Open mike 16/12/2012

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, December 16th, 2012 - 50 comments
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

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Step right up to the mike…

50 comments on “Open mike 16/12/2012 ”

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  1. higherstandard 1
    16 December 2012 at 7:19 am

    I’m enjoying the Herald’s series on NZers of the year if anyone wants a break from depressing news.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/new-zealanders-of-the-year/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501017&objectid=10854154

  2. mickysavage 2
    16 December 2012 at 8:36 am

    Danyl at the Dim Post has posted saying that his MP of the year is Louisa Wall, not only for introducing the Gay Marriage Bill but also for using that unusual tactic of talking to MPs and trying to persuade them to support it.
     
    This is an interesting choice and one I would agree with.

    • muzza 2.1
      16 December 2012 at 9:06 am

      Not exactly encouraging that out of 120+ MPs the bar is so low that Louisa Walls efforts rate such discussion.

      We should be reading/hearing about the collective effort of our *sovereign parliament*, working together building/protecting NZ’s frameworks which will be constructing stronger more caring communities for all Kiwis…

      Excuse me, I seem to have drifted off into the relms of fictions past…

  3. Morrissey 3
    16 December 2012 at 9:08 am

    Evil Hypocrisy strikes at Herald on Sunday
    HORRIFIC DISPLAY OF DOUBLE STANDARDS
    16 December 2012

    Anybody unwise enough or bored enough to peruse the tabloid rag Herald on Sunday might get the impression that its editors have suddenly discovered a collective conscience. Today the rag has come over all emotional—both in the headline-writing department and, above all, with its young superstar columnist, who was rushed to Connecticut to check out the horrific scene, to connect with the evil zeitgeist, and (most importantly) to share his deepest feelings about what’s gone down.

    The front page is a beauty. It blares out: “EVIL STRIKES: A PARENT’S WORST NIGHTMARE.” A photograph of grieving parents is captioned in large type: “Lynn and Christopher McDonnell were inconsolable yesterday on learning their 6-year-old daughter Grace was killed in the US shooting. It was a scene repeated by 19 other sets of grieving parents. SPECIAL 3-PAGE COVERAGE, 3, 4 and 5.”

    Page 3 headlines how “brave staff” tried to save the children from a “rampaging madman”.

    But what’s really interesting, and unwittingly revealing, is the sidebar story, by Jack Tame. Rushed to Connecticut and forced to come up with SOMETHING, Tame has contributed a cliché-larded, solipsistic little think-piece entitled “A walk on the dark side”. He notes that Newtown is “a mass of human grief”; he notes that it was a “callous, extraordinary attack”; he notes that some journalists wiped tears from their eyes. “So many kids,” he sighs.

    Then he moves on to the really important issue: his own feelings. In this briefest of articles, he manages to use the vertical pronoun no less than five times, and the word “me” twice. “I know the gravity of the massacre will affect me increasingly over the next few days,” he assures us.

    So you have been warned: expect more emotive pieces about Jack Tame’s feelings over the next few days.

    Oddly, the Herald on Sunday has never used a headline like “EVIL STRIKES” to highlight any of the massacres of civilians in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan or the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In fact, its editorial stance, along with almost every single one of its line-up of columnists, has supported whatever evil has rained down on the men, women and children of those countries. It has been quick to accept whatever it is told by military and political P.R. flacks from the U.S., Britain, and Israel and to repeat the most outrageous vilifications of their victims.

    Can we now look forward to the Herald on Sunday labeling EVERY act of mass murder as “evil”? Or is this three-page splash of emotion just a one-off?

    • muzza 3.1
      16 December 2012 at 9:57 am

      Oklahoma student plotted to kill on same day

      An Oklahoma high school student is in custody on charges he plotted to bomb and shoot students at the Bartlesville High School auditorium on the same day 26 people were shot and killed at an elementary school in Connecticut.

      Police arrested 18-year-old Sammie Eaglebear Chavez at about 4:30am Friday after learning of the alleged plot Thursday.

      How to spot BS 101 – And why these sorts of articles begin to make the whole episode reek of suspicion!

      Notice that the schools name was Sandy, like the storm, just a coincidence I guess!

      • Colonial Weka 3.1.1
        16 December 2012 at 10:02 am

        Assertion isn’t fact. Back it up muzza.

