Open mike 13/07/2014

Written By: - Date published: 7:33 am, July 13th, 2014 - 86 comments
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openmike Open 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 …

86 comments on “Open mike 13/07/2014 ”

  1. Jenny 1

    Air Togo?

    As ever with David Shearer a confused and contradictory rambling delivery, but a reactionary message.

    As Chris Trotter has asked in the past is David Shearer really this incoherent, or is it just an act?

    http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11292455

    “We support oil drilling [and] we have done in the past, there’s no major change there,” he said.

    “What we want to see is a regime very much like in Norway where there is good processes of approval, there’s tight regulations … a regime for making sure that money is used well, and at the same time making sure our transition to renewable [energy] goes [ahead].”

    Ultimately, fossil fuels were “out” and not sustainable for the future, but New Zealand could use them to transition to renewables, he said.

    Mr Shearer said a Labour Government would make improvements to safety measures and increase local involvement.

    “[Currently] we do not have New Zealanders overseeing the exploratory rigs doing the drilling. We should have our own people on the ground.”

    Equipment to respond to an oil spill had to be on site and ready to go in case of an accident, he said.

    However, Anadarko’s current oil clean-up plan would take at least a month to plug a leak, and 115 days for a rig to arrive.

    Asked whether drilling was acceptable under those circumstances, Mr Shearer dodged the question, instead drawing parallels with the airline industry.

    “It’s very very safe, but when it goes wrong, it goes very very wrong. And what we want to have is an Air New Zealand rather than an Air Togo.”

    Following a fruitless summer of oil exploration, Mr Shearer was asked whether the $12 billion oil drilling industry touted by National was “a mirage”.

    “It’s anybody’s guess,” he said.

    “Putting all our cards on the table and say ‘our economic development is going to depend on the discovery of oil’ is nonsense. It’s like walking into a casino and hoping the ball lands on number 36.”

    Royalties could be raised when more oil was discovered, but hiking them now would “kill the industry”, he said.

    Mr Shearer said the policy wouldn’t affect a potential coalition with the Green Party.

    As always, David Shearer just as he did all throughout his leadership of the Labour Party steadfastly ignores any mention of climate change. It’s a scandal that this climate change ignorer has been given the energy portfolio.

    “Mango skins”, “Beneficiaries on the roof”, and now, the “Air Togo” racist comparison with our current off shore oil industry. And yet, contradictory support for that industry????

    What David Shearer can’t hide with his incoherent confused and frankly embarrassing responses is that, as Bryan Walker at Hot Topic NZ says,

    Being hell-bent on further fossil fuel discovery and exploitation is hardly compatible with action to rein in climate change….”

    Hot Topic, “The collapse of Western Civilisation” JULY 3, 2014

    “…in full contradiction to what was known, a “fossil fuel frenzy” developed just when the urgency of a transition to renewable energy was becoming undeniable.”

    Undeniable, but not if you ignore it completely.

    • Te Reo Putake 1.1

      Where’s the racism, Jenny?

      • Jenny 1.1.1

        It is clear from the context that David Shearer is trying to cast a negative aspersion of our offshore oil industry by comparing it to “Togo Air” the inference that we (white New Zealanders) are expected to automatically take, is that anything run by black Africans is unsafe, incompetent, and slipshod.

        I have googled “Togo Air” and found no negative reports of Togo Air that would confirm David Shearer’s prejudice.

        • Te Reo Putake 1.1.1.1

          It’s hard to find much positive about Togo Air, Jenny. It collapsed after two years of operation, which is actually the comparison Shearer was making. If there is any racism, I suspect it might be fromsomeone who jumped to an unwarranted conclusion. Lazy thinking, indeed.

          • Jenny 1.1.1.1.1

            It’s hard to find much positive about Togo Air, Jenny. It collapsed after two years of operation, which is actually the comparison Shearer was making.

            Te Reo Putake

            So how does this compare unfavorably with Air New Zealand which went Bankrupt in 1989, and had to bailed out by the New Zealand taxpayers?

            Or responsible for sight seeing flight 901 which slammed into the side of Mt Erebus.

            Other than Air New Zealand is owned and operated by white people, and so can’t be used as a racist dog whistle for corruption and incompetence by lazy and ignorant politician trying to make a point.

            Does, “orchestrated litany of lies” ring any bells?

            I thought not.

            • Te Reo Putake 1.1.1.1.1.1

              I bet all the employees of Air NZ who aren’t “white people” would be thrilled to read your racist analysis, Jenny. You should be ashamed of yourself.

              • Jenny

                What? That doesn’t even make any sense.
                TRP your petty hair splitting and blamestorming in trying to divert attention away from David Shearer’s contradictory and confused justification for deep sea oil drilling is now getting ridiculous. Every time David Shearer opens his mouth, with some thoughtless fatuous comment like mango skins, or beneficiaries on the roof, or Air Togo, thousands of Left voters flock to the Greens. (or worse, stay at home).
                I suppose running a defensive back line for Shearer’s comments by attacking the messenger prevents you from having to admit that David Shearer’s confused fawning before the fossil fuel lobby is almost as cringeworthy and damaging to the Labour Party as previously Shane Jones’ were.

                • Jenny

                  I bet all the employees of Air NZ who aren’t “white people” would be thrilled to read your racist analysis, Jenny. You should be ashamed of yourself.

                  Te Reo Putake

                  You mean the Air New Zealand employees who have been at the sharp end of more than a decade of Air New Zealand’s outsourcing, contracting out and vicious deunionisation program?

                  My guess is most would say, Yeah, tell it like it is sister.

                • Te Reo Putake

                  Fuck off, racist.

                  • Jenny

                    Charming. Our readers will be assured that the defence of the our children’s future and the fate of the planet will be safe from the polluters in such hands.

