Open mike 18/04/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, April 18th, 2013 - 197 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:

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…

197 comments on “Open mike 18/04/2013 ”

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  1. Jenny 1
    18 April 2013 at 6:32 am

    Well done David Clark

    So what could be the next private member’s bill to roll the government?

    How about a private member’s bill to dump the ETS?

    This rotten law is well past its use by date. Exposed by the passing of time to be a provenly completely useless piece of legislation.

    Go to the following link to read the 350 reasons why carbon trading doesn’t work.

    http://www.350reasons.org/350reasons_readonline.pdf

    (And was never meant to work)

    Carbon trading is the single biggest act of green washing in this country.

    The ETS doesn’t cut green house gas emissions. The ETS is in fact and in proven practice a roadblock to making real cuts. We would be better off without it.

    The time has come to get rid of it.

    The government is vulnerable.

    The passing of the Mondayisation bill in the face of stiff government opposition, gives a lead. This bill was the first opposition bill to succeed against the government’s wishes.

    May it be the first of many.

    The ETS has gone on long enough to expose it’s real nature, and true purpose. (New Zealand’s greenhouse emissions have actually risen since its passing)

    Could an opposition bill to dump this dangerous farce, be the next bill to roll the government?

    Could this be the issue that the government facing defeat yet again, decide to make a stand on?

    Facing a repeat defeat in the house, the government could be forced into an early election.

    So which opposition party MP will be the next to step up to the plate, to weaken this government’s hold on power, and do a good for the climate?

  2. Jenny 2
    18 April 2013 at 6:34 am

    P.S. Any attempt at thread jacking by climate change apologists needs to be clamped down on hard.

    If they can’t argue their case. They should not be allowed to sabotage others.

    • lanthanide 2.1
      18 April 2013 at 7:26 am

      🙄

    • muzza 2.2
      18 April 2013 at 8:22 am

      http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/17/canada-geoengineering-pacific

      Where does this sort of activity fit into the discussion for you, Jenny ?

      • Jenny 2.2.1
        19 April 2013 at 6:32 am

        Generally I think that geo-engineering is like offering someone a wheel chair before they have an accident.

        On the individual scale there is no rational reason why anyone would choose to be an invalid. The same on the global scale.

        Far better to avoid the wheelchair and the accident. The science shows that we can still avoid the very worst of effects of climate change if we act now.

        All that is missing is the political will.

    • Ennui 2.3
      18 April 2013 at 9:29 am

      “Clamped down on hard”…..no Jenny, there is enough absolutist authoritarian thinking amongst contributors here. No more required, better to give enough rope and let the buggers hang themselves.

    • QoT 2.4
      18 April 2013 at 7:42 pm

      Interestingly, it’s always been my experience that climate change deniers are stamped on, usually by lprent, who really really hates pseudoscientific bullshit appearing in his playground.

      But for some reason I get this really nagging feeling that you might also define “thread jacking” as “any attempt to point out that, yet again, Jenny is trying to take over Open Mike and slag off the Green Party with nothing to back her up”.

      Just a thought: Mondayisation of public holidays might just be a slightly different political creature to climate change, in terms of insignificant little details like “simplicity of ideas” and “immediate popular appeal” and “level of cost to the government and economy”.

      • lprent 2.4.1
        19 April 2013 at 12:27 am

        Plus I needed a topic to keep my sarcasm/auger skills current – which you have to do by practicing. I picked climate change topics as being perfect for the task because I knew the topic and it wasn’t as boring as programming, management or history… Perfect for the task really. I am pretty constrained as I only really have a good go at the ones who parrot rather than think.

      • Jenny 2.4.2
        19 April 2013 at 7:15 am

        But for some reason I get this really nagging feeling that you might also define “thread jacking” as “any attempt to point out that, yet again, Jenny is trying to take over Open Mike and slag off the Green Party with nothing to back her up”.

        QoT

        Accusations that I am trying to take over open mike by QoT. (If such a thing is possible.) Is unjust. I have something to say. And I usually don’t see where I can fit it in with any of the other debates.

        If QoT disagrees with what I have to say, she has every right, as everyone else has, to point out where I am going wrong. In fact I wish she would.

        What I objected to was the blatant attempt HERE by Colonial Viper to sabotage others who wished to add comments to my open mike post on the Green Party called, Conference On Climate Change. Colonial Viper clearly does not want this topic discussed openly, not in the legislative chamber and not here either. CV may think he is being smart in sabotaging the thread to prevent people commenting. But in fact he is just exposing himself as out of ideas. I find it sad that QoT rushes to defend such tactics and attacks me instead.

        QoT accuses me of having an anti Green Party agenda. That is also unfair, and inaccurate. I point out where I think that they may be going wrong. Just as I would do for Labour or National or any other political party or trend. Her comment is doubly inaccurate and unfair, because if she had read my comment and others relateing to the same topic. She would know that I have been very supportive of the Green Party initiative to call a Conference On Climate Change in the old legislative chamber of Parliament on June 7.

  3. Jenny 3
    18 April 2013 at 6:46 am

    “Carbon trading isn’t some side issue that can we pinch our
    noses and avoid thinking about, it is the global architecture for
    climate policy, pushing aside alternative approaches…and it’s
    proving to be a farce….”

    http://www.350reasons.org/350reasons_readonline.pdf

  4. rosy 4
    18 April 2013 at 6:49 am

    A picture speaks a thousand words apparently.

  5. Morrissey 5
    18 April 2013 at 6:57 am

    Bishop of Auckland says legalizing gay marriage is “bizarre”
    Thursday 18 April 2013

    Following last night’s passing of the Marriage Equality Law, the Catholic bishop of Auckland, the Most Reverend Patrick Dunn immediately denounced the whole thing as “bizarre.”

    His holiness then picked up his crosier, adjusted his mitre, slipped on his purple slippers, and with a whisk of his skirts, flounced off in high indignation back to the Pompallier Centre.

    • Ennui 5.1
      18 April 2013 at 11:40 am

      I like that the Bishop can flounce off having had his say…that is very healthy even if we might not agree. No danger in that so long as we have a separation of church and state….inquisitions don’t really appeal, spiritual or secular.

      • yeshe 5.1.1
        18 April 2013 at 4:01 pm

        but the question remains why do they call them ‘fathers’ and dress them like ‘mothers’ ? More than an errant flounce in there ….

        • karol 5.1.1.1
          18 April 2013 at 4:09 pm

          Trousers are a fairly recent invention throughout history. It requires sewing or some other inventive practices to make them. Ancient Greeks and Romans wore robes. I suspect Bishops’ clothes date back to pre-trouser times.

          • Ennui 5.1.1.1.1
            18 April 2013 at 4:33 pm

            A clue Karol: Ponitfex Maximus, was the title of the High Priest of Ancient Rome and is the title of the Pope today. Dress code the same. Office, well …the same.

            Trousers, very barbarian according to Romans…really good to wear when riding war horses….stops the chafing. Leather shorts, more recent Germanic look, great for wearing to beer fests.

  6. Jenny 6
    18 April 2013 at 7:11 am

    So what other alternative approaches could we be looking at if we dumped the ETS?

    How about this:

    http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-to-power-the-world&page=3

    This time rather than demonstrating how the whole world could go to renewables. Jacobson has laid out a detailed plan for switching to renewables for the state of New York. For which he says:

    “……at least we now know that it’s technically and economically feasible. Whether it actually happens depends on political will.”

    Mark Jacobsen

    In energy generation New Zealand is already 70% part way there. For us, the change would be far easier than New York which relies heavily on coal fired power stations.

    Here in NZ, on their own Tiwai is on the verge of closing, and solid energy our biggest coal producer is on the verge of bankruptcy. It will require only a small nudge for New Zealand to make a world first. Becoming the first country in the world to generate all our electricity from renewables.

    Both Tiwai and Solid Energy can only continue, (if they do continue), with massive taxpayer subsidies.

    Far better that this government largess go into further decarbonising our transport network and industry. This would create many thousands of more well paying jobs than either coal or Tiwai ever could.

    As in New Zealand, As in New York as Mark Jobobsen says all that is missing is the political will.

  7. ianmac 7
    18 April 2013 at 7:31 am

    Proposed law update allows eavesdropping by agencies through telecommunications network providers.
    Kim Dotcom’s company Mega is warily eyeing proposed legislation that may oblige it to open its systems to surveillance by spy agencies the GCSB and SIS as well as the police.
    Makes you wonder if this may be the real reason for the re-organisation of the GCSB?
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10878208

    • Anne 7.1
      18 April 2013 at 8:13 am

      My goodness they do seem to have a personal vendetta against Kim Dotcom. Why’s that I wonder?
      Because he’s upstaged them? Poor little boys and girls. That’s not fair.

      I’m reminded of my formative years… my younger brother threw rolled up socks at me when he was caught out misbehaving as though I was to blame. Believe me rolled up socks can pack a punch too. 🙂

    • mickysavage 7.2
      18 April 2013 at 8:23 am

      Typical behaviour by this Government and straight out of the Crosby Textor rule book.

      When faced by a crisis do the following:

      1. Call for a report.
      2. When it is released say that there is a legal/organisational/structural difficulty.
      3. Allege that something terrible will happen if nothing is done e.g. WMDs will be constructed and detonated downtown.
      4. Propose an omnibus reform package. Make sure that there are a number of changes being made. This will make sure that the one change which will increase violation of Kiwi’s rights slips through with the least amount of oversight.
      5. Keep moving the debate so that attention is diverted from the original crisis.

