Open mike 16/06/2011

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, June 16th, 2011 - 63 comments
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner).

Step right up to the mike…

63 comments on “Open mike 16/06/2011 ”

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  1. Lazy Susan 1
    16 June 2011 at 7:10 am

    The pattern repeats itself worldwide. Austerity measures and privatisation of public assets to fix the debt problem that, so the story goes, “we” have created.

    Many on this site can see this for the lie that it is. The leeches of Wall Street caused the GFC and are now socialising the losses on a global scale. They continue their unchecked high-stake gambling with our money at the casino that is the world financial system and continue the transfer of wealth from the many to the few.

    Seems that in Europe at least one commentator is observing an awakening of the middle classes. We are at a tipping point – expect the elites to pull out every dirty trick to defend their patch but change is coming.

    • johnm 1.1
      17 June 2011 at 1:15 am

      Hi Lazy Susan
      “Austerity measures and privatisation of public assets ”
      Two things, regarding privatisations of public infrastructure and basic necessities: it’s ROBBERY. Citizens have paid not only for the infrastructure itself but its maintenance, over the course of decades. The state has no legal right to sell off commonly owned property without the peoples’ consent.

      Secondly, the vultures who swoop in to buy up public property take out monster loans to finance their purchases. This means, by definition, that the price of utilities will skyrocket; to pay the loan + interest with, for good measure, a nice profit margin on top.

      Sarkozy’s privatization of French public utilities – gas, electricity, the postal system, and increasingly, water – has been an unmitigated disaster for the people. Gas and electricity bills have increased by 50-75%! Beware, also, the details of the price hike: in the case of gas / electricity, the surcharge has been applied to the subscription, not to consumption, which means that consumers are gouged regardless of rates of consumption.

      People need to understand that they are the rightful owners of public property, and demand that they cease being taken for fools. Immediately.
      It’s about time the ROBBERY(Of our Power SOEs) the key government intends to do is called out as such, any deficits can be resolved easily by reversing the tax cuts and not building anymore roads-we are 5 years past peak oil.

  2. PeteG 2
    16 June 2011 at 7:22 am

    Further to discussions prompted by this post over the last couple of days about whether kicking in balls and gouging out eyes type behaviour is necessary for a properly function democracy….

    Most New Zealand people and parties are across the middle ground bulge of the political spectrum, there are only a few extremists on the fringes. In practice there’s not a lot differentiating TweedleNational and TweedleLabour.

    Scrapping tooth and nail over most policy in New Zealand is a bit like having a family knife fight over whether to go to McDonalds or Burger King, the advertising may vary a bit but the menu is basically the same.

    • Draco T Bastard 2.1
      16 June 2011 at 10:19 am

      Although that appears to be true there’s an actual marked difference. Labour bases their policy on facts (well, most of the time anyway – they still believe in the delusional free-market/capitalism paradigm and seem disinclined to shift to a resource based economy) and National base theirs upon belief. As you can understand this results in a large number of areas where no amount of being nice is going to result in people seeing eye to eye.

      We could hope that our politics shifts to being research based and then discussion would be about how to implement the research but that’s not likely to happen while one parties policies are made on opinion and belief. While that’s still happening then we’re talking about a fundamental difference in world views that just aren’t going to mesh.

  3. M 3
    16 June 2011 at 7:31 am

    The quickening of collapse:

    ‘Shell, in a statement yesterday declared a force majeure on the loading of its Bonny Light crude oil for June and July, 2011. The company said the declaration was as a result of crude oil production cutbacks caused by leaks and fires which occurred last week on the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP).’

    http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/june/14/national-14-06-2011-005.html

    and

    ‘LONDON — One of the driest spring seasons on record in northern Europe has sucked soils dry and sharply reduced river levels to the point that governments are starting to fear crop losses and France, in particular, is bracing for blackouts as its river-cooled nuclear power plants may be forced to shut down.’

    http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=europe-braces-for-serious-crop-losses

  4. tc 4
    16 June 2011 at 7:44 am

    Can anyone confirm numbers of extra police numbers in sth akl? Flipping past a show last night that hammered the theme which made me wonder how accurate is that assertion.