      • Murray Olsen 1.1.2

        I also saw a little racism in Shearer’s lazy comment. Most listeners will know that Togo is in Africa, but nothing about Togo Air. They would then expect it to be run by Africans. At the very least, it shows that Shearer is intellectually lazy and doesn’t think through what he’s saying. From roof painting to Air Togo, there’s plenty of evidence of this. He shouldn’t be spokesperson for anything.

        • Ergo Robertina 1.1.2.1

          +1

        • Te Reo Putake 1.1.2.2

          Lazy thinking, yourself, Murray. Some viewers might be racist, therefore any mention of Africa makes the speaker a little racist? Really? Any other continents you want patronised?

          • Murray Olsen 1.1.2.2.1

            Funnily enough, I find it very hard to take anything you say seriously. Your eagerness to defend Shearer at all costs comes across as an obsession. You’re happy to call others racists, but tie yourself in knots to defend Shearer’s stupid statement.

    • Shearer is the spokesperson and the best labour have in this area. transition – what a joke and the roulette is a good analogy – betting everything without picking anything.

    • I quite like David Shearer – you have to admit that he’s got a knack for coming across as being genuine and reasonable.

      • Jenny 1.3.1

        ….he’s got a knack for coming across as being genuine and reasonable.

        Liam Hehir

        Only Liam to the people to the Right of the political spectrum.

        Which I think you would define yourself as. (Am I wrong?)

        I think an endorsement of David Shearer coming from you Liam would be more like a kiss of death. Unless of course you are being sarcastic but I don’t really think you are.

        • Liam Hehir 1.3.1.1

          No I mean it. I agree he’s got his shortcomings. Maybe he wouldn’t have been a great debater but if he was really that bad tend to think he could have avoided that by simply not agreeing to any direct debates. That would hardly be unprecedented.

          But you know the other day I was driving home and I turned the radio on and came midway into an interview about the Malaysian diplomat farrago. This guy was firmly criticising the government and demanding answers, but in a very measured way – like it was more in sorrow than anger. It turned out to be David Shearer.

          That’s just the impression of somebody who tends to the other side of things, of course. You can take it or leave it but there’s not much margin for me making it up.

          • Jenny 1.3.1.1.1

            Sounds like true love.

            • Liam Hehir 1.3.1.1.1.1

              Whatever.

              • Jenny

                If David Shearer keeps this up, and with your endorsement Liam, he just might be able to follow Shane Jones into getting the National government to grant him a sinecure in reward for his loyal services to the fossil fuel industry.

                • Yeah, I mean the last thing you want in your political team is somebody with a bit of crossover appeal, right? Far better to have a smaller, purer political party.

                  • Jenny

                    A TV3 Brunton poll showed that 80% of the population are opposed to Deep Sea Oil Drilling. The only ones that David Shearer is appealing to are the members of a conservative minority, probably people such as yourself Liam, oh, and I almost forgot the oil companies.

                    It is no wonder you find his politics appealing.

                  • felix

                    “Yeah, I mean the last thing you want in your political team is somebody with a bit of crossover appeal, right? Far better to have a smaller, purer political party.”

                    What’s the value of picking up one from “the other side” if you drop two from your own? That way lies Peter Dunne.

                    Agree though about Shearer’s handling of the McCully coverup/debacle. I was pleasantly surprised when I realised who was on the radio.

  2. Jrobin 2

    To be fair he did briefly mention climate change when he spoke about transition from fossil fuels. But otherwise this was an infuriating display of business friendly conservatism. He has a peculiar ability to make you want to shake him awake. Thank goodness he is not debating Key in the final weeks of the election campaign. Moana Mackey however, does have great ideas on climate change and should have been interviewed instead or as well as Shearer. Labour need to release their environmental policy immediately. Shearer makes them unappealing to voters even if Phil O Reilly was delighted. The Greens can’t govern alone, come in Labour get your act together, we can’t afford three more years of National!!They have been tweaking crime stats for political purposes (Herald ths morning), what else are they lying about and manipulating?

    • Bearded Git 2.1

      It’s all good JR.

      Labour made the right decision to ditch Shearer. Meanwhile people can choose to vote Green and by this push Labour’s climate change buttons.

      The beauty of this election is that the Left has 3 viable choices and so will win.

  3. Ad 3

    If Shearer is prepared to say “transition” so clearly, then he should be consequential, hike the royalty rates substantially, and generate a Crown “transport transition” fund that might assist weaning off our oil addiction somewhat.

    The Crown’s excise tax is running down as vehicle efficiency and gradually increasing litre price bites.

    There is good common ground to be negotiated with the Greens here if Labour really have the will to negotiate it. It involves a common plan.

  4. Jenny 4

    While lazy thinkers like David Shearer simply chooses to just ignore climate change, avowedly open and proud traitors to the people and planet, the party of the polluters and plutocrats ACT make no bones about wanting do nothing.

    Introducing New Zealand’s own Lord Haw haw of climate change.

    Question: Are you worried about climate change?

    Jamie Whyte ACT Party Leader: “If we were to rank all the things that I am worried about I don’t think climate change would get into my top hundred.”

    Question: So what would you change?

    Jamie Whyte ACT Party Leader: “We should do absolutely nothing about this”

    ACT 2014

    ACT 1944

    Lord Hee Haw

    • Clemgeopin 4.1

      In the ACT party list, is the #17, Sean Fitzpatrick, the ex All Blacks or someone else?

      • Te Reo Putake 4.1.1

        Someone else. Probably hoping the confusion will help, though.