      • Draco T Bastard 7.2.1
        18 April 2013 at 12:59 pm

        +1

        And it’s not just this government either. We got those terrorism laws under the last government.

    • karol 7.3
      18 April 2013 at 8:38 am

      And there’s a slightly different perspective on this in a Stuff article. It looks like there’s a struggle going on with pressure form some parties for the law to lean more in their favour, or at least, to lean a bit against their rivals. (Telecom named, but are they a proxy for the government?)

      A government plan to force telcos to assist the Government Communications Security Bureau could give a leg-up to their internet-based rivals, including Kim Dotcom’s Mega, says a telecommunications industry executive….

      If the definition of a telecommunications provider was not widened under the act, consumers might be more likely to switch to alternative services provided or planned by other businesses such as Skype, Google and Microsoft or even Mega, that might not be covered by the new law.

      Telecommunications Users Association chief executive Paul Brislen said he feared the Government might put expanding the definition of a telco under the act into the “too-hard basket”, but warned that if they stuck with a narrow definition, it could throw up some aberrations. …

      Mega is developing secure email and instant messaging services that would let users encrypt their communications.

      Chief executive Vikram Kumar said the company would have to obey any new law, but would not be able to help the GCSB decrypt communications between its subscribers because customers themselves held the encryption software on their own computers.

      “If the law is changed so Mega is covered by the act we will have to find a way. [But] I haven’t seen or heard any suggestion from [Adams] that she wants to change the definition of what a telecommunications network operator is,” he said.

      • Ennui 7.3.1
        18 April 2013 at 9:37 am

        Karol, there is existing Legal Intercept legislation that NZ telcos are required to comply to by the authorities (with massive fines for non compliance). From a technical angle so long as the big telcos are controlled the other players in the market don’t really matter in terms of interception. The reason for this is that pretty much all IP packets sent / received in NZ across a WAN link will traverse a major telco switch somewhere in transit. Capturing traffic is easy, making sense of it is another story altogether.

      • ianmac 7.3.2
        18 April 2013 at 10:19 am

        Yes karol. That bit: “Mega is developing secure email and instant messaging services that would let users encrypt their communications.

        Chief executive Vikram Kumar said the company would have to obey any new law, but would not be able to help the GCSB decrypt communications between its subscribers because customers themselves held the encryption software on their own computers.”
        Maybe the GCSB will be able to upgrade their code breaking skills and be a world first to break “the encryption held on their own computers.”

        • ghostrider888 7.3.2.1
          18 April 2013 at 11:38 am

          lol, ianmac

        • Ennui 7.3.2.2
          18 April 2013 at 11:46 am

          Getting logical Mr Mac, encryption is only as good as the amount of computer cycles and time taken to crack it…what might have taken theoretically a million years yesterday might take seconds to decrypt tomorrow. And old information can be just as deadly if not as timely. Its an arms race.

          A clever move might be to pull the plug……..

      • Draco T Bastard 7.3.3
        18 April 2013 at 1:49 pm

        Mega is developing secure email and instant messaging services that would let users encrypt their communications.

        PGP

        Admittedly, it’s a little clumsy to use but it’s the type of stuff that’s been around for a long time. No Mega needed.

    • Colonial Viper 7.4
      18 April 2013 at 8:47 am

      seriously don’t spend too much time worrying about Dotcom, he’s light years ahead of the authorities.

      • yeshe 7.4.1
        18 April 2013 at 10:20 am

        And wonderfully so.

        Now .. what is the 2013 internet equivalent of not picking a fight with someone who buys printer’s ink by the barrel ( Mark Twain) ? Someone who can use pixels by the Petabyte ? (Petabyte: is approximately 1,000 Terabytes or one million Gigabytes. It’s hard to visualize what a Petabyte could hold. 1 Petabyte could hold approximately 20 million 4-door filing cabinets full of text. It could hold 500 billion pages of standard printed text. It would take about 500 million floppy disks to store the same amount of data.)

        Suggestions sought from those geekier than I please 🙂

        • yeshe 7.4.1.1
          18 April 2013 at 10:30 am

          and because these are fun to imagine:

          Exabyte: An Exabyte is approximately 1,000 Petabytes. Another way to look at it is that an Exabyte is approximately one quintillion bytes or one billion Gigabytes. There is not much to compare an Exabyte to. It has been said that 5 Exabytes would be equal to all of the words ever spoken by mankind.

          Zettabyte: A Zettabyte is approximately 1,000 Exabytes. There is nothing to compare a Zettabyte to but to say that it would take a whole lot of ones and zeroes to fill it up.

          Yottabyte: A Yottabyte is approximately 1,000 Zettabytes. It would take approximately 11 trillion years to download a Yottabyte file from the Internet using high-power broadband. You can compare it to the World Wide Web as the entire Internet almost takes up about a Yottabyte.

          Brontobyte: A Brontobyte is (you guessed it) approximately 1,000 Yottabytes. The only thing there is to say about a Brontobyte is that it is a 1 followed by 27 zeroes!

          Geopbyte: A Geopbyte is about 1000 Brontobytes! Not sure why this term was created. I’m doubting that anyone alive today will ever see a Geopbyte hard drive. One way of looking at a geopbyte is 15267 6504600 2283229 4012496 7031205 376 bytes!

          http://www.whatsabyte.com/

        • lprent 7.4.1.2
          18 April 2013 at 11:29 am

          My primary personal home systems are currently up above 10 terabytes, most of it in RAID1 mirrors and about 2TB free out of the useable 5TB. By the time you have multiple copies of compiled code variants strewn around, working copies of video, copies of different bootstrap linuxes, virtualbox disks of many operating systems for testing an old software, daily delta backups of other parts of other hard disks, archives of installations of every program ever purchased or pulled off the net (I have copies of programming editors like brief and compilers from the 80’s like my old logitech modula2), backup copies of all my books music and videos, and even mail systems that span decades – it just mounts up.

          While Lyn has dropped her terabyte ways at home for the present, she must have gotten closer to 20 terabytes of edits and footage when she was doing edits, translations, and shipping variants of her documentary in the office downstairs.

          I find that data fills up whatever space I’m willing to buy. Since standard storage two terabyte HDD is less than $150 these days including GST, and I have a 8 bay hot swappable disk tower with spare room I tend to buy space when required for storage or backups.

          • Ennui 7.4.1.2.1
            18 April 2013 at 11:37 am

            I have often wondered why the hell we keep all this “information”. I know the legals and the system information etc around this BUT (to quote Mr Rotten)………”do you ever get the feeling we you’ve been had”?

        • RJL 7.4.1.3
          18 April 2013 at 2:27 pm

          If every byte was a millimeter, in a Petabyte, you would have a length equivalent to about 7.2 billion Brontosaurus.

          Alternatively, if every byte in a Petabyte was a walnut, you would have a volume equal to about 33.5 million Olympic sized swimming pools.

  8. just saying 8
    18 April 2013 at 8:06 am

    Hi Lprent.
    Just letting you know that when I clicked on a comment from the side panel, it took me back to a post from last year. The comment I was trying to reach was in response to a post from yesterday. Dunno if this means anything, just mentioning it because the last time this sort of thing happened there was quite a big problem.

    • karol 8.1
      18 April 2013 at 8:28 am

      This has been happening to me intermittently for a while – usually once a day at least.

      • Colonial Viper 8.1.1
        18 April 2013 at 8:51 am

        Yep. Quite funny seeing what was going on in 2009 and 2010.

        • Alanz 8.1.1.1
          18 April 2013 at 9:18 am

          Some comments then about the nincompoop JK seemed just so prescient.

          Btw, I suspect that the throwback to old comments happens because at the very moment when I click on the person’s comment, that person is editing what had just being posted??

      • felix 8.1.2
        18 April 2013 at 9:16 am

        Me too. At first I thought my time machine was finally operational but no, it still only goes forward in time.

    • Te Reo Putake 8.2
      18 April 2013 at 9:30 am

      Had that happen to me a couple of days ago. Took me to a comment from Tim Ellis. Where are you now, Tim Tim, nice but dim?

    • Bill 8.3
      18 April 2013 at 10:02 am

      I kind of quite like the random dip into historical posts and kind of hope it isn’t ‘fixed’.

    • lprent 8.4
      18 April 2013 at 12:13 pm

      Most likely the in-memory database query caching running in APC on the results of previous queries.

      It does seem to get somewhat flakey when it has been running for a while (indexing from PHP maybe). I’ve left it running for the last 5 days so I could find out how much fragmentation and size that it gets to (its current half a gig is a little extravagant). It also definitely improves performance both from the in-memory file caching and from the database queries.