        • muzza 3.1.1.1
          16 December 2012 at 10:07 am

          Hi Weka,

          Neither are the AP press releases, which have been the dominant *conveyor* of this event, so perhaps you should be asking them to back it up!

          I’m not the establishment trying to sell a story, only commenting on what reads like yet another made up load of garbage!

          Just like the *individual* who *tried* to blow up the Federal Reserve – Never happened!

          • Colonial Weka 3.1.1.1.1
            16 December 2012 at 10:29 am

            “so perhaps you should be asking them to back it up!”
             
            Well, quite, but I’m not really into exercises in futility.

      • Morrissey 3.1.2
        16 December 2012 at 10:12 am

        Thanks for that, Muzza, but the point of my post was to point out the hypocrisy and mediocrity of this third-rate newspaper and its vacuous “reporter”.

        • muzza 3.1.2.1
          16 December 2012 at 10:25 am

          Yes I got that Morrissey, and agree…

          Articles can be vacuous be they from a *face* like Tame, or a *faceless* entity like the AP!

          @ VTO – Tame is simply a puppet acting as *news reporter*

      • rosy viper 3.1.3
        16 December 2012 at 10:19 am

        “How to spot BS 101 And why these sorts of articles begin to make the whole episode reek of suspicion”

        This is not a surprise. It’s at least the third student plot mass killings this year (from a quick google – ‘student arrested for plotting to kill’). One in May and another in March.

        It’s just more prominently placed given the latest school tragedy, imo.

    • vto 3.2
      16 December 2012 at 10:19 am

      Jack Tame lost it for me when he reported at the Pike River Memorial that the west coasters were off to the pub to mourn “in the only way they know how” (his words)

      Ignorant young toss-pot. Out of his depth. I imagine you needs learned skills to be a journalist but it seems you also need judgment, wisdom, a deeper knowledge of society and an understanding of history. All were missing with Tame.

      • Morrissey 3.2.1
        16 December 2012 at 10:23 am

        “Jack Tame lost it for me when he reported at the Pike River Memorial…”

        If you can bear it, have a look the empty-headed little article he wrote today: he explicitly compares the atmosphere of Newtown, Connecticut to Greymouth….
        “In some ways the town reminded me of Greymouth in the days after the Pike River Mine explosion. Only smaller. Tighter. And these families have no hope at all. I tried not to stop or dwell too much at any point, to remain busy, knowing I’ll probably reflect on Sandy Hook Elementary for many months or years to come. I know the gravity of the massacre will affect me increasingly over the next few days.”

        • vto 3.2.1.1
          16 December 2012 at 10:35 am

          Oh for fucks sake.

          Well thanks Morrissey it seems it confirms my initial impression of his stature and shortcomings.

          • Tigger 3.2.1.1.1
            16 December 2012 at 2:02 pm

            How heartless you lot are. Clearly this tragedy has seriously affected Mr Tame and we should all ensure he’s given as much support as possible, especially in the coming days. I myself intend to send him a card telling him that I’m thinking of him at this difficult time. I’ll also send flowers. Anyone know what kind he likes?

      • Tim 3.2.2
        16 December 2012 at 5:45 pm

        Jack Tame = trainee Max Headroom, aided and abetted bya corporate TVNZ anxious to create “***STARS***”.
        ……next

        (Heather du Plessey-Aleen perhaps) – except she’ll be Matilda Headroom

      • tc 3.2.3
        16 December 2012 at 5:49 pm

        Jack tame is as good as it gets with TVNZ which applies an appallingly low standard now, Rawdon, bambi, alimawful etc Mark Ellis wouldn’t look out of his depth in that shallow pool of journalistic talent.
        In the past an experienced senior figure got such a large assignment, this one can’t even plagiarise the quality stuff. The pike river comparisons show how dim witted and tasteless the lad is.

  4. Chris 4
    16 December 2012 at 9:09 am

    I find it ironic that jkey is promising us a “brighter future”by keeping us in the dark.

  5. rosy viper 5
    16 December 2012 at 9:30 am

    Seems like Samoa is in desperate need. Power out for weeks, homes and businesses destroyed and people killed and injured. Of course the numbers aren’t large, but for a tiny country this is devastation. Fiji might be next. Hopefully the strengthening Cyclone Evan will veer away.

    “Samoa’s been wiped out completely by this. It’s absolutely sad. They need everything – from clothes to fresh water. Anything we can give them, they need.”

