Open mike 14/12/2015

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, December 14th, 2015 - 32 comments
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32 comments on “Open mike 14/12/2015 ”

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    • Paul 1.1
      14 December 2015 at 9:14 am

      Ashamed that we have this government.
      Ashamed 1 million people are so selfish or so ignorant that they would vote for this self-serving, incompetent and useless rabble.

  2. Vaughan little 2
    14 December 2015 at 7:31 am

    from Rowan Williams in the guardian: “language that cannot be checked by or against any recognizable reality is the ultimate mark of power”

  3. Penny Bright 3
    14 December 2015 at 8:56 am

    Regarding ‘public office’ – how can you have transparency and accountability, without proper written records available for public scrutiny?

    This is how I’m going to achieve this:

    Once elected Auckland Mayor, I shall ensure that the ‘rule of LAW’ regarding citizens and ratepayers lawful rights to ‘open, transparent and democratically accountable’ local government in Auckland, is implemented and enforced.

    It is my intention to have, operating from the Auckland Mayoral Office, not a team of ‘spin doctors’, but a small team of qualified, professional, extremely competent forensic accountants / auditors, who will ‘go through the books with a fine-tooth comb’ and find out where every dollar of public monies are being spent, invested and borrowed.

    This information will then be made available for public scrutiny.

    I anticipate this policy being VERY popular with the voting public, and look forward to the ever-increasing numbers of Auckland Mayoral candidates attempting to ‘pinch it’ – as it were.

    I also expect the personal attacks, abuse, lies and defamatory attacks to become increasingly wild and frenzied, as those who are currently running the Auckland region ‘like a business, by business – FOR business’ start to really panic…

    (This is already happening – both on The Standard, and Kiwiblog).

    Penny Bright

    2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.

    • Jeeves 3.1
      14 December 2015 at 3:51 pm

      Okay Penny- on the matter of meaningful language….

      When you say ‘extremely competent’- do you mean not really really competent, not very very competent, not even exemplary-standard competent…. but even more competent than that?
      Like at the very high edge of human competence- extreme competence?

      Or did you, as I suspect, put extreme in there because its a sexy word that makes what you say seem clever?

  4. weka 4
    14 December 2015 at 10:05 am

    AOTEATOWEL

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153937993539180&set=a.10150106986674180.309987.622559179&type=3

    With a name like that I’m almost tempted to wish it to win 😈 This is what we’ve come to, may as well go straight to self-mockery.

  5. Draco T Bastard 5
    14 December 2015 at 10:16 am

    Defense Contractors Laud Themselves for Steering Candidates Toward Militarism

    A group formed this year by executives and lobbyists for the defense contracting industry is taking credit for “driving the national debate on foreign policy during the 2016 presidential election,” and in particular for getting Republican presidential candidates to call for escalating military action in Syria.

    In an email to supporters over the weekend, Mike Rogers, the founder of Americans for Peace, Prosperity, and Security, hailed the group for “pushing candidates on national security.”

    He illustrated the group’s impact with “highlights from many of our Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire forums showcasing the candidates’ views on defeating ISIS.”

    Lobbying: Ban it now.

    • gsays 5.1
      14 December 2015 at 7:23 pm

      hi draco,yes, yes, yes to banning lobbying now.
      till it is banned it is made thoroughly transparent.
      with the current regime and their desire for retrospective legislation we can see who lobbied whom, when and how much.

      i think it was the great leader key who implied if you’ve done nothing wrong, nothing to fear.

  6. Sacha 6
    14 December 2015 at 11:04 am

    “personal attacks, abuse, lies and defamatory attacks”

    otherwise known as fact-checking.

    • Penny Bright 6.1
      14 December 2015 at 2:04 pm

      No Sacha – ‘fact-checking’ is quite a different thing.

      Penny Bright

      2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.

  7. Draco T Bastard 7
    14 December 2015 at 1:23 pm


    No more NZ stories on 60 Minutes

    “60 Minutes will continue to showcase current affairs content from around the globe including Australia and the US. There are no current plans for in-depth investigative local stories but topical New Zealand content will be highlighted in the programme.”

    The move mirrors a similar decision made by TVNZ last year, which saw the network drop all local content from its 20/20 series. Instead, a New Zealand presenter introduces international stories.

    According to the BigWigs NZers don’t need to know what’s happening in NZ.

