

   Suggested progress:
   – Involve all willing parties and any groups and organisations with an interest in the future of NZ Super in discussion and proposal of policies.
   – Open it to wide public discussion.
   – Gather as much information and opinion as possible.
   – National and United Future have a Confidence and Supply commitment to public discussion on flexi-super – this can be used to develop the Super debate further.
   – In time for next election campaign have a commitment from all (willing) parties on the future direction of NZ Super and a timeframe for dealing with it.
   – Include NZ Super in parliamentary business early in the next term (first half of 2015)

   Let’s make it happen. Starting now.
5. mickysavage 5

   13 June 2012 at 8:05 am

   Suggested progress:

   – get the poodle to not vote for the next budget unless it addresses the Superannuation time bomb.
   – get all the pollies to read the very interesting and comprehensive posts and comments in the Standard on the subject.

   Lets really make it happen.  Starting now. 
   • Pete George 5.1

     13 June 2012 at 9:29 am

     Your first point is either pathetic or woefully ignorant.

     Your second point is very good – why don’t you make it happen? I could give you some practical advice if you like. If you can generate some positive and balanced discussion here I’d be happy to promote and support it. Cross-blog discussion on Super is something I’ve suggested.

     What are you doing on your blog about Super? I’d be happy to link that in too.
     • mickysavage 5.1.1

       13 June 2012 at 10:23 am

       Your first point is either pathetic or woefully ignorant.
        
       Why is that Petey?
       • Pete George 5.1.1.1

         13 June 2012 at 11:40 am

         Sounds like ignorance.
         • mickysavage 5.1.1.1.1

           13 June 2012 at 11:47 am

           Why doesn’t the poodle withhold his vote on next year’s budget if the Government refuses to confront the baby boomer bulge now?
           • Pete George 5.1.1.1.1.1

             13 June 2012 at 12:25 pm

             Because C&S responsibilities don’t allow for the bringing down of the government at the request of some random blog commenter. This is a standard coalition provision, and will have protected the Clark government from first year collapse due to Redbaiter asking a party to break their agreement (similar to you he’s currently asking for banishment of the entire National contingent).

             Perhaps you think any coalition between between Labour and Greens would be as flimsy and temporary as you seem to think the current one should be.

             Apart from that it’s ridiculous to threaten a budget that’s eleven months away on an issue that could achieve significant progress in that time, but will probably take longer than that to resolve.
             • Te Reo Putake …

               13 June 2012 at 12:46 pm

               There are no C&S responsibilities that overide Dunne’s responsibilities to NZ, Pete. If he genuinely wants a debate on Super, then the power is in his hands to enforce one. Which he won’t do, because he is too worried about a single aspect of the super debate; his own pension pot.
               • Pete George …

                 13 June 2012 at 1:35 pm

                 If he genuinely wants a debate on Super, then the power is in his hands to enforce one.

                 Dunne has already used his (coalition) power to get a commitment with National to a public discussion paper on Super, which is more than anyone else has been able to achieve.

                 How effective that discussion will be will depend on how much effort a range of parties, organisations and individuals make to take advantage of the opportunity.
                 • Te Reo Putake …

                   13 June 2012 at 1:40 pm

                   No he hasn’t. Key refuses to join in the debate and the ‘agreement’ you refer to is nothing to do with the wider issue of super. It’s just a sop, as you well know, Pete. Stop dissembling and start putting pressure on your leader. Poodles have teeth, you know. They just have to be trained to use them.
                   • Pete George …

                     13 June 2012 at 1:50 pm

                     It’s just a sop

                     I’m certain you have no idea what it will be yet.
                   • Te Reo Putake …

                     13 June 2012 at 2:00 pm

                     Au conraire, Pompous George.
                      
                     It is a sop; it’s a commitment in the C&S agreement to a (small ‘g’) government paper on a possible flexible retirement age, (ie. straight to Bin 13). Even if it ever makes the light of day, that’s a change which the PM rejected yet again as recently as yesterday.
                      
