Open mike 15/05/2011

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, May 15th, 2011 - 60 comments
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60 comments on “Open mike 15/05/2011 ”

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  1. chris73 1
    15 May 2011 at 8:24 am

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/5003521/Illegal-downloading-a-favourite-NZ-pastime

    How badly does illegal downloading actually effect these companies?

    I mean the music business still keeps churning out artists, movies are breaking records etc etc

    Personally I think CDs (yes yes I’m a dinosaur) are way over-priced, movie tickets (and the food they sell) are exorbitant and video rental store prices used to be way over the top

    • Lanthanide 1.1
      15 May 2011 at 10:11 am

      The Warehouse (NZ’s biggest music retailer) has posted double-digit declines in the sales of CDs and DVDs, apparently for the 2nd or 3rd year in a row.

      CD and DVD prices will probably eventually decline, or be replaced out-right by digital distribution which will probably be cheaper.

      • chris73 1.1.1
        15 May 2011 at 10:22 am

        I think thats because prices for CDs and DVDs are still too high plus downloading is just so convienent (or so I’ve heard of course)

        • Pascal's bookie 1.1.1.1
          15 May 2011 at 10:42 am

          Why I prefer cd’s:

          Liner notes
          Albums
          Cover art
          Sound quality
          You can loan/borrow them. (goes triple for dead tree books)

          On the cost, they are expensive in comparison to mp3s, but when I get a cd the chances are I’m going to listen to it certainly dozens of times, probably hundreds, possibly thousands. Books, video games, movies? Not so much.

          • NickS 1.1.1.1.1
            15 May 2011 at 11:57 am

            Unless you’ve got a high end sound system 320kb mp3’s are the same quality as CD’s in a blind test 😛

            And yeah, while you can’t lend them out the price difference on ebooks makes them really attractive, on top of the fact it takes months sometimes for a new book (hard sci-fi in my case) to turn up in NZ whereas I can get an ebook in less than a minute. Though it’s somewhat dependent on the publishers not being douchebags and putting regional restrictions in.

            • Pascal's bookie 1.1.1.1.1.1
              15 May 2011 at 12:06 pm

              I tend to find that given the number of really good books I have not yet read, the time pressure to buy any given new one? Not high. 🙂

              • Carol …
                15 May 2011 at 2:44 pm

                For me this goes for music, TV and films. The view that newest is best and/or that it’s really important to be up with the latest shiny thing, is a hyper-capitalist con, largely being promoted by US corporates. And the Internet has helped spread this mythology.

              • NickS …
                15 May 2011 at 5:49 pm

                Welp, I do have an abundance of free time at present due to being on the sickness benefit + I can eat a 400-500 pg book in one day 😛

                So cheap and easy to get is better for me.

            • Deadly_NZ 1.1.1.1.1.2
              15 May 2011 at 11:58 pm

              And not to say anything about the car sound system. Mine don’t even take cds’ no disc at all hence no skip no dirt, and gunk on CD that makes it weird. it takes Memory sticks., Sdram cards and anything with an 8mm jack out put and all for 70 bucks. I put it in my self and I have a 4 GIG memory stick that’s on Random play and I still haven’t heard a repeat yet. And I can plug my Laptop in as well for even more music. All on MP3 at 320 (CD quality)

          • chris73 1.1.1.1.2
            15 May 2011 at 12:20 pm

            It is true that the decision to buy a CD and the time and effort to actually purchase it means IMHO that the music on a CD is valued more then that which is downloaded (but the cost…)

        • Deadly_NZ 1.1.1.2
          15 May 2011 at 11:43 pm

          And it’s easier to get to see all of the episodes of your favourite show right up to date and not 2 years behind NZ and no ads. (Or so I have heard)

  2. PeteG 2
    15 May 2011 at 9:20 am

    How many here are happy with the adversarial dominant parliament we currently have, where bringing down the government or other parties is a major focus of attention?

    Too negative? Ok? Not enough conflict?

    • r0b 2.1
      15 May 2011 at 9:35 am

      I’m not happy with it at all.

