Open mike 20/02/2019

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, February 20th, 2019 - 159 comments
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159 comments on “Open mike 20/02/2019 ”

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  1. Tony Veitch [not etc.] 1
    20 February 2019 at 7:10 am

    So . . . a report commissioned by Oil and Gas says the ban on exploration for fossil fuels will cost the economy $28 billion.

    How can we believe, or take seriously, these buggers, who have lied about climate change since at least the 1970s.

    Well done the Coalition – a small step, but surely in the right direction.

    • patricia bremner 1.1
      20 February 2019 at 7:50 am

      YES Tony, but the Right’s use of their promotion budget begins. We need the counter fiscal picture to outline where they are “Overegging” the picture.

      We need a list of other opportunities for employment related to making the changes necessary to keep temperatures in the safe zone. We need a bullshit detector, like a dangerous lies meter.

      • Chris T 1.1.1
        20 February 2019 at 8:00 am

        “We need a list of other opportunities for employment related to making the changes necessary to keep temperatures in the safe zone. ”

        Off you go then

        Write a list of employment opportunities in Taranaki

        • KJT 1.1.1.1
          20 February 2019 at 8:17 am

          Wind power design, manufacture and installation.
          Wave power design, manufacture and installation.

          Sustainable energy already provides more jobs in the USA, than oil.

          Horticulture. And converting dairy to the same. Organic farming is now more profitable than dairy, but farmers need help to convert.

          General manufacturing. Oop’s forgot, the right wing already killed those jobs with our artificially high dollar, and mania for FTA. Where were all these people that are so concerned, when Fitzroy yachts went under?

          Five minutes off the top of my head. I’m sure we can come up with a lot more.

          BTW. Unless there is some huge reserve of oil and gas in Taranaki we haven’t found, 30 billion is a gross exaggeration. Like all unsustainable extractive industries, oil and cases contribution to the Taranaki economy, was always going to be time limited.

          • patricia bremner 1.1.1.1.1
            20 February 2019 at 8:19 am

            Thanks KJT.

          • Chris T 1.1.1.1.2
            20 February 2019 at 9:20 am

            “Wind power design, manufacture and installation.
            Wave power design, manufacture and installation.”

            So everyone in Taranaki are going to suddenly become green energy scientists?

            • KJT 1.1.1.1.2.1
              20 February 2019 at 9:24 am

              Installation!

              The way we all, suddenly, became oil and gas industry experts.

              With Government help.

              Kiwi’s are adaptable.

              I worked with drill crews that were dairy farmers, only a few months before.

            • ankerawsharkP 1.1.1.1.2.2
              20 February 2019 at 12:24 pm

              no Chris they have 20 odd years to transition.

            • bwaghorn 1.1.1.1.2.3
              20 February 2019 at 12:32 pm

              You saying that the guys in oil tech business are to thick to learn new skills.

              • Chris T …
                20 February 2019 at 12:39 pm

                Very few people can be development scientists

                • McFlock …
                  20 February 2019 at 1:44 pm

                  Very few people can be seismic or wire-line data analysts, or micropaleontologists.

                • bwaghorn …
                  20 February 2019 at 2:53 pm

                  But those that are could shift easily to another like field.
                  And engineers etc work off plans so can build whatever.
                  Be positive. Be more aspirational for you country.

                • cleangreen …
                  20 February 2019 at 3:55 pm

                  Chris

                  you have no faith in ‘Kiwi can do’ – don’t you?

                  Do you always like to insult everyone now?

            • Sabine 1.1.1.1.2.4
              20 February 2019 at 12:46 pm

              Well people have been miners for coal, they dug peat for heating, windmills are undeniable one of the oldest form of energy harvesting, and in many countries some of the old mills still work, and new windmills are being established.

              so yes, the people of the Taranki could become green energy engineers, maintenance crews, scientists etc etc etc. Are you saying that humans can’t adopt new technologies? are you saying you are still going about town on a donkey or a cart with a horse in front of it?

              Seriously?

        • greywarshark 1.1.1.2
          20 February 2019 at 9:42 am

          Chris T
          Another sour snippy useless little bit of crap question from you with nothing
          useful in ideas to put here. You must be a sad little man who finds satisfaction in writing here regularly – no ideas and dissing those wanting discussion. Is
          this the only work you can do.

          • alwyn 1.1.1.2.1
            20 February 2019 at 10:01 am

            Show him up then.
            What is your list of employment opportunities?
            Don’t just carp in your usual manner. Tell us all the great opportunities there are and how many jobs they will supply.
            If you can.

            • Tony Veitch [not etc.] 1.1.1.2.1.1
              20 February 2019 at 10:37 am

              Good God, alwyn, haven’t you taken on board that climate change could kill all life on the planet? We simply cannot keep extracting and using fossil fuels.

              I suspect, though I don’t profess to understand right-wing thought processes (or lack of) but even rwnjs might think unemployment would be preferable to being dead?

              With government help, new employment opportunities will be found. Maybe that’s what the Provincial Growth Fund is for – just speculating.

              • alwyn …
                20 February 2019 at 11:23 am

                I do not accept that any climate change that man may produce will “kill all life on this planet”, as you so melodramatically put it.

                Banning all gas and oil exploration in New Zealand isn’t going to help. If we really want to make a difference we should be developing more Hydro and Geothermal power sources so that we can have renewable base line power for everything except aircraft. That will require fossil fuels to provide the power source for the foreseeable future. More wind power is not going to help us until a genuine cost-effective storage system for it is available.

                Our politicians could perhaps help by setting a good example. Does Mr Shaw really have to fill in his time travelling to conferences around the world where they tut-tut about how much long haul flight is taking place?
                And couldn’t the list MPs set a good example by coming to live in Wellington?

                • Robert Guyton …
                  20 February 2019 at 11:37 am

                  “I do not accept that any climate change that man may produce will “kill all life on this planet”, as you so melodramatically put it.”

                  “all life on this planet” is absolute and not an accurate claim, imo. However, without “all” in the sentence, the claim becomes true.
                  Alwyn; do you agree that changes to the climate caused by human activity has and will destroyed some living organisms? If so, could you comment on the extent of harm caused so far and again on what could reasonably be expected?

                  • alwyn …
                    20 February 2019 at 12:06 pm

                    Of course it will have destroyed “some living organisms”.
                    But it won’t be anything like that caused simply by the fact that their are now far to many people in the world. That is, unfortunately, the main cause of mankind’s effect on the world.

                    Modern man owes his existence of course to a combination of global warming, after the last ice age and, if what I have read is accurate, the discovery of the benefits of cooking food and, in particular, meat. That provided sufficient energy to let the modern brain grow to its current size.

                    It doesn’t particularly worry me if species become extinct. I would think that at least 99% (or should it be 99.9%?) of all the species that have ever existed on earth are now extinct and the world continues quite happily. Tyrannosaurus Rex was without doubt a very impressive beast but I’m happy they aren’t around now.

                    I have found that the people who rabbit on the most about how all species have as much right to live as does mankind always turn out to be very selective in this matter when you question them closely. Dolphins are delightful of course but they are much more squeamish when quizzed about whether the smallpox virus has just as much right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

                    Are you in favour of wiping out smallpox Robert?

                    • Sabine …
                      20 February 2019 at 1:19 pm

                      You and a virus are the exact same thing? That is what you are saying?

                    • Tony Veitch [not etc.] …
                      20 February 2019 at 4:02 pm

                      “It doesn’t particularly worry me if species become extinct. ”

                      That’s got to be one of the most profoundly disturbing statements I’ve ever read on a political blog!

                      Still, I don’t suppose a cockroach will be ‘particularly worried’ if the human race becomes extinct.

                    • alwyn …
                      20 February 2019 at 4:36 pm

                      @Tony.
                      I suggest that you have a look at the science expressed in work on evolution. You take yourself far too seriously if you think that the survival of any particular species matters.