                     So stop trying to blow smoke up our collective nether regions and get to work on Dunne. Tell him you’ll walk if he doesn’t threaten to do the same. Go on, mate, show some balls. You can cripple the media arm of UF just by refusing to blog for a day.
                   • Pete George …

                     13 June 2012 at 2:42 pm

                     I’d rather work positively to see what can be done. Hissy fitting as you suggest doesn’t usually achieve anything.

                     The Prime Minister’s open to United Future’s flexi-super idea.

                     “If people want to choose to take more and retire slightly later, that’s their call. Whether it’s workable or not, there are lots of challenges in that but we’re happy to have that discussion.”

                     http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/mp/13744416/pm-open-to-flexi-super-idea/

                     And…

                     Shearer says he’s prepared to discuss Peter Dunne’s ‘flexi-super’ policy

                     http://www.interest.co.nz/kiwisaver/59720/super-age-policies-what-different-political-parties-say-about-whether-raise-super-ag

                     So that’s where the only common ground is at the moment, so it’s worth doing as much as possible with it.
   • Pete George 5.2

     13 June 2012 at 9:32 am

     Other blogs are getting in on promoting good Super discussion and progress too:

     Consensus in our times?

     We welcome this move by David Shearer and Russel Norman to make superannuation non-political. And we reckon that John Key would be wise to accept the olive branch being offered to him; after all, failure to do so would leave him vulnerable to the two main parties of the Left.

     John Key may well have made superannuation a die-in-a-ditch issue. But David Shearer and Russel Norman have thrown him a rope. We hope that he accepts it; superannuation is far too important an issue to continue to be a political football, and cross-party consensus now could indeed produce a solution that will endure regardless of who occupies the Treasury Benches.

     Is consensus in our times too much to hope for?

     From: http://keepingstock.blogspot.co.nz/2012/06/consensus-in-our-times.html
6. Southern Limits 6

   13 June 2012 at 8:25 am

   Canadian tar sands break even between $50-$75 per barrel http://awe.sm/aKsc Price is currently $40 http://awe.sm/aKsX #peakoil
   • Colonial Viper 6.1

     13 June 2012 at 8:58 am

     My understanding is that break even today is closer to $75/barrel for new operations.

     And that assumes the ongoing ability to use and pollute as much fresh ground water as you like in the process for free AND not clean any of the massive chemical ponds or pollution up afterwards.
     • Southern Limits 6.1.1

       13 June 2012 at 10:44 am

       Shell gave the $50 figure at the beginning of last year so that’s a long time in the oil business. You could be right on current costs.

       The oil companies pretty much have free range in Alberta and from the Harper government. They are desperate to get a pipeline either East or West but are facing huge opposition. They have to give large discounts to the US as they buy 99% of the Albertan oil at the moment.
       • insider 6.1.1.1

         13 June 2012 at 11:50 am

         That $50 is just their assessment of when they make meaningful money. Oilcos have been working the sands for decades at lower prices. Production costs including a reasonable rate of return are much lower.
         • Colonial Viper 6.1.1.1.1

           13 June 2012 at 8:44 pm

           Production costs including a reasonable rate of return are much lower.

           For established conventional fields in the prime of production, I agree.

           But for new deep sea wells and other unconventional sources, financial break even is not far off US$75/bb.

           As for energy break even (EROEI) that’s another matter again.
   • Lanthanide 6.2

     13 June 2012 at 9:43 am

     Break even in terms of raw production costs. Not break even in terms of CO2 and environmental destruction.
   • insider 6.3

     13 June 2012 at 11:19 am

     A few years back lifting costs were only about $15

     http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/_wsj-oil_oil.htm
     • mike e 6.3.1

       13 June 2012 at 2:20 pm

       outsider mad hatters institute a right wing propaganda organisation with very deep pockets.
       I smell Murdoch and other robber barons all over this!
       No credibility looking after vested interests.
7. just saying 7