      We need an opposition, and examination of the behaviour of the government. That’s “adversarial” I guess. But we don’t need all the petty personality stuff. We don’t need the continual war.

      Trouble is, I don’t see how you can draw the line, or prevent valid examination from turning in to continual petty warfare. And I don’t have a better system to propose (well, not within the bounds of a Westminster system anyway).

    • mickysavage 2.2
      15 May 2011 at 9:39 am

      Silly question and it ignores the fact that there are significant differences between the parties.  One is a bunch of rich intent on looking after themselves and their mates to the detriment of the poor.  The other is committed to managing New Zealand for all Kiwis and making the country socially, financially and environmentally sustainable.

      Of course it is adversarial.  The differences of opinion guarantee that this happens.

      • chris73 2.2.1
        15 May 2011 at 9:48 am

        The problem is its hard to tell which party is which (I mean Phil Goff was/is a Roger Douglas disciple) at times

    • Puddleglum 2.3
      15 May 2011 at 1:19 pm

      PeteG, it’s not so much that there would be not enough conflict but, rather, that your perspective seems to be overestimating (or just over-assuming) the degree of consensus there actually is. Your position probably stems from the false consensus effect.

  3. mickysavage 3
    15 May 2011 at 9:49 am

    Wow

    Sunday Star Times has a full page advertisement with Brash’s letter to Key being reproduced.

    Any idea how much it would have cost?

    • Jim Nald 3.2
      15 May 2011 at 10:33 am

      For donkey’s chums, that’s chump change.

      These are seen now as their investment opportunities,
      i.e. to get their hands on the seat of power
      to raid the people’s coffers and assets.

      They get in to carry on their unfinished business
      and we’re finished.
      Australia will be welcoming another wave of Kiwi economic refugees.

    • Zetetic 3.3
      15 May 2011 at 10:45 am

      it’s heaps.

      There’s a rates card for the SST but I don’t know what the pricing signifies – cost per column centimetre? http://www.fairfaxmedia.co.nz/dotAsset/9017.pdf

      If it’s column cm, there are 540 column/cms on a full page, $42 each at casual rate in Section A = $22K

      • Jim Nald 3.3.1
        15 May 2011 at 10:49 am

        Who has paid for the ad?
        Don will be very honest about who has been putting the stuffing in his hollowness this time.

    • Draco T Bastard 3.4
      15 May 2011 at 2:38 pm

      Well, it seems that electioneering is now in full swing. How many months before the regulated period starts?

    • Zetetic 4.1
      15 May 2011 at 10:47 am

      for a few percent of Kiwis, it is. That’s all they’re aiming for.

      It’s called diversity. Not everyone’s like you but they have just as much right to a voice in Parliament.

    • weka 4.2
      15 May 2011 at 12:36 pm

      Anyone else feeling conflicted about voting Green or Mana? I guess for me it will come down to strategic voting and that won’t be apparent until closer to the election and we can see what Mana are standing where. I’m wondering how much of the Green vote will move to Mana. Not that that’s a bad thing, the Greens need to get their shit together anyway and this may prompt them, but I hope the Greens and Mana can look at accomodations.

      • Draco T Bastard 4.2.1
        15 May 2011 at 2:41 pm

        Anyone else feeling conflicted about voting Green or Mana?

        Yep, I am. I’d like to vote for Mana but they have a serious lack of policy to vote for ATM. They’re making most of the right noises but those noises need to backed up with policy.

        • Carol 4.2.1.1
          15 May 2011 at 2:48 pm

          I will vote Green. Mana already has a strong core constituency& will have 1 MP at least. The left needs a strong Green Party list vote. They also will work with Mana, and Greens have some really good political expertise & systems.

  5. todd 5
    15 May 2011 at 11:34 am

    59% of NZ Houses Not Maintained Properly

    http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2011/05/59-of-nz-houses-not-maintained-properly.html

    A recent BRANZ study has found that 59% of New Zealand houses are not maintained properly. It found many common defects in the houses studied, such as poor under-floor ventilation, inadequate clearance of wall cladding from the ground, missing or corroding sub-floor fasteners and poor maintenance of timber windows. 25% of the houses surveyed were in particular poor condition.