      Uptime 4 days, 14 hours and 53 minutes

      Cached Files 528 ( 72.2 MBytes)
      Hits 61894861
      Misses 1398
      Request Rate (hits, misses) 155.04 cache requests/second
      Hit Rate 155.04 cache requests/second
      Miss Rate 0.00 cache requests/second
      Insert Rate 0.00 cache requests/second

      Cached Variables 5984 ( 19.4 MBytes)
      Hits 53067581
      Misses 4401715
      Request Rate (hits, misses) 143.95 cache requests/second
      Hit Rate 132.93 cache requests/second
      Miss Rate 11.03 cache requests/second
      Insert Rate 25.74 cache requests/second

      Fragmentation: 36.13% (151.6 MBytes out of 419.7 MBytes in 3698 fragments)

      But usually the effect you are describing disappears if I get it to drop the cached variables more frequently. I think that it has a issue with whatever the hashing algorithm is. Can’t see why (the code is somewhat turgidly opaque.)

  9. muzza 9
    18 April 2013 at 8:53 am

    The edited Family Guy clip currently circulating is abhorrent,” MacFarlane tweeted. “The event was a crime and a tragedy, and my thoughts are with the victims.”

    When asked by sports announcer Bob Costas about his performance in the [Boston] marathon Peter Griffin says: “I’ll tell ya, Bob, I just got in my car and drove it. And when there was a guy in my way, I killed him.”

    Do the producers of Family Guy not see that showing killings at the Boston Marathon, then in the same episode, depicting terrorists bombings, is what is abhorrant!

    Forget the show aired 3 weeks before the Boston bombs, thats not where I’m taking this one (people can ponder for themselves the role of media/hollywood, in pre-programming, crystal balling)

    Seth MacFarlane has the mindset, to call the editing of two scenes, which were both from the same episode, of his show , abhorrant.

    MacFarlane must take his lead from the same script writers of Obamas speech!

    Twisted!

    • King Kong 9.1
      18 April 2013 at 8:59 am

      The Taliban have put the membership forms in the post Muzza.

    • felix 9.2
      18 April 2013 at 9:14 am

      Does Project Onan have access to a calendar? Might want to get someone higher up the org chart to have a look at the date of that episode.

    • TheContrarian 9.3
      18 April 2013 at 9:27 am

      Muzza, is there any conspiracy theory you don’t believe?

    • muzza 9.4
      18 April 2013 at 10:24 am

      KK –

      Felix – The commentary was about the twisted response of the shows creator, but you already know that too, and have chosen to ignore the obvious deflection, and my references to it!

      TC –

      • felix 9.4.1
        18 April 2013 at 11:03 am

        muzza.

        It only seems a twisted response because you imagined that the show was made after the events at the marathon.

        You were mistaken.

        • muzza 9.4.1.1
          18 April 2013 at 11:11 am

          When was the show aired?

          Where was I mistaken?

          • felix 9.4.1.1.1
            18 April 2013 at 11:32 am

            I don’t know when it aired, but I saw it before the bombings.

            And if I saw it, it had already been made.

            • Colonial Viper 9.4.1.1.1.1
              18 April 2013 at 11:38 am

              Unless you are secretly clairvoyant. Please try to be more thorough in your responses 🙂

              • felix …
                18 April 2013 at 11:46 am

                I’ll do my best 😉

                Oh god what if Seth MacFarlane is in on the whole “bombing” scam?

                • muzza …
                  18 April 2013 at 11:53 am

                  Forget the show aired 3 weeks before the Boston bombs

                  What were you actually on about?

                  • felix …
                    18 April 2013 at 12:10 pm

                    This comment of yours:

                    Guy, I’m the terrorist producer of the edit. Abhorrant Obama!

                    Don’t have a twisted response, dude. It’s made from bits of your comments.

                    • muzza …
                      18 April 2013 at 12:27 pm

                      It only seems a twisted response because you imagined that the show was made after the events at the marathon.

                      You were mistaken.

                      No I wasn’t – We’ve established that, much as you have tried to deflect it!

                      Time to ask Voice to borrow the Bobcat, you’re going to need a bigger hole too!

                    • felix …
                      18 April 2013 at 12:33 pm

                      muzza you’re insane.

                      There’s nothing twisted about MacFarlane’s response to you editing his film.

                    • muzza …
                      18 April 2013 at 12:52 pm

                      The hypocrisy and deflection of MacFarlane is blinding, can you see that, felix?

                    • felix …
                      18 April 2013 at 12:52 pm

                      No. The stupidity of you is vast and omnipotent.

                    • muzza …
                      18 April 2013 at 1:12 pm

                      What can’t you see about MacFarlanes hypocrisy/deflection, felix?

                    • felix …
                      18 April 2013 at 1:44 pm

                      Go on then. Describe the hypocrisy.

                    • muzza …
                      18 April 2013 at 1:54 pm

                      The response to a question, sits with you for now…

                  • felix …
                    18 April 2013 at 2:27 pm

                    Jolly good muzza, if you don’t want to say what you’re so upset about (i.e. specifically what is the hypocrisy you perceive) then why should I give a shit?

                    meh.

                    • ghostrider888 …
                      18 April 2013 at 3:11 pm

                      😀 “I wanta’ be a cowboy, and you can be my cowgirl”

                    • freedom …
                      18 April 2013 at 3:38 pm

                      before heading off to the green hills of the Tararuas this morning to labour under a lovely blue sky, I considered replying to muzza’s first comment,
                      so glad i resisted.

                      I first thought he was complaining about a very sensible decision but then realised he is just not a fan of Family Guy and there is no talking to those people 🙂

                    • muzza …
                      18 April 2013 at 3:55 pm

                      Nice one felix, that’s a petulant response – I’ve made my position on the hypocrisy, clear, and you’ve thrown the toys out of your cot, because you’ve nothing else to offer, and are cogent enough to know when you’ve cornered yourself!

                      Freedom, actually I think FG is hilarious – MacFarlanes hypocrisy, not so much..

                      Perhaps MacFarlane should not have allowed the content to exist in his show in the first place, then there would not have been two scenes for him to claim *abhorrence*, about being merged together eh.

                      Enjoy the trip, and the work…

                    • felix …
                      18 April 2013 at 4:19 pm

                      What hypocrisy muzza? You haven’t said squat except that you think some exists.

                      I’m happy to chat about hypocrisy as soon as you point it out. Until then maybe you’d like this one better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1nrmdft5tk

                      edit I just saw your comment above. Are you fucking serious? You’re pretty much arguing for no-one to ever make any film or tv show or record or create anything whatsoever lest it be recontextualised.

                      If you disagree then give an example of something you’ll allow and I’ll show you why you cant.

                      I take back the violent femmes song, you really are a fucking idiot.

                    • muzza …
                      18 April 2013 at 4:42 pm

                      And more insults, awesome, felix…

                      You’re pretty much arguing for no-one to ever make any film or tv show or record or create anything whatsoever lest it be recontextualised.

                      No, what I’m saying is that MacFarlane should have kept his mouth shut (to avoid being sounding like a hypocrite), as the content came from, his show!

                    • Te Reo Putake …
                      18 April 2013 at 4:49 pm

                      What hypocrisy, muz? No one else can see any, so take pity on us mere mortals and spell it out.

                    • Ennui …
                      18 April 2013 at 8:08 pm

                      To ghostrider888 
my name is Ted, one day I’ll be dead, yo yo….great guitar solo.

            • Te Reo Putake 9.4.1.1.1.2
              18 April 2013 at 11:47 am

              http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turban_Cowboy

              I saw it too, felix, on Sky, about 3 weeks ago, presumably a week or so after it aired in the states.

              Muzza’s faux outrage is via a beatup on Alex Jones’s show ‘Your Conspiracies Today’* and Jones appears to have thought that the heavily modified clip doing the rounds on the net was a genuine excerpt from the Family Guy ep, that somehow predicted the bombings. It’s not, it’s just a prank to try and get nutters to think Hollywood was in on the supposed Boston Marathon false flag black op.

              Luckily nobody here at the Standard is stupid enough to fall for that sort of … oh … wait …

              Victory is mine!

              * may not be the actual name of the show.

              • TheContrarian …
                18 April 2013 at 11:50 am

                Muzza never met a conspiracy he didn’t like

                • Te Reo Putake …
                  18 April 2013 at 11:52 am

                  Except the real one on 9/11.

                  • TheContrarian …
                    18 April 2013 at 11:54 am

                    The one where 19 highjackers conspired with a radical Islamic terror group?

                    • Te Reo Putake …
                      18 April 2013 at 12:26 pm

                      Yeah, that’s the one. But, apparently, a genuine conspiracy to attack the States by a bunch of religious fanatics isn’t good enough for some right wing fantasists and their naive followers.

              • muzza …
                18 April 2013 at 12:09 pm

                What are you referencing Alex Jones for?

                Poor attempt to scrape yourself up off the floor from yesterday, Voice!

                The faux outrage, you’re looking, in fact came from Seth MacFarlane, which was my contention, or do you have comprehension issues as well!

                Another fail, from you!

                • Te Reo Putake …
                  18 April 2013 at 12:22 pm

                  Um, if you think I was on the canvas yesterday, then it’s you with the comprehension prob’s Muzza. Like we didn’t already know that, ho ho!

                  MacFarlane rightly condemned the deliberate (mis) editing of the show in a clip designed to fool idiots. Jones was apparently the first to be suckered but obviously not the last.

                  • muzza …
                    18 April 2013 at 12:33 pm

                    Your problems with IRONY yesterday, speak for themselves, and it seems like today you’re headed for further trouble today, with your support of MacFarlanes blatant hypocrisy, and attempted diversion away from the content of, HIS show!