    • mickysavage 4.1
      16 June 2011 at 8:08 am

      There are more but from memory they are the extras that Labour budgeted for in 07 or 08.  Takes time for the numbers to show up as they need to be trained etc.  Does not stop Collins from taking the credit though …

    • Treetop 4.2
      16 June 2011 at 2:02 pm

      I heard the figure of 300 in sth AK, in part two. But the problem is that the more experienced cops are not being replaced. However, a lot more Brits and I think that they have to work up through the ranks, so may have more experience than a probation cop.

    • mickysavage 5.1
      16 June 2011 at 8:06 am

      It must be election year.  Another new troll pops up and posts something looking for a fight rather than a discussion.

      /sigh

      • Luva 5.1.1
        16 June 2011 at 8:07 am

        Does that mean you are not surprised Micky

        • Lanthanide 5.1.1.1
          16 June 2011 at 10:04 am

          Lets see…
           
          Who is more likely to steal money from the Labour party? Someone who strongly believes in the Labour party, or someone who supports an opposition party and just took the job for the money, and thought they’d commit some crimes in the process?
           
          Seems he’s much more likely to be a National voter than a Labour one, to me.

    • Draco T Bastard 5.2
      16 June 2011 at 10:28 am

      Thieves pop up everywhere. Don’t see what that’s got to do with the Labour party other than that they had the misfortune to hire him.

      Tell me, would you be asking the same question if he was caught stealing from National?

  6. logie97 6
    16 June 2011 at 7:58 am

    A graphic this morning depicts poodles in a less than favourable light.

    May I suggest that the nomenclature be changed to “Toy or Miniature Poodles”.
    Be sure that a “Standard Poodle”, whilst being extremely fun loving and loyal is no shrinking violet when it comes to protecting its corner – their ancestry is that of a hunting dog.

    (That strange bouffant coiffeur preferred by show pony owners is a relic from the dogs having to swim in icy Northern European waters where the wool was left on the dogs joints to protect them from the cold).

  7. M 7
    16 June 2011 at 8:10 am

    Great, the guys that helped create this crisis have the means to survive it best – the jocularity is cruel:

  8. willie maley 8
    16 June 2011 at 8:48 am

    Simon Bridges was an embarrassment on Back Benches last night.

    Totally owned by the three female MPs on the panel.

    Reduced to calling Wallace Chapman a lefty:)

    Wallace did look pretty peed off with Simon.

    • Draco T Bastard 8.1
      16 June 2011 at 10:32 am

      Totally owned by the three female MPs on the panel.

      Does the sex of the three really make a difference? This whole sentence comes across as ZOMG, a male got owned by females. Really heavy on the sexism.

      • willie maley 8.1.1
        16 June 2011 at 10:58 am

        Not meant to come across as sexist.
        If fact, as I was watching the show, I was thinking that if only we had more women (if I am allowed to use this term) in parliament, how much better our country could be run.
        All Simon wanted to do was berate his fellow members of the panel, which made him look rather silly IMO.

  9. Jim Nald 9
    16 June 2011 at 10:24 am

    It feels like such a long wait between John Key’s photo-ops lately.

    Since the pic with Key Sr overseeing Key Jr’s planking, NZ voters have not been treated to anything new.

    But there’s good news coming – hurray – from around 26 June to 1 July, Key will be in India:

    http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/key-lead-major-indian-trade-mission-4224673

    What photo-ops will the visit hold?

    Will Key sport a turban?

    Will Key be mincing on stage with a saree?

    Will Key feature in a Bollywood clip, dancing around trees and serenading to Calvert?

    We await. With great expectation!

    [William Joyce: looking forward to your updated pics!]

    • marsman 9.1
      16 June 2011 at 11:31 am

      The Dom-Post obviously couldn’t wait for a Key photo op so they used a photo of Key junior on page 2 of yesterdays issue.

      • Jim Nald 9.1.1
        16 June 2011 at 1:42 pm

        Hah!
        Anyway, I don’t buy the newspapers these days. The Standard can have the money I’ve saved up.