    • happynz 5.1
      15 May 2011 at 1:46 pm

      How many of those 59% of homes that are not maintained properly are rental units?

      • Colonial Viper 5.1.1
        15 May 2011 at 1:59 pm

        One would guess a larger proportion than in the good 31% of houses.

      • todd 5.1.2
        15 May 2011 at 7:18 pm

        You can download the full report here.

        Households participating in the study fall into two categories; those that participated in the phone survey as well as an on sight physical survey (assessed), and secondly households that participated in the phone survey but did not have a physical survey (non-assessed).

        It appears that 23% of the assessed dwellings and 39.7% of non-assessed houses surveyed are rented.

  6. gobsmacked 6
    15 May 2011 at 12:31 pm

    Horizon opinion poll out:

    http://www.horizonpoll.co.nz/page/122/act-breaks-t

    As previously discussed on here, Horizon’s methodology has some “issues”. So it’s probably better to look at the trend over time within their own polling, rather than the party vote numbers in isolation (I doubt that the two main parties are as low as Horizon says).

    The trend is … good for ACT and Labour, and also for Mana (from a starting point of zero, so they could hardly go down!).

    • ianmac 6.1
      15 May 2011 at 2:23 pm

      But is supposed to be a walkover for Key and his governing alone. (Maybe he might need a few Ministers to help but his ego and sense of entitlement means he couls do it alone.) 🙂

  7. Aotearoean 7
    15 May 2011 at 1:02 pm

    So Don Brash has finally left home.

  8. Campbell Larsen 8
    15 May 2011 at 1:08 pm

    Operation ‘Unite’

    The latest instalment in the effort by Government and the MSM to soften us up to the idea of being policed by an international police force was published in the Sunday Star times today:

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/5005498/Minors-get-alcohol-in-police-sting

    This is the fourth time NZ and Aussie cops have run a coordinated operation described as a ‘crackdown on drunken-ness and violence’ and while the media has been very accommodating in trumpeting the success of the ‘operation’ the glaring omission in the articles has been a lack of rationale for an international operation.

    Drunken-ness and violence is not suddenly going to spill over the ditch from Australia in one weekend unless, in an inspired moment of lawlessness the offenders happen to highjack airplanes and fly here.

    In addition, given the difference in time zones between the two countries any ‘operation’ is going to be staggered in terms of implementation and essentially disconnected in any real physical sense – so why bother?
    There is only one scenario in which this kind of coordinated policing across international borders would be required – mass civilian unrest, the kind that is not limited to just one country.

    Since there will be some that say ‘what about the RWC? wont we need make sure that all those rugby fans don’t cause bother with their celebrations/ commiserations’ – I will respond in advance simply by referring to my earlier point ie that the physical and temporal disconnect between our two countries renders coordinated policing redundant.

    Quite clearly practicing civilian control measures simultaneously across international borders is preparation for a specific occurrence – and I am not talking about a rugby game.

    I mentioned softening up, and that’s because this is just the beginning – wait as Aussie police are welcomed back to NZ to help us deal with the crowds at the RWC (no doubt with carefully orchestrated airport applause, or – gag – standing ovation)

    I may sound anti-authoritarian – and that would be a fair assessment – but all that I am asking for in this instance is some honesty and transparency in regard to these ‘operations’ – if the cops want to practice simultaneous civilian control with their Australian counterparts so be it – but they should front up about the reasons why and not try and pretend that arresting drunks across the ditch on the same weekend as us has any effect whatsoever on our ability to deal with our own.

    • Colonial Viper 8.1
      15 May 2011 at 2:23 pm

      You’re describing a disturbing loss of sovereignty here.

      Next thing we know, we’ll be combining aspects of our criminal justice system with Australia.

    • Jum 8.2
      15 May 2011 at 3:19 pm

      “There is only one scenario in which this kind of coordinated policing across international borders would be required – mass civilian unrest, the kind that is not limited to just one country.”

