Open mike 17/10/2011

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, October 17th, 2011 - 49 comments
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49 comments on “Open mike 17/10/2011 ”

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  1. AAMC 1
    17 October 2011 at 6:29 am

    #occupyauckland being trolled by neo-liberals yesterday, the crew down there not engaged in twitter so losing the debate. I’m away for a week, can’t defend the OWS idea alone, get on twitter and search #occupyauckland and have the debate in relation to Bills post there!

    The networking on twitter has the potential to make this grow to the middle class youth, as it has around the globe, but not while in the hands of the vested interests alluded to in Bills post.

    • felix 1.1
      17 October 2011 at 7:10 am

      Wow they look pretty desperate to wallpaper that tag, a couple of them have been non-stop tweeting for 24 hours.

  2. Jenny 2
    17 October 2011 at 7:03 am

    Last night seven heroes dwarfed the All Blacks sports triumph

    Last night amid heart stopping steel grinding shrieks, and groans coming from the darkened, disintegrating wreck, perched over the dark sea on their make shift ledge, the oil pumping team risk their lives for us.

    These seven are the real heroes of the night.

    I hope they get the recognition they deserve.

    Maritime NZ salvage manager Bruce Anderson said salvors aboard the ship began pumping out the estimated 1300 tonnes of remaining oil last night. The seven salvors had asked permission to stay on the groaning, dangerous ship overnight. Mr Anderson said he asked for and received an evacuation plan from the salvage crew that would allow them to stay on the Rena overnight and all of today to pump oil from the ship.

    “The team has encountered a number of technical difficulties, but the calm conditions and the forecast for the next 24 hours give them a good opportunity to get this work underway.

    “This is a hugely challenging and risky operation even in full daylight – these are incredibly brave and dedicated people working very hard to protect the beaches and coastline of the Bay of Plenty and the communities who use them.”

    • freedom 2.1
      17 October 2011 at 8:30 am

      This a.m, John Key said, in a very clear manner, they only managed to get 20 tonnes off the Rena.

      Here’s hoping the efforts of these brave guys (and gals) produce the result they are all working so hard for.

    • jcuknz 2.2
      17 October 2011 at 9:03 am

      I agree and think it is a pity that Guufer hasn’t helpful comments instead of trying to make political capital out of a disaster risking the lives of those brave men.

    • insider 2.3
      17 October 2011 at 9:40 am

      Wasn’t this a really easy job able to be done in a day Wednesday week ago?

      • felix 2.3.1
        17 October 2011 at 12:40 pm

        I don’t recall anyone saying such a thing, I presume you have a link though.

        Do you?

      • Draco T Bastard 2.3.2
        17 October 2011 at 12:47 pm

        The day the ran aground it hadn’t been pounded by storm causing more significant damage such as breaking the ship. At that point, it most likely would have been easier and safer than now.

      • mik e 2.3.3
        17 October 2011 at 5:37 pm

        outsider listen to your own spin guru hoottin on nine till noon he even puts down Joyce and Key for being asleep at the Helm

      • Colonial Viper 2.3.4
        17 October 2011 at 6:02 pm

        Wasn’t this a really easy job able to be done in a day Wednesday week ago?

        Yes, the disaster could have been prevented in the first 24 hours, although it would have taken a weeks worth of work after that.

    • Bored 2.4
      17 October 2011 at 4:15 pm

      Jenny, you are right, they are heroes. Working men, being paid to clean up the mess created by the systemic corruption of a system that is designed to cut any corner to make a profit. A system that has claimed countless workers lifes by way of dangerous or unsafe practices in the pursuit of profit.

      Whilst these brave people battle to remove the oil the company hides behind flags of convenience and the shadowy owners sit in the shadows. Their bank accounts are safe from recompense, they don’t care.

      Here the High Priest of their caste, paid up fully by their system makes sounds full of froth and fury…”we will pursue the owners”…yeah right John Key, you are a mere cypher, a lackey and a toad for these people. One of them, not one of us.

    • uke 3.1
      17 October 2011 at 12:42 pm

      Pollution, sickness, and land destabilisation are par-for-the-course with fracking: a method for gas extraction that is not covered by the Clear Air or Clean Water Acts in the USA and has therefore never been subject to serious regulatory investigation.
       
      These American Corporate f*****s are now poisoning out fair land. The government doesn’t even know (or want to know) the exact composition of the toxic sludge being injected into the water table. Time to wake up NZ, before it’s too late.

  4. freedom 4
    17 October 2011 at 8:28 am

    Crazy crazy times on Breakfast this a.m. The PM almost had to answer an actual question.

    I say almost, because Petra seemed to change the subject halfway through the PM’s response. The PM jumped on the opportunity to slither onto the new limb being offered and was back in the undergrowth of distraction and obfuscation before you could say hedge fund drivatives.