  10. Jum 10
    16 June 2011 at 10:41 am

    http://pundit.co.nz/content/here-be-dragons

    The post was very interesting but the reader comment was even more useful…
    June 16, 2011

    ‘ “Last Thursday, the Institute of Policy Studies convened its “last significant event”. The Institute of Policy Studies is being disestablished. This is bad news. The Institute of Policy Studies, you see, liked studying policy, and debating it freely, in both senses.”
    Is it voluntarily dissolving, or is it yet another victim of STRATEGIC CUTS AGAINST PUBLIC PARTICIPATION? ‘

    It would be useful to have a list to publish these behind the scenes so-called efficiency, cost-saving merges in government departments that mean we the people have a steadily reducing say in our own futures. I certainly remember the takeover by the Department of Internal Affairs swallowing up any government departments charged with scrutinising government actions. This is just one more nail in our coffin.

  11. Morrissey 11
    16 June 2011 at 10:49 am

    HYPOCRISY ALERT!
    Radio lightweights sneer at Playboy bunny
    Wednesday 15 June 2011

    Not that she would care, but when twenty-five-year-old Playboy bunny-girl Crystal Harris made the very wise decision to jilt that disgusting, slipper-shod, dressing-gown-clad, pipe-smoking old fool Hugh Hefner, she drew down on her pretty blonde head the ire and condescension of some of New Zealand’s more self-important media commentators.

    On National Radio, Susan Baldacci sniffed: “Hard to believe that she has ANY thoughts of her own.” A little later, this doyenne of gravitas commented on something else that bugs her: “I can’t believe ANYONE could be called Candy!” This drew appreciative and lengthy guffaws from David Farrar and Jim Mora.

    Later, on late night One News, that unfunny New York-based waste of space “correspondent” Tim Wilson quipped: “He is old enough to be her grandfather, but young enough to be her IQ.”

    This sneering condescension might be valid if the people doing the sneering were themselves serious and high-minded commentators. But they’re not, as will be known by anyone who has listened to “The Panel” or has suffered through one of Wilson’s cringe-inducing items from New York.

    Crystal Harris is richer than these critics, she’s stratospherically better looking than they are, and on the basis of her public interviews, she’s also far more eloquent.

  12. randal 12
    16 June 2011 at 11:38 am

    who listened to RNZ yesterday afternoon. Jim Mora had david “te flabbo” farrar on the panel.
    when Jim said to te flabbo that he knew all about web demons, farrara nearly choked on his sausage roll.

    • Morrissey 12.1
      16 June 2011 at 11:50 am

      Mora began the programme by assuming a mocking tone and chortling: “Gra-a-a-a-a-ave accusations against you in parliament, David!” This was a reference to Annette King’s suggestion that Farrar was blogging for his own site while being paid by the tax-payer.

      Encouraged by Mora’s indulgent and jocular approach, Farrar laughed along with him and assured listeners that, no, he had not committed any impropriety during his time working in parliament.

      And that was the end of the matter.

      Did someone say something about a “liberal bias” on National Radio?

  13. Draco T Bastard 13
    16 June 2011 at 12:39 pm

    This article about EQC claims by Marsden needs to be read and the reporters looking into it. It seems that EQC is seriously badly managed.

    • vto 13.1
      16 June 2011 at 1:08 pm

      Holy shit!

      12 people doing 8 claims each per day.

      What’s going on with that Minister Brownlee?

      • Draco T Bastard 13.1.1
        16 June 2011 at 3:55 pm

        And, with ~275000 claims to go through that’ll only take them ~2865 days.

    • William Joyce 13.2
      16 June 2011 at 5:54 pm

      Interesting to get some inside info.
      It is part of EQC’s reason for existence to be prepared for catastrophes like the quakes and in order to do that they have to have a plan to quickly and efficiently expand (almost over night) into a fully fledged administration. Much like the Civil Defence, SAR, and other emergency services.
      You would think that people who were probably paid quite good salaries to turn up to work (in the absence of a natural disaster) would have had the time to go through a shit load of what if scenarios and resource planning in the event that a natural disaster of this scale should occur.
      What were they doing? What were they getting paid for?
      This is most likely not solely the problem of current management but also of previous management, who have noted on their cv that they managed EQC and have since piss-off to another job.
       