                      What do you think happened to the various other branches of humans besides our own Homo Sapiens strain? There were, and please excuse my errors if I get some wrong, Homo Erectus, Neanderthals, Homo floresiensis and Denisovans weren’t there?
                      I am sure there are plenty of people who read this blog who know much more about this than I do.
                      Does it really matter, in the long run that they became extinct and our strain survived?

                      It is ultimately going to be irrelevant anyway.
                      I hate to be the one to tell you this Tony but regardless of anything mankind might attempt all life on earth is going to become extinct in less that a billion years anyway.
                      All the oceans will evaporate.
                      There, are you suitably depressed?

                    • Tony Veitch [not etc.] …
                      20 February 2019 at 7:11 pm

                      What an utterly fatuous comment. Of course, in the cosmic scheme of things, nothing matters.

                      I just happen to appreciate the multitude of species that make up the biosphere of earth, and don’t like to think of losing any through human greed.

                  • McFlock …
                    20 February 2019 at 1:54 pm

                    lol welcome to the denialist’s world.

                    Total distruction is impossible, partial distruction is ok because smallpox, and try to discount the possibility of CO2 levels and thermal disruption to currents resulting in ocean stagnation, anoxic events, and hydrogen sulphide discharges.

                • patricia bremner …
                  20 February 2019 at 12:15 pm

                  Oh LOL LOL Everybody should change before I have to!! Alwyn gotcha!!

                  • cleangreen …
                    20 February 2019 at 4:00 pm

                    You cant use ‘logic’ on Alwyn; – as the DNA wont work on that issue,

                    It’s like a computer saying; – ‘I do not compute’; – ‘i do not compute’; – you get it.

                • Tony Veitch [not etc.] …
                  20 February 2019 at 3:15 pm

                  The 5th Great Extinction – the Permian, killed 95% of all life on the planet at the time. Perhaps I have been guilty of hyperbole, but not by much.

                  Reputable scientists have already talked about the 6th mass extinction, the one we are currently engineering.

                  But I give up! One can’t argue with such profound and wilful ignorance as that displayed by a climate change denier.

                  • alwyn …
                    20 February 2019 at 4:16 pm

                    I really don’t think that mankind induced climate change can possibly be on the scale of the Permian Extinction. Do you think we can arrange volcanoes to erupt and cover about 2,000,000 sq km with lava?
                    These should also do so where they could ignite coal beds that might release a few trillion tons of carbon.
                    That is rather beyond our capabilities I should think, even if we exclude the possibility of a comet or asteroid hitting the Earth as well.

              • Shadrach …
                20 February 2019 at 12:00 pm

                Your hyperbole, actually no I’ll just call it what it is, exaggerated BS, is unhelpful. I’d suggest you pause for breath. Here is some sensible critique of similarly catastrophic claims.

                https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/07/12/new-york-magazine-climate-doom-piece-is-a-case-study-in-how-not-to-communicate-risk/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.bd2d5ecb7639

                https://climatefeedback.org/evaluation/scientists-explain-what-new-york-magazine-article-on-the-uninhabitable-earth-gets-wrong-david-wallace-wells/

                Climate change is real and problematic, but morphing into Chicken Little is just turning people off taking meaningful steps to mitigate the impacts.

                • left_forward …
                  20 February 2019 at 12:12 pm

                  There is indeed a lot of hyperbole in the climate debate – exaggeration with a legitimate purpose – designed to waken those not yet awake, such as you and alwyn and Chris T.
                  Tony Veitch [not etc.]: ‘Hey, wake up, the house is burning!!!’
                  Shadders (semi-comatose state): ‘Oh what exaggerated BS, its only the kitchen.’

                  At least you know the kitchen is on fire Shadders, the sky (the roof) is indeed gonna fall in, so don’t turn over and go back to sleep – run!

                  • Shadrach …
                    20 February 2019 at 12:35 pm

                    The problem is that as these self appointed prophet’s of doom eventually have to eat their words, less and less people take the whole thing seriously. We don’t need to have the crap scared out of us. We need scientists who will give us realistic projections, and policy makers who respond with realistic solutions.

                    • left_forward …
                      20 February 2019 at 1:02 pm

                      Goodnight Shadgirl, sleep tight, probably won’t see you in the morning.

                    • KJT …
                      20 February 2019 at 1:14 pm

                      Realistic and necessary solutions, like stopping oil exploration and funding sustainable energy, have your lot in fits.

                      In other words, deny, obfuscate and delay, until it is too late.

                      A sense of urgency and fear is the only way we will really avert the impending disaster.

                      Or. Are you going to wait until we are inundated by 40 million climate refugees, with guns.

                    • Shadrach …
                      20 February 2019 at 1:58 pm

                      “…40 million climate refugees, with guns.“

                      Yep, that’s exactly the sort of nonsense I’m talking about.

                    • KJT …
                      20 February 2019 at 4:17 pm

                      Not going to happen you think?

                      Here’s 16 million to start with. https://www.techly.com.au/2017/11/27/scientists-say-heatwaves-getting-worse-will-make-australian-cities-uninhabitable/

                      In reality I am probably being optimistic. https://www.iom.int/migration-and-climate-change-0

                      Do you really think Indonesians and Australians are going to stay at home and die, when there is a cooler and almost MT country next door.

                      Queenstown is already full of wealthy ones.

                      But carry on with your head in the sand, if it keeps you happy.

                    • Shadrach …
                      20 February 2019 at 4:45 pm

                      “Here’s 16 million to start with. ”

                      16million what? Certainly not climate refugees. From your own link:

                      “Sydney, on the other hand, saw seven consecutive days in November with maximum temperatures equal or above 25 degrees. This hasn’t happened at all since 1968 and has only occurred in two Novembers in the last 118 years.”

                      In other words the climatic conditions facing Sydney, in this case, were evident in 1968. Where did all those climate refugees head then?

                    • KJT …
                      20 February 2019 at 4:58 pm

                      How many links do you want?

                      From my link. “Scientists say that without major reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases, it’s believed that up to three in four people will face the threat of dying from heat by 2100”.

                      Facts too scary for you. In fact, if you have access to scientific journals, you will see that results show a pace and severity of global warming, is much faster than earlier predictions. Most of the alarms were too optimistic.

                    • Shadrach …
                      20 February 2019 at 5:15 pm

                      “How many links do you want?”

                      Links that actually back up the rhetoric with science.

                    • Shadrach …
                      20 February 2019 at 5:15 pm

                      “How many links do you want?”

                      Links that actually back up the rhetoric with science. When you quote an article that states that current levels of heat were experienced in 1968, and then that 3/4 of the population will be dead from heat within 100 years, you have a serious disconnect that needs to be explained before you start talking about 40 million climate refugees, with guns, inundating NZ.

              • Chris T …
                20 February 2019 at 12:22 pm

                Stopping our piddly oil and gas in NZ is going to stop climate change and stop the planet dying?

                Do you mind posting some research on that?

                • left_forward …
                  20 February 2019 at 12:27 pm

                  Seriously?
                  Are you really not aware of the science on the consequences of burning fossil fuels and the release of sequestered carbon into the atmosphere?

                  2C + O2 = 2CO2

                • lprent …
                  20 February 2019 at 1:10 pm

                  Chris – it makes no real difference to global CO2 budgets. That boat has already sailed. All we are doing now is trying to minimize the levels of climate change to something that as a civilization that we can survive next century.

                  Personally my assessment is that the civilization is screwed I anything like its current form by the end of the century. Extremes of weather and agriculture don’t mix too well.

                  Howver it also makes no real difference if tHt oil, gas,and coal is left in the ground. Perhaps you’d like to say whose xtractkbv it benefits…

                  I can’t see anyone apart from a few unproductive parasitical rent takers – and as far as I can see they should learn to enjoy poverty.