   13 June 2012 at 8:30 am

   Another brilliant blog analysis by Giovanni Tiso, this time on the temporarily derailed education reforms. And apart from the content, Tiso writes so damn well.

   http://bat-bean-beam.blogspot.co.nz/

   …We aren’t always going to be so lucky. Attacks against public education, here and elsewhere, are going to continue, and they will be launched – against the backdrop of a permanent state of economic crisis – by driving a wedge between the aspirations of the middle class and the realities faced by the working class. Of course league tables and performance pay are damaging to public education understood as a universal good – and I’m going to explain why to John Roughan in a minute – but so long as you feel confident that you will be able to move to the area with the best school, and you have been correctly conditioned to view the education of your children as a form of competition, you might not mind this, or even learn to actively support the idea. And just in case you might harbour some nostalgia for old-fashioned egalitarian myths, we shall disguise the reforms as pious concern for the one in five whom the education system currently fails (never mind it’s more like one in twenty), and who hail in the main from the lower socio-economic classes. This will sway some of the liberals who most need to be made to feel altruistic in exchange for their class interests being served. …

   embolding mine.
   • ianmac 7.1

     13 June 2012 at 10:24 am

     Thanks just saying. You are right about Giovanni’s writing style. And he has captured the essence of dark days of Education that are to come. Larger classes are just the opening shots. Ughh!
     • Olwyn 7.1.1

       13 June 2012 at 11:03 am

       I agree, Giovanni Tiso’s writing is lovely to read, and this is an excellent piece. But whichever way you look, the downward squeeze /upward flow gets more and more apparent. Everything works in the manner of a nasty franchise: the owner of the brand squeezes the margins so that the franchisee cannot get his head above water, and in turn squeezes the staff. Dollar-guys attack the Euro Zone through its weakest links, and the strong members squeeze the weaker ones in an attempt to regain their ground. Education is no different; the recent changes to tertiary education, in which interest-free student loans are kept but limits placed upon getting them, essentially means a near-free education for the wealthy (who can invest the loan amount, take the loan, and reduce the cost via the interest received), while the poor are gradually squeezed out. The mooted changes to primary/secondary education follow much the same pattern. Wake up, middle class! You are only a squeeze or two further away from ruin than the people you want to see sterilised.
       • Carol 7.1.1.1

         13 June 2012 at 11:04 am

         Well-said, Olwyn!
       • just saying 7.1.1.2

         13 June 2012 at 11:11 am

         Hallelujah Olwyn!
       • ianmac 7.1.1.3

         13 June 2012 at 12:11 pm

         +1
8. lprent 8

   13 June 2012 at 8:52 am

   There have been a few server structural shifts going on overnight. See this comment from yesterday.

   Let me know if anyone spots anything outside of the current site flaws. I haven’t been seeing any of significiance apart from a markedly reduced overseas bandwidth.
   • just saying 8.1

     13 June 2012 at 8:59 am

     On my screen, the layout is different, lists of blogs, media etc., is now running single-file down the length of the right side of the screen, and periodically it becomes blurred with the words on top of each other.
     • ianmac 8.1.1

       13 June 2012 at 10:25 am

       All clear on my screen.
       • just saying 8.1.1.1

         13 June 2012 at 10:30 am

         I sometimes suspect my computer of being a bit of a hypochondriac.
         • lprent 8.1.1.1.1

           13 June 2012 at 3:39 pm

           No it was there.. One part of it was to do some interesting things to javascripts. A bit too much as it turned out. Took a while for that to come through the system.

           Should be fixed now.
           • just saying 8.1.1.1.1.1

             13 June 2012 at 4:29 pm

             It is 🙂
9. prism 9

   13 June 2012 at 9:47 am

   The UK, for the opening of the Olympics is setting up a picture of a country idyll with happy cows and people – must be like a glossy Midsomer Murders background. Very Marie Antoinette who used to have tableaus with her entourage dressed as rustics I understand.