    John Key sat there and criticized corrupt Wall ST products, and chastised the product’s merchants for creating the global mess as if he was not directly involved in the formation, marketing and profiteering of the very products he was criticzing. Petra of course smiled, chirped about a dancing penguin or was it the PM’s bet with Gillard? Eventually of course they all had nothing to say.

  5. mickysavage 5
    17 October 2011 at 8:55 am

    More lies from Stephen Joyce about Rena. 

    According to the Herald he admitted the Government has “dropped the ball” by failing to sign up to an international convention that would have protected taxpayers by an additional $12 million for the cleanup of the Rena oil spill.  But he is saying that fault lies with the fifth Labour Government as well.

    He reckons that Labour did nothing with the International Convention and also that Phil Goff should have raised it with the Government since National’s election in 2008.

    He avoids saying that the International Convention only came into force in November 2008 and could not have been implemented before then.

    He also omits to say that there was a reference in his briefing papers to the need to have the convention validated.

    This “it is all Helen’s fault” is starting to wear a bit thin.  And blaming Phil for not reminding you to do your job when you are a Minister and have the forces of the State behind you is weird.

    • Lanthanide 5.1
      17 October 2011 at 9:10 am

      “This “it is all Helen’s fault” is starting to wear a bit thin. ”

      I think in this case, it is really desperate. 3 years out is now long enough where they can’t just reflexively point their figures at the last government and blame them, especially when doing so makes them look like dicks because the last government couldn’t have possibly done anything about this specific issue, due to the dates as you outline.

      Hopefully a few of the media might pick this up and point it out.

  6. felix 6
    17 October 2011 at 9:28 am

    Just heard the director of Maritime NZ on Radio NZ.

    She said (approximately) that the experts have advised her that they hope “they can get as much oil off as they can”.

    WTF?!?

    How much are we paying this fucking accountant to talk this shite??

  7. randal 7
    17 October 2011 at 10:11 am

    JOyce thinks he can txt a few of his pals fr sum sik fun and everyfinks ok.
    yeah?
    nah!
    by by national.

  8. joe90 8
    17 October 2011 at 10:12 am

    Al Jazeera: Occupy protest critics exploit anti-Semitism.

    An ugly old tradition is back: Exploiting anti-Semitism to break the backs of popular movements that threaten the power of the wealthiest one per cent of our population. It is being used to undermine the Occupy Wall Street movement, which has conservatives in a state of near panic.
    .

  9. Morrissey 9
    17 October 2011 at 10:16 am

    N.Z. sports journalists seem to have learned nothing in the last twelve years

    “There’s no agnostics on my show! This is a 100 per-cent All Black supporters zone,” ranted Radio Sport journeyman Mark Watson last Saturday night.

    Hive-mind syndrome in the media, from the Herald‘s absurd Wynne “Sensible” Gray and Chris “Ratshit” Rattue down to fair-weather fans like Murray Deaker, Tony “Bootboy” Veitch and Mark Watson, means that complacency (and ignorance) levels are sky-high right now—almost totally in the media, and also among some of the more easily led and less thoughtful members of the public.

    There’s a surreal quality to the displays of ignorance and over-confidence. Just listen to fair-weather fan Martin “Moron” Devlin on TV1 after last night’s game: “There’s only one team in the final, isn’t there.” In a pathetic display of indulgence, Nick Mallett, Dan Crowley and Anton Oliver felt compelled to murmur agreement—however hesitantly. Oliver in particular would have remembered the puerile and malicious behavior of Devlin following France’s 1999 semifinal demolition of the All Blacks—a match he played in. The All Blacks refused for several years after that to speak to Devlin, so appalled were they by his ignorant ranting following that match. Yet, in spite of this, Oliver obviously felt compelled to follow Devlin’s lead, nodding in unison with the others at that inane comment.

    The mood of elation continued this morning. One jubilant (and inebriated) fan was asked by National Radio’s Morning Report how he felt about next weekend’s final. The drone bawled drunkenly: “It’ll be a walkover!”

    Back in the Morning Report studio, Geoff Robinson solemnly (and gullibly) reported a clever piece of mensonge diplomatiques by French captain Thierry Dusautoir: “We may not have talent, but we have heart.” Of course, the very opposite has been true for much of this tournament.

    Simon Mercep asked L’Equipe reporter Ian Borthwick and Sir Colin Meads to predict the result of the final. Borthwick declined, pointing out the great speed and skill of the Tricolors’ loose forwards and the formidable power of the front five. Meads agreed, and observed that the French pack was the only pack in the world with the power and skill to match the All Blacks’ pack. They didn’t even mention backs like Palisson, Mermoz, Rougerie, Clerc or Médard, each of them capable of tearing the All Blacks apart like they did to England a week ago.