      Your are so right Campbell Larsen. The TPPA needs to have enforcers because when people finally begin to understand just how badly their darling John Key has betrayed them for his knighthood/30 pieces of silver/governor general/shares in SOEs… they will take to the streets. It will be too late of course because by the end of the year this government will have sold the rights to New Zealand and passed to the pondscum elite the Treasury key.

      If ever there was a time to scream out a “VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE IN THIS GOVERNMENT OF NACTMU”, it must be before the TPPA is signed off.

    • Draco T Bastard 8.3
      15 May 2011 at 3:34 pm

      Yep, agreed, there was and is no justification for coordination of these types of policing except as practice for more nefarious purposes. Think check points and travel papers.

  9. Lazy Susan 9
    15 May 2011 at 1:37 pm

    The Sunday Star Times editorial today (only in print version) indicates part of the MSM are waking up to what many of us have known for a long time:

    Key’s pleasantness will one day look like blandness and lack of vision. His smiley face will eventually symbolise vapidity and self-satisfaction. His pragmatism will in due course strike many voters as lack of policy and an absence of ideas. And one day his natural conservatism will come to seem like hollowness. The flipside of all his virtues can be seen even now, although the shadow hasn’t fallen across the polls.

    Can’t argue so far but then comes the bullshit:

    Some time in the second term the perceptions will change.

    This is the second time in a week that I have read an editorial which just asssumes that National & Key will win a second term. This alongside the “Goff can’t win” mantra seems to be the way the game’s being played by the MSM – repeat something enough and the people will believe it.

    What I am sure of is there will be a point at which there is a collective realisation that Key is just the vacuous frontman for a nasty right wing agenda that aims to destroy what is left to feel proud of in this country. At that point the backlash will be severe. The big question is whether this occurs before or after the up coming election. If Key does lead the next government I predict he will make a hasty exit in the hope that he can get out before the moment of realisation arrives. The most important thing to Key right now is protecting his legacy.

    • ianmac 9.1
      15 May 2011 at 2:33 pm

      Yes Susan and “The most important thing to Key right now is protecting his legacy.” So true. But that knighthood? How can he serve office for one term or one and a bit, and still get his “Sir John Key, Right Honorable Prime Minister, Minister of Tourism, Money Dealer Extrordinaire, Governor Designate 2014, Celebrity 2008-2011.”

  10. Aotearoean 10
    15 May 2011 at 2:28 pm

    Did anyone see Winston on QA this morning when he said the Nats were looking at the pensioners Gold Card.

  11. gobsmacked 11
    15 May 2011 at 2:33 pm

    More on the Horizon poll …

    What matters, of course, is not the details (of interest to 0.01% of voters) but the headline. The Horizon poll is already attracting media attention (Radio NZ, Radio Live, Stuff). And Don Brash is talking it up, as you’d expect.

    In fact, the Horizon poll has always been out of line with the others. Contrast with the latest Morgan poll, which showed little change. But here’s the thing … Change is news. No change is not news.

    So there was no media coverage at all of the last Morgan poll (literally none at all – try and find it mentioned anywhere!). It may have been more accurate, but it wasn’t news.

    But the Spinner’s job is to ignore the details and cash in on the headline. The Horizon poll shows a 3% jump for Labour. Therefore Phil Goff should be appearing in all media NOW trumpeting Labour’s leap (you can write the lines in five minutes, scary Brash is back, National falling, voters coming home to Labour, etc, etc). Repeat: All media. NOW.

    Sadly, on past performance, Labour’s lethargic losers will respond to this poll in a forgettable media release some time on Tuesday.

    Prove me wrong, guys. Please.

    • Pascal's bookie 11.1
      15 May 2011 at 3:57 pm

      Therefore Phil Goff should be appearing in all media NOW trumpeting Labour’s leap (you can write the lines in five minutes, scary Brash is back, National falling, voters coming home to Labour, etc, etc). Repeat: All media. NOW.

      Exactly. I’d add; Brash is back, National falling as voters switch to Labour, Key has to make a choice for once, will he rule out Brash?