            • Sabine 1.1.1.2.1.2
              20 February 2019 at 12:49 pm

              engineers, maintenance crews, welders, designers, essentially a host of jobs that already exist, especially in building the individual components for the windmills/water turbines.

              If we feel that we need trainers to get our people up to scratch we could import a few from the Netherlands.

              But i see no reason why a company like CPS Pacific, subsidiary of Fletcher Steel that builds lampposts and such could not build/weld the components of the windmills? http://www.csppacific.co.nz/

              just to name one.

              So yes, there are great opportunities for many different businesses.

              • KJT …
                20 February 2019 at 5:04 pm

                We save over a 900k a year, net, by not, importing hydrocarbons.

                • alwyn …
                  20 February 2019 at 5:21 pm

                  And the source for this figure is what, precisely?
                  If you are going to quote numbers with out providing any source you are going to be, and deserve to be, laughed at.

                  • KJT …
                    20 February 2019 at 5:46 pm

                    Like you and the rest of the RWNJ’s endlessly repeating crap, you mean.

                    https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/fuel-drives-lift-in-imports
                    “Monthly imports of petroleum and products tend to move up and down; however, annual imports reached $5.7 billion in the year to March 2018, a rise of 24 percent. Petroleum and products is New Zealand’s third-largest import commodity, behind vehicles and parts, and mechanical machinery”.

                    The net outgoings, from hydrocarbons, actually got a lot worse than I said, recently. With the halving of the price we get for condensate.
                    https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/90611800/the-slow-demise-or-temporary-slump-of-new-zealands-oil-and-gas-industry

                    • alwyn …
                      20 February 2019 at 6:51 pm

                      I always give the source of any statistics I quote.

                      However that isn’t the point of my question.
                      How do you get the figure of $900k per year as the net cost of importing hydrocarbons?
                      The links you give don’t seem to provide any information from which you can derive that number.

                    • KJT …
                      20 February 2019 at 7:28 pm

                      Not all statistics are online, in simple form. But I am sure you are capable of subtracting one number from another.

                      Debt from negative balance of trade and cost of hydrocarbons imported. less earnings from hydrocarbons exported.

                      In fact my number is outdated. From when I was last at UNI.

                      The current number, is much worse, than I thought.

                      In other words, I understated, the benefits of going way from an economy dependent on imported hydrocarbons.

                • gsays …
                  21 February 2019 at 7:06 am

                  You guys engaging with these Muppets over CC, or imagining a future makes me smile.
                  Mangling two quotes: ‘not to teach a pig to sing, you both get dirty but only the pig enjoys it’.

                  Also leadership, in the form of moving away from last century extractive industries, is unrecognizable to these folk as it may effect returns from their share portfolio.

                  • KJT …
                    21 February 2019 at 8:16 am

                    The funny thing, is that most of the right wingers on here probably do not have a share portfolio, or any wealth.

                    Wannabees that worship the rich. With fantasies that, someday, they may become one of them.

        • Bruce 1.1.1.3
          20 February 2019 at 11:38 am

          Hemp plastic, hemp clothes, hemp fuel, hemp cars,paper etc etc etc.
          could be a start.

          • left_forward 1.1.1.3.1
            20 February 2019 at 12:23 pm

            I like it Bruce – this is indeed the way we need to go.

          • gsays 1.1.1.3.2
            21 February 2019 at 7:13 am

            Spot on Bruce, also developing tools and machinery to harvest and process this wonderful plant.

            Building products as well. Hemp seed oil.

            I am surprised that hemp industries have not emerged here in Aotearoa.

    • Sabine 1.2
      20 February 2019 at 12:10 pm

      How much money did we save by not exploring for oil.
      I.e. tourism, fishing industries etc.

      Maybe that is what needs to be mathed up?

      • satty 1.2.1
        20 February 2019 at 2:53 pm

        And how much money are we going to safe:
        Less road deaths and injuries, less obesity by reducing car usage?
        Less respiratory illnesses, dementia etc. because of cleaner air and lower noise levels in the inner cities?
        Less destruction from climate change and reduced sea level rise?

        Surely, over time that accumulates to a lot more than 30billion dollars.

    • Craig H 1.3
      20 February 2019 at 5:15 pm

      Over 30 years as well, so on our current GDP of $291 billion, approximately 0.3% of the economy – not the disaster it’s being portrayed as.

  2. Adrian Thornton 2
    20 February 2019 at 7:11 am

    Bernie Sanders 2020

    • Adrian Thornton 2.1
      20 February 2019 at 7:44 am

      Now all we have to hope for, is that the establishment Democrats who are well known to be totally beholden to and in the pockets of their wealthy donors (private and corporate) don’t cheat the progressive movement again in 2020 at the behest of those same donors.

      • mosa 2.1.1
        20 February 2019 at 11:24 am

        Thanks for the link Adrian.
        Just listening to Bernie makes me want to join his movement.
        It will be a hell of a contest and he may just surprise everyone next year.
        I hope his security detail is in place.

    • patricia bremner 3.1
      20 February 2019 at 7:57 am

      Robert. The list is brilliant. This is the universal truth we all need to promote. That should be a post for next Sunday.. so many good ideas. Thanks Robert.
      Practical… keep cats in at night. What else needs to change? Use the list as a guide!!

    • KJT 3.2
      20 February 2019 at 9:36 am

      Agree Robert.

      Watch out though, you will be called a “purist” for actually advocating, left wing policies.

    • AB 3.3
      20 February 2019 at 10:36 am

      Nice list Robert – thanks. On this one:
      “Champion fair tax systems so that the wealth our country produces is more equitably shared.”

      I like the implicit recognition in this statement that wealth is created collectively and then distributed (or often appropriated) individually. And that current distribution outcomes bear little or no relationship to actual contribution, let alone need.

      However if the solutions proposed are only or always through the tax system, i.e. inherently re-distributive, there is a world of pain in getting support. Because people think you are taking ‘their’ money and giving it to others. Instead, looking at pre-distribution solutions – maybe organising workplaces so that initial distribution decisions are arrived at democratically – might be worthwhile.

      Oh – and it is also worth distinguishing real wealth from fictitious capital created by
      deliberately engineering bubbles through the issuing of bank credit. e.g. our housing bubble

  4. mauī 4
    20 February 2019 at 7:55 am

    The wonderful Ed previously posted about this superb podcast with Rachel Stewart on New Zealand rivers and the impact of agriculture. It is now on line.
    Thank you Ed.
    Thank you Rachel.
    Thank you Derrick.

  5. Muttonbird 5
    20 February 2019 at 8:37 am

    Time for a rethink on shared cycleways. Particularly if the idea is to get more and more people commenting on bikes. This places adults going fast and children going to school on the footpaths at the same time.

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/382903/auckland-s-northwestern-cycleway-too-dangerous-for-primary-school-children-principal

    • greywarshark 5.1
      20 February 2019 at 9:37 am

      Muttonbird
      This is an important point. The authorities seem to get enthused by every new big thing. Cycles on shared pathways is one. Lime Scooters another – there is a pattern here. Also I think you said commenting when you meant commuting?
      Sanctuary has the example of the very thing that bothers me.

      But let’s all join hands and sing kumbaya, happy people mingling merrily in the sunlight being community for images to go on cycling and cycleway and Council publications (like Jehovahs Witnesses put on theirs, the lion lying down with the lamb and all peoples’ angst and stress absent.) Some stress is good for us apparently, but we have overdose.

      (Incidentally the pattern of authorities’ lack of willingness to attempt to control ‘unfortunate’ effects from lots of things requiring checking and being held to a standard is probably abysmal if looked at objectively and thoroughly. (See WetheBlleple below on toxic effects from known likely polluters.)

      • Gabby 5.1.1
        20 February 2019 at 9:47 am

        I suspect the authorities figure that letting the footies and wheelies fight it out will lead them all back into their cars, and the natural order of things will be restored.