      In view of the fact the Michael Wintringham of (Christine Rankin case fame) is the chairman I wonder if they have concentrated on being a financial / insurance fund management agency. Most of the board are finance/insurance people and lawyers.
      There 22 permanent staff and of the ones mentioned there are a number of BSc’s but they all seem to have further quals in business / finance etc (except for Hugh Cowan the token boffin).
       
      What capacity planning resources did they have?
       

  14. jackal 14
    16 June 2011 at 1:48 pm
    Asshole of the Week Award – John Boscawen

    The Act Party Leader John Boscawen was literally frothing at the mouth in Parliament yesterday. I’ve embedded the video below for you to watch if you’ve got the stomach. Amongst his largely ineffectual ramblings were a number of gaff’s that made the frothing old fool look even more pathetic. “Rome burns while Nero feel’s,” is not the saying. Although the leader of the fascist Act Party corrected himself, his idiotic bumbling is not particularly helpful within Parliament…

  15. vto 15
    16 June 2011 at 1:48 pm

    Unexpected Earthquake Observation #321;

    The triple-decker. Where a small shake is followed a minute or so later by a slightly bigger shake, then another minute or bit longer later by the biggest shake of the threesome. A quite common serving.

  16. mickysavage 16
    16 June 2011 at 3:46 pm

    Bloody tories
     
    Joyce is slipping into the Telecommunications etc Bill a SOP which removes the Kiwishare protection from Telecom.  The implications are significant.  The limitation on landline costs increase will no doubt go.
     
    Why this should be done by way of a last minute SOP where Kiwis cannot have a say is beyond me.
     
    No wonder Joyce has been looking sheepish lately.
     
    Shame on him.

    • Draco T Bastard 16.1
      16 June 2011 at 3:50 pm

      Why this should be done by way of a last minute SOP where Kiwis cannot have a say is beyond me.

      Considering that the whole superfast broadband process seemed to be about giving Telecom their dominant position back at our expense is it really?

      • jackal 16.1.1
        16 June 2011 at 5:59 pm

        The super fast process to give Telecom the deal yes! The super fast process to deliver fast broadband no!

    • toad 16.2
      16 June 2011 at 8:10 pm

      Yep, looks like the kiwishare that protects no-charge local calling and restricts foreign ownership will be gone by lunchtime – click on the link for more analysis of this appalling abrogation of democratic process.

      • Herodotus 16.2.1
        16 June 2011 at 8:22 pm

        And how about the rort that now in the Jafacity there are tolls to call be it from what was Rodney or just north of the bombay hills, I notice that no one bothers about the outareas. But then many issues are only valid once a party has LOST power, and begins to once again to listen.
        and we will not even discuss the fact that it now takes over a month to get a new fibre connection and phone number, that is if you can work out who to contact be it : Telecom, Chorus, World Exchange. Or that to get a phone line you have NO option and have to get an internet connection and new hardware as well.

      • mickysavage 16.2.2
        16 June 2011 at 8:46 pm

        Thanks Toad.  The stuff put out by the Government seems to be saying that current protection will continue but if it is only a technical change then why don’t they put it through a select committee process.

        I agree that the first problem with it is that if protection is reliant on a deed then the Government without reference to Parliament can change it essentially by executive fiat.

        And if the SOP was ready on Tuesday why did they not release a copy to the opposition parties until today?

        The process stinks and one of two things has happened.  Either it is really dumb political management which lets us jump up and down about the process and possible motive or there is a dead frog there somewhere (sorry Toad excuse the metaphor) AND we can jump up and down about the process and the motive.

        Joyce has looked really nervous lately.  I wonder why?

  17. randal 17
    16 June 2011 at 3:49 pm

    well well well morrisey revved up and spun that one out of the frame in no time flat.
    he didnt even mention that te flabbo (as he is known) is also known as feeder on trademe opinions where he and his gang mob up on maori and jaydubs and anyone else they dont like.
    hey flubbo, have another rubber chicken dude.

  18. Draco T Bastard 18
    16 June 2011 at 3:53 pm

    National speak with Forked Tongue in our Name.

    Yesterday, I noted that the New Zealand government had endorsed the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of expression which found that disconnection from the internet is grossly disproportionate and a violation of international law. Today, Labour’s foreign affairs spokesperson Maryan Street asked in parliament whether this meant that they would be repealing the disconnection provision. The government gave a surprising response, denying that we had endorsed the statement.