  8. Morrissey 8
    14 December 2015 at 1:51 pm

    Morrissey Breen: Hilary Clinton is no longer funny, she’s dangerous

    Leading Kiwi bon vivant tells NBC’s Late Night host Seth Meyers that the bombing fanatic was ‘shameful and wrong’ with her support of ISIL and al-Qaeda.

    by LAUREN GAMBINO, The Grauniad, Friday 11 December 2015

    Morrissey Breen has condemned Hilary Clinton, calling her shameful, dangerous and disgusting and declaring: “I no longer think she’s funny.”

    In the aftermath of attacks by Islamic extremists in Paris and in San Bernardino, California, Clinton has called for more bombings, more drone killings and more mayhem in Syria.

    “I think for weeks, you know, you and everybody else were just encouraging her, and laughing along with her,” Breen told the host. “But now she has gone way over the line. And what she’s saying now is not only shameful and wrong – it’s dangerous.”

    Clinton’s rhetoric has been instrumental in the rise of the Islamic State; she has maintained a drumbeat of black propaganda against the government of Syria and supported, while pretending to disavow , the U.S.-backed al-Qaeda, Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIL terrorist groups, Breen said. ….

    More….
    http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/11/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-is-no-longer-funny-hes-dangerous?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H&utm_term=142984&subid=14165103&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2#comment-64912390

  9. marty mars 9
    14 December 2015 at 3:52 pm

    On a regular basis this type of proposal is issued – and after debate, is discarded. In today’s world and tomorrows it doesn’t stack up for so many reasons including the one they all go mushy over – the costs verses benefits financially. It won’t happen.

    A new road through a national park would cut the journey from the West Coast to Nelson almost in half.

    Buller mayor Garry Howard is pushing for the Government to fund an investigation into the new Wangapeka Road link.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/75072126/new-road-linking-west-coast-to-nelson-would-cut-through-national-park

    I thought this was a good comment – “West Coast MP Damien O’Connor, of the Labour Party, said the project was ambitious.

    He questioned the benefits when a new road would mean towns like Murchison and Reefton would be bypassed by tourists travelling from Nelson to the West Coast.

    He said the money would be better spent on new healthcare facilities for the Coast.”

    and this one was the usual pathetic doublespeak, “National’s West Coast MP Maureen Pugh said she was “right behind” exploring the benefits of a new road link.

    “Roads are enablers of development and the Buller/Tasman areas need diversification to build their economic resilience.

    “Tourism has so much potential here, especially given our huge conservation estate, and having access endears visitors to the wonders and fragility of our forests.””

    build a road to show the fragility of our forests – so bad it’s funny

    • Jenny Kirk 9.1
      14 December 2015 at 6:24 pm

      “so bad it’s funny” – well it would be funny, MM, if these people knew what they’re talking about. But they don’t – and that’s the tragedy of it. Just like Mr Bridges when he promised the north 10 new bridges as an election bribe – one of which went straight thru two (yes, two) mature kauri !

    • Rosemary McDonald 9.2
      14 December 2015 at 8:53 pm

      I’ll agree Pugh’s argument is crap…”fragility of our forests” indeed.

      But…a through road from Karamea to Golden Bay has been a hot topic at both ends of the Heaphy Track for decades.

      The locals largely want it. Karamea is a lovely spot, but a helluva drive to get there.

      And having to turn around and retrace your path to go anywhere else puts some travelers off. And it will be tourism that will be the saving of the Coast when the mining dies.

      Because people have to live…they can’t all be dairy farmers.

      I’m for a through road, because done properly it would not need to be devastating on the environment.

      The last time I traveled in the area…the preferred route would be to join the two ends of the existing roads…Kohaihai in the south and Anatori(Crown Road) in the north. This would require about four substantial bridges and the widening and up grading of the existing four wheel drive track. And like when the Haast Pass was put through…tarsealing could be done gradually over the next few years.

      …https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haast_Pass
      http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/video/23294/haast-pass-road

      I will be in the queue to drive this route….always been a frustration to have gone as far as possible from each end and not been able to see the other 43km.

      • marty mars 9.2.1
        14 December 2015 at 9:04 pm

        It is a false dream that will never happen.

        The wilderness is too wild thank the gods and there is no money in it which I also thank the gods for.