    • KJT 5.2
      20 February 2019 at 9:41 am

      In Tauranga, the cycleway, shared path has a 15k speed limit.

      Which I think is appropriate for shared paths. And the way forward.
      No way do I want kids cycling on the road.

      The lycra brigade at 30k are competent enough, though not always sensible enough, to survive on the road.

      Nearly got knocked over in Auckland, by a lime scooter going at least 20k, and barely in control.

      • greywarshark 5.2.1
        20 February 2019 at 12:23 pm

        Walking speed? 4-5 km hour? You hear tales of kids walking 10 miles or so to school in the ‘auld days’. We still need to walk.

        You Need Feet
        (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oipBGjMNEAM

        Give us our footpaths back and we will turn out and cheer – 500 Miles we will go!

        • KJT 5.2.1.1
          20 February 2019 at 1:24 pm

          Under 15km is the speed where a cyclist or scooter can stop almost instantly.

          I bike on shared pathways in Nelson and Tauranga often, and sometimes in Auckland.

          Usually there are no pedestrians for miles. When approaching them, I slow down to walking pace, anyway. Which most other cyclists, I’ve seen, do also.

          Biking on the road, in those places is suicidal. Not something I want kids, scooters or slow cyclists to be doing.

          I think A bit more education about courtesy and consideration, rather than bans, is the answer.

          • lprent 5.2.1.1.1
            20 February 2019 at 1:27 pm

            I slow way down. But pedestrians are really really unpredictable.

          • greywarshark 5.2.1.1.2
            20 February 2019 at 1:38 pm

            It is a horrible dilemma KJT. And I recognise both sides argument.

            But no use asking for courtesy and consideration from bike users as a group; it is as hard for them to alter their riding style to suit vulnerable soft-fleshed people with no protection, as it is for car drivers with people on bikes, far less protected than vehicles, as they dawdle down the road built for at least 60km hour. And in fact many bike riders adopt exactly the same attitudes as car drivers that they would probably criticise when on the bike seat.

            The adults if they are young males revel in speed, typical of their age.
            The female that turned and threatened is one of those coarsened no doubt by an upbringing in a family of the undeserving which doesn’t get anything without shouldering the way through,. Quite a few really hard women around now; You’re either the quick or the dead in their lives, and that means them as well as you.

            If we want kinder considerate people then we must apply such to the young parents struggling. (Not create huffy Gnat scenarios at select committee hearings of their requests to the government.)

    • AB 5.3
      20 February 2019 at 1:03 pm

      Cyclists manage to be both self-righteous and reckless at the same time.
      Is there anyone else who shares this combination of qualities – apart from suicide bombers? Not that I am even remotely comparing them…

    • lprent 5.4
      20 February 2019 at 1:25 pm

      Problem is that putting cycles on main roads in Auckland is far too dangerous. After I was nearly killed on Newton Road for the third time by drivers pushing me to the curb after getting off the cycleway to home, I now use the footpath.and carefully dodge pedestrians.

      But pedestrians on shared cycleways are often a danger to themselves. At least one in ten is walking on wrong side or have spread themselves across the whole path. Most don’t read the signs or listen to bells or stop dead in the middle of the cycleway to read their damn cell or hear a bike coming from behind and veer to the wrong side – or all at once.

      And the numbers of pedestrians who walk on the dedicated cycleways is pretty damn high. Parts of Customs Street in particular.

      • KJT 5.4.1
        20 February 2019 at 1:33 pm

        Auckland is dangerous on the roads, but at least the motorists are oblivious to you.
        The car door opening in front of you, or the car edging you off the roundabout, simply wasn’t looking for bikes.
        As for pedestrians on the cycleway. Tell me about it.

        In Wellington they swear at you for being on the road, then chase you into the shingle, deliberately.

      • greywarshark 5.4.2
        20 February 2019 at 1:47 pm

        Yes lprent those things that pedestrians do were the perks that you once had when you were on foot – flexibility and safety of movement.

        Because the authorities could not tame the car situation and slow the traffic down, lessen car numbers, put safe cycleways in, we now not only have road rage, we have footpath rage.

        Walking is a basic human thing. Fuck all the machines, these mad oldies that are the deserving and will run you over as they proceed myopically along, and these scooters that will lead to having odd leg muscles – – one a pumpkin and the other
        a pimple.

        Let’s just walk for goodness sake, and as well let’s have small jeepneys, tuk tuks with easy on and off, easy peasy. So much better for community and for the environment than the latest toy machine for those who are whatever super-cool is called now.

  6. Sanctuary 6
    20 February 2019 at 8:49 am

    I had a run in over three years ago the Northwestern cycle way with three MAMILs (actually one was MAWIL) who came hurtling along the Bright Street to St Lukes Road section of the cycleway at high speed on their racing bikes at 7.00am on pitch black winters morning. This section is basically unlit, narrow and used a lot by not just cyclists but pedestrians and schoolkids. They had minimum lights and were easily doing 40km/h+.

    Being community minded and annoyed at their irresponsibility when I caught up with them at the lights at St Lukes road I sarcastically suggested that if they had aspirations to ride in the Tour De France they should stick to the road instead of trying to be Tuesday morning Olympians on a shared path. They became extremely abusive, the woman even tried to push me off my bike and threatened to come back the next day with unspecified reinforcements to “deal with me”.

    I emailed AT about this, and got a reply to the effect they would “monitor the cycleway”.

  7. WeTheBleeple 7
    20 February 2019 at 9:08 am

    We’re gonna lose $30B dollars according to the gatekeepers of Hell.

    This figure appears to be magicked out of thin air, like oil really.

    The reality is our oil fields have less than 20% production left and our gas less than 25%. So the easy stuff has been got at and largely consumed, now they want to go for the fracking, the deep offshore, the harder to get at stuff.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_and_gas_industry_in_New_Zealand

    Of course you could read the reports on the local oil and see if they are the exemplars of the community they claim to be:

    https://www.trc.govt.nz/council/plans-and-reports/environmental/consent-compliance-monitoring-reports/oil-and-gas-production/

    I opened one…. Westside NZ Limited:

    “Likely or actual adverse effects on the receiving environment were significant”.

    “Typically there were grounds for either a prosecution or an infringement notice”.

    “Material failings to meet the administrative requirements of the resource consents. Significant intervention by the Council was required”

    Open another at random…. Taranaki Ventures Limited:

    Excused for losing data due to a flood…

    “”Likely or actual adverse effects on the receiving environment were significant”. (is this a pattern?)

    “Typically there were grounds for either a prosecution or an infringement notice”.

    Are the people monitoring just copy pasting?

    “Material failings to meet the administrative requirements of the resource consents. Significant intervention by the Council was required”

    One more for luck…. Shell Taranaki Limited:

    “Likely or actual adverse effects on the receiving environment were significant”.

    “Typically there were grounds for either a prosecution or an infringement notice”.

    And of course:

    “Material failings to meet the administrative requirements of the resource consents. Significant intervention by the Council was required”

    Something dirty going on here. These are just going through the motions each a clone of the next.

    And three out of three checked – non-compliant polluters.

    • Gabby 7.1
      20 February 2019 at 9:50 am

      And how many fines in that lot bleepy?

    • KJT 7.2
      20 February 2019 at 4:39 pm

      Well. I have some idea of what the oil industry makes, and how many they employ in New Zealand.

      30 billion is a gross exaggeration, unless they are talking about the foreign exchange/ US dollars, saved by removing oil imports, and replacing with renewables.

      If we follow the US and UK experience, the earnings, employment, and debt saved by going to sustainable energy, will more than cover any losses from stopping oil and gas. There is the potential for many new export industries, also.
      The cost balance between renewable energy and fossil fuels already favours renewables. That is before, we factor in the costs of global warming..