   And funny in a nightmarish way when one thinks of residential buildings in London having their roofs turned into sites for anti-missile etc surveillance. This will have to be set up earlier than the opening and people screened in and out. The people there will have this burden of suspicion and checking systems for months perhaps, and feel like targets for damage. Not an idyll.
10. prism 10

    13 June 2012 at 9:56 am

    lprent
    I have struck a wee problem. I put an item on 12/6 open mike and then realised I wanted it in 13/6 so tried to delete it and that gave me a blank page with -1 at the top of it. I thought okay it’s been deleted, and put the item in 13/6 and then checked back on 12/6 but it was still there. Pressed delete again got the pink line that I wasn’t allowed to do this and blue Close. I pressed this and nothing happened. I couldn’t get reaction either from the return/refresh arrow at top so was locked there in Ajax and had to close out to get out.
    • just saying 10.1

      13 June 2012 at 10:07 am

      That’s been happening for a while.
11. ianmac 11

    13 June 2012 at 10:19 am

    Alert from Avaaz.org. An online petition re Asset Sales:

    Tomorrow, John Key is planning to ram controversial asset sales legislation through parliament — despite thousands of citizens taking to the streets in protest. Let’s create a massive outcry and stop the sale of New Zealand’s key assets:

    http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Oppose_NZ_Asset_Sales/?boNMXab&v=15125
    • Dr Terry 11.1

      13 June 2012 at 7:46 pm

      You said it ianmac! New Zealand’s “Key” assets, indeed!! He must have at least 3 people supporting him, I guess.
12. Carol 12

    13 June 2012 at 10:26 am

    Lurker Boag goes viral:

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7094218/Boag-keeps-eagle-eye-on-ACC-story

    What was Michelle Boag doing?

    That’s the question most people who watched TV3 News last night were pondering, confused by Boag’s lurking appearance in political reporter Patrick Gower’s piece to camera.
    […]
    She was there, then she wasn’t, then she peeked out in front of the pole once again.

    Gower, on Twitter, called it “one of the truly great lurking incidents on the Parliamentary precinct”.

    Turns out neither Boag nor Gower knew she was on camera – Boag only found out later in the evening when her husband asked her what she was doing.

    “I happened to be walking down the stairs and I saw Paddy was about to go on and I wasn’t going to have the chance to watch what he said so I just hung around to listen,” she said.
    [..]
    A UK-based journalist with the same name – Patrick Gower – said he’d received “a slightly unnerving set of tweets about a woman behind me”.
    • Jim Nald 12.1

      13 June 2012 at 11:40 am

      “What was Michelle Boag doing?”

      Tee hee.

      From accounts about a decade ago, the Lady does not do “demure” (please correct this if this is not accurate). “It was that simple.”

      Btw, being “short” (courtesy from Crushless) does not preclude having bionic ears.
    • mike e 12.2

      13 June 2012 at 3:38 pm

      secret taping lurking round parliament spying on reporters i smell a rat a natrat from the brat pack.
      Boag will not be the flavour of the month in most Nact circles right now.
      Helping undermine her leaders aspirations.
      The Boag Con stictor. Sqeezing the life out of her prey.
      Another Nactional meddling muddler
    • Dr Terry 12.3

      13 June 2012 at 7:49 pm

      Well spotted Carol! Just what the hell was she doing there? Is this awful woman still an office-holder within National? I guess that she is another “asset” on the side, but one (unfortunately) they will never sell!
13. ianmac 13

    13 June 2012 at 11:13 am

    Bob Jones treads a shaky line in his column in the Herald:

    Still, when one recalls his mincing catwalk performance a year back and given his hedging response to the homosexual marriage proposition, well who knows? Might we yet see an out-of-the-closet Prime Ministerial announcement, with a tearful Bronagh in the background?
    • mike e 13.1

      13 June 2012 at 3:09 pm

      shonkey might be buysexual
    • prism 13.2

      13 June 2012 at 5:08 pm

      BJ is a lout.
14. ianmac 14

    13 June 2012 at 11:15 am

    And: BREAKING NEWS
    ACC CEO Ralph Stewart to leave… details soon
    • mickysavage 14.1