                    Like we didn’t already know that, ho ho!

                    Only ever speak for yourself!

                    • Te Reo Putake …
                      18 April 2013 at 12:41 pm

                      MacFarlanes complaint is that someone distorted the clip to make it seem other than it was in the show. In other words, they lied for effect. And you’ve bought the lie, yet again. Silly Muzza.

                      edit: just seen felix’s comment above. Illustrates the process perfectly.

                    • muzza …
                      18 April 2013 at 1:10 pm

                      No voice, you have serious comprehension (at best) issues, I was not talking about the pasting of the two scenes (which were in the show).

                      I’ll try spell it out simply enough for you:

                      1: The content was in an episode of McFarlanes show – Family Guy

                      2: The show aired on March 17 in USA

                      3: The show had a scene where Peter Griffen answers a question about his killing/injuring of people, driving his car, to win the Boston Marathon

                      4: The show had a scene which *insinuated* Peter Griffen activated two explosions using a cell phone

                      5: The two scenes were not consecutive, in the aired tv episode

                      6: Someone(s) edited those two scenes together to make it appear as if they were consecutive, this was on the internet.

                      7: The editing of the scenes prompted the *abhorrant* comment from MacFarlane, and was supported by the MSM

                      8: MacFarlanes hypocrisy, prompted the original post from myself

                      9: Yourself, and felix, have attempted to turn it around.

                      10: Yourself and felix, have again failed, it would appear deliberately – benefit of doubt to you both.

                      Keep trying TRP – You’re going need to upgrade the Bobcat to something which can dig a hole big enough for both you, and felix!

                    • McFlock …
                      18 April 2013 at 2:22 pm

                      Muzza,
                      You do realise that Family Guy heavily uses cutaways, where the context of the cutaway scene is often completely irrelevant to the wider plot and connected by the most tenuous or artificial segue? Thus the fact that they might be in the same episode does not mean that they are in any way connected?

                      Or are you complaining that McFarlane claimed to be sensitive to the victims of the Boston bombings, but not the Middle Eastern victims he stereotyped in the episode?

                      Once again, your refusal to explicitly state what you are outraged about or implying leads to confusion that serves only to make others think you are insane. The fact people don’t easily get what you’re talking about doesn’t mean you are smart. It means you can’t communicate for shit.

                    • Ennui …
                      18 April 2013 at 4:25 pm

                      Muzza, forget this thread, but please tell me, why oh lord why would anybody watch Family Guy (or any other recent US shitcom) and be able to quote from it? Life is passing you by, you need rescuing.

                      I think you and I need to turn off the telee and head for the pub. Its far funnier and it is live. We can observe the actors on their own stage.

                    • Te Reo Putake …
                      18 April 2013 at 4:51 pm

                      Ennui, you have to be 18 to go to the pub.

                    • muzza …
                      18 April 2013 at 8:18 pm

                      Hey Ennui – I don’t watch tv, but have done in the past, these days if I have the box on, its only to watch a movie, otherwise I could just as easily not have a tv at all.

                      Appreciate the sentiment, life is certainly not passing me by, although it is somewhat slower than it used to be, by being back in NZ. Felt like I’ve crammed a few lives in already, and am enjoying the change of pace, and not being right in the middle of madness.

                      This is entertainment for me, and as much as I know I should drop it, I find merit in some of the posts, there is often an interesting angle ot two around the place.

                      That said though, at the core, its really a running commentary of the demise of this country, and in many ways is like a tv drama I guess, one I keep coming back to.

                      I’ll get bored with it eventually, or perhaps I have to break my crack addiction, until that happens, my posts will continue to rile the natives I expect, even though I’m just putting up what seems interesting/relevant to me, even though its relatively low key most the time.

                      Take it easy bro.

                    • McFlock …
                      18 April 2013 at 8:23 pm

                      So now you’re not even running a personal experiment, just trolololollling…

                    • Ennui …
                      18 April 2013 at 8:30 pm

                      Muzz That said though, at the core, its really a running commentary of the demise of this country, and in many ways is like a tv drama I guess, one I keep coming back to.

                      So true, the gift of circumspect is handed to so few. Drinks are on me.

          • ghostrider888 9.4.1.1.2
            18 April 2013 at 3:14 pm

            was gonna say “by God, alone shall judge…” but you seem a bit occupied at the moment.
            😀

    • ianmac 9.5
      18 April 2013 at 10:27 am

      Can’t help thinking of the daily bomb attacks in Iraq, nor the mayhem and disrespect to civilians by the invading armies. The legacy of the USA invasion in particular is the daily loss of hundreds of kids, and mums and dads. It is awful for the Boston victims but more awful for the more numerous victims in places like Iraq.

  10. burt 10
    18 April 2013 at 9:55 am

    Schools demand cash to gain support… How well this zone system works to make sure that we don’t have a two tier education system… wonderful that if you can afford prime real estate you can afford to attend a more desirable school…

    Socialism … failing again… like always.

    • Colonial Viper 10.1
      18 April 2013 at 10:21 am

      That;s why its important to have social housing in every suburb Burt.

      Notice that’s what your Tory mates have been busily getting rid of? Blame yourself for the failings you point out, Mr Clever.

      • framu 10.1.1
        18 April 2013 at 12:32 pm

        i still cant figure out why only rich people being able to afford expensive houses and private schools is a failure of socialism

        whats that phrase about something rising and lifting all boats?

        • burt 10.1.1.1
          18 April 2013 at 1:42 pm

          The failure of socialism is pretending we are all the same … using boundaries drawn around suburbs to limit access to schools so that schools don’t become elite by people having the funds to buy into schools… They just buy into a neighbourhood instead – socialists think their zoning system works – it just makes real estate the proxy for limiting entry rather than school fees.

          Socialists put their hands over their ears and sing la la la la – our system works to stop schools being exclusive… Dim-bulbs .

          • framu 10.1.1.1.1
            18 April 2013 at 4:19 pm

            silly me – i thought zoning was about efficient use of funding and resources and ensuring that if the govt spent money building a school they could quantify how many students are likely to go

            and thats just the schools – we havent even got to issues such as transport, community cohesion etc etc

            never realised it was a socialist uber plot

            “it just makes real estate the proxy for limiting entry rather than school fees”

            HA HA – but according to your definition of socialist burt – they want everyone to be the same – so wouldnt house prices AND school fees be the same regardless of where you lived?

            • burt 10.1.1.1.1.1
              18 April 2013 at 11:56 pm

              If all houses were the same … All teachers were the same and all kids had the same attitude and aptitude for learning we would have Draco’s perceived reality… We don’t… Get real and face it… Real estate is a proxy for school fees – it’s the way it is… If you want to get into Auckland Grammar then you got to be able to afford the real estate… Sorry, its the reality and no amount of ideology about how you want it to be will change that.

      • burt 10.1.2
        18 April 2013 at 1:40 pm

        Right… can’t have it both ways CV… 1 $1m state house in an exclusive suburb or 2 $500K houses in less expensive suburbs… 4 $250K houses might be more appealing…

        What’s your objective ??? More housing or social engineering ?

        • framu 10.1.2.1
          18 April 2013 at 1:43 pm

          i thought you were talking about school zoning being a failure of socialism – i think

          your net being very clear burt

        • McFlock 10.1.2.2
          18 April 2013 at 2:02 pm

          Avoiding the creation or exacerbation of socio-economic schisms and ghetto-isation is not “social engineering”. It’s the avoidance of such.

          • burt 10.1.2.2.1
            19 April 2013 at 12:18 am

            That’s a fair comment. But tell me how do state house tenants get chosen for exclusive neighbourhoods ? Ballot – game of chance ?

            Perhaps families with academically high achieving children could be allocated houses in zones with schools that have better results according to the ERO? Perhaps that could be flipped on its head and families with academically high achieving children could be allocated into school zones with poorer ERO ratings in some form of social engineering game to actually achieve the great socialist dream that all schools are equal ?

            Sure I get it that large clusters of lower socioeconomic families in poor quality and crowded housing is a disaster. But there is also the reality that there is only so much money available to build state houses and its simply not sensible to build them in prime real estate to fulfil some grand socialist dream of creating a utopia where everyone lives the same… That’s been tried before and never worked ….

            • felix 10.1.2.2.1.1
              19 April 2013 at 12:55 am

              “That’s a fair comment. But tell me how do state house tenants get chosen for exclusive neighbourhoods ? Ballot – game of chance ?”

              Same as it happens now then – from the child’s point of view that is.

              • burt …
                19 April 2013 at 7:11 am

                felix

                I guess if children were the ones who made government policy rather than government policy was made to appeal to people who refuse to grow up – then the current policy would make sense. Pity it’s pitched at a level where only thinking adults can see the unintended consequences of it hurts both themselves and their children.

                • felix …
                  19 April 2013 at 7:27 am

                  Seriously though, if this is about giving kids a better chance to grow up with better opportunities, then it’s a ballot or a game of chance now.

                  Whether kids grow up in a ghettoised part of Manurewa or somewhere with more on offer is nothing more than an accident of birth.

                  A ballot system to assign more kids to grow up in other parts of town can only be an improvement on the current lottery.