  8. WeTheBleeple 8
    20 February 2019 at 9:21 am

    Meant to have the tail end of a cyclone heading here. Lots of rain and wild weather. Thing is, after the long drought, most ground is not able to take on water. Flooding may follow the rain.

    Be careful out there on low lying land, especially with your stock. Keep a close eye on the forecast and move stock before the water arrives.

    Be careful if you are in the bottom of a catchment where fires have been above your place. Earth may be destabilised from tree loss, and runoff may be toxic. Mind what the kids are playing in.

    But, enjoy the rain when it arrives, we really need it.

  9. joe90 9
    20 February 2019 at 9:25 am

    A nuclear middle east. What could possibly go wrong.

    https://twitter.com/nprpolitics/status/1097901885162434561

  10. Blazer 10
    20 February 2019 at 9:47 am

    “I never said she stole my money.”

    7 words, and 7 different meanings depending on which word you stress.

    • ianmac 10.1
      20 February 2019 at 10:36 am

      Very curiouser Blazer. I tried the 7 meanings and its true. Politicians have to be alert because the printed word is not the same as the spoken word even though they are identical.
      No wonder I loose the arguments with my wife. “You said….”

    • greywarshark 10.2
      20 February 2019 at 1:49 pm

      Wot you talkin’ bart Blazer? Linky.

  11. joe90 11
    20 February 2019 at 9:49 am

    Bangladesh has another problem.

    The family of a teenager who travelled to Syria to join Islamic State has been told the Home Office intends to revoke her British citizenship, according to their lawyer.

    […]

    Javid told the Commons on Monday: “The powers available to me include banning non-British people from this country and stripping dangerous dual nationals of their British citizenship. Over 100 people have already been deprived in this way.”

    Although Begum is not a dual citizen, the home secretary has been advised that, because her mother holds a Bangladeshi passport, he may be able to deprive her of her British citizenship. The Home Office has not commented

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/19/isis-briton-shamima-begum-to-have-uk-citizenship-revoked

  12. Morrissey 12
    20 February 2019 at 10:06 am

    Worst. Split. Ever.
    by RICHARD SEYMOUR, Feb. 19, 2019

    I will be brief about this, since that is all it deserves. The secret seven are finally out, to the surprise of no one.

    They call it a split; I call it doing a Jonestown. MPs quitting Labour today have just blown their “nuclear option” prematurely, in the least convincing manner. While damaging to Labour ahead of the Brexit deadline, expeditiously for May, it chiefly harms Corbyn’s opponents in Labour.

    Allow me to ask the obvious questions. How many trade unions do you think will affiliate to a party founded by Chuka, Luciana, and Leslie, all recently spotted drinking the Anna Soubry kool-aid? How many councillors? How many members? Bear in mind that all of these individuals have awful relations with their local parties: hence their claim to be victims, driven out by the intolerance of yada yada. How many of these individuals would remain MPs after a general election? You could count the number in binary. Look at their breakaway statement. Is that the basis for a major realignment in British politics? Look at the issues they’ve chosen to split over. Brexit? They’ve just made it more likely that a version of May’s deal will pass. Antisemitic takeover of Labour? Few outside the circumference of Westminster really believe that. Venezuela? Really?

    I’ve said before that this is not 1981. There is no generalised anti-socialist climate in this country at the moment, no deep-rooted backlash against the unions, no pervasive sense that Labour’s problems stem from having been too statist, and so on. Actually-existing-Corbynism, more Wilsonite than Bennite, is very popular. Chris Leslie merely seems aloof from reality when he bangs on about ‘communism’ and ‘marxism’. Nor, even if conditions were similar to 1981, do these vain Blairites have the heft or hard-headedness of the old hammers of the Left. …

    Read more….
    https://www.patreon.com/posts/24784500

    • gsays 12.1
      21 February 2019 at 7:20 am

      As it turns out these ‘Labour’ MPs have more in common with the Tory MP splitters.
      Probably centrists at best, totally lacking anything remotely left wing.

  13. Morrissey 13
    20 February 2019 at 10:29 am

    Kathryn Ryan is butchering her interview with Pussy Riot
    RNZ National, Wednesday 20 February 2019, 10:10 a.m.

    Ryan seems to lack basic common sense. Several times in this interview, she has delivered one of her long, pretentious, anacoluthonic questions to Pussy Riot’s Maria “Masha” Alyokhina, who has responded with a baffled “What?”

    Then she rephrases. and baffles her poor victim even more.

    Another wasted opportunity.

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon

    https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/mental-skills-coach-gilbert-enoka.html

    https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/02/bradley-manning-show-trial-begins-in.html

    • greywarshark 13.1
      20 February 2019 at 1:06 pm

      Isn’t it good that Kathryn Ryan isn’t perfect. You wouldn’t have anything to test your sharp intellect on.

      • Morrissey 13.1.1
        20 February 2019 at 1:08 pm

        I don’t expect her to be perfect. I do expect her not to be crass and bumptious, however. And I do expect her to ask the hard questions, occasionally. She rarely does.

        • greywarshark 13.1.1.1
          20 February 2019 at 1:13 pm

          I agree that she is getting to the stage of asking questions longer than the answers. But usually good questions. But apparently not this time.

          • Morrissey 13.1.1.1.1
            20 February 2019 at 1:15 pm

            She does very well a lot of the time. I don’t want it to seem like I revile her.

            I do revile Larry Williams, however. And his colleagues at NewstalkZzzzzB.

            • greywarshark 13.1.1.1.1.1
              20 February 2019 at 1:25 pm

              Yes I saw mention of Larry Williams I think yesterday and he sounds ‘pretty’ shit. I don’t listen to him or any of them That’s the advantage of a democracy eh! In China they had Chairman Mao broadcast from every corner. Here they haven’t found a sneaky way of doing that yet and calling it good for us.

              There was another Loudmouth Larry. Perhaps that name carries an echo of past lives with it?

              Larry Claxton Flynt Jr. (/flɪnt/; born November 1, 1942) is an American publisher and the president of Larry Flynt Publications (LFP). LFP mainly produces magazines, such as Hustler, and sexually graphic videos. Flynt has fought several high profile legal battles involving the First Amendment, and has unsuccessfully run for public office.

              He is paralyzed from the waist down due to injuries sustained in a 1978 murder attempt by serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin.[1] In 2003, Arena magazine listed him at No. 1 on the “50 Powerful People in Porn” list.[2] Wikipedia

              • Morrissey …
                20 February 2019 at 1:32 pm

                Larry Williams is an idiot. Larry Flynt was not.

                See if you can find his darkly hilarious “Prayer for the Death of Bill O’Reilly” from about sixteen years ago.

                • greywarshark …
                  20 February 2019 at 1:52 pm

                  Okay. But he does look and sound a little like a Trump in training on Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Flynt
                  He perhaps was a precursor; now we have the real curse!

                  • Morrissey …
                    20 February 2019 at 1:54 pm

                    Flynt was shot and paralyzed by a white supremacist. Trump is endorsed by, and himself endorses, white supremacists.

                    • greywarshark …
                      20 February 2019 at 2:09 pm

                      Plenty of opportunities in the good ole USA for free-thinking individuals to stand for freedom, the flag and apple pie against the oppressor, blasphemer, or whatever sort of obsessive hater a guy may be (and women can have equal rights in this area of opportunity too.)

  14. Ad 14
    20 February 2019 at 11:17 am

    Good to see an unequivocal statement to our Parliament from the head of our GCSB Andrew Hampton that there was no exterior influence from any Five Eyes partner in his decision to raise serious security concerns about Huawei access to our 5G network.

    Sometimes paranoid political hype is unhelpful; sometimes it’s just good judgement.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12205495

    Looking forward to the results of the next British HCSEC report to see if those concerns really have decreased.

    • Gabby 14.1
      20 February 2019 at 5:24 pm

      Gooder to see an unequivocal statement from ol’ Andy as to what his evidence is then don’t you reckon addy?