        • Clemgeopin 4.1.1.1

          Thanks Te Reo Putake.
          I did have my doubt as the real deal would have been a high profile candidate and higher up on their greedy gravy train list, the train that is getting ready to destroy and derail our world renowned fair public education system into privately profiting Charter school rort and other crap.

  5. North 5

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11292533

    Madame Triple F – facile, fatuous flibbertigibbet, – semi-retired tippler McIvor nee Woodham speeds the race to the bottom via ordure ‘Opinion’.

    “I would rather my child be taught alongside 35 other kids by a brilliant, inspirational teacher than have her in a class of 15 with a boring dullard who is marking time until retirement.”
    Guard your strawman Madame. He may combust in the heat of friction between your truly ridiculous constructs.

    “Their parents have failed them, and so have their teachers”
    Mmmm…..fittingly no mention of poverty and inequality – it’s well known that inside the gates of school – wherein the cruel winds of society do not blow – these factors are inoperative.

    “Teachers have a powerful union and they can make a strong case for more teachers aides and specialist assistance for those children being let down by the system.”
    Like ‘militant’ teacher unions soooo have the accommodating ear of the minister…..never the dog-whistling sneer.

    “If teachers can ‘promise’ me that smaller class sizes will ensure no child is left behind, I’m all for it.” – Promise ? Promise ? Madame, how terribly high you set the bar…..diminutive dumpies will never get a drink.

    “But National is telling us that rewarding quality teachers and sharing them around schools will be more effective in lifting those children langushing at the bottom o the class.”
    What, no promises demanded ? Oh well, I guess one ‘rockstar’ Grey Lynn journo’ must take as gospel the untested word of the ‘rockstar’ minister.

    “Two different ideologies, two different ways of running schools. And our children are the lab rats.”
    Well done Madame ! Another fabulously false construct…..with the denouement enriched by some excellent fear framing. Reflecting empirical profundity. Nothing facile or shabby here Madame.

    Your super-view indebts us.

    • Rodel 5.1

      North.Yes an interesting article by McIvor but superficial and with little depth or data.
      The issue is I think, more chiefs (read CEOs) in the education waka ?…. or more people to row the boat?
      Many of the current chiefs agree with the former and the rowers agree with the latter.
      Fortunately the parents of the children have the decisive vote. I hope they use it.

      • North 5.1.1

        You mean all power, status and enrichment to a gratuitously decreed managerial ‘elite’ for whom, their unfitness for purpose compounding, personal accountabiliy is deflected by the licence to heap blame on arbitrarily decreed ‘incompetents’ down the chain ?

        HekYeah Parrota being the head of the fish where the rot commences.

    • dv 5.2

      I wonder how she feels about Nation Standards then?

    • Bearded Git 5.3

      North-I just never read her stuff.

    • Anne 5.4

      And what about the title. Labrats? Madam McIvor nee Woodham has hit the subliminal jackpot. The Labour Party is rats. She infers without saying so directly that Labour is using the kiddie-winkies as laboratory fodder in its desire to experiment with education. Yep. We’re the rats – unlike National with their Nat. Standards and Charter Schools. They’re the goodies here cos they don’t experiment.

      Unbelievable!

  6. Morrissey 6

    Garth “The Knife” McVicar to appear on Radio NZ this morning
    Next week: Kyle Chapman?
    The week after: Clayton Weatherston?

    For whatever reason, Radio NZ National’s Sunday producers have seen fit to invite the S.S. Imperial Wizard Garth “The Knife” McVicar on to the programme to “debate” justice issues with Kim Workman.

    By any standards, this seems to be an indefensible decision. I dropped a line to the hapless Wallace Chapman, who has been obliged to sit in a studio with this moral imbecile….

    Please ask Garth McVicar to apologise for his brutal comments about a stabbing victim

    Dear Wallace,

    When 15-year-old Pihema Cameron was chased down on a Manurewa street and stabbed to death in 2008, McVicar and his selective vigilante organization led a public campaign of defamation of the dead boy and heaped abuse and scorn on his parents and his wider family.

    To compound this, he championed the man who had killed the boy as an “upstanding New Zealander.” Far from moderating these views, McVicar amplified them in his book, entitled with brazen cynicism Justice: Speaking up for Crime’s Silent Victims.

    McVicar has not yet seen fit to apologise to the mother of Pihema Cameron. Perhaps you could ask him to do so on your show this morning.

    Morrissey Breen
    Northcote Point

    • Colonial Viper 6.1

      That RNZ continues to put McVicar on demonstrates how venal it has become in the service of right wing lock’m up memes. Thanks for noting, Morrissey.

  7. Morrissey 7

    Garth “The Knife” McVicar to appear on Radio NZ this morning
    Next week: Kyle Chapman?
    The week after: Clayton Weatherston?

    For whatever reason, Radio NZ National’s Sunday producers have seen fit to invite the S.S. Imperial Wizard Garth “The Knife” McVicar on to the programme to “debate” justice issues with Kim Workman.

    By any standards, this seems to be an indefensible decision. I dropped a line to the hapless Wallace Chapman, who has been obliged to sit in a studio with this moral imbecile….

    Please ask Garth McVicar to apologise for his brutal comments about a stabbing victim

    Dear Wallace,

    When 15-year-old Pihema Cameron was chased down on a Manurewa street and stabbed to death in 2008, McVicar and his selective vigilante organization led a public campaign of defamation of the dead boy and heaped abuse and scorn on his parents and his wider family.

    To compound this, he championed the man who had killed the boy as an “upstanding New Zealander.” Far from moderating these views, McVicar amplified them in his book, entitled with brazen cynicism Justice: Speaking up for Crime’s Silent Victims.

    McVicar has not yet seen fit to apologise to the mother of Pihema Cameron. Perhaps you could ask him to do so on your show this morning.