  13. Jum 13
    15 May 2011 at 3:28 pm

    “Carol
    19 November 2010 at 11:09 am

    Thanks for this, Bunji. I also notice that the ACT women MPs are particularly strong on cutting back on the Women’sAffairs Ministry. It seems to rankle with their fantasy of individualism, and their anti-”collectivist” principles.

    But, given that the ACT male MPs have a record of sexual/gender harrassment and bullying, the ACT women seem to me to be colluding with, and/or accepting of the way they are demeaned and kept in a secondary positon in the party. This all exposes the neoliberal fantasy of a society of equally “free” & sovereign individuals, with equal amounts of, or access to power.”

    I hope Carol will not mind me quoting her but it needs to be highlighted that if Act gets high votes in this election the rights of women will be reduced further. We’ve seen how Brash has behaved towards the women in his caucus.

    The sad thing is that the Act women actually believe the men of Act actually see them as equal.

    In the French revolution the men saw the women as equal until the revolution was sewn up and then the women were sent back to reality and to inequality.

    • ianmac 13.1
      15 May 2011 at 4:53 pm

      Do you think that the Act List will see current MPs dropped down to below 30th, and Brash no 1 Banks no 2. and perhaps the first woman about no 25?

      • Jum 13.1.1
        15 May 2011 at 7:02 pm

        Ianmac,

        Act list 30+? Now you are scaring me.

        Act which is at present controlling National would pretend to see women as being equal, but espouse the same beliefs as National – women will be made redundant as much as possible and forced to work in aged care, the men encouraged to believe women are taking their jobs.

        Act cabinet members will be sidelined increasingly as Brash has done in the past, as Key has done in the past, unless they are in positions where women cabinet ministers destroy the futures of other women.

    • Rodel 13.2
      15 May 2011 at 6:23 pm

      Mark Sainsury should ask Shagger Brash…”Do you think women have a special place in New Zealand?’
      I wonder what his answer would be.

      • Jum 13.2.1
        15 May 2011 at 7:12 pm

        Rodel,

        I’m glad Brash isn’t being called a ‘gentleman’ anymore; he never was.

        As for how he would see the place of women in this society and the value they are held in – at a MOTU meeting, Jenny Gibbs, who has openly campaigned against the Suffragist Memorial Tiles in Lower Khartoum Place being retained, was asking the speaker Don Brash patsy questions, so gives you a good idea about that! If you are rich he will use you. If you are poor he will abuse you.

  14. Pascal's bookie 14
    15 May 2011 at 4:13 pm

    Stay Classy TV3.

    http://www.3news.co.nz/Schools-accused-of-ignorance-in-abortion-debate/tabid/423/articleID/211216/Default.aspx

    Steve Taylor

    http://fundypost.blogspot.com/2008/07/chien-andalusia.html

    http://publicaddress.net/hardnews/moral-thugs/

    Not really a go-to guy for commentary, but if you do, you should point out his affiliations and history.

    • NickS 14.1
      15 May 2011 at 6:35 pm

      I love it how they give Family First so much space, instead of say noting the legal and human rights issues that lead to parental notification being optional, along with legitimising what was likely a flawed poll.

  15. Draco T Bastard 15
    15 May 2011 at 11:08 pm

    The People vs. Goldman Sachs

    They weren’t murderers or anything; they had merely stolen more money than most people can rationally conceive of, from their own customers, in a few blinks of an eye. But then they went one step further. They came to Washington, took an oath before Congress, and lied about it.

    Thanks to an extraordinary investigative effort by a Senate subcommittee that unilaterally decided to take up the burden the criminal justice system has repeatedly refused to shoulder, we now know exactly what Goldman Sachs executives like Lloyd Blankfein and Daniel Sparks lied about. We know exactly how they and other top Goldman executives, including David Viniar and Thomas Montag, defrauded their clients. America has been waiting for a case to bring against Wall Street. Here it is, and the evidence has been gift-wrapped and left at the doorstep of federal prosecutors, evidence that doesn’t leave much doubt: Goldman Sachs should stand trial.

    And wasn’t someone saying that we should listen to these people about some financial deals going through the other day?