    You need to drill down a bit to find the story on Stuff. There are up to 10 dead.. with 7 of these people still missing, including children. With 200 people injured. How Samoan nedical facilities will cope is difficult to imagine. But NZ is sending aid:

    “At the request of the Samoan Government, New Zealand will provide P3 Orion to undertake aerial surveillance and environmental health assessment expertise.We have also made available $50,000 to assist with the on-the-ground response.’’

    McCully said an initial assessment suggested there had been damage to outlying buildings, critical infrastructure and power lines, with flooding, many fallen trees and power outages.

    A bit difficult for this disaster in a small country in our neighbourhood to gain traction with everything else going on.

    • Bill 5.1
      16 December 2012 at 10:22 am

      Saw (from the side bar feed) that the Greens issued a press release on this yesterday. And for some naive reason I thought it might have been right up there on TV news bulletins – not that I watch TV these days. Your comment suggests it’s not really been reported on though. In which case. there is something. very. not. right. going on in news rooms.

      Thanks for putting up something in open mike

      • Colonial Weka 5.1.1
        16 December 2012 at 10:33 am

        RNZ are reporting on it, but it’s still playing second fiddle to some thing that happened in the US. I probably have to take back what I said about it being normal to care more about people you have an emotional connection with, although maybe it says something about NZ’s relationship to Pasifika peoples.

        • rosy viper 5.1.1.1
          16 December 2012 at 10:52 am

          The Herald reports it on the Home page, but Stuff…nah. Maybe it’s a reflection of The Herald being Auckland based with a larger Pasifika population to cater to.

          Or more it’s more newsworthy in Auckland because people planning their island getaways come from there?

  6. muzza 6
    16 December 2012 at 9:40 am

    Sina Solomona, a mother of one, was pronounced dead by medics at the house in Cass St, Ashburton.

    Police have refused to release any details about how she died, but it is understood it is being treated as a homicide inquiry.

    Interesting….

    Four forensic officers were at the property yesterday and a crime scene investigation caravan was parked across the road.

    Thats quite some turnout.

    A neighbour, who declined to be named, said there was a heavy police presence at the house.

    “There was police everywhere and a crime caravan was set up so I knew something serious had happened,”

    Reads like a *clean up* job is being done!

    Edit: Toga attire – Interesting choice of picture, and why no mention of age!

    • marty mars 6.1
      16 December 2012 at 10:29 am

      another terrible event for the family and friends of a person who has died used by you muzza to further your (own) agenda – you are sad mate. You do realise that the boy who cried wolf was working for the wolves don’t ya.

      • Colonial Weka 6.1.1
        16 December 2012 at 10:38 am

        +1
         
        “and why no mention of age”
         
        Going by the paucity of information in the article, and the need to use FB posts and inanities from the neighbour (it’s not like Ashburton hasn’t had a high profile murder before) as filler, I’d say the reported doesn’t actually know anything yet.
         
         
         
         

      • muzza 6.1.2
        16 December 2012 at 10:40 am

        Hi Marty,

        Its an observations bro, if you don’t like it fair play, but to say I am using the events to further an agenda is poor!

        I’m not the one doing doing the killing, or the reporting, perhaps you might consider that!

        @ Weka – They have her name, so they will have her age.

        Even the story about the girl who *fell* from the Internal Affairs building in Wellington, “but was not treated as suspicious” they had no name, (allegedley), but speculated she was “believed to be in her 20’s – That story seems to have dried up by the way!

        Again, its an observation.

        • Colonial Weka 6.1.2.1
          16 December 2012 at 10:59 am

          An observation with a point behind it. What is the point exactly?

          • muzza 6.1.2.1.1
            16 December 2012 at 11:23 am

            Weka, NZ has an abysmal murder rate, and worse than that, an abysmal record at solving them, and even worse again, a truly awful police record of *fitting people up*.

            When I notice inconsistancies in articles, I comment, and to me this article, while light on obvious content, yet makes references what sounds like an apparant over kill of police/forensics presence in this case, has attracted my attention, just like the spate of people *falling* from buildings did when I posted a week or two ago about them.

            @ Marty below – No I’m not offended, and if you are thats for you to handle bro. You know nothing of my background, or what I do, or do not know, so perhaps you can just cool your jets a little bit eh!

            Whats all this about teams?