    Morrissey Breen
    Northcote Point

    • dimebag russell 7.1

      Just listened to mcvicar and I must say the arrogant vocal delivery puts me off for starters but the real issue is that he believes that opinions count for more than facts.
      he is a man that cannot see causes only outcomes.
      if he had any real insight then he would understand why and how things happen in society and do something about that.

  8. Morrissey 8

    Noam Chomsky: Gaza’s Torment, Israel’s Crimes, Our Responsibilities
    http://zcomm.org/sendpress/eyJpZCI6NzI5NDA0LCJ2aWV3IjoiZW1haWwifQ/

    At 3am Gaza time, July 9, in the midst of Israel’s latest exercise in savagery, I received a phone call from a young Palestinian journalist in Gaza. In the background, I could hear his infant child wailing, amidst the sounds of explosions and jet planes, targeting any civilian who moves, and homes as well. He just saw a friend of his in a car clearly marked “press” blown away. And he heard shrieks next door after an explosion but can’t go outside or he’ll be a likely target. This is a quiet neighborhood, no military targets – except Palestinians who are fair game for Israel’s high tech US-supplied military machine. He said that 70% of the ambulances have been destroyed, and that by then over 70 had been killed, and of the 300 or so wounded, about 2/3 women and children. Few Hamas activists have been hit – or rocket launching sites. Just the usual victims.

    It is important to understand what life is like in Gaza when Israel’s behavior is “restrained,” in between the regular manufactured crises like this one. A good sense is given in a report to UNRWA by Mads Gilbert, the courageous and expert Norwegian physician who has worked extensively in Gaza, also throughout the vicious and murderous Cast Lead operation. In every respect, the situation is disastrous. Just keeping to children, Gilbert reports: “Palestinian children in Gaza are suffering immensely. A large proportion are affected by the man-made malnourishment regime caused by the Israeli imposed blockage. Prevalence of anaemia in children <2yrs in Gaza is at 72.8%, while prevalence of wasting, stunting, underweight have been documented at 34.3%, 31.4%, 31.45% respectively.” And it gets worse as the report proceeds.

    When Israel is on “good behavior,” more than two Palestinian children are killed every week, a pattern that goes back over 14 years. The underlying cause is the criminal occupation and the programs to reduce Palestinian life to bare survival in Gaza, while Palestinians are restricted to unviable cantons in the West Bank and Israel takes over what it wants, all in gross violation of international law and explicit Security Council resolutions, not to speak of minimal decency. And it will continue as long as it is supported by Washington and tolerated by Europe – to our everlasting shame.

    http://zcomm.org/sendpress/eyJpZCI6NzI5NDA0LCJ2aWV3IjoiZW1haWwifQ/

  9. Interesting from The Internet Party

    The Internet Party wants a moratorium on fracking, the dumping of oil wastes, deep-sea and undersea extraction and other risky energy and mining industry practices.

    In its final environment policy released today – its first full, digitally-driven democratic policy – the Internet Party also vows to restore the absolute right of Kiwis to protest at sea against deep-sea oil exploration.

    https://internet.org.nz/news/60

    Full https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hJ5pl4psPllKFfmBvpQDOdKBZWTJllemfHxWjmo-Thg/preview?pli=1&sle=true

    I like this bit

    The full Internet Party environment policy takes a strong line on all environmental issues in New Zealand. Its climate change position backs the Greens’ proposed carbon tax as the starting point for policy negotiations post-election. However, the Internet Party is not convinced that all revenue raised should be spread across all households.

    “Compensating low income households for the average $2 a week extra cost of a carbon tax should be the priority, but a tax bonus for high income households would be a much lower priority for us than investing in renewables and environmental enhancements.”

    • that’s good policy from the internet-party..

      ..i particularly like how their policy-formation is such a democratic-process..

      ..all other parties cd learn from that..

      • Tiger Mountain 9.1.1

        …yep, Labour’s passive aggressive blanking out of bennies children and me too ‘super at 67’ might be gone by lunchtime…but the Torys hang ’em high brigade could go full monty on death penalty and kid whacking…

        Internet Party style consultation from all political parties would be a good test of the enduring relatively even ratio of ‘dark’ to ‘light’ kiwis (aka reactionary conservative swine vs progressive, open to the new). And yes am aware of bright young entrepreneurs ‘open to the new’–while keeping a foot firmly on workers throats.

        Internet Party approach is refreshing, mere weeks from consultation to policy. There is a lot of material around these days to help make informed decisions too.

  10. the most interesting part of q & a..is the historical flashback..

    ..wood is beyond hopeless..

    ..just not equipped for the job…

    ..and franks continues to be a one-line joke..

    ..pull his string..he babbles act..

    ..and i was gagging for him to reprise his ‘what’s it got to do with bush?’ comedy-routine on iraq..

  11. Morrissey 11

    “You never grab a knife and stab someone.”
    Garth (The Knife) McVicar interviewed by Wallace Chapman

    Radio NZ National, Sunday 13 July 2014

    This was, as I feared it would be, almost entirely a softball interview, but one particularly interesting fact emerged—McVicar was once caned 36 times in one day by the headmaster at Napier Boys’ High School. Even by the prevailing standards of the 1950s, that was exceptionally brutal treatment of a child. It possibly was an important factor in turning McVicar into the kind of person he became.

    The following are a few snatches from a mostly intolerable listening experience. We join the Grand Dragon in the midst of his opening talk….

    GARTH McVICAR: ….politically correct nonsense…. I believe in ABCD—Accountability, Boundaries, Consequences and Discipline. … Sir Russell Pettigrew was one of our first supporters….

    WALLACE CHAPMAN: You formed the Sensible Trust in 2001, after Mark Middleton was prosecuted for threatening to kill Paul Dalley.