      13 June 2012 at 3:30 pm

      Even worse for National, Speaker Roy has allowed an urgent debate on ACC with him chairing.  It is going to be a blood bath …
15. William Joyce 15

    13 June 2012 at 11:49 am

    Time for some predictions.
    In the movie The Truman Show, Truman is talking to the woman who will later be his girlfriend. She is wearing a button saying “How’s it going to end?”
    How’s our Truman Show going to end?
    Around the world, elected and un-elected officials developing unworkable economic solutions to problems created by corporates and banks seeking profits that are now being paid for from austerity measures placed on the innocent.
    The use of taxes earned off the backs of the workers to purchase worthless “assets” from private interests who manipulated, deluded and defrauded so they could use other people’s money to make personal profit.
    Banks, corporations, executives, bankers escaping prosecution for the misery they created around to world in the form of job loses, mortgagee sales, business failures and all the attendant mental, emotional damage.
    The development of a corporate aristocracy for whom the rules applied to lesser beings do not apply. Golden parachutes given to people who cause loss or harm to their company. Corporate boxes for politicians when public servants could be sacked for receiving such a gift. Horrendously large salaries and bonuses for jobs that, some times, could be done by a well trained chimp.
    A worker goes to work knowing that a percentage of their labour and time will be exchanged for money that will fund a life of entitlement for politicians who do not undergo a performance review. An election every three years by an uninformed or indifferent populace is NOT a performance review.
    Taxes used to fund corporate welfare projects based on flawed calculations of how many jobs it will create. Instead, private investors who have some degree of wealth profit from the sweat of those who don’t.
    A world economic system that is soooo flawed that it needs radical reform but the lunatics are the ones running the asylum.
    The list goes on…..
     
    How’s it going to end? Are we all just a Truman Burbank? Content to live in a world where everything is a corporate product and nothing is real?
    Christof: If his was more than just a vague ambition, if he was absolutely determined to discover the truth, there’s no way we could prevent him.

    Christof: “I’ve given Truman the chance to lead a normal life. The world, the place you live in is the sick place. Seahaven is the way the world should be.”
     
    How do you think it will end?
     
    • prism 15.1

      13 June 2012 at 5:16 pm

      Financial systems are a constant mystery also those involved in them. On Radionz I think on Sunday afternoon there was a piece on auditors. There used to be 9 big ones, now there are only four. Consideration is being given to legislating for a change of auditor every 6 years to prevent client capture or moral hazard or whatever name for cosiness. The auditors spoken to were very confident that everything was fine as it is. Auditing relationships have been known to last 48 years. Of course that rarely applies now as businesses average about 10 years before fading.
16. Dave Kennedy 16

    13 June 2012 at 12:45 pm

    What we need is another Australian with a socialist background to lead this country out of recession…
    http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/06/lessons-in-history.html
    • Dv 16.1

      13 June 2012 at 12:58 pm

      Oops

      Finance Minister Bill English admits rebalancing of NZ economy towards exporting yet to happen due to high NZ$ and quake; also sees tax switch benefits taking 5-7 years

      However, “one way or another they will muddle through.

      http://www.interest.co.nz/
      • Draco T Bastard 16.1.1

        13 June 2012 at 2:58 pm

        Actual Link
        • Dv 16.1.1.1

          13 June 2012 at 5:34 pm

          Thanks Draco
      • mike e 16.1.2

        13 June 2012 at 5:23 pm

        Muldooms light at the end of the tunnel con.Austerity and think big robs vision.
        Austerity and motorways brighter future Pure spin nosubstance.
    • prism 16.2

      13 June 2012 at 6:03 pm

      I was recently half listening to an interview with author on King Dick Seddon. He sounded like an able politician who achieved a lot.
17. just saying 17

    13 June 2012 at 12:57 pm

    Only LPrent knows for sure, but it seems to me that there has been a steady increase in the number of women commenting on the Standard in the couple of years I’ve been coming here. I’m extrpolating to a certain extent from the pseudonyms people are using, and assuming can make an ass….
    • lprent 17.1

      13 June 2012 at 6:57 pm

      I don’t know for sure, I generally have to guess. And I frequently find I am wrong both ways. I’ve had people tell me that they deliberately pick opposite gender names…. The whole point about the site is that unless people choose to rely on parts of the life outside of pure argument and use those in the conversation, you can’t tell.