        • marty mars 6.1.2.2
          16 December 2012 at 11:08 am

          the thing is muzza for my sins I read most of your comments so let’s just say I can see trends. I’m sorry if you are offended by me talking about your agenda – I’m offended that you are using this death and intrepreting the MSM report you have read with comments like “clean up job” – have some fucken respect mate. Your level of understanding of these events is not advanced – it is backward, behind the eightball, and supporting the scum that really do scummy stuff to other people in the world. It is a real pity because we actually need people like you on our team not their team.

      • McFliper 6.1.3
        16 December 2012 at 10:48 pm

        +1

  7. Morrissey 7
    16 December 2012 at 10:06 am

    Tune in to National Radio this morning!
    11.12 a.m. Avner Gvaryahu – IDF Soldiers Break the Silence

    Avner Gvaryahu is a former Israeli soldier and a member of Breaking the Silence, a non-governmental organisation established in Jerusalem in 2004 by Israel Defence Forces veterans, to document the testimonies of Israeli soldiers who have served in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. He talks to Chris Laidlaw about how support within Israel for the occupation of Palestinian territory rests on the belief that the army’s actions are “defensive” and aimed at protecting the country – but a new book, which includes hundreds of soldiers’ testimonies collected over a decade, tells a different story.

    Our Harsh Logic – Israeli soldiers’ testimonies from the Occupied Territories, 2000–2010, compiled by Breaking the Silence, is published by Scribe.

    • Morrissey 7.1
      16 December 2012 at 11:28 am

      Unbelievably, Chris Laidlaw spouted some nonsense in his introductory remarks. I sent him this e-mail….
      The IDF is “even-handed” in the Occupied Territories? You should ask a Palestinian.
      Dear Chris,

      In the preamble to your interview with Avner Gvaryahu, you pointed out that the IDF controls every aspect of life in the Occupied Territories—but then you said, incredibly, that “by and large, they do it even-handedly.”

      That the IDF acts “by and large, even-handedly”, will come as a surprise to anyone who has watched IDF soldiers sit back and do nothing as gangs of heavily armed illegal settlers run amok through Palestinian villages, uprooting crops and cutting down olive trees, as well as perpetrating a host of other outrages.
      Your claim that the IDF is “by and large, even-handed” served to undermine the testimony of Avner Gvaryahu, even before the interview began.
      Yours sincerely,
      Morrissey Breen
      Northcote Point
      • vto 7.1.1
        16 December 2012 at 11:46 am

        How can Chris Laidlaw justify that comment when that appears to be the subject of the interview? Is this what is called prejudgment?

        • Morrissey 7.1.1.1
          16 December 2012 at 12:46 pm

          No, I think it’s just a case of saying something—anything—to fill the silence, no matter how vacuous. Chris spent some years at Oxford, then too many years on the diplomatic circuit in the 1970s and 80s, followed by a spell in parliament; vacuous and pompous phrases are a sine qua non in those environments.

          He probably didn’t even think about what he was saying, so pat is the formula.

          • Visubversaviper 7.1.1.1.1
            16 December 2012 at 3:17 pm

            A very short spell in Parliament (came in with a by-election) during which he managed to piss off most of his electorate workers – hence the loss of the seat in the next General Election.

            • Morrissey 7.1.1.1.1.1
              16 December 2012 at 4:25 pm

              “….he managed to piss off most of his electorate workers – hence the loss of the seat in the next General Election.”

              That sounds really interesting. What did he do to piss them off? Was he “poling the voters” too enthusiastically or something?

        • Fortran 7.1.1.2
          16 December 2012 at 1:23 pm

          vto

          Laidlaw is too long in the tooth to do anything relevant – he puts me to sleep, with a beer, on Sunday morning.
          RNZ still cannot find anybody intelligent to do the programme.

          • Morrissey 7.1.1.2.1
            16 December 2012 at 1:30 pm

            Laidlaw, like everyone, has his faults. However, he is without doubt highly intelligent, and he thinks deeply about moral questions. He is one of the most informed people in the media, and although I’d like to hear him challenge people a bit more, he does a very good job.

            That doesn’t mean he can’t be criticized, though.

            • Tiresias 7.1.1.2.1.1
              16 December 2012 at 10:22 pm

              Wasn’t Chris Laidlaw once an All Black?
              Doesn’t that entitle him to have his views on anything and everything listened to with deep and profound respect? Doesn’t that entitle him to sleep with you wife should the fancy take him? Doesn’t that, in New Zealand, mean that he sits at God’s Right Hand and should be grovelled to?