    GARTH McVICAR: I had this sense that something had gone wrong in society. … I’m a farmer…I’m just a dad who cares…. The values my parents taught me, you know, you never hurt other people. You know, YOU NEVER GRAB A KNIFE AND STAB SOMEONE, you never KICK someone….

    Now if ever there was a moment when a sharp interviewer would have jumped on this brutal hypocrite and held him to account, this was it. Unfortunately however, the interviewer was the lightweight Wallace Chapman, who chose to let it pass without even mentioning McVicar’s outspoken and merciless SUPPORT for the knife-killing of a 15 year old boy in 2008. It’s not that Chapman supported McVicar’s rabid and ignorant views, it’s just that he lacked the courage to confront him. Instead of challenging him, he continued with the schmoozing….

    CHAPMAN: You come across as a very caring person, with a huge heart. But a lot of people see you as a vigilante.
    GARTH McVICAR: Yes, I’m not a politically correct person. I’m a farmer.
    CHAPMAN: Rudy Giuliani is an influence, isn’t he.
    GARTH McVICAR: New York had deteriorated, then along came Rudy Giuliani and Bill Bratton and cleaned it up. I had dinner with Rudy when he came to New Zealand.
    CHAPMAN: It was the Zero Tolerance Policy he was famous for wasn’t he?
    GARTH McVICAR: Yep, the compulsory DNA tests for minor crimes.
    CHAPMAN: The “broken windows” theory.
    GARTH McVICAR: Yeah, I’ve spoken out a number of times on graffiti. It’s mainly just exuberant kids who are pushing the boundaries. But once they go to prison they become bolshie, and emerge as hardened criminals.
    CHAPMAN: Now you claimed that legalizing gay marriage could increase crime. Do you still believe that?
    GARTH McVICAR: More so. In that type of lifestyle….[a long, unhinged rant against homosexuals follows, during which he outs his own brother as gay, and claims he has many gay friends]….
    CHAPMAN: There were more than 20,000 submissions on that bill, and yours was the only one to link it to crime.
    GARTH McVICAR: I’m gathering research now. Twenty years down the track you’ll see that I’m right. I’m not a Christian.
    CHAPMAN: You’re not?
    GARTH McVICAR: No I’m not. I used to go to church when I was younger, but not now. I still believe in the basic moral teachings of Christianity, of course. I’m a good value man. I’m a big fan of Steve Jobs and technology. Some of the things we grew up with, we shouldn’t be tampering with. That’s all I’m saying. ….. [extended rambling thoughts about the dangers of the gay lifestyle]…. I think the Green Party has lost its way.
    CHAPMAN: Who do you support?
    GARTH McVICAR: Whoever’s supporting the Sensible Sentencing Trust.
    CHAPMAN: Rodney Hide wanted you to be an ACT candidate, didn’t he.
    GARTH McVICAR: Yes he did. …. And that’s when I met David Garrett.
    CHAPMAN: The fateful meeting!
    GARTH McVICAR: Yes. ACT, in their wisdom, failed to stand by him after his conviction, but we didn’t….[Launches into extended encomium of disgraced ACT MP and convicted grave-robber David Garrett….]
    CHAPMAN: What do you think of rehabilitation like they do in countries like Norway?
    GARTH McVICAR: From what I can see, it’s more of what I call the liberal lunacy. Norway’s got a totally different culture. I’m a big fan of what they are doing in Arizona and California….. [continues drearily raving about the exciting penal policies of his hero, the notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio]…

    Eventually, mercifully, the blowjob masquerading as an interview comes to a halt. Encouragingly, listeners seem to have been appalled by his performance. Chapman reads out a text from Tim: “McVicar is clearly a homophobic old crank.” A little later, he reads one from another listener: “What a narrow-minded man.” He reads out several more, almost every one of which is contemptous of McVicar.

    • Paul 11.1

      Thanks Morrissey.
      Saved me listening to that rubbish.
      Sounds like RNZ is making some very poor editorial choices.

    • fender 11.2

      Good stuff Morrissey, only one thing needs correcting: Gaga McVicar said “my brother is a gay…”

  12. BLiP 12

    Great to hear Radio New Zealand’s “Media Watch” programme is keeping an eye on the increasingly obvious media bias. The New Zealand Fox News Herald gets a prod in the on-line only version from last week while today Mike Hoskins, Janet Wilson and the Dumbinion gets highlighted. The bias is discussed around about 20 minutes in, but, as always, the whole show is worth a listen.

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20141452

    • Rodel 12.1

      BLiP
      Yes. Good to hear Media Watch and their somewhat too gentle rebuke of prejudiced media commentators.
      The following programme, Wayne Brittenden’s Counterpoint,on Indonesian elections was also as usual insightful and informative.

    • Rodel 12.2

      BLiP
      Yes. Good to hear Media Watch and their somewhat too gentle rebuke of prejudiced media commentators.
      The following programme, Wayne Brittenden’s Counterpoint,on Indonesian elections was also as usual insightful and informative.

      • North 12.2.1

        It’s not generally known that the Ralston/Wilson residence houses a magnificently garish flashing neon shrine at which daily is offered up obligatory worship in the nicely remunerative faith of TheGodKey. The excesses of which worship are putatively balanced by their moonlightings as senior and witheringly impartial political commentators. With that, he of studied mini-majesty and a preen gland to shame Hosking, she an engaging sort whom presents less ponderously serious than the other takes himself.

        Oh well, I guess in the sophistication and chic of the near-west he who pays the piper commands the prayer….

  13. dimebag russell 13

    and it is useful to regard mcvicar as a business man and it is not surprising that he is an advocate for private prisons.

  14. laila harre is interviewed on national radio..