                  • burt …
                    19 April 2013 at 10:03 pm

                    That’s it in a nutshell isn’t it. Accepting that life is a lottery and that its never equal. That the very nature of life is unfair – then somehow pretending it should be and putting window dressing on it to feel good we have done our best as happy socialists writing the wrongs in a game we have no enduring control over.

                    Makes you feel better – achieves noting. Happy days pretending ideology solves the problem with your head so far up your ass you believe you made an enduring difference because you wish you could.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      19 April 2013 at 10:06 pm

                      Man created civilised communities burt.

                      The fact that you deliberately ignore that while benefitting directly from it marks you as a shite.

                    • burt …
                      19 April 2013 at 11:03 pm

                      You know nothing of what I give to and what I take from society. But it’s ok that you assume what you assume. You support and believe in a failed ideology so your a lost case to humanity anyway.

                    • felix …
                      20 April 2013 at 6:32 pm

                      “That the very nature of life is unfair – then somehow pretending it should be and putting window dressing on it to feel good we have done our best as happy socialists writing the wrongs in a game we have no enduring control over.”

                      Tell me burt, have you ever done anything to improve the condition you were born into or are you still naked and shivering?

                      Do you live in a house or do you sleep rough because ‘fuck that, we can’t change anything’?

                      Those are serious questions btw. Because you seem to be saying that we as humans are incapable of altering anything about our material existence and I think that’s self-evidently false.

                      “Makes you feel better – achieves noting.”

                      It achieves everything we’ve ever achieved ever.

                      This idea of yours that every unfairness we’re born into must be rigourously enforced and maintained until death is abhorrent to humanity itself.

                      If what you’ve written here is your sincerely held view then I truly pity you burt.

    • Draco T Bastard 10.2
      18 April 2013 at 1:57 pm

      wonderful that if you can afford prime real estate you can afford to attend a more desirable school


      But it’s not actually a better school so, basically, idiots with too much money are throwing it away.

      Socialism – showing up the stupidity of rich pricks – again.

      • burt 10.2.1
        18 April 2013 at 2:09 pm

        Yes they are so stupid they earn more, have more assets and make more deliberate choices in the best interests of their children…

        If only they knew they just had to let it go and be happy socialists.

        • Draco T Bastard 10.2.1.1
          18 April 2013 at 3:51 pm

          If the system was more equal then they wouldn’t be earning any more. That’s the bit that you and the other RWNJs fail to realise.

          The rich really aren’t any better than any one else. Usually, they’re more sociopathic though.

          • burt 10.2.1.1.1
            18 April 2013 at 6:43 pm

            Repeat after me… we are all individuals… we must all earn the same… none are more important than others… follow the leader you have chosen while you repeat this…

            • Draco T Bastard 10.2.1.1.1.1
              18 April 2013 at 7:00 pm

              burt, I’m an anarchist and thus don’t believe in leaders, don’t believe that we’re all the same and I also don’t believe that the market rewards accurately:

              Hospital cleaner = worth 11 times what they’re paid
              Financiers = worth minus seven times what they’re paid

              My nephew is a carpenter, gets paid about $30/hour + GST. And yet I’ve seen him looking up the regulations for building and advising people on them. So, why doesn’t he get paid the same as a lawyer as a) he’s doing the same work and b) he knows the building codes a hell of a lot better than any lawyer I’ve ever met. On top of that he even builds houses that don’t leak.

              Your belief in the market and that people are paid what they’re worth is delusional.

              • TheContrarian …
                18 April 2013 at 7:23 pm

                “a) he’s doing the same work”

                What utter bullshit. Do you really believe that? I saw my auntie bandage my cousins wound once and advise him on how to keep the wound clean. Why she doesn’t earn the same as a doctor? Fuck knows eh, Draco?

                While I can accept the current economic paradigm is broken at best your response is, in itself, as flawed, utopian and unworkable as any other. Yet you hoist yourself as the pure voice of reason. And you call other delusional? You are as bad as the rest.

                • Draco T Bastard …
                  19 April 2013 at 12:21 am

                  Do you really believe that?

                  It’s a slight exaggeration but if people don’t take his advice they find that they’ve broken the law, which means that the thousands that they’ve just spent is worthless and that building they just had built/renovated is due for a hell of a lot of work to bring it up to code.

                  And I’m constantly amazed at the people who don’t take his advice. I suspect they’re like you and don’t think that a builder knows what he’s talking about as far as the laws go.

                  Why she doesn’t earn the same as a doctor? Fuck knows eh, Draco?

                  Because she doesn’t have 20 years of experience and knowledge of being a doctor?

                • weka …
                  19 April 2013 at 12:51 am

                  “I saw my auntie bandage my cousins wound once and advise him on how to keep the wound clean. Why she doesn’t earn the same as a doctor?”

                  Because wound care and education about wound care is a nurse’s job (far too lowly for a doctor). And why do nurses get paid so much less than doctors?

                  • Colonial Viper …
                    19 April 2013 at 12:57 am

                    Nurse practitioners should be paid between $80K and $100K pa

                    • burt …
                      19 April 2013 at 7:15 am

                      CV

                      Should be paid xyz… Very Muldoonesq in your prescription of price control. The old school blue team would be so proud that their legacy of dictatorship mentality has survived and been re-born under the red flag you now support.

        • framu 10.2.1.2
          18 April 2013 at 4:22 pm

          you heard it here first folks – if your rich, your choices are more deliberate

          • burt 10.2.1.2.1
            18 April 2013 at 6:42 pm

            framu

            Plenty of people go without a lot to move into a zone “deliberately” so they can get their kids into that school.

            If as a lefty you are happy that real estate prices associated with the school they choose makes them prioritise away other choices then fine.. believe they should just be happy with the school the government “allocates” them to via the real estate they can afford.

            • Draco T Bastard 10.2.1.2.1.1
              18 April 2013 at 7:02 pm

              The school that their children will go to will be equally as good as the ones the rich want their children to go to. That’s the bit that you don’t seem to get. I’ll put it simply for you:

              It doesn’t matter which school the child goes to they will get the same quality education*.

              * Except that NACT are doing their best to destroy the educational system.

              • burt …
                19 April 2013 at 7:20 am

                Draco

                The ERO would beg to differ with your utopian view. Funny that in a state run system where everything is apparently the same there is a state run department dedicated to measuring and reporting the differences. I guess it’s the way we manage it because if we can’t measure it we can’t manage it – but wake up… The fact we measure and report differences tells us that its not the same irrespective of where you go – that’s its a struggle to try and create uniformity. Do you have intellectual issues grasping that we are not all the same or do you just let your ideology so completely override reality that you are blinded by it ?

                • Draco T Bastard …
                  19 April 2013 at 11:43 am

                  Yes, the whole point of measuring is so that those that are falling behind can make the necessary changes to become better. Throw in continuous teacher development as well and the end result is that the teaching quality of the schools is near uniform.

                  The reason why the rich like to go to certain schools has nothing to do with the teaching and everything to do with the social networking – as John Key himself said at one point.

  11. Colonial Viper 11
    18 April 2013 at 10:30 am

    US senate fails to pass expanded gun background checks legislation; amendment to ban assault weapons also fails.

    Basically the US political system is fucked. And we are following their lead???

    • Draco T Bastard 11.1
      18 April 2013 at 2:00 pm

      Basically the US political system is fucked. And we are following their lead???

      Yes and yes and the reason why we’re following the US down the Rabbit Hole is because a few people want our political system to fail as it benefits them.

  12. johnm 12
    18 April 2013 at 10:45 am

    It’s time to bury not just Thatcher – but NeoLiberalism

    “Which is what the facts show. Far from saving Britain, Thatcher’s government delivered rampant inequality, social breakdown, disastrous financial deregulation, pulverising deindustrialisation and mass unemployment. A North Sea oil bonanza was frittered away on tax cuts for the wealthy and a swollen benefits bill as public services were run down, child poverty escalated and social mobility ground to a halt.”

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/16/bury-not-just-thatcher-but-thatcherism

    • johnm 12.1
      18 April 2013 at 11:29 am

      The Right wing class warrior Thatcher is unlamented by the ordinary brit who have suffered under her and continue to do so with her legacy:

      When Maggie Thatcher dies we’re gonna have a party – Liverpool vs Sunderland – YouTube
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_uHxX8DQXY&feature=youtu.be

      The cuts get personal
      https://witness.guardian.co.uk/assignment/516beb30e4b046e93b9623d2

      Key is trying to create more of the same here by copying the iniquitous policies of Cameron.

      • Ennui 12.1.1
        18 April 2013 at 11:54 am

        I watched Maggie’s cortege on the teev, her box was dragged (the upper class twits would say “drawn”) along the Strand to St Pauls by some rather magnificent horses. Pomp, circumstance, ceremony and bored horses. The steeds stole the show, they were biting one another, one shaking its head vociferously at the military band in its way. Unfortunately they did not get out of hand and bolt away: shame.

        • McFlock 12.1.1.1
          18 April 2013 at 2:25 pm

          Well, sunset was coming and they were afraid maggie would be thirsty.
          Horses can sense these things, you know…

      • johnm 12.1.2
        18 April 2013 at 5:18 pm

        “The forced mourning and the military trappings is of course an ideological, propaganda stunt by the British state. In the face of public opposition to the stately honoring of Thatcher, today’s proceedings smack of dictatorship by Britain’s ruling elite. The occasion – paid for by the austerity-clobbered British taxpayer – is also being seen as an indulgence in British jingoism and imperialism.”