    Those are facts that that the likes of Watson, Devlin and their colleagues in the sports media won’t even permit to be mentioned: to show anything less than total belief, and to show any respect for, or even any knowledge of, France will jinx the All Blacks.

    This feels very like 1999 all over again. Worryingly, the loudest, most insistent and most complacent voices in the sports media now are exactly the same voices as twelve years ago. Not one of them seems to have learned anything.

    • Deadly_NZ 9.1
      17 October 2011 at 6:47 pm

      Oh god I will so glad when this Bloody rugby finishes and to piss off all the black fans I have to say Go France. Because that will immediately kill off any ideas of the Govt just basking in the glow and gloat of a job well done, all their own work, blah, blah, blah. Lets just hope that some Journo has the balls to tell Shonky that Helen actually did all the hard work. Not him Oh that would be a sight to see. He would have a fit. Forget a 1 day ban for TVNZ lol

  10. aerobubble 10
    17 October 2011 at 10:16 am

    Key is doing nothing about kiwi’s rights in Australia. so what is Labour doing?
    Well simple, by bringing our tax system into line with australia. GST off
    food, tax free threshold, and CGT, the Australian argument that NZ is pushing
    its poor over the ditch won’t hold any more water.
    So what is Key doing if National is returned????

    • Lanthanide 10.1
      17 October 2011 at 10:55 am

      You think the government tweaking tax policy somehow means poor people will stop going to Australia?

      Labour’s tax policy isn’t going to change much at all, especially for the people who are looking at going to Australia. Tax has never been the issue (righties like to pretend that it is) because we now have lower tax rates than Australia, the issue is that they have much higher wages as well as a 9% superannuation that all employers must pay.

      There really isn’t a lot that our country can do about how Australia chooses to treat NZ citizens. Probably the best we could hope for is relaxed entry requirements for Australian citizenship.

      • joe90 10.1.1
        17 October 2011 at 11:14 am

        Probably the best we could hope for is relaxed entry requirements for Australian citizenship

        My sister who’s been in Australia since 2001 has been told that her application for citizenship has been delayed indefinitely because her occupation, accountant, has been downgraded in the points system.

        • Colonial Viper 10.1.1.1
          17 October 2011 at 12:48 pm

          once the Australian Govt sees that their employment situation is worsening, you will see that NZers over there = workers of convenience for their economy, become less and less welcome.

      • aerobubble 10.1.2
        17 October 2011 at 1:11 pm

        Migrantion will never stop. the issue is treatment in oz. obviously lowering the tax
        burden on the lowest decile to the same level as oz will help stem the flow.
        the rich in nz are much less taxed but because they dont get economics they
        have created a smaller pie to feed off, as a result the smart rich – buffet –
        argue for more taxes to be leaved on themselves. do the same thing, lower
        taxes, won’t work..

  12. thejackal 12
    17 October 2011 at 11:30 am

    National’s Election Hoarding’s 3

    In March this year, it was reported that The Government gave MediaWorks a $43.3 million loan from the Crown…

  14. Draco T Bastard 14
    17 October 2011 at 12:30 pm

    International Day for the Eradication of Poverty Monday, 17 October 2011

    The Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Magdalena Sepúlveda, called on States to address without delay the growing inequalities between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots.’ “In several countries,” she warned, “disparities created by the crisis have been exacerbated by austerity measures put in place to facilitate recovery.”

    Gee, wonder who didn’t see that coming…

  15. s y d 15
    17 October 2011 at 3:13 pm

    these guys never stop….

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/5799232/We-need-more-cheap-foreign-fishermen

    just like we need more cheap foreign captains

    • Deadly_NZ 15.1
      17 October 2011 at 6:48 pm

      And cheap Prime Mincers.

    • NickS 15.2
      17 October 2011 at 8:14 pm

      Yeah, what the fuck Seafood Industry Council?

      They complain about not being able to recruit crew, but fundamentally they’re likely talking bullshit as the foreign vessels crews are far cheaper. Then there’s this:

      Employers seeking to fill positions on vessels will require candidates to have relevant qualifications and seagoing experience.

      Basically there’s an experience barrier that applies for kiwi’s only, as foreign vessels will merrily pull in people with far less in the way of experience. Making SeaFIC’s claims that:

      “Despite high unemployment it was hard to get New Zealanders to work on fishing boats. “

      Seem rather “untruthful” and an excuse to try and ignore the high unemployment levels in NZ.

      Then there’s this:

      FCV crews do not pay tax or Accident Compensation levies.

      “A tax paying, single New Zealand resident not entitled to any additional tax or welfare assistance would need to earn $37,650 gross ($32,760 net) to be better paid than a crewman on a FCV.”