      But I think that there has been a steadily increasing numbers of women commenting over the years and that they are commenting more than they used to.
      • Dr Terry 17.1.1

        13 June 2012 at 7:54 pm

        And making the most sensible and sensitive comments too.
        • lprent 17.1.1.1

          13 June 2012 at 8:48 pm

          Some do. Some make my cynical rants designed to perform experimental literay inguinal orchiectomy on trolls look relatively tame. You should see some of the compliments I get after each excision from our modestly polite but robust debate.

          Personally I rather like that our other gender has a healthy dislike of idiots. Makes me more hopeful about the kids with that level of discrimination against the socially inept with a self assessed Priapus problem.

          As I say, it is sometimes hard to tell. But very few act like trolls.
18. joe90 18

    13 June 2012 at 1:50 pm

    Hmm, this.

    China is a kleptocracy of a scale never seen before in human history. This post aims to explain how this wave of theft is financed, what makes it sustainable and what will make it fail. There are several China experts I have chatted with – and many of the ideas are not original. The synthesis however is mine. Some sources do not want to be quoted.

    The macroeconomic effects of the Chinese kleptocracy and the massive fixed-currency crisis in Europe are the dominant macroeconomic drivers of the global economy. As I am trying a comprehensive explanation for much of the world’s economy in less that two thousand words I expect some kick-back.
19. Campbell Larsen 19

    13 June 2012 at 2:34 pm

    Foreign Minister Murray McChardonnay – receives todays ROTFL award for his outstanding comedy skit performed recently at the Institute of International Affairs in Wellington.
    He had the audience eating out of the palm of his hand with the seemly candid admission that the Security Council is a sham:

    “That view holds that contested Security Council seats will always fall to the highest bidder of aid dollars, or to the holder of the most flexible positions on the controversial foreign policy issues of the day,”

    And then came the punch line:

    “The Prime Minister’s approach and my own approach is that we would rather lose with honour than trade overseas development assistance or policy positions for Security Council votes.”

    I have had many doubts about Mr McCully, Mr Key and the National government, and those doubts of course remain, but now I think I finally understand them – they are actually a stealth comedy act, gone deep cover, their strategy – to kill off the opposition with the most potent of all weapons – uncontrollable laughter.
20. grumpy 20

    13 June 2012 at 4:34 pm

    At last some common sense – just not from NZ.

    http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/falling-dollar-be-careful-what-you-wish-for-says-stevens-20120613-20946.html
    • mike e 20.1

      13 June 2012 at 5:19 pm

      grumpy more BS from a neo con. Australias savings are among the best in the world/
    • Draco T Bastard 20.2

      13 June 2012 at 5:20 pm

      Nup, normal RWNJ scaremongering about high prices.
21. prism 21

    13 June 2012 at 7:18 pm

    Our fishing is certainly under threat with ships like the Korean one in the case being tried in Court. But the Korean officers have left the country apparently. You would think we would have some legal means of stopping them leaving so they could answer to their wrongs.

    The crew have been brutalised, the observer tried to intervene on some of the practices but got very curt responses and feared for her safety. Why should they be able to get away with bad practices like this major dump of fish worth I think a million dollars when apparently all they needed to do was bring the net up earlier. It’s such careless and wasteful and inefficient practice and our seas are the losers to these marauding sods.
22. Carol 22

    13 June 2012 at 7:56 pm

    So Paula Benefit is planning some “tough love” for teenagers likely to go on the unemployment benefit. This involves extra surveillance, advice on budgeting and parenting…… but apparently no jobs???!!!