        Thatcher gets funeral fit for a dictator

        http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/04/17/298771/thatcher-gets-funeral-fit-for-a-dictator/

        with British statecraft subtly elevating the pillars of the British state – class oppression and militarism.

    • ianmac 13.1
      18 April 2013 at 11:50 am

      A lot to read Jim. Compelling. It reads like a grim documentary and in due course the good people, the parents, the teachers and the kids will win. The legal weight on the side of justice will prevail.
      But that doesn’t happen. Insidious and nasty. The thin highly financed wedge.
      And could it happen here? Not in the same way perhaps but read the number of times we read the words, “The schools are run by selfish teachers who are just there to protect their own interests and resist improvements,” and “Clearly Privatisation of the schools in failing neighbourhoods will boost the learning of failing kids.”
      So far I have heard not one word about exactly what specific actions will be taken to help these kids and since the Partnership schools will be hidden from scrutiny we might never know..

      • ianmac 13.1.1
        18 April 2013 at 12:04 pm

        Oh dear. Peter Dunne will not support the Charter School Bill, but the Maori Party will. Enough to pass the Bill.

        • Pascal's bookie 13.1.1.1
          18 April 2013 at 12:12 pm

          Apparently the mP has only committed to voting yes on the second reading. Some hope yet.

  14. ghostrider888 14
    18 April 2013 at 11:54 am

    from around the traps;
    from CL that Susan Devoy is a great source of clinical material

    on why I got the job- “I’ve been looking for a role for a while now”. “Somebody just called me, I can’t recall their name….” (John Keys sister by another mother?)

    “Strengths and Weaknesses” (that is one foolish flip-flopping person)
    waxed on about “disability, mental health, health’, yet not race initially, shifting race around to issues faced by europeans as well.
    then,
    (has been doing some cocoa reading) “I think that the biggest issues the country is facing are “structural”. You don’t say.
    “bias of the people who make the decisions…we need to inform, re-educate the public about the treaty…” Yup!

    Manu-“it is a promise of two people to take care of each other” which Devoy acknowledges we have not done. then a small concession “fault is on our part.” followed by “there are many poor white people”…”need a little bit of movement from both sides”…”sigh, it’s not gonna be easy”…plug…”for better public services”.
    Isn’t the role Race Relations Commissioner, or is she morphing into the Human Rights, Disability, Health and poor white people commissioner?

    • Ennui 14.1
      18 April 2013 at 12:03 pm

      Great interview…the interesting thing was her linking race relations to social issues…no doubting her well meaning approach is genuine. She seemed oblivious to her laying bare social realities and the disconnect of her world view to these. This clearly demonstrated the failure of the ideology of those who appointed her to the role. In doing so it laid bare the intellectual vacuity underpinning the appointment.

      As for Sue, I wish her luck, she will need it, at heart I am sure, like Maggie she means well.

  15. infused 15
    18 April 2013 at 12:09 pm

    This will blow your mind:

    http://imgur.com/a/sUrnA

  16. ghostrider888 16
    18 April 2013 at 12:15 pm

    Bah rain, what else have we seen overnight;

    -“Sheep and beef farming is not in good shape (from the farmers themselves)
    gonna try “Quality” as the point of difference on the international meat markets, again.
    that is if they can discern who are the ‘Bitumen Bandits” laying sh*tty driveways; have you ever seen anything so foolish from otherwise, hardworking businessmen. Wow, just wow, and very sad.

    on vaccination programs-“there is just not enough information in the population about vaccines.”
    even now, in the information age; if not now, then freakin’ when???

    h/t to framu; the form may change yet the consistency remains.

    and from vto a h/t to you all; a generous “tops of their field” accolade; very generous indeed.

    Yes, john key is a cunningly instinctive chap; that is why we understand him relatively easily; he is not some “higher man” at all; Helen Clark was way stronger than he is.

    that “Worlds Deadliest Roads” must appeal to the local Road Transport industry, particular consideration given to the camera angles and shots

    soooo, former recidivist immigration fraudster moves to the Phillipines, couldn’t repay a debt, gets 20 years (he looked about 60 anyway) and then the tele people get involved in his liberation???

    “Sir” Francois Botha! Whatever. boxing is becoming a WWE-like farce; “shameless” even according to “Sir” Bob Jones. 🙂 (he’d been drinking wine before his appearance on Seven Sharp)

    KASM “Kiwis Against Seabed Mining”; on mining for the iron-ore black-sands “if this goes ahead the world has gone mad” ; ya don’t say. (the corporates are getting desperate for resources now indeed).

  17. ghostrider888 17
    18 April 2013 at 12:33 pm

    form 360o and even rounder;
    authority on media and gender construction (was fading by then, it is on soooo late)
    “we are living in a sexualized age”…”this stuff that is out there is very problematic”…”and if you are surrounded by it.”
    According to the Netsafe CEO, focus groups have found 3/4 of young people know how to get around content filters.

    KPMG : bank profits up 10% for the DEC Q. 800M schamolies.

    and, and, just when you thought the public pillories (stocks 😉 ) from the Herald were a new journalistic low, along comes Garth McVicar and the SST ‘Judge The Judges website!
    Finlayson and him live on RNZ; very revealing indeed.
    Finlayson-“they should can this website”
    may provoke “an escalation of personal attacks on judges”; see the Bye Bye Birdy campaign 😉 in California destroyed a judge’s career (they were light on sentencing).
    Finlayson just had to humour McVicar who appears to have no appreciation of the supervision and review the juduciary comes under as it is; does he think they are autonomous or something? FFS!

  18. Jokerman 18
    18 April 2013 at 12:47 pm

    after the net, the television can appear so slow, yet it pays to check in and see what the dominant narratives (stories are),
    other than the ‘Richards” it is usually, “and who today is being oppressed by the Taliban / sharia”.

    Rip the stories to shreds.
    it is not necessary for the advanced thinkers around here to explicate every point or examine the validity of every construct; we see people frequently using constructs fluidly as part of the design.

    By the good Lord, that CT was marching out the anglo-saxon flag down Bowalley Road; he comes and goes like that Viking Guy; it may be a little late to be lifting the draw-bridge to the motte-and -bailey.

    see, these farmers, when the payout is high, they spend the money in advance, paying down debt likely, then ride on in the lean times; ride on the provincial economies “you can’t spend what you don’t have” says one cocky spokesman; thus the usual, yet worsening, significant eefect on small towns (and then we see Mrs Farmer in Pak n Save)

  19. Rogue Trooper 19
    18 April 2013 at 1:06 pm

    Magnolia make some good movies like Magnolia, like Hopscotch, like,like American Beauty

    Tyrannosaur
    (“we’ve got a present for yee, home-made, covert”) some movies you see twice (wanna see some familiar anger, something primitive) People can be be not much better than animals at times.
    This is a very moving, yet violent film; one of the better “kitchen sink” ala Mike Leigh looks at council-estate type living.

    A Black Dog Barking
    Machine Gun Blues
    form The General Electric

  20. ianmac 20
    18 April 2013 at 3:20 pm

    Costs for a person on the dole searching for a job Versus Cabinet Minister searching for a job.

    Trade Minister Tim Groser’s international travel costs soared to almost $250,000 in the first three months of this year as he hit the international traps to lobby for support for his bid to be the Director General of the World Trade Organisation.

    Mr Groser was formally nominated by New Zealand as a contender for the job in December last year, although it was publicly revealed he hoped to go for it at the end of August.
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10878297

  22. ghostrider888 22
    18 April 2013 at 3:54 pm

    on judging the judges
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10878204
    (don’t these SST people just seem silly?)

  23. ghostrider888 23
    18 April 2013 at 4:04 pm

    on NZ Housing Stocks
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8567572/Kiwis-shivering-in-damp-and-cramped-homes
    Jesus Wept; and the tories wonder why working people can so dislike them. FFS, reading the news is like watching a car on a level crossing and the diesel-electric ain’t slowing down; even Winston agrees in todays Herald, “we have lost our place”.

  26. Te Reo Putake 26
    18 April 2013 at 4:45 pm

    The Miners’ union is spot on about the need for corporate manslaughter laws. PRC killed 29 men and the individuals responsible won’t even have to pay so much as a fine, let alone go to jail.

    The press release:

    The EPMU has welcomed the Greymouth District Court’s decision to find Pike River Coal Ltd guilty of serious health and safety breaches and is calling for the sentencing judge to impose the maximum penalty.

    EPMU assistant national secretary Ged O’Connell says the sentencing judge should throw the book at Pike River Coal.

    “It’s a matter of public record that the people running Pike River Coal put production over the safety of their workforce, leading directly to the deaths of 29 men.

    “This is the most serious breach of our workplace health and safety laws in at least a generation and the sentence must reflect the gravity of the crime. We would expect to see no less than the maximum fine levelled, as well as reparations for the families of the 29 miners.”

    Mr O’Connell says the case also shows the need for changes to the law.

    “The reality is Pike River Coal is now little more than a shell company that’s now in receivership. The accountability must lie with the directors and management who actually made the decisions.

    “Pike River Coal’s directors should not be able to hide behind shabby legal structures and carry on as if nothing ever happened. It’s time we had corporate manslaughter laws and personal liability for directors so we can hold those responsible accountable for their actions.