      • Ad 14.1.1
        20 February 2019 at 7:57 pm

        I’m quite happy for secret intelligence to remain that way. Part of being a state.

        There’s no specific fire to call Huawei out on; but there’s an awful lot of smoke from a lot of directions.

        For a big step change like 5G, the precautionary principle should hold.

  15. Hooch 15
    20 February 2019 at 11:20 am

    Interesting to see a right wing pile on regarding the wellington town hall restoration. All in one morning we have garner/farrar/Williams moaning about it.

    I don’t recall this level of scrutiny over the proposed and pointless wellington convention centre which is budgeted even higher.

    Does someone stand to gain from its demolition? Add the already empty and earthquake risk council building next door and it’s a huge chunk of prime real estate.

    • greywarshark 15.1
      20 February 2019 at 1:12 pm

      It would be wise for Councils to consider how to hold onto land that is away from the coast and elevated without requiring a climb to get at it. As tides rise and storms rage, the ability to retreat back to reposition in one’s own building will be important.

      Or it will be a case of having to lease back the once-owned building or site, at a high rate from someone with an eye to the main chance that is bigger than the Council’s.

  16. mosa 16
    20 February 2019 at 11:26 am

    Nationals antics with the finance select committee has had some serious ramifications as highlighted bythe Child action poverty group.

    https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/02/20/childrens-voices-denied-in-select-committee-debacle-cpag/

  17. adam 17
    20 February 2019 at 12:21 pm

    Matamoros!!!

    to soon…

  18. greywarshark 18
    20 February 2019 at 12:32 pm

    A message from the Taxpayers Bunion.

    GST on repairs – an imposition on top of an unfortunate position.
    Car repairs – $66 to the Government through GST. Adds insult to injury as they say.

    Some wit could make up a good song on car rap-airs.

    • Sabine 18.1
      20 February 2019 at 12:52 pm

      GST on lisencing fees. GST on WOF and Rego. GST on food. GST on electricity. GST on water.

      did the Taxpayers Bunion say something when GST was increased under the last governemnt?

      • greywarshark 18.1.1
        20 February 2019 at 1:54 pm

        I’m sure they tried to but a big foot came down and stamped on them. Ouch.
        (Monty Python’s, my go-to for analogies etc.)

  19. Muttonbird 19
    20 February 2019 at 12:55 pm

    I laughed yesterday when Todd McClay was asked how many properties he owned and he couldn’t recall if it was 3 or 4.

    That sort of smug slipperiness is why Kiwis don’t trust National. To most people Todd made himself and his party look like wankers.

    • ianmac 19.1
      20 February 2019 at 1:48 pm

      Newsroom noted that the most outspoken critics of CGT had vested interests.
      Eg:”One of those business-owners appears to be Bridges’ wife, Natalie Bridges, who is the director of EHJ Property Limited, ….
      EHJ was incorporated on September 29, 2017, Bridges and his wife own 50 percent – or 600 shares – each in the company.
      Bridges has further financial interests in property through his one-man, private superannuation scheme, St Catherines. Through it, he owns an apartment in central Wellington and another in Parnell, one of Auckland’s most expensive suburbs, along with his family home in Tauranga.
      https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/02/19/449412/capital-gains-tax-a-vested-interest?preview=1

    • greywarshark 19.2
      20 February 2019 at 1:59 pm

      He was just trying to be honest.

      ‘You know you lefties can’t say a good word about RW – it’s either that they lie, they are fudging which is sort of lying, they are pretending that they can’t remember or that they leave all that to their accountants, or as here, they can’t be exact but they are trying and still they get RW just can’t do the right thing ever. ‘
      /sarc

    • mosa 19.3
      20 February 2019 at 4:45 pm

      Muttonbird they are wankers !

    • gsays 19.4
      21 February 2019 at 7:24 am

      Don’t for a moment think that landlording is restricted to the Nats.

      And yes, they do look like wankers.

      • Muttonbird 19.4.1
        21 February 2019 at 7:57 am

        For sure.

        Amateur landlordism is just what you do in this country.

        And look where it’s led us – poor quality housing stock, itinerant communities, long lines for both public and private rentals, and increasing inequality.

  20. Morrissey 20
    20 February 2019 at 1:28 pm

    Meddling in other countries’ affairs

  22. joe90 22
    20 February 2019 at 2:17 pm

    If the malignancy known as humankind doesn’t succeed in killing everything that’s good on the damn planet, it certainly won’t be for lack of trying.

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported last week that in 2018 it issued so-called “emergency” approvals to spray sulfoxaflor—an insecticide the agency considers “very highly toxic” to bees—on more than 16 million acres of crops known to attract bees.

    Of the 18 states where the approvals were granted for sorghum and cotton crops, 12 have been given the approvals for at least four consecutive years for the same “emergency.”

    […]

    Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, the EPA has the authority to approve temporary emergency uses of pesticides, even those not officially approved, if the agency determines it is needed to prevent the spread of an unexpected outbreak of crop-damaging insects, for example. But the provision has been widely abused.

    https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-pesticides–2629292283.html

    • Sabine 22.1
      20 February 2019 at 2:30 pm

      undo any regulation going back to nixon.

      was that not when the EPA was birthed in the US with rivers burning and such?

      but her fucking emails.

  23. Kay 23
    20 February 2019 at 2:29 pm

    There’s been a suspicious rise in the number of attack stories against Housing NZ, the waiting lists, and indirectly tenants, frequently peppered with quotes from certain Oppositions MPs. Like Judith’s latest offering:
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/110730341/judith-collins-accuses-housing-new-zealand-of-crowding-out-home-buyers
    Naturally Stuff nearly always has their comments open for these stories to encourage the nasties out there.

    Clearly they’re just defaulting to type- nothing of substance to offer? No way to actually do our job and hold the current government to account? Shocking poll results we want to distract everyone from? Let’s play the bashing card. Doesn’t even have to be directly targeted at those bludgers. No one’s going to spot that are they?

  24. KJT 24
    20 February 2019 at 2:30 pm

    https://tinyurl.com/y3nyoz8k

    Another take on Venezuela.

    “U.S. sanctions are designed to “make the economy scream” in Venezuela, exactly as President Nixon described the goal of U.S. sanctions against Chile before the CIA engineered the overthrow of democratically elected Salvador Allende in 1973. Venezuela’s economy is indeed screaming. It has shrunk by about half since 2014,”.

  25. cleangreen 25
    20 February 2019 at 7:55 pm

    Good move by Shane Jones just as the Local Government was looking shaddy on every level from rejecting Climate change to some councils ready to assume selling off public assets like HB regional Council who is attempting to sell half of publicly owned Napier Port.

    Shane Jones should help stop this madness invading the local Governments ‘slash and burn’ models of the John Key era.

    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1902/S00173/new-independent-commission-to-tackle-infrastructure-issues.htm

    New independent Commission to tackle infrastructure issues
    Wednesday, 20 February 2019, 1:57 pm
    Press Release: New Zealand Government

    Hon Shane Jones
    Minister for Infrastructure

    20 February 2019 MEDIA STATEMENT
    New independent Commission to tackle infrastructure issues
    Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has today announced the name, form and functions of New Zealand’s new independent infrastructure entity.
    The New Zealand Infrastructure Commission – Te Waihanga – will be established as an Autonomous Crown Entity to carry out two broad functions – strategy and planning and procurement and delivery support.
    “The new Commission will help ensure we are making the best decisions about infrastructure investment to improve the long-term economic performance and social wellbeing of our country,” Shane Jones said.
    “The Commission will develop a broad consensus on long-term strategy, enable coordination of infrastructure planning and provide advice and best practice support to infrastructure initiatives.
    “We want the Commission to be a well-respected public voice that has credibility among the private and public sector and helps integrate across our entire infrastructure system.
    “A short-term, project specific focus by previous governments, along with underinvestment, means that New Zealand is now facing an unprecedented infrastructure deficit that this Government is committed to tackling.
    “Our transport and urban infrastructure is struggling to keep up with population growth, increased demand and changing needs, including transitioning to a low emissions economy. New Zealand’s regional infrastructure is often not at a standard required by communities – this infrastructure deficit is manifesting in housing unaffordability, congestion, poor quality drinking water and lost productivity. That’s simply not good enough.