        The rest of the rationale is dubious imo.

        Try walking the Heaphy if you want to get across or enjoy the drive round.

        and I’m a local and no one I know wants it.

  10. Smilin 10
    14 December 2015 at 5:44 pm

    4% pay rise for parliamentarians, ridiculous, look at what this govt has cost us .Pretty clever monkeys very expensive peanuts

    • In Vino 10.1
      14 December 2015 at 6:46 pm

      The percentage pay rise is what kills justice. It has been percentage-based for too long – hence these ridiculous pay increases to those who do not need it, and the failure to adequately boost the incomes of those on lower incomes.

      If John Key gets thousands $ increase per annum, so should everybody else, including beneficiaries. Give everybody the same amount of increase.

      Bring in flat-rate increases for a few years to compensate for the inherent unfairness and exponential gap-creating effect of the disastrous percentage system that we have ben conned into using.

      • GregJ 10.1.1
        14 December 2015 at 6:55 pm

        Perhaps we should tie our representatives salaries to benefits. Any raise in salaries for politicians should includes a raise in benefits. Conversely any cuts in benefits should be reflected in salary reduction.

        I wonder how quickly benefits would rise back to 1991 levels then?

        • John Shears 10.1.1.1
          14 December 2015 at 10:42 pm

          The back-dating of these rises is the final straw for me while workers are kept waiting for months and years as the employers refuse to negotiate a new wage agreement generally for less than half of what the pollies have just been given.
          There is no justice just a system of law so-called.

  11. Muttonbird 11
    14 December 2015 at 6:46 pm

    First Audrey Young did a gushing piece on Double Dipton, then Hide did one on the SCF man, which National Party mouthpiece David Farrar is now promoting.

    Why is Blinglish suddenly being talked about among the far right media as the best minister ever?

    He’s a proven crook.

    He got caught stealing off the taxpayer but claim he was “managing his affairs”.

    He paid $700 million of our money in the dead of the night to investors in a crooked scheme. He has presided over the biggest routing of the public sector in decades resulting in a host of screw ups.

    He’s also, if you can believe he’s been in charge all this time like David Farrar claims, organised the deliberate policy of delaying the release of public information to New Zealanders.

    Also, if you can believe he’s the “heart and the brains behind this government”, left elderly people in East Christchurch unable to walk down their damaged streets five years after the Earthquakes.

    He’s deliberately lifted New Zealand’s foreign govt debt over $100b, presumably because ‘we can handle it’.

    In short, Bill English has damaged this country just as the ’90 National government did. Results of this damage will become apparent in time, just as they always are.

    The that doesn’t stop the National party advocates listed above suggesting that he’s man who is doing a service to the vulnerable of New Zealand by ‘finding solutions’ where nothing worked before.

    The arrogance!

    What exactly are these solutions? And how do they help the elderly, and the vulnerable, and the children of the vulnerable?

  12. lprent 12
    14 December 2015 at 6:56 pm

    Ouch. Some of the “innovations” in the mobile version had to be switched off. They were causing considerable server load.

    Site should be considerably faster now than it has been today.

    • McFlock 12.1
      14 December 2015 at 7:06 pm

      I notice that in the desktop view when I click on a comment link in the box to the right, if the comment is in the same post as the current post then it still reloads the page rather than flipping straight to the comment in the page.

      e.g. if I’m in open mike and see in the comment box that there’s a new comment in open mike, it refreshes the page when I click on it rather than just going straight to the anchor.

      Running firefox on a pc.

    • left for deadshark 12.2
      14 December 2015 at 9:44 pm

      Thanks…lprent 🙂

  13. John Shears 13
    14 December 2015 at 10:50 pm

    Talking of the law , The Judge who presided over the case against the pilot who SAVED the person said in his summing up that if the pilot had made and error then 4 people could have been killed.

    HE DIDN’T MAKE AN ERROR AND A PERSON WAS SAVED. In spite of atrocious weather conditions.

    Pity Gilbert & Sullivan were writing in the 19th century this could have been a great theme for a musical comedy.

    • McFlock 13.1
      14 December 2015 at 11:20 pm

      It’s an interesting question – brings to mind the all too frequent news stories where someone is drowning and a hero attempting the rescue drowns. Then I think of if the hero took a couple of others with him.

      Oh well, apparently donations have covered the fine anyway.

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