    “New Zealand’s miners and their families also need to see the recommendations of the Pike River Royal Commission implemented as soon as possible and we encourage the Government to carry on its good work putting this into action.”

  28. Morrissey 28
    18 April 2013 at 6:27 pm

    “The victims’ rights advocate Garth McVicar”
    Jim Mora plumbs a new low
    The Panel, Radio New Zealand National, Thursday 18 April 2013
    Jim Mora, Michael Deaker, Irene Gardiner

    A few weeks ago, NewstalkZB listeners enjoyed the delicious treat of hearing Janet Wilson indulge in a thinly coded tirade against her husband Bill Ralston. Under the pretext of a critique of Kevin Rudd, she snarled that “he” (ostensibly Kevin Rudd) was “rude, moody and controlling.” As she developed her analysis of “Kevin Rudd”, her voice wound up to a pitch indicative of real psychic pain; any astute listener realized that this was a woman on the edge of clinical hysteria.

    This afternoon, National Radio listeners were treated to another coded attack, this time on someone even more odious than Janet Wilson’s husband. The target of today’s roundabout but unmistakeable criticism was the hateful S.S. Trust fĂŒhrer Garth “The Knife” McVicar….

    JIM MORA: It has been announced today that there is a new website to critique the judges in our courts. Just before we speak to the victims’ rights advocate Garth McVicar, we’ll see what our Panelists think. So, is it a good idea?

    IRENE GARDINER: I don’t think this is a very good idea at all.

    MICHAEL DEAKER: This sounds like a group for those people who think they know better than everyone else, the ignorant, the vengeful and the kind of people who are on talk radio in the small hours of the morning.

    JIM MORA: It sounds like he’s talking about you, Garth!

    Of course, McVicar is too dull and insensate to even register a full-frontal assault, leave alone an oblique one like that handed out by Michael Deaker. He merely plowed on with his sub-moronic version of reality. But the comments were made, and did something to balance up Mora’s outrageous definition of McVicar, that monstrous hypocrite, as a “victims’ rights advocate.”

    A very small victory for the forces of decency, but a victory nonetheless. Well done, Michael Deaker.

    Click the following link to see my take on Janet Wilson’s tirade against her husband….
    http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-22032013/#comment-607420

    • Te Reo Putake 28.1
      18 April 2013 at 8:38 pm

      Jim Mora wuvs Mozza! Heard two of your emails read out in the last few days, I think you’re wearing him down. Can’t be long before you’re on the panel yourself 😉

      • Morrissey 28.1.1
        19 April 2013 at 7:18 am

        Jim Mora wuvs Mozza! Heard two of your emails read out in the last few days, I think you’re wearing him down.

        Thanks for the heads up, my friend. I did not hear either of them; in fact I’ve only heard scraps of the program for the last few weeks. I thought Jim had given up on reading my stuff out on air. He’s back on my Christmas card list now.

        Can’t be long before you’re on the panel yourself

        That would be horrific. I would be more mealy-mouthed and stammering and apologetic than anyone that’s ever been on…

        CHRISTINE RANKIN: Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

        MORRISSEY BREEN: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Um.

        JIM MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha! It’s time to find out what our Panelists have been thinking about. Christine Rankin, what’s been on YOUR mind lately?

        CHRISTINE RANKIN: Well, Jim, look, I’ve been so busy working for the reintroduction of corporal punishment for the under-fives that I haven’t had TIME to do any thinking at all for several years now. I really can’t think of one thing to talk about.

        JIM MORA: [long, irritated silence] Mmmmm-kay. Morrissey, have YOU got something on your mind?

        MORRISSEY BREEN: Ummm, ahhhh, I’m going to abandon my, uh, carefully prepared speech about foreign policy, and comment on Christine’s failure to ummm, errr, honour her, ummmm, commitments to your show.

        CHRISTINE RANKIN: [indignant] I’ve been BUSY.

        MORRISSEY BREEN: Ummmm, ahhhh, yeah. Ummm…to paraphrase Dr. Johnson, I will say this about Christine: “This woman’s thinking is like a dog’s walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it not done at all.”

        JIM MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! That’s very funny! I think he’s talking about you Christine!

        MORRISSEY BREEN: And that’s all I have to say, Jim. Um.

        JIM MORA: Short and sweet. That’s the way we like them on the Panel! Okay, next up, Lanthanide will tell us why he thinks a nuclear reactor in the middle of Christchurch would be a good idea. First, though, what do the Panelists think of this?

        RANKIN: [fervently] That’s a SPLENDID idea. At last, somebody talking some sense….

        • Te Reo Putake 28.1.1.1
          19 April 2013 at 7:48 am

          Ha, that transcript would still be an improvement on most of the shows! Can’t remember the one read out earlier in the week, but yesterday’s was about mad Monckton and space aliens. Very apt.

    • felix 28.2
      18 April 2013 at 10:51 pm

      Probably never happened.

      “Janet Wilson’s tirade against her husband”

      Definitely never happened.

      • Morrissey 28.2.1
        19 April 2013 at 6:50 am

        It happened all right. Her outburst was followed by a long, awkward silence. Even that notorious thicko Larry Lackwit Williams realized what she was really saying; I’m sure you do too.

        As Ms. Wilson clenched her teeth, snarled and steadily ratcheted up that attack on “Kevin Rudd”, listeners were given a perfect example of what we rhetoricians call argument from analogy.

        I look forward to your demolition work on “Humpty Dumpty”, “Spiggy Topes” and Animal Farm.

        FRIENDLY ADMONITION

        One should not allow oneself to be driven by one’s own personal problems with a fellow Standardista into denying what even the most addle-pated host on the world’s worst radio show can recognize.

        • felix 28.2.1.1
          19 April 2013 at 8:15 am

          Oh Morrissey that’s nasty.

          It looks like you’re talking about Wilson but you’re really talking about your mum.

          • Professor Longhair 28.2.1.1.1
            19 April 2013 at 9:34 am

            A nice riposte from felix sees off Morrissey for the time being….

            “It looks like you’re talking about Wilson but you’re really talking about your mum.”

            A hit! A palpable hit! Well done, sir!

            • felix 28.2.1.1.1.1
              20 April 2013 at 6:37 pm

              You may find it juvenile but the logic of it is precisely that which Mozza is asking us to accept in his comments about Wilson.

              • Morrissey …
                20 April 2013 at 7:20 pm

                I think he was praising you, felix. Take it, and be grateful. The Professor doesn’t seem to hand out too many plaudits around here.

  29. ScottGN 29
    18 April 2013 at 6:40 pm

    Labour/Greens (or Greens/Labour if you prefer) at 49% in the latest Roy Morgan.

    • McFlock 29.1
      18 April 2013 at 6:51 pm

      good – finally a 35.

      And I like that the Greens didn’t take a hit to get it.

      • mickysavage 29.1.1
        18 April 2013 at 7:36 pm

        Reality is in the process of resuming. The Nats’ shyte is catching up with them and they are looking like they are on their last legs. And Labour has been coherent.

        The nats are down to 40.5%. It has been a loooong time since they were down this low.

        Bring the next election on …

        • Paul 29.1.1.1
          18 April 2013 at 8:01 pm

          Link?

            • Te Reo Putake 29.1.1.1.1.1
              18 April 2013 at 8:18 pm

              Shearer out!

              • McFlock …
                18 April 2013 at 8:20 pm

                and carthage must be destroyed…

                • Colonial Viper …
                  18 April 2013 at 8:40 pm

                  I dunno, Labour just released some hard left policy, its going to cost them votes, right?

                  • McFlock …
                    18 April 2013 at 9:59 pm

                    Lol.
                    So they’re no longer just stagnating at the same level forever then? Even without releasing your policy objectives according to your schedule?

                    Good to know.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      19 April 2013 at 1:00 am

                      A bit of real left wing inspiration after 4 years. Don’t blow your load over it eh?

                    • McFlock …
                      19 April 2013 at 1:17 am

                      A bit of real left wing inspiration after 12 years.
                      Fify.
                      Not particularly worked up, just pointing out that six months ago you seemed convinced that labour would stay at 32% if they didn’t do what you wanted.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      19 April 2013 at 1:21 am

                      Nah I’d always accepted that Labour could win with 35%. But winning means fuck all, because its knowing how to use that victory which counts. And this power initiative is a start.

                      PS Labour under Goff hit the heights of 35% as well.

                    • McFlock …
                      19 April 2013 at 1:40 am

                      Ha.
                      I’m not so sure you’ve “always accepted” that labour would reach 35%.

                      And when goff hit 35/36, what were the greens on again?

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      19 April 2013 at 10:12 am

                      I talked about such a scenario in Feb:

                      To do win without NZF (and preclude the chances that a NZF swing to the NATs might occur) Labour will need no less than 35% to 37% of the vote on e-day, with the Greens turning in another good performance.

                      http://thestandard.org.nz/poll-of-polls-looking-good/#comment-589106

                    • McFlock …
                      19 April 2013 at 2:31 pm

                      And yet a few weeks ago you were saying:

                      Unless Labour gets a minimum 34% (or maybe even 35% plus) in the E-day poll, NZF will be a must have in order to form a coalition government.

                      The follow on analysis from that is that a swing from 27% 2011 to 34%-35% 2014 is a very big ask in the best circumstances.