    ..about the internet/mana roadshow around new zealand…

    ..which kicks off next tues. in the far nth..

    ..and which will hit auckland next sunday..

    ..with a public meeting in kelston..

    ..and will then wind down the country..

    ..visiting 30 centres in all..

    ..be there..!..

    http://whoar.co.nz/2014/laila-harre-is-interviewed-on-national-radio/

  15. Mana getting the team sorted

    Ex New Zealand Warrior hard man and Maori television media personality Wairangi Koopu has joined the MANA strategy team as the new MANA Youth Ambassador in another game changer move for the MANA party.

    “When we say we want more change for rangatahi, by rangatahi, we mean it”, says Hone Harawira, MANA Party Leader and MP for Te Tai Tokerau.

    “The great thing about Wairangi is he is known by almost everyone in Aotearoa because not only is he a former Warriors League player but as a presenter on one of the coolest shows on Maori TV, CODE, so his public appeal is really up there”, said Harawira.

    “He brings a fresh look for MANA which is supported by the pride he has in his culture and the accomplishments he’s had as a 10 year professional athlete. A fluent Maori speaker with Iwi affiliations to Te Whanau Apanui and Whakatohea, gives MANA the opportunity to reach out to more of our Rangatahi and their whanau across Aotearoa”.

    Wairangi will kick start off his official MANA youth ambassador role with Hone Harawira on the Road Trip starting on Tuesday in Kaitaia.

    http://www.mana.org.nz/

    Likely to bring more rangatahi in and current non-voters imo

  16. bad12 16

    Laugh out Loud moment as i slipped outta the door into the darkness of a Wellington winter this morning to do the weekly veg shop at the market,

    Tariana Turia quoted on my wireless saying the electoral problem the Maori Party has is that most of ‘their people’ just don’t know of the great gains the Party has made for them in six years of resting nga tiro on the heated leather of the Ministerial limo’s,

    i have to ask here if being part of the Parliamentary process for long periods results in a subject becoming delusional because ‘Auntie Tari’, if She really believes such rubbish must be, at the least, suffering delusions,

    After six years ‘in Government’ the Maori Party have presided over a gain for Maori being lifted from the negative statistics across all of the economic and societal indicators of exactly Zero,

    In fact, in one of its first attacks on it’s own voter base, the Maori Party without a thought for the income status of ‘their people’ vocally supported the ‘rack-raising’ of tobacco excise tax which along with the ‘tax switch’ directly attacked the income of all those in the lower income demographics where Maori are most like to feature in the statistics,

    No matter what anyone ‘thinks’ about tobacco, and, apart from ‘tobacco bad’, most don’t, a seriously depleted income leads to an extremely poor sugar and fat laden diet and i would suggest right now that such a diet will kill those restricted to it a damn sight faster than tobacco ever will,

    The tobacco industry itself agreed that tobacco is a health risk, so all that was needed from the Parliament was a declaration that tobacco would be a prescription only registered poison, only able to be accessed by doctors prescription and its use among the young would have been severely curtailed forever, a sunset clause in other words,

    The Maori Party has been in a position for six years to address what is killing ‘their people’ in droves year in year out, such things as ‘budget brands’ of mince laden with 20% FAT, (when the agreed industry standard is 6%), that the economically deprived have little choice except to buy,

    SUGAR, piled into ALL manufactured goods by the bucketful, leading to the current Diabetes epidemic, which isn’t an epidemic of people losing the ability to produce enough insulin, it is an epidemic of people overpowering the bodies insulin production, mostly unknowingly doing so unarmed with the knowledge of just how much sugar the body can tolerate and how much sugar is in the foods sold cheaply to us all,

    The Maori Party has abjectly failed by any measurement applied by ‘their people’, this election its time to drop this Party into histories footnotes of bad ideas…

  17. dimebag russell 17

    colin craig.
    smacker on the grass.
    thank you grant smithies.

  18. joe90 18

    14-18 NOW is a project commissioning contemporary artists to commemorate the centennial of the First World War and explore its resonance and effects today. For three summers (2014, 2016, and 2018), the organization is presenting a summer season of events. This summer’s

    Opening act, part of the 14-18 NOW project, curated by Billy Bragg .

    http://www.1418now.org.uk/whats-on/opening-act/more/

  19. karol 19

    I’ve been finding TS a bit glitchy the last couple of days. Today I often need to load a post or comment more than once to access it. I’ve had a problem when trying to edit my post – the box with the visual text often shows up empty.

    • Weepu's beard 19.1

      What will it cost to migrate to new software? Where would the funds come from? I’m new to The Standard but I see it as an important for NZ’s sake. Seems a bit creaky at the moment.

      • karol 19.1.1

        The glitchiness is a pretty recent thing. Probably after Lynn made some necessary changes. He sorts such things out pretty quickly, but also has a full time job.

  20. Weepu's beard 20

    Ministers ‘very angry’ over handling of Malaysian diplomat

    Justice Minister Judith Collins told TV One’s Q+A programme that Prime Minister John Key and Foreign Minister Murray McCully are ‘very angry’ over the handling of the Malaysian diplomat and allegations of sexual assault.

    “I don’t think there’s a New Zealander who is proud of the way in which this matter was handled, and certainly the Minister and the Prime Minister are ropeable about what has occurred to the victim and they are also extremely concerned that this has not been dealt with in the way that it should have been.”

    Ms Collins says an inquiry will include Mr McCully’s actions as well.

    “Of course it’s going to, he’ll be interviewed, he’s expecting to be interviewed, and also any communications through to his office will be obviously shown.”

    When asked by Rachel Smalley if the penalties for domestic violence are tough enough, Minister Collins says she is looking at another law around ‘attempted strangulation.’