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10812818

    Minister of Social Development Paula Bennett has reinforced her tough love approach to stopping the flow of young people getting the unemployment benefit after dropping out of school.

    In Parliament today, while speaking during the second reading of the Social Security (Youth Support and Work Focus) Amendment Bill, Ms Bennett said “major reforms would stop an inter-generational cycle of dependence.”
    […]
    Minister of Social Development Paula Bennett has reinforced her tough love approach to stopping the flow of young people getting the unemployment benefit after dropping out of school.

    In Parliament today, while speaking during the second reading of the Social Security (Youth Support and Work Focus) Amendment Bill, Ms Bennett said “major reforms would stop an inter-generational cycle of dependence.”
    […]
    The bill will allow the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) to share information about school leavers, so that the MSD can identify youth before they sign up for a benefit.

    “As Minister of Social Development I will continue to push, cajole, incentivise, obligate and at the end of the day put all my belief in those people on welfare,” she said.

    So just a lot of additional harassment, surveillance and window-dressing, nothing useful like ACTUAL jobs …. and, the kicker!…. it’ll save the government $1billion!

    Vampire lurve!
    • Draco T Bastard 22.1

      13 June 2012 at 8:08 pm

      In Parliament today, while speaking during the second reading of the Social Security (Youth Support and Work Focus) Amendment Bill, Ms Bennett said “major reforms would stop an inter-generational cycle of dependence.”

      No they won’t, far more likely to entrench them.

      “As Minister of Social Development I will continue to push, cajole, incentivise, obligate and at the end of the day put all my belief in those people on welfare,” she said.

      What she means is that she’ll force more into poverty so that they’re forced to work to make some bludger richer for lower wages than they get already.
      • prism 22.1.1

        13 June 2012 at 8:43 pm

        That is all rote stuff that Petulant Bean learned at USA University isn’t it. I think she did a pressure cooker course on how to cook the books? so as to make welfare beneficiaries seem to be a mix between vampires and the devil’s spawn. Was it at Wisconsin, a name that occurs when talking about meanness, and they would be big on using the terms welfare dependence also learned helplessness is another favourite.
        • Vicky32 22.1.1.1

          14 June 2012 at 5:08 pm

          learned helplessness is another favourite.

          Learned helplessness has a specific meaning in educational psychology, and should never be used outside that specific discipline!
    • fatty 22.2

      13 June 2012 at 8:19 pm

      Paula Bennett is a sick piece of work…so is this concept of ‘welfare dependency’ .
      Its time we took back the word dependency and use it to vilify the rich.
      Within the relationship between the rich and the poor, there is only one direction that dependency exists. The concept of dependency was made famous by the theorist andre gunder frank who exposed how under capitalism, on a world wide scale, the rich are dependent on the poor. Somehow this term has been highjacked and is used to stigmatise victims, and champion the abusers.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependency_theory
23. prism 23

    13 June 2012 at 8:34 pm

    Points about Gabriel Makhlouf, Secretary to the Treasury, NZ. He fits my prejudice about the hardening effect on children of absent parents sent to boarding schools at long distance from their parents, as in school in Britain while parents work for UN in various countries.

    “his father pursued a career in the UN. From age 11, he was separated from his family to continue his education at a British boarding school.
    After graduating with an honours degree in economics at the University of Exeter, he spent a year as a treasurer for a student union, then did a masters degree in industrial relations at the University of Bath. His thesis was on “intra-union relationships in academia” As a PhD beckoned, Makhlouf realised it was either a life in academia “or I had to get out”, and he landed his first job in 1984, as a tax inspector.”

    About our teachers “However, Makhlouf doesn’t have backing from Hattie on the alleged failure of the New Zealand education system. In the book’s foreword Hattie says, “We have a nation of excellent teachers, as shown in the country’s ranking in the top half-dozen nations in reading, mathematics and science. http://www.listener.co.nz/current-affairs/interview-gabriel-makhlouf/

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