    Good on I/S for spotting the lies coming from National.

  19. John D 19
    16 June 2011 at 4:20 pm

    Greece is rapidly turning ugly

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/15/europe-warned-greece-financial-crisis

    This ain’t gonna be pretty

    • Pascal's bookie 19.1
      16 June 2011 at 4:48 pm

      Paul mason @ the beebeebceeb is giving good blog on the protests at the mo…

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/correspondents/paulmason/

      Some semi-random snippets from the last few posts:

      In the lulls there are mini confrontations between trade union groups and the black bloc. The former chant that they are provocateurs. While as a vignette this looks like merely a tense sub-plot, it should be of interest to the policymakers desperately trying to hold Greek society together as they impose the biggest austerity package a developed country has had to stomach since the war.

      For in their own way the red-flag bearing, big-chested security groups of the Communist and non-Communist union groups are on the front line of holding things together. At no point did I see any union or left-wing party security group pick a fight with the police. The silent implication is, watch what happens if we ever do join in.

      —-

      And I will repeat the point about hostility to the media: it’s not a problem for me and my colleagues to be hounded off demos as “representatives of big capital”, “Zionists”, “scum and police informers” etc. But to get this reaction from almost every demographic – from balaclava kids to pensioners – should be a warning sign to the policymaking elite. The “mainstream” – whether it’s the media, politicians or business people – is beginning to seem illegitimate to large numbers of people….

      …”Don’t you want us to report what’s happening to you?”
      – “No.”

      An old man, aged 67, a sailor, says, “We don’t want any more bailouts from the EU, we’d rather be poor and broke”.

      For all the leftist iconography plus the presence of that, by now familiar demographic, the Facebook youth – or “graduates with no future” – this thing has gone beyond left and right, it’s no longer even a class thing. As the crowd around me erupts with the chant, “Greece, Greece, Greece!” it’s clear that for many people it is the Hellenic republic versus the rest of the world.

    • Draco T Bastard 19.2
      16 June 2011 at 5:27 pm

      No, it ain’t. Especially when, after Greece defaults on debt other nations follow resulting in a full collapse of the global economy. It’s going to cause some hurt but I won’t be sad to see it go as it means that people will have to return to real economics (Based around resources) rather than the delusional monetary BS that we’ve been slaving under for the last few hundred years.

      • John D 19.2.1
        16 June 2011 at 5:33 pm

        Have you seen the photos of the burning policemen, the almost daily riots?
        Do you imagine that, when the world economy collapses, (as I agree it will) it will not affect every person in NZ?

        Do you actually imagine that there will not be civil strife, unrest and depression not seen since WW2?

        • Draco T Bastard 19.2.1.1
          16 June 2011 at 5:45 pm

          Um, I was agreeing with you. I was also pointing out that it would give us a chance to dump the capitalist paradigm that’s caused all the problems.

          • John D 19.2.1.1.1
            16 June 2011 at 7:49 pm

            Zero Hedge seems to have similar sentiments on the Greek crisis

            alas, one also has to be dead serious about this stuff because it just may usher the eventual implosion of capitalism once again, since many (us among them), believe that the downstream effects from the bankruptcy of Greece, and thus the ECB, and thus Europe, will make Lehman seem like a walk in the park

            http://www.zerohedge.com/article/greek-bankruptcy-case-study-now-cartoon

        • William Joyce 19.2.1.2
          16 June 2011 at 6:06 pm

          I posted  this link a number of weeks ago but if you missed it…
          Jospeh Stiglitz, Nobel Economist, wrote a very good article (“Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1”) speculating about the possible out come of exaggerated inequality and wonders if the uprising around the world will be seen on the streets of America (read NZ).

  20. idlegus 20
    16 June 2011 at 4:22 pm

    Just heard John Key on Radio Live with Willie & JT, they were talking about the Sky City Casino Deal & Key was running the ‘It’s ok coz it’ll only be asians gambling, not poor South Aucklanders’ line, he kept on smentioning ‘The Poor’ & I was thinking I’m pretty sure I hadn’t heard anyone in the NZ Govt even admit there was poverty in NZ.