    “So when we’ve got people who are being strangled, and partly strangled in their home that is an indicator that the person who’s doing it is actually going to go on and kill them, and we need to treat that much more seriously than we do.”

    Classic #TeamKey. Lump McCully and Key in with “all New Zealanders” as if they too were just innocent bystanders to the evils of MFAT middle management, rather than the architects of MFAT protocol itself. Also, neatly Making McCully, Key, you, me, the cleaner at parliament all equally responsible for what happened. Nice deflection from the trout.

    So who is going to interview McCully? Allen, the head of his own ministry? His subordinate? That’s going to tell us an awful lot, isn’t it?

    I momentarily saw the trout on Q+A this morning but couldn’t watch. Just as well – a question is asked of a minister about the penalty framework of domestic violence and she dives for a very graphic specific answering with a short piece about strangulation. Must have been an awkward pause after that one.

  21. Philj 21

    xox
    I noted that Wallace Chapman pre framed his interview with Laila Harre as the Internet party for the ‘young non voter’. The cheek of Wallace to be so dismissive and presumptuous. He is beginning to confirm my fears about falling standards of RNZ.

  22. karol 22

    Winston Peters launched NZ First’s RONI policy today: Railways of National Importance. Going Green? Seems opposition parties are all wanting to follow the Green Party!

    A $300 million cash swap from roads to railways is at the heart of New Zealand First’s transport policy for the election, including restoring the Gisborne-Napier line, and looking at extending the Wellington line to Levin and into Wairarapa.

    Auckland would also be a priority, with electrification of the rail network south to Pukekohe, and supporting the construction of the City Rail Link, starting at the earliest appropriate time – but no later than 2016.

    • Draco T Bastard 22.1

      It’s good but I think that proper charging of trucks is needed to help to show the benefits of rail and sea transportation. At the moment trucks are massively subsidised by private vehicles.

      • Colonial Viper 22.1.1

        You get the rail infrastructure and capacity in place first. Then you hit the trucks by taking away their subsidies. In the mean time you make it clear that any truck driver using their vehicle to cause a public nuisance blocking the roads will get a major fine with major demerit points.

        On the carrot side you create demand for a whole lot of well paid short haul vehicle based freight work, which complements the rail network.

        • Murray Olsen 22.1.1.1

          If they block the roads, crush their trucks. Why should they get better treatment than young guys who do the odd burnout?

          If they had to pay proper road user charges, we would almost never see trucks outside the cities. If a small car has to pay around $400 per year, the fee for trucks should start at around $400k. It’s obscene how much they’re subsidised.

      • marty mars 22.1.2

        I think it is time to go back to sea transport especially around our isles. Sure it is not perfect and the weather and storms are issues but it works and wind power is awesome. This country was built via the sea – from tangata whenua to early settlers and onwards – let’s go back long before we are forced to.

        • Colonial Viper 22.1.2.1

          Yes, Labour has got some good coastal shipping policy in its membership-developed policy platform.

      • joe90 22.1.3

        At the moment trucks are massively subsidised by private vehicles

        Rate payers are subsidising more than just roads.

        But it may mean that sealed roads are left to go back to gravel and not be reinstated until the forestry harvesting has finished,” Mr Hughes said.

        The impact of the heavy traffic is expected to peak in three years’ time but the problem facing council is funding.

        “We just don’t have the money,” he said.

        According to the latest estimates there are almost 30,000ha of forest in the Wanganui region due for harvest by 2040. A council study into the effects of forestry on the district’s rural roads showed it would cost an extra $20 million over 30 years to provide the present level of roading “service”.

        http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wanganui-chronicle/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503426&objectid=11290962

    • Te Reo Putake 22.2

      Looks like the next coalition Government just got a little easier to put together. Policies like this can be at the heart of a post election deal. Good work NZF!

    • felix 22.3

      Lovely to see NZ First getting along with the Greens.

  23. Weepu's beard 23

    Has The Conservative Party signal the death of ACT? If so, should we be worried about a shift even further to the kooky right?

    Leader “Dr” Jamie Whyte signalled that the party’s future rest upon David Seymour’s result in Epsom. Duh, if it was that important, why didn’t “Dr” Whyte run in Epsom himself instead of leaving it to spotty 20 something?

  24. Draco T Bastard 24

    The allegations of the VIP paedophile plot further shred respect for key institutions

    What is often called the decline of trust is really an evaporation of deference. Where once there was a reflexive respect for authority and a willingness to give it the benefit of the doubt, there is now a default to distrust.

    Which is why the Oravida Affair was so damaging to parliamentary system – people now see politicians as in it only for themselves. This started a long time ago in NZ when the 4th Labour government first started cutting taxes on the rich and loading them on the poor.

    • Ergo Robertina 24.1

      Interesting read thanks Draco.
      I think it is a wee bit more nuanced than what Rawnsley acknowledges. There was reason to trust some institutions once, notably banks, whereas trust in the church, medical profession, and various celebrities was illusory.
      Re the 4th Labour Govt, I agree, although tax is an abstract for most people. It is why I’m tempted to vote for the Civilian Party, as one of its policies is to tax the poor for being poor. Since that is what we do now, it might open up some debate on this with a bit of humour.

  25. Penny Bright 25

    What is happening in Gaza is a bloody disgrace!

    Urgent call from Gaza civil society: act now!

    in Action Alerts, Gaza July 13, 2014

    13th July 2014 | Gaza Civil Society, originally published here | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

    We, Palestinians trapped inside the bloodied and besieged Gaza Strip, call on conscientious people all over the world, to act, protest, and intensify the boycotts, divestments and sanctions against Israel until it ends this murderous attack on our people and is held to account.