                      (emphasis added).

                      My impression has been that labour with the current caucus and leadership is not what you would regard as “the best circumstances”, so the real challenge facing Labour is significantly harder than a “very big ask”.

        • Pascal's bookie 29.1.1.2
          18 April 2013 at 8:04 pm

          Trailing Lab/Green by 8.5.

          This explains the shrieking about communism/stalin/northKorea. They don’t like it up ’em Capt Mainwaring sir.

          • mickysavage 29.1.1.2.1
            18 April 2013 at 8:15 pm

            Yep. The North Korea stuff is somewhat bewildering.

            Their comments make them look like a brainless talentless clique of careerists wanting only to preserve their grip on power so they can serve up to their masters who happen to be uber rich psychopaths even more of our resources but who realise that ordinary Kiwis have now cottoned on to what they are doing.

            I love the smell of despair in the morning!

            • kiwicommie 29.1.1.2.1.1
              19 April 2013 at 2:48 am

              All hail our great leader*, who achieves greatness by pillaging the countryside. 😉

              *John Key

  30. prism 30
    18 April 2013 at 7:32 pm

    Listening to Bryan Crump on Radionz parry with Lord Monckton who is the male version of Margaret Thatcher. Someone from his Club has been involved with climate change in the past and one feels that here is a repository of lucid intellect.

    Nuclear power has killed very few people and the waste problem can go down to the bottom of a sea trench and all radiation is stopped by 10 feet-metres-knots? of water. And hydro produced electricity is bad for some reason. I can’t be bothered listening more as my head hurts, and I don’t have respect for him anyway.

    He has been appointed a UN expert reviewer and now knows all there is to know and has published stuff too. This man really knows…. how to talk fluently in a confident manner. Just like all right wing pollies. I think this is his mindset – that one has to do something in life, and better this than mixing with one’s nanny and running off into oblivion like Lord Lucan.

    • Ennui 30.1
      18 April 2013 at 7:59 pm

      Lord HawHaw rides again, this time in the pay of the UN..what does that tell you about the UN?

      • prism 30.1.1
        18 April 2013 at 9:02 pm

        Lord Haw Haw said something about being a UN reviewer but it sounds like he might be self appointed or nearly. Probably they had to find some way of getting him out of their hair. A bit like the Tom Lehrer song about being serenaded by a noisy Mexican band who wouldn’t go away till they were paid.

      • Murray Olsen 30.1.2
        18 April 2013 at 9:24 pm

        Does the UN actually pay Monckton anything? He’s one of the few people in public life who lie more than Key. I’d want to see some proof.

  31. rosy 31
    18 April 2013 at 8:19 pm

    A Minties moment for austerity?

    The economic theory underpinning austerity policies being followed by governments world wide may be flawed.

    That is the allegation made in a study by the University of Massachusetts. It claims to have found coding errors on the Excel spreadsheet used by the academics who produced the theory which could invalidate their conclusions.

    further..

    no other researcher has been able to replicate [Reinhart and Rogoff’s] “association”, and no satisfactory explanation has been given as to why that is. Until now. The new critique, “Does High Public Debt Consistently Stifle Economic Growth? A Critique of Reinhart and Rogoff” by Thomas Herndon, Michael Ash and Robert Pollin (HAP, in economistspeak), is damning. It highlights three inaccuracies in R&R: “coding errors, selective exclusion of available data, and unconventional weighting of summary statistics”.

    The use of New Zealand data features strongly in the critique.

    • Colonial Viper 31.1
      18 April 2013 at 8:38 pm

      Politicians who think that withdrawing money from communities and ordinary people who spend it on is going to help the economy are STUPID

      Hey you Treasury officials…you too.

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    Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloitte report for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Let's Win This

    You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
    Nick’s KƍreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • Waimahara: The Singing Spirit of Water

    There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
    Greater AucklandBy Connor Sharp
    4 days ago
  • A major milestone: Global climate pollution may have just peaked

    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Tuesday, July 23

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’s Oliver LewisScoop: Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Tuesday, July 23

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announced the Board of Te Whatu Ora- Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • HealthNZ and Luxon at cross purposes over budget blowout

    Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • 2500-3000 more healthcare staff expected to be fired, as Shane Reti blames Labour for a budget defic...

    Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    4 days ago
  • Might Kamala Harris be about to get a 'stardust' moment like Jacinda Ardern?

    As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
    PunditBy Tim Watkin
    5 days ago
  • Solutions Interview: Steven Hail on MMT & ecological economics

    TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
    The KakaBy Steven Hail
    5 days ago
  • Reported back

    The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Vandrad the Viking, Christopher Coombes, and Literary Archaeology

    Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell On The Biden Withdrawal

    History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
    WerewolfBy lyndon
    5 days ago
  • Joe Biden's withdrawal puts the spotlight back on Kamala and the USA's complicated relatio...

    This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    5 days ago
  • Why we have to challenge our national fiscal assumptions

    A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Existential Crisis and Damaged Brains

    What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
    Nick’s KƍreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • A speed limit is not a target, and yet


    This is a guest post from longtime supporter Mr Plod, whose previous contributions include a proposal that Hamilton become New Zealand’s capital city, and that we should switch which side of the road we drive on. A recent Newsroom article, “Back to school for the Govt’s new speed limit policy“, ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    5 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Monday, July 22

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Monday, July 22

    TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #29

    A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago
  • I'd like to share what I did this weekend

    This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • For the children – Why mere sentiment can be a misleading force in our lives, and lead to unex...

    National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Order image, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • A friend in uncertain times

    Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • The Chaotic World of Male Diet Influencers

    Hi,We’ll get to the horrific world of male diet influencers (AKA Beefy Boys) shortly, but first you will be glad to know that since I sent out the Webworm explaining why the assassination attempt on Donald Trump was not a false flag operation, I’ve heard from a load of people ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • It's Starting To Look A Lot Like… Y2K

    Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
    Nick’s KƍreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Bernard’s Saturday Soliloquy for the week to July 20

    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Pharmac Director, Climate Change Commissioner, Health NZ Directors – The latest to quit this m...

    Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    1 week ago
  • Flooding Housing Policy

    The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 week ago
  • A Voyage Among the Vandals: Accepted (Again!)

    As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā's Chorus for Friday, July 19

    An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Friday, July 19

    TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Roundup 19-July-2024

    Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Climate Wrap: A market-led plan for failure

    TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Tobacco First

    Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
    Nick’s KƍreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Trump’s Adopted Son.

    Waiting In The Wings: For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
    Bowalley Road
    1 week ago
  • The Kākā’s Journal of Record for Friday, July 19

    TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSA announced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • The Hoon around the week to July 19

    TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #29 2024

    Open access notables Improving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society: To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • Joint statement from the Prime Ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand

    Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue.  We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    17 hours ago
  • AG reminds institutions of legal obligations

    Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago
  • More young people learning about digital safety

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views.  “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago
  • Speech to the Conference for General Practice 2024

    Tēnā tātou katoa,  Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    22 hours ago
  • Employers and payroll providers ready for tax changes

    New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts.  “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Experimental vineyard futureproofs wine industry

    An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te PokapĆ« Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Funding confirmed for regions affected by North Island Weather Events

    The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Indonesian Foreign Minister to visit

    Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced.   “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Strengthening partnership with Ngāti Maniapoto

    He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kƍrero, he kƍrero, he kƍrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kƍrero to a ministerial ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Transport Minister thanks outgoing CAA Chair

    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Test for Customary Marine Title being restored

    The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says.  “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Opposition united in bad faith over ECE sector review

    Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet.  “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Kiwis having their say on first regulatory review

    After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks.  “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Government upgrading Lower North Island commuter rail

    The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatƫ rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Government moves to ensure flood protection for Wairoa

    Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • PM speech to Parliament – Royal Commission of Inquiry’s Report into Abuse in Care

    Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.  At the heart of this report are the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Government acknowledges torture at Lake Alice

    For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Government acknowledges courageous abuse survivors

    The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Half a million people use tax calculator

    With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis.  “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Paid Parental Leave improvements pass first reading

    Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Rebuilding the economy through better regulation

    Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • ‘Open banking’ and ‘open electricity’ on the way

    New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Charity lotteries to be permitted to operate online

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Accelerating Northland Expressway

    The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. â€œFor too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Sir Don to travel to Viet Nam as special envoy

    Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced.    “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Grant Illingworth KC appointed as transitional Commissioner to Royal Commission

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024.  “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • NZ to advance relationships with ASEAN partners

    Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane.    “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says.   “This will be our third visit to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Backing mental health services on the West Coast

    Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • NZ support for sustainable Pacific fisheries

    New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Students’ needs at centre of new charter school adjustments

    Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Commissioner replaces Health NZ Board

    In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today.  “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister to speak at Australian Space Forum

    Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum.  While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation.  “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Climate Change Minister to attend climate action meeting in China

    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan.  “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Oceans and Fisheries Minister to Solomons

    Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Government launches Military Style Academy Pilot

    The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Nine priority bridge replacements to get underway

    The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Update on global IT outage

    Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • New Zealand, Japan renew Pacific partnership

    New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.    “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says.    “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • New infrastructure energises BOP forestry towns

    New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
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  • 'Pacific Futures'

    President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests.    Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone.    Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
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