              • Morrissey …
                17 December 2012 at 7:47 am

                1.) “Wasn’t Chris Laidlaw once an All Black?”

                Yes, he was. From 1963 to 1970. He was renowned for the speed and slickness of his passing, and his clever tactical kicking. Here he is in one of the less edifying moments of his career. (Laidlaw is the one holding the football)….
                http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrao8j533u1qgfwr0o1_500.jpg

                2.) “Doesn’t that entitle him to have his views on anything and everything listened to with deep and profound respect?”

                There are some former All Blacks who deserve to be listened to. Few of them, however, speak with much knowledge about anything other than football. Some of them are out and out ratbags: Andy Haden is probably the worst of them.

                3.) “Doesn’t that entitle him to sleep with you wife should the fancy take him?”

                Yes. But, it must be said, only if the fancy takes her as well. Otherwise you have a Robin Brooke situation on your hands.

                4.) “Doesn’t that, in New Zealand, mean that he sits at God’s Right Hand and should be grovelled to?”

                Yes.

  8. Viper73 8
    16 December 2012 at 11:36 am

    Sir Peter Jackson: Hero of the Nation

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UexP-HenH8#t=4m23s

    All this talk of Shearer vs Cunliffe yet Little seems to be slipping under the radar…

    • KhandallaMan-an Absolutely Fabulous QC & Viper 8.1
      16 December 2012 at 12:51 pm

      Little is too smart to make he same mistake as Shearer: going into a leadership role with far too little experience.  
      Little is not too vain, is quite cerebral and has high EQ. He just lacks parliamentary and cabinet experience.  He is on a different plane from the current leadership clique. They are scruffy band of wannabes compared to Little (and Cunliffe).
       
      Little will be an excellent No 2 to Cunliffe. 
       

      • Viper73 8.1.1
        16 December 2012 at 1:11 pm

        He should also do well because he has no shame which is probably quite important for a PM

        On a different note why do politicians (of all spectrums) insist on trying to be “hip” and “cool”, don’t they realise that the quickest way to make something suck is to reference it…ie gangnam style, nek minit, planking etc etc

  9. Fortran 9
    16 December 2012 at 1:19 pm

    What about the 22 children and 2 adults in China who got stabbed at a similar time to the US massacre ?
    Nothing further than some a very critical.
    see CCNS

  10. Morrissey 10
    16 December 2012 at 1:36 pm

    The trouble with TED talks

    In the cult of TED, everything is awesome and inspirational, and ideas aren’t supposed to be challenged.

    by MARTIN ROBBINS, New Statesman, 10 September 2012

    I’ve long been amused by the slogan of TED, makers of the ubiquitous TED talks. TED’s slogan is this: ‘Ideas worth spreading.’ Apparently TED has some ideas, and we should spread them. What ideas? Ideas that TED in its infinite wisdom has picked out for us, ideas which are therefore implied to be true and good and right. What should we do with these ideas? We should build a message around them – slick presentations by charismatic faces captured in high definition – and we should spread that message far and wide. If this doesn’t yet sound familiar, try replacing ‘TED’ with ‘GOD’. ‘Ideas worth spreading’ sounds more like the slogan of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

    It’s nearing midnight, and I’m sitting in my pants in front of the computer holding a tumbler of scotch, the curtains closed, the lights off, doing something I don’t do enough of these days – just watching. This is not how TED Talks are supposed to be consumed. The genius of the format is that nobody really watches them: we play them on iPods or we run them in our browsers while working on other things, but it’s rare that people put one on the television and sit down and really focus on them. They come at us from the side of our vision, sneaking past our preoccupied neural circuitry and planting little seeds in the nooks and crevices of our minds, like mould spores on a damp window frame. In the darkest hours of countless nights….

    Read more….
    http://www.newstatesman.com/martin-robbins/2012/09/trouble-ted-talks

  11. Morrissey 11
    16 December 2012 at 1:47 pm

    A message to Barack Obama, the crying parent….

    http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1355617642.html

  12. Neoleftie 12
    16 December 2012 at 5:56 pm

    Still waiting for CC to apologise for trying to Censor TS and the labour member who blog.
    Poor CV dead or alive I wonder?
    To return of forever banished.