    With the world turning their backs on us once again, for the last four days we have in Gaza been left to face massacre after massacre.

    As you read these words over 120 Palestinians are dead now, including 25 children.

    Over 1000 have been injured including countless horrifying injuries that will limit lives forever – more than two thirds of the injured are women and children.

    We know for a fact that many more will not make it through the next day. Which of us will be next, as we lie awake from the sound of the carnage in our beds tonight?

    Will we be the next photo left in an unrecognizable state from Israel’s state of the art flesh tearing, limb stripping machinery of destruction?

    We call for a final end to the crimes and oppression against us. We call for:

    • Arms embargos on Israel, sanctions that would cut off the supply of weapons and military aid from Europe and the United States on which Israel depends to commit such war crimes;
    • Suspension of all free trade and bilateral agreements with Israel such as the EU-Israel Association agreement;
    • Boycott, divestment and sanctions, as called for by the overwhelming majority of Palestinian Civil Society in 2005
      Without pressure and isolation, the Israeli regime has proven time and time again that it will continue such massacres as we see around us now, and continue the decades of systematic ethnic cleansing, military occupation and apartheid policies.

    We are writing this on Saturday night, again paralyzed in our homes as the bombs fall on us in Gaza. Who knows when the current attacks will end? For anyone over seven years old, permanently etched on our minds are the rivers of blood that ran through the Gaza streets when for over 3 weeks in 2009 over 1400 Palestinians were killed including over 330 children. White phosphorous and other chemical weapons were used in civilian areas and contaminating our land with a rise in cancers as a result. More recently 180 more were killed in the week-long attacks in late November 2012.

    This time what? 200, 500, 5000? We ask: how many of our lives are dispensable enough until the world takes action?

    How much of our blood is sufficient?

    Before the Israeli bombings, a member of the Israeli Knesset Ayelet Shaked of the far-right Jewish Home party called for genocide of the Palestinian people.

    “They should go, as should the physical homes in which they raised the snakes.” she said.

    “Otherwise, more little snakes will be raised there.”

    Right now nothing is beyond the murderous nature of the Israeli State, for we, a population that is mostly children, are all mere snakes to them

    As said Omar Ghraib in Gaza, “It was heart shattering to see the pictures of little boys and girls viciously killed.

    Also how an elderly woman was killed while she was having her iftar at Maghreb prayer by bombing her house. She died holding the spoon in her hand, an image that will need a lot of time to leave my head.”

    Entire houses are being targeted and entire families are being murdered.

    Early Thursday morning the entire Al-Hajj family was wiped out – the father Mahmoud, mother Bassema and five children.
    No warning, a family targeted and removed from life. Thursday night, the same again, no warning, 5 more dead including four from the Ghannam family, a woman and a seven year old child amongst them.

    On Tuesday morning the Kaware family did get a phone call telling them their 3 storey house would be bombed.

    The family began to leave when a water tank was struck, but then returned with members of the community, who all came to the house to stand with them, people from all over the neighbourhood.

    The Israeli jets bombed the building with a roof full of people, knowing full well it was full of civilians. 7 people died immediately including 5 children under 13 years old. 25 more were injured, and 8 year old Seraj Abed al-Aal, succumbed to his injuries later that evening.

    Perhaps the family was trying to appeal to the Israeli regime’s humanity, surely they wouldn’t bomb the roof full of people.

    But as we watch families being torn apart around us, it’s clear that Israel’s actions have nothing to do with humanity.

    Other places hit include a clearly marked media vehicle killing the independent journalist Hamed Shehab, injuring 8 others, a hit on a Red Crescent rescue vehicle and attacks on hospitals which caused evacuations and more injuries.

    This latest session of Israeli barbarity is placed firmly in the context of Israel’s inhuman seven-year blockade that has cut off the main life-line of goods and people coming in and out of Gaza, resulting in the severe medical and food shortages being reported by all our hospitals and clinics right now.

    Cement to rebuild the thousands of homes destroyed by Israeli attacks had been banned and many injured and ill people are still not being allowed to travel abroad to receive urgent medical treatment which has caused the deaths of over 600 sick patients.

    As more news comes in, as Israeli leaders’ give promises of moving onto a next stage in brutality, we know there are more horrors yet to come. For this we call on you to not turn your backs on us.

    We call on you to stand up for justice and humanity and demonstrate and support the courageous men, women and children rooted in the Gaza Strip facing the darkest of times ahead.

    We insist on international action:

    • Severance of diplomatic ties with Israel
    • Trials for war crimes
    • Immediate International protection of the civilians of Gaza

    We call on you to join the growing international boycott, divestment and sanction campaign to hold this rogue state to account that is proving once again to be so violent and yet so unchallenged. Join the growing critical mass around the world with a commitment to the day when Palestinians do not have to grow up amidst this relentless murder and destruction by the Israeli regime. When we can move freely, when the siege is lifted, the occupation is over and the world’s Palestinian refugees are finally granted justice.

    ACT NOW, before it is too late!

    Signed by

    Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions
    University Teachers’ Association in Palestine
    Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (Umbrella for 133 orgs)
    General Union of Palestinian Women
    Medical Democratic Assembly
    General Union of Palestine Workers
    General Union for Health Services Workers
    General Union for Public Services Workers
    General Union for Petrochemical and Gas Workers
    General Union for Agricultural Workers
    Union of Women’s Work Committees
    Pal-Cinema (Palestine Cinema Forum)
    Youth Herak Movement
    Union of Women’s Struggle Committees
    Union of Synergies—Women Unit
    Union of Palestinian Women Committees
    Women’s Studies Society
    Working Woman’s Society
    Press House
    Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel
    Gaza BDS Working Group
    One Democratic State Group

    Forwarded in the public interest.
    Penny Bright

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