  21. William Joyce 21
    16 June 2011 at 5:09 pm

    Took time this avo to catch up on Campbell Live from last night.
    I understand the “process” that CERA have to go through to protect people’s equity and to ensure fairness and balance but………..they are not taking people with them, not informing them and those poor people are grieving and some have been waiting nine months.
     
    But I am comforted, that through all the pressures and tragedy, Gerry has kept perspective and got himself an nice new jacket!
     

  22. Jum 22
    16 June 2011 at 5:40 pm

    What the hell is this about Steven Joyce removing Kiwi share of free local calling? I have a lot of contacts and some of them are people who don’t use Skype as some scumbag from National called out. I am going to enjoy giving out this info.

    Also, my absolute admiration to Trevor Mallard who recognises that not everyone lives in the 23rd century of Skype and that picking up the phone to call one’s friends in a local area is sacrosanct in that we gave away ownership of an asset (I didn’t but I was forced to) provided we had a Kiwi say in it. Now Joyce wants to remove that right, just as Hide (both of them with Key’s Jewish? blessing) did with the Local Gov’t Amendment Act 2009, against the 2002 Act which removed the 75% agreement of people before assets like Ports of Auckland or the Airport asset could be sold.

    Every Labour Party member in New Zealand and abroad and every person who defends every person’s right to be comfortable in their use of free local communication to enjoy their freedoms should be defending Trevor Mallard’s stand to reverse these disgusting attempts to take away yet more rights from the people of New Zealand who put these selfish, greedy and narcissistic NAct cretins through free tertiary education who now turn upon the people who ‘fed’ them.

    • Draco T Bastard 22.1
      16 June 2011 at 5:54 pm

      I uninstalled Skype when MS bought it and, to be honest, I’m not overly concerned about local calls being charged for anyway. That would just drive more people to use VoIP.

      The standard phone line is dead but, unfortunately, our stupid government sold Telecom and deregulated telecommunications which resulted in our network going backwards and not being up to the demands of a modern society.

  23. Jum 23
    16 June 2011 at 6:26 pm

    Well, Draco T Bastard, I am surprised that like the NAct government and every other selfish New Zealander you don’t care that many of our society either don’t ‘get’ Skype or whatever the latest offer is and that they trusted the government of the day that sold off an SOE that promised Kiwi Share and free local calling. Maybe you and the other privateers should have been honest back then when you were promising New Zealanders you wouldn’t betray them – you and Steven Joyce and John Key and Bill English and the swallowed fish – scum.

    • Draco T Bastard 23.1
      16 June 2011 at 7:07 pm

      Before you go around accusing me of something you should check your facts first. Do a search my my name and telecommunications on this board.

      I’m not overly concerned about local being paid for because:
      1.) I don’t think they will be. Voice only uses 64kbps so not a hell of a lot of the bandwidth available.
      2.) If they do it will show just how much damage that selling Telecom and deregulation did to our infrastructure.

      We really do need to renationalise telecommunications in NZ.

  24. Jum 24
    16 June 2011 at 6:29 pm

    ‘heaven’ help any older New Zealander that doesn’t keep up with the NActs and/or Draco T Bastards of New Zealand’s brave new world where the old is the over 30.

  25. Carol 25
    16 June 2011 at 6:51 pm

    Someone on my Twitter feed, in BC, Canada is reporting rioting and looting in downtown Vancouver – been going on for hours apparently. People injured, RCMP trying to deal with it. Does anyone have reports on this and what it’s about?

    Oh. It’s not about austerity measures, inequalities etc, but fans of a sports team that lost:

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/5154250/Vancouver-fans-riot-after-Stanley-Cup-loss

    • mickysavage 26.1
      16 June 2011 at 9:33 pm

      Ha

      I dare you William to show it to Cameron …

      • William Joyce 26.1.1
        16 June 2011 at 10:36 pm

        He might gum me to death – and then there’s the court case, having to explain the presence of baby oil, a feather duster & Chris Tremaine in drag, and then (*OMG!*) the chicken – how do I explain that?
         
        With all that behaviour nobody would believe that I was not National!