  26. Eco Maori 26
    21 February 2019 at 2:47 pm

    The Unjustices system of the world just serve the wealthy the mighty dollar they are all corupt . look at pike river corupt cover up .What happened to the person who was at a Marae in Puturau with a gun that was silanced well that was a cop LOST HIS MARBLES Eco Maori knows him quite well as he started this man hunt against me him an no fish . He lost IT after following me around leave a sign on the road everytime I went to Tauranga I could see the extream thing he got up to in Put AND Tok they covered that up and commited him I seen him at know fishes house a few times trying to intimadate me.
    I see what they did to my Uncle 41 years ago they got his wife to sign a peace of paper and he ended up in Lake Alise When My grandmother died he died 2 weeks later with a big hole in the back of his head . I have learned from what the state did to him .
    They would try to do that to Eco Maori but they are to scared . They have got my whanau to levea the farm But Eco Maori Is going to have the last laught on that issue.
    Ka kite ano P.S everything I have said is true my uncle was the oldest of his generation like Eco Maori but I have this websight to help me fight the system

  27. Eco Maori 27
    21 February 2019 at 5:05 pm

    This is the system that runs our world the wealthy rulers worship money over every other phenomen like the sandflys money talks to them over there childrens futures over the health of there country you have someone making a mess of there country interfaring in Venezuela putting sanctions on the country who cares who dies so long as trumps masters the oil barrons price of oil gets a boost from his adminstrations callious ACTIONS
    (CNN)Bhanu Patel couldn’t believe the news. The cost of the medication that allows her to move — the one that enabled her to walk stairs again — shot up to $375,000.
    Fear gripped her: What would this mean for her independence? Would she become a financial burden on her family? How is this possible in the country that’s given her so much?
    The past three years, she said, the medication had been completely free as part of a specialty program. Until recently, the drug was known as 3,4-DAP made by Jacobus Pharmaceutical. But late last year, Catalyst Pharmaceuticals won FDA approval for a slightly modified version of the drug after two small clinical trials and announced an annual list price of $375,000 for the new drug, called Firdapse.

    For Patel, the drug has been a game-changer. She was diagnosed in 2015 with a rare neuromuscular disease called Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome, a condition known as LEMS that affects about 1 in 100,000 people in the United States.
    The disease attacked her hip muscles and abdominal muscles first, then her back muscles she said. Just trying to stand up to walk was agonizing. She dragged herself across rooms and up and down stairs to get around her home. For two years, she wore three back braces on top of each other to allow her to stand.
    The disease even attacked her tongue, making it difficult to eat. She lost a lot of weight, and her muscles atrophied. Every aspect of her life was impacted.

    Anatomy of a 97,000% drug price hike: One family’s fight to save their son
    When she was introduced to the drug, her doctor told her it would make her feel more alert and allow her to regain basic functions. Her eyes opened wide whe

    (CNN)Bhanu Patel couldn’t believe the news. The cost of the medication that allows her to move — the one that enabled her to walk stairs again — shot up to $375,000.
    Fear gripped her: What would this mean for her independence? Would she become a financial burden on her family? How is this possible in the country that’s given her so much?
    The past three years, she said, the medication had been completely free as part of a specialty program. Until recently, the drug was known as 3,4-DAP made by Jacobus Pharmaceutical. But late last year, Catalyst Pharmaceuticals won FDA approval for a slightly modified version of the drug after two small clinical trials and announced an annual list price of $375,000 for the new drug, called Firdapse.

    For Patel, the drug has been a game-changer. She was diagnosed in 2015 with a rare neuromuscular disease called Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome, a condition known as LEMS that affects about 1 in 100,000 people in the United States.
    The disease attacked her hip muscles and abdominal muscles first, then her back muscles she said. Just trying to stand up to walk was agonizing. She dragged herself across rooms and up and down stairs to get around her home. For two years, she wore three back braces on top of each other to allow her to stand.
    The disease even attacked her tongue, making it difficult to eat. She lost a lot of weight, and her muscles atrophied. Every aspect of her life was impacted.

    Anatomy of a 97,000% drug price hike: One family’s fight to save their son
    When she was introduced to the drug, her doctor told her it would make her feel more alert and allow her to regain basic functions. Her eyes opened wide when she first took the pills. “I said, ‘Wow, you’re right about that,’ ” Patel, 67, recalled. “You feel you want to live and have a life.
    “Without this medication, you just can’t even move. It’s like your body is totally like a sweet potato.”
    So imagine the predicament a skyrocketing price hike puts a patient like her, she said.
    Fearful of burdening her family with exorbitant bills, Patel said, she’s begun rationing her meds — taking two pills a day, instead of four. She said she’s trying to stretch her three-month supply for as long as possible.
    “The words that I can use is I can’t believe this is happening, to be honest,” she said.
    Her son, Krishan Patel, said his mother has been rejected by Medicare for coverage of the medication, raising concerns the family could get stuck with a massive bill. He said she is appealing for coverage as an exception. His mother has also applied with the Assistance Fund, a nonprofit organization that helps pay for patients’ co-pays. He said she has yet to hear back.
    Between he and his sister, Krishan Patel said, they will do everything they can to help their mother. He’s already begun writing and calling lawmakers, AARP, the drugmaker and anyone else who will listen.
    He said he’s not just speaking up for his mom, but for those less fortunate. “If we’re not shining a light on these things,” he said, “then really what the hell are we doing?”
    “My mother’s livelihood is fundamentally at the hands of a small outfit with full capability to do whatever they want,” he said. “You’re leveraging human suffering to make money — and that is a heartbreaking idea.”

    Sen. Bernie Sanders earlier this month demanded answers about the price hike, saying he feared it will “cause patients to suffer or die.”
    Bernie Sanders demands action
    Sen. Bernie Sanders, who earlier this month demanded answers from Catalyst Pharmaceuticals about the drug’s $375,000 price, blasted the company for not responding, and he ripped Catalyst for endangering patients’ lives.
    “Instead of answering my questions or lowering the price of this drug, they’ve hired a lobbying firm,” Sanders told CNN in a written statement Wednesday. “It is now clear that some patients are rationing their supply of Firdapse because they cannot afford to cover the outrageous cost of the drug, which they used to receive at no cost.
    “If Catalyst does not immediately lower the price of the drug, I will ask FDA to allow pharmacies and manufacturers who were previously making this drug to be permitted to resume providing it, so that all patients can get the medication they need.”
    CNN has contacted the US Food and Drug Administration for comment.
    Two weeks ago, Sanders sent a blistering letter to Catalyst for its decision to raise the price of Firdapse — “and forcing production and distribution of the older, inexpensive version to cease.” Ka kite ano links below P.S Times are changing for the better

    https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/20/health/firdapse-expensive-drug-mom-bernie-sanders-eprise/index.html

  28. Eco Maori 28
    21 February 2019 at 5:17 pm

    Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XaS93WMRQQ
    MONEY IS ALL THATS IN THERE HEADS

  29. Eco Maori 29
    21 February 2019 at 6:39 pm

    Kia ora Newshub all the neoliberals capitalist national supporters are up in arms over the new taxs reviews the reason we don’t have one now is the money men have had to much power over the years for others to implement a fair taxs system that takes the burden off the lower classes.
    That’s the national party way break the rules it all good the thing that they see as bad is if they get caught.???! Maggie Barry Issues..
    I seen that story on CNN the stash of guns and explosives he was a member of some enforcement outfit . He planed to target the Democrats.
    That’s cool that the Christchurch Town Hall is finally finished being repaired after the big earthquake that damage it.
    My children buy Samsung phones.
    Te Matatini will be great once again the biggest Maori culture proformance it the Papatuanukue Ka pai Ka kite ano P.S miss some of the news I was running around the whanau