      Through FCVs, the fishing industry was transferring over $65 million annually to citizens of developing countries.

      As the tui ads put it “Yeah Right”.

      Particularly as the Auckland Uni study indicated that FCV’s significantly underpaid crew, but then SeaFIC, as with many when academic research shines the harsh light of reality on their cherished bullshit, is completely failing to address any of the evidence cited in the study. Instead claiming there’s conveniently “no evidence”.

      And personally, if I could work the hours required without suffering depression induced fatigue and burning out quickly*, I would fucking jump at the chance to earn some semi decent wages whilst being in the perfect environment to not spend wages on stuff right away.

      _________________________
      *3 days medium/light labour, 2 days heavy at this stage before start I crashing out, much shorter if I have insomnia futime. Royal pain in the arse else I’d be probably in fulltime work right now and not stuck on the sickness benefit for the foreseeable next 4 months.

  16. Brett Dale 16
    17 October 2011 at 3:54 pm

    Morrisey:

    New Zealand sport Journos are the worst in the world, they are our version of faux news.

  17. ianmac 17
    17 October 2011 at 4:38 pm

    Fancy a Right wing blogger sticking up for teachers! (Thanks for the tip Millhouse.)
    Cactus Kate is annoyed with a Media Release from Anne Tolley. Kate says, “First she’s just insulted as a group her current teachers for not being “high calibre” and second, more importantly she is equating being a great student with being a great teacher. Which is daft.” And “Imagine Crusher Collins spitting on her Police officers like this? You wouldn’t.” and:
    “I will be the only right-wing blogger brave enough to admit it but I believe New Zealand has the best teachers and best education standards in the world. ”

    http://asianinvasion2006.blogspot.com/2011/10/tolley-spits-on-teachers.html

  18. thejackal 18
    17 October 2011 at 4:42 pm

    National’s Legislative Negligence

    There’s been a lot of side stepping by Steven Joyce recently, on whether National was informed about a lack of any proper legislation that would ensure the cost to clean up after an oil spill is paid for by those responsible…

  19. mik e 19
    17 October 2011 at 5:46 pm

    Joyce the spin Doctor responsible for Nationals “Slick” PR

  20. thejackal 20
    17 October 2011 at 6:51 pm

    National’s Election Hoarding’s 4

    Back in April this year, the associate and acting Minister for Energy and Resources, Hekia Parata spoke in Parliament about New Zealand’s oil spill capabilities…

  21. felix 21
    17 October 2011 at 6:59 pm

    That’s two weeks in a row that Matthew Hooton has ripped Stephen Joyce to bits on Nine To Noon.

    I mean it’s obvious he’s just trying to keep the heat away from Key, but it’s still cute.

    • McFlock 21.1
      17 October 2011 at 7:07 pm

      Not the most efficient deflection – Key isn’t the idiot, he’s the idiot who hires them. 
       
      I guess there’s no labour sex “scandal” they’re keeping in their hip pocket to beat up. Maybe they’re just treading water until next week, which they probably regard as “week zero” for the campaign?

  22. uke 22
    17 October 2011 at 7:04 pm

    The land of free declines further:



    US Hunger rate triple that of China

  23. Draco T Bastard 23
    17 October 2011 at 8:13 pm

    Bluff aluminium smelter on the market

    Long praised for the quality of the aluminium it produces, and propped up for a generation by discounted electricity prices that reflect the fact it uses one-seventh of all the power generated in New Zealand, the smelter at Tiwai Point is also among the older smelters in the Rio Tinto stable.

    So, are we going to do the rational thing and let the subsidy end? We don’t actually have any bauxite in NZ to smelt and so we have to import it. On top of that inefficiency it gets a huge power subsidy that we can’t afford.

    I was wondering if it could be used to smelt titanium but it doesn’t seem to do that and we have mega-tonnes of the stuff so I assume that it can’t. Of course, it could possibly be upgraded to do so.

  24. Salsy 24
    17 October 2011 at 9:24 pm

    Deep sea drilling vessel snuck into New Zealand waters today in preparation for exploration – Anadarko is the company, they part owned the ill fated Deepwater Horizon. Huge police presence and not a whimper from the govt. Appaling. Where the fuck is the media..

    http://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/en/news/blog/police-protect-us-oil-giant-anadarkos-survey-/blog/37357/

    • Draco T Bastard 24.1
      17 October 2011 at 10:17 pm

      Where the fuck is the media..

      Probably informed to stay away. Can’t have it known that our government is using our police to protect a foreign company from peaceful protesters.

  25. Salsy 25
    18 October 2011 at 8:05 am

    Cant have it known that John Key is pushing ahead with oil exploration at a time when its become clear we have no emergency response plan. Perhaps the TPPA prevents us from producing a moratorium or leglislating against these permits now..