  30. Eco Maori 30
    21 February 2019 at 7:20 pm

    Kia ora Mulls & Storm from The Crowd Goes Wild what the Dmaxs like to drive Mulls I have taken some vehicles in some of the meanest tracks and places that not many have been In my farming and Forestry adventure.
    How’s the Netball going Storm
    That’s a mean catch I remember when I was fit as a fiddle Ka kite ano P.S just trying to drum up a something to write about Nice Suite James well groomed to I got a bit blinded by how well you were polished E hoa Ka pai

  31. Eco Maori 31
    22 February 2019 at 8:34 am

    Kia ora The AM Show I know who’s paying for your opinion they have instilled their Ideals on our society for a long time and look at what their ideals have served up to tangata whenua it does not matter 65% te tangata the people want change . I agree with Amanda men can be men and Wahine want to be heard it’s equality not matriarch or Wahines rules only its about ballance yin yang get it those types of society of the past have been the best .
    Peter good to see you .
    The environmental taxes congestion taxes are taxes that will give our mokos a better future a bit hard to comprehend for someone with a 2 minute memory thinking about other people futures is unthinkable .
    I think it’s a brilliant move by Labour to get the taxes sorted so polluters pay for the mess they are making to our environment. At the minute businesses get to write off all there business losses/expenses some can have toy cars and other things and claim that against their tax of profits business have it sweet as farmers need to pay to you cannot leave them out as cheats will say they are farmers to avoid the tax and unless they are audited they will get away with it as the tax system works on trust that the business owners are honest YEA RIGHT you see labour can get the taxes sorted now and next year concentrate on the election with out losing the popular votes .
    Sir Michael Cullen if it was not for him Aotearoa would be 60 billion out of pocket if we listened to bankers like shonky 8 billion a year would be going to Australian banks. Banks love houses it safe as houses is the saying hence the housing market shorts. Remember a capital gains tax is a tax on capital that is gain so if a business gains no add value /gains no tax is paid capital gains is value earned from time you go to sleep and your capital is gaining NO.
    Condolences to Peter Tork whanau from The Monkey.
    I got a excellent Movie The Umbrella Academy is a very good watch I won’t Say what platform it is SCREENING on.????.
    nice dreams judy nationals creditable is in tatters with Pike River and all the other big messes you made to our society. Chris is correct most people don’t have a investment property of shares only the wealthy people do who some will do what ever it takes to not pay their fair share of taxes.
    Yes people need to treat all animals with care and respect and Eco Maori gets the Morgan cat effect that is why I try to be careful what I write I do have some exceptions ta Tau ta Tau to some people.
    Stereotypeing Maoris A. If that fool is not going to replant his forest block that’s his childens loss over paying a little more tax I think not.
    And your story about a 30 year old finding cannabis is a farce quite easy to read farcical stories.
    don it’s a tax on capital gained that is how it should be told it will affect the wealthy New Zealand First will not be gone don you wish.
    The public don’t understand the tax the government should have had a advertising campaign to education te people. That is the very reason you say that the very wealthy people who made their money here leave New Zealand they make their money from the capital gained in NZ and flee with the capital All THE MORE reasons to tax the capital they gained in NZ to keep some of the capital in OUR Aotearoa society NO isn’t
    that bad for a economy all the capital flowing out overseas .????? Ka kite ano

  32. Eco Maori 32
    22 February 2019 at 10:50 am

    scott is here with trumps string attached to his ass trying to get NZ to obey trumps lead in forein policy we have much more to lose if we follow like puppets .Any way scott goverment is just spraying wai on New Zealand sending the problem made in his country to NZ the farcial apple ban and much more bulling served up to NZ from our bigger neighbours. ????????
    Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is set to jet into Auckland on Friday, for high-level talks with Jacinda Ardern.
    While the pair have met before, on the sidelines of of the ASEAN forum in Singapore last year, this will be Morrison’s first official visit to New Zealand and their first formal bi-lateral discussion since he rolled former Liberal Party leader Malcolm Turnbull and took over the Australian Premiership in August.
    Morrison will be given a full pōwhiri welcome at Auckland’s Government House, where he will be greeted by Ardern.
    A fleeting visit lasting less than a day, Morrison is forgoing the usual weekend retreat to New Zealand enjoyed by previous Australian Prime Ministers. link below P.S This story did not stay on the frount page for long ???????

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/110755400/australian-prime-minister-scott-morrison-jets-in-for-first-official-visit

  33. Eco Maori 33
    22 February 2019 at 2:16 pm

    Some Eco Maori Music for the minute

  34. Eco Maori 34
    22 February 2019 at 6:45 pm

    Kia ora Newshub lime E scooters have been pulled from the streets in Auckland because of safety problems.
    Kiwi saver is a awesome Labour initiative. I have said enough about the capital gains tax this morning.
    That’s a massive land slip on the west coast of the south island is that global warming or what the Mayor down there is a climate change denier go figure I see some more neanderthal council have jumped on that sinking ship to.??????
    That’s the way Jacinda tell scott exactly how dumb it is for Australia to deport their people problems here. The post above has got my opinion of his vist in it.
    That’s good that big load of PEE is not going to hit our street that’s just the tip of the ice burg if PEE is easier to get than weed they say.
    There you go PEE is the scrooge of NZ heaps of crimes are committed because of PEE.
    That shows how strong animals are I was watching a documentary on the Orangutans the caretaker are very weary of the Orangutans strength. Ka kite ano

  35. Eco Maori 35
    22 February 2019 at 7:20 pm

    Kia ora James and Mulls from The Crowd Goes Wild Break dancing scateboarding in the Olympic a congratulations to Tom and Lisa for their Heilgburg awards James did the polish up included that Latin America grooming procedure lol I see my pic was in the running YEA James the – – – – Ka kite ano P.S hope its not getting to hot in the kitchen tangata

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  • Trump’s Adopted Son.

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

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  • AG reminds institutions of legal obligations

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  • More young people learning about digital safety

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  • Speech to the Conference for General Practice 2024

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  • Employers and payroll providers ready for tax changes

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  • Experimental vineyard futureproofs wine industry

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  • Funding confirmed for regions affected by North Island Weather Events

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  • Indonesian Foreign Minister to visit

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  • Strengthening partnership with Ngāti Maniapoto

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  • Transport Minister thanks outgoing CAA Chair

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  • Test for Customary Marine Title being restored

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  • Opposition united in bad faith over ECE sector review

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  • Kiwis having their say on first regulatory review

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  • Government moves to ensure flood protection for Wairoa

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  • PM speech to Parliament – Royal Commission of Inquiry’s Report into Abuse in Care

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  • Paid Parental Leave improvements pass first reading

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  • ‘Open banking’ and ‘open electricity’ on the way

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  • Charity lotteries to be permitted to operate online

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  • Sir Don to travel to Viet Nam as special envoy

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  • Grant Illingworth KC appointed as transitional Commissioner to Royal Commission

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  • Backing mental health services on the West Coast

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  • NZ support for sustainable Pacific fisheries

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  • Students’ needs at centre of new charter school adjustments

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    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 ...
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    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 ...
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    5 days ago
  • Climate Change Minister to attend climate action meeting in China

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  • Oceans and Fisheries Minister to Solomons

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    7 days ago
  • Government launches Military Style Academy Pilot

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    7 days ago
  • Nine priority bridge replacements to get underway

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    1 week ago
  • Update on global IT outage

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  • 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 ...
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    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 ...
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  • 'Pacific Futures'

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